Greetings from Taipei, boys and girls. Here is where I get the priviledge, nay, the pleasure, of spending 4 glorious hours on my layover before my super duper extra fun 12 hr flight to Vancouver. I'm sure the families of 12 are already in line at the check-in counter with all their worldly belongings and their distaste for waiting in line for anything. I figured one more blog post from the Asian landmass was in order to pass the time.
I had an action-packed few days in Siargao following the last post. On Thursday night we left on an overnight trip to a place that I'm 70% sure is called Sohoton. Or something like that. Haha its all a bit of a Tanduay haze how we planned that one out, but Bertus had it under control. First stop (after getting lunch and booze) on our little boat adventure was the Naked Island, called so because its just a giant sandbar in the middle of the ocean completely devoid of any buildings or plant/animal life. Basically it was an awesome place to get completely belligerently day drunk in the blazing sun and work on our tans. A few of the local guys came along with us to spice things up a bit. For lunch they made us an awesome grilled fish, which they seasoned by dipping it in the ocean - for salt! I have discovered a shameless love of grilled fish over here, and this one as usual did not disappoint. They grilled up some sailfish steaks on a chunk of wood they brought with them using some dried up coconut husks and dead palm leaves. Soooo delicious! Next up was a 2 some-odd hr debaucherous boat ride full of spontaneous singalongs and Tanduay straight from the bottle to this completely random house in the middle of nowhere. I don't think I could describe this place acurately or in a way that will make sense, but basically it was a 2-story house perched on the side of a jungle-covered cliff in an area of 70 acres full of smallish cliffy uninhabitable islands. Everywhere there was these amazing views and the water is half-salt half-fresh and completely still, with no waves or surf. It was so quiet after being ocean-front for so many days. Grab some google images if you can, because its so stunningly beautiful and peaceful and amazing that my dazed mid-flight brain can't quite grasp it. In any case, this place was awesome. We spent the late afternoon jumping from the 2nd story balconey into the water and swimming in the water, which is really cold for the first 3 inches or so then gets really REALLY warm underneath. So cool. The night was yet again another amazing meal of squid, some kind of salted fish, watermelon, soup, grilled squash and pumpkin, and chicken adobo. I swear, the best meals I've had in this country are the ones where some random lady is cooking you whatever she damn well pleases and there's no menu, just great grub. That night was the standard debaucherous rowdy times, with the Canadian team trying to teach a dozen very confused Pinos how to play Sociables.
The friggin biological clocks in the lifelong surfers woke them up at the crack of dawn. Its like they could smell high tide. Since they couldn't surf, they proceeded to resume the cliff-jumping cheering and laughing from the night before, much to the chagrin of the hungover Canadians who had passed out just before sunrise. We spent the morning chillin at the house, eating an awesome breakfast and swimming for a solid 4 hrs. After that we managed to herd the unbelievably drunk South African (our freakin tour guide) onto a boat for the planned day excursion. We went on small boats paddled by locals thru the coves/lagoons area, and hit up 2 caves, the names of which I sadly can't remember. There was one that was very much like a cenote swim in Mexico, all dark and stalectite-y. And the other one (where there was friggin BATS) we climbed up thru this column from the water inside the cave that spat us out about 30 feet up on a cliff-side. So more cliff jumping! The boys invited us back to this guys Rasta's house that night for a fish bbq, to which we readily agreed, so we all piled back into the boat for the long ride back to Siargao.
The fish bbq was AWESOME. More delicious non-restaurant food. Those boys can COOK. We had my new favourite fish, grilled blue marlin steaks, some Sinigang, soup, pineapple, and rice. YUMMMMMMY. Time to get smashed again, as it was unofficially our last real night in the Philippines, and our last night on Siargao. A very rowdy night was had by all. At one point I was on the back of a bike heading to Nine Bar and we almost ran over Bertus, sitting in the middle of the dirt road in pitch darkness wearing a panda touque playing guitar all by himself. He gave me a look of "hey, what are you doing on my road?" and we sped off. Sooo random. The night ended with a barefoot dance party at the bar where we had spent our first night. Such a great island.
Saturday was an epic travel day. Really its like I'm taking 4 days to get home. We left Siargao at 9 to take a jeep to the ferry, took a really shitty hungover ferry with no shade from the blazing sun for 3 hrs to Surigao, the capital city of the island. There we got a crappy hotel room for the afternoon that had no A/C and only 2 beds, so people slept as best they could and I sat there hating my life. I have developed a rather nasty infected cut on my butt cheek (ew, I know) and sitting down is super uncomfortable, so I sweat my bag off while laying with my back on the bed and my legs on the ground. Worst 5 hrs of my life. We were all very happy with the prospect of leaving that hot-box for the airconditioned night ferry back to Cebu. I was wise enough to have bought some sleeping pills for this one, and I popped 2 and passed out for the night. In the morning I woke up feeling like I had just been hit by a bus, chugged a bottle of vodka, snorted a line of laundry detergent, and been clubbed in the head. Those things were POWERFUL. I'm taking one on the plane tonight so I may be slightly delerious by the time I get home. I think I'll need it if I'm to sit on my sore ass for half a day.
Last night we were in Cebu, and it was a pretty anticlimactic last night in the country. We all passed out when the ferry arrived at 6am, and the girls headed to the mall to boost the economy. I did very very well on that trip. Almost to the point of being unable to pack my backpack - thank god for compression bags! I threw a couple of bottles of Tanduay in my bag, and even though I got a fragile sticker put on it, I was informed today that one of them broke in my bag. I have all my clothes in plastic compression bags, so I hope they make it home ok. So last night Kaitlyn and Brynn left at midnight, so there was lots of hotel drinking and drunken hugging and reminiscing. This morning I left alone at 9am to start my flight days home.
I'm thanking my lucky stars that I had 4 hrs in Manila, it took me almost the entire time to get there, take a taxi to the international terminal from domestic (soooo far, the airport is so spread out in the middle of the city), wait in the huge Air China check-in line for the Chinese people to get all their baggage in order, get through immigration/security, and find my gate. Manila is also one of those airports where there is absolutely nothing to eat on the other side of security. I was so happy to get out of there. Now I'm in Taipei waiting for my flight home! Catch you guys on Canadian soil!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Surfin' Safari
Yikes, where does the time go? Last update was over a week ago if I'm not mistaken. The days are a bit blurry. The rice terraces and CWC seems like ages ago, but at the same time I can't believe I've been gone a month already. I've been busy busy busy, and internet access is hard to come by on islands.
Last you guys head I was about to embark on a dive day. That was an awesome dive. Every time I dive here its better than the last time. That dive was no exception. Actually it was 2 dives. Great day. More eels, more fish, more everything. It was a wall dive, which is down the side of a drop off into deeper ocean, where you can just float alongside a wall of coral watching the fish and keeping one eye open into the deep for big stuff. We caught sight of a giant school of baracuda that seemed to come out of nowhere and come REALLY close REALLY quickly. I'm sure we were not of any interest to them whatsoever, but I couldn't help but picture myself as the Travelocity gnome in the pirhanna tank. Saw some more eels, really amazing trumpet fish, piper fish, and the always adorable clownfish who come to investigate the intruders into their little territory. Some big ol' green sea turtles too. It was so sad to think that it was my last dive in the Philippines, but it was a great way to end.
The next day the group took the first day trip we'd been on in a while. It was an incredibly jam-packed day that had us leaving at 9am and getting home at 7pm. First up was the Chocolate Hills. These things are left over from the time when the Philippines didn't exist and the whole area was covered in ocean. They're huge coral mounds that have since been filled in by soil and taken over by plant life. They were cool to see but sadly we couldn't enjoy them for very long before rainy season reared its ugly head. Thank God that didn't last long because next up was a stop at a zipline! That never gets old. It shot us 1km over a ravine looking waaaaaay down at the river below. We flew strapped in Superman-style, headfirst flying across - I could've flown forever. The only way to get back to the other side? Zipline back! They were building a huge bungee site, but it wasn't done yet. Such a shame because I would've been all over that.
From there we went to visit a Tarsier "sanctuary". The place presented itself as a refuge for the world's smallest primate. The Tarsiers themselves were so so cute, looking like little bush babies clinging to the trees. However, I left the place feeling disgusted that I had given them money to continue the business. You see, Tarsiers are very territorial. In the wild each one will ahve a territory of about a hectare. When placed in captivity in close proximity to one another, they commit suicide within a year or two. They do this by smashing thier heads repeatedly with a rock or against a tree until the cute little monkey is reduced to a dead bloody mess. I asked the guide flat out if the ones we were looking at would succumb to this fate, and he said they would. Great. I'd like by 100 pesos back please. So if anyone every comes to the Philippines, DO NOT support this place.
It was getting pretty late in the day at that point, but we had one more stop to make to a waterfall. Usually our trips to waterfalls are great and refreshing, but on this day by the time we actually got to the place we were so tired we just wanted to head back and swim in the pool at our hotel and avoid the epic hike back up the hill that always accompanies waterfall treks. Adventure prevailed, and down we went to the falls. At that point out Filippino tour guide told us it was "no good", meaning that the white water was too strong and not safe for the planned cliff jumping. Bertus, being the rational professional that he is, decided to jump in anyways. This prompted one of the girls to beg to be allowed to jump, and it seemed he had a hard time saying no to the girl he's been banging all trip, so in she went. The river current grabbed her and sent her flying down the river and for about 5 seconds (longest 5 seconds ever) I really thought Bryn was going to die. Well played, Bertus. thursday mroning Kaitlyn and I got up early to catch some sun before heading back to Ceby in the afternoon. In Cebu I got to put on makeup and go to another real disco and dance my sweaty white ass off into the wee hours of the morning. Such a treat! Wee! The quote of the night was Kaitlyn telling me how surprised she was to see my facebook picutre; when she met me she thought I was such a tombody and the photos of me all blonde and dolled up and wearing pink totally shocked her! Evidently my foul mouth and butch cockroach-killing abilities hid the Barbie within when I don't have my hair straightener and liquid liner.
Friday morning, still drunk yet again, we boarded a plane to Siargao ("shar-gow"). 4 hrs of sleep after that much booze is not a fun time.
Siargao, our last stop, is actually, 100%, my absolute favourite place in the Philippines. Its amazing. I could stay here for 40 days. In fact, next summer I may do just that and be a surf bum for a month. The local surf guys are hilarious and up for anything and all the people are so nice and generous and just all around great. Add that to the fact that the surfing is awesome and the scenery is beautiful and the parties are insane and you've got paradise! On day 1 Amanda, Bryn, and me went for a wander down the beach to expore our new home. We took a turn into town and stopped at a shop to pick up some Tandua for the night (P30 for a mickey). A group of local guys was sitting at a table having some drinks and hsouted out to us to join them. Not wanting to miss the opportunity for excitement we sat down and cracked the Tanduay. It was, after all, 3 pm, and we had sobered up from Cebu. Most of them were surfers, one of whom has won 3 Masters Surf Competitions, which is apparently the most elite level of surfing competition. These guys are legit surfers, not just island-dwelling surf bums. We also met Liam the Aussie, who is here to surf while his wife gets Botox in Manila. His words, not mine. He has since lost his wedding ring at a house party. Good luck explaining that one. He's a random dude, who has remained part of our party crew ever since. Exhausted from our night in Cebu, and 2-drink-sleepy, I had myself a little 3 hr disco nap and was woken up around 9 to go get some dinner. The only place still serving food was Bar 101, so off we went. There was maybe 12 ppl in the place including our group of 6 when we arrived. I had my very first experience with jugs of Jungle Juice (1 mickey of Tanduay, 4 mangoes, ice, in a blender) and the unbelievably delicious jug of Boracay. Boracay is Tanduay, condensed milk, Milo (coco drink), and 3 in 1 instant coffee (coffee, creamer, sugar, in 1 packet). Its AMAZING. I'm making it when I get home. Anyways, that 12 quickly grew to 40 or 50 people, all locals except for us, all dancing, chatting, laughing. Such a sweet night. Once acain, the locals are amazing people. After Bar 101 we went back to our hotel, Cloud 9, to jam with 2 dozen ppl with guitars and a drum box. The jug of choice there was a mix of beer, rum, and powdered pineapple juice mix. I spent the night listening to a mix of English and Visayas songs, the local dialect here. One of the instructors, Mitchberg, treated us to a Visayas freestyle rap. It was sooo sweet.
As far as the actual surfing goes, my first day out on the waves was Saturday. It was AMAZING. I'm in love with surfing. I may find my way out to Tofino to surf in the freezing waves. I got up without too much trouble and rode some good sized waves. nothing compared to the 15 footers on the far side of the break, but nice newbie waves that made me feel awesome and hardcore nonetheless. Yoga has come back to bite me in the ass here. My instructor, Babal, told me not to put too much weight on my feet when I pop up, but to use my hands to power me up instead. This is to prevent me from pressing on the back of my board and losing all the speed I build up paddling to catch the wave. No problem for yoga girl, as I've spent some years now working on jumping on my hands from downward dog through to a seated or standing position. Unfortunately, when translated into surfing, my techniques seems to involve dragging the tops of my feet along the board until its actually time to stand, this results in very large, very painful blisters on the tops of my big toes, right under where my flip flops hit. So it looks like I'm destined to be shoeless for the week and to spend my future surf days in surfing booties that scream "NEWBIE!" even louder than my giant longboard did on day one.
The instructors are wicked. When any new surfer catches a wave, everyone in the water cheers for them and shouts pointers as they go past. And falls are met with immediate cries to paddle back and try again. Its such a great environment to learn in.
having done pretyt much zero physical activity since the rice terraces, and weighing about 10 lbs moer than I did 40 days ago, Sunday morning greeted me with stiff muscles and board burn on my chest. But hey, I'm hardcore surfer chick so I hit the waves again. I was on a shorter board and managed to choose 2 waves on my own, paddle, and ride them without the help of Babal pushing me into a wave! Yay! Such a good feeling! That night we hit up some truly delicious Indian food at an aussie sports bar (this island could not be more random). Some of the surfer dides came looking for us (this island is also very small) to invite us to a birthday party at another bar. They even brought birthday cake in a bag to intice us haha. Already we had learned that one never says no to a random adventure on Siargao, so off we went. These people are so unbelievably generous; we didn't pay for a thing all night. Bottles of vodka and pitchers of Boracay ran circles around that party, with the part of Christine Walton/Brian Olsen/Taylor Lancee being played by Otak the surf instructor. His mission seemed to be to get everyone as drunk as possible as quickly as possible and to make sure everyone had a good time. Fine by me. We hit a disco and went home in the wee hours. What shocked me most was the fact that a mickey of Tanduay at the disco cost the same as a mickey at the random local store in town. No jacking up of prices at all.
Monday was a VERY relaxihng (hungover) day. In the afternoon the surfer guys came and asked us if we wanted to get a pig and roast it. Heck yes we did! Wilbur cost P3000 and fed about 20 ppl. We paid for it, and the guys did all the dirty work. We showed up at Mitchberg's house to find the pig in classic roasting form, head still on and all. That, along with some Lipsiligan (I think that's what it's called - raw fish in vinegar and spices), rice, and a squid stuffed with vegetables, made a truly delicous meal. The skin was the tastiest part, so crispy and tasted like a mix between bacon and roasted chicken skin. More free booze followed the feast, and the boys busted out a 3-prong beer bong for races. THe Canadian girls showed them how its done, and I won my heat :D
I think its perfect that the trip ends in Siargao. If some random local had asked me to hop on his bike and go to a cockfight during my first few days here, I probably would've been too nervous to say yes. Oh God! I didn't mention that before, did I. On Sunday before surfing we went to a real live cockfight, where the roosters fight each other to the death. They have a 3-inch blade strapped ot their foot and fight. The craziest thing was watching the men yell out thier bets. I don't know what the signal was, but all of a sudden everyone started yelling and waving hand signals at 3 guys wearing orange t-shirts. Everyone was going crazy. As I was saying, the best this about this island is the random adventures, and I htink its better to come here once we're all comfortable in the country, so those things can happen.
Tuesday's random adventure involved Ali the surfer dude asking me and Kaitlyn if we wanted to go eat some coconut. So we hopped on his motorbike and he took us to some random coconut tree area and proceded to climb up an enourmous tree to get some coconuts. He and his buddies made this drink that was coconut juice, coconut meat, condensed milk, and cookie chunks. It was tasty as hell and great for the pigroast hangover. These guys are living the dream. They surf high tide in the morning, have all day free to do whatever they want, and teach us white girls how to surf at afternoon high tide, then drink all night. Almost all of them are sponsored by big names like Billabong and Rip Curl, and they get to live in their small island paradise and travel to Japan and Indonesia and all around doing competitions. There seems to be only about 20 tourists here surfing, so its still nice and empty. They told us not to spread the word about Siargao to our friends at home, because then more people would come and ruin it. They're not wrong.
My surfing on Tuesday was brutal. I went solo and flailed around in salt water for an hour before giving up. I think I was too tired and the surf was not that great and it just wasn't an idea day.
Today we were supposed to go on a day trip to Naked Island (basically a huge sandbar where we were planning on having a fish cookin' fire and getting day drunk) but its pissing rain and cold (maybe 25 degrees haha) so we're not going. Also Adam has had a fever and been vomiting for a week so his sister, the one who just got out of the hospital, was going to stay with him. We figure its better to go another day when its sunny and Adam is either safely in a hospital or is in good enough shape to stay by himself for a whole day. Those poor kids are having the worst luck with medical stuff. Knock on wood, but I've stayed prety much illness- and infection-free since getting here. I probably wont have another update until I get to Manila on Monday - on my way home!!! Yikes! I have a brutal flight schedule: 1 hr flight from Cebu to Manila where I have a 4 hr layover, a 2 hr flight from Manila to Taipei where there's another 4 hr layover, then 13 hrs to Vancouver where I actually would have someone to play with for 4 hrs, but I only have an hour there, then home where my Mom has to pick me up at midnight on a school night. Long day for me! See you guys on Canadain soil!
Last you guys head I was about to embark on a dive day. That was an awesome dive. Every time I dive here its better than the last time. That dive was no exception. Actually it was 2 dives. Great day. More eels, more fish, more everything. It was a wall dive, which is down the side of a drop off into deeper ocean, where you can just float alongside a wall of coral watching the fish and keeping one eye open into the deep for big stuff. We caught sight of a giant school of baracuda that seemed to come out of nowhere and come REALLY close REALLY quickly. I'm sure we were not of any interest to them whatsoever, but I couldn't help but picture myself as the Travelocity gnome in the pirhanna tank. Saw some more eels, really amazing trumpet fish, piper fish, and the always adorable clownfish who come to investigate the intruders into their little territory. Some big ol' green sea turtles too. It was so sad to think that it was my last dive in the Philippines, but it was a great way to end.
The next day the group took the first day trip we'd been on in a while. It was an incredibly jam-packed day that had us leaving at 9am and getting home at 7pm. First up was the Chocolate Hills. These things are left over from the time when the Philippines didn't exist and the whole area was covered in ocean. They're huge coral mounds that have since been filled in by soil and taken over by plant life. They were cool to see but sadly we couldn't enjoy them for very long before rainy season reared its ugly head. Thank God that didn't last long because next up was a stop at a zipline! That never gets old. It shot us 1km over a ravine looking waaaaaay down at the river below. We flew strapped in Superman-style, headfirst flying across - I could've flown forever. The only way to get back to the other side? Zipline back! They were building a huge bungee site, but it wasn't done yet. Such a shame because I would've been all over that.
From there we went to visit a Tarsier "sanctuary". The place presented itself as a refuge for the world's smallest primate. The Tarsiers themselves were so so cute, looking like little bush babies clinging to the trees. However, I left the place feeling disgusted that I had given them money to continue the business. You see, Tarsiers are very territorial. In the wild each one will ahve a territory of about a hectare. When placed in captivity in close proximity to one another, they commit suicide within a year or two. They do this by smashing thier heads repeatedly with a rock or against a tree until the cute little monkey is reduced to a dead bloody mess. I asked the guide flat out if the ones we were looking at would succumb to this fate, and he said they would. Great. I'd like by 100 pesos back please. So if anyone every comes to the Philippines, DO NOT support this place.
It was getting pretty late in the day at that point, but we had one more stop to make to a waterfall. Usually our trips to waterfalls are great and refreshing, but on this day by the time we actually got to the place we were so tired we just wanted to head back and swim in the pool at our hotel and avoid the epic hike back up the hill that always accompanies waterfall treks. Adventure prevailed, and down we went to the falls. At that point out Filippino tour guide told us it was "no good", meaning that the white water was too strong and not safe for the planned cliff jumping. Bertus, being the rational professional that he is, decided to jump in anyways. This prompted one of the girls to beg to be allowed to jump, and it seemed he had a hard time saying no to the girl he's been banging all trip, so in she went. The river current grabbed her and sent her flying down the river and for about 5 seconds (longest 5 seconds ever) I really thought Bryn was going to die. Well played, Bertus. thursday mroning Kaitlyn and I got up early to catch some sun before heading back to Ceby in the afternoon. In Cebu I got to put on makeup and go to another real disco and dance my sweaty white ass off into the wee hours of the morning. Such a treat! Wee! The quote of the night was Kaitlyn telling me how surprised she was to see my facebook picutre; when she met me she thought I was such a tombody and the photos of me all blonde and dolled up and wearing pink totally shocked her! Evidently my foul mouth and butch cockroach-killing abilities hid the Barbie within when I don't have my hair straightener and liquid liner.
Friday morning, still drunk yet again, we boarded a plane to Siargao ("shar-gow"). 4 hrs of sleep after that much booze is not a fun time.
Siargao, our last stop, is actually, 100%, my absolute favourite place in the Philippines. Its amazing. I could stay here for 40 days. In fact, next summer I may do just that and be a surf bum for a month. The local surf guys are hilarious and up for anything and all the people are so nice and generous and just all around great. Add that to the fact that the surfing is awesome and the scenery is beautiful and the parties are insane and you've got paradise! On day 1 Amanda, Bryn, and me went for a wander down the beach to expore our new home. We took a turn into town and stopped at a shop to pick up some Tandua for the night (P30 for a mickey). A group of local guys was sitting at a table having some drinks and hsouted out to us to join them. Not wanting to miss the opportunity for excitement we sat down and cracked the Tanduay. It was, after all, 3 pm, and we had sobered up from Cebu. Most of them were surfers, one of whom has won 3 Masters Surf Competitions, which is apparently the most elite level of surfing competition. These guys are legit surfers, not just island-dwelling surf bums. We also met Liam the Aussie, who is here to surf while his wife gets Botox in Manila. His words, not mine. He has since lost his wedding ring at a house party. Good luck explaining that one. He's a random dude, who has remained part of our party crew ever since. Exhausted from our night in Cebu, and 2-drink-sleepy, I had myself a little 3 hr disco nap and was woken up around 9 to go get some dinner. The only place still serving food was Bar 101, so off we went. There was maybe 12 ppl in the place including our group of 6 when we arrived. I had my very first experience with jugs of Jungle Juice (1 mickey of Tanduay, 4 mangoes, ice, in a blender) and the unbelievably delicious jug of Boracay. Boracay is Tanduay, condensed milk, Milo (coco drink), and 3 in 1 instant coffee (coffee, creamer, sugar, in 1 packet). Its AMAZING. I'm making it when I get home. Anyways, that 12 quickly grew to 40 or 50 people, all locals except for us, all dancing, chatting, laughing. Such a sweet night. Once acain, the locals are amazing people. After Bar 101 we went back to our hotel, Cloud 9, to jam with 2 dozen ppl with guitars and a drum box. The jug of choice there was a mix of beer, rum, and powdered pineapple juice mix. I spent the night listening to a mix of English and Visayas songs, the local dialect here. One of the instructors, Mitchberg, treated us to a Visayas freestyle rap. It was sooo sweet.
As far as the actual surfing goes, my first day out on the waves was Saturday. It was AMAZING. I'm in love with surfing. I may find my way out to Tofino to surf in the freezing waves. I got up without too much trouble and rode some good sized waves. nothing compared to the 15 footers on the far side of the break, but nice newbie waves that made me feel awesome and hardcore nonetheless. Yoga has come back to bite me in the ass here. My instructor, Babal, told me not to put too much weight on my feet when I pop up, but to use my hands to power me up instead. This is to prevent me from pressing on the back of my board and losing all the speed I build up paddling to catch the wave. No problem for yoga girl, as I've spent some years now working on jumping on my hands from downward dog through to a seated or standing position. Unfortunately, when translated into surfing, my techniques seems to involve dragging the tops of my feet along the board until its actually time to stand, this results in very large, very painful blisters on the tops of my big toes, right under where my flip flops hit. So it looks like I'm destined to be shoeless for the week and to spend my future surf days in surfing booties that scream "NEWBIE!" even louder than my giant longboard did on day one.
The instructors are wicked. When any new surfer catches a wave, everyone in the water cheers for them and shouts pointers as they go past. And falls are met with immediate cries to paddle back and try again. Its such a great environment to learn in.
having done pretyt much zero physical activity since the rice terraces, and weighing about 10 lbs moer than I did 40 days ago, Sunday morning greeted me with stiff muscles and board burn on my chest. But hey, I'm hardcore surfer chick so I hit the waves again. I was on a shorter board and managed to choose 2 waves on my own, paddle, and ride them without the help of Babal pushing me into a wave! Yay! Such a good feeling! That night we hit up some truly delicious Indian food at an aussie sports bar (this island could not be more random). Some of the surfer dides came looking for us (this island is also very small) to invite us to a birthday party at another bar. They even brought birthday cake in a bag to intice us haha. Already we had learned that one never says no to a random adventure on Siargao, so off we went. These people are so unbelievably generous; we didn't pay for a thing all night. Bottles of vodka and pitchers of Boracay ran circles around that party, with the part of Christine Walton/Brian Olsen/Taylor Lancee being played by Otak the surf instructor. His mission seemed to be to get everyone as drunk as possible as quickly as possible and to make sure everyone had a good time. Fine by me. We hit a disco and went home in the wee hours. What shocked me most was the fact that a mickey of Tanduay at the disco cost the same as a mickey at the random local store in town. No jacking up of prices at all.
Monday was a VERY relaxihng (hungover) day. In the afternoon the surfer guys came and asked us if we wanted to get a pig and roast it. Heck yes we did! Wilbur cost P3000 and fed about 20 ppl. We paid for it, and the guys did all the dirty work. We showed up at Mitchberg's house to find the pig in classic roasting form, head still on and all. That, along with some Lipsiligan (I think that's what it's called - raw fish in vinegar and spices), rice, and a squid stuffed with vegetables, made a truly delicous meal. The skin was the tastiest part, so crispy and tasted like a mix between bacon and roasted chicken skin. More free booze followed the feast, and the boys busted out a 3-prong beer bong for races. THe Canadian girls showed them how its done, and I won my heat :D
I think its perfect that the trip ends in Siargao. If some random local had asked me to hop on his bike and go to a cockfight during my first few days here, I probably would've been too nervous to say yes. Oh God! I didn't mention that before, did I. On Sunday before surfing we went to a real live cockfight, where the roosters fight each other to the death. They have a 3-inch blade strapped ot their foot and fight. The craziest thing was watching the men yell out thier bets. I don't know what the signal was, but all of a sudden everyone started yelling and waving hand signals at 3 guys wearing orange t-shirts. Everyone was going crazy. As I was saying, the best this about this island is the random adventures, and I htink its better to come here once we're all comfortable in the country, so those things can happen.
Tuesday's random adventure involved Ali the surfer dude asking me and Kaitlyn if we wanted to go eat some coconut. So we hopped on his motorbike and he took us to some random coconut tree area and proceded to climb up an enourmous tree to get some coconuts. He and his buddies made this drink that was coconut juice, coconut meat, condensed milk, and cookie chunks. It was tasty as hell and great for the pigroast hangover. These guys are living the dream. They surf high tide in the morning, have all day free to do whatever they want, and teach us white girls how to surf at afternoon high tide, then drink all night. Almost all of them are sponsored by big names like Billabong and Rip Curl, and they get to live in their small island paradise and travel to Japan and Indonesia and all around doing competitions. There seems to be only about 20 tourists here surfing, so its still nice and empty. They told us not to spread the word about Siargao to our friends at home, because then more people would come and ruin it. They're not wrong.
My surfing on Tuesday was brutal. I went solo and flailed around in salt water for an hour before giving up. I think I was too tired and the surf was not that great and it just wasn't an idea day.
Today we were supposed to go on a day trip to Naked Island (basically a huge sandbar where we were planning on having a fish cookin' fire and getting day drunk) but its pissing rain and cold (maybe 25 degrees haha) so we're not going. Also Adam has had a fever and been vomiting for a week so his sister, the one who just got out of the hospital, was going to stay with him. We figure its better to go another day when its sunny and Adam is either safely in a hospital or is in good enough shape to stay by himself for a whole day. Those poor kids are having the worst luck with medical stuff. Knock on wood, but I've stayed prety much illness- and infection-free since getting here. I probably wont have another update until I get to Manila on Monday - on my way home!!! Yikes! I have a brutal flight schedule: 1 hr flight from Cebu to Manila where I have a 4 hr layover, a 2 hr flight from Manila to Taipei where there's another 4 hr layover, then 13 hrs to Vancouver where I actually would have someone to play with for 4 hrs, but I only have an hour there, then home where my Mom has to pick me up at midnight on a school night. Long day for me! See you guys on Canadain soil!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Safely out of Boracay. Dear body: You're Welcome
Greetings from Panglau. The itinerary you guys have is definitely not right. Malapascua is where I did my scuba stuff. Now I'm in Bahon, on Panglau island...I think. The names are always a little elusive as every 2 metres it seems we're in a different municipality and the islands have names that don't exactly roll off the tongue. I popped into this internet place on a whim, and usually I have a notebook that I bring with me to remind me of where we've been and what we've been doing, but I don't have it today, so bear with me on the details.
The last day in Boracay, once I sobered up, was pretty chill. I managed to get my life together by about 5:00 and do some shopping, which was decent but nowhere near the crazy deals and numerous stores that characterizes Thailand. I bought some jewelry, a couple of dresses, a new sarong, and a bathing suit top. Bathing suit shopping in the Philippines is quite the ordeal, especially when one is bloated from being hungover and has not seen the inside of a gym for a month. There is one size, SMALL. And it is not Canadian size small, no no no. It is Filipina size small which is about as big around as my upper thigh. Sadly the tops all fit like a damn (tiny boobs and all that) but I wasn't about to go and buy a bunch of half bathing suits. I just got the one that I already kind of have matching bottoms for. That night I was clearly in no shape to drink excessively, so me and Kaitlyn from my group headed out for some awesome Japanese food that cost me a whopping $18 for soup, rice, sushi roll, tuna steak, salad, and this mysterious plain tofu for desert. Which is actually really expensive for the Philippines but it was tasty and I deserve a damn treat every now and again. That tofu thing was NOT desert so we stopped for gelato on the way home. Yum yum.
Fully committing to the tourist vibe around us, the next morning us 2 got up an hr before our 8am departure to make our way to the Starbucks!!!! Starbucks Boracay is the happiest place on earth. I was more than excited at the prospect of having a whole wheat bagel and a "triple grade sugar-free vanilla non-fat latte", and then when we walked in we were greeted by the happiest damn staff of any coffee shop anywhere in the world. The girls behind the counter giggled and asked us all sorts of personal questions that were so adorable and sent us upstairs to eat our breakfast overlooking the blue blue waters. Kaitlyn ran downstairs to grab us another cream cheese and came back with 2 sets of "pearl" earrings. Evidently the girl at the til has a cousin who makes these for the street vendors who are selling them all over Boracay, so she has a ton and gave them to us as a present just for being adorable I suppose. So random but quite seriously the best Starbucks experience you could imagine. I think I should write a letter.
8 am and we were on our way via jeepney to the ferry, little jumper ferry to the bus terminal, 6 hrs on a bus to Iloilo, where we had 2 hrs to shop at the mall and hang out before going on a jumbo night ferry back to Cebu. I just bought some $10 gladiator sandals and had some lasagna. Hey, sometimes you just want some friggin' white people food. The night ferry was pretty nice, comfortable beds and the standard frozen solid air conditioning. I had a bottle of wine on the roof of the ferry (ignoring the big red RESTRICTED ACCESS sign...oh well) and passed out. Wierdly they didn't turn off the lights all night so I spent the evening cursing myself for not bringing a sleeping mask. Around 6:30 we rolled into Cebu, picked up Adam and Amanda who had gotten out of the hospital 2 days prior and caught another ferry to Panglau. Apparently Amanda had an inflamed fallopian tube and it spilled some sort of infectious bile into her uterus. I'm not really sure on the specifics, but she's all good now. Her brother had a pretty nightmarish few days, as she ended up on oxygen and the nurses could not administer any medication without him actually getting a prescription and going down to the pharmacy himself to get it, that includes IV antibiotics and a cold compress when she had a fever. Also no A/C and no bed for him to sleep in, and we had their backpacks for the whole time in Boracay. Poor things. But all is well now, the group is together and back in action. Our rooms here have kitchenettes so we stopped at the grocery store for luxuries such as cheese and fresh produce and the fixins for a bbq tomorrow afternoon to celebrate the birthday that Adam spent laying on a bench in a Filipino hospital.
I'm really not feelin' our new girls Alyssa. She's 26 and going through a divorce from her high school boyfriend, so that time that most girls have when they're 18 or 19 and just discover alcohol, freedom, and sex, she is going through now, 26 years old, in the Philippines. She is as emotionally stunted as you can possibly imagine and has a voice that grates on my for a reason I can't quite pinpoint. Add that to the fact that she had sex with some Australian dude on her balcony at 8am totally wasted and lets just say her and I haven't exactly bonded. Also she has never had a drink until about 7 months ago and tries to go shot for shot with our 31 year old professional alcoholic/tourguide. Yeesh. I avoid her for the sake of not having any open hostility on this trip.
Tomorrow we've got a dive booked at Balicasag island, which is supposed to be pretty amazing. We're doing 2 dives then hitting the Tanduay (P60 here) for Adam's belated birthday. My body is happy to be out of Boracay, maybe it will get some R&R...or maybe not. Today marks exactly 2 weeks till I get home - where did the time go???
The last day in Boracay, once I sobered up, was pretty chill. I managed to get my life together by about 5:00 and do some shopping, which was decent but nowhere near the crazy deals and numerous stores that characterizes Thailand. I bought some jewelry, a couple of dresses, a new sarong, and a bathing suit top. Bathing suit shopping in the Philippines is quite the ordeal, especially when one is bloated from being hungover and has not seen the inside of a gym for a month. There is one size, SMALL. And it is not Canadian size small, no no no. It is Filipina size small which is about as big around as my upper thigh. Sadly the tops all fit like a damn (tiny boobs and all that) but I wasn't about to go and buy a bunch of half bathing suits. I just got the one that I already kind of have matching bottoms for. That night I was clearly in no shape to drink excessively, so me and Kaitlyn from my group headed out for some awesome Japanese food that cost me a whopping $18 for soup, rice, sushi roll, tuna steak, salad, and this mysterious plain tofu for desert. Which is actually really expensive for the Philippines but it was tasty and I deserve a damn treat every now and again. That tofu thing was NOT desert so we stopped for gelato on the way home. Yum yum.
Fully committing to the tourist vibe around us, the next morning us 2 got up an hr before our 8am departure to make our way to the Starbucks!!!! Starbucks Boracay is the happiest place on earth. I was more than excited at the prospect of having a whole wheat bagel and a "triple grade sugar-free vanilla non-fat latte", and then when we walked in we were greeted by the happiest damn staff of any coffee shop anywhere in the world. The girls behind the counter giggled and asked us all sorts of personal questions that were so adorable and sent us upstairs to eat our breakfast overlooking the blue blue waters. Kaitlyn ran downstairs to grab us another cream cheese and came back with 2 sets of "pearl" earrings. Evidently the girl at the til has a cousin who makes these for the street vendors who are selling them all over Boracay, so she has a ton and gave them to us as a present just for being adorable I suppose. So random but quite seriously the best Starbucks experience you could imagine. I think I should write a letter.
8 am and we were on our way via jeepney to the ferry, little jumper ferry to the bus terminal, 6 hrs on a bus to Iloilo, where we had 2 hrs to shop at the mall and hang out before going on a jumbo night ferry back to Cebu. I just bought some $10 gladiator sandals and had some lasagna. Hey, sometimes you just want some friggin' white people food. The night ferry was pretty nice, comfortable beds and the standard frozen solid air conditioning. I had a bottle of wine on the roof of the ferry (ignoring the big red RESTRICTED ACCESS sign...oh well) and passed out. Wierdly they didn't turn off the lights all night so I spent the evening cursing myself for not bringing a sleeping mask. Around 6:30 we rolled into Cebu, picked up Adam and Amanda who had gotten out of the hospital 2 days prior and caught another ferry to Panglau. Apparently Amanda had an inflamed fallopian tube and it spilled some sort of infectious bile into her uterus. I'm not really sure on the specifics, but she's all good now. Her brother had a pretty nightmarish few days, as she ended up on oxygen and the nurses could not administer any medication without him actually getting a prescription and going down to the pharmacy himself to get it, that includes IV antibiotics and a cold compress when she had a fever. Also no A/C and no bed for him to sleep in, and we had their backpacks for the whole time in Boracay. Poor things. But all is well now, the group is together and back in action. Our rooms here have kitchenettes so we stopped at the grocery store for luxuries such as cheese and fresh produce and the fixins for a bbq tomorrow afternoon to celebrate the birthday that Adam spent laying on a bench in a Filipino hospital.
I'm really not feelin' our new girls Alyssa. She's 26 and going through a divorce from her high school boyfriend, so that time that most girls have when they're 18 or 19 and just discover alcohol, freedom, and sex, she is going through now, 26 years old, in the Philippines. She is as emotionally stunted as you can possibly imagine and has a voice that grates on my for a reason I can't quite pinpoint. Add that to the fact that she had sex with some Australian dude on her balcony at 8am totally wasted and lets just say her and I haven't exactly bonded. Also she has never had a drink until about 7 months ago and tries to go shot for shot with our 31 year old professional alcoholic/tourguide. Yeesh. I avoid her for the sake of not having any open hostility on this trip.
Tomorrow we've got a dive booked at Balicasag island, which is supposed to be pretty amazing. We're doing 2 dives then hitting the Tanduay (P60 here) for Adam's belated birthday. My body is happy to be out of Boracay, maybe it will get some R&R...or maybe not. Today marks exactly 2 weeks till I get home - where did the time go???
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Boracay
Let me start by saying that I have not yet been to bed from yesterday, and I am on the cusp of a truly crippling hangover. I figured I should blog while I'm still drunk to avoid passing out in the internet cafe later on. It is 4pm. Spelling and grammar errors are inevitable here.
Boracay is mad. Its crazy. Its like if Koh Pangan in Thailand and Cancun had a baby together and that baby was a raging alcoholic. The days are a bit blurred, but I can say for certain what happened on Canada Day. Aileen and I woke up early and went out for a dive. Its was an awesome dive, like swimming in an aquarium. Highlights include seeing lobster, more sea snakes, a bright yellow polkadot puffer fish, a school of those giant dinner plate sized angel fish, and an eel. We met a really cool family from Calgary now living in Qatar (not a poor family I would wager) who took all kinds of photos of us with their fancy underwater camera so I have lots of pictures! Sadly my video camera has not been working on the dives, the buttons don't push when I'm below 6m or so. I think it has something to do with the pressure :( We came back to the island in time for the rest of the travellers to come out of their caves into the bright gorgeous day. We had booked a sailboat for the afternoon so we rounded up some Tanduay (P80, which is misleading because Boracay is really really expensive) and off we went. One of the girls was an absolute genius and brought nachos and salsa with us so we had a downright Canadian lunch on one of the little islands that the boat took us to. Half a bottle of Tanduay later we were back in Boracay for a shower. The dive family had invited Aileen and I to their resort for a Canada Day party put on by the Canadian owners. So we grabbed a tricycle and headed to Seven Sands Resort, which looked to be about a 6 star place full of rich ex-pats. They had a BARBEQUE! I had potatoe salad and some absolutely delicious veggie skewers and got absolutely bombed with this family. They invited us up to their place where they had Clamato juice that they had brought with them from Qatar...sadly I do not like cesars. My group was horrified to learn that they had misseed the opportunity. We ended then night with a Canadian flag cake and some shisha and left them to go back to our beach to find our crew. No chance. The place was crazy and we were hammered so Aileen and I just sat down at a bar and demolished a plate of fries and went home.
The next day, needless to say, did not start off with a dive. Its too hot to sleep here during the day so I woke up around 8am and stumbled down to the beach to pass out. Around 11 Aileen woke me up to say goodbye. She was only here for 20 days and now she's on her way back to Canada. Sad news indeed, but she's from Calgary so we shall meet again. There wasn't a breath of wind on the beach so I had to spend the day bobbing in the ocean. Rough life. We pulled ourselves together when the sun went down to grab some dinner. I had some incredible chicken curry and started in on the Tanduay. Last night ended up being so random. Highlights include drinking on the beach with a group of transvestites, taking a cab back to my room just so I could take a crap, hitting a club on the other side of the island where a Canadian bartender named Shawn must've given me at least 10 tequila shots, dancing at another club with that club's owner and his posse of Korean girls who spoke no english and kept touching my hair, ending up drinking at the Canadian dudes appartment above the bar he worked at til about noon, and finding our way home where we tried to pass out but couldn't due to the blistering heat. So swimming and trying to sober up all afternoon. Today is our last day here so I need to get my act together and go shopping, which I somehow have managed to miss for the last 5 days.
Oh! And the day before Canada Day we hit up the Hobbit House where I paid a whopping $8 for a cold, delicious, unbelievably satisfying strongbow. Yummmmmmm.
Epic travel day coming up tomorrow. 24 straight hours of busses, jeepneys, and a night ferry. Should be pretty brutal, then we find ourselves in Panglau for a few days...only 2 weeks left! EEP!
Boracay is mad. Its crazy. Its like if Koh Pangan in Thailand and Cancun had a baby together and that baby was a raging alcoholic. The days are a bit blurred, but I can say for certain what happened on Canada Day. Aileen and I woke up early and went out for a dive. Its was an awesome dive, like swimming in an aquarium. Highlights include seeing lobster, more sea snakes, a bright yellow polkadot puffer fish, a school of those giant dinner plate sized angel fish, and an eel. We met a really cool family from Calgary now living in Qatar (not a poor family I would wager) who took all kinds of photos of us with their fancy underwater camera so I have lots of pictures! Sadly my video camera has not been working on the dives, the buttons don't push when I'm below 6m or so. I think it has something to do with the pressure :( We came back to the island in time for the rest of the travellers to come out of their caves into the bright gorgeous day. We had booked a sailboat for the afternoon so we rounded up some Tanduay (P80, which is misleading because Boracay is really really expensive) and off we went. One of the girls was an absolute genius and brought nachos and salsa with us so we had a downright Canadian lunch on one of the little islands that the boat took us to. Half a bottle of Tanduay later we were back in Boracay for a shower. The dive family had invited Aileen and I to their resort for a Canada Day party put on by the Canadian owners. So we grabbed a tricycle and headed to Seven Sands Resort, which looked to be about a 6 star place full of rich ex-pats. They had a BARBEQUE! I had potatoe salad and some absolutely delicious veggie skewers and got absolutely bombed with this family. They invited us up to their place where they had Clamato juice that they had brought with them from Qatar...sadly I do not like cesars. My group was horrified to learn that they had misseed the opportunity. We ended then night with a Canadian flag cake and some shisha and left them to go back to our beach to find our crew. No chance. The place was crazy and we were hammered so Aileen and I just sat down at a bar and demolished a plate of fries and went home.
The next day, needless to say, did not start off with a dive. Its too hot to sleep here during the day so I woke up around 8am and stumbled down to the beach to pass out. Around 11 Aileen woke me up to say goodbye. She was only here for 20 days and now she's on her way back to Canada. Sad news indeed, but she's from Calgary so we shall meet again. There wasn't a breath of wind on the beach so I had to spend the day bobbing in the ocean. Rough life. We pulled ourselves together when the sun went down to grab some dinner. I had some incredible chicken curry and started in on the Tanduay. Last night ended up being so random. Highlights include drinking on the beach with a group of transvestites, taking a cab back to my room just so I could take a crap, hitting a club on the other side of the island where a Canadian bartender named Shawn must've given me at least 10 tequila shots, dancing at another club with that club's owner and his posse of Korean girls who spoke no english and kept touching my hair, ending up drinking at the Canadian dudes appartment above the bar he worked at til about noon, and finding our way home where we tried to pass out but couldn't due to the blistering heat. So swimming and trying to sober up all afternoon. Today is our last day here so I need to get my act together and go shopping, which I somehow have managed to miss for the last 5 days.
Oh! And the day before Canada Day we hit up the Hobbit House where I paid a whopping $8 for a cold, delicious, unbelievably satisfying strongbow. Yummmmmmm.
Epic travel day coming up tomorrow. 24 straight hours of busses, jeepneys, and a night ferry. Should be pretty brutal, then we find ourselves in Panglau for a few days...only 2 weeks left! EEP!
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