After a brief flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok, followed by an evening in Sukhumvit spent with a Finnish bloke getting sociably sozzled on Chang Beer, then two seven-hour flights from Bangkok, I’m back in the UK. At one end of the ball-achingly tedious fifteen-odd hours I spent in the care of Qatar Airways was the clean blue neon and glass cathedral that is Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport, at the other end the worn-out, tattered embarrassment that is London Heathrow. I swear they were trying to crash that BA plane into the airport the other day just to force someone to redecorate the place.
On the plane, the little TV in the back of the seat of the person in front showed the usual choice of half-interesting movies as well as the interactive map that shows you just how very far away from your destination you are, and which occasionally pointed out the direction of Mecca. I would rather have had the little TV point out the direction of somewhere where I could lie down in a darkened corner doped up with tranquilisers and sleep through the flight, but you can’t have it all.
I felt a weird sensation when I got back to Heathrow – I suddenly understood virtually everything people were saying because they insisted on speaking in English. This brought on a feeling of sensory overload after spending months listening to Khmer, Korean, Chinese and Drunk without a clue what it all meant. Just like the last time I got back from a long trip I got to hear a group of lads outside the arrivals hall listening to the most jumped-up of their number talking about how hard he was, using ‘Fuck’ as a noun, verb, adjective and punctuation mark.
Now I’m hiding in darkest Suffolk, the cat never noticed I’d gone, the TV is still dominated by ice-skating celebrities, the mornings are cool and crisp, I have tea and cake on intravenous drip, and all the fresh milk, roughage and Radio 4 I can handle. I’m back for about a month to start studying my next OU course (International Development), do some research on the Young Adult Preparation Program I have been working on at the Sangkheum Center, relax for a while and draw a line under the last five months. More soon.
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