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Two Monday May 23 - Still feeling like shit. Had a massage today from two masseuses at the same time. They massaged me so hard I thought they were going to kill me. I tried to tell them to go softer but it was too late. I feel like I have been beaten the crap of out by two guys with baseball bats LOL . Not their fault but mine for waiting so long to tell them to go softer. Funniest part is they were so tiny and I could push them over with a finger but, what strong hands they had. Cost was only 300PHP or $6.50 for one hour for both. This evening I finally had the opportunity to meet with the husband of Georgie (my first Filipina wife). His name is William and is a very nice guy.
He of course is sizing me up trying to figure out my motives for being back in the Philippines. I guess I would be doing the same thing. I will try and not make him jealous as there is nothing for him to be fearful of. Nevertheless, his son (with Georgie) Fargo is creating a little controversy. Fargo likes me alot and has asked his Mom if there is any chance I am in the mix of his gene pool. He also ribbed his Dad by telling him I was taller than him. Little things like that, jeeez just what I need. Anywhoo, I am trying to build rapport here and extinguish any issues with Will. Plan on playing golf with him in the near future. Tuesday May 24 - Spent the day trying to get a permanent Philippine Drivers License. No success and will have to use contacts I have made from the Internet (Yahoo groups run by Americans that focus on the Philippines) to get this done. Pretty ironic that I am turning to Americans for the loop holes rather than the connected Filipino people I know here. In the afternoon, I opened up both a dollar and peso account. Got an ATM card as well so I can get money all over the PI. Went to a restaurant opening around 8pm and all the who's who of Manila was there including many people I know from 20 years ago. Funny thing is that none of them really aged much. Was really great to catch up on stuff. Everyone uses cell phones to text message. So much of the night was spent giving and receiving telephone #'s for future conversations by phone via text. Wednesday May 25 - Still feeling lousy. Around 11am went to the Shangri-La Hotel to meet Georgie. No not for that LOL. She was working-out in their gym. After that we went to the bank to pick up some documents I had left from the day before. After this went to her house where I indulged in yet another massage. This time just my feet as I read a book. It was heaven. need this to be done before I go to sleep each night. Spoke to a friend of Ramón's named Claus who has a house on a beach in the Batangas area. Planning on going there tomorrow for four or five days. Around 4pm, went to a birthday party at the Polo club for Ruby's daughter's son. Went swimming and had an overall good time. Went back to Ramón's at around 7pm and crashed early. Am really looking forward to finally seeing the beach and getting wet and do some diving. Maybe my health will improve. Spoke to Mom and she suggested I go to a Chinese herbal doctor. I think it is a good idea as well. Will do so upon return from the beach on Monday. Thursday May 26 - Here it is 7AM and I am sitting in front of my computer. I am finally catching up on some things. Also am planning to go down to see Claus and see about any interest he may have in diving. Thought i was going there alone but now I find out I will be going with Georgie, William and Fargo. Should be interesting. I am really excited to be getting out of Manila and to where I really want to be THE BEACH. At around noon I made my way to Makati to Georgie's house. Still had a couple of hours to kill before we left and decided to do some errands. First I had my sunglasses fixed. A repair that in the states would cost $20.00 was only .40 cents. I also bought some DVD's. Now this you gotta hear. Believe it or not you can get DVD's of movies newly released in the theater that very day or within a month or sooner after their theater release. For real. Just name it. I just bought Mother-n-Law, Aviator, Assault on Precinct 13 and Unleashed. Each one cost only .80 cents. They also had Ray, Hostage, on and on and on. They are actually expecting Star Wars on DVD in about one month. Unreal. Another thing I thought was really cool is the McDonalds here. Now I wouldn't eat at a McDonalds if you paid me to. However, they have something called McCafe. It is like a Starbucks that is inside a McDonalds. Very good and cheap. They should do this in the states. At around 3:30PM we leave for Clause's. The trip takes about 3 hours and we get lost a couple of times. No matter as the trip was very comfortable in Williams Dodge Ram Truck and the scenery was beautiful. Finally got to the house around 6PM. The house is great. Right on the beach. The only negative thing is that the sand in black and not very appealing. Not the type of place for me but still so nice. Claus is a great guy and we have a wonderful dinner of all sorts of different things Georgie brought along. And about a mile out in the water is a line up of fishing boats running north to south as far as the eye can see. Hit the sack early
Friday May 27 - Up at 6AM along with everyone else. Still having difficulty with my breathing but need to suck it up and deal with it until I can get my ultrasound on Monday. We all had breakfast at around 8AM. While Clause's house doesn't have a nice beach there is a beautiful area called Laiya about 20 minutes away by car and one hour by Banca Pumpboat. I decide to get there by Banca. This area we are going is supposed to be the next new hot beach development area close to Manila. Me, Claus, Raphael (Gloria's Son) and Fargo get into the Banca around 9AM and proceed at a crisp 10knts toward Laiya. I have to tell you from the water it is beautiful. I guess what makes this place so appealing is that the coral reefs practically come up to the beach so you can dive and snorkel right in front of the beach. The beaches are white sand and very clean. All this is quite unusual for a place so close to Manila to still be undeveloped. This won't last long. Anyway we get to the main beach of Laiya that has all the resorts around 10AM and meet up with the others. After about an hour Claus and I decide to go back alone on the Banca. Claus is really a trip. First he is a nut in a good way. Very funny guy that needs to shout every word. He is a financially well off 61 year old shacked up with a pretty cute 25 year old girl from Samar. He is putting her through nursing school and she is sporting a new set of braces. This is the price you pay to have a young girlfriend. But it is all good and both parties win. We arrive back around noon and then have a nice lunch. The plan is to go to Tagatay and leave the mad German. We arrive Tagatay at 4:30pm. Tagatay is also very beautiful but is in the mountains and is very cool temperature wise. It is a mostly dormant volcano that has a crater in which a huge lake called Taal resides. Georgia's house is practically at the top of the mountain with spectacular views of the lake.
Saturday May 28 - Today I had yet another pain in the freakin ass health complication. Feels like I have an elephant riding my chest. So now I can't breathe, have pain in my side area and I ache like I am 100 years old. I am really getting pissed off about all this. So basically I stay on the couch overlooking the beautiful lake for most of the day. It is so nice and cool so I am quite comfortable. William is kind enough to phone a doctor friend of his and gets a suggested medicine. I take the medicine and presto, after about a three hour sleep I wake feeling almost perfect except for the original side abdominal pain. Anyway, Georgie's Sister Gloria and Aurora arrive with their boyfriend and husband.
Aurora is married to Robert Wilson for over 24 years. He is British and together they have three beautiful children. In fact their daughter Georgina is presently the top model in the Philippines. See what you get when you marry a Filipina with a UK man and often an American. The kids most always come out with great looks. Had a wonderful dinner. Asked William if he wanted to play golf on Sunday and he said yes.
Sunday
May 29 - Up at 5:30am and off to the golf course. It
is called Highlands and for good the reason. The golf course is
built on the side of a mountain. It is a hard as shit place to play
and filled with very narrow fairways and shots that go down hundreds
of yards. Very easy to lose balls. Didn't yet have my own clubs
so I had to rent. I hate doing that as my game is challenged already
and playing with lousy rental clubs only adds to my misery. In the
Philippines you typically rent both a cart as well as one caddy
per peson. All caddies in the PI are female. They watch and wash
your balls, give you yardage, mark your ball on the greens, read
your putts and if they are good looking you might get them to give
you a happy ending LOL. Just Kidding. Anyway they are great to have
around as they do everything for you except hit your ball. I had
a great time just playing and the beauty of this course is hard
to match. My friend Danny in the states would love playing here
as it suits his game. Straight and low shots rule the day. William
played great 83. Got back around 11am and left for Manila around
2pm. Found out Golf isn't cheap on private courses especially on
weekends. Around $60.00 for 18 holes including cart and caddie.
Figure 1/2 that on weekdays. Here's the general low down on private
clubs in the PI. Most clubs (Golf or Sport) have memberships that
sell for $20,000 to over one million dollars to initially join.
Then there are monthly dues and food requirements. Since the economy
is so very bad at the present time, many members are willing to
rent out their memberships sometimes for only the monthly dues which
average in most clubs about $100. In the case of Tagatay this is
the deal. Members can play two golf courses (Highlands and Midlands)
and use all the other facilities of the club for free (pool, fitness
center - tennis, badminton, squash, weights, etc). Members are required
to take a cart and a caddy for a total of about $20.00. It is really
a great deal. So for $1,200 per year and $20.00 to play golf at
two fantastic golf courses how can you beat it. If I lived in Tagatay
I would definetely join.I'll miss Tagatay as it is a place of great
beauty and tranquility. 2005
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