The government powers that be, at least for the moment, have lifted their heavy boot from the throat of us oppressed citizens. Well, in my case, expat on a tourist visa. The bars are open again and in exchange for wearing masks, shields, and keeping our distance, we are allowed to stay out until 9 p.m. every night. I have adjusted my lifestyle accordingly and I’m making do with the way things are for the most part.

One thing I can’t get used to is the inability to conveniently travel. Oh, I could jump through the hoops required to board an international flight back home to the USA, but why would I want to go there? And if I did I wouldn’t be allowed back in the Philippines until some unspecified date in the future when the travel ban is lifted. Worse yet, I can’t travel much within-country either. Well, I can if I’m willing to be quarantined for 14 days at my destination. No thank you!

One aspect of my retired life planning was reasonably frequent excursions both domestic and abroad. Since arriving here over two years ago I’ve only managed Palawan, Baguio, and Manila. I’ve been itching to get out to Bohol and even have an internet friend willing to be my tour guide. But I’m not going to risk getting caught up in the system that’s currently in place. I know one guy who got COVID tested to travel, they said he was positive, and slapped him into a quarantine facility. He was later retested and it turns out he didn’t have the virus after all. Sorry about that, here’s your bill. Yeah, it sounds like a typical government-sponsored scam to me.

As for international travel, some places won’t take me or have onerous entrance requirements that would take the fun out of travel and empty my wallet. I’ve got a friend currently stuck in Cambodia, a country I enjoy and would like to see more of, and he says life is about as normal as it gets there. Of course, they want to keep it that way so they don’t make it easy for outsiders to visit. Most other potential destinations are also off the table for now at least. Especially since I can’t come back home to the PI.

It’s hard to find a silver lining in this situation, but I’ll try. For example, Kevin Kim is about a third of the way on his hiking trek from Incheon to Busan (you’ve been following along on his blog, right?). Well, last night he got attacked in his motel room. By a gang of hungry mosquitos. Luckily, he was able to kill the bastards (be sure to read how) but not until they had drawn some blood. I get an occasional bite here but I’ve been pleasantly surprised that the mosquitos are not nearly as bad as they were in my previous homes in Korea or South Carolina.

Speaking of mosquitos and Cambodia, maybe I’m lucky I can’t visit there right now. This poor fucker got bit on the leg and look at what happened:

I slap on a good coat of mosquito repellant every day after showering. Dengue is pretty prevalent here and I’d like to avoid both that and COVID. But a leg like that would impair both my walkaholic and alcoholic lifestyles. Yikes!

I’ve been accused of talking in my sleep (sometimes in Korean, even though I don’t speak the language much). I’m also a big fan of The Lord of the Rings books. Thankfully, this has never happened:

No other real news from here. I had a nice hike with my Friday group this morning. I’ll post some of my pictures from that tomorrow. And there is this:

I considered playing in the Alley Cats tourney this afternoon. But that 3:00 p.m. start time is just not to my liking. I’ll give it a go tomorrow though.

Let me leave you today with a little pun-kin: