Busy day ahead. Riding with the neighbors, Martin and Joss, for the two-hour drive to the Tumangan River in Botolon. We are departing in two hours, so here’s the lowdown on what yesterday was all about. I’m going to start with how it ended and work my way back to the start. Why? Because I can!
Sorry, I forgot to get a shot of the most important thing: the fondue cheese sauce we dipped those tasty bites in. I can’t remember the last time I’ve enjoyed a fondue meal, but this one was the best ever. Hanging with the neighbors is always a good time, and we’ll have another full day of it today.
As mentioned in my previous post, we had the twice-yearly 7-Eleven Hash run yesterday. The concept of the event is that the group takes a predetermined walk, visiting convenience stores along the way. The other part of the deal is that participants buy and drink a beer at each stop. As much as I enjoy beer drinking, that is something I decline to do. As regular readers know, I’m a walkaholic by day and an alcoholic at night. I prefer not to mix those two passions. Others in our group filled that gap, and the walk concluded successfully.
Here are some photos I took along the way:
Oops! I just now realized that I forgot to get a photo of stop #8 on our quest. Sorry about that. For the record, it was a 7-Eleven convenience store.
The rest of the group arrived to join us, and then the ritual of connecting the empty beer cans consumed on our trek commenced.
Anyway, I’m glad the 7-Eleven runs only take place twice a year. Still, it was something different and I enjoyed myself. We did our after-Hash at IDM, and then it was time to head home and get ready for the dinner date next door I talked about at the beginning of this post.
Yikes! Look at the time! I’d better get my ass ready for today’s adventure.
But before I go, I’ll share this post from the February 2015 LTG archives about my glory days as a darter in Itaewon.
And today’s YouTube video is one of mine as well.
Some quick humor:
Time for me to go. At least tomorrow I’ll have something different to write about. This is my first time going to Botolon.
Sa isang dilaw na submarino.
Happy adventuring!
The graffiti has a “Banksy” vibe to it. Clever.
Re: 7-11’s
Japan has the most stores in the world, something like 20000. Taiwan has a bunch, maybe the highest per capita at around 7000 stores in a country of 20MM. I think the PI has about 4000. I was surprised that 7-11 has very little presence in Europe. It is interesting (at least for me) to see how global brands lie 7-11 adapt to the individual countries they operate in. I remember that in Indonesia, the 7-11’s are more like a coffee shop than a pure convenience store.
Brian, I know you’ve been to Thailand a lot. That’s where I was shocked by how many 7-Elevens I saw, especially in Pattaya—it seemed like there was one on every block. I didn’t frequent many, but they seemed like the typical convenience store setup. That’s how they are here in the PI, too.