Leaving Paradise

This was a much needed trip with lots of adventure in one of the most unusual countries in the world, where you can walk past a Home made of nothing more than a few pieces of tin held together with wire, scrap nails and rocks on the roof, and only a minute later to walk past a modern home painted with colors that compliment the flora of the area.
  To ride in a crowded Jeepny with the emissions control of a Model A, to a 2012 toyota air conditioned cab. To use a toilet which is only a bowl without a seat, that can only be flushed with a pale of water sitting next to it, with another bucket of water which is the sink, and then at the next stop to use a western toilet with a seat that gives one the full understanding of where the name "Throne" came from. 
The opportunity to once again do things I had always only dreamed of, Swam with the Whale Sharks, snorkled in world class waters, getting to see my first sunken ship, swam among reefs. Got the chance to meet some old friends from the internet,  to replace flesh with what before was only a voice and a picture.
 Didnt get the chance to visit a couple of others I would have liked to, and to make some new ones on the way.
 And the opportunity to share it all with one special friend. My old rule used to be to visit each country only once, yet this country is so rich with history and nature each time I walk thru one door, there is yet another begging to be opened.  It is easy to see why for centuries this paradise was a place sailors always looked forward to. 
It may by modern standards no longer be the Pearl of the Orient, but the remnants are still there, and the ability to regain what once made it great is there, ready for the people to make a change, for the right leader to take charge and make it so.
Special thanks to my Wonderful friends at home for making this possible, without your support, encouragement and true devotion this dream would not have come true. It is easy to see why the poorest people in the world always have the biggest smile, they have what really matters, each other.