We recently returned from Boracay, an island in the Philippines. It's small, no airport, but quite a lively strip that runs along a beach with fine white sand and crystal-clear blue water. If it were only easier to get to... but perhaps that's what keeps it small and nice. We left our house at 5:00 AM, and didn't check into our hotel until 8:30 that night. Yikes. I think we used every form of transportation known to man, with the exception of wild burros. Planes, taxis, boats, vans, walking, and giant tricycles, which we had to get off and help push up the hills. But the stay was gorgeous, and our money went far. A bottle of San Miguel beer was about sixty cents American. A day of snorkeling on a private boat with a lunch of coconut calamari, prawns, rice, chicken, mango, watermelon, and I forget what else was almost nothing. We visited an island with caves to explore, and snorkeled on three different reefs, and the whole thing cost us about US$14 a person.

It was the kind of place where you didn't even need shoes. I didn't wear my Tevas for two entire days. I realized I was carrying them everywhere, so I just stopped bringing them. Every restaurant has tables in the sand. There are no cars on the main drag, which also happens to be sand. It was truly an amazing place, with tall palm trees and a very laid-back atmosphere. I think the only problem is we didn't stay long enough. Our friends Mason and Cara are still on the island, even as I type this...

Pictures are what you want to see, and you can find them by clicking here.

We went out to eat the other night at this great new Thai restaurant in our neighborhood called Bird Taipei. They had a two-for-one beer deal going on midweek - buy one beer, get another one free. When we went to pay our bill, the waiter pointed out that we had only three beers - we still had another one coming to us. Without a pause he asked, would we like to take it with us? Sure, we said. So he put the bottle into a little shopping bag with handles, along with a paper napkin, and off we went.

You gotta love this country.