I just returned to Manila after being away for awhile – July in Thailand and Laos; August in British Columbia on Vancouver Island and in the city of Vancouver. I’ve spent a few jet-lagged days on my return multi-tasking – watching trash TV and playing computer poker. Now that I’ve recovered, it’s time to decide how I want to spend Year 3 of my time on this side of the planet.
I took so many pictures on my trip that I maxed out the camera card – now I find that my computer hard drive is also full. The downside of digital cameras. So many shots, so much s%*t. Sorting through it all seems more trouble than it’s worth, but now necessary.
Maristella and I went straight to Chiang Mai where we stayed for a week, before heading up to a mountain resort near the Golden Triangle – the place where Burma, Laos and Thailand meet. In the old days (a decade or so ago) this was the notorious drug trade territory – now it’s a spot for a photo opp under the sign, although no doubt some of that still goes on. How else do you explain the police road blocks along the road leading from Burma?
At the Laos/Thai border we boarded a boat for a wonderful trip down the Mekong, stopping overnight in an amazing riverfront lodge, before arriving in Luang Prabang, where we stayed for another week. Even though we were in the north, July in Thailand and Laos is hot and the expression “sweating bullets” was mentioned more than once. Soaked handkerchiefs, fluttering fans and in my case at least, hair that looked perpetually like I just got out of the shower. Eventually we stopped behaving like mad dogs and Englishmen walking around in the afternoon sun and started spending our time over long long lunches or in reflexology salons. In Luang Prabang we found a great little wine bar on the main street which was well air conditioned (most restaurants there are open and fan cooled) so we parked ourselves there until the sun disappeared and beyond, with predictable results. Our trip ended in a daring raid on The Big Mango, Bangkok, the highlight of which was staying in an enormous suite overlooking the Chao Praya river and getting my broken nail repaired.The slump in tourism is well apparent, even accounting for the fact that it was low season. We did our very best to support the local economy – silver jewellery in Chiang Mai, silks in Bangkok, Laos weavings, plus extra suitcases to transport it all. I also bought the most wonderful spirit house in the entire world, which is now in a container on a ship somewhere making its way to Manila. We rode elephants and took boat rides, hired cars and drivers to ferry us around the countryside, visited some completely whacked out temples and generally tried to spread the wealth.
It was a blast.
Then, back home for a couple of days and off to a completely different climate in BC where I was chilly from time to time which was just fine with me. We spent a week in Victoria visiting friends, hanging out, and power shopping (I went with an empty suitcase and filled it up). Then we drove up island where we stayed in a cottage in a garden – the most beautiful private garden I’ve ever seen. The people who own it run a garden center but the truth is the garden center was only there to support the creation of this acre of paradise –a private botanical garden, framed by the huge trees of coastal British Columbia.Five days in Vancouver looking out over the Coal Harbour marina and the north shore mountains where we ate salmon and halibut, drank great British Columbia wine, visited more botanical gardens and shopped for trawlers.
A great trip, relaxing and soul-stoking, which went some ways, I think, towards overcoming my extreme ambivalence over the very notion of leaving Asia and returning “home”.
