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?