travels with an ageing punkrocker/publisher
Soundtrack: “Danger Zone”, Kenny Loggins Not the most exciting of days, basically a get up, pack, check-out, check-in, pass security, wait for flight, wait more for flight, squeeze into plane, squeeze out of plane onto bus, get luggage, get car, check-in, walk, get dinner, sleep. That’s the 30 or so word version — am writing this in Wordpad as my […]
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Soundtrack: any bass-heavy party track from the last 30 years. Angeles City is just down the road from Manila, less than 100km, so only about 2-3 hours to drive if the traffic is normal. It seems to have three claims to fame: the food is awesome; they know how to party; and there used to be a really big US […]
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Soundtrack: “In These Shoes?”, Kirsty MacColl Shoe day. Older folks, such as myself, will remember legendary First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, who in western media at least was portrayed as liking the luxuries in life, including shoes. When the Marcos dictatorship was ended, the western media was full of stories of the hundreds and hundreds and thousands of […]
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Soundtrack: “Abracadabra”, Lady Gaga The day started slowly, as I was still feeling the effects of the hike. I figured I should get out of the hotel room for at least a while, so after reading about the Legazpi Sunday Market, got a Grab and headed out. At this point it seems my bank with the nice card that refunds […]
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Soundtrack: “Easy”, The Commodores (though probably the Faith No More cover version) / “When the Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going)”, Billy Ocean One of the big ticket items I’d planned for this trip was to visit the crater of Mt Pinatubo, prior to 1991 a fairly unassuming, nondescript place that no one really paid too much attention to: […]
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Soundtrack: “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”, The Police Bit of a catchup time, am pushing out a couple of days at the same time. We’ll see how it goes. Manila. It’s a big, tall, loud city. From my 9th floor hotel room I can hear all the sounds of Malati, cars, horns, scooters, trucks, people, machinery. I truly sympathise […]
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Soundtrack: “Concrete Jungle”, The Specials It was an earlyish morning, but at least not 530am. Grabbed a standard breakfast in the hotel, while the room was awesome, the breakfast lacked a little dedicated pho station so it was just bacon and eggs for me. Traffic to the airport was a lot less busy, possibly helped by it being a second […]
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Soundtrack: The Vietnamese National Anthem / “50 Years”, Uncanny X-Men [Disclaimer: I’m writing this entry a day after the events, and am a bit tired and headachy, so if I fail to capture sufficiently in the words below the sheer wonder I felt all day, well that’s on me.] If we want to go with the idea that there are […]
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Soundtrack: “Khe Sanh”, Cold Chisel Having left day 15 on a cliff hanger, I can reveal that I was able to get up in time to head out and get my laundry just after 9am, so I won’t have to buy any new clothes anytime soon. While I’m travelling with a few treasured items, my green The Clouds t-shirt that […]
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Soundtrack: “Yellow”, Coldplay (sigh) Khao soi day. I dragged my slightly tired carcass out of bed, quick stop for some hotel noodle and egg breakfast, and then headed out to a laundry I’d spotted on my wanderings that offered 50 THB/kilo. I handed over my trusty orange laundry bag (it’s been with me since at least 2009) and was told […]
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Soundtrack: “Umbrella”, Rhianna Sunday in Chiang Mai. Managed to wake in time for breakfast, it wasn’t the best sleep as congestion and coughing was a pain. Hotel breakfast nothing much to speak of, no types of cheese, congee, rice, noodles, sausage, and eggs basically. I skipped the rice and the congee, as I wasn’t sure how long they’d been sitting […]
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Soundtrack: “Born This Way”, Lady Gaga / “Relax”, Frankie Goes to Hollywood The battle of the aircon continues. On one hand, Chiang Mai is starting its hot season, so daily temps are high 30s, mostly dry during the day but getting a bit more humid in the evening, so turning it off isn’t an option. But I’m yet to find […]
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