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Published: December 31st 2006
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After about forty five days of globetrotting, my body was telling me it was time for a break. On Christmas Eve, we arrived into Bangkok at the Dream Hotel and I spent the better part of three days ensconced in my room sucking down fluids, watching movies and trying to get well. I had to make an exception to venture out of the hotel on the night after Christmas to meet up with Vegas buddies
Adam and Oleg who were looking mighty tanned and relaxed - fresh off a ten day stint from the island of Koh Samui. They probably added a few more weeks to their lives by rejuvenating from their island time at the Bangkok Oriental, one of the worlds top luxury hotels - serving world leaders, heads of state, dignitaries, and my friends throughout the past century. I’m glad to say we got at least a taste of the high life, tagging along with them in their chauffeured BMW sedan while club hopping through the streets of Bangkok. We stopped in at the Q-Bar and Bed supper club, where I was now feeling like quite the regular after starting out my South East Asia tour here almost a
month ago. It feels like only yesterday! We tried staying up as late as we could to see off Adam and Oleg who were headed straight from the nightclubs to the airport for an early, early morning flight back home to Vegas. Our time together was short, but nonetheless a fortunate experience to spend even One Night in Bangkok with three great friends.
The original plan was to conclude my travels with a few weeks of island time in Koh Samui and the surrounding islands, but a check of the weather revealed not so perfect conditions, with strong winds, thunderstorms and cloudy skies. Hoping things might improve, we spent the next few days in Bangkok in a holding pattern waiting for the skies to clear. I was perfectly content not moving much and continuing my period of convalescence, which I felt I still needed. After a few days and all the old movie and reruns I could stand to watch we decided to make a big Left turn which has turned out to be ohhh so Right - welcome to
the Philippines.
Because of its geographical location, the Philippines is often left out of peoples South East Asia
itineraries. We hopped a flight from Bangkok to Manila which took about 3 ½ hours. The highlight of our one night in Manila was probably going out to dinner and stumbling upon the Hobbit House, a restaurant run completely by Hobbits, or little people as we call them back home. Sure it’s a novelty and you could even say maybe a bit exploitative, but the food and live music was great and the friendly waiters were all too eager to pose for a few commemorative photos. In the morning, we jumped on a one-hour flight to the island of Panay. A two hour taxi across the lush tropical interior of the island and a fifteen minute boat trip later, we were delivered to the beautiful Paradise of
Boracay. The extra effort to get here has rewarded us with this stunningly beautiful beach paradise where I now sit and spend the last few hours of 2006 writing this entry.
This morning we rented a motorbike and toured around the island snapping these photos. At one point, we climbed up to the highest point on the island and I had my first nasty encounter with wildlife, getting poked by a prickley
Me & Adam
Celebrating life at the Qbar little catterpillar that was crawling on a stone wall. I felt a sharp pain and looked at my hand to find about 50 tiny fine spliters protruding from my finger. At first I thought maybe I had grazed my hand along a piece of wood or lumber, picking up a bunch of splinters, but on closer examination I discovered the little culprit on the wall. The splinter extracation was not too bad, and we continued on to the island golf course, where Jimmie is now playing a round of golf, while I post this blog and search out a good spot on the beach to ring in the New Year...
A more comprehensive update on life here (With plenty of dreamy beach photos) will soon follow, but for now the beach is calling so I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone back home a very Happy New Year. I’m sixteen hours ahead here, so I’ll tip my drink at midnight to everyone just a bit sooner. Any well wishers wanting to say hello might be able to get through to my local mobile here by dialing
0063-928-3891561. If I don't answer, the Beach Party is probably
Fireman
On the beach in Boracay. just too loud. See you next year!!
Peace, Love and Happiness to All!
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Chad
non-member comment
Happy New Year
Michael - Great to see your travelblog entries. Pleased to see you've made it to so many great places and met great new friends on the road. Thank you for looking up Prum On in Cambodia - hope that was a good intro for you both. Happy New Years to you and many safe returns.