His Royal Orangeness Karl Willem wishes Clinton a big Orange Good Luck!
It was while stuffing ourselves during one of those degustation dinners that Clinton and I had an epiphany - it seemed that everyone, including their dog, has successfuly scaled Mt. Everest this May. The list of peakbaggers included a 70 year old man(!), a man with two prosthetic legs (!), and a teenager (!). There were also four intrepid Flipinoys, although no offense to them, there was nothing out of the ordinary with their climb. (They were after all extremely fit, well trained, and heavily sponsored so there was not a single iota of doubt that they couldn't climb Mt. Everest.)
And so over coffee, we both exclaimed "Well, if a 70 year old geezer, a double amputee, and a kid can do it, why can't we?"
Clinton is now on his way to Kathmandu to do the exploratory hike with the goal of reaching Everest base camp. I would like to wish him the best of luck!
It's funny, because among the three of us (me, Clinton, HRO Karl Willem) who are so keen on visiting the Himalayas, Clinton has the least alpine experience. This fact makes Clinton's successful ascent up to base camp very embarassing for the rest of us lazy gits with two legs. I hope Clinton brought some Bolivian coca leaves to ward off altitude sickness.
Mind you, another good friend, Lorraine, who CANNOT walk the 500 metres from her room to the library has successfuly reached the top of Machu Picchu in the Andes and Iguazu falls in the Argentina-Brasil border! This hurt my ego very much and so next year I'm going to South America (provided I save enough money prostituting myself) to do the same thing plus a walk in Patagonia. (Akala mo bruha ka ikaw lang ha. Ako rin! Mas higit pa!)
This is Lorraine's picture of Machu Picchu. Had I been there, the picture would have been prettier.