Monday 11 August 2008

The Travel Bug, Which is Preferable to Malaria

I'm officially sunburned, but I feel like I need to take advantage of the sunshine before the rain hits again and I'm back to slogging through monsoon water. Understandably, most of the bars and cafes on my street keep their tables in the shade, but there's a hotel across the way with a Starbucks and a sunny courtyard set back from the street that nobody ever uses. I've been sitting there every day and reading the paper, which usually takes just long enough that I'm drenched in sweat and beginning to feel pain. And I always sit on a ledge by a fountain, except the fountain is off and I realized that I've basically been relaxing next to a pool of stagnant water for three days as insects bite my arms, which is probably not the smartest idea. Luckily, I've heard that being incredibly good looking wards off malaria.

And speaking of malaria, I've gotten sort of bored with Manila (not the research, but the other few hours of the day where I hang out on my street) and I'm ready to travel. I'm networking with groups to do a sort of Grand Tour to Cebu and a couple of other cities with active LGBT groups, ending up in Palawan for a weekend of beaches before flying back to Manila. I'm pretty sure that a vacation during your fieldwork is about the polar opposite of a staycation, which puts me at odds with just about everyone, everywhere.

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