Happy Endings

At Changi Airport waiting for a flight back to Sydney. The whole world is on the move. People who 20 years ago would never have travelled are waiting in airport lounges, talking to anyone about anything. It's been a long shuffle back; the bus trip from unbelievably picturesque Pai down to the buzzle of Chiang Mai; then a flight to Bangkok on One Two Go; 1700 baht, about $60, to fly anywhere in Thailand, all destinations the same price. Perfectly decent; even left on time. Mass travel, just like the internet, is changing the world; and I look at the hordes and think, this has only happened in the past few years.

Flew Swissair from Bangkok to Singapore yesterday evening and overnighted in the President Park Hotel. At least it was better than the China Princess. Next to Little India, which really is like India. You could swear you were in Delhi or even Calcutta. There was a big travel convention event on at the hotel, rolling out the red carpet, people spilling out of private parties in the bars and coffee shops.

My stomach hurts and Sydney seems very much out of the main swing of things. Have to be back at work on Sunday. We're at the far end of the world; the socialand economic life has been sifled by generations of appalling politicians; the puritanical and censorious legacy of the British and the overlaying levels of government, all have gone to creating a more boring culture than need be. Where are you from? I asked some middle aged bloke in the toilets at the food hall at the back of the night bazaar when he caught me putting on a Same Same But Different t-shirt and I made some flippant comment. Sydney, he said in a clipped South African accent. So am I, I said. Have a safe journey, he said, in an imperious tone, walking off, and I remembered why I hated my own city. After a month caught in furious conversation with people from all over the world.

It's cost more than I intended but it's been great to be away; outside my own life and own routine.