Apr. 11, 2003
I took a taxi from the hotel to the airport (15 minutes, $6). Five days
after this day was
going to be the 5-year anniversary of the overthrow of
Pol Pot's regime. Approximately
1.7 million people were killed
during a 4-year period.
Three hours later, I arrived at Manila's airport
after going through Bangkok Airport. I
took a 3-hour taxi ride to
Subic Bay and met my friend at about 12:30am.
Apr. 12, 2003
My friend and I had breakfast at Vasco's restaurant, located on the bay.
Afterwards, my friend, one of his friends, and I played 9 holes of golf.
We each had 2
caddies -- a regular one and one in training.
Each of them were between 17 and 20
years old. The course was
difficult because is was lined with trees and also had water on
nearly
every hole.
While we were playing, my friend's girlfriend and one of her friends were taking
a bus
ride from Angeles to Subic Bay. We met them at the bus
terminal and went to dinner.
After that, we took her friend to her aunt's
house and the three of us went to a local bar
where we spent the rest of
the night before we returned to my friend's apartment to
sleep.
Apr. 13, 2003
After we woke up, we went to my friend's house. Along the way,
we saw some
wild monkeys playing along the side of the road and I took a
picture of them. At the
house were several Filipino people -- two
men, five women, and one baby. He had
expected his girlfriend to
bring women with her, not families! After a few minutes, my
friend,
his girlfriend, and I left, picked up another one of his friends, and we drove
3-1/2
hours up to Angeles. It was a 2-lane highway. However,
along the way, it became a
one-way, 4-lane highway where we occasionally
drove on the dirt on either side of the
highway. We checked in at
The Orchid Inn. Then, we went to their restaurant for
dinner.
After that, we went to several nearby bars for the rest of the night.
Apr. 14, 2003
After breakfast at 10:00am, I took a taxi to the airport and returned to Bangkok. The
Thai New Year ("Songkran Festival") was
under way (from April 11th to 15th). I
learned that the city
Chiang Mai is the most popular place for it. I stayed at the Dynasty
Inn hotel again. After relaxing, I went to the Bus Stop for dinner. (I watched part of the
beginning of the final round of The Masters
golf tournament.) I went to a few bars.