Somebody gave me "I & Claudius: Travels with my cat" for Christmas. It's part travelogue and inner introspection. The author, Brit Clare de Vries "dreamed of quitting her job and Thelma and Louise-ing it across the United States. Then one day, she did. Except that Louise was her 19 year old Burmese cat Claudius." Cats and backpacking. Neither of which I have or can do right now. Our cat Rafael, or Ping (ew!) as how my family called him, died two years ago. He was the last from his lineage of house cats. I want to have a cat again, and go backpacking -- although not necessarily in that order.

The backpacking thing I plan to do as soon as my schedule clears up. In all probability I will have to do it alone. I've been scouting around for good travel books around the Philippines. There's the 1999 edition of "26 Days Around the Philippines" by Carlos Libosada, but a lot of things have definitely changed since then. I am waiting for another edition of that. And of course the ever trusty Lonely Planet guides. I saw a copy of their Southeast Asian guide and it costs a good thousand bucks. Scream. I'm putting it on my wishlist for the moment.