June 23rd (1) Flew from Los Angeles to Tokyo (Narita Airport), leaving at 1:15pm on a 747. It took approximately 13-1/2 hours. (2) Flew from Tokyo to Manila on another 747. It took about 3-1/2 hours; I arrived at about 10:30pm and met my friend Dave at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. June 24th Our friend Sunghyun arrived that night. June 25th We flew from Manila to Boracay. Actually, we flew to Kalibo, we took a 2-1/2 hour bus ride to another "city" (I can't remember the name). Then, we took a boat ride from there to Boracay. Other than the humidity, Boracay is a paradise. We were there for 4 (or 5) days. They have the whitest beaches and the greenest water that you've ever seen. (At least, it's the whitest and the greenest that I've ever seen. I've never been to Australia or South America or Africa or Mexico (Oops, I've gone too far!). We saw gekos and tokos (larger versions of gekos), monkeys, taxis powered by motorcycles with side cars, poverty, and security people everywhere with automatic rifles. There are a gazillion hotels, shops, bars, and restaurants. (Make sure that the bottled water hasn't been previously opened and refilled. I wasn't and I'm still paying for it 2 weeks later.) The highlight was going snorkeling (We saw jellyfish, moray eels, star fish, lots of sea urchins, and even more colorful fish tank-type fish.). To find out more about it, they have a Web site at 'www.boracay.com'. If you or anyone that you know ever goes to The Philippines, make sure that you/they go to Boracay. June 29th Flew to Cebu, the 2nd largest city in The Philippines, located on an island south of Manila. We stayed at a hotel called 'Plantation Bay'. It was nice other than the ongoing humidity and the large cockroach that I found in the bathroom one morning. (Surprisingly, we didn't see very many of them during our trip.) We went out to a karaoke bar that night and had a lot of fun. We stayed indoors most of the next day because (1) We were tired from the past several days, and (2) It rained on and off. It rained on and off during the previous days but more so on July 1st. That is the first official day of the rainy season. June 30th Late that morning, Sunghyun flew back to The United States and Dave and I went to Bohol island on a SuperCat cruiser boat by SeaAngels (for whoever cares). We got to the hotel of our choice -- Bohol Beach Cafe (? -- BBC) -- and spent the night there. We were going to go snorkeling there but there were complications. The sun set before we could go (at about 6:30), the surf was fairly rough, and there were starfish everywhere you walked along the shallow part of the water. Since the bar and restaurant closed at 10 o'clock (!!!) and there were no nearby places to go, we played billiards until about 11 o'clock and then called it a night. July 2nd (1) We spent the day sightseeing. We rented a van-taxi for the day at $30 (about 1,200 Php -- Philippine pesos). (I almost forgot to mention that if you paid more than $7 to go virtually anywhere, you spent too much. Most rides are around $3.50.) We went to the Chocolate Hills (100-foot mountains in a 10-square mile area that are shaped like scoops of ice cream placed upside-down). Later, we saw tarsheer (spelling?) monkeys. They are the world's smallest monkeys, standing about 5 inches high with protruding eyes (maybe it's a thyroid problem) and suction cups on their toes. Personally, I think that some cross-breeding has been going on between monkeys, bats, and frogs. What do you think? Also, this is the only place on the earth where they exist. It's amazing that we're allowed to play with them. (2) The last thing that we saw was a church that was built by the Spanish in 1595. It's name is the Immaculate Conception Parish and it's got uncountable treasures which have been preserved throughout the centuries. It's still used every day although it's partly a museum where they charge a 50-cent admission fee. (3) That afternoon, we took another boat ride back to Cebu. We spent the night at La Hotel Nivela ($40). We went out one last time, especially since it was Dave's last night. The women were so nice to us! It was fun. July 3rd Dave and I flew back to Manila. From there, Dave flew to Hong Kong where he was going to spend the night and a friend who lives in The Philippines who I met in The United States several years before picked me up that afternoon. We drove to her parents house in San Miguel, about a 2-hour drive from Manila (during rush hour). I was starting to get " The Pilipino (not "F"ilipino) Revenge and went to bed early that night. July 4th My friend and I drove around their city. First, she showed me their church. Then, we went to Angeles (pronounced ann-hell'-ess), about 1 hour north. It's a relatively large city where one can go to buy just about anything -- and I mean ANYTHING! It was frequented by The United States military personnel when Clark Air Force Base was inhabited by them. Now, the Philippines government's military occupies it. Apparently, the U.S. personnel left a bad taste in the mouths of the majority of the citizens there. (I won't get into why. It's unfortunate.) Afterwards, we went one hour north to Clark Air Force Base. It's huge! It has 2 golf courses, a casino, nice American-type houses, and no boundaries (it seems). We drove and drove and drove and never found the north end of the complex. I wondered how large it really was. By this time, it was getting late and we headed home. It's amazing the amount of shacks that line the streets surrounding the cities. If you don't see a shop or a bar or a field (rice or sugar or corn), you see shanties. They're usually about 8 feet wide by 8 feet long by 7 feet high. July 5th I rode with my friend's father around the countryside. By the way, they had no hot water, so I took cold showers while I was with them. I eventually got used to it. He took me to a country bar and to "The Lahar", the rivers where the runoff of ash still exists from the Mount Pinatubo eruption several years beforehand. Remarkable! He also introduced me to an Ita, a mountain person. Actually, the person that I met was half-Ita and half-black American. His name is Andy Gilbert and he had a business card. Lastly, we went to Angeles where we had a couple more beers and I bought some souvenirs. July 6th My friend drove me back to Manila late that morning. She was very helpful helping me to find a place to get cash, do some souvenir shopping, and arrange a hotel for my last night in P.I. (as they call it there). The main mall in Manila, "SM" (short for "Shoe Mart") had very tight security, primarily because of the bombing that occurred there around 3 weeks before my trip. The security personnel had either automatic rifles or sawed-off shot guns. When's the last time that you saw one of those, if ever? I spent most of that day shopping for souvenirs to take home with me and give my family and friends. They'd better appreciate it! I went out that night to say 'Good bye' to some of the people that I'd befriended there earlier in the trip. I didn't stay out long, though, because I started getting sicker. July 7th I didn't feel well at all that day, so I spent the majority of it in the hotel room. It turned out just as well because Typhoon Deneng (?) was in full swing and it gave me time to organize my stuff for the trip back to The United States that night. I got lucky because my friends told me that the trip to the airport took about 20 minutes. However, if there was bad weather, traffic, or both, it could take up to 3 hours. It's a good thing that they told me that. It took 2-1/2 hours to get to the airport and I arrived 1-1/2 hours before it took off. Whew! July 15th (an epilogue) I spent time with my friend Dave for the first time since we were on the trip. He informed me that, around 3 days after we left Boracay, a Swiss tourist had reportedly been robbed and stabbed to death. I met a person there who was from Switzerland. !!!
(I hope that everyone is able to go to The Philippines, especially Boracay.) of Page Return to Picture Page.