Year: 2007
Philippines First Thoughts
Here is a list of random first thoughts: I’m surprised that there is as much English as there is. Almost all the signage is in English. I was expecting much less and more Tagalog. The Philippines is a big place with a large enough population that they should have a critical mass of speakers so …
Final Thoughts on Palau
Palau Rocks. Pun intended. I’m not sure why Palau works, but it does. If you look at other Pacific nations with similar populations, they are pretty much basket cases politically and economically. Palau has managed to create a country with a standard of living higher than its neighbors (save for Guam) and a stable government. …
Housekeeping
Most of the postcards have been sent. Don’t expect any personal greetings on the back. I had way too many to send to do that. Writing addresses took long enough. When I got my tattoo in Rarotonga, I was given a piece of paper with the names of the symbols and what they meant. I …
Micronesian Military
I want to post this before I leave Micronesia and forget about it. While walking through the Guam airport I was struck by a large sign that listed the Micronesian servicemen and women who died in Iraq and Afghanistan. I knew that Guam and CNMI had soldiers in the US military. While I was in …
Majuro Recap
Where to begin about the Marshalls??? For starters, I didn’t explore Majuro as much as I did other cities I’ve visited. I put 20% of the blame myself spending too much time catching up on photos and blog posts and 80% of the blame on Majuro for being an uninteresting place with nothing to see. …
Big Rock Candy Island
I’m not going to say too much because I want to save it for a much longer post with photos and video. I got to go diving in the rock islands of Palau today as well as snorkeling in the jellyfish lake. Swimming with jellyfish is a surreal experience. Especially thousands of them. It is …
Pa-slow
The internet here is like the opposite of the Majuro. In Majuro, the infrastructure on the island was horrible, but the actual connection to the net was OK assuming you could get one. On Palau, there are internet cafes all over, but it feels as if the whole country is on the same dial-up connection. …
Palau 96940
I’m typing this at the Palau version of the Peach Pit, across the street from Palau High (Go Palau Spiders!) For the third smallest country in the UN, Palau really has its act together. It is a smashingly beautiful place. It is clean. It is reasonably developed. They seem to realize where their bread is …