Penguin Books Blog

THE END OF THE ROAD
 
Time is a trickster. One minute you stand with weeks stretched out before you, and the next the looming and predictable dead end casts a shadow across the face. Weirdly, Cambodia feels like it was the previous year and i can barely remember Kuala Lumpur at all, and may have to re-read my first blog to feel who i was back then. The added bonus to traveling for unseemly amounts of time, is that home always feels like an exciting place to return to, and yet the wandering spirit that has ruled you for so long desires more time to explore and more experiences to devour.
 
For the last week my thoughts have been with Spud – Learning To Fly and how the following months might play out. I’ve thought about the book tour and the shift from an extremely private recent existence to something more public and amplified. Mostly though, my thoughts are with Learning to Fly, in the knowledge that the first copies of the book will be arriving at the Penguin Colony this afternoon. I hope to see my first copy upon landing on Sunday morning and will no doubt collapse into a heap in the corner and read voraciously and in a Vern-like manner. That will be the beginning of the next journey and perhaps that one will cast light onto the next and then the next.
 
So in this, my final travel blog, i would like to thank you all for reading my idle ramblings and hope that you would have in some small way felt like you were taking a journey yourself. I hope too that it would inspire you to plan a trip somewhere unusual and see what Crowded House meant when they sang:
 
“Give me time, give me time
because i want you to see,
round the world, round the world,
is a tangled up necklace of pearls.”
 
To conclude, i have compiled a list of genuine items that have appeared on menus around SE Asia. Since many Asian people, and in particular the Thais, imitate the English language phonetically, some weird and wonderful spellings are to be had. I must declare that i have eaten none of the following items for obvious reasons, although Jules and i spent many a meal hooting with laughter over the following:
 
ASIAN DELICACIES
 
Fried Mike with Cashew.
Chicken Bugger in green salad.
Spicy Sheesh Kaboobs
Chicken Gordon Blun
Friend Fried with chicken nuggets.
Choice of sauces – chilli/garlic or tomato catsup
Toast with honey/jam/penus butter
Boiling egg on toast (poach)
 
Oh and the sign at the entrance of Miami Bungalow reads:

INDIAN CURRY cooked in TENDOURI OWEN!
 
Well, with a sigh and a grin, i must leave you for one last amble down the beach to drink it all in one final time.
 
So long and bon voyage for the next time you’re feeling adventurous.
 
It’s time to go home.
 
Johnny

Related posts:

1. John van de Ruit – Journal Entry- April 7th
2. John van de Ruit- Journal Entry May 1st
3. John van de Ruit – Journal Entry – April 1
4. John van de Ruit- Journal Entry May 13th
5. John van de Ruit – Journal Entry- April 16th

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