Filipino style.

Ate dinner at Tequila Reef in AC and was more than satisfied with the quality and quantity of my platter.  Shredded beef taco, shredded beef enchilada and chicken enchilada, plus beans and rice.  Set me back 360 pesos, or about $7.50.

Definitely the best Mexican I have experienced since leaving the USA.

…and workin’ overtime.

Well, not really.  But I am getting some things done.  Had a good meeting with the Special Resident Retirement Visa (SSRV) representative and came away with a whole new list of things to be done.  Some I can do now, others will have to wait until I return in September.

Right now I’m fixin’ to head over to the medical clinic for the exam required for all SSRV applicants.  Then I’ll go to the mall and have 14 2×2 photographs made of my handsome mug.  12 for the SSRV, and two for the bank.  I need to open a Philippine bank account in order to make the required SSRV deposit.

Anyway, I’m getting about by the most common* means of transport in the Philippines (and my least favorite)–the trike.

This is my happy driver from yesterday, anticipating charging me the foreigner tax for a short ride (about twice the fare he could get away with for a local).  Ah well, we’re talkin’ the difference between 50 cents and a dollar here, so I don’t sweat it.  My problem is folding my oversized body into the sidecar.  It ain’t pretty or comfortable, trust me on that!

*I guess the Jeepney might be the most popular means of mass transit, but the trike takes the place of taxi’s, generally.  Although taxi do exist, just not so much in AC.

I arrived safely and without incident at midnight.  Drank some SML’s and went to bed.  Woke up, ate, exchanged some dollars for pesos, walked to the mall, bought a cell phone (Samsung!), walked back to the room, and now I’m posting this play by play account of my exciting trip.  Next I’m going to take a trike to the Perimeter road area and meet with the SSRV (retirement visa) counselor.

Needless to say, it has been an outstanding trip thus far!

One of the highlights occurred on the bus to the Airport.  I just love some of the English naming conventions adopted by Korean businesses, both large and small.  Like this:

Perhaps their motto is “we take the convenience out of convenience store”.

At the mall today I was reminded that wherever you go in the world, you are never far from Korea.

More great stuff like this to follow…

…the wonderful wizard of immigration for the Republic of the Philippines.  Among other things.

10 days of adventure in AC, Subic/Olongapo, and Manila.  If you call house hunting and dealing with bureaucrats an adventure. 

Well, it won’t be all work.  I’m taking my darts and looking forward to quaffing a couple a few San Miguel Lights along the way…

I’m taking along the camera, so chances are you’ll see some photographic evidence of the trip here at LTG soon enough.

See y’all on the other side.

and back to day again…

The trip across the wide Pacific was 24 hours door-to-door.  The Seoul/Narita/Chicago/DC iteniary was as miserable as it sounds.

United Airlines is a big step down from my preferred Korean Airlines is every aspect imaginable.   The equipment (747s without seatback entertainment systems), food, service, and flight attendent attractiveness were all disappointments on this trip.  Worse, United is extremely chintzy with leg room in coach.  When I sat down my knees were already bumping the seatback in front of me.  When the SOB in front of me reclined his seat, well, it was like being captured in a spider’s web (there was a big size guy in the middle seat next to me spilling over into my space exacerbating my claustrophobic conditions).  It was pretty much a tortuous journey but it is over and I can only look forward to the return trip next week with dismay.

(this is the first of a series of catch-up posts.  I’ve been too busy and too jetlagged to have regularly updated the blog.  For which I apologize and hereby begin the process of making amends.)

Continuing the photo essay of my recent adventure on Oahu…

Oddly enough, most of the vegetation in Hawaii is not in fact native to the islands…

but it’s all good as far as I’m concerned…

“way better than Cheju-do!”

Blue on blue and some happy canines…

“don’t bother taking a picture because those telephone wires are ruining the vista.  What?  Oh well, never mind.”

Ready for lunch?  Actually, the restaurant takes it name “The Crouching Lion” because the rocks behind the restaurant are alleged to look like, well, a crouching lion.  I honestly couldn’t see it though.  I’m that way with constellations too.

Still, the restaurant was quite charming…

The view from our table was, er, appetizing…

“bago payo!”

“ah, now that’s more like it!”

Next up, the Waimea Valley…see you there!

Continuing our Majestic Grand Circle Island Tour, we visited a Buddhist Temple established around the turn of the century by a Japanese monk.

Quite beautiful don’t you think?  And that’s a million-dollar backdrop…

A little closer and different angle.  What you can’t see from the photo (or in real life for that matter) is the nails used for construction.  That’s because no nails were used.  Don’t ask me how, maybe it was a freakin’ miracle.

The Temple’s primary resident…

There was of course the traditional bell…

…well I’m not a particularly religious man, but nothing ventured nothing gained…

…I mean happiness and long life are worth the effort…

Of course, some would argue I’ve already had a long life, but why take chances?

Next stop was the nut farm, but I escaped.  Not before buying some chocolate covered macadamias for the folks at the office and a bag of nuts for my pal Jenn of I Got 2 Shoes fame.

If I understood correctly, these are the founders of the nut farm.  The current owner greeted us warmly, gave out free samples of Kona coffee and various varieties of his nutty concoctions.  Real friendly guy and seemed genuinely happy to have us visit.  But then again, we all were spending money.   But I’m sure he would have been nice regardless.

Anyway, that’s it for tonight.  I’m off to the first round of the playoffs which will feature the Rubbies versus Cake Mix at Dillinger’s Bar.  I’m there as a fan rather than a player this time…

Hey, that’s what they called it in the brochure.  It was your standard circumnavigation of Oahu kinda deal.  It was an all day affair and a 120 mile round trip.  Actually, quite nice.  It was good to be out of the city and see some of the Hawaiian back country for sure.  Here’s the first part of the trip in pictures:

That would be the Pacific ocean near Diamond Head…

This would be one of the more popular attractions on Oahu, Hanauma Bay.  Here’s a nice little video of the area.

I hear it’s a great place to snorkel…

…and has a nice sandy beach.

Seeing as how we were driving along the coast of an island, I took a fair number of ocean shots.  The ocean didn’t seem to mind at all.

Now this beach may look familiar to you.  It was where the famous beach scene in the film “From Here to Eternity” was shot.  Remember?

Now you do…

Yes, the ocean has many moods.

You see more beaches like this one with lava flows than you do with sand…

If you look closely you can see the lighthouse at the Makapu’u Lookout, which I believe is the southern-most point on the island…

Then we drove up into the mountains to the Nu’uanu Pali lookout  for outstanding vistas like this one.  There was a battle here in 1795 which ended with the defeated warriors being thrown from the cliff face.  Read about it here.

This is on the windward side of the island.  And the breeze was stiff to be sure…

It was an Oahu, Hawaii mountain high.  Although it wasn’t raining fire in the sky…

Those would be the tunnels we drove through to get to the mountain top.

And now I’ve got to get ready for a wedding.  We’ll continue our island tour soon, ok?

Saturday morning is was up and at ’em for another Echotour, this time a hike to the top of Diamond Head.

As might be expected, we began our trek on the floor of the crater.  What struck me was how arid this location was.  The day before maybe 10 miles away I had been hiking through tropical terrain.

Did I mention this was a pretty popular tour?

Maybe you can make out the early 20th century fortifications.  These were designed to protect the Oahu from a southern seaborne attack…

A vista

You can see the walls of the volcano cone, right?

Winding the way up to the mountain top…

Looking out at the wide Pacific…

An operational lighthouse keeps the ships off the shallow reefs surrounding Oahu.

Looking westward…

Waikiki from the summit of Diamond Head.

A closer look at the old defenses…

“Yo, the attack will come from over there…and it won’t be by ship!”  Advice comes easy with 20-20 hindsight…

This fire control operations center is built 3 stories into the mountain.  It didn’t help much on that day of infamy, but still quite impressive.  The ol’ Walrus had a heck of time crawling in and out of the damn thing though…

Headin’ back down the mountain.  Watch your step!

Alright, tomorrow we are gonna get out of town and journey around the island of Oahu.  See you then!

Ok, so I managed to catch a cold somewhere along the journey, but what are you going to do?  I signed up for some half day tours that involved hiking just to keep the exercise regimen going while on holiday.  This enabled me to take some great naps in the afternoon, which after all is part of the vacation experience as well, don’t ya think?

So Friday morning I took the “Manoa Waterfall Hiking Adventure” through an outfit called Echotour.  On the way out to the trailhead, we drove past President Obama’s high school and the tour guide said he had been a classmate of Barack’s.   He said they didn’t really run in the same circles and he was a year ahead of the Prez in school.  He told a story about how during one class assembly some guy sitting behind Obama was throwing pieces of paper in the future president’s Afro.  I thought how things hadn’t changed much except now it was two bit dictators and despots from around the world bullying the world’s geeky nerd.  Ah well.  On with the hike:

So, we parked in this foothill neighborhood to begin the hike.  According to our guide, one of these modest houses could be purchased for $700,000 or so, but they rarely came on the market.

Soon enough we were into the woods, a moist rain forest like environment.  I don’t recall the name of these trees, but they were soft to the touch, almost sponge like.  Also,  we were warned that the tree could not support the branches and a gust of wind would snap them off like twigs.  Although there was evidence of limb failure along the trail we luckily did not witness any first hand.

You know, things always look cooler in real life than they do in the photograph.  At least that’s true when I’m holding the camera.  This was a natural bowl within the trunk of a tree retaining water from a recent rainfall.  Although it doesn’t look too tasty, I’m sure in a pinch it would suffice.  But then, we were hiking along side a babbling brook so I guess dying of thirst wasn’t much of a risk anyway.  Never mind.

Yours truly taking a break beside a stand of wild bamboo…

Look up there in the distance, can you see it?  Yes sir, I do believe that is our destination!

Manoa falls in all her glory.  Ok, so it isn’t exactly Niagara.  Or Yosemite.  But it is water.  And the water is falling.  So, technically speaking you have received what was advertised, right?

So, what we have here is what I call the “upper falls”…

Which inevitably winds up in the lower falls and pool.  It was sorta pretty although I mighta been a tad disappointed.

Wanting to get my money’s worth I claw my way to very end of the trail.

And so ended my Manoa falls adventure.

Tomorrow I will bring you the harrowing tale of my hike to the very top of the famous Diamond Head crater.  Stay tuned!

Hale Koa in the Hawaiian language means Warrior House.  That was the name of hotel where I stayed during my just completed visit to the island of Oahu.  Since the Hale Koa is an Army MWR (morale welfare and recreation) property, I suppose you could say it was aptly named.  Although nice place to stay works equally well, but I guess that is a pretty lame name.  Unless it translates to something cool sounding in Hawaiian.  Here, see for yourself:

I paid extra for the ocean view room, and this was the view of the ocean from my balcony.

From another angle I could also see the hotel sprawl that is what makes Waikiki Waikiki.

This pigeon was enjoying the view from my balcony every morning I was there.  I don’t expect he paid extra though.

This big old Banyan tree was a dominant feature in the courtyard.

And the coconut trees were nice as well.

As far as that goes, the entire property was pretty nicely landscaped.

The Hale Koa also features a big open air lobby, in the Balinese style…

All in all, not a bad hotel to spend a few days at a decent price (although you have to be military or a DoD civilian to partake).

Yes, I have returned safely from my adventures in Hawaii, aka America’s Cheju-do.

The weather was cloudy and cool most of the time.  And I was also sick for most of the trip.  But other than that I enjoyed my first visit to the 50th state.  Well, technically, I saw only one of the eight islands, Oahu.  But it was quite beautiful.  I especially enjoyed the parts that did not include Waikiki.

Back home in Seoul.  Took a redeye flight under a Bali full moon and landed in the middle of a Korean monsoon.  Welcome back to the real world I suppose.

Just a couple of final reflections on my Bali experience.  Some things really stand out, probably first among them was just how inexpensive it is to experience a taste of paradise.  We had a personal driver/tour guide that cost us 50,000 rupees per hour ($5 U.S.).  We stayed in nice hotels that cost $60 or less, including a full breakfast.  There were also many bargains to be found in the shopping arena.  I’m not much of a shopper myself, but the womenfolk bought a load of sarangs as gifts ($2.50 each after hard bargaining), gold jewelry and other items at a bargain basement prices.  I bought a stack of DVDs of American TV shows I had been coveting (Deadwood, The Office, South Park) at $1 each and with every purchase of 20, you get nine additional for free!  For the record, I don’t think these are bootlegs, the quality is 100% and the DVD’s have the studio images on them, something I’ve never seen on a bootleg.  Oh, and a carton of cigarettes could be found for $8 to $10.

Y’all have seen the pictures, so I don’t have to tell you just how beautiful and varied the magical land of Bali truly is.  From the beaches to the jungles to the mountains, it’s all outstanding.

I was also impressed by the kindness of the Balinese people that we met.  Although most would be considered poor by Western standards, they seem truly happy and content without the trappings of material wealth.  Everyone I encountered greeted me with a warm and sincere smile.  Even the street vendors were gracious when you rejected their entreaties to make a purchase, smiling and saying “ok, have a good day boss”. 

Although you could observe some poverty out in the countryside, Bali is surprisingly clean.  In the Philippines, I would often be saddend by the harsh reality of substandard living conditions and the desperation of the people I encountered.  I never felt that at all in Bali.

Commenter Dennis asked about Balinese women.  To be honest, I wasn’t paying that much attention.  We were staying in resort areas versus the entertainment districts, so other than wait staff and regular citizens walking the streets (generally in sarangs) there wasn’t much to see.  Most of the guests in the hotels were from Australia, India, and China.  I guess my observation would be that the women of Bali tend to be dark skinned (reminded me of Filipinas in that regard) full-lipped, and tend to be full figured.  That’s about all I can say about.

Anyway, Bali had been totally off my radar and I don’t know that I would have made the trip without the encouragement of Tom and Yuli.  I’m really glad I did and I expect that there will be more Bali in my future.  It is such a bargain compared to other tropical resort venues.  If anyone is planning a trip there, let me know and I will set you up with our driver Daewa.  You will be in good hands.

It’s the morning of my last day in the paradise that is Bali.  I’m up this early because I was awakened by what sounded like a viscious dog fight next door.  There was a full moon last night, so maybe they were werewolves.

Bad moon rising?

life’s a beach

a time to reflect

moonburst

moondance

Howlin’ at the moon

Anyway, I fly at 0040 in the morning on the redeye to Seoul.  I’ll post some thoughts on the trip then.

Friday we left the jungles of central Bali and moved to the coast for some beachside fun.

The last night in Ubud we celebrated Yuli’s birthday at her favorite restuarant, the Dirty Duck.

Where not surpisingly Fried Duck is the specialty.  I had seafood.

The obligatory birthday cake ceremony.

Ji Yeon did some souvenir shopping at a beachside stall.  That carving appears to be some kind of lewd act…

The entrance to our hotel, the Villa Kind Bintang Resort.  Rack rate here is $95, but Yuli’s friend Yoeman got us in for a sweet 50 bucks a night.

The lobby.  Open air as is typical of most buildings here.  Ah, life on the equator…

The view from my room.  You can kinda sorta see the ocean in the distance.

The pool, complete with bar.

Where I enjoyed my share of refreshing Bintang beer.

Yuli enjoying the water.  I think she is part fish.

Ji Yeon tried to adopt this little German girl without success…

The Indian Ocean.

The beach in front of our hotel complex.

On the 4th of July we dined beachside…

Ji Yeon, Tom and Yeoman’s son Yoda enjoying the ambiance…

Watching the sunset while waiting for dinner to be served.

We purchased some roasted corn from this vendor as an appetizer.  It was sweet and delicious…

Sundown.

Dinner is served.  A feast fit for a king…

Dinner for seven came to rupee 700,000.  Including several large Bintang beers, a coconut cocktail, and juice drinks.  Folks, that is $70.  Unbelievable.  And everything was delicious.

The island of Bali.  We are beaching on that small peninsula at the bottom.  Ubud and jungle environs are about 30 KMs north.  The volcanos at the top are where we took the road trip.

Sunday was watersports day.  I’m a keep my feet on the ground kind of guy, but Yuli enjoyed the parasailing experience.

The banana boat was more my speed.

Woo Hoo!

We survived, wet but happy.

I also had my first jet ski experience, which was really a blast.

Ok, back to my vacation.

Day 4 we hired a driver and went up into the mountains.  Volcanos to be exact…

On the way I saw flowers…

Hillside villages…

Bats. (biggest damn bat I ever did see)

An Islamic mosque…

Hindu shrines….

Worshipers arriving by boat…

Hindi poobahs…

Photographed a photographer (Yuli)…

And a picturesque pier…

A flowering tree…

And finally, a volcanic lake.

Next up, we move to the beach.  Stay tuned.

The second part of the Wednesday night show was a fire dance.  A variation of the walking on hot coals routine I guess.  Here you go:

A little kerosene and a match…

Makes for a nice bonfire….

Mama always said don’t horse around with fire…

He kicked the coals around the floor, then walked on them until his feet were black.  Pretty impressive. 

More to come….

Wednesday night we say an amazing performance of the Kecak dance.  I had never seen anything quite like it.  Well, the Whirling Dervishes in Instanbul were pretty awesome, but this was more theatre than religious ceremony.

The dance depicts a fragment of the Hindu epic Ramyana.  You can learn everything I know about it from Wikipedia.  Even though I couldn’t follow the story, it was an impressive and entertaining performance.  Here’s some photos:

The Hindu Temple where the performance took place.

Tradition is you where a flower in your hair here (at least they gave me one when we entered the temple.  I was feeling a little gay again.

So, it started with this guy lighting the flames on an alter…

And then 100 guys come out chanting, gyrating, and dancing in a fascinating display.

Then they sat down in a circle and provided the music through voice…

So, our first characters appear…

Those gals could dance!

There’s a story being told here.  Unfortnately, I can’t explain it.

I think this monkey dancer was one of the good guys…

Captured….

A battle ensues…

Justice and good ultimately prevail…

And I am out of time for now.  Later, the Fire Dance!

Sorry for the lack of trip upadates.  I’ve encountered some spotty internet service of late.  I had made pretty good progress on a post yesterday, when my computer just froze up, which cost me the entire thing.  Frustrating for me.  Oh well, I’m in a new location (this is day 6 of my trip).  But since I want to keep on sequence, what follows is my Day 3 Trip Report.

Ubud (oobood) has its origins as an artist’s community and that is probably still an apt description.  Many studios and shops selling wood carvings and other locally made creations.  It’s a bustling place, at least during daytime.  Many great restuarants to choose from, but from what I could see an almost non-existent bar scene.  Lots of foriegners wandering the streets, from the accents I said mostly Aussies and Japanese.

Anyway, on with the show:

Giving offerings to the Hindu gods.  This is a daily morning ritual I observed all over Bali; at temples, businesses and private homes.  And I have never witnessed a more apparently devout population–temples and shrines virtually everywhere you look.

The locals call this the Royal Palace so I will too.  Or at least it is the entrance to the Royal Palace grounds.

Another shrine.  Some are quite elaborate.

Mainstreet Ubud.  You may have noticed they drive on the right side of the road here.  I’m not driving (we hire drivers) but it still takes getting used to, especially as a pedestrian.  I’m doing better now, but I envisioned a tragic miscalculation and a tombstone reading “here lies John, he wasn’t too bright, he looked to the left but he should have looked right.”

An Ubud residential area.  Quite nice, don’t you think?

After traversing from end to the other on Main Street, I was ready for a little rest and liquid refreshment.  Many very nice looking places to choose from, but it was Nomad for me.  Of course, I thought of Frank, formerly The Lost Nomad of Korea.  His blog is a long time gone (ahem) but we are friends on facebook now, so it’s all good.

I have grown quite fond of Bintang, the local brew.  I camped at a street-side table, quaffed my beer, smoked, and watched the passerbys.  It was all good.

I guess it’s pretty easy to pick out the tourist in this shot.  It amazing to see just how much the Balinese can carry on their heads.  I saw one woman with a basket on her head riding a bicycle.  I guess it’s just a question of balance.

When in Bali do as the Balinese, as the saying goes.  The shoppers completed their expedition and joined me for lunch at Nomad.  They had me try on a sarang, and it was quite comfortable.  Although it made me feel a little gay (not that there’s anything wrong with it).

Yuli, Joeko, and Ji Yeon waiting for the shuttle back to the hotel after our day on the town in Ubud.

Lots more to come, but I’m going to publish this now before something happens and I lose it again.  C U soon!