It comes and goes

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I’m talking about time here. And it flew by today. Here it is almost beer o’clock, and I’m just now sitting down for my daily missive to my loyal readers. It’s been painful today, to say the least, but I’ll share that story tomorrow. And to make up for today, there will be TWO posts to look forward to reading. Yep, I am going to save the story of the Hash as a separate endeavor. But I will share a few photos of my yesterday morning in Angeles City before I head out to the floating bar for some bay time with my beer.

Swan and I began our morning with a walk up Walking Street in search of some breakfast. I’ve always had a good experience at Kokomo’s, and that’s where we broke our fast.
Yes, I was a bad boy, but I’m a fan of French toast. I’ll make up for it, promise!
So, this salt shaker was sitting nearby. I called a waitress over and asked for pepper. She looked at me like I was stupid (I can be) and then flipped this one over.
And just like magic, it became a pepper shaker. That’s a cool combination!

I enjoy streetside dining (and drinking at the appropriate hour), but the vendors and beggars can occasionally be problematic. Lots of vendors selling Viagra for some reason, but they accepted my polite “no thanks” and continued on. But one of them caught my interest with this:

Hmm, a new brand-name backpack might be worth a look.

After initially waving him off, I called the vendor back and asked him how much. He wanted 1200 pesos, and I wished him good luck. Then he asked me to make an offer, so I said I’ll give you a thousand. And that’s how I became the proud owner of that beauty above. Look for it on trail soon!

A view from our seat at Kokomo’s. In that take, you can see six bars and a massage parlor. You might also notice the Korean lettering on some of the signs. Angeles City has an actual Korea town away from Walking Street, but the reality is Koreans have pretty much taken over the bar district. I hear that over half the bars in town are Korean-owned.
The view in the other direction. More bars as far as you can see. I kind of laughed to see two of them were named for me. Yep, I’m a High Quality guy, but I can also be a Bad Boy.
Strolling back to the hotel after breakfast on some backstreets, more evidence of the Korean presence was on display.
Koreans gotta eat, too!
The bar across the street from my hotel.
A side street beside the hotel. I see more Hangeul lettering back there, too.
And the pool at Orchid Inn. You can see the Cantina and Sports Bar on the other side.

This visit to the Orchid was somewhat disappointing. I’ve mentioned it is a sentimental favorite of mine, having been the place where I spent my first night ever in the Philippines. I’ve stayed here numerous other times over the years. What I discovered is that different wings in the hotel have wide divergences in the quality of rooms being offered. I guess in the past, I’ve scored the high-end rooms. On this trip, the room I was first given was so bad that I had to return to the desk and tell them, “No way.” They moved me to a marginally better room, but it was still disappointing. When I ran the aircon it was so loud it sounded like a semi-truck idling outside. When I turned it off in the wee hours of the morning, I was shocked to hear the noise from people partying on the street outside. It made me wonder if the aircon noise was purposeful to drown out the hoots and hollers from the locals. But the staff service was excellent and friendly, and the Cantina was as nice as ever. Next time, I’ll know to ask for one of the poolside rooms.

So, that covers the remains of my adventure in Angeles. I look forward to providing a two-fer for tomorrow with the Hash report and my adventures in medicine. Stay with me!

That’s not what he was dreaming of, Jeanie.
It looks like I stole this pun from Uber Humor.
My appreciation for Boy George comes and goes, but this is a catchy tune with a nicely done video.

4 thoughts on “It comes and goes”

  1. Naughty or not, breffus looks good.

    So how does one score a high-end room at the Orchid? To avoid future quality issues, I mean.

    I look forward to your two-fer.

  3. It is a well known fact in business naming circles that an establishment calling itself any derivative of ‘orchid (The Black Orchid, The Lonely Orchid, Orchidaceous Interior Designs etc) is hiding a dark lie from the customer. Avoid.
    Yes, time does proceed abnormally quickly of late, even for non-drinkers; though they’ll swear they are getting more out of life, despite their debts, messy relationships, and down time feeling miserable. They probably sit around, tending to their orchids, bringing their orchids up in conversation, knowing the dark lie they are hiding from the world.

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