And the 7th day he rested

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

You won't be surprised, my friend, to read that we mostly rested today, exhausted from all the new experiences and flavors and tastes and encounters. And it was hot today, woohoo!! Allan wanted to attend mass in the old Sancto Niño Church, which gave HL and me the chance of strolling around in Carbon, the old, nontouristic area between the church and the sea, and to take lots of pix ... a boy sqatting in open air, the unpacking of fruits, the selling, the preparing, ... all very lively and authentic and very very smelly :-)
Back to the hotel, we rested during a lovely Sunday Afternoon Nap! You know how glorious that can be !!!!!

Once the heat of the day was bearable, we strolled in the gardens of the hotel, and discovered an old, empty swimming pool, lovely scenery for a photoshoot!
Then Chan appeared again, much to my surprise, to chat with HL & Allan, he seems to be willing to overcome his shy-ness! Good for him!

At night we watched a movie on TV about a girl who doesn't know who her real mother is, quite well acted but boring story, I slept most of the time! which concluded precisely the resting aspect of today!

Napping hugs,

PB
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Are you bisexual too?

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

We never expected our Saturday to be so packed :-) So many things happened, here comes a summary.

(1) After the morning swim, we discovered the lavish breakfast here at the hotel ... it's like breakfast and lunch and dinner in one huge package spread out over a gigantic room, all buffet style, eat your heart out. Our six nights here won't be enough for us to discover all breakfast details, it's simply too much! We just have to come back :-) We were all very sleepy after breakfast, but HL managed to be stronger then himself and did the laundry instead of a nappy, we admire him for that!

(2) The 12 o'clock hotel shuttle took us to the SM Mall, a huge mall and packed with a huge variety of shops. We strolled there for 2 hours but limited ourselves to windowshopping, except HL who was still searching for his tongue-scraper hehe! In the National Bookstore, a young boy was fascinated by a special balloon, and his mother kept him from trying the balloon, it was so cute that I bought the little toy and gave it to the boy (Allan helped to find the exact boy again), I'm sure this was the day of his life :-)

(3) Back to the hotel per metered taxi, 80 PHP (a bit more then 1 euro) and resting again, combined with loungevisits. HL, internetting in the lounge on his new Vaio, managed to reschedule the Bahrain flight, so that we don't have to wait so long for a connecting flight! Cheers to HL !

(4) While Allan was using the gym, HL and me had a stroll outside the hotel, in the local slums (better slumquality then before) and to the casino-under-renovation, and back to the hotel. It's so lovely that people over here don't mind being photographed, on the contrary, they consider it fun, and they love to see the picture on the camerascreen, it's a guarantee for a bright smile.

(5) Heddy sms'd me to confirm that he'd be coming this evening, together with a friend. He insisted that we should have a yahoo-chat as preparation of the visit. Meanwhile, it was cocktail hour in the lounge, so we combined both dinner and chat. In the chat, he introduced me to his friend Wency. Heddy is a girlish boy and Wency says he's bisexual (meaning: lateron he'll marry a girl and start a family). Both are 19 y.o.

(6) Around 8 pm, the hotel prepared for Earth Day: at 8.30 pm all the lights will go out and only candles will be used. The staff was running around, lighting all those candles, it was fun to observe it.

(7) At 7.30 pm the boys should have been at the hotelgate, and of course they were too late. Nevertheless, we chatted in the hotel lobby, and at 8.25 we hurried upstairs to the lounge, to admire the effect of Earth Day on Cebu, from the 24th floor. Disappointing. Almost no lights went off. Earth Day is still a dream, and awareness still a far-away-goal. The boys loved the view, and Wency took a picture of me and Heddy. Then we went to the room, where HL & Allan were waiting to meet them.

(8) Quickly the boys started talking about their personal life, hopes and dreams, and about reality. They were surprised that I knew the Philippino secret, that a lot of married guys have a male "mistress". Wency opened up slowly slowly, it was the first time I met him and he was clearly prudent, but he told he has a 60+ yo US bf, who rents 2 condo's in Jomtien Beach and 2 condo's in Cebu, and in each condo a boy is posted, and the US guy hops from condo to condo. Wency receives a monthly allowance of 30.000,00 PHP (500 euro) (which is double a normal wage) and he gives half of it to his family, and the other half is spent on food & education & luxury. I urged him to start saving instead of spending it all: in a short while he'll loose his youghtful looks and then he'll need a financial backup.
We chatted and chatted till 10 pm. Then I escorted them out of the hotel, and they planned to continue the Saturday night in The Loft, IT park, where the beautiful people hang out.
HL was so thrilled to have met Heddy: the guy is so open and happy about who he is, the joy sparks from his face, and HL wished he could have been like that at Heddy's age. However, paradise seems to be lost, Heddy told us that - when he was young (15 yo), he was beautiful, and now that he's old (19 yo) he's an ugly duck! Allan confirmed another story of the boys being a local habit, that they took female-hormone-pills at that age, to have a smooth skin and beautiful looks, and they didn't mind the side-effects (shrinking penis, loss of libido), although they stopped when they started to produce breasts hahaha! The Phils are full of surprise Pills :-) Now you know why the tourism office uses the slogan: WOW !!!!

PB

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money makes the world go round

Ah, Money! It's with money like what they say about females: you can't live with, and you can't live without (joke! joke!).

It was clear that our dear beloved hotel Peacock cannot live without money. We did not get a refund in cash, but we were told that the bankinstructions for a refund per creditcard were given. Now we're controlling daily how reliable this honored family of Bohol is: what is the value of their given word? Is it dust in the wind, or a foundation to build on? Time will tell, shortly. I'll keep you informed!

What we could rely on, was the hotel transfer, nice & clean, smooth, no problems. We were way in time for the boat, and Allan was a bit delayed due to an unexpected ISO control in his school that he had to attend. No sweat, we booked first class tickets and had a great seatrip to Cebu. And Allan informed us in advance about the boat people (originally muslims from Mindanao?) diving for coins, so I took some movies and posted them on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/paulbavo)!

Our taxi was shortbreathed to climb the hill to the hotel Marco Polo, the driver had to close the aircon in order to save energy for the engine, but finally he made it in first gear. Poor car, loaded with 9 pieces of luggage!

Marco Polo launched us immediately to the 24th floor for a swift checkin (lounge privilege), and from here we have the most delicious view over the mountains of Cebu and the city and the sea. Whereever you look, there's something spectacular. Great hotel.

A quick unpacking, and we could not resist the calling of the swimming pool. Lovely surroundings, international guests, friendly service, everything our heart desires. And a great cooling swim after the salty trip!

Then the lounge needed our attention. Quite inviting, many delicacies to savour, and a staff that is eager to serve. The Phils at its best. Wish it were like this everywhere!

While HL & Allan were enjoying the lounge, I went down to meet Chan, a 20y old nursing student, 100% gay but officially bisexual because his father would kill him if he knew he's gay. This also is the Phils. A huge discrepancy between reality and fiction, and people who prefer to live their life in fiction, afraid of reality. So fictionally, Chan is not gay, and everybody's happy. So childish of his father. Sigh. When will the human race reach adulthood?

Chan is a nice guy, and definately needs a positive fatherfigure, I think that's why he leans towards me. I'll gladly perfom this task, it's my duty towards all those oppressed ravissant gay guys who serve and keep the society alive, and who are so often undervalued and kicked in the back. At least I can make a difference, and show them there are guys who appreciate them for who they are. You can never believe how much they appreciate this attention ... it's almost heartbreaking.

And now, my dear friend, we are going for an early sleep! The turmoil of the last days + the trip have really exhausted us and my eyes are slowly terminal in preparation of the night. Wish I could sit next to your side of the bed and sing you a lullaby to make you and me sail into sweet dreams :-)

Snoaring hugs,

PB
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playing cops & thieves

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

painful message this morning: the hotel is not planning to refund us in cash, but promised to recredit our credit card. Which means that we'll never see our money back, of course.

Immediate action was necessary. I requested the Guest Relationship Manager, but that one didn't show up. So from the reception I phoned the police, first in Cebu who gave me the number from the police in Tagbilaran, who gave me the number of the police in Baclayon, who told me to come down to the police station.

Up we went, by taxi (cost: 700 PHP). The office was empty, after a couple of minutes waiting, a lazy policeman stumbled in, wondering what we were doing there. Ah, phone! The hotel called the police; we were informed that someone from the hotel was coming too. The Chief of Police was called to answer my complaints, and he did come, but after hearing who the owners of the hotel are, he discretely disappeared again. Meanwhile, in the background, Allan was phoning his contacts all over the island, to inform them of the embarrassing emergency. After hours of talking back and forth, the police finally drew a report, in which both parties explained their point of view: me asking for a refund in cash, the hotel claiming that they could refund through the credit card company. I'm convinced that, without Allan's networking, the result would not have been so good.

After that, we went on a tour to visit houses and lots for sale. Interesting, but nothing that could really catch my attention, except for the lot in Panglao, 600 PHP per m², and I might act further on that one.

Meanwhile, Allan's contacts were very worried about us, fearing that the hotel would use other then legal ways to convince us to give in. Till now they didn't. I'm quite convinced that for such a minor discussion, the hotel will not risk exposure, especially since the German owner was already involved in an economical scandal in Manila, and had to pay huge amounts of money to the police there to stay out of trouble.

Anyway, we informed the hotel that we would take the hotel transfer to the seaport tomorrow at 10 am. Allan will be there already and buy the tickets in advance, so the boarding should not take too long; let's hope the sea will be calm!

Check tomorrow if we arrived safely back in Cebu :-)

huggies,

PB
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These are the days of miracle and wonder

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

Decisions have been made. We'll leave this golden prison earlier then foreseen: instead of Sunday, we'll go back to Cebu this Friday. Our ultimatum to the management of this hotel worked: they don't want us around anymore, and they preferred us to leave -- which was exactly what we wanted, we just need to get our refund :-)

HL quickly booked the room in Marco Polo Cebu, and Allan will follow us on that trip, and stay with us in Cebu, one never knows what will happen. I don't think we have drawn too much attention to us from this (obviously locally very dominant) hotelfamily, and they will be too busy with the preparation of the party this Sunday anyway. But for those who read this blog: if something would happen to us while we're in the Philippines, even when it looks like an accident: the reason behind our misfortune will be the family that runs this damned Peacock Luxury Resort & Spa, Bohol, the Philippines. I say this jokingly, but one never knows.

The hotel/resort is built on a hilltop, and we are staying on the 1st and highest floor, so the view that we have is magnificent, we can see for miles and miles, both over land (the hotel is inland) as over sea. I hear dogs howling, and people crying and yelling, and at the end of the horizon (far far away) lighting flashes the sky, that must be over or even further then Mindanao ... and over that scene of human and earthly unrest, the thousands of stars seem unmoved by all that nightly turmoil. One needs to go to a real quiet place - such as this one - to thouroughly see, hear and sense the disorder.

Also disorderly but oh so pleasant was our afternoon stroll in the city. We walked street in, street out, smelling and feeling the nervous beat of the city, it's noisy and stinky and horrifying, but I love it. I went for a haircut (30 Pesos, that's roughly half a euro), we smelled the fish at the local market, we were blinded by the never ending varieties of rice, in all colours and flavors, we tasted the local sweets at a special foodstore in Agora Market, nearby the Tourism Info Centre, we admired the beauty of the young and old people in the shops and the squares, a neverending walk of discoveries of beauty and sensations. For me, it was nourishment for my soul.

Back in the hotel, the staff wondered why we were leaving earlier then planned. We have the impression that they don't want to see us go ... contrary to the management!

But the night has fallen, and the decisions have been made! New horizons wait for us :-)

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Morning has broken

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

Just a short talk about the mornings here ... I usually wake up around 5 a.m.: then the cocks in the rural area (where we are staying) start to yell that it's morning, one after another, in an endless guttural concerto of stereophonic waves. It's fascinating, and I wonder what effect it has when one has to enjoy this concerto every day of one's life. I'm used to living in a city, so this wave of early morning wake-up-calls is quite new to me. Even in my Tunisian time, when I stayed quite a while in the contryside, I never experienced this cocky calling (I recorded it this morning, but after listening to the recording, it sounded quite dull so I deleted it).

Then the sky breaks from black to gray to blue, slowly the stars fade away, and the sealights of the boats melt together with the shiny surface of the Bohol Sea.

Meanwhile, I'm sipping my morning coffee and blowing my first smoke. There are worse things on earth, then early mornings here in the Peacock resort!

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The Feeding of the Tarsier

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

Today formed a highlight in HL's life: he did not only caress a Tarsier, he (and Allan) even fed one! Oh joy :-)

We did a roundtrip of the island today, thanks to Allan who organised everything, a taxi for 2.200 + 100 P., what to see (we skipped half of the program) and when to see it, very well done.

First to the biggest python, then to the tarsiers, after that to the chocolate hills version 1 and 2, finally back to Tagbilaran for some shopping (see the DVD-boy) and ATM'ing, and then back to the hotel.

For a detail of all the wonders we saw and the miracles we did: see the pictures and the movies, they speak louder then thousand words!

Tired after such a full day in Bohol's summer heat, we slept like roses!!!

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The Fight

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

This morning I woke up and I said to myself: I will not be terrorised by this hotel. So many stupid rules: visitors need to pay at the gate (consumable), no swimming before 8 a.m., only one juice at breakfast, extra payment for a cappuccino at breakfast, the list is endless. We had a huge wordfight with daughter plastic this morning, and her plain stupidity took away all my intentions of convincing her that she was performing a bad management of the hotel, I just left the discussion. HL stayed, and tried to arrange things for the best, which included a (paid) upgrade to a better room, and hopefully problemfree breakfasts from now on. Anyway, this hotel has finished for me, it's hopeless.

This afternoon we drove around with TaTa, taxidriver and friend of Allan. First to the mall, then to Allan's college, then to the beach. The beach was a total turn-off for me: an uninspiring place, good for backpackers and retired English who can't afford to spend their pension in the UK. We visited one of the beach resorts, pure horror. 4.000 Pesos for an airconditioned room that obviously had not any paint nor new aircon since the 50's. Desolate.

All this made me think. Why is this still a 3rd world country? Apart from the typical Asian flaws, such as corruption and bad management and the bullying by the strongest, I see two specific reasons here, that are intertwined: a very limited tunnel-thinking (thinking in a very narrow tunnel of thoughts, with total lack of any creative thinking outside the tunnel) and the obsession that rules must be obeyed, especially the rules that as much money as possible must be extracted from foreigners, be it by kidnapping or by hosting them in a hotel. Rules that should apply to philippino's on the other hand, should not be obeyed by them :-)

It's more or less a hopeless situation. After the brief encounters in Manila, Cebu and here in Bohol, I understand Philippino's better now. Not to their advantage, I'm afraid (although there certainly are exceptions).

For those who still consider Philippino's as a friendly people, here's an example of our todays journey: due to the roadconstructions in Panglao, our taxi had to drive on one lane, together with the opposite traffic. Nothing wrong with that, as long as everybody is considerate. Not in Bohol. A bigger car refused to get aside, forcing our taxi to ride backwards all the way, just to let the bully get through. The poor taxidriver couldn't joke with it, but accepted the situation without much protests.

I understand now why young Pinoys attach so easily to older caucasians: the young Pinoys are getting indepent from their families, but urgently need the support of a stronger person that stands beside them and supports them when needed. It is an irresistable attraction for those who are weaker then the bullies.

Does all that mean we had a terrible day? Of course not, I had the time of my life. HL showed once again his genius in finding a compromise (the guy should definately go into Belgian politics), and Allan was the sweet guy we always knew he is - although not always as practical as we hoped for :-) e.g. when it comes to clearly arranging the amount of the fare for the taxi :-)

In the evening, we had a mesmerising swim in the Olympic size pool, the water was absolutely perfect, the stars were out, and swimming on my back, I lost my soul in the hundreds of stars that can be admired over here ... nightswims have that extra spicy aspect, that makes them irresistable!

Does the same counts for the local boys? I really don't know yet. They are incredibly cute and gentle and friendly (see the picture by this blog: one of the cleaning boys), but only that cannot attract me ... the beauty of an empty shell is not enough for me. Or am I still to discover the content?

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Islandhopping

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

Here you see Allan (with the meanwhile famous 2QT2BSTR8-cap) and HL: on the Weesam-speedboat, from Cebu to Bohol.

We couldn't take a roundtrip-ticket, since that is only valid till the 29th, and we'll stay till the 30th in Bohol, so we paid the one-way-fare (400 Pesos+25 P. terminalfee) instead of the 500 + 25. No harm done hehe!

Very much to the pleasure of HL, the sea was smooth as a baby's skin, flat as a mirror, no waves at all, lovely. When you look on a map, you see the two islands rather distant from each other, but when you're on the boat, you never have the idea of being in open see: you can see where you're coming from and where you're going to, and it really gives a sense of security!

On the last minute, a Korean filmcrew hopped on board, they are going to shoot a TV-program (those lousy early-morning-programs) about a famous Korean actress in Bohol. Like most Koreans, they are hyper-actif in the first half-an-hour, and then drop down to melancholy.

The hoteltransfer was perfect (and complimentary), the Peacock hotel itself is still partly under construction, they opened in 2008 and there are still many flaws and defaults, as one can expect with a new hotel by owners who are also new in the business. It is very harsly managed (the staff really suffers) by the German owner and his Pinay wife (madame plastic), and it's in the middle of nowhere, but I'm sure we'll adapt to it, and find a way to feel fine here! Allan is very helpful for that, he organises a taxi-by-call (cab 53), who we can hire for 1.800 Pesos per day.

After a swim, Allan took us to shopping mall (groceries) and the cathedral (hot & sweaty mass) and then to a cute local restaurant, where we had a delicious dinner. Then back to the hotel (by cab 53) and some very joyful negotiations with the nightmanager and his assistant: they showed us better rooms and we negotiated prices, so tomorrow we'll move from room 401 to another location in the hotel. I'll make a short vid about 401 though, the flaws in the room are really laughable :-) But hey, this is the Philippines! Meanwhile, the vid is posted on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GrYzVDL2cE !!!

And now an early sleep!

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The Mastercard and the Visitor

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

The Mastercard and the Visitor

I have good news and bad news for today!

Let's start with the bad news, half way the trip. My Mastercard (th ebackbone of our financial planning) gave up on me! All transactions are refused, giving as a reason "bad pin number" even when I haven't given yet any pin number. Horrible. Fortunately our backup (HL's MC) still works.
We went to Citibank today, and they claimed that they could do nothing: I have to phone a number in Belgium to explain the problem. There goes my trust in Mastercard!

And now the good news to end. Allan came over from Bohol, and he's such a delight to be with: gentle, friendly, helpful, attentive, he's a real dreamguy. He'll bring us tomorrow to Bohol, by taxi & boat. We informed the Peacock hotel in Bohol about our arrival there, hoping that they'll pick us up in time!

Keep on tracking us!

PB

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The Underbelly

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

7 main things today:

1. We enjoyed limitless internet at The Coffee Bean, for the price of 2 coffees :-) and HL was announcing very proudly that this Coffeebean chain was Malaysian, and so is he :-)

2. We ventilated our unhappiness with the small suite to the poor girl in the reception, and after running back & forth between us and her boss ... finally we found an acceptable financial arrangement :-) Now I'm very curious to see how this agreement will evolve in the pinoy way! 

3. A taxi took us for the fixed price of 250 P to the Marco Polo hotel (in-between, the driver had to pump gas for 100 P., complaining how expensive petrol is nowadays, and I cheered him up by informing him that the oil price is rising up again), we checked it out and it is quite pleasing, although rather blink blink; we are seriously considering not to come back to the Mariott anymore, but book a room at the Marco Polo, higher in the mountains and away from stinky traffic and noisy loudspeakers.

4. The underbelly of Cebu (the slums) look dark, threatening and frightening at night, but a stroll in daytime is quite pleasing, lots of kids that flock around and young and old folks that demonstrate their best English. I hope to do that in every place I'll walk through! I think, for me, the place I'll be is not so important, be it city or countryside, important are the people who live there: if I can connect to them, and they can to me, and we can build an understanding, I already feel quite happy.
One of the guys there (see pictures, the one laughing out loud,with missing tooth) wanted to chat and so we did, I asked him how life was there, and he replied, quite ad rem, that one gets used to it. Clearly a philosopher: one gets used to anything :-)
Another guy was sitting on his own (whereas the rest was flocking in groups), and he was clearly waiting for us to give a sign of interest. We didn't give any sign. Till now we have not found anyone cuter then Nils, so for the moment we don't bother :-)
The laughing-out-loud guy told me that soon the playground (where we were chatting) would disappear, since the owner of the ground would build a house there; he added that the governement would provide them with another playground. The optimism of the human race keeps surprising me! For one reason or another, we keep on hoping for a better future!  

5. This evening I accidentally learned about the art of seduction in this country. It seems a process that takes a long time, where the hunter sometimes becomes the hunted, and reverses to hunter if he wants to (which I didn't). It has to do with long lingering, accidental touching, and remarkably only with presence, not with eye-contact. All very interesting, and totally different from the Western art. 

6. This night we watched "Australia", an intriguing (but to my opinion badly edited) movie, about the assimilation of the aborigines in Australia. Too much honey to my taste, but the scenery was top, and HL loved the movie, he's totally in love with the leading actor Hugh Jackman!

7. From chatting with guys, I learned that there are thousands of Kuwaitis now in Cebu, they are here for a 2 months course, as students, nobody could inform me what they actually are studying, but it is clear that the locals don't fancy them. The Q8's act as if the place belongs to them and that the locals are only there to serve their desires, and it seems that by doing so, the Q8's crossed a line. Pinoys are obviously willing to walk a long way but there are limits. Maybe it has to do with the Muslim (Mindanao) thing? Still something to discover :-)  

PB

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suffocated

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

Well, a lot of things happened during the past days! We met so many friends, that we haven't seen for such a long time, it was lovely to meet them again: Roderick, Jimmy & Nils, Manfred & Rhem, Jerremy, Clarence, ... and fortunately not everybody could come and visit us (for several reasons: out of town, or very busy with work), otherwise we would have had a fulltime job in just chatting with all our visitors!

Whenever he could, Jimmy would come (he has a car + driver) and bring us whereever we wanted to go. So nice of him, he's such a charming guy. One night, we drove through very dark parts of Manila, and the view was incredible: busses dumping huge thick clouds of burned oil in the air, suffocating every single person in the area, too bad it was too dark to take pictures, it really looked like hell! Of course the traffic was the only negative experience, it is plain horrible, overcrowded everywhere, and impossible to be somewherein time. Jimmy wanted to bring us to Intramuros, but that part we have seen extensively already, and it was quite far away (traffic!) so we opted for a stroll in Quezon and a stroll in Makati (HL's must-be-HardRock!), and a nightwalk in Malate, that part was supposed to be the gay area once altough nothing seemed to be left of it.

I invited them for a dinner in an excellent restaurant in Makati (Sentro, near the open-air-church, first floor of the restaurant-walk), lovely food and excellent service, absolutely worth going there, but be in time because later in the evening it was packed.

We did our walks, as usual, e.g. to the MegaMall, only a stroll away from the hotel, quite a nice mall, with a fascinating huge shop "Kultura Philippina", all local products from the Philippines, it's like a museum of modern commercial handicrafts :-) And in one of the small shops, I got a baseballcap embroided with my favorite 2QT2BSTR8 hahaha!

I can imagine that 12 million people find it necessary to live packed together in greater Manila, but I'm not one of them. The city does not attract me. I'm very thrilled to find out if the more rural areas (like Bohol, our next destination after Cebu) will please me more!

Now we are in the airport of Manila, ready to board the plane to Cebu!

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

The flight to Cebu went smoothly, and the airport transfer was perfect; on our way I spotted a guy in a jeepney who was counting his money, holding it in a most intriguing way between his fingers! I couldn't resist taking a picture :-).

I had quite good memories of the Mariott hotel in Cebu, but now that we're here, I'm a bit disappointed. We booked a business suite, but it's all rather crampy, and so is the hospitality of the hotel: we asked for ashtrays in the room, and we only got one; we asked for a DVD-player, and we got the message that we have to pay 1.000 pesos per day to use one. I don't think we'll return often to this hotel. Instead we headed to the nearby shopping mall and bought a brandnew LG dvd-player for 2.000 pesos (30 euro), and that one will serve us both in Cebu and in Bohol.

While we were shopping for the DVD-player, we admired a boy who was testing a karaoke machine, by singing his lungs out in the middle of the mall! The other customers passing by were either laughing at his emotions, or very compassionate with him! See the pix :-)

I tried to pay the DVD-player with my mastercard, but the card got refused. In a former shop, they tried over & over again to get a payment through, and maybe that disturbed the MC-system, and now MC might think that the card got stolen or something. I'll have to check on internet tomorrow what happened with that card! We need it to be fully functional :-$

We have found some coffee-shops that offer free internet for their customers, and that's where we'll park tomorrow! While I check the office and post this updated blog, HL will search the mall for a genuine internetcafé - if that still exists in these times!

huggies,

PB

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from BKK 2 Manila

MY ART MALE NUDE, originally uploaded by BIPIUM FRANCE.

And here we are, in the airport lounge, patiently waiting for our transfer to Manila! Lots of Pinoys already, heading the same direction as us! I'm so curious to see and feel and experience the difference with Thailand !!!!

As usual, the hotel served us well, there was even a staff member in the airport now, bringing us to all the places we wanted to go (check-in, tax refund, buy ciggies, ...). Thai business class gives us the fast track, but now we fly Philippine Airlines, and we have to queue to get our passport stamped. Oh well, we might as well get used to it !!

And now: to the plane! More news will follow :-)

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The flight with Philippine Airlines was lovely, we were promoted into 1st class (see the pix!!! what a space) and enjoyed all the attention that comes with it. We flew an Airbus 340, and were quite happy with that plane. Inline movie was +++ about the fight of a woman against the system, very well done, although we missed the end due to landing procedure.

Upon arrival, quickly some taxfree shopping, and problemfree exit through customs & co. A horrible ride to the hotel (traffic jam! but we slept most of the time in the car) and a lovely suite 1811 in Crowne Plaza Galleria Manila (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YljNQBRp_Q)! Upon entering the hotel, Jimmy & Nils were already waiting for us, the hotel assistant was pleasing us with the quickest check-in ever (just handing over the keys, everything was prepared, so convenient!) and after sipping some whisky, J&N took us to a gay bar/restaurant "Butterfly" in Quezon, where we had a drink, and they had a small bite, and we had lots of catching up since our last meeting with Jimmy! For those who don't know them: Jimmy is a professor at the Quezon University, and head of the computergroup there (+ some private spinoffs) and Nils is his young bf since October last year, they are a lovely couple. I quickly used Jimmy's cellphone to inform Roderick about our arrival (he'll meet us tomorrow morning) and chatted briefly with Clarence (he'll meet us Wednesday evening) and tomorrow afternoon, Jimmy will come and pick us up (he has unlimited access to car+driver, one of his spinoffs and handy because he doesn't have a driver's licence). Woohoo, so many things in such a little time! I'm sure we'll sleep well tonight.

And oh, HL already checked where the interesting shopping malls might be :-)

Good night from Manila! Sweet dreams to you :-)

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Dubai becomes a no-fun-zone

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

Article in the Bangkok Post of Sunday, March 15, 2009:

The Dubai Executive Council has urged residents of Dubai (where foreigners make up more then 80% of the population) to avoid inappropriate behaviour. The rules, which apply to all public places and carry a possible prison penalty, include a ban on all forms of nudity, playing music loudly and dancing, kisses between men and woman, and even on unmarried couples holding hands.

Once again, Muslim arabs are so harsh for those poor heterosexuals. Are considered a totally appropriate behaviour: kisses between males, and males holding hands. Or walking around in public, naked, only wearing a kandoora (long white dress). Smoking and alcohol also seem to be unaffected by the new rules. I love Dubai !!!

But while we are in BKK, I love Thailand too :-) We did the skywalk again, and strolled around in Siam Discovery ... on the 3rd floor, Sony Center, HL could not resist the newest Sony Vaio white mini version, so small and light, incredible! 30.000 bath only, and Jimmy (the senior sales person that entertained us) told us to come again lateron, when we are back in BKK, he'll install for free the by then newest Windows version on it (now it's only Windows Vista Home Basic).

And as usual we popped in to the Art Center at Siam, always very interesting to see new upcoming Thai artists, some are good, other are maybe on their way to become good, but always interesting! I took some pix, you'll see them on picasaweb!

And, since this is our last night for this month in BKK: Bangkok, the name of the capital city of Thailand, means "City (of) Angels", and it has the Longest Place Name in the world. In Thai its called "Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit" .... 163 letters altogether!
Pls allow me to refer to it as BKK :-)

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Bangkok loves Penang!

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

While HL was shopping, I strolled around in Siam Square, and what did I find? A restaurant, specialised in Shark Fins from PENANG !!!! Even here, this tiny little island is FAMOUS :-) rightfully so !!!!

Today I got my new spex, with special setup sunglasses, I'm very happy, I like them very much. You'll see them on one of the next pictures in picasaweb, but they look a lot like my old spex so I wonder if you'll notice the difference!

HL bought some clothes (again!). And then we went to an open-air-DVD-sales where we acquired rather blindly whatever seemed of possible intrest, simply because of the prices being so low!

I still have to tell you about Nai, although I am not ready yet sorting out my impressions, so maybe it's a bit too early for that, come back tomorrow! But I can tell you now already that he's a teacher in the middle of nowhere, living openly gay, single since his Pinoy bf deceased some years ago, and clearly ready to open again to the world and to life. I know absolutely nothing of his world, and you can imagine that this fascinates me, although I do consider the possibility that his world might not please me. Then again, if you don't try ......

huggies :-)

from sea to seatie (city)

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

Yesterday evening, the gang (Noi, Lak & Kevin) popped in, to view Kevin's pictures on his Mac. He is also an adept of the Panasonic Lumix cameras, he and me really have a lot in common, and at the same time we are remarquably complimentary. Interesting.

Lak and/or Noi were on duty, and while watching the pix, they got a call from the lobby, saying that there was a problem with a nude gay gay who was heartbroken. We offered our assistance to the girls, but they promised us that they could handle it. HL asked, how do you know that the heartbroken guy is gay? And Kevin replied, oh yes they know, they can tell immediately. Which brought us to the question which ones of the staff that we met already were gay hahaha!!!! A funny excercise in human analysis :-)

The girls left to solve the problem at the reception, and phoned back that it was just a customer who was unhappy with his drink, so after all it was not as interesting as it sounded, or we got the calm-down-message to keep us out of the lobby :-) Kevin stayed and we exchanged quite some stuff. He also showed us pix from his time with his former bf, an American in US, musician, obviously a nice guy but too much alike, this was a relationship that couldn't last; however it was so nice to see Kevin while he was younger (with less attitude, so charming) and I'm sure that Kevin learned a lot of life during that relationship. Ah, Kevin. He's a real gem, this guy, I'm sure we'll hear more of him lateron, and that he will open up a bit more, because for the moment he's still showing his best side, and I cannot get the full image of him, but what I have seen so far makes me quite comfortable with him. One of the things I remembered when viewing his pictures was that he was constantly jumping in the sky :-) which made me think that in a former life he might have been a frog :-). Anyway, we kissed him goodbye, and hope to see him again soon!

Today we travelled back to BKK, by car. The driver delivered us at the other Meridien hotel, which gave us a quick look ... someone told us that there are a lot of ladyboys working in this new Meridien, but unfortunately we didn't see any :-)
Then passing by the Lumpini Park (Rama VI statute), to our usual Royal Meridien, quick check-in (they have all the info already), jumping to the lounge, refreshments, and a swim! Meanwhile the engineers of the hotel installed the DVD-player, since HL is a movie-addict and for him a DVD-player is a basic necessity in life!

Too bad Kevin couldn't make it to BKK (he's still stuck in Hua Hin's conference), but fortunately Nai from Komrat (northeast of BKK) was in BKK, and he popped in and we had a long interesting chat with him! More about him some other time :-)

Now we's sipping our cocktails in the lounge, 24th floor, overlooking the busy streets of Bangkok. And looking forward for a nice, quiet evening in this buzzling city!

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the continuous coverage ....

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

backie! If you were searching for my blogs of Tuesday the 10th or Wednesday the 11th, you would not have found them: I was too busy with other stuff! I know, it's dangerous to stop the routine of daily blogs, before you know it, the blog gets posted only once a year hehe! But don't worry, I'm backie!

A new file rolled in, and it's something I didn't want to bother my colleague in Belgium with, so I had to study it myself and do the writing and actions myself, from Thailand. Which is easy of course, if I wouldn't tell the clients that I'm abroad, they wouldn't know! Anyway, that file is dealt with, and I hope that peace & quiet can reign again J


Apart of working for the office, we did the following activities, as you can see in the pictures (http://picasaweb.google.com/paulbavo2009):

- Tuesday, we took the bus to Hua Hin, because HL wanted to exchange one of the DVD's that was partly illisible, and while he was in the shop, he bought some more. Waiting for the bus is a favourite passtime here, and while we were waiting to come back, I took tons of pix of the traffic passing by, and after editing, I kept a few to post, so that you can see the different forms of traffic here in Hua Hin!
In the hotel, we chatted for the first time with John, who also works at the pool (part of the jobrotation here, the guys love it that they constantly have to do something else), and John offered to bring us around with his car, when he's off duty, very nice of him. We might accept his offer a next time that we're here, provided he's still working here!
In the evening, we made the traditional roompresentation, with the help of "Tok" (pra pin pit), it's posted on youtube (www.youtube.com/paulbavo) in case you like to see it. The end is funny: HL was the cameraman, and after showing the airconditioned rooms, we went out on the balcony, and you can see how the high humidity in the air made the lense all fogged up!

- Wednesday, once again the bus, to HL's favourite shop: Memee (next to Soi 45): a hidden gem of original copies of exquisite designs in clothing! Last time he bought the copy of a shirt by Vivian Westwood, and now he only found pieces that were too small for him, you can imagine his disappointment hehe! Anyway, he enjoyed the discovery of new items. It's funny to see him try all those female clothing, although he's definitely not a drag queen!
Coming back, we walked by the King's palace, obviously the park is open to the public and lots of people were jogging there. We witnessed an accident between two cars (it's a miracle that there are not more accidents here, by the way people drive), a schoolboy buying sliced ice with fruits and sweets and green coloured liquid, finished by a topping of condensed milk. Quite a cocktail!
We had to come back early, because we were invited for a drink by the hotel, together with some other guests here (obviously only Caucasians? we didn't see any Asian as a guest at the drink?). We chatted the whole evening with Noi & Lak & Kevin (Dhiti Chumsaratoon, assistant director of sales), it's the first time we meet him, and he's a very nice guy, he reminded me of Yohdi, our Indonesian guest in Westin, Bali). I had a small dance with Noi, she's a dominant lady and she had problems in following when I did the leading in the dance haha! I'm sure we'll stay in touch with Kevin too! He has a bf in BKK, a German guy working in the travel industry, they are planning to live together soon (for the moment they have each their separate place). Since they said they were hungry, I took them for a dinner at the adjacent (new) hotel and we had a very pleasant time! Lak drove us there with one of the hotel golfcarts, very funny! No pix of that, at their request (I have pix, of course, but I promised not to publish them). And afterwards I invited them to our suite, and we sipped 12y-Glenfiddich while HL was giving a fashion show! The evening ended quite late hehe!

Today, Thursday, we stayed in so that HL can start packing and so that we could participate in the 2 p.m. yoga class, given by Fadjèng. He's very good in it, although he's a lousy teacher hehe, we had to do the most impossible stands and at the same time keep an eye on him to see what he was doing! And I couldn't understand his mumbled instructions J but it was fun! And it really felt good, I must admit that.
And inbetween we quickly visited the YaiYa hotel again, since it was quite dark yesterday night, it's a nice "boutique" hotel, giving you the idea of a stay in the tropics hehe! It reminded me of the tree-hotel Yaang Come in Chiang Mai. Pricy though, and no room upgrades, so we won't stay there.

Maybe tonight we'll meet Kevin again, we'll see, I have sent him the pictures of yesterday, and he replied that he'd love to meet again.

For tonight we have no special plans, so it probably will be a movie again!

Stay with me, while the coverage of our trip continues :-)

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The Reader

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

(picture: the smiling fish)

Today's bloggie won't go about what happened today: it's the usual lovely day in paradise, as you have read before.

Just a short memo on the DVD we watched tonight: The Reader, played by Kate Winslet. Extraordinary film, really worth watching. Law is politics, and hypocrisy searches for victims. Alone for that line, everybody should watch this movie. 
And for the very beautiful nude scenes of the role of "Michael Berg", of course, the boy has the most exquisite body and an excellent butt, and for dicklovers there is even a quick glimpse hehehe!

I'm so impressed with this movie, that all the thoughts of what happened today were sent to the background, and I hope to pick some up tomorrow or the days to come, then I'll tell them with a short delay.

Meanwhile, hurry to the video store and get that movie!

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cocktails and sea-tales

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

Yesterday evening, HL made the solemn promise to sip a different cocktail every evening, during the complimentary cocktailhour! He started off with a Mochito and he proclaimed that it was strong and yummy! He's so proud that his alcohol tolerance level is getting better !

Today we went for a stroll on the beach. So many things to see: beachbeetles, mermaids that were collecting shells (scraping the sand with a shell from a huge mussel, and digging out the eatable cockles - correct spelling? - which are according to HL very very yummy), the Dusit hotel with orchids by the beach, joggers, a true sattelitedish (our new thai number is from the same company, truemove), a statue of a seahorse at a richly decorated seavilla, dogs that were playing in the sea, and even a statue from Easter Island that obviously got here during a heavy storm hehe (I took that picture barefooted, and I didn't see all the thorns hidden between the grass)!  

Beachwalks are rarely boring!
 
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++66 (0)832 769 423

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

I'm sure you guessed what this title is for: it's our new Thai phone number! I read about it in a newspaper: it's a new combination of GSM phone and VOIP (phone by internet) and for the moment it works like a dream !!! The SIMcard only costs 49 baht (1 euro + 5 bath phonecredit), and we topped up with 50 baht, and it should be valid for one year! Woohooo!!! I love technology when it works 

While I was busy getting excited about the phone, HL got his hair cut (70 baht, less then 2 euro). Very nicely cut, I must say, he looks 100% thai now!

And he cannot resist in charming all the girls over here, as you can see in the picture, he's such a womaniser! He invited Lak (manager reception) and Noi (assistant) to come over to our house in Belgium and stay there in the guestroom that is not ready yet hehehe! 

Meanwhile, I'm testing my good old camera to use it in circumstances it was not built for: low light, fast moving persons, … all very difficult stuff for such a tiny camera. Often the pictures are not so good, but I do it on purpose, since I hope to buy another (bigger) DSLR-camera when we'll be in HK, and I want to be able to compare and see the differences !!! So do accept my apologies for the less-then-normal-quality of the pictures during this time of the trip, it's a one-time-thing only, and I promise to produce better stuff next month 

And if you feel like calling me now by phone, while I'm in Thailand, do not hesitate, the new number is ready and set! Once we're out of Thailand, the number will be temporarily disconnected till we're back. And during sleep, the phone will be switched off 
 
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Transpiration is an activity

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

And the titel exactly says what we did today: sweat.

We took the bus to Hua Hin and were lucky enough to have a bus the moment we walked out of the hotel compound. Public transport here goes with the flow: sometimes it is available, sometimes it will be available at an uncertain future. Now it was available instantly, to our great satisfaction. 

Of course we could have taken a taxi, or the hotel shuttle (100 baht per head), but that would not have coloured the 'couleur locale', would it? We wanted to experience the real way how people here move themselves, at the price that locals pay. 

So we hopped into the bus. Free sauna, instant sweating guaranteed. A distinct odour of gasoline, and muskus from the woman sitting next to me, combined with the comforting cleanliness of campher (I don't know the exact english typo), quite exotic. It took me a while to control my breath, fearing that my lungs finally would give up on me, but they didn't.

The driver approched the shopping mall, and he cleverly supposed we wanted to stop there, which we did. After a sanitary visit of the mall, HL wanted to buy DVD's (100 bath per piece, which is around 2 euro and of course those are illegal copies, but surprisingly good quality; tonight we watched Milk, an incredible must-see-movie). Then we headed for cookies and instant noodles (no Asian can survive without the last one) and then back to the hotel.

A great long comforting swim in the laguna, my God, the water is so wonderful! I couldn't stop swimming, really. But I had to: the evening snacks and cocktails were waiting for us, after the shower. Delicious food, shrimps all over as if there's no crisis going on in this world. Meanwhile, we were the only hedonists in the lounge, and a band (philippino?) was performing just for us ... so pleasing to hear "a way back into love" again (did you see that movie?). I guess they will perform many more days, so I'll try to make some decent pix of them, one very gay guy and 2 girls in latex, quite shiny :)

Oh, if you wonder what the picture is about: in front of the shopping mall, there was this stable where you could destroy balloons with darts, obviously a popular passtime with young locals. The guy who had to replace all the pricked balloons noticed I was taking pix of him, and enjoyed the attention :)

That's it for today, folks! I hope you enjoy the tales of our doing nothing but producing transpiration :)
 
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The Snake !

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

From Bangkok to Hua Hin, a few hours drive. Our driver was most interesting. He's a Thaksin believer: he doesn't like the rich, and he counts himself to the poor. He predicted that Thailand will fall into huge violence once the King deceases. I think his prediction is accurate. From what I have read in the newspapers, the preparations are already on their way: radiostations spreading hate and anger. Political forces in Thailand are patiently waiting and preparing for the actual establishment to pass away, and then grab power by force. When this happens, you don't want to be in Thailand. It really sounds like the start of the French revolution in 1790. Blood will flow in many rivers. Whoever can be suspected of being rich will pay the price in blood. It will be a time to stay away from the battlefield and watch history repeat itself. 

Meanwhile, we enjoy the benefits of the Ancien Régime. Our usual suite 8211 was well prepared, and we are ready for 8 nights of Ocean View :) 

And oh, a funny thing happened when we visited Katia & Fahjung in the health club: there was a tiny little snake outside, hurrying towards the bushes. Everybody was so afraid of it, keeping at a very safe distance! And the most afraid of all that unwanted attention was clearly the terrifying snake itself :)

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The Skywalk! The Unique Pleasure of a Pedestrian.

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

Today we did the skywalk. I hear you asking: is that something like Michael's Moonwalk? Well, it isn't!

Bangkok is worldfamous for not being pedestrianfriendly. It's frankly impossible for pedestrians to walk the city. Not because of the heath. Not because of the pollution. Not because of the traffic. Simply because of the bare fact that there is no pedestrian road to walk on. Ah, indeed there is a reserved zone, that's true, but it's packed with everything else then pedestrians: stables, hawker's tents, chairs and tables, suncovers, drains, poles, signs, just name it: it occupies the pedestrian zone, and it prevents you from walking as a regular pedestrian.

Does that mean that Bangkok hates pedestrians that much? No, nothing of that sort. On the contrary: Bangkok invented the skywalk for them. It is was it says: you walk in the sky. To be precise: you can walk all the way from Siam to Chidlom, in a level under the skytrain, totally and fully reserved for the humble, non motorised, almost rural species called pedestrian. You get the priviledge of viewing the city like an eagle, with the view from above. You see all those miserable cars standing still in the congested traffic. You laugh all all those debutants who still hope to walk the ground level. You are the master of the world, you are a Skywalker (even when your Christian name isn't Luke). 

The Skywalk even has SideWalks, like sidestreets, leading to offices, or shopping malls. We used them, if only to get a peeping inhalation of airconditioned oxygen, before franatically diving back into the NOx-perfumed skywalk. Once a skywalker, always a skywalker, even if we have to come back to Bangkok to do our much needed skywalk! No doubt it's addictive :)

Memo: HL discovered for the first time the Central World & Zen shopping mall. Lots of local designers, he even bought a piece (black shirt). And we acquired our fetish: the local underwear. Remember this when you'll see us stripping, back home: maybe we'll be wearing Thai underneath :)

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Energy for being lazy

Van Bangkok-HuaHin-March2009

Day 6. I woke up at 2 am, and couldn't sleep anymore, while HL took revenge and slept like a rose, grmbl! Lucky him. I kept myself busy with the computer, and laying on the bed, trying not to think. An excercise in lazyness!

After a swim: a shower and the usual exuberant breakfast, Asia is really unbeatable when it comes to variety of the most delicately perfumed and refined foods. 

After breakfast, I slept till 2 pm (= nighttime in Belgium), then we went to the lounge for a drink and out of the hotel for shopping. My shopping list was extremely short: my travelmouse had hickups, and I needed to buy a replacement, that's it, nothing more. Siam Paragorn, 4th floor, good and cheap, 199 baht, that's roughly 4 euro. No creditcard payment for that amount though: we had to search for an ATM (the first one was a stupid machine, it accepted our code, but refused to give money, the second one sliced nicely 10.000 baht into 10 bills).

Then HL's turn ... fashion, of course. First the 1st floor in Siam Paragorn, where he discovered a modern version of a Japanese Samurai rope/pants, quite special, 13.000 Baht and 70% discount, who can resist that? He asked the lady to keep it seperate for him, while he'd search for other goodies in Siam Center. I think he spent there more then 2 hours dwelling all the local designers, and he found some pieces that unfortunately couldn't attract me. While he was terrorising the sales persons, I had a smoke outside and observed the world pass by. Then we went to an optician, who gladly (and for free) repaired HL's sunglasses (a screw went missing), after which I decided to buy my next pair of spex there. A nice one, Japanese titanium, with clickable sunglasses. It will be ready when we come back to BKK.
Then HL decided upon the Samurai inspired pants, actually a good buy. I hope there's space in the luggage, it's quite bulky!

Back to the hotel by skytrain, lounge, swim, lounge again ... lots of energy for actually doing nothing but being lazy ... I love it :)

It's 11.30 pm now, and I think I'll have a good sleep. See you tomorrow for another lazy day!

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two moving days

From Thailand_Malaysia_Nov08-Jan09-Thailand-Bangkok

Day 4 and 5 were reserved for just moving: from Greece to Bahrain to Thailand.

The advantage of cutting a long journey into two is double: 
* there is less airplanestress,
* and in this case it's value for money (half price!).
The disadvantages are double too:
* the trip takes more time,
* there's waiting in the airport.
For this part of the trip, we have all the time in the world, there's no book that needs to be written, we just have to enjoy whatever comes our way, so we don't mind the disadvantages. However, if you're in a hurry, do book a direct flight!

Gulf Air delivered us nicely to Bahrain, in a 4 hours flight, rather comfy chairs, good food (although not everything on the menu was available), excellent service, and one can imagine how perfect everything must have been with Gulf Air when they were still very high-ranked, and not aiming for masstransport. Now there's a clear lack of maintenance (fuzzy musicsystem, whisteling doors, unrepaired chairparts, ...) and one can only hope that there's no impact on air safety!

Bahrain airport had no direct access to our plane: a bus brought us in. The airport was very very busy, thousands of travellers waiting to be transported, since they also use the airport as a hub: coming from somewhere, and waiting for the 2nd part of the trip. Most of them are patient and fatalistic, others tired and nervous. I quarreled with the veiled woman that guarded the entrance of the business lounge as a fullblown Walküre: I asked her for the smoker's zone of the lounge, and she nagged I had to respect that the lounge was non-smoking, to which I replied that I didn't have to respect stupidity and lack of hospitality :) that felt good hehehe! I have something against veiled members of the opposite sex that tell me what not to do :). BTW, the only smoking area is opposite of gate 14, dirty and packed with irritated travellers, being bad publicity for that airport!
Other travellers claimed access to the business lounge, pleading that they had to wait 7 hours for their next flight, but no access was granted due to their economy ticket. HL asked around, since we'll have a 10 hours delay (!yes!) on our way back, and he'll have to find a Gulf Air office in Bangkok or Manila, in order to grab a hotelroom during that waiting time!

Fortunately this time we didn't have to wait too long: none less then the fabulous Jet Air was chartered by Gulf Air to fly us to BKK, and what an experience! For the first time we enjoyed fully flat beds and I managed to have a short but good sleep during this (only 6 hours) flight from Bahrain to BKK. HL saddenly couldn't meet Morpheus, not even with the help of the Spirits of Dry Martini and Drambuie hehe!

Arriving in BKK (day 5) is always the same routine: a long walk to the customs, and long waiting lines there, no choice. The hotel transfer was waiting for us, and it took us a long 1.5 hour to reach the hotel, due to traffic jam in the morning hours of BKK. The driver and HL were chatting like long lost old friends, we even got our share of the sextourismpublicity when the driver mentioned that he knew how to bring customers to all places of entertainment, such as 'young boys or young girls'.  

The Starwood system in the hotel worked perfectly: we were welcomed as returning guests, and upgraded to a full suite, with separate bedroom and huge bathroom, a welcoming luxury after the badly digested Bahrain airport experience and the long trip. We showered, slept for a couple of hours, and went for a swim, and this time the water of the pool was nothing less then perfect: not cold at all. Very relaxing.
In the lounge, Poon (short 'oo') almost fainted when he saw that we were back, he repeated over and over again: 'so happy!'. Lovely guy. HL sipped his way through 3 dry Martini's and once back in the room, he felt immediately asleep!

The upcoming days 6 and 7 will be needed to overcome our jetlag; we should more or less be adjusted when heading for Hua Hin (stone head) on day 8 !!!

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