Travels

[considerations]

"I just renewed my passport and I hate to lose the last one, Every page was full of stamps."

Copy the pages on a color printer before you turn it in.

Mine got rained on....looks kind of ratty.

8 countries

Every state except Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and New Jersey.

[NM_Shooter]

OK.. here's my best travel story.  Apologies in advance as this is lengthy.

I had ridden via oil rig from Singapore to the Philippines.  I was doing hardware upgrades, and my buddy was doing S/W upgrades for the BOP controls.  Had to kill time in Puerta Princessa, on Palawan for a couple of days, as my buddy had to go back to the rig to fix a GUI issue and I opted to wait on land (after 5 weeks on a DP rig... go figure).  Anyway, they were having a problem with Malaria, so I was pretty much staying in at night.  There was a karaoke bar attached to the hotel, so I would go down there and buy $0.25 beers and listen to drunk Asians sing western songs.  They were actually pretty good.  As I was sitting there, a whole group of nuns walked in.  No kidding.  They worked at the Vietnamese refugee camp and had a bunch of volunteer workers from Manila, and since the volunteers were going home the next day, they were going to thank them by going out for a party (this hotel bar was the nicest one in town that was indoors).  Naturally I had to buy them all a drink, so they invited me over.  (I am pretty sure I am the only sailor in the history of the world who ends up in the Philippines after a long haul drinking in a bar with nuns.)  Anyway, they told me that if I had a day to kill, I needed to go to the "underground river" in a town called Sabang (sp?).  They all had their one drink, invited me to the camp later, and left for the night after singing some songs.

Next day, off I went.  Took a Jeepney (think partridge family bus with mud tires and no windows) on a 4 hour trip through the jungle.  We had 23 Philippinos, 4 Europeans, myself, and a chicken on board.  Broke down halfway in the jungle, and while the bus got fixed, I got to visit with some of the locals who were farming the area.  Got to Sabang ~11:30 or so, took a "pump" boat around the point, and hiked in to the entry of the cave.  Got in a dugout canoe with a coleman lantern on the bow, and had a guide paddle me into the cave.  Pretty cool experience.  Came out, and saw a huge lizard... really big.  Made it back to Sabang at about 4, and found the Jeepney driver to ask when he was going back.  He said 7.  I was worried as this was going to put us back in town at 11pm.  He said No.... 7 am tomorrow.  Gulp.  I was out of water, no food, no DEET, and there were only some bamboo looking beach bungalows that I could rent for $4 a night.  Bed and a net.

I looked around and saw a nice Mitsubishi bus... I asked the driver if he was going back that day, and if I could have a ride.  He tapped the sign on the side of the drivers door that said "Philippines dept. of Interior, OFFICAL USE ONLY" and told me that he could not.  I offered 30 Pesos, and he said "we leave at 6"  .  So I'm on my way back in an air conditioned bus with a truck load of (mostly women) botanists, and the only seat on the bus is in the back on the gear.  As we are driving along, the women would yell at the driver (something in Tagalog) and the driver would hit the brakes hard, and the ladies would bail out of the bus into the jungle and come back out with plants / flowers they had rooted up, wrapped in wet paper, and then they threw in the back with me.  So I am swatting nasty big spiders and other crap coming off these plants too.  On the drive, I started talking with the ladies as best we could.  Their english was better than my tagalog.  I asked them about the giant lizard I saw, and wondered if it was venomous.  They asked me what the word venomous meant... I said... you know "poisonous".  They laughed and said "Oh no... they are quite tasty".  Turns out these were giant iguanas. 

We made record time getting back to town, and the driver insisted on driving me up to the front door of the hotel.  I climbed off, and the bus went to the hotel cul-de-sac to turn around.  Just then my buddy rides up on a tricycle motorbike thing (having just flown in from the rig) and sees me standing there.  The bus comes back, and the ladies are yelling "Fraaahhnk, Fraaahhnk!"  and holding my lens cap out the window.  I grab the cap, thank them again, and they drive off waving and yelling "Goootbye Fraaahhnk!".  The look on my buddy's face was priceless.

We ended up going back to the Vietnamese camp later that week to visit with the nuns and get a tour.  We brought some toys with us, and we each donated $20.  The nuns were excited about the money as it would allow them to buy a little bit of meat for Chinese New Year for the refugees to celebrate with.  Pretty amazing trip.  I don't think it would have been as memorable had I been traveling with someone.

Sorry for the length... I got carried away reminiscing!   

P.S.  I later worked with a Vietnamese guy who had "processed" through that camp.  Small world.

 

[glenn kangiser]

Cool story Frank.  Thanks.  I didn't know the BOP's were computer controlled.  The land based rigs I worked on had them but I thought they were mechanically operated.  Maybe no time for that.