The Reason We Get Up In The Morning

"Money is a constant companion only when you have it, and once it's gone, you're an orphan amongst friends."

Curthom

Low Tide, High Aspirations

"Traveling the path of least resistance while experiencing the ambience of the journey, hoping that the final destination is many quarter century's away." (quote from Curthom)


I traveled here and there and some how, once again found myself in East Asia, seeking or perhaps having found one the least expensive places to rest and relax. It had been a rather slow year so far and I just needed a rest from all of the drama going on in the States.

I stopped in Hong Kong, but the cost of living per day for a non-resident,
(aka, a foreigner) was rather prohibitive, more than $100 a day and that
didn't correspond with the budget I had in mind. I was thinking something more or less around $15 a day or about $80 a week. So, my
instincts took me to the Philippines, where I had lived off and on, over the past few decades off very little indeed.

I landed in Manila after catching a flight on Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong. You got to love those One World Alliance Partners. You build up a lot of American Airline AAdvantage miles over the months, using a Citibank Frequent Flyer Credit Card paying for this bill and that bill, and before you know it, you've got enough miles to go someplace. Well, that someplace for me was Mactan Island, off the coast of Cebu Island, just across the Cebu Strait. What a beautiful place Mactan Island, like most of the Philippines, it's hard to decide exactly where to settle, because there are so many gorgeous places to pause, stay or settle.

On Mactan Island, you have the luxurious Shangri-La, The Cebu Hilton Resort & Spa and The Plantation Bay, with rates very well North of $75 a night and all these hotels serve a market for those who can afford them, but I'm not there yet and if, I was there, that is could afford such places, I really like interacting with the locals of the places I pause, stay or settle, so I chose something akin to what you see in the picture above. Something simple, something elegant in that it coexists with nature without taking too much from nature-that is, it has a rather small "carbon footprint," like my wallet.

The picture was taken from the rear of a popular eatery on Mactan Island and while I didn't physically stay at the dwelling in the picture above, called a "nipa hut," I have stayed in a nipa hut and it was all that I needed for as long as I needed. I'd like to have something like this when I'm back in the States, but our local Zoning Departments always has something to say about that, huh?

Living Life On The Cheap

One of life's great challenges today, is how to get by on whatever you have, but what if, you have very little or absolutely nothing at all? Could you still get by? I see the homeless everywhere I travel in the United States and through out the places I frequent abroad, and for the life of me, I wonder to the point of staring, making assumptions of how they get on from one day to the next.

I wonder, what are they doing to make ends meet? Many of these questions of course go unanswered, because for me and many others, we tend to have a busy life, so don't have a lot of time to just stand around and become casual observers?

Of course, you don't want to observe too casually too often, these days, less someone think that you're a stalker or something. You never know what someone is thinking, unless of course they're blogging or something like that, I guess. Looking back in hindsight, you know what? Really now, very few people in America have actually nothing. They may think they have nothing, but compare what they have and/or perceive they don't have, to other countries, we actually have a grand life here in the U.S.A..

Shucks, we have so many opportunities here in American that we overdose on it! We overdose to the point, that we become numb to the opportunities. We go about our days, weeks, months and years too busy to be bothered to even think much about the opportunities American affords us. I know because I back in America and I'm sitting here listening to Classical Music that I barely recognize, and the volume is just loud enough to break my chain of thought. The laptop is a corporate lease return, meaning I got it for a third of the price of a new one and could've even gotten nearly free, if I had taken the time to participate in some market surveys and join some trial programs. The wi-fi is free, yeah really free, because I was going to purchase something to sip on, and well, there was the coffee shop that just happened to have free wi-fi. I don't really drink coffee, but the coffee is cheaper than the fountain drink, so we order coffee and live with the small coffee cup that is made of the same styrofoam as the fountain drink cups. Plus, the fountain drink dispenser is located in an area that promotes as many refills as you like. Oh, did I mention that there are plenty of electrical outlets. Surge protectors are optional and free with a rebate from time-to-time from who?