January 1998

This is a collection of pictures from a diving expedition to Moalboal, Philippines. The Taiwanese government confiscating some airplanes of the airline we were taking the day we left, so it was an adventure just getting there. We were pretty beat by the time we got to Manila but managed to make it to a midget bar (I'm not kidding: the "Hobbit House") where we drank beer and ate deep fried Cheeze Whiz until dawn (As Julie said at about 3AM, "These midgets are making me dizzy."). It was not a freak show, as I feared it might be. The waitresses, waiters and managers are just plain working people, serving drinks, dancing and having a good time. The live music was quite good.

The next morning we were off to Cebu, which is a very large island that has the second largest city in the Philippines (Cebu City - imagine that). After an uneventful day, we hopped into a cab to go to the bus station to catch the bus to Pasangama beach in Moalboal. None of us were looking forward to three unair-conditioned hours on a cross-island bus. Our cabby asked us our eventual destination, and then offered to drive us the whole way. For $30, it sure beat the bus (Rolf: "Dog!"). We only spent five days on the beach, and were certified to SCUBA dive in that time. Needless to say, we were very busy studying and diving, and I shot less than fifteen minutes of video. Anyhow, it was a beautiful, inexpensive and wonderful experience... but you'll have to take my word for it, because these captures aren't very good!

Our $15 a night, beach front hotel (bacon, eggs, homemade bread, juice and coffee included). You can see our window on the 2nd floor.		This is a picture of Jackie, a 13 year old Groovi Chyk from Hong Kong who weighed less than her SCUBA gear. (Where's Rolf?)
Julie after our last dive: "These midgets are making me dizzy."	Me and Julie.	Me and our Uber-instructor, Ralph. "Ya, is a good day to dive, no?" (He doesn't really talk like that, but he is German.)
Julie and Ralph.	Me and Julie out in front of our hotel.	What's this? Me taking a picture of myself in a hotel mirror in Manila. Hmmm, just why do you suppose the mirror is level with the bed? Is it for midgets? And why can I get an hourly rate at this hotel? Hmmm....