New Year's Party

There are advantages to traveling with two young women as your guides.  One of those advantages is that a couple of gentlemen at our hotel got to talking with Maricor and Geraldine and invited them to a New Year's party, so I was invited to the party too.

Our hosts were Nick (an Australian) and Joyce (a Filipina from Palawan), and I couldn't help but ask them about their marriage.  They had been together for nearly 20 years and seemed so happy together, that I had to ask them about such marriages between Filipinas and western men.  They discussed the subject with me for about an hour and were persuasive advocates for such marriages. The discussion really opened my eyes to possibilities I had never considered, and as it turns out, changed my life, but that's a story for a later chapter.

The dancing and karaoke that preceded the fireworks were a lot of fun.  Even I sang to the karaoke, but I don't have a photo to prove it! 

About the fireworks, I can say without any hyperbole, New Years in Puerto Princesa was like being in the middle of a war zone.  Think I'm exaggerating?  See the fireworks videos at the bottom of the page.  In just the few blocks where we were, the neighbors had more rockets than the City of Berkeley, Oakland and San Francisco combined!  It went on for hours and was incredibly intense.

Towards the the bottom of the photo section are several photos from Maricor's camera, not necessarily appropriate to this section, but included here anyway. 

My hotel room My guide's room was quite a bit smaller, but they said no when I suggested they get a bigger room.	M & G showing the bamboo decor	Amhad Amin and Captain Fareek Captain Fareek invited us to a New Year's party at a friend's place.	Dinner at a Japanese restaurant before we went to the party.	Captain Fareek, Faye, Geraldine, Maricor, and Ahmad
	Nick and Joyce Our hosts in yellow and dark blue dress	Ahmad and Maricor	Preparing the table	Joyce's daughter, Ahmad and Joyce.
		Everyone seemed to enjoy a turn at the karaoke
Fareek, Nick and Joyce Nick and Joyce were our hosts.		Ahmad, Joyce and her daugher.	Cute kid.	More cute kids.
Karaoke and some dancing too!	Geh and I Shot from Maricor's camera -- as are the rest of these from here down.	M and me (M's camera)	Great view from hotel restaurant (M's camera)	one of my favorite photos (on our way to the underground river)
	Unremarkable photo of me as we enter the underground river, although if you look close you can see the safety pin holding my glasses together (M's camera).	(M's camera)	(M's camera)	(M's camera)
Maricor and Swiss traveller (M's camera)	(M's camera)	(M's camera)	Good view of the hall outside Maricor and Geraldine's room (M's camera)	(M's camera)
Geraldine, Ahmad Amin, and Maricor (M's camera)	Amhad and Maricor (M's camera)	Captain Fareek, Ahmad, Maricor and me, probably discussing the New Year's party invitation (M's camera)	Ahmad and Maricor (M's camera)	Geraldine, Ahmad, and Maricor at the New Year's Party (M's camera)
At the party (M's camera)	At the party (M's camera)	At the party (M's camera)

Fireworks Video 1

Fireworks Video 2

 

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Last modified: 03/18/09