last word on asia (promise)

as ann and dabney mentioned earlier, they flew to a part of philippines - palawan - that they had never been to before. here is their group on the small propeller plane they took to get there. only 2 people felt airsick. ann's cousins are very pretty, even when they're nauseous.


when they arrived at their destination, they thought that this might be where they are sleeping. nice, huh? the photo doesn't do it justice.


instead, here is their hut. note: the luxury ocean bungalows don't come with their own shrine.


for some reason, ann always looked a little puffy after snorkeling. dabney always had the large oval "snorkeler's crease."


entering a beautiful lagoon.


ann in a palm hat. while there, dabney learned how to make various animals out of palm fronds: angel fish, ducks, crabs, and grasshoppers. dab couldn't bear to throw them away (even though they got very brown and beat up on the way home), so ann did it when she wasn't looking.


virgin mary - uh, ann - in vigan, a town in northern luzon that featured a lot of spanish colonial architecture. the week after they were there, many of the old houses were damaged from a typhoon and subsequent flooding.


one of the many, many churches they visited.


holy gift shop!


ann's mom heading to the water in cabugao.


ann watching the sunset with her sister in her favorite attire... a muumuu (also called a duster in the philippines).


while in manila, dabney, ann's sister, and mom decided to get their hair done. you should have seen the photo that ann wanted to take of dabney (in ones of those strange rubber caps that they pull clumps of your hair through in order to highlight). if you had seen her, you would understand why dabney hellraiser wouldn't let that happen.


this is ann's dad who finally succumbed and allowed his daughter to select a new pair of glasses for him. he wasn't sure what he thought of them until all the female staff gathered around and told him he looked ten years younger. he ended up buying two pairs.


in bangkok, ann and dabney found a hip store called playground. those puffy pods were great to sit in, HARD to get out of.


dabney enjoying thai-style shabu shabu.


in northern thailand, they enjoyed a guy's lovely and sweet animal carvings.


ann's strategy for beating the heat was to drink heaps of iced coffee. needless to say, she was bouncing off the walls afterwards.


on the southern island of koh island, a & d took a break from their motor scooter and enjoyed some fresh fruit shakes and this view.


in the last week of their trip, there was much scrabble to be played. and let it be noted that ann did not win once. not once.