Well, I'm finally retired.  But I'm not happy with the thought.  I miss working, but I don't.  I guess I miss the extra income more than anything.  Now I'm on a stricter budget and I'm thinking of relocating to somewhere that my money will go further.

But first, a vacation!

As many of you might have guessed, I'm a Vietnam Veteran. As such, I am curious to know how things have changed in the countries I spent much of my time in (or near).  So, I'm going to take a brief, 3 week trip to SE Asia and visit the Philippines, Okinawa (Japan), and Vietnam... perhaps even Thailand.

I'm most interested in seeing how much the Philippines has changed in 50 years, so I've been watching a lot of videos about it, as well as researching life there.  The main positives it has going for it is that a majority of people speak English to some extent, whereas in Vietnam, Thailand, and Okinawa, they speak it in the main cities, but once you're out in the suburbs or countryside, you'd better know some of the words.

I've managed to finally get my name changed back to what I've been using for the past 55 years (middle name) and got my first passport.  Now I have to arrange the flights, then register with the Philippines, which will be my first destination.  I also need to invest in a language program to at least learn Tagolog, though the places I want to visit use a different dialect - i.e.., Cebuano and Bisayan.  And there are over 140 different dialects spoken in that country, but those are the main three.

I thought Tagalog was going to be the easiest for three reasons.  1.) I used to speak it conversationally when I was there in the Navy, but that was 55 years ago and I've forgotten all but one or two swear words.  2.) I can get Rosetta Stone fairly cheap right now (also looking at Babel).  3.)  A friend I'd made online is/was a Language Arts teacher in a high school there and taught Tagalog (tuh-GOL-og).  But then she started asking for money, so... I'll have to go it alone.

Why the Philippines first?  It's where I spent most of my time, though it was all in a place called Olongapo (oh-LONG-a-poh) at the Subic Bay Naval Station, which no longer exists.  I've done walking tours on Google Earth and nothing looks the same, so I will want to visit there.

But, I also want to go to Cebu (say-BOO) and Dumagete (DU-muh-GET-tee) to see if I can meet with some of the people that post vlogs from there.  Especially since we COULDN'T travel to these cities when I was in the military, due to the political unrest at the time.

To give you an idea of what went on, I got out there on September 12th, 1972.  On September 23rd, I finally got paid and was able to go 'off base' for the first time... and that was the day President Ferdinand Marcos Sr declared martial law.  It was an interesting time.  

I did meet a lot of really great people after I quit hanging out in the bars.  Hey, it was a heady time for an 18 year old kid from Indiana to be able to drink without having to hide it!  But I did that far too much on my first tour of duty and realized how little I saw and discovered about the people there.

There were always vendors in the street and the ones I befriended sold barbecue pork cooked on a hibachi.  Most entitled Americans (usually the ignorant snobs who are now MAGA-hat-wearing goobers) called it Monkey Meat and treated NATIVE CITIZENS as if they were second-class human beings.  Americans, for the most part, were arrogant fucks back then (and they really haven't changed much in the past 50 years, getting even more arrogant, IMHO).  But I digress.

 I met some really good people who taught me the language and the customs and I fell in love with them.  It didn't hurt that the weather was warm all year 'round, though when it rained, it RAINED.  I have fond memories there, so I want to go back.

Second is that airline tickets are much cheaper there than they would be buying them here, so if I want to go to Thailand, Vietnam, Okinawa, or Tokyo, I can probably swing it.

Just have to find someone to take care of my cat for three weeks.