Hello! It's been quite a while since I have blogged, but I think I have a good reason as to why not. I have been backpacking!! For those of you not familiar with "backpacking," well simply it's this: low cost travel (you all know how much a college student makes... zilch) using a backpack for ease of movement between cities, countries, continents, you name it. My parent's were quite surprised when picking me up at the airport and all I had was a 13kg backpack. They had sent me off to HK with 3 (yes, three) suitcases to have me come back with only a sixth of my belongings. I have really enjoyed reading this blog about the life of a backpacker and understanding how feasible it is to see the world, check it out:
Art of Backpacking
Let's back up a bit, the semester finished in Hong Kong just before Christmas. The week was full of good-byes and "see you laters," however many of us were ready for finals to be finished and the next adventure to begin. After finishing up all of the finals (which I passed!) and packing/shipping my belongings back home, we were off. We checked out of our dorm and waved good bye to Hong Kong on the bus to the airport.
Our first destination was the Philippines. We were headed to a small tourist island called Malapascua, near Cebu. Unfortunately our flight left at 2am and arrived at the airport in the wee hours of the morning. Now, flying internationally is almost always a fun experience... but not always. The airports in developing countries aren't quite as nice as those that we Westerners are used to flying in to. Many times you hop off the airplane onto a field, for lack of a better definition, and take a bus about a half hour to the customs office to await a long, long line to get into the country. Just a forewarning to those traveling to these sorts of areas. There was nothing scary, of course, just not the usual.
So we arrived in Philippines, pitch black outside, and had a long, long bus ride across the island... or so we thought. After leaving the tiny baggage claim office in Cebu, we were bombarded with taxi drivers and car services that wanted to take us to our destination for a very inflated price. We had already decided to take a bus, knowing that it would take more than 6 hours to get to the port and another 1.5 hours by boat to Malapascua. Sounds terrible, huh? We took a taxi to the bus station to find buses with open windows, standing room only, and people hanging out the window. Not quite our cup of tea (just thought I would throw in a Chinese saying...). The group we were with argued over the price, in German of course, while we waited patiently for their decision. A few hours later we were on the
same taxi across the island, reaching our destination around 12pm. Exhausting.
But everything always works out in the end and we were happy to arrive at one of the most beautiful places on earth. It was a picture perfect paradise: white sand beaches, lovely palm trees, and sun!!
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| View from our bungalow. |
We stayed in a very cute, but not particularly well managed, bungalow. I believe the owner could have made much more money if he would have washed the sheets and replaced the mattresses every few years, but nonetheless, it was an experience. Many people on this island were from America or Europe and had retired early to open a hostel/hotel/restaurant and live and enjoy life. If I were carefree enough, I could imagine a life like that - but I don't think it's in the cards for me.
We were fortunate enough to celebrate Christmas on the island. However, this will be the last Christmas away for a while. It's funny how much you learn about yourself and your family when you're away for so long. Anyways, enough of that. We celebrated Christmas with some good conversation, Italian food, walks on the beach, and, of course, Jack and coke.
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| Notice the Christmas tree in Kathi's hand. |
The next few days were spent on excursions. There are many touters on the island selling their services including snorkeling adventures, island hopping, and scuba diving. One afternoon we took a 3 hour snorkeling trip around Malapascua. The water in the Philippines is the clearest blue I have ever seen. You could see so deep down to the ocean floor, it was incredible. There were these crazy fish that would jump and skip across the surface all around you while you were swimming. What an experience.
The next afternoon we went to a small island about a 2 hour boat ride away. The island was private, quiet, and so beautiful. On both sides of the island were long sandbars that you could walk out on and into the middle of the ocean. Looking out from the end of the island, you could only see the bluest blue, for miles and miles. I can't even adequately describe the beauty that is the Philippines. And my picture hardly do it justice.
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| Our drivers |
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| Sandbar |
We returned and explored the island for the rest of the afternoon. There were two parts of the island: tourist and local. The local areas were so worn down. The homes in this area were simply sheet metal stapled against a wooden pole. No electricity, running water, nothing. The poverty in these areas was incredibly depressing, and this was one of the more expensive islands. When driving through Cebu island, the sights were devastating. People just scraping to get by, small shacks on the road, 5 people riding on a motorcycle.... you get the idea.
But we did meet a group of small children who spoke very good English and made our 4 hour ride back to the airport just a bit brighter. The funny thing about the Philippines is that everyone speaks English. Even the signs are in English. I suppose that many of the younger students learn English not only to support tourism but because it's very expensive to have textbooks translated into Filipino. We arrived to airport, passed through border control, and were onto the next...
But, you'll have to wait until tomorrow, it's my bedtime. :)
Philippines Photos
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