January 28, 2015
I drove from San Diego to Los Angeles and flew from Los Angeles Airport to Taipei,
Taiwan, on the way to Bangkok.   I arrived at 12:45am.   (Refer to the information on
January 30th for more information.)

January 30th
I took a taxi to my hotel -- the Galleria 10 Hotel -- and arrived at 2:30am.   I cleaned up
and went out at 3:15am.   Most bars were closed except one bar on Soi Four/Nana.   So,
I had a couple of beers there.   I met a couple of Finnish men.   We went to a sit-down
street vendor when the bar closed at 4am and ate while drinking a couple more beers.
I returned to the hotel around 6am.   Note: I had plenty of energy since flying from The
United States to Asia doesn't give me jet lag, even though I barely slept during the
14-1/2 hour flight from Los Angeles to Taipei.   I guess that I was simply excited.

January 31st
As you can imagine, I slept in quite late this morning.   (I don't remember when I woke
up.)   After taking a shower, I walked to Sukhumvit Road and went to Sunrise Tacos, a
Mexican restaurant, for lunch.   (Refer to the associated picture of me with two Thai
women wearing Mexican costumes.   (When have you ever seen that?!)   I emailed a
New Zealander (Kiwi) who lived in Bangkok for about 10 years and with whom I had
communicated with for years.   We agreed to meet at a bar that night.   Afterwards, I
went out and bought some things for the next morning's breakfast since I was going to
take a minibus/minivan, bus, or taxi to Pattaya fairly early the next morning. After
dropping them off in the hotel, I went out again and ate dinner.   Afterwards, I went to
the bar that we agreed to meet at.   He wasn't there when I arrived.   So, I met the
owner (British), the manager (American), and another American who had lived in
Bangkok for 22 years.   Later, my friend arrived and we caught up on a few things,
including his plans to return to New Zealand in about two months.   Afterwards, I went
out to a few more bars and returned to the hotel relatively early so that I could get a
ride to Pattaya the next morning.

February 1st
I ate breakfast in my room and checked out of the hotel.   I got lucky because a minivan
had just dropped off a customer at the hotel and he agreed to drive me to Pattaya for a
pretty good rate -- 1,200 baht.   He asked if it was okay if he picked up his family
because they would want to go there, also.   I told him that it was no problem because I
was in no hurry.   So, we picked up his wife and his two daughters.   (Refer to associated
picture.)   His English was very good and he was the type of good Thai person that you
hear about -- very friendly, very talkative, wants to know everything about a foreigner's
country, etc.
It took about two hours to get to Pattaya.   He drove me directly to my hotel and I
checked in.   O-o-oh, it was not a nice one!   In particular, the walls were scuffed, they
needed paint, there was no refrigerator, there was no Wi-Fi, and I had the closest room
to lobby and, thus, it was very noisy.   But what does one expect for 750 baht when
within walking distance of "all of the action"?   After getting settled in, I went out and
looked for a nicer hotel.   I went to the hotel that I had previously booked and later
cancelled when I had my friend find a less expensive one for me.   It turns out that they
charged the same rate -- 750 baht -- and the rooms were noticeably better.   Funny
thing, it would have cost me 1,000 baht more per night if I would have had the room
through an agency.   Wow, about $30 more for a $23 hotel!
After returning to my hotel, I texted my friend.   We agreed to get together for lunch.
He arrived at my hotel and we went to lunch at Dream Hotel.   It has a relatively nice
eating area and a person can watch the traffic on Second Road.   After lunch, we
agreed to get together later that afternoon and do some bar-hopping.   And boy, did we!
The next day, my friend said that we went to around seventeen bars that night.
Fortunately, I drank a large bottle of bottled water before I went to bed or else I might
have had a VERY bad hangover the next morning!

February 2nd
Since I had partied with my friend until early in the morning the previous night, I woke
up around 10:30 that morning.   I ate breakfast, packed my bags, and checked out of
the hotel.   I walked down the street and checked into the hotel that I had mentioned
above that I had originally reserved.   After relaxing for a while, I received a text
message from my friend, asking what I was going to do that day and night.   I said that
my schedule was wide open since this would be the final day and night that he and I
could spend together before his wife and daughter arrived the next day.   We got
together for lunch at a food court inside a large, local store building and then went
shopping at that store.   I bought several things including breakfast items and a
"sweating hand towels".   (Unfortunately, I need such towels whenever I'm walking
around during the days.   And sometimes even during the nights!)   When we finished,
we rode his motorcycle back to our hotels   (He had gotten a room in a hotel near mine
in order to simplify the partying process.)   and we took a break ... in our separate
rooms in our separate hotels.   Before separating, we agreed to do the same thing that
we had done the previous night, but that we wouldn't have such a "blowout".   We got
together a couple of hours later, took his motorcycle, and met a couple of his friends
from the United Kingdom at a beer bar in Jomtien.   We spent a couple of hours there
and then returned to Pattaya.   After relaxing for a couple of hours, we got together
again, had some dinner, hopped on a baht bus, went to some beer bars, and had some
drinks and fun.   We stuck to our plan, didn't go as crazy as the night before, and went
to bed relatively early that night.   (Don't ask me what time.)

February 3rd
Since my friend was "with family", I was on my own to entertain myself.   I ate
breakfast at the Dream Hotel's restaurant again (as I had done the previous morning
with my friend).   BTW, it was about 100 yards from my hotel ... very convenient.
Afterwards, I went to a local day market and bought some t-shirts that I could wear
during my trip.   Stating the obvious, clothes in Thailand are much less expensive than
clothes in the West.   So, I take very few clothes with me and buy some while I'm there.
I bought three t-shirts at 180 baht each.   Truth is, I could have haggled for cheaper
prices, but at about $5.60 per shirt, no problem.   Afterwards, I returned to the hotel,
brushed my teeth, took a quick shower, and relaxed on the bed while watching a movie.
(You'll notice that I will do a lot of relaxing on beds while watching movies during the
trip.   After having heat stroke about ten years before then, high heat and humidity
drain energy out of me quickly.   So I needed to relax once in a while or else I would be
a zombie during a lot of the trip.)   The rest of the day was also typical of what I would
do during most of my trip.   I ate lunch between 11:30 and 1 o'clock, I returned to the
hotel room and relaxed for a while, then I would go out for a couple of drinks, then I
would eat dinner, then I would go out bar-hopping, and finally I would return to my
room ... feeling no pain.

February 4th
After waking up, I ate breakfast, took a shower, and walked along Beach Road.   It was
great to get some exercise and the breeze was great!   I spent most of the day resting.
That night, I met my friend, his wife, her cousin, and my friend's daughter for dinner.
We ate at a restaurant in Central Mall that is located on Beach Road.   It was an
all-you-can-eat place.   Interestingly, they had a 1-1/2 hour time limit.   The food
included small sushi rolls, ingredients for making something similar to sukiyaki, and
various other items.   Afterwards, I went out to a few bars by myself.   One thing that I
REALLY enjoyed doing that night was watching a rock 'n roll band in a bar playing
60's and 70's music.   I believe that the members were Filipinos.   The reason is because
their English was very good and Thais' English is usually not that good.   Either way, it
was fun to do something somewhat different.

February 5th
I was catching a minibus/minivan ride to Hua Hin at 10 o'clock this morning.   So, I
woke up around 7:30, cleaned up, ate breakfast in my room, packed my bags, and
caught a taxi on Second Road.   I gave the driver the piece of paper on which I had
written the address of the place where I need to catch the minibus.   I also explained
that it was located about two kilometers away from where we were at the time, as told
to me by the minibus service representative.   Sure enough, he took me to the wrong
place.   And that was AFTER he had spoken with the representative when I called her
in order to give him the details of their location.   So at the wrong location, we got back
into the taxi and drove to the correct place.   Fortunately, I had arrived about 15
minutes ahead of the minibus' departure, so I was there in plenty of time.   At the
designated time, all of the passengers got onto the minibus and we headed to Hua Hin.
I got lucky because I sat in the front seat next to the driver.   The other passengers were
more or less crammed into seats behind us.   Also, the driver was very friendly with me,
maybe because I helped him to get the bags into the back of the van.   (There were so
many of them that I had to hold them in place while he shut the back door.)   When we
arrived in Hua Hin, all of the passengers, except me, got out at the same location.
After showing the driver the business card for my hotel (that I had kept from four years
before), he said that he would drive me directly to my hotel.   Really?!   It turned out
that the main stop for the minibus line in Hua Hin was directly across the street from my
hotel.   Ha! Ha! -- It wasn't THAT inconvenient for him to drive me directly to my hotel!
Since the drive from Pattaya, around the bottom of Bangkok, and to Hua Hin took about
five hours, I simply unpacked, took a shower, and relaxed on the bed for a couple of
hours while watching a movie.   After "recovering", I walked around until I found a
restaurant where I had dinner.   (The reason why I write "recovering" is because riding
in a minivan in Thailand can be a harrowing experience since the drivers are probably
the MOST aggressive drivers of any type of vehicles in Thailand.   They are even more
aggressive than Bangkok taxi drivers!)   After dinner, I walked around town for a while,
burning off some of the dinner.   I ran across some streets that had some bars and I went
into a couple of them.   The bars and people are significantly more laid back than the
bars and people who work in Pattaya.   THAT was a nice change!   I was still pretty tired
from the minibus ride.   So I went to bed earlier than usual that night.

February 6th
Ah-h-h, my first full day in my favorite city in Thailand -- Hua Hin!   As I've written in
previous trip "reports", Hua Hin is my favorite for a few reasons.   One reason is
because it has a relaxed atmosphere.   Another reason is that it is on the water.   And a
third reason is that, from my experience, it has the best seafood in Thailand.   Why?   I
don't know.
Per my hotel reservations, I had breakfast at the hotel.   It is a bare-bones hotel and
does not have an eating area.   So, I ate breakfast in the rock-covered parking lot
behind the hotel.   Since it was my first day in my favorite Thai city, I decided to simply
walk around town and get reacquainted with it.   It turned out to be a fruitful walk
because I was able to buy some gifts/souvenirs for my family and friends back home.
Later, I had lunch at a street-side restaurant.   I chatted a while with a European man
and his Thai wife/girlfriend who sat at the table next to me.   I informed them that I
wanted to buy some groceries, including bandages, and asked them where I could go.
The woman told me that there was a very reasonably-priced local department store
about two blocks down the road from the restaurant.   After finishing eating, they took
me directly to the front steps of the store.   Wow, Thai people can be accommodating!
So, I bought several things that I needed.
Needless to say, I was somewhat burned out from all of the walking.   Let alone the heat
and humidity!   So, I returned to the hotel and spent somewhere around three hours
"recovering".   Then, I followed my "standard routine".   I walked around until I found
a restaurant and ate dinner then.   I walked around until I found someplace where I
could have a few beers.   I went to four or five places and then I returned to my hotel.

February 7th
This morning, I had an idea.   I went down to the kitchen and ordered breakfast.   I
asked one of the women if I could eat breakfast at the table on the balcony attached to
my room.   She answered 'Yes', so I sat on a couch in the lobby, waiting for my
breakfast (scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast.   When it was finished, she brought it to
me, I took it to my room's balcony, and ate it peacefully and alone.
The previous night, I spoke with some people about visiting the king's palace in nearby
Cha-am.   After speaking with about four people, I was informed that the palace was
not open to the public.   Now that's strange because I went to Hua Hin in 2012 and they
said that it was open to the public every day except Wednesdays.   Maybe something
had changed in three years.   I don't know.   So, I wasn't able to accomplish one of my
goals during the trip.
While I was out, I had some lunch along the main road that goes through town --
Highway 4 or Phetkasem Road.   After that, I returned to my hotel room with some
more "loot" (gifts/souvenirs) and relaxed for a while.   (I might have even taken a short
nap.   I don't know because I would have been asleep.)   Afterwards, I did a typical
daily routine that I haven't mentioned yet and got on my laptop to check my email
messages and the latest news.   I took a shower and headed out to look for some fun.   I
must have found it because I don't remember it.   While I was out, I ate some dinner,
although I don't remember that either.   Then, I went out looking for more fun.   Now
THAT'S probably the reason why I don't remember some of the things that I did that
night!   But I do remember that I returned to the hotel around 1am.   Why I remember
that, I don't know.

February 8th
I followed the same routine that I did the previous morning ... eating breakfast at the
table on the balcony attached to my room.   BTW, I picked up some apple juice from
the local department store two days before and drank that with my breakfast each
morning. It was a great routine and it was sad to think that I would be leaving Hua
Hin the next day.   One thing that I haven't mentioned was that I had gotten blisters on
my pinky toes. It started during the third or fourth day that I was in Pattaya.   Because
of it, I had to put small bandages on my toes every morning in order to prevent them
from getting worse.   Fortunately, it wasn't bad enough stop me from doing whatever I
wanted to do.
UN-fortunately, today was my last full day in my favorite city.   I had researched what
to do between this day and February 15th when one of my friends would arrive in
Bangkok and I would spend nearly the rest of my trip with him.   So, I had made last-
minute plans to go to Chiang Rai (where I'd never been before) and while I was there,
go to Burma/Myanmar (where I'd also never been before).   And I did the
same-old, same-old from the previous days in Hua Hin.   I won't bore you with the
details since you know the routine.

February 9th
My flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai was at 1:55pm that day.   So after cleaning up,
eating, and packing, I took a 2-1/2 hour minibus ride at 10am from Hua Hin to
Bangkok.   Then I took a 20-minute taxi ride from the bus station to Don Muang
International Airport.   I arrived at the airport at about 1 o'clock.   Perfect!   Note that
since I was taking a domestic flight, plus I didn't have any bags to check in, I could
check in as late at 15 minutes prior to the flight.
The Air Asia flight to Chiang Rai was smooth and eventless.   (Yes, this is the same
airlines that had a crashed plane two months beforehand.)   I met an American from
New Hampshire while looking for a taxi (which wasn't easy) and we shared a 10-
minute taxi ride from the airport to our hotels.   Fortunately, they were within one
block of each other.   Since we were both traveling alone, we agreed to get together for
dinner and exchanged phone numbers.
The Wangcome Hotel is a rather old hotel, but it was fine for me.   Plus, everything was
within walking distance from it.   After unpacking and taking a quick shower, I relaxed
for a couple of hours.   Then, I called "my new friend" and we agreed to meet at my
hotel at 7 o'clock and go out.   We met at the designated time and place and walked
about three blocks and had skewers at a street-side vendor's stall for dinner.   Before
the food had been cooked, he walked across the street and picked up a few bottles of
Thai beer to drink with the food.   (If I hadn't been to Southeast Asia before, I would
have been VERY apprehensive about eating such food at such a place.   Especially with
the dogs walking around.   But street food is always good and as far as I can remember,
I never got sick from eating such food.)
When we finished, we walked back to my hotel's area and hit a few beer bars that are
located one block away from it.   It was a good time and there were several Americans
in a couple of the bars.   Usually, the majority of foreigners in Thailand are from
Europe.   Maybe there were more Americans in Chiang Rai because the weather there
can be somewhat cooler than other parts of Thailand.   After a couple of hours, my
friend and I returned to our respective hotels.

February 10th
That morning, I ate breakfast, per my reservation, at the Wangcome Hotel's restaurant.
It was a standard/typical buffet-type arrangement with cereal ingredients, fruits,
breads, and Asia-style noodle and rice dishes.   After eating breakfast, I returned to the
room, brushed my teeth, and decided to walk around town to get familiar with it.   (I
decided that I would spend the next day going on the trip to Myanmar.)   I walked
around, primarily visiting temples that were within walking distance of my hotel.
While I was out, I looked for a family-owned laundry shop.   After not seeing one after
a couple of hours, I stopped in a locally small business and ask them if they could
direct me to one.   The man, who could speak VERY good English, said that there was
no such thing and that I'd have to get my laundry done via my hotel.   Well, either he
didn't understand my question or he was pulling my leg.   Knowing that such
establishments exist (as they do throughout Southeast Asia and the South Pacific), I
continued my search.   I encountered a neighborhood in about five minutes and there
were two of them side-by-side.   I went to one of them and asked how much they
charged for cleaning.   She responded that it was 60 baht (almost two dollars) per one
kilo(gram).   So, I returned to the hotel, collected my clothes ... in one of the hotel's
laundry bags, and gave her the bag.   She said that it would be done at 6pm ... about
seven hours later.   I returned to the hotel and calculated how much it would have cost
to have the same load of laundry handled by them.   425 baht.   Ah-h-h, experience!
I had eaten lunch on my way back to the hotel.   So after doing the "laundry math", I
took a break for a few hours.   I texted the American who I met the previous day to
plan on getting together sometime that day and/or night.   He had left earlier to go and
visit some sightseeing spots outside of Chiang Rai's city limits and said that we could
get together that night for partying.   He wasn't sure when he would return from
touring.   So, we didn't plan on getting together for dinner.
I ate dinner at the outdoor food court that was located about three blocks from our
hotels.   Wow, it was huge!   I am guessing that, with all of the tables and chairs, it could
hold around 600 people.   And it was nearly full.   Interesting, one of the stalls sold
sushi rolls.   (I didn't try them.) My friend and I got together at about 7:30 that night,
meeting in front of my hotel.   As we had done the previous night, we went to a few bars
along a road that was located near my hotel.   We must have had fun because the time
flew and we left the area around 12:30am.

February 11th
This was the day!   I would finally go to Burma/Myanmar.   The previous day, I had
gone to the bus station, which was adjacent to the food court, and discovered when
buses took the 1-1/2 hour trip from Chiang Rai to Thailand's border with Myanmar.
After cleaning up, eating breakfast, and packing some things for the trip, I arrived at
the bus station about 15 minutes before the 9:30am (I think that it was the time that I
arrived.) local bus left.   And it WAS a local bus -- vinyl seats, ages-old drapes for the
windows, and no air conditioning.   Fortunately, it was February and air conditioning
wasn't necessary.   But you couldn't beat the price! -- 30 baht or a little less than one
dollar.
At the bus station, I took a tuk-tuk to the border.   (It also cost 30 baht.)   At the
border, I learned that I needed to get a copy of the photo page of my passport book,
take both it, the book, and 500 baht to the immigration office inside the building that
straddles the border.   The personnel were very friendly and helpful and I was on my
way in less than 5 minutes.
I crossed the border and, since vehicles travel on the right-hand side of the road there,
I also crossed the road.   (It wasn't really necessary since I was walking, but I wanted
to "fit in".)   I walked down the road until I reached the 'T', having to go either left or
right.   I chose right and walked for about 1/4 mile, observing things and taking some
photos.   BTW, I was careful and made sure that I didn't carry anything in my hands on
the road-side ... in order to avoid potentially having someone snatch something out of
my hands.   I turned around and returned to the 'T' in the road.   I went into some sort
of tribute that was located directly across from the border entrance/exit.   There was a
statue of what appeared to be a Burmese warrior from, probably, centuries gone by.
After taking a few pictures and a couple of Burmese teenagers practicing their English
with me, I walked down the other side of the road.   This time, I walked one block off of
the main road, taking in more of a local flavor of the area.   After walking about three
blocks, I returned to the main road and returned to the street leading to the entrance
to Myanmar.   I walked down a small alley adjacent to the street and stuck my head in
a few shops that were selling gifts/souvenirs.   In the third shop that I entered, I bought
six statuettes ... one of them given to me for free from the lady in the shop.   (That
indicated that I had probably overpaid for the items.   Oh, well.)   When returning to
the entrance to Myanmar, I decided that I would buy a few more gifts/souvenirs.   I
walked along a street that was covered with large, golfing-type umbrellas.   There
must have been 250 or 300 of them!   I stopped in one shop that was selling Polo-style
shirts and asked them how much they cost.   One of the women responded "75 baht".
75 baht?   (That's about two dollars and 35 cents ... at the exchange rate at that time.)
Well, I figured that they were probably low quality, so I only bought one of them.   I
was to learn later that they weren't bad at all, surviving four washings afterward.   (I
should have bought TEN of them!)   After buying the shirt, I walked along another
street-and-a-half and returned to the border.   I had a VIP pass, so I was able to walk
past several other non-foreign people who were in line and proceed across the border,
back to the same office where I gave the personnel my passport book.   (Yes, they keep
your passport book until you return.)   SO, I reversed my trip and returned to my
hotel around 3:30pm.
Wow, I was exhausted!   So, I took a quick shower and took a LONG nap.   I ate a
restaurant that was located on the road with the bars near my hotel.   After finishing, I
told my friend that I had finished eating and was ready to get together for some drinks.
But it didn't take many and both of us were down, "stick a fork in us", and returned to
our respective hotels around 10:30.

February 12th
This day was mostly a blur.   The only things that I remember doing were returning to
the laundry shop to get some more clothes cleaned and walking around town, checking
out more temples.   Oh yeah! -- I vaguely remember partying with my American friend
that night.   It must have been fun, since I don't recall much about that day!

February 13th
This was the day that I was to return to Bangkok.   My plane took off at 15 minutes
after noon.   So, I took care of things at the hotel and arrived at the airport at about
11:30.   The 1-hour and 15-minute flight was wonderfully eventless.   In Bangkok, I
checked into the same hotel that I had been at when I was there on January 29th and
30th -- Galleria 10 Hotel Bangkok.   I checked in, unpacked, cleaned up, and took a
break.   This was the last night of my trip where I would be traveling on my own.   I
would meet one of my friends the next day in Angeles City, The Philippines.   I decided
to take it easy that night because it was possible that my friend would want to go crazy
the next night during our first time together.   So, I only went out to a couple of bars
that night after eating dinner.

February 14th
It wasn't a very Happy Valentine's Day for me.   The reason is because of what I dealt
with when traveling from Bangkok to Manila.   The issues included, amongst others,
the following --
1) It took two hours to get checked in and go through immigration; I arrived at the
plane after everyone else was already seated
2) The guy standing behind me in the check-in line spoke during the entire 30 minutes
3) The guy sitting next to me took up 1-1/2 seats and we were bumping elbows and legs
throughout the trip
4) The guy sitting behind me kept raising and lowering the dinner tray
5) The guy sitting next to the guy sitting behind me talked through the entire 2 hour
and 50 minute flight
6) The food was being served and when it got three rows from my row, the pilot turned
on the fasten seat belt sign and the flight attendants stopped serving the food; it took
the pilot 30 minutes to fly to a higher altitude and then turn off the fasten seat belt sign
7) The pilot flew poorly, including not turning off the fasten seat belts sign until people
were already leaving the plane
8) Is it standard practice or was it an indication how poorly the pilot flew the plane
when the passengers clapped after he announced that we had arrived in Manila?
9) The driver from Devera Hotel who picked me up at the airport arrived 30 minutes
late
Ah-h-h, I feel better! ;)

February 15th
Since I didn't get to bed until 3:30am the previous night, I didn't wake up until
10:30 this morning.   I called my friend and we ate breakfast at a place next door to the
hotel -- Angel Bakery.   Afterwards, we went shopping at a local supermarket -- JJ
Market -- and bought things for breakfast for the next couple of days.   We also "loaded
our phones" with time.   Then, we returned to the hotel and had a couple of free ice
teas at the restaurant on the top floor.   I was also somewhat hungry and grabbed a
snack.   It was a good thing that I did it because we didn't eat for quite a while.   We
returned to our rooms and relaxed for a while, knowing that we were going to go out
later.   And that's what we did, going to a few bars until about midnight.   We went to
bed relatively early because of all of the traveling that day.

February 16th
I work up around 9 o'clock and ate some breakfast including orange juice, bananas,
and raisin bread.   When pouring the orange juice, I realized that it was actually
concentrate, being VERY thick, rich, and sweet.   I diluted it by adding water to the
glass with a 4-to-5 mixture.   Afterwards, I took a shower and took care of a few
errands at the nearby SM Mall.   I bought earplugs (after going to about eight stores
that people recommended, finally finding them at a sporting goods store), bought a
souvenir, and ate lunch at a restaurant named Max's.   I returned with my things to the
hotel and then went out for a few beers at a bar next door.   Later, my friend met me
there, I finished my beer, and we went to dinner at a Korean BBQ restaurant.
Afterwards, we went out to a few bars, had a few San Miguel beers, returned to the
hotel, and I "slept like a baby".

February 17th
I woke up at 8:30.   My friend and I were going to take a flight to Cebu that night.   So,
after eating breakfast in my room again with the things that I had bought the previous
day, I packed my bags in order to check out of the hotel.   I met my friend in the lobby
at 12:30 and we went to take care of a few things such as loading our phones with time.
We decided to take advantage of the six hours before getting a taxi ride to the airport
by checking out some of the other hotels in the area.   Among them included La
Teresita (Standard: Php 1250; my friend's second favorite hotel in Angeles City),
Apollonia Royale Hotel (Junior Standard: Php 1250), DM Resodemte (Junior
Standard: Php 1150), Juanita's Guest House (Standard: Php 950), Queens Hotel
(pricey), and Penthouse Hotel (Superior Suite: Php 4500).   The only hotel that I
wanted to check out that I didn't was Tiger Hotel.   According to their Web site, they
charged Php 1150 for a standard room.   After checking out the hotels, we went to a bar
and had a couple of beers.   Then, we went to a ChopStix restaurant to eat something
prior to the flight.   After finishing, we walked across the street to an area with taxis,
jeepneys, and tricycles and found the taxi driver that we met earlier when arranging for
a ride to the airport.   He took us to our hotel, I changed into some clothes that didn't
smell like cigarette smoke, and we took a 10-minute taxi ride to the airport.   We
arrived at 6:50, so we had about two hours and ten minutes to kill prior to the plane
departing.   (That's when I added this part of the trip to this Web page and that's why
it's so detailed.)   The flight to Cebu was eventless.   We took a taxi to our hotel -- Rajah
Park Hotel -- unpacked, cleaned up, and went out.   First, we had dinner.   Afterwards,
my friend wanted to check out a disco that we had seen while we were finding a place to
eat.   So, we went there.   After about one hour, I told him that I was tired and wanted to
return to the hotel.   He was having fun, so he stayed at the disco.   I walked about 1,000
yards to the hotel, took a shower, and slept like a baby ... again.

February 18th
Sometimes, you get what you pay for.   Although Agoda rated Rajah Park Hotel
("RPH") in the high 7's, it is not a hotel that I would recommend.   The reasons are --
(1) It is old, and it shows; (2) The furnishings are also quite old (sheets, pillow cases,
towels, drapes); (3) No bathroom toiletries are provided other than a toothbrush,
toothpaste, and a small bar of soap; (4) The air conditioning system is as low-budget as
one can get ... not able to provide enough cool air; (5) There are no safe deposit boxes
("safety boxes") in the rooms; and (6) It is not possible to access the wireless network
unless either (a) Close enough to the elevators where the routers (?) are located, or (b)
You have a powerful enough cell phone.   Notes -- (1) I had a deluxe room and my
friend had a superior room.   Even the superior room was not what I would rank as a
7.4 (by Agoda), even as a corner room.   Summary: Don't go to RPH unless you're "on
a budget"; and (2) I found a Linksys WAP300N router installed on the side of the
closet in my room -- it appears to not be helping to boost the wireless signal enough to be
effective.
I woke up around 8:45.   I ate breakfast while updating this Web page.   I texted my
friend about going out to do some shopping and research the city, but he was busy.   So,
I went out by myself.   One thing that I did was to check out MC Suites ... a hotel that I
originally planned on staying at but whose reservation policy was so difficult that I
decided to go with someone else.   (They require wiring money to their bank in order to
make a reservation -- a rather costly transaction for customers from overseas.)   The
hotel charged Php 1600 for a Double Standard room, Php 1960 for a Double Deluxe
room, and Php 2620 for a Double Family room.   I also checked out the nearby
Executive Pension hotel.   They hotel charged Php 960 for a Twin Single room and Php
1320 for both a Family room and a Triple Sharing room.   Comparing their qualities to
the RPH, RPH was the best, even with its negative characteristics!
(Hey, the fan in the bathroom started working today!   Whew-hew!)
At about 6:45, my friend and I took a taxi to go to a restaurant named "Social" that
was located in Ayala Mall.   Wow, the traffic can be nasty during rush hour.   Speaking
of that, the reason why we took a taxi was because my friend pointed out that he lived
on the other side of the mall from us and it was easier for him if we took a taxi than for
him to pick us up.   We met him at 7:15 (Oops -- late!) and had a good time catching up
and discussing old times.   He informed us that Ayala Mall was less than one year old
and that Cebu was experiencing similar new growth all around town.   Afterwards, the
three of us went out to a bar and had a beer.   My friend returned home and my
traveling buddy and I went out to a couple of other bars, having one beer each at them.
We returned to the hotel at 12:45.   (12:45?!   Wow, how time flies!)

February 19th
After getting a good night's sleep the previous night, my friend and I decided to so
some sightseeing around Cebu's port/waterfront area.   First, we walked two blocks to
a nearby museum.   It was closed due to it being the first day of The Lunar New Year
(aka, "Chinese New Year").   Then, we took a taxi ride from the hotel to the church
Basilica del Santo Nino ("Basilica of Saint Baby" -- the baby Jesus).   We walked inside
the grounds for a while, taking pictures and looking at many paintings within the
church.   Afterwards, we walked three blocks to the bay.   Several children were
swimming around and playing in the water.   Then, we walked to Fort San Pedro that
was built around 1735.   Next, we took a 5-minute taxi ride to an area with a couple of
sights -- a two-story high sculpting with Spaniards, Filipinos, a galleon, and a few
churches.   Then, we walked across the street to "The Yap - San Diego Heritage
wHouse".   One of the employees stated that it was believed to be one of the oldest
existing residential structures in The Philippines (aka, "PI").
We decided to return to the hotel because we needed to get some rest.   One of the
reasons was that we had a plane to catch at 5am the next morning ... about 13 hours
away.   We had made tentative plans to have dinner again that night with my Cebu
friend but his son, one of his three children, was sick and he needed to stay home and
help take care of him.   Later, my traveling friend texted me with an invitation to attend
the birthday party in the lobby for one of the receptionists at RPH.   I returned to my
room, cleaned up, and relaxed by watching a movie.   After that, I went to the lobby at
6:05 for the "birthday party".   Guess what?   My friend wasn't there.   After waiting
for ten minutes, I returned to my room and texted him to inform him about where I was.
Five minutes later, he texted me that he was in the lobby after buying a birthday cake.
So, I went to the lobby and he, the receptionist, another hotel receptionist, and I
celebrated the birthday.   She explained that she didn't get together with her Filipino
friends that night for her birthday because she told them that she had to work.   She
planned on getting together with them the next night when she wasn't working.   While
eating the cake for about ten minutes, my friend arranged for the four of us to go to
dinner after 10 o'clock when they finished working.
After returning to our rooms, my friend and I went out to a bar for a few beers ...
killing time until we got together with the women at 10 o'clock for dinner.   During that
time, my friend got a text from the birthday girl for us to meet her and her colleague at
the entrance to a mall about ten minutes away from the hotel by taxi.   We returned to
the hotel, cleaned up, grabbed a taxi, and went to the designated location.   We didn't
see them, so my friend texted the birthday girl.   They arrived five minutes later and we
took a 20-minute taxi ride to a small outdoor bar near the top of a nearby hill (almost
the size of a mountain).   We had one beer there and then took the taxi down the hill to
a French Restaurant -- La Vie de Parisienne.   We had sandwiches there, took another
taxi, dropped them off at their place, and returned to the hotel.   A funny thing about
the restaurant -- It was primarily a sandwich/roll-type restaurant.   When we initially
ordered our sandwiches, the clerk stated that they didn't have any bread.   I turned
around, saw some bread, and said "There's some bread.   How about I buy THAT
bread and you can make sandwiches with it?".   She spoke with the cook/chef and said
that NOW they had bread and that they could make our sandwiches.   They would be
ready in 14 minutes.   (Note: They would be ready in 14 minutes.   Not 15 minutes.   Not
13 minutes.)   Well, they were ready in about 45, or 44, minutes.   Ha! Ha!   (I t might
be funny if you weren't directly experiencing the situation!)
We returned to the hotel at about 2am.   Our flight was at 5am.   We had 1-1/2 hours to
kill until our taxi picked us up.   We packed and rested during that time.   Our taxi
picked us up at 3:30 and took us to the airport, taking 15 minutes.   It turned out that it
was a good thing that we arrived 1 hour and 45 minutes prior to the flight.   The first
reason was that we couldn't initially find the Cebu Pacific Airlines ticket counter.
(The ticket counter was located down a hallway adjacent to the entrance to the security
checkpoint.   Plus, the ticket counter and check-in counter are not the same and a
person cannot get a ticket at the check-in counter.)   The second reason was because I
had a problem with my carry-on bag.   The personnel at the second security
checkpoint.   (Why do they have two security checkpoints?   At a domestic terminal?)
She told me that, after putting my bag on the scale, it was too heavy.   (It weighed 13.4
kilograms.)   I asked "Isn't the maximum weight 20.0 kilograms?"   She said that it was
7.4 kilograms.   I informed her that it was 20.0 kilograms at Clark Airport and that I
carried the bag on during that flight from Clark to Cebu.   She said that policies were
different at different airports within The Philippines.   Really?   REALLY?   Okay.
So, I returned to the check-in counter (not the ticket counter) and checked in my bag.
The agent asked me why I was checking in my carry-on bag since it only weighed 13.4
kilograms.   I informed him that the second security checkpoint informed me that the
weight limit was 7.4 kilograms.   Really?   At that point, and being about 4:50 in the
morning, and being that my plane departed in ten minutes, I "let it go" and didn't fight
it anymore.   (Should I contact Cebu Pacific and inform them about my experience?
What do you think?)   After that, the flight went smoothly, we returned to our hotel,
and I killed the next 6-1/2 hours while I waited for my room to be available at 2pm.
BTW, my friend's room was available at 11am and I hung out with him in it some of the
6-1/2 hours while waiting for my room's availability.

February 20th
Note: When choosing between buying a Globe and a Smart SIM card in The
Philippines, I chose the Globe SIM card.   Wouldn't you know it -- Bad decision.   I
learned from multiple people that, in general, Smart has better connectivity than
Globe.   I learned this lesson the hard way when trying to send messages from my room
at the Devera Hotel.   It would take several minutes ... one time it took 35 minutes! ... to
be able to have a good enough connection to be able to send a message.   It was
necessary, in order to get sufficient connectivity, to either go -- (1) Outside the front of
the hotel, or (2) To the top of the hotel.   Crazy!   Next time, I will buy a Smart SIM
card when I go to PI.
Well, this was going to be a rough day.   As stated in the February 19th notes, I checked
into my room at 2pm.   I was only able to sleep for about one hour and I couldn't sleep
anymore.   Later, my friend and I went to a restaurant where they serve primarily
Korean food and you can sing karaoke while you wait and/or eat.   A funny experience
-- unless you were me at the time.   I ordered a rum and coke from the waitress.   She
brought me a Coke in a can.   When she returned, I said that I wanted a rum and coke.
She returned with rum in a shot glass.   I said 'No, I want to get a rum and coke.   Can
you put rum in a glass with two or three ice cubes?'   That time it worked.   "The third
time is a charm".   Since I was still quite tired from lack of sleep, I went to bed after
finishing dinner and got a good 10 hours of sleep.

February 21st
Today started out the same way as usual ... eating breakfast at Angel Bakery.   I took
care of a few errands such as dropping off laundry at a local shop.   For the first time, I
ate at Jollibee's, PI's equivalent to McDonald's.   (By the way, they DO have
McDonald's restaurants in PI.)   I returned to the room and rested for a while.   Later,
my friend and I went to different restaurant where they serve primarily Korean food
and you can also sing karaoke while you wait and/or eat.   Afterwards, I went to a
couple of bars.   I played pool/billiards with three of the waitresses.   Wow, one of them
was VERY good!   I went to another bar and it was by far the most exciting atmosphere
that I had experienced during my trip.   Perhaps one of the reasons was because it was
Saturday night.   Another more probable reason was because (Korean?) men were
tossing bunches of 20-peso bills down from the third floor of the bar.   I left around 1am
and got a second night of good sleep -- 11 hours.

February 22nd
The previous night involved some fairly late-night partying.   So, I didn't wake up until
just before noon this morning.   I called my friend and we went to breakfast at Angel
Bakery again.   During breakfast, he informed me that he wanted to go and get a foot
massage and have calluses removed from his feet.   (Now there's a subject that I don't
want to discuss while I'm eating!)   After finishing breakfast, we returned to our rooms,
cleaned up, and went to a foot massage place together.   I decided to do the same thing
since my pinky toes had blisters and someone could clean them up for me, along with
getting a foot massage.   It cost Php 260 and she did a very good job.   Well, I think she
did because I haven't had a foot massage for about a decade.   Afterwards, we returned
to our hotel and agreed to contact each other at 7:15 and go to dinner at 7:30.
And that we did.   We met in the lobby and went out to dinner at a Korean BBQ and
KTV ("Karaoke Television") establishment.   The situation is that there is a one-room
restaurant with several tables and a projection television in the front.   People can sign
either before, during, or after eating.   Usually, I don't like singing in public.   (If you've
heard me sing, then you'd understand why!)   But since about half of the people in the
place couldn't understand English, I did it.   Ha! Ha!   We had a good time and
afterwards, we went out to a couple of bars.   We didn't go out for long because we
were all tired from eating too much food.   (And drinking too much Korean-style sake?)
So, we returned to our rooms and crashed.

February 23rd
Today was the day that I planned on checking out other hotels.   The Devera Hotel was
okay, but I wanted to see what else was available.   The one thing that I didn't like
about the hotel was that a person could hear people in the hallway outside the room.
Since that situation existed, that meant that people in the hallway could hear inside the
rooms.   And since I am a light sleeper, without earplugs, I would have had a very
difficult time getting rest.   So after taking a shower and eating breakfast at Angel
Bakery again, I went on my search ...
I saw several hotels as I walked along and around Fields Avenue (aka, "Walking
Street").   I checked out three of them.   The first one was Grace Crown Hotel.   It was
nice but wasn't significantly nicer than Devera Hotel. Their rates started at Php
2400 and went up to Php 5200.     Their Web site was at
http://www.gracecrownhotel.com.   The second hotel was Azzurro.   It was nicer than
Grace Crown Hotel, possibly because a person got what they paid for.   The rates
started at Php 3500 and went up to Php 4500.   I don't know if they did it all of the time,
but they were reducing room rates by 25% at that time.   The third and final hotel that
I checked out was Queen's Hotel.   It is actually located along Tinio Street at the end of
Fields Avenue going to the east.   The rooms, and the hotel lobby, were the nicest of the
three.   Their rates started at Php 2990 and went up to Php 4990.   Their Web site was
at http://www.queensangeles.com.   Last about Queen's Hotel was that at no extra cost,
it was possible to get a room with a view to the east looking at one of the extinct
volcanoes (as opposed to a wall or a street).
After researching hotels, I was feeling quite hot.   So I returned to the hotel, took a
quick shower, and took a nap.   As we did the previous night, my friend and I went to
the Korean restaurant with karaoke.   Afterwards, I went to a couple of bars and my
friend went to a disco.   After a couple of hours, I returned to my room.

February 24th
This afternoon, my friend and I would fly from The Philippines to Thailand.
Specifically, my friend flew from Clark to Hong Kong and then from Hong Kong to
Bangkok.   My trip involved riding from Angeles City to Manila and then flying from
Manila to Bangkok.   As I had done when I went from Thailand to The Philippines, I
took a Devera Hotel ride from Manila to Angeles City, this time going from Angeles
City to Manila.   After having my final breakfast at Angel Bakery, I packed my bags
and left at 10:45.   (BTW, the ride cost Php 2700 or about $62.)   My flight was at
3:35pm, so I had plenty of time -- nearly five hours -- to get to Ninoy Aquino
International Airport to check in for the flight.   Right?   Well, wrong.   It was a
Tuesday at lunch time and Manila was jammed with traffic.   We arrived at the airport
at about 2:30 ... a little more than one hour before the flight.   It's a good thing that I
took a private car ride as opposed to the alternative -- take a tuk-tuk to Clark's bus
station, take a bus to Manila, and take a taxi from Manila's bus station to the airport --
or else I SURELY would have missed the flight.   Fortunately, and as usual, The
Philippines-based airlines was very casual and they didn't require that I arrive two
hours or more prior to the international flight.
The 3-1/2 hour flight to Bangkok was eventless.   However, the person sitting behind me
was 6 foot, 5 inches or taller.   Being that the leg room was very limited for all of the
seats (There was no business section.),   his knees were in my back during the entire
flight.   It got worse when, before I realized the situation, I leaned my seat back
somewhat and his legs were more jammed.   About ten minutes later, he shoved my
seatback forward.   I looked back at him, saw that one of the Thai female flight
attendants noticed what happened, I asked her if there was anything that could be done
about the situation, and she simply responded "Long legs".   Other than that, the only
other incident was that the plane was about 50 minutes late.   Coincidentally, my
friend's flight from Hong Kong landed about 20 minutes after mine landed.   So, we met
at a coffee shop in the basement of Suvarnabhumi Airport near the entrance to the BTS
station.   It is great that they extended the BTS from Sukhumvit Road to the airport.
We took the train to Asoke Road, walked along the bridge over Sukhumvit Road
towards the west and to Soi 12, walked down to the street level, and walked to Galleria
10 Hotel.   After checking in, unpacking, and cleaning up, we went to a street-side
restaurant for dinner and then went bar-hopping.   We weren't out for long since we
were both pretty tired from traveling all day long!   When walking back to the hotel, I
picked up some breakfast items so that I could eat in my room since I decided not to
take the hotel's breakfast option (because it was pricey).

February 25th
Today started off badly.   I started up my laptop and it wouldn't boot up.   I turned it
off a couple of times, trying again to reboot it, and it wouldn't start.   After eating
breakfast in my room, I called my friend and told him about the situation.   He
suggested that I remove the laptop's battery, replace it, and try again.   Hey, it worked!
I'll have to remember that "trick". So, I was able to catch up on email messages and
news both in The States as well as in Thailand.
The day was mostly uneventful.   Honestly, I don't remember what transpired that day.
So, it must have been uneventful.   Ha! Ha!   So, I'm not going to try and guess what
happened and conclude that my friend and I did what we usually did.

February 26th
Well, the day didn't start off well.   I woke up at about 10:30 to discover that I had
knocked my phone off of the bedside table during the night, it fell face down onto the
metal leg of the table, and the glass screen shattered.   But the day got better.   My plan
was to go to Siriraj Hospital and sign the king's "Get Well Soon " book.   After two
BTS ("Bangkok Transportation Service") rides and one taxi ride, all consuming about
two hours, I made it to the hospital.   The staff was very helpful.   I got pictures of my
signature, me wai-ing the king's photo, and other photos of the grounds and people.
Afterwards, two women on the staff, who had previously helped me and who spoke
English very well, took the time to walk me to the street and even hail a taxi for me to
return to the nearest BTS station.   Now this type of friendliness is what
I think of when I think about Thailand!
It was about 2:30 in the afternoon when I returned to our hotel.   The round-trip took
about four hours.   I hadn't eaten since breakfast, so I went to lunch at the Sunrise
Tacos branch on Sukhumvit-Soi 12.   Afterwards, I returned to my hotel and contacted
my friend.   We agreed to get together a few hours later.   And we did ... albeit
somewhat later than a few hours.   We ate dinner and then we went to a disco.   After
about one hour of that, I got tired of it and returned to the hotel.   And I slept VERY
well after the busy day.

February 27th
The day started off badly.   I started up my laptop and, well, it wouldn't boot up.   I
could hear the hard drive click once and that was it.   I tried a few things such as
removing the battery pack and starting the computer without it, but none of the things
worked.   It appeared that I would be without the computer until I returned to The
States.
I ate breakfast and packed my suitcases since I was flying from Bangkok to Phnom
Penh that afternoon.   Afterwards, I contacted my traveling buddy and we met in the
lobby at noon.   We checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to Don Muang
International Airport.   We arrived at the airport in about 25 minutes and waited
nearly three hours until the plane took off.   (My friend likes to arrive early enough for
flights so that he wasn't rushed.   But that's crazy!)   While waiting, we hooked up with
our other traveling friend who had just flown in from The United States four hours
beforehand.   We agreed to get SIM cards when we were at the Phnom Penh airport.
After arriving at Phnom Penh's airport, our other friend and I were standing in the
immigration line.   He suggested that we meet outside the airport.   I agreed.   While
waiting in line, an immigration officer approached me and asked if I had a visa-sized
photo.   I responded 'No' and he said that I would need one prior to getting a visa to
enter Cambodia.   He took my passport, I gave him $5, he went into another room,
copied my passport's photo, and returned to me a few minutes later.   (I learned later
that I could, and should, have made a much less expensive visa-sized photo prior to
going to Cambodia.)   When my name was called, I picked up my visa, paying $30 for it.
I proceeded to the immigration line, went through it with no problem, and walked to
the outside of the airport.   I waited for about 25 minutes and then my friends walked
out.   They asked me where I was and I said that I followed our friend's suggestion
about walking to the outside of the airport after going through immigration and
getting my luggage.   It turned out that they had followed the original plan and had
bought SIM cards while they were inside the airport and were looking for me.   Well,
that plan didn't work!
The taxi ride to our hotel took about one hour.   Since it was about 5:15 in the
afternoon, we hit the middle of rush hour traffic.   We checked into our rooms and one
of my friends discovered that they took him to a room that was a lower quality one than
he had reserved.   I kept his bags in my room while he returned to the hotel's front desk
to get a better quality room.   Meanwhile, I called our other traveling friend and
discovered that the volume on my phone was too low to be able to hear others speaking
to me.   Wow, things had not gone well so far in Phnom Penh!   Also, when unpacking, I
discovered that I had lost a pair of shorts and a shirt.   After we cleaned up, we went
out for dinner and then did some bar-hopping.   After I returned from the hotel, the
front desk called me.   However, I didn't know it because the phone's ringer didn't
work.   A hotel employee went to my room, asked me why I didn't answer the phone,
and I told him that it was because I didn't HEAR the phone.   The employee told me
that he/they would request "an engineer to fix the problem the next morning.   Wow,
what a day!

February 28th
I woke up around 10:30.   Oops, the hotel stopped serving complimentary breakfasts at
10 o'clock!   (My friends had woken up early enough to take advantage of it.)   I called
one of them and they wanted to go shopping at Central Market.   So, we took a 5-
minute tuk-tuk ride there.   One of my friends bought a new suitcase because the one
that he brought on the trip had gotten seriously damaged.   I didn't buy anything but I
kept my eyes open about potential gift/souvenirs and their prices.   After about thirty
minutes, we returned to the hotel and I ate breakfast at a restaurant two doors away.
Afterwards, we returned to the hotel.   I discovered that the temperature was 42
degrees Celsius (about 105 degrees) that day.   Wow!   My friends and I both relaxed
and checked our email messages during the next few hours.   At 8 o'clock, we decided to
go to a bar that one of my friends suggested in order to have some drinks.   While we
were riding in a tuk-tuk, one of my friends was on his cell phone.   He retrieved
something on it, told our other friend to check it out, and held it for my friend to see.
As soon as his arm was fully extended, a man riding on a motorcycle grabbed the cell
phone out of my friend's hand and drove off with it.   My friend yelled out "Hey, you
mother f'ing asshole!" but it was too late and the motorcycle was nearly 100 yards
away in a few seconds.   As they say about countries with such significant poverty, be
careful with your belongings -- even if they're in your pockets!
We got to the bar and it turned out that we had arrived prior to them being open.
Unfortunately, there were no other bars in the area.   So, we got back in the tuk-tuk
and he took us to a different area that had some bars.   We went to a couple of bars and
then we went to dinner.   After dinner, we went to a few other bars.   And after that, we
returned to our hotel.

March 1st
I set my alarm to wake up at 7:30 so that I could take a taxi to the airport for my 10:40
flight from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap.   My body's internal clock kicked in and I woke
up at 6:30.   I laid in bed for about thirty minutes and then got up, took a shower, ate
breakfast, went down to the lobby, and got the taxi that the hotel personnel had
reserved for me the previous night.   Since it was 9 o'clock on a Sunday morning, the
traffic was light and it took about 25 minutes to get to the airport.   (Recall that it took
about one hour to get from the airport to the hotel on the 27th because we were in the
middle of rush hour traffic.)   Since the ride was much quicker than I expected, I
arrived at the airport MUCH sooner -- 2-1/2 hours -- than planned.   Similar to the
quick ride, going through check-in and security was very quick.   The 45-minute flight
to Siem Reap was flawless.   However, I neglected to inform the hotel -- Reaksmey
Chanreas (pronounced "rakes-mee chan-ray") -- personnel about my arrival
information.   As such, the free tuk-tuk ride from the airport to the hotel wasn't waiting
for me.   I got lucky because a woman working in a booth in the airport working for a
taxi company was very helpful and called the hotel for me in order to get a ride.
Fifteen minutes later, a tuk-tuk arrived and took me to the hotel.   (Note that taxis are
available but they aren't free rides to the hotel.)   I thanked the woman as I left and I
got the ride to the hotel.
The ride took about 10 minutes and it was noticeably warmer in Siem Reap than it was
in Phnom Penh.   Wow, the Reaksmey Chanreas Hotel is very nice!   In every way --
front facade, lobby, dining area, and room.   I checked into the hotel and when arriving
in the room, I noticed how nice it was ... at least compared to the hotels that I'd been in
at Phnom Penh, Cebu, and Angeles City.   It was SO nice that I even took photographs
of the bed and the living area!   I also had a nice large window that overlooked the
street, one of the market areas, and some nice-looking, government-type buildings.
However, it turned out that the room was exposed to traffic noise both day and night
plus partying noise at night until midnight.   But that was not a big deal since I was
going to be spending most of my time outside the hotel.   Nevertheless, if a person is
going to stay at the hotel and they want to be able to sleep prior to midnight, I
recommend not getting a room that ends in "01" (e.g., 101, 201, 301).
After unpacking and taking a quick shower, I relaxed on the bed and watched a movie.
(I wasn't planning on doing any temple-hopping since it was already afternoon and it
wouldn't be worth the trouble.)   After the sun set ... and it cooled down, I went down to
the main street and had a crab salad-type of dinner at one of the outdoor restaurants.
Afterwards, I walked around the tourist area, checking out the plethora of restaurants,
pubs, and night markets.   After about thirty minutes, I stopped in one pub and had a
Cambodia (or was it Angkor) draft beer.   It wasn't bad, maybe because it was draft.
One beer was all that I needed and I was ready to sleep.   So, I walked back to the hotel,
took another quick shower, and went to bed.

March 2nd
For the first time, and it turned out to be the only time, during my five-week trip, it
rained.   I woke up to it at about 4:15am and thought "Good, it should help to cool
things down for the day."   Dream on!   This was the first day of two where I would
venture around temples (Khmer: angkors, Thai: wats, English: temples) in Siem Reap.
I woke up around 7:30, took a shower, had a complimentary breakfast, asked one of the
clerks for a bag (to carry my things while walking around (it turned out to be a laundry
bag!), brushed my teeth, packed the bag, and caught a tuk-tuk ride to the temple area
at 9 o'clock.   The previous afternoon, I asked another clerk at the Reaksmey Chanreas
Hotel about the process for seeing temples.   She gave me a printout of three days worth
of potential plans.   The first day included Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, and a smaller
temple.   Days two and three had three different options each.   So all in all, there were
about two dozen different temples that could be visited.   I learned that the standard
procedure is to first go to Angkor Wat prior to any other temple.   The reason is that, as
far as I know, it is the only place where a person can buy a ticket/pass to visit either that
temple any of the other temple.   So, we went there and I bought a two-day pass for $40.
(Yes, they accept American dollars.)   Note: There are three options -- (1) A one-day
pass for $20, (2) A two-day pass for $40, or (3) A two-day pass for $40.)   In a way, I
wished that I was there for three days so that I could get my $40 money's worth.   One
the other hand, when I finished touring the temples, I was glad that it was only two days
because it turned out that both days, the temperature was between 100 and 105 degrees.
Wow!   What was the humidity level? I don't want to know and I don't want to think
about it.   A few days later, I also thought "I'm glad that I did this prior to being 60-
something or 70-something years old because I might not have survived such a tour!
After getting the pass at 9:15, my driver first took me to Angkor Wat.   The temple
grounds are so large, with the 200-meter wide moat protecting it on all sides, that it
took a few minutes to drive around one-third of it in order to reach the parking lot.
And so it began ... experiencing one of the most fascinating historical sites on Earth!   I
walked in and around the temple from about 9:15 to 10:45.   I took countless
photographs.   One regret that I have was that I didn't buy one of the guide books that
people inside the temple were selling.   I could go on and on about what I saw, but I'll
save you from that "boredom".
Afterwards, I returned to the parking lot and my tuk-tuk driver found me.   (It would
have taken a long time for me to find him because there was a multitude of tuk-tuks
parked in the same area.   So it turned out that he found me.)   Next, he drove me to
Angkor Thom.   Prior to going into it, I had lunch at 11:15.   The high temperature and
humidity really drained my energy and I knew that if I didn't eat, I would both suffer
while walking through Angkor Thom plus afterwards.   Although it is somewhat smaller
than Angkor Wat, it is equally, if not more, impressive.   I walked through it from 11:25
to about 1 o'clock.   The only complaint that I have is that it wasn't clear where was the
best place to enter the temple and begin walking through it.   Sure enough, I went in the
exit and walked through it backwards.   Nevertheless, it was a fantastic experience.
Most notable to me were two things.   One, unlike Angkor Wat, there was a lot of
unused (grassy) space inside the grounds.   Two, the carvings on the stones and walls
were much more intricate than the ones in Angkor Wat.   One additional interesting
thing was that the spheres (I'm not sure what is the correct word to describe the stone
structures that "reach for the sky" within the temples.) are four-sided.   On each side is
a face.   I learned that each face is that of a different god -- Buddha faces to the west,
Ganesha faces another direction, and two other gods face the remaining directions.
After walking through the grounds of Angkor Thom, I found my tuk-tuk. He
suggested that I walk around some buildings that were across the road from Angkor
Thom.   He explained that the buildings were each built to honor an individual king
back around 900 years before.   One of them was Angkor Ta Phrom.   After walking
around the five or six buildings, I found my tuk-tuk again and my driver graciously
drove me to the front of Angkor Thom where he took a couple of pictures of me
standing in front of it.   Then, we returned to the hotel at 1:35, arriving 15 minutes
later.   Wow, the breeze while riding in the tuk-tuk, albeit warm, felt good!   As you can
imagine, I was pretty exhausted.   So, I took a shower and rested on my bed from 3:30
to 8 o'clock while watching a couple of movies.   Now THAT'S some professional-level
resting!   As was the case the previous night, after the sun set, I ventured out and found
a different restaurant at which to eat dinner.   I should point out that the restaurant
where I had dinner on March 1st provided me a coupon that discounted the cost of my
next meal with them by 10%.   But I wanted to try something new.   After finishing, I
walked around a bit to check out the various activities.   After about a half an hour, I
walked back to the hotel at 10:30 and didn't waste any time falling asleep.

March 3rd
Today was the second of two days to visit temples.   The previous day, Mr. Kasol drove
me around.   Today, Mr. Sokhoeun drove me.   He was considered the "premier" driver
amongst the ones that were for hire from Reaksmey Chanreas Hotel.   (BTW, I don't
know if those are their first names or their last names, but I DO know that Mr.
Sokhoeun's English was VERY good.)   After waking up at 7:15, showering, finishing
breakfast, brushing my teeth, and packing my laundry bag (Funny!), I met Mr.
Sokhoeun in front of the hotel at 9:20.   He examined the piece of paper that I had with
the options for temples to visit and we went with the first set of temples from the second
set of choices.   The paper called our choice the Grand Tour, and, summarily, I visited
pre Rup, East Mebon, Ta som, Neak Pean, Pheah khan, and the north gate of Angkor
Thom. (See?   I did indeed visit these temples!   How could I make up such names?   Ha!
Ha!)   If anyone cares, I recorded the starting and finishing times while visiting each of
the temples.   They were 9:40 to 11:55 for pre Rup (it is large), noon to 12:30 for East
Mebon, 12:35 to 12:55 for Ta som, 1 o'clock to 1:25 for Neak Pean, and 2:05 to 3
o'clock for Preah kahn.   Although I visited Angkor Thom the previous day, it was
interesting to enter the area from the other side, being able to see a few things that I
hadn't seen the previous day.   I ate lunch from 1:30 to 2 o'clock, about half way
through the tour of six temples.   I ate at another outdoor restaurant that was in a
group of about six restaurants.   The interesting part was that there was no
electricity in that part of the woods/jungle.   So what they did in order to run fans was
to run a portable generator.   It was out of kerosene, so one of the employees took a
can to fill it up.   Amazing!   After returning to the hotel at 3:45, as was the case the
previous afternoon, I took a shower, rested on my bed while watching a couple of
movies, went to dinner after the sun set, walked around a while to check out the various
activities, and returned to the hotel after about a half an hour ... falling asleep almost
immediately.   Last, sometime during the tour, I lost the felt case for my sunglasses.
Wow, another thing lost!

March 4th
That afternoon at 5:30, I was to fly from Siem Reap back to Phnom Penh ... joining my
friends who had been there while I was touring the temples of Siem Reap.   Before that,
after cleaning up and eating breakfast, I decided to walk around the area some more to
"get a final feel" for Siem Reap.   Wow, it was fruitful!   Although I don't enjoy
shopping, I found a day market that was just opening when I arrived and bought
several gifts/souvenirs for my family and friends in The States.   After doing that for
about 1-1/2 hours, I returned to the hotel.   Well, it turned out to be quite a workout
considering the morning's heat and humidity.   So, I relaxed on the bed for a while.
Afterwards, I took a final shower, packed my bags, went down to the lobby, checked
out at 1 o'clock, and checked my email messages with the hotel's customer computers
(since my laptop was dead).   At 3:05, I took a tuk-tuk from the hotel and arrived at the
airport at 3:30.   So, I had over two hours before my flight.   Next time that I take such
a trip, I'm going to try and time my flights better so that they leave prior to 3 o'clock so
that I can check out of the hotels, get rides to the airports, and not wait so long for the
flights!   In case you were wondering, I DID return the laundry bag to an employee at
the hotel's front desk.
The flight to Phnom Pehn took 45 minutes and the taxi ride, being in rush hour like the
previous day that my friends and I arrived in Phnom Pehn, took 45 minutes.   I
contacted my friends and they were still "recovering" from partying the previous night
... and probably the nights that I had been in Siem Reap.   Funny!   We agreed and got
together at 9 o'clock when we went to dinner.   Afterwards, we went out to a disco.   I
was there for about one hour and realized that I was out of energy from my activities
earlier that day.   So, I excused myself and returned to the hotel by myself.   It didn't
take much time for me to fall asleep after taking a shower and hitting the sack.

March 5th
To be honest, this day was a blur.   The reasons (excuses?) are that I -- (1) Went to bed
very late the previous night (nothing new), and (2) Didn't take notes that night or any
of the days soon thereafter.   I should point out that I would be flying both on March
6th and 7th, so that limited the time that I had to write notes.   Nevertheless, I
remember that my friends and I went to a KTV place after dinner that night.   Wow, it
was terrible!   One problem was that the man operating the system for us was having a
lot of problems with it.   (It appeared that he didn't know what he was doing.)   The
other problem was that they had a limited number of English songs available.   (I chose
thirteen songs and they had two of them.)   But we DID have fun anyway.   After that,
my friends went to a disco and I went out bar-hopping by myself.   After a few bars, I
returned to the hotel.   And I'm glad that I didn't go with my friends because they told
me that they didn't return to the hotel until sunrise.   No way!

March 6th
Today, I woke up around 10:30.   I cleaned up, packed, and checked out of my room at
12:30.   I met my friends in the lobby and we went across the street to our usual eating
spot.   We ate lunch, returned to the hotel, and got a taxi ride to the airport.   We left
Phnom Pehn at 5:10 and arrived in Bangkok at 6:05.   Being a Friday night, the traffic
between the airport and the hotel was VERY heavy.   As a result, the ride took about 1
hour and 10 minutes.   After checking into our hotel, unpacking, and cleaning up, we
went out at 9pm.   Unfortunately, I didn't get to bed until 5am.   Ouch!   Since my
March 7th flight left at 5:50pm, it wasn't too big of a deal since I could sleep in until
check-out time.

March 7th
Well, I woke up at 10:15.   Since I wasn't in a hurry being that my plane left at 5:50pm,
I let other people check out before me after I arrived at the hotel lobby.     Meanwhile,
I called by friends to let them know that I would be leaving soon for my plane ride to
Los Angeles.   One of them was too tired to meet me in the lobby.   But one of them
came down and we talked for a few minutes before he returned to his room (because he
was too tired).   Unfortunately, I didn't sleep well.   After eating breakfast in my room,
packing, and checking out of my room at 1:05, I took a 25-minute taxi ride to the
airport.   This time, the check-in and immigration processes were quite quick at about
thirty minutes.   (If you recall, that wasn't the situation on February 14th when it took
about two hours to get through those processes.   It's difficult, if not impossible, to
know if the processes will take a long time or a short time.)   The plane left twenty
minutes late at 6:10.   As a result, several passengers like me who were catching the
connecting flight to Los Angeles had to hurry to get onto the connecting plane.   But
since there were so many passengers involved, the plane was not going to take off until
all of us were on it.   Plus, it was the same airlines -- China Airlines -- and they were
taking responsibility for their own flight being late.   As planned, I met my friend and
his wife from San Diego on the plane.   She sat three rows in front of me and he sat
about thirty rows behind me.   During the flight, an elderly gentleman sitting next to
my friend's wife had some sort of problem.   Nearly all of the flight attendants helped
her to help him.   I later learned that he had passed out.   When I met my friends at
Los Angeles International Airport, I also learned that the man was my friend's wife's
father.   Really!?   Neither of them told me that he was on the flight.   And it turned out
to be a big issue later.   My friend's wife had reserved a full-size car for us to drive
from Los Angeles to San Diego.   Well, altogether, we had about seven large suitcases
and five small suitcases.   As such, there was NO way that the full-sized car that they
had reserved was going to be big enough to handle those bags plus four passengers.
After a 2-hour process of going back and forth to the related rental car office, we
ended up renting TWO full-size cars.   So after all of that and arriving at LAX around
7:30pm, I arrived at my friend's house about five hours later, also exacerbated by a one
hour and ten minute delay due to highway work between Los Angeles and San Diego.
And that automobile situation turned out to be the final "issue" that I faced during my
5-week trip throughout Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.   (Did you just hear a
sigh of relief from me?   Ha! Ha!)

Epilogue
Here are the highlights and "lowlights" about the trip --
Highlights --

1. I went to Thailand, Myanmar (aka, Burma), The Philippines, and Cambodia
2. I was able to spent time in Pattaya with my friend from Leeds, England who I have
   known for about six years
3. My friend and I did sightseeing around Cebu's port/waterfront area
4. I signed the "Get Well Soon" book for the king of Thailand
5. I went to Chiang Rai for the first time
6. I went to Myanmar for the first time
7. I saw a friend in The Philippines for the first time in several years
8. I went to Siem
   Reap for the first time, seeing Angkor Wat, Angkor Tom/Thom, and several other
   millennium-old temples
9. During the 5-week, to be exact, 39-day, trip, I rode on 14 airplane flights and stayed
   in 14 hotels; AND I made all of the reservations by myself!