Although I cannot take credit for the title of this blog (George Will), it is entirely how I feel about life right now. It's hard to believe that I have lived in Korea for nearly a year and a half. It's just as hard to believe that my stay here is coming to an end.
With Stormy and Stuart already gone, my thoughts have become nostalgic. The thing I remember most about myself before coming to Korea and about the impending future was all of the fear I was harboring. I was uncomfortable with myself to the point that I wouldn't listen to music loudly in my own car for fear that someone may hear what I was listening to and not like the music and then judge me for what I was listening to...Strange I know, but that was my thought process. I used to be afraid to eat alone at a restaurant in fear that people would see me there and think I had no friends or that they would feel sorry for me. I hated my body, my hair and everything else you're told to hate about yourself in magazines.
Now only a year and a half later I barely recognize the person I was before. I listen to my music loud and proud. I even sing on the subways, trains and buses. I have no fear about people thinking I am strange. The fact is, I am a little strange! We're all strange in our own ways. I eat alone all the time without worrying myself about what people are thinking. I gained weight here...and I lost weight here. I'm now a little smaller than I was before I came to Korea and after being a little bigger I've learn to appreciate my body at all sizes. My hair is great because I don't have to really fix it! :) I've made changes in my life and in my attitude about life. I have, on more than on occasion, found myself making fun of myself for things that used to frustrate me - such as spilling a drink all over a stack of papers. I find the humor in life and the things that used to frustrate me now roll off my back. I know that it's just a moment in time, one that will pass just like all the others and this one will only be as good or as bad as I allow myself to make it. All of these small things have made a big change in the person I am.
But the biggest change I have noticed in myself and in my life is the absence of fear and the endless and exciting possibilities I lend to the future.
"Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live." - Dorothy Thompson
After letting go of the fear of leaving home, leaving everyone I knew and loved to try a job I had never tried before, in a country I had never really even thought about -- somewhere in the mix I let go. Then traveling Thailand mostly alone for 15 days, I learned that I can be independent. I can go alone, I can go anywhere I want! Anything is possible. I've found that no matter where I am in the world, people are still just people. I let go of the fear that people from other countries would be so different from me that I wouldn't be able to understand them and that they wouldn't be able to understand me. Our common humanity stretches beyond the barriers of language, customs, culture and religion.
I'm reading a book called "Letters to Sam" by Daniel Gottlieb and it is just a series of letters from a grandfather to a grandson. The difference is that the grandfather is a paraplegic and the grandson has autism. The author has said a few times in the book that security is just a feeling, not a tangible thing. We're never truly secure. Our worlds can fall apart in the blink of and eye - our health taken, our family and friends taken, our wealth... I feel like I know a little bit about a world crashing down because of the false sense of security I had given myself. From the book I have taken that I should be grateful for what I have today. And because of my appreciation for the now, I have been able to allow myself to open up to new possibilities and to the future and it's uncertainty.
I love Korea. I love my life here and the extraordinary people I have met either here or through my experiences here. Korea has given me the opportunity to travel parts of the world I never truly believe I would ever be able to see with my own eyes. It has given me a comfortable life with very few worries and almost absent of stress. I have found that I have a passion for kids and I hope to work with children in the future.
List of things I will miss about Korea-
1. Cheap food. I can eat a pretty healthy meal here and be stuffed for 3,000 won ($2.50)
2. Public Transportation. Trains, Subways, Taxi's, Buses, ferries and even planes! I never knew that I would love traveling with countless unknown people as much as I do. It's cheap, it's good for the environment and for the most part it's pretty convenient here.
3. My job. I LOVE my job. It is the greatest job ever and it has lent me a lifestyle that I love and appreciate.
4. The ease of making friends. At home, you're usually friends with people you work with, grew up with or met because they know someone that fits into the first two categories. In Korea instant bonds are formed with other foreigners because you're all living a similar experience. Plus, we tend to stand out in a crowd!
5. Drinking. I know you can do this at home too. In fact, the beer is better at home and the selection of wines can't be beat! However, drinking is a part of Korean culture. On more than one occasion I have sat with my coworkers at school and shared a beer in the teachers lounge. Also, you can drink anywhere (public transportation!) and at anytime! There is no rush at 1:45am to go on a beer run or to leave the bar.
On more than a few occasions I have been walking down the street or alley ways and ran into a drunk person- young and old. And not just on the weekends, weekdays and at all hours of the day and night! The Monday before Stuart left Korea, he and I were walking down an alley to his hotel room and there was an older man, probably 60, stumbling along. We smiled and gave him a nod. Then I reminded Stuart of how much he is going to miss all the drunkards!!! :)
6. Absence of drugs. Not everyone will agree with me on this, but the absence of drugs in Korea makes it feel so much safer. It has made the drunkards you meet in the alley ways late at night less scary. At home you couldn't be sure if the man your facing is drunk or high or if he is going to rob/kill you to get money for his next fix. Luckily alcohol is cheap here! A bottle of soju costs about 85cents so even the most modest income can afford to enjoy alcoholism.
7. Mountains. The landscape in Korea is outstanding! I've said it time and time again, but I will always remember Korea as a beautiful place full of rolling green hills and mountains.
8. My bills. Yes, my bills. I will miss looking at my electricity bill and seeing it be less than $10. Can't beat it.
9. Ajuma. The little old lady that just knocked you over to cut you in line...yeah, that lady. I'm going to miss them and their boldness and no regrets/respect attitude! I've made it a personal goal that when I'm about 65 or 70 I'm going to cut all my hair off, dye it jet back and get a ridiculous perm. I will partner my new hair-don't with outrageously patterned/colored/mismatching clothing that I will wash with moth balls. Then I will happen upon unsuspecting youths and take their seats, place in line and if I feel like it, I will knock into them as I walk. How are they to get angry at a little old ajuma and not look like an ass? ;)
10. Love Motels. They're all over the country and they are exactly as they sound...hotels made for lovin'. In the lobby or hallways leading to the rooms you can usually find a random selection of porn free of charge! PLUS the rooms generally range from 30,000won per night to 70,000won. If you're staying for 70, believe that your room is outstanding! The 30K room will usually get you a full size bed, a mini fridge, a computer with internet access, a big flat screen tv and generally additional seating in the room. The rooms always seem clean enough to me. The blankets and pillows smell of bleach and the floor is well kept. They also usually give you a little pouch on your way to the room containing a condom, two disposable toothbrushes and one disposable razor. In the room you'll have shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste for sharing ;) I love the value for the quality and it makes traveling in Korea way more affordable.
There are so many things I could list that I will truly miss about the place I have made my home for the past year and a half but there are so many more that I can list about my home in America. If living in Korea has taught me anything, it's taught me how wonderful America really is. I'm so proud to be from America and OOOOOklahoma!
SO this will be my last post concerning living in Korea. Thank you so much for following and enjoying the ride with me. I saw that I've made 43 posts on this blog and it makes me think about how these are just a few of the major events that have happened to me. There are so many memories and small times I'll be able to take home with me and I'm so thankful for this experience.
안녕히 가십시오 Korea!
Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow.
- Dorothy Thompson
Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is taking the risk to be alive -- the risk to be alive and express what we really are.
- Don Miguel Ruiz
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
MudFest...late but not too late
July seemed like fun dipped in good times and sprinkled with laughter! Mudfest was a great time! It started with Stuart and I waking up at 5am to take the train to the Express Bus Terminal to catch a bus to Mudfest. We signed up with a tour group that was mostly foreigners. On the way to the train station (5am) we passed a lot of people eating "dinner" and still drinking soju and beer. Stuart and I were talking about how that's just normal in Korea and how those people are just regular, working class people, cutting loose on the weekend.
Once we got on our bus it was about 7:20am and some kid in the back of the bus was so drunk he was threw up on himself and the floor. The organizer came and made him change and then he refused to clean the vomit out of the bus so his friends did it for him. Needless to say, we left him there. Don't worry- he made it to Mudfest and I saw him Sunday wearing the same shirt he had puked on the previous day. Sick.
This is the guys friend cleaning up...ewwwy
Once we arrived in Daecheon we were greeted by lovely monsoon weather. The downpour was unbearable and we were forced to take shelter in a restaurant that served only seafood. It is like this built in requirement for Korean's that if they visit the sea, they must eat sushi or some other seafood! Which means that most of the restaurants along the coast of Korea only serve seafood and Daecheon Beach is in an exceptionally small city with limited options. I had been craving shellfish and a couple of other people decided to join me in having a few clams and what-not. The clams were good, not great, but good and the beers were going down smoothly at 10am. After we finished and the rain had let up we decided to pay our bill. Any guesses??? Um yeah, it was 70,000 won per table (we had two tables!) We were shocked! The last time I was in Daecheon with students we had the same meal (only better) for 40,000!
Me catching our lunch!
mmm shellfish
Cooking gloves on and I'm ready to eat!
Grilling...Korea style
Stormy wasn't impressed
No one would eat this one...
SO of course I had to try it!...Creamy...seafood shouldn't be creamy
We took the financial blow and stomachaches and set out to get settled into our pension. Like I said, we were a part of a tour group and we were meant to meet up with the rest of the group and check-in to our rooms. When we arrived to the lovely "GaGa Hotel" we went to our room and took a look around. There was a mini kitchen, no beds (only floor mats), a balcony that faced another hotel, a door to the left that lead to another groups room and a door to the right that lead to another groups room. So can you spot what was missing? Yes, that's right, our room had NO BATHROOM! What the???? So for the lucky seven of us staying in the room, we were supposed to share with the people next door? To this day we all believe that we were the only room without a bathroom. BUT we didn't let it get us down! We changed into our mudfest gear and head to the mud!
Stuart Kelley and I took no time before we jumped into the wrestling pit! We were followed shortly by Tyler, who didn't just jump into the pit, laugh and get out. Tyler jumped into the pit, got in the middle and became the center man to beat! He was so much fun!
The girls with the Mudfest mascot!
Ahh Mudfest
Tyler dominating the mud pit
Stuart, Melanie, Kelley and I fresh outta da mud
Stuart and I all muddy
Stormy and I getting ready to have a little lunch -my muds all dry
Stuart, Kelley and I = mud-tastic
Kelley, Stuart and I decided it was time to play on the moon bounces so we stood in line for a little over an hour before deciding it wasn't worth it and meeting up with the rest of our group! They said they were going to go check on a bus or train that left earlier than the one with our tour and then we never saw them again. All of them ended up being sick and/or tired. Only Kelley, Stuart, Tyler and I remained. That evening we got cleaned up and went back to the beach where we caught the end of a concert before running into a few people we knew and going to a club! We danced the night away and it was a great time! The next day was perfect beach weather and almost everyone who was there got burnt! The sun was shinning and everywhere people we relaxing and enjoying.
This years Mudfest was great! I was lucky to have such great company and we did enjoyed every last second of it! Although I won't be in Korea for Mudfest 2011 - Cheers to those that do go!
Once we got on our bus it was about 7:20am and some kid in the back of the bus was so drunk he was threw up on himself and the floor. The organizer came and made him change and then he refused to clean the vomit out of the bus so his friends did it for him. Needless to say, we left him there. Don't worry- he made it to Mudfest and I saw him Sunday wearing the same shirt he had puked on the previous day. Sick.
This is the guys friend cleaning up...ewwwy
Once we arrived in Daecheon we were greeted by lovely monsoon weather. The downpour was unbearable and we were forced to take shelter in a restaurant that served only seafood. It is like this built in requirement for Korean's that if they visit the sea, they must eat sushi or some other seafood! Which means that most of the restaurants along the coast of Korea only serve seafood and Daecheon Beach is in an exceptionally small city with limited options. I had been craving shellfish and a couple of other people decided to join me in having a few clams and what-not. The clams were good, not great, but good and the beers were going down smoothly at 10am. After we finished and the rain had let up we decided to pay our bill. Any guesses??? Um yeah, it was 70,000 won per table (we had two tables!) We were shocked! The last time I was in Daecheon with students we had the same meal (only better) for 40,000!
Me catching our lunch!
mmm shellfish
Cooking gloves on and I'm ready to eat!
Grilling...Korea style
Stormy wasn't impressed
No one would eat this one...
SO of course I had to try it!...Creamy...seafood shouldn't be creamy
We took the financial blow and stomachaches and set out to get settled into our pension. Like I said, we were a part of a tour group and we were meant to meet up with the rest of the group and check-in to our rooms. When we arrived to the lovely "GaGa Hotel" we went to our room and took a look around. There was a mini kitchen, no beds (only floor mats), a balcony that faced another hotel, a door to the left that lead to another groups room and a door to the right that lead to another groups room. So can you spot what was missing? Yes, that's right, our room had NO BATHROOM! What the???? So for the lucky seven of us staying in the room, we were supposed to share with the people next door? To this day we all believe that we were the only room without a bathroom. BUT we didn't let it get us down! We changed into our mudfest gear and head to the mud!
Stuart Kelley and I took no time before we jumped into the wrestling pit! We were followed shortly by Tyler, who didn't just jump into the pit, laugh and get out. Tyler jumped into the pit, got in the middle and became the center man to beat! He was so much fun!
The girls with the Mudfest mascot!
Ahh Mudfest
Tyler dominating the mud pit
Stuart, Melanie, Kelley and I fresh outta da mud
Stuart and I all muddy
Stormy and I getting ready to have a little lunch -my muds all dry
Stuart, Kelley and I = mud-tastic
Kelley, Stuart and I decided it was time to play on the moon bounces so we stood in line for a little over an hour before deciding it wasn't worth it and meeting up with the rest of our group! They said they were going to go check on a bus or train that left earlier than the one with our tour and then we never saw them again. All of them ended up being sick and/or tired. Only Kelley, Stuart, Tyler and I remained. That evening we got cleaned up and went back to the beach where we caught the end of a concert before running into a few people we knew and going to a club! We danced the night away and it was a great time! The next day was perfect beach weather and almost everyone who was there got burnt! The sun was shinning and everywhere people we relaxing and enjoying.
This years Mudfest was great! I was lucky to have such great company and we did enjoyed every last second of it! Although I won't be in Korea for Mudfest 2011 - Cheers to those that do go!
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
At the beach, just another day in paradise!
I about 3 weeks ago I went to the Philippines for vacation. We booked our tickets through a cheap/worthless airline - Cebu Pacific Air and booked our hotel online at Boracay Beach Club. Everything was set in place and we were ready to go! We took an hour bus ride from Ansan to Incheon Airport and got on our 9pm flight to Manila. Once in Manila we had originally planned to just stay at the airport and wait for our 5:30am flight the next morning ( we arrived in Manila at about 12:30) However CEBU Pacific canceled our early morning flight and replaced it with an afternoon flight. ---Read more about this atrocity later---
So once in Manila we decided to get a cheap hotel for the night...if only it were that easy. On the plane we met an Australian guy who is married to a Philippino woman who lives in Manila. He suggested a couple of cheap places to stay just for the night. Once we were in the cab line, we asked them to take us a specific hotel and got in the taxi. The taxi smelled so strongly of moth balls I could hardly breathe. The cabby told us that he knew a better place than the one we wanted to go to and proceeded to take us on a 2am tour of Manila. He took us from hotel to hotel - none of which we asked to be taken to - and then finally we were so freaked out we begged him to take us back to the airport, back to the Marriott hotel we could see from the airport. Upon entering the parking lot of the Marriott our car was sniffed out by dogs and the trunk had to be opened. Once we were cleared we got out of the the godforsaken cab and went through a metal detector as our bags, then our persons were sniffed out by guard dogs. The hotel was immaculate. Beautiful and obviously too expensive for us...but we had to ask. They didn't have anything available in our price range and recommended similar hotel that we stayed at.
Here's our too expensive hotel room and view ---
Remember I told you our flight was canceled? Riiiight well here's the rest of that story. The day before we were schedule to fly out of Korea I got this email from Cebu Pacific------
Good day!
Please be advised of the schedule change of your flight/s. We apologize for the inconvenience that this disruption may cause you.
HELDRETH/ERICA
ELLISON/STORMY
Record locator: PCZBNN
5J 891 SA24JUL MNLMPH ETD 0530 ETA 0630 (CANCELLED FLIGHT)
5J 331 SA24JUL MNLKLO ETD 1230 ETA 1345 (CONFIRMED SCHEDULE)
5J 896 SA31JUL MPHMNL ETD 1115 ETA 1225 (CONFIRMED SCHEDULE)
For inquiries or rebooking, please call our Call Center in Manila at (+632) 7020888 or in Cebu at (+6332) 2308888. Thank you...
THAT'S IT! THAT'S ALL IT SAID! So my flight was changed not only in time, but location. Stormy sent them an email asking what they were planning to do to compensate for our lost vacation time -no response. Turns our Kalibo or KLO is about a two hour drive to Caticlain (Boracay) and it's not an easy drive! The terrain is mountainous and the roads are narrow. On the way there we almost hit a cow, a couple of dogs and countless other cars and pedestrians. This caused the bus we were on to slam on the brakes and swerve around corners...naturally I got car sick. Which wasn't so bad except the flight to Kalibo wasn't that great either and then we were rushed into a bus, then directly from the bus to a ferry to take us to Boracay Island we were picked up and taken in another car about 10 minutes to our resort. The day was exhausting and my stomach would not quit turning!
Boarding our plane -
Stormy boarding-
We took a short breather in our room before heading out to the beach to find some food. It was a little rainy and over cast but still beautiful! After all the stress of getting there, we relaxed on the beach and had a massage.
White beach the first night -
The next morning we were feeling well rested and ready for a full day in paradise! When we booked our hotel we took part in a promotional deal that gave us a lot of activities. We received our schedule and that morning we were to take a Land Tour of the island. We had met a nice couple, Amber and Tommie, who were staying at our same resort and our hotel booked all of our built-in activities with them. We met up with them and began our Land Tour.
This little monkey was the only one that wasn't chained up :/
Bear cat---Why?
Stormy and I at Puka Beach
After our land tour we went back to the hotel for a little beach time.
Me on White Beach
Here are our new friends, Amber and Tommie.
Every night the kids that live behind our resort make these beautiful flowers in the sand and for a small contribution they'll write your name in the sand! Stormy and Erica!
Amber, Tommie and I decided to take the BBC drink challenge, which is 5 cocktails - promotional priced - and then you get a t-shirt! We decided we would probably drink as much anyway and we all got the shirts, even though number 3 was a killer!
The next day we ventured out to Ariel's Point which is about a 30 minute boat ride from White Beach. We set sail at 11am and returned at about 6pm. For the trip there, access to the cliffs for jumping, lunch and all the alcohol you can drink - the price was an insane $25! We enjoyed the day in a new setting with a lot of the people from our resort as well as some others.
This was the view from the tip of the cliff
Another beautiful view from the cliff
Stormy relaxing on the raft and taking pictures
A few of us enjoying the raft
This was our boat and everyone waiting on us to leave...we were busy taking pics ;)
Sunset beginning from the boat.
Back at White Beach
So now you have to wonder...did I do it? Did I jump off the cliff? The answer is yes. After much hesitation, I knew I would be angry with myself if I didn't do it so I went to the highest platform - the one all the boys were nervous about jumping from - and made my cliff jumping debut... Here's the video!
A group jump
This is the results of me trying to be a badass...a bad ass. Surprisingly, the bruises were gone within a week.
We returned to the beach and had our favorite little boy, Bernie, write our name in the sand and take pictures with us.
Every night and day these boys are out on the beach doing flips and playing. They make a little money drawing in the sand and seem to spend most of their days just having fun. Here's a pic of Bernie being thrown in the air.
The next morning we didn't waste anytime and got straight to para-sailing! The sky was clear and beautiful and it was a perfect day!
The next day at breakfast we saw that the weather was picture perfect. It couldn't have been a prettier day! SO Stormy and I decided to trek over to the other side of the island to get to a less crowded beach and enjoy some new scenery.
These are pictures from our resort at breakfast.
The ants loved me because I always spilled my sugar.. :/
When we arrived at Puka Beach we were surprised that there were hardly any people there. In fact, we spent the entire day on this beach and only saw maybe 6 other people -all of which were just walking past. One guy selling ice cream, he only asked once and left us alone the rest of the day. It was our personal paradise for the day and we both agree that the day produced some of our favorite pictures from the entire trip! We spent the entire day taking pictures and sifting through the rough, coral ridden sand.
SHOPPING DAY!!! It had to be done...so we took the 10 minute walk down the beach to the D-Mall where everything is overpriced! :) It was a nice way to spend our day but we were so hot and anxious to get in the water by the end of the day...
D-Mall
This place is called "The Hobbit House". It has a lot of imported beers and you're served by little people..gotta love the gimmick.
View from our table at lunch.
And another
HAHA! They gave her tap water! Excellent!
Sunset that night was unbelievable! I must have a million pictures of it because it was changing every two minutes, but here are a couple of my favorite shots
Our final full day on the island we weren't sure what to do. We had taken all the adventure trips we wanted and even scouted out the other beaches. The only thing missing was a day to relax. We had seen "Mojitos to-go" stand down the beach and ever since I was determined to have one! Stormy agreed we needed one and we headed down the beach to an amazing resort that served some of the best mojitos I've ever had! We also me a nice Philippino guy who lives in the states. He drank with us the rest of the day and even went out with us to the club that evening...along with our waiter - Benji! :)
This is also where I decided to eat balut, which was listed as one of the most terrifying foods in the world :)
If you haven't already clicked one of the above links, balut is a duck fetus aged 16 days and then boiled. Yeah, I know! I saw it on Fear Factor too!! Here is a picture of one that a friend of ours ate and then a video of me sucking down mine :) It's too bad we didn't get a good picture of mine...it was pretty repulsive.
After a nice relaxing day filled with mojitos, relaxation and duck fetus we made our way back to our resort to get ready for dinner and a little dance!
Naturally, we had to stop for photo ops!
This is our little group. Benji - our waiter at the mojitos resort, Dino, the Philippino guy we met and hung out with us all day.
Benji and I
Me and the Koreans I met on the beach. They couldn't understand my English or my Korean so I wrote everything out in Korean in the sand and that's how we communicated and found out that they live in Ansan too!!!
The next morning was our last in the paradise that was Boracay. We had breakfast, said goodbye to our beach kids and went to the ferry. The weather was terrible and the ferry was rocking out of control. I fell right to sleep while Stormy stayed awake and got motion sickness :/
Once we arrived to the "airport" we were worried that our flight was going to be redirected again to Kalibo...and it was. We told them we didn't want to do that, we wanted to take a later flight..they wouldn't let us. Then they said we had to take a bus to Kalibo AND we had to pay for it!!! It was like $6 per person but still!!! They canceled the flight and diverted us to another airport and then expected us to pay for the transportation to the other airport. They said, "It's for your safety that the flight is canceled. It's not our fault, it's a weather issue." Stormy replied, "Right. It's not our fault that YOU canceled the flight because of the weather." After making a scene for about 10 minutes we finally gave up.
When we got to the buses Stormy was still fuming. We paid and another couple got in the bus with us. They weren't told they had to pay until they got to the bus. There was only 4 of us in the minibus/van thing and we were all raging mad!!! Then as we were waiting for the driver, planes started taking off from the runway!!! The other airlines had chosen to delay the flights rather than cancel them and they rain had quit and planes were able to take off. The guy in the back stuck his head out the window of the van and ask a Cebu Pacific man why other planes were able to take off and our flight was canceled??? The man said, "Oh, those are different planes." Yeah, no Sh**!
After the gut wrenching ride to Kalibo we were rushed to board our flight (we were 20 minutes late). The flight was bumpy...of course.
I took this picture of Stormy in the height of her anger - risking my life to do so.
When we got off the plane, we were taxied to the terminal. A guy sat next me, he kept talking to me claiming that he is a Philippino model/actor. Apparently he was the face of Coke a couple of years ago. Now he's working hard to get into acting and he's bi-polar and people in the Philippines don't understand the complex minds of the artists like him. They're so far behind and he's on of the greats if only they would recognize....or so he tells me all of this. He was talking mostly to himself I think. I was listening intently and I think he liked that I was actually paying attention. He told me that I have a kind soul, he could tell. He was happy to meet me. He also decided to autograph this book for me and give it to me, nevermind that the book is written in Italian, which I pointed out to him...
Once in Manila we decided to have lunch at the airport. Disaster. They didn't get our order right and then they never fixed the order. How many times do you have to repeat the name of a dish for someone to understand that it's what you want?! Apparently 39420395823405924059280459234895 times wasn't quite enough.
We went to a hotel recommended by the airport tourist information desk and stayed in our room for the rest of the day. We ordered McDonald's delivery and didn't emerge from our room until the next day when we were leaving to go to the airport.
Here are some photos of "beautiful" Manila or as I lovingly call it, Hell's Armpit.
At the airport we took pictures with our most hated airline before our departure. OH how I loath them! I even tried to email a complaint to them. They have a link on their website where you can send them your thoughts and complaints...I got a page error and I'm not surprised.
Other than Manila and Cebu Pacific airlines, the trip was pretty much perfect! The hotel was amazing and we were so well taken care of in Boracay that we hated to return to Korea! Back in Korea Stormy was only here three days before leaving to go home FOR-EV-ER! Now I have one week left in Korea... What an amazing vacation to take just before my departure from Asia!
“My life is like a stroll on the beach...as near to the edge as I can go.”
--Thoreau
So once in Manila we decided to get a cheap hotel for the night...if only it were that easy. On the plane we met an Australian guy who is married to a Philippino woman who lives in Manila. He suggested a couple of cheap places to stay just for the night. Once we were in the cab line, we asked them to take us a specific hotel and got in the taxi. The taxi smelled so strongly of moth balls I could hardly breathe. The cabby told us that he knew a better place than the one we wanted to go to and proceeded to take us on a 2am tour of Manila. He took us from hotel to hotel - none of which we asked to be taken to - and then finally we were so freaked out we begged him to take us back to the airport, back to the Marriott hotel we could see from the airport. Upon entering the parking lot of the Marriott our car was sniffed out by dogs and the trunk had to be opened. Once we were cleared we got out of the the godforsaken cab and went through a metal detector as our bags, then our persons were sniffed out by guard dogs. The hotel was immaculate. Beautiful and obviously too expensive for us...but we had to ask. They didn't have anything available in our price range and recommended similar hotel that we stayed at.
Here's our too expensive hotel room and view ---
Remember I told you our flight was canceled? Riiiight well here's the rest of that story. The day before we were schedule to fly out of Korea I got this email from Cebu Pacific------
Good day!
Please be advised of the schedule change of your flight/s. We apologize for the inconvenience that this disruption may cause you.
HELDRETH/ERICA
ELLISON/STORMY
Record locator: PCZBNN
5J 891 SA24JUL MNLMPH ETD 0530 ETA 0630 (CANCELLED FLIGHT)
5J 331 SA24JUL MNLKLO ETD 1230 ETA 1345 (CONFIRMED SCHEDULE)
5J 896 SA31JUL MPHMNL ETD 1115 ETA 1225 (CONFIRMED SCHEDULE)
For inquiries or rebooking, please call our Call Center in Manila at (+632) 7020888 or in Cebu at (+6332) 2308888. Thank you...
THAT'S IT! THAT'S ALL IT SAID! So my flight was changed not only in time, but location. Stormy sent them an email asking what they were planning to do to compensate for our lost vacation time -no response. Turns our Kalibo or KLO is about a two hour drive to Caticlain (Boracay) and it's not an easy drive! The terrain is mountainous and the roads are narrow. On the way there we almost hit a cow, a couple of dogs and countless other cars and pedestrians. This caused the bus we were on to slam on the brakes and swerve around corners...naturally I got car sick. Which wasn't so bad except the flight to Kalibo wasn't that great either and then we were rushed into a bus, then directly from the bus to a ferry to take us to Boracay Island we were picked up and taken in another car about 10 minutes to our resort. The day was exhausting and my stomach would not quit turning!
Boarding our plane -
Stormy boarding-
We took a short breather in our room before heading out to the beach to find some food. It was a little rainy and over cast but still beautiful! After all the stress of getting there, we relaxed on the beach and had a massage.
White beach the first night -
The next morning we were feeling well rested and ready for a full day in paradise! When we booked our hotel we took part in a promotional deal that gave us a lot of activities. We received our schedule and that morning we were to take a Land Tour of the island. We had met a nice couple, Amber and Tommie, who were staying at our same resort and our hotel booked all of our built-in activities with them. We met up with them and began our Land Tour.
This little monkey was the only one that wasn't chained up :/
Bear cat---Why?
Stormy and I at Puka Beach
After our land tour we went back to the hotel for a little beach time.
Me on White Beach
Here are our new friends, Amber and Tommie.
Every night the kids that live behind our resort make these beautiful flowers in the sand and for a small contribution they'll write your name in the sand! Stormy and Erica!
Amber, Tommie and I decided to take the BBC drink challenge, which is 5 cocktails - promotional priced - and then you get a t-shirt! We decided we would probably drink as much anyway and we all got the shirts, even though number 3 was a killer!
The next day we ventured out to Ariel's Point which is about a 30 minute boat ride from White Beach. We set sail at 11am and returned at about 6pm. For the trip there, access to the cliffs for jumping, lunch and all the alcohol you can drink - the price was an insane $25! We enjoyed the day in a new setting with a lot of the people from our resort as well as some others.
This was the view from the tip of the cliff
Another beautiful view from the cliff
Stormy relaxing on the raft and taking pictures
A few of us enjoying the raft
This was our boat and everyone waiting on us to leave...we were busy taking pics ;)
Sunset beginning from the boat.
Back at White Beach
So now you have to wonder...did I do it? Did I jump off the cliff? The answer is yes. After much hesitation, I knew I would be angry with myself if I didn't do it so I went to the highest platform - the one all the boys were nervous about jumping from - and made my cliff jumping debut... Here's the video!
A group jump
This is the results of me trying to be a badass...a bad ass. Surprisingly, the bruises were gone within a week.
We returned to the beach and had our favorite little boy, Bernie, write our name in the sand and take pictures with us.
Every night and day these boys are out on the beach doing flips and playing. They make a little money drawing in the sand and seem to spend most of their days just having fun. Here's a pic of Bernie being thrown in the air.
The next morning we didn't waste anytime and got straight to para-sailing! The sky was clear and beautiful and it was a perfect day!
The next day at breakfast we saw that the weather was picture perfect. It couldn't have been a prettier day! SO Stormy and I decided to trek over to the other side of the island to get to a less crowded beach and enjoy some new scenery.
These are pictures from our resort at breakfast.
The ants loved me because I always spilled my sugar.. :/
When we arrived at Puka Beach we were surprised that there were hardly any people there. In fact, we spent the entire day on this beach and only saw maybe 6 other people -all of which were just walking past. One guy selling ice cream, he only asked once and left us alone the rest of the day. It was our personal paradise for the day and we both agree that the day produced some of our favorite pictures from the entire trip! We spent the entire day taking pictures and sifting through the rough, coral ridden sand.
SHOPPING DAY!!! It had to be done...so we took the 10 minute walk down the beach to the D-Mall where everything is overpriced! :) It was a nice way to spend our day but we were so hot and anxious to get in the water by the end of the day...
D-Mall
This place is called "The Hobbit House". It has a lot of imported beers and you're served by little people..gotta love the gimmick.
View from our table at lunch.
And another
HAHA! They gave her tap water! Excellent!
Sunset that night was unbelievable! I must have a million pictures of it because it was changing every two minutes, but here are a couple of my favorite shots
Our final full day on the island we weren't sure what to do. We had taken all the adventure trips we wanted and even scouted out the other beaches. The only thing missing was a day to relax. We had seen "Mojitos to-go" stand down the beach and ever since I was determined to have one! Stormy agreed we needed one and we headed down the beach to an amazing resort that served some of the best mojitos I've ever had! We also me a nice Philippino guy who lives in the states. He drank with us the rest of the day and even went out with us to the club that evening...along with our waiter - Benji! :)
This is also where I decided to eat balut, which was listed as one of the most terrifying foods in the world :)
If you haven't already clicked one of the above links, balut is a duck fetus aged 16 days and then boiled. Yeah, I know! I saw it on Fear Factor too!! Here is a picture of one that a friend of ours ate and then a video of me sucking down mine :) It's too bad we didn't get a good picture of mine...it was pretty repulsive.
After a nice relaxing day filled with mojitos, relaxation and duck fetus we made our way back to our resort to get ready for dinner and a little dance!
Naturally, we had to stop for photo ops!
This is our little group. Benji - our waiter at the mojitos resort, Dino, the Philippino guy we met and hung out with us all day.
Benji and I
Me and the Koreans I met on the beach. They couldn't understand my English or my Korean so I wrote everything out in Korean in the sand and that's how we communicated and found out that they live in Ansan too!!!
The next morning was our last in the paradise that was Boracay. We had breakfast, said goodbye to our beach kids and went to the ferry. The weather was terrible and the ferry was rocking out of control. I fell right to sleep while Stormy stayed awake and got motion sickness :/
Once we arrived to the "airport" we were worried that our flight was going to be redirected again to Kalibo...and it was. We told them we didn't want to do that, we wanted to take a later flight..they wouldn't let us. Then they said we had to take a bus to Kalibo AND we had to pay for it!!! It was like $6 per person but still!!! They canceled the flight and diverted us to another airport and then expected us to pay for the transportation to the other airport. They said, "It's for your safety that the flight is canceled. It's not our fault, it's a weather issue." Stormy replied, "Right. It's not our fault that YOU canceled the flight because of the weather." After making a scene for about 10 minutes we finally gave up.
When we got to the buses Stormy was still fuming. We paid and another couple got in the bus with us. They weren't told they had to pay until they got to the bus. There was only 4 of us in the minibus/van thing and we were all raging mad!!! Then as we were waiting for the driver, planes started taking off from the runway!!! The other airlines had chosen to delay the flights rather than cancel them and they rain had quit and planes were able to take off. The guy in the back stuck his head out the window of the van and ask a Cebu Pacific man why other planes were able to take off and our flight was canceled??? The man said, "Oh, those are different planes." Yeah, no Sh**!
After the gut wrenching ride to Kalibo we were rushed to board our flight (we were 20 minutes late). The flight was bumpy...of course.
I took this picture of Stormy in the height of her anger - risking my life to do so.
When we got off the plane, we were taxied to the terminal. A guy sat next me, he kept talking to me claiming that he is a Philippino model/actor. Apparently he was the face of Coke a couple of years ago. Now he's working hard to get into acting and he's bi-polar and people in the Philippines don't understand the complex minds of the artists like him. They're so far behind and he's on of the greats if only they would recognize....or so he tells me all of this. He was talking mostly to himself I think. I was listening intently and I think he liked that I was actually paying attention. He told me that I have a kind soul, he could tell. He was happy to meet me. He also decided to autograph this book for me and give it to me, nevermind that the book is written in Italian, which I pointed out to him...
Once in Manila we decided to have lunch at the airport. Disaster. They didn't get our order right and then they never fixed the order. How many times do you have to repeat the name of a dish for someone to understand that it's what you want?! Apparently 39420395823405924059280459234895 times wasn't quite enough.
We went to a hotel recommended by the airport tourist information desk and stayed in our room for the rest of the day. We ordered McDonald's delivery and didn't emerge from our room until the next day when we were leaving to go to the airport.
Here are some photos of "beautiful" Manila or as I lovingly call it, Hell's Armpit.
At the airport we took pictures with our most hated airline before our departure. OH how I loath them! I even tried to email a complaint to them. They have a link on their website where you can send them your thoughts and complaints...I got a page error and I'm not surprised.
Other than Manila and Cebu Pacific airlines, the trip was pretty much perfect! The hotel was amazing and we were so well taken care of in Boracay that we hated to return to Korea! Back in Korea Stormy was only here three days before leaving to go home FOR-EV-ER! Now I have one week left in Korea... What an amazing vacation to take just before my departure from Asia!
“My life is like a stroll on the beach...as near to the edge as I can go.”
--Thoreau
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