Part 1 The Journey Begins :
My name is Monique.
I come from Europe, and I am in my mid twenties and stand about 1.53 meters in height and weigh only 49 kilos. For my height, my limbs are very long and shapely, especially my legs; and have what I would like to believe, a devastatingly sexy body, which I have managed to keep lean through a healthy diet and constant exercise, leaving me blessed with a flat trim waist and proportionately full breasts and hips.
People say that I have the look of a young Catherine Deneuve, what with my golden blonde locks and pretty face; but, I am sure they exaggerate, since I doubt whether I even come close to looking as good as her.
I work as a public relations officer for one of the bigger companies in the European Union. As a public relations officer, it is my job to look after the needs of our company's important clients so that they remain satisfied and will continue to do business with us.
In the course of my work, I have had to deal with a number of foreign clientele since my company does a lot of business worldwide. One such client was an Englishman by the name of Robert, an IT (Information Technology) expert who eventually became my boyfriend.
Unfortunately for us, due to globalization Robert was assigned by his company to head their Call Center/Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) operations way out in the Philippines a year and a half ago and has been stationed there since.
Needless to say, with me in Paris and him half way around the globe, our relationship suffered terribly. I was always on the verge of ending it were it not for the wonder of cyber telecommunications, which allowed us to see and profess our undying love to each another on live feed every day. "Cyber-dating" for want of a better term.
Although to be honest, the propensity of Robert's image to continuously hang in mid-sentence on screen was often comical and took quite a bit of romance from the moment.
Anyway, from our conversations, I learned that the Philippines is a tropical country located in south east Asia. It is an archipelago, meaning that it is composed of numerous islands (around 7,400 during high tide / 7,401 at low), and as such has countless beaches and marine attractions which makes it one of the most popular tourist destinations on earth. In fact, Robert even claims that the best beaches in the world can be found in the Philippines, citing Boracay, El Nido, Amampulo and Panglao Island, just to name a few, all being world famous for their pristine clear waters, vibrant marine life and fine, powdery white sand. How I truly envied his posting.
Robert also told me, that the Philippines is the only predominantly Catholic country in Asia and has a deeply religious as well as extremely conservative population. He said this was on account of its having been colonized by Spain for around four hundred years prior to its annexation by the Americans at the turn of the last century. In fact, he said that even a magazine as staid as Playboy is considered pornography and its sale there even to adults, constitutes a criminal offense.
As you may know, we have had a dreadfully cold winter this year. Since I have been feeling extremely sorry for myself lately for having to bear it alone, I had just about made up my mind to move on and finally break up with Robert, during our next up link. However, before I was able to bring the matter up, Robert pulled a surprise by inviting me over to spend the long Easter Weekend with him at an exclusive beach resort in the Philippines.
Although I was at first ecstatic at the invitation, my enthusiasm quickly waned when he told me that we would not be alone there, as he and his group had booked the resort not to really take time off from work, but to do a little brainstorming for an up coming project.