Travel Day 860 – Manila to Bangkok, THAILAND
Today was already my last day in the Philippines and as my friends here were flying out to the islands to prepare for the actual wedding, I was getting ready for my stay in India…
Street view during Morning Stroll, Manila
My day started actually quite early since yesterday evening I just fell into bed instead of going out drinking as we had done every single day before. So I used my early rise for a nice walk around my area before it got too hot. Early morning was usually the best time to walk around cities anyway, because the air has a certain smell, everyone is just getting ready for work and minding their own business plus the sun is not scorching hot at that time…
After my little joy-walk I went back to the hostel, had breakfast and started packing my backpack. I couldn’t believe that I was leaving for India already in the afternoon. My whole trip so far had been nothing but a slow scenic route towards India and the main reason for going to India was to learn some more Tabla in the proper environment…
Tabla Practice in Dorm while Travelling
So far every single time that I had a Travel Sunday like today and I had to pack everything up and move, I was cursing myself for bringing my Tabla along. I didn’t want to lose practice entirely before I would reach India and so I had decided to actually travel with my whole Tabla set and practice in-between. While practicing with a musical instrument in dorm rooms without disturbing anyone has proved to be quite difficult, travelling with a Tabla and carrying it around in a backpack has probably been the even bigger challenge…
Still, after downgrading and replacing the heavy brass Bayan by a lighter one that was made out of aluminum, my bag was still pushing the 50 pound limit every time I tried to check into an airplane. The result was that I was not only struggling to lift the bag every time I tried to move, but I also had to constantly promise to the airline staff that I would not bring as much with me on my return flight…
Wrapped up Tabla to fit in my Backpack
Obviously there were no return flights as I was travelling on Individual One Way Tickets only towards India and obviously I was hoping that all the extra effort would somehow pay off in the end. So far I had no real clue of what to expect form my Tabla lessons in India, but I was quite excited to find out. Besides some dents in my Bayan from the airport handling, I felt I was at least in good spirit and looking forward to my stay in India. So I ended last Travel Sunday with my Tabla in my backpack and took off for Bangkok and then finally India…
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