Chang Bye

Not really a lot to report but I'm in rather a reflective mood. I made a vow of abstinence from the booze but I'm not strictly straight edge. The detox has neatly coincided with a requirement to reduce my outgoings. This has been simultaneously achieved by breaking off from the deadwood of the last group I was with and making an active effort to avoid making new acquaintances. 

One thing that these three months have taught me about travelling (probably not applicable elsewhere) is that being alone is the only way to genuinely save money. This is basically the money saved by not being a ruddy bloke and going out drinking every night. I don't know what it is about other peoples company that makes me want to drink, probably the same instinct that makes me want to run over cyclists. But you do, if you're with someone you go and get a drink, what's the alternative, just sit, just have a nice sit is it? I can sit with the best of them if alone, but if there's some near stranger sat next to me, then I'm going to require a drink.

So basically for the past couple of days I've been indifferent to lone travellers advances, perhaps bordering on rude, but what the fuck, I've been impossibly polite for 3 months and sometimes forcing politeness grates when none of it amounts to your own gain (if it happened to be a Swedish beach volleyball player I'd perhaps reassess the situation). I always end up feeling bad and then have to make a concerted effort to make over enthusiastic welcoming gestures every time I see them from then on, a small price to pay to not have to hang out with them.

I have probably assumed a bit of a lone wolf tag in bristol but I would never have been comfortable eating alone in a restaurant. When I first arrived in SE Asda I felt very self conscious when eating alone, and whilst it has been a fairly rare occurrence since the first week or two, it doesn't even register as an issue anymore. I haven't made my own food for 3.5 months now, so I guess eating alone is pretty inevitable, it's often when you also end up meeting people (and despising people). 

Eating dinners with new people has probably provided me with some of my fondest memories of this trip. If only it was as easy to meet new people and all go for spontaneous meals together in England! Why do we have to travel half way across the world before we can approach each other with relative ease?! Probably because in England if it was a bloke approaching me then I'd automatically assume he was a gay, and if a woman approached me then I'd be hip grinding her faster than you can say sexual assault charge.

It has been a nice respite getting away from dougs eating habits. The noise he made when eating evoked such suppressed rage in me that I bent my knife and fork in half most meals. 

Tomorrow I leave Thailand for the final time, for me this really does signify that the end of this trip is in sight. It has given me a sense of freedom that you don't get from other holidays, it has given me a sense of shitting in a bucket in a broom cupboard that you don't get from other holidays. 

I will be sad to leave, the people here are so friendly. The aspect I've enjoyed about the Thai people is watching them interact as a family, as many all work together in their family run business. They are always playing, smiling and joking with each other, and they are a very close community. Most of the time this does rub off on to the travellers. In Vietnam I think the guesthouse owners instinctively just spit in your face as a welcome. But to be fair to the Vietnamese, they probably get treated the same in most western cultures. Plus they have no tangible reason to show me any respect. I basically come to their town, tell them to get away from my bags, tell them their spring rolls are shit and then get smashed. Probably not endearing. 

So tomorrow I fly into kuala lumpar for a couple of days and then onto Bali for full moon, tough times. Normally I'd upload pictures but unless you want to see a picture of a conjoined banana twin that I purchased earlier, which I will email upon request, there is nothing new to show as back in chiang mai... Bulldog t-minus one month