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Monthly Archives: January 2009

Christmas 2008 and New Year 2009 Holiday Travel Roundup

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Holiday in Transit: Planes, Boats, Cars, Trains from brownpau on Vimeo.
I should really write my travel logs on the fly so I get them out of the way faster, rather than taking weeks to finish like this. I’ve had to backdate my latest entries to avoid the archived embarassment of having my travel entries for [...]

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DTW Planter Stones

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Have you left a message on the stones in the planters at Detroit Airport? Note the Flyertalk Rock by a forum member.
Also of passing interest, our snow-covered NWA 747-400 after arrival:

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A Few Tokyo Travel Tips

Friday, January 30, 2009

First, let’s set the mood with a video from the Keisei Skyliner:

Now, a few things we learned along the way:

If, like us, you’re coming from a longer trip elsewhere and carrying lots of stuff that you won’t need for while you’re in Tokyo, Narita Airport has bag storage facilities which will keep your suitcase or [...]

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Oak Hotel

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Rather than a cheap hotel with small rooms, it’s much better to think of Oak Hotel as an upscale backpackers’ hostel with private rooms for rugged compact urban living, which is how they position themselves. Oak Hotel’s terraced brick building is nestled into an alleyway in Taito City, just ten minutes’ leisurely walk down [...]

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Stuff We Did in Tokyo

Friday, January 23, 2009

We visited an eye clinic. We took in the view from Tokyo Tower. We drank hot cans of Cafe au Lait while sitting by the waterfall in Shiba Park. We entered Zojoji Temple and listened to the chants of Jodo shu Buddhist monks. We walked through Ueno [...]

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Anilao Dive Log

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

My family went on six dives spread out over three days but I only went on two of those dives on the second day, opting to keep Amy company at the resort on the first and third days.
Dive #85
Date: 1 Jan 2009
Location: Sepok Wall
Maximum depth: 85 ft
Dive time: 50 minutes
Air used: 2500 psi
Off the [...]

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Eagle Point Resort

Monday, January 19, 2009

Anilao (in Mabini, Batangas) has always been my family’s go-to spot for diving, ever since my parents’ scuba heyday in the 1960s. When I was a kid we had a nipa-and-bamboo house at a ramshackle, sparsely-amenitied bungalow resort called Seafari, from where we could launch a speedboat or hire a [...]

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Greenhills Elan Hotel

Saturday, January 17, 2009

While in Manila we stayed at Greenhills Elan Hotel Modern, which had rooms for P3400/night (about $70/night at the current exchange rate). One of the taller buildings on Annapolis Street facing towards Greenhills Shopping Center, Elan is actually a mixed residential building, consisting mostly of condos, with guest rooms on three of its thirty-eight [...]

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Stuff We Did in Manila

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

We took it easy for most of this trip: lots of rest, no day tours, more time spent with family. (Sorry to all the friends with whom we skipped meetups, maybe next time.) We went down to the family’s farm in Laguna to try and swim in my uncle’s geothermal [...]

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Tito Cesar

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

A fond farewell to my Tito Cesar Bautista, who passed away shortly after New Year’s Day. Husband to my dad’s sister Tita Menchu, he was an engineer and an entrepreneur, and a man with a big heart and a huge family.
In my childhood my parents when traveling would sometimes leave me and my brother with [...]

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