RUNNING THE PACIFIC RIM; ADVENTURER MICHAEL PALIN TELLS TALES ABOUT LIFE ON THE EDGE.

Byline: Susanne Hopkins Daily News Travel Editor

He ate maggots in Mexico, cavorted with crocodiles in Australia, took a terrifying canoe ride down the most dangerous waters of the Amazon River and dined with headhunters in Borneo.

But the most surprising thing to adventurer-actor Michael Palin isn't what he did during a 10-month odyssey around the area known as the Pacific Rim, it's that he survived to tell about it.

``Many times, I thought, `I'm not going to make it this time. We've bitten off more than we can chew,' '' said the 54-year-old Palin during a recent visit to Los Angeles.

But make it he did. And the adventures of this trip - which encompassed 50,000 miles, 18 countries and 89 cities, not to mention the 300 people he talked with and the 33 trains, 37 ships and 16 helicopters he traveled on - are now being shared with the public.

``Full Circle With Michael Palin'' is a 10-part television series produced by England's BBC that premieres on public broadcasting's KCET at 8 p.m. Monday and continues through Nov. 24. A companion book written by Palin with the same title will be released in October by St. Martin's Press ($29.95).

It's the third travel series Palin and the BBC have collaborated on - the others were ``Around the World in 80 Days'' and ``Pole to Pole,'' which took him from the North to the South Pole.

The previous series provided a natural springboard for this tour, which was longer than the others and was an outgrowth of the increasing prominence of the Pacific Rim in world commerce.

``The Pacific Rim is sort of talked about a lot in Europe,'' said Palin, who resides in London. The Pacific Rim - described by Palin as countries that border the Pacific Ocean (the world's largest) - boasts countries with economies that are growing rapidly and are in a constant state of flux.

``The coastline that unites them is now more than just a physical entity. It is a political and economic state of mind, called, for want of something more poetic, the Pacific Rim,'' Palin writes in the introduction to his book.

With the goal of informing people ``what the Pacific Rim is, what countries there are and what's out there,'' Palin set out on a circle tour of the Pacific Rim countries, including the U.S., Russia, Japan, Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Borneo, Malaysia, Mexico, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia and Canada.

While the time element was daunting (the trip was initially expected to take nine months), ``I didn't have to be persuaded to go,'' he said. ``I love to travel and I'm naturally curious.''

Like the other trips, this trek had an overall master plan but was largely unscripted. Palin and his crew would enter a town, seek out someone who spoke some English and could help them get approval from the proper authorities for filming and then go exploring. Like most travelers, Palin never knew what was going to befall him.

``When I do the journeys, I like to feel I'm the average traveler. I like to present it spontaneously, not like an expert in the field. And generally speaking, we're not absolutely sure (what's going to happen). We do one-take things and so a lot of embarrassing and humiliating things happen,'' Palin said, recalling the Australian Desperate and Dateless Ball, a charity event matching up couples for blind dates via the computer. Palin's date stood him up.

A lot of dangerous and frustrating things happened, as well. He was temporarily stranded in various places, the food ran out in the Amazon, he was caught up in a riot in Korea.

As the hardships compounded, so did the time. The trip grew to more than 270 days. (The crew took a few breaks to ``come home and see our wives and families and save our marriages,'' said Palin, who is married and has three children.)

``We were traveling over mountain ranges in conditions that were dangerous, and all that takes time,'' Palin said. ``And (because of the remoteness of many of the places), many more things were left to chance in this series than the others.''

But as you might expect of a man who made his theatrical debut as Martha Cratchit in Charles Dickens' ``A Christmas Carol'' (he fell off the stage) and went on to be a guiding force as a writer and director for the hilariously bizarre Monty Python Flying Circus troupe, Palin did have some laughs during his odyssey.

He climbed aboard a cow - Udderly Yours, by name - and attempted to ride it during some Australian cow races; he joined New Zealand college freshmen on an ``orientation'' run only to find himself pelted with eggs and slipping in mud; and he tried desperately to locate a bathtub plug in Russia.

``I had such a good time,'' he said. ``If you're prepared to be adventurous, there are great rewards (in traveling).''

Palin's trip started in Little Diomede, a remote island in the Bering Strait that belongs to the United States. Only 118 people live in Little Diomede; they hunt beluga whales in boats made of walrus skin, live in houses on stilts above the rocky shore and somehow deal with the abominably cold weather.

``I thought our starting point should be dramatic,'' Palin said. ``There's a 50-mile gap between America and Russia in the Bering Strait. There're two little islands - one is Russian and the other is American.''

Once out of Little Diomede, he found himself stranded on Kodiak Island in Alaska. ``I had a very bad cold and a sore throat and I thought, `This is just the first week and already I'm a wreck,' '' Palin said.

But he forged ahead, taking along what he considers essential baggage for a traveler: patience, tolerance and an adventurous spirit.

``You've got to play it by their rules, absorb their culture,'' he said about visiting foreign countries. ``And you've got to have your eyes open rather than your prejudices confirmed. I think that's an important thing about travel - it is a learning process.''

With that attitude, delightful adventures and fascinating people awaited him along the way.

In the Peruvian rain forest, after a wild river ride, he found himself in an incredible setting. ``You get there after this very turbulent ride down the rapids and it's quiet,'' he said. ``And because it's so quiet, there are butterflies, the size of which I've never seen, in bright blue and parakeets flying about in bright yellow and green. It's like the garden of Eden. It's sort of awesome, like a cathedral.''

Such images are indelible, but it is the people who make traveling a joy, Palin said. ``You can look and marvel (at the places), but you can't take it back with you except in pictures,'' he said. ``But the people who live there - if you can make some sort of communication with them ...''

He remembers with some fondness his meeting with Igor Nosov, his guide in Siberia and the most memorable character of the entire trip.

``He was a `Henry VIII' figure. He taught me this Russian song (`Poliushko Pole') and thanks to Igor, I end the (episode) singing this song with the Russian Pacific Fleet Choir,'' Palin said, adding with some sadness that Igor has since died.

Despite the joys of the journey, Palin said he wouldn't undertake a trip of such scope again.

``I don't think we would be as lucky,'' he said.

Palin's Picks

After nearly a year of traversing 50,000 miles worth of countries along the Pacific Rim, Michael Palin confesses to having a few favorites. Here are his top seven countries (he couldn't manage 10 and couldn't stop at five):

1.Mexico: ``I would like to spend more time in Mexico. We only spent a week there and I was quite taken with it.''

2.Siberia: - ``Russia is just so enormous.''

3.Peru: ``For its sheer diversity.''

4.Colombia: ``It has a very bad name (because of crime and drugs), but it's very beautiful. If it could get itself straightened out, it could be one of the major tourist destinations in the world.''

5.U.S.A.: ``For its combination of freedom, technology and the sheer size of L.A. itself . . . And it's a bit like coming home.''

6.Chile: ``For its diversity, from the ice fields in the north to the desert.''

7.Philippines: ``I like exuberant places.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--color) Atop the ruins of the Peruvian city of Machu Picchu, Michael Palin takes a breather from his 10-month journey around the Pacific Rim.

(2--color) The beginnings of the Andes in far southern Chile. Michael Palin and his team followed the mountain all the way through South America on their Pacific Rim trek.

(3) Pacific Rim explorer Michael Palin at a Buddhist temple in Borobudur, Java.

Basil Pao/Ex Prominent Television

Box: Palin's Picks (see text)