It only seemed to dawn on me when the calendar notification said “Return to Adelaide”. My time in the Philippines was at an end. Obviously I’ll miss this country, its breathtaking views and the lovely, hospitable people who live there. I’d certainly recommend a visit to any foreigner who’s curious. At least to the northern parts of the nation. Don’t be scared by people’s thoughts about the Philippines. I had many friends look at me oddly and say they’d be too scared to go there. Rubbish! Unless you’re afraid of rice and motorcycles. Then you might reconsider.

It’s not an understatement to say I had a definite lack of self control at the airport.

Don’t judge, this was comfort food to stop me weeping over leaving. But before long my flying had finished and I had dropped back into wet and windy Adelaide

I think I can summarise my trip with the countdown below.

5 near death experiences. The moving Jeepney, The stampeding taxis. Both of the Filipino theme park rides and the robotic elephant…

4 regions travelled to. Olongapo, Manila, Playa la Caleta and Puerto Galera.

3 bucket list items crossed off. Scuba diving, Jumping off a waterfall and making a blog!

2 Churches with wonderful congregations. It has been an honour to make music in both of them as well as other things including testimonies and fellowship events.

1 incident of getting lost in Manila. I asked for directions, walked 3km in the wrong direction and called a tricycle driver to get me home. He didn’t know the way either…

0 Regrets!

That being said, back home I opened my bag to find that my shampoo had exploded. Sigh… and I might have left a few things behind. All well. I had family and friends and fatter cats waiting dutifully for me. And I’m already sunburnt. Thanks Australia.

It’s incredible to think that this started off as just a few emails back to family to reassure them I was still alive and suddenly this magical thing appeared! Unfortunately this is all for the Philippines blog. But do not despair. I have writings from the mysterious plains of Japan which I shall upload here soon. So stay tuned! Thanks for staying on my adventure with me, you guys (in part) inspired me to always try the new experiences and do the things that took me out of my comfort zone. Having an audience keeps you accountable in your trip to make sure you do something besides sleep and use up foreign wifi.

That’s all for now. Goodbye. You can stop reading now. What’s this? You’re still going? Why are you still reading? Go out and enjoy your own life. Have your own adventures!

Some might consider it a bit frightening when you fall sleep alone wake up to find that half the dorm seems to have camped out on the balcony with you. I don’t know when they came out to join me and it didn’t even register until breakfast time that they had just appeared about of thin air. I knew I was a deep sleeper but I didn’t think that an entire encampment could set up beds around me and I wouldn’t even stir…

While I’m on the topic of not noticing things it took me 3 days before someone clued me in that one of the dorm members here actually wears a wig! I’ve mistaken that guy for 2 different people and it’s driven me up the wall when one of them always seemed to be missing. That’s embarrassing of me… And now everyone across the world can read it for a little chuckle.

As I was walking towards the college this morning I came across a bunch of street kids who were cheering on some stray dogs that were fighting. Their little faces were alight with excitement as they stood upon an abandoned tricycle.

Once I was back in the land of wifi I had a Skype call with my father as it’s his birthday today. I told him I love him and to have a great day, he was excited because he had pancakes for breakfast… I know it’s bad I’m missing family member’s birthdays (and Christmas and new year) but I guess that’ll teach dad for missing my 13th birthday. I might add “grudge holding” to my résumé when I return.

Final session today! Meanwhile I’m steadily working through every Gatorade flavour available, it seems to be the best known cure for overheating over here as multiple people asked if I drank any after my dizzy episode.

This afternoon I saw the worst traffic I have ever seen… And that’s saying something. Must be the rain, why a bit of water slows things down is beyond me. Interestingly the government has tried to allay this problem. With the license plate of a vehicle. You see you can only drive in the road at certain times according to the last number of your license plate, that’s what helps you pick out a car at a dealership. That, and the might of the air conditioner.

Got back to the dorm. Was a touch peckish so I munched on the suman from the other day. It’s one of the only Filipino foods I can remember the name of. The texture is unlike anything else I can call to mind. Imagine if you will, chewing something with the consistency of play dough but is a whole lot sweeter. I’m banking on the fact that everyone ate play dough in kindergarten like I did and still retain the memory of the taste like I do.

I’ve been in the Philippines for over a week now and if there is anything I’ve not discussed that you’re curious about then please send me a question (via the contact page). I’ll answer when I can (probably in a future blog). Perhaps you’re wondering if you yourself might like a trip to the Philippines… Perhaps you wonder if it’s as bad as you’ve heard, or perhaps you want to know about the safety regulations jeepneys follow (hint: there aren’t any). So by all means, fire away.

In my way out back to the college I passed my brother who was pouring coffee into his bowl of rice, it took me 30 seconds to close my gaping mouth and ask him what in the world he is doing. Apparently it’s easy, tasty and cheap. Despite those wonderful attributes I can’t quite being myself to eat coffee with rice. Last time I had caffeine I took 3 days off sick and that wouldn’t be very helpful here.
Tonight marks the last worship service of the weeklong conference. I finally heard the choir perform their pieces and it was like heaven crashed through the roof and landed on the stage. Just before I set off for Olongapo again I was involved in many many many photographs. The love of many photographs is (I believe) an extremely Asian love but specifically the Filipinos aren’t happy until they have a normal shot, wacky shot and selfie with everyone in the room.

Here is me with Sir Lem

Finally I was finished and ready to set off once again to olongapo (which I’ve discovered is not pronounced how I thought it was). All of you guys will be saying it right, I thought it used a Filipino construct where the “ng” makes a sound similar to the end of the word “dang”. Uni don’t actually end up pronouncing the “g”. Anyway. So I chatted to my Japanese speaking singing teacher, and then boarded the bus. There was a slight problem. It was full. Quite full in fact and with hardly a care in the world I took a nap on the floor of the aisle. Kuya A took this photo of me and though it’s very dark you can see me lying sideways in the middle.

The wheels on the bus go round and round… Round and round… Round and round… And round and round… And round and round…….

At the Olongapo home I was welcomed by the dogs who hate me still and the ever friendly pastor and his family. This was probably not the best time for them to test my Tagalog skills by only speaking in Tagalog to me. I could barely speak English at this point. We decided a midnight feast was too tame. How about half past 3 in the morning? On the upside Kuya A cooked my favourite: tusino. The sweetened pork meat that was most comforting to go to bed on. Admittedly I only got to taking my shirt off… I slept the whole night with trousers and a belt. Another first… And a slightly uncomfortable one.