Author: ukekid99

8th January Farewell Olongapo

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Dressed up in my Sunday best I looked at myself in the mirror. “One last time” I said. One more church service, one more choir performance, one more message and then I said my fond farewells to the congregation who are shown below.
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This afternoon I did something I should have done a long time ago… Geocaching! I cannot believe it’s taken me this long to find a cache in this country. I must have been busy or something…
For those who don’t know geocaching is an international GPS sport where geocachers (the players of this sport) go out into the world to find cleverly hidden boxes and containers.
Kuya Joel and I first travelled to downtown Olongapo and entered a sports oval. And there… hidden in the stands was that little container which gives so much joy to a geocachers heart.
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Having completely hooked my friend with this idea we walked to another cache despite the baking sun shining down upon us. We arrived at volunteers shrine. The names of 8000 people who established the Freeport zone, namely converting a military base into an everyday civilian area. Anyway. There was a watchtower nearby and a little something attached magnetically to it. This took me far too long to find as it was camouflaged black and I was wearing sunglasses. Still. Veni Vedi (a lot of Vedi-ing actually) and then… Vici!
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We then did the adult thing and explored the shrine itself and realised it’s an excellent spot for a bit of photography and we tried to capture some very dramatic shots as well as just some general scenery.
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My personal battery level was at 1% when we got home which allowed me to crawl into a bed before napping for an hour again. Of course what could I be conserving my energy for but another adventure?
So what’s ultimately more scary in the Philippines compared to Australia but is still considered fun? Amusement parks! They are particularly terrifying due to them  being subject to, (if anything at all) Filipino safety regulations, remember the pictures of the tricycles right? With that in mind I set off for the first potential death trap. You can see it behind me in the photo below:
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On this I screamed.
A lot.
Normally I like these but I could feel the safety handrail moving and I’m sure it wasn’t supposed to. Even my Filipino friends had shaking legs afterwards. You’d think the safety rails would be fixed….. Miss J had been here and her main comment was “it wouldn’t pass any safety regulations in the U.S.” I wonder if this is a secret way to try to kill off tourists before they go back to their home country.
To calm down I went on the biggest roller coaster in the park which was better (it had a seatbelt) but I truly felt the thrills which are usually advertised. You don’t know true adrenaline until there’s a real possibility of immediate death.
Having had my fair share of big rides we explored the stalls and my eyes lit up at one in particular. The shooting range.
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I thought I’d do terribly given that my hands were  still shaking, but it’s fair to say I was on form as I’d knocked down five of the top row with ease. I won a packet of crisps for my effort then after another general wander we headed back. Exhausted, thrilled (especially to still be alive) and ready for bed.

The first of the goodbyes

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Today was one of those normal college days, I went to class, devoured unhealthy amounts of mammon, said hello to friends. you know… The usual.
I did skip a 2 hour bible doctrine exam though. I can guess my way through a music one but that bible doctrine would be impossible for me. My teacher did set me a challenge though. He had a spreadsheet of calculations which judged how long it would take to read the entire bible depending on my reading speed and a set time per day. It can basically be done in a week of you do it full time. I’m tempted to see if I can beat that time.
However at the end of this normal day came a small list of goodbyes I had to make. Miss J for one, Mr B for another. Both are on their respective trips now to America and Baguio. I may or may have not have possibly had a slightly sore throat as we said our farewells. Must have been the balut catching up to me but I will always have fond memories of them. It’s the only thing with travelling that I don’t like. But I rest easy in the fact that I’m probably too cheeky to only come into someone’s life the once. I’ll be back to bicker with my Filipina sister again one day I’m sure.
I learnt something interesting today….
Nothing blows away sadness quite like a lunatic tricycle driver who doesn’t know or doesn’t care which side of the road is which. In the same journey I also wrenched my thumb grabbing onto the carriage for support as there were none of the usual handholds…
At the bus station I did magic tricks to distract myself and amuse the people around me. And then,
I waited…
and waited…
and waited…
… And got rather bored…. Hence I discovered the suitcases lesser known function… the card table
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It was then that we discovered that our travel information was flawed and that the next bus was due at around 2am next morning. A unanimous decision between me and my travel companions ruled that staying here was a terrible idea and hence after a short walk we came to another bus station with more sane travelling times. But. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. So although we set off immediately there was standing room only on the bus.
I lasted an hour and then gave my best impression of a rolled up armadillo. On the floor. I don’t know what they expect for a 3 hour journey.
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One might assume it was the usual when I arrive in Olongapo. The 1:30am breakfast, the “I almost missed my stop because I was sleeping” scenario, and yes it was the usual…
…but as the morning sun shone through the window it was time to start my day. My most musical day. The morning was mostly attempting to compose piano music,  and I made decent progress. The afternoon was much choir practice and strings practice. I’m here in disguise and I don’t think they’ve noticed anything strange yet…
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Throughout the day I still found some quality time with my ukulele. Here we are trying to re create an M.C Escher painting.
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By the end of many hours of music making we were pretty much prepared for tomorrow and our prayer was mostly that all fingers would stop aching and all voices would be revived overnight.
I was in a bit of a photography mood today so here’s a couple of shots I had fun setting up.
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What have I done?

Posted on by ukekid99

4th of January and 5th 

This day is significant for a number of reasons.

Firstly because my year 12 International Baccalaureate results were finally emailed to me. I passed. Yay. And I’ll get into my course, but across the board every year 12 IB student got hammered by the exams. Most people I know were shocked with their score. I expected higher for sure, but it is enough, therefore doesn’t really matter I guess.

But the second reason today is important is that my trip has less than a week to go. My last week in the Philippines, is it me or did that pass really quickly? I realised that I think about tricycles differently now, they were once a novelty that I was getting used to but now they are an enjoyable experience I hope I never forget. They have never been dull to me, I always smile when I get in one. But this, and many other things are going to be the memories I take away. 

Before the tears start flowing I should mention something happy; I passed my music exam at the Filipino college that I didn’t study for. At all. For an entire term. It’s interesting, my first page had the following marks per section:

0/10

10/10

0/10 

5/5 

Obviously I know what I know and know nothing of what I don’t know. 

During my school day I had to check to see whether I was anything more than a pair of legs carrying around a beard. Most people gave me a cheeky grin and gesture about it. College rules decree students be clean shaven… If I can remain undercover for the final 48 hours of college then I’ll be happy, otherwise it’ll mean the death of my very close friend. 

After class Mr B and I went out for some food as he’ll be off soon to Baguio (North of Manila). So I experienced my last motorcycle ride for a while. Probably the last one ever if my parents have a say in it. Alas I will miss it, but there’s no point in Australia. It’s useful here for traffic purposes but in Australia I’ve yet to see “real traffic”. 

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We cruised to a Filipino food court which is very popular among college students. Here is the atmosphere in a single shot:

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Dinner was Korean food, which arrived with 7 side dishes… and will do me for dinner, tomorrow‘s breakfast and tomorrow‘s lunch. Look at this: image5

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I’m a growing boy but if I eat this I’ll probably explode.

Note that the bowl in the top left was Mr B’s, the fries for both of us. But even so…

Beautifully presented it must be said. 

At the college I was chatting with some of my friends about travel, teddy bears, nicknames and Filipino food. 5 minutes later one of them had come back with a very warm duck egg in his hand. It’s called Balut. I thought long and hard on what to write about Balut but I think the most accurate description is summed up by the messages I sent to my dear mother immediately afterwards:

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The sort of 3rd of January:

Posted on by ukekid99

Disclaimer: The times and/or places of this 24 hour period have been changed for reasons of convenience. Reference to persons living or dead is completely deliberate and should not be excused no matter what flowery language is displayed before it.
So I started my morning off with a healthy round of badminton. Of course I didn’t, this was yesterday night sometime, you may notice that the 2nd of January disappeared entirely. But that’s not important right now. The difference was that this time I went to an actual club and if you’ve never been beaten by a 50 year old woman in badminton then I’m sorry but you’ve never known true humiliation. The news isn’t all bad though, I won 2 out of my 3 games in a most ridiculous manner. No one else there took to diving on the floor to rescue a shot or spun like a dervish to resist using my backhand, that’s the thing with me and badminton, I’m not overly skilled…. At all. The trick is I’m just not very heavy, which means that generally I float around doing whatever I like and be relatively successful
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After that the inevitable had arrived. My trip is drawing to an end and in order to guarantee I have some friends to return to I must visit a mall to buy for all a pasalubong (a souvenir). The concept of souvenirs genuinely puzzle me, yes it’s a nice gesture to show y were thinking about someone when you should have been thinking about your very expensive holiday but on the other hand if I received a souvenir from Italy how embarrassing would it be to have someone comment on it?
Nice person who comments on a souvenir: “Wow, that’s an amazing looking matador cloak, what did you think of Spain and its culture? Were you entranced by the deeply conflicting issues of the various demographic minorities there?”
Me: “Umm… Well. I’ve never actually been to Spain. This guy I knew bought it for me. So yeah….”
See what I mean? Still, it benefits the local economy and I enjoyed the rare experience of haggling. It’s all a game in the end, with much hmm-ing and sighs. I even walked off from one stall and they called me back with the discount I had offered earlier. I probably still got ripped off overall but it could have been a lot worse.
Before returning home we were sucked into the black hole of the Krispy Kreme drive thru. I’ve never witnessed two people pouring coffee from one cup into another while driving but it’s like open heart surgery on a highway.
Finally in the evening I went for a destination-less walk. Just me, my flip flops, phone and some tricycle money in case I got lost. I saw some interesting things while I went for my evening stroll. I spotted a cafe which was housed multiple jeepney skeletons inside it, you could clamber into one and they’d obviously erected a table inside it to create a vibrant dining room… What a cool concept, to be honest the entire establishment was an absolute explosion of colour in the dusk atmosphere.
Update: I felt after writing that description it still didn’t do it justice so I went out again with my camera. That’s how striking it was.:
I came across 4 stray cats, all of whom were black. I can’t quite recall if that’s good luck or bad luck. I guess after 4 of them it’ll be pretty clear in the morning.
You know overall I felt relatively safe while walking alone the Filipino streets by night. Of course I was alert, and definitely overly paranoid but it didn’t have a massively menacing feel. Now if I was a woman and alone I think I’d feel more uncomfortable, as it was, every now and then something would cause my heart to jump but it was never anything more than my imagination. And that, is what we fear the most. All the terrors we can conjure up, sometimes we even feed it with horror movies or searching up things like “why are the streets of Manila dangerous” on Google.
Interesting.
Well, I’ll leave you with that and I’ll go to sleep now without too many nightmares I hope.

The end of the Year is nigh

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My morning was so busy that I didn’t even realise it was the last day of the year until about 3 in the afternoon. My morning was taken up with escaping Puerto Galera, with the rain seeing us off we searched and were guided to various spots where our non-existent boat was “waiting”. It was all a lie. When the boat was actually located the theme song from “Gilligan’s island” started playing in my head, uh oh. That’s never a good sign. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind that I overheard the B’s exclaiming that it’s always rough on at least one trip to Puerto Galera.

 

The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed, and the three of us (Miss B, J and I) were the last to get into the boat and so were seated right by the prow. The breeze was filtering through but then a deckhand pulled a soaking wet blue cloth across the opening, now we had no breeze and were being showered from a wet flapping piece of cloth. Even after it was pulled across the opening one wave still managed to break through and completely soaked me! Talk about adding insult to injury. But… At least I wasn’t snoozing like Miss B was. It’s fair to say she awoke in a rather abrupt manner.
Back on the mainland I witnessed a new year superstition or custom that Filipinos practice. Lining the streets were many fruit vendors and apparently it is good luck to have at least 10 round/spherical fruits in your home while the new year crosses over as it will cause you to be prosperous. I apologise for telling you guys this now… But you can prepare for next year I guess. This custom has been in the Philippines for many years but it originated in China as they practice a similar custom there for there new year. You have to feel sorry for the poor banana sellers though. Although pineapples are counted as spherical so maybe there’s some leeway.
At home while we waited for the year to pass by we amused ourselves with various board games and a curious piece of fun called Tribond. The concept was to guess what three different things had in common, such as a pie, the earth and a slice of bread. All have a crust, see? It’s fair to say that Mr B and I absolutely decimated the competition. Trinoma, Rook and Quirkle, if anything this is what I’ll take home from my trip to the Philippines. I think my new year resolution will be to play more games with my family throughout the year.
Finally, what stuck out to me the most is the fireworks. Fireworks, unlike in the U.S and Australia, are able to be purchased by an individual for their enjoyment (legally). When midnight approached and as the year crossed over I thought Metro Manila had been invaded. Thunderous shells cracked from down the street and a continuous crackle-thump could be heard in every direction around us. It was deafening, it was exciting to see, it was probably a miracle no one died. Our neighbours seemed bent on scorching their driveway.
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We ourselves had bought some low altitude fireworks. How low altitude you ask? Well they explode here:
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While I was switching between photographing the surroundings and gawking at the sky I heard a deafening bang behind me and whipped round in time to photograph this:
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Whether an angel was materialising behind me or what I don’t know but it scared me to death.
Happy new year by the way! New starts, new beginnings etc etc. start the diets that will end in February and break out the New Years resolutions! Now. It’s time to really celebrate the new year the way 90% of the population does. I’m going to go to sleep. Night night.

Its like falling off a bike, except its a boat. A story of full immersion.

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That’s right, the paddling times were over. It was time to sink beneath the glossy surface. Before that happened Miss B and I had to undergo training. In the nearby swimming pool we were taught how to control our buoyancy, how to clear our respirator and the specific hand signals such as “I’m okay”, “go up”, “go down”, “help, I’m covered in angry sea urchins” etc etc. upon completion of this training I received my fancy certificate:

Here is the training:

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The beard is a working progress…

So an Englishman, an American family, a Swiss, 2 Italians, 2 Scots and multiple Filipinos walk into a boat.
You’d think one of them would have seen it…
Please forgive the bad joke, however the boarding was easily the most chaotic part of the trip. The choppy seas fought bitterly against us, I was submerged under a wave and the boat hull crashed into me. I was informed on board that I had paint on my nose. Well… At least the boat didn’t win outright.
At the diving site I had my gear strapped on and then it was head over heels backwards into the water. I could see everything with amazing clarity and I had this miraculous power to breathe underwater. I immediately decreased my buoyancy and sank down about 10m. That… might have been a mistake. Almost instantly I had an intense pressure inside my head and a splitting headache. I quickly but calmly increased my buoyancy and rose to the surface again. I thought initially my mask strap was too tight so I adjusted that and sank down again. It took me 5 minutes and a lot of rising and falling for the headache to subside to something manageable. From there I took my first real look at my surroundings. (If by any chance the surroundings looked at me this is what they’d see):
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In this world of bright white bubbles and soft pink corals I could see the outlines of other divers (visibility was about 10m) and small fish flitting about. I turned myself from a vertical position to horizontal and kicked myself closed to these alien looking structures. The coral was pretty in an otherworldly sort of way. I had never seen such structures or such shapes before, certainly nothing like it in any man-made structure or object.
The other divers were moving away, afraid to lose sight of them I followed closely behind, the group making up yet another school of brightly coloured beings. I met most of the Finding Nemo cast on my underwater travels although thankfully Bruce didn’t deign to make an appearance. I moved to the reef and came face to face with a school of emerald coloured fish. They hovered around me, curious about this new thing in their home. I waved to them (manners are important, even to fish) and caught up with the group again. There were many incredible things that amazed me, fortunately this went some way towards distracting me from clamping the regulator with my teeth and remembering to breath every other second. I saw squishy looking turquoise starfish and an oven-sized coral that looked like a woven basket, had I stood inside it without my flippers it would have encircled my waist.
By this point I thought 10 minutes had passed by. Time moves about 3 times slower underwater, probably due to the slow movements and small distances you cover. The instructor raised an inflatable warning to the surface and then bid us to rise. I rose right beside a plant stalk, it very nearly became my souvenir. I had called it my sea cabbage and in the event the boat had lost sight of us it would have sustained me for at least 24 hours. The boat however did not lose sight of us and it was a short interval bobbing up and down the waves before we clambered back aboard.
Here is me fresh from my first ever sea scuba experience:
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My dives were done for the day and with a still aching head I was more than satisfied with my experience. Some of the others were just getting started though, Mr B went on his 14th dive (in total, not on that day) and the two Italians completed 3 dives at various diving spots around the islands perimeter. Turtles were sighted, shrimp spotted as well as a multitude of (what I think are) Angelfish. While the other dives were going on I either chatted with the Scots, had a nap in the sun, walked around the boat trying not to fall into the sea due to the rocking or bickered with one of my Filipina sisters Miss J who eventually bullied/coaxed me into the sea to swim again.
The sunny outing ended at about 4:30, all of us were hungry, ready to get clean and more than a few of us were a bit pink. Miss J’s shoulders radiated a heat which made me wince. Luckily I pretty much escaped with the exception of my tricep which I always miss. Sigh…
Disembarking was done with much less drama although as I’m writing this the waves have apparently somehow come onto the land as the ground is still swaying.
The evening passed in a flash of moments.
A tricycle down to White beach (they are a larger species than the mainland ones by the way):
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Also a very enthusiastic jewellery seller (who dropped his price by 800 pesos!),
Master and Miss B feeding the 2 cats under the table who were promptly named Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer,
and finally an evening dip into the pool accompanied by hot chocolate around a roaring bonfire. Not all at once though.
I had high hopes that the sea (which was drawing very close to the flames) would carry the fire out to sea and we’d see the glowing embers tumbled about the waves and flaming wood illuminating the foamy froth. Alas, that chaotic scene never did occur but perhaps next time… with a bit of help… and gasoline (or napalm?)
And on that cheery note my small holiday within a larger holiday was concluded, this is like a more relaxing version of Inception.

Today we witness the separation of Mice and Men

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This day really began with the meeting of the three boys. A meeting that was both fortunate for us and fortunate for them. Fortunate for us as they stopped us being smashed into the rocks by the waves of the sea (more on that later), and fortunate for them as they conquered their fear of heights (more on that later too).
The B family and I were walking up the coast from Tamaraw to Talipanan when we came to an outcrop of boulders that extended into the sea. At low tide we could probably have sidled round it, pity that was more than an hour ago, I was chest deep in the ocean investigating the possibility of wading past and Master B was already attempting to climb over. Then a mixture of Tagalog and broken english sounded from the jungle saying something along the lines of “this way, don’t kill yourselves out there!”. These voices emerged as 3 young boys. Ian, Robi and Raymond. Before too long we had 3 native guides taking us to the waterfall which was “malapid malapid na” which means very very close. I was quite proud to have understood him, I didn’t suspect for a moment the information might be have been inaccurate.
During the course of our hour long journey I did get the chance to witness the damage that the super typhoon had inflicted.
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We passed over streams, through the rocks and with many a wet sandal ascended the narrow bamboo filled paths. We came across a village with their famed weaving displayed outside the doorway. Here are our 3 guides and Master B (with his trusty fishing rod) trekking through.
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Eventually we climbed up the last pile of rocks to behold a stunning rush of water, 20 feet high and plunging down with the sound of an avalanche. Without further ado we clambered into the pool and I sidled behind the waterfall to attempt diving through it. The feel of the waterfall was exhilarating, almost like a living force. And ultimately unstoppable. When I dived into its midst I was immediately forced down into the pool below. There was no give, no gradual descent. If you went in to the white spray you were going down.
Eventually the time came where man and mouse were separated. The challenge was to leap from the top of the raging waterfall into the foamy water below. (Mice who attempt this feat generally drown). I will admit to hesitation. No one had jumped yet and the waterfall had never been this strong before according to Mr B. That being said, with a quick prayer and my last will and testament written on the sand beside me… I jumped. Suddenly the 20 feet gap vanished, the white water beside me joined in my descent as the pool rose up frighteningly fast to catch me. There was a moment of silence and the feeling of sinking down onto a pillow (I imagine that was the foam of the water) And then it was over. The waterfall was conquered.
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My jumping caused a chain reaction, one of the other lads, Ian said he’ll jump if I jump,  as did Master B and even Raymond conquered his fear of heights after a lot of encouragement and a gentle push (I’m kidding here of course). All in all I jumped 3 times and so did Master B. I’m very proud of the 11 year old as this fall must look enormous to one of his height. Eventually lunch called and we found ourselves again back at Lucas, the Italian restaurant.
Tell me that this doesn’t look like heaven in a plate:
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Back at home Master B and I had a sunset uke session, ukulele on the beach… Life doesn’t get any better than this. Finally I dipped my feet into the foam whilst playing for the ultimate experience.
The last order of the day was a game of pool and greeting my new Texan friend (you meet all sorts at a resort) then an infuriating card game session where I lost every round very heavily…
All in all it’s been quite a full day hasn’t it?
Just wait for tomorrow 😉

Puerto Galera and the Super Typhoon

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Firstly if you haven’t been watching the Philippine weather forecast you might not have heard that a Super Typhoon was scheduled to hit the Philippines including Manila on Christmas Day. Fortunately it the centre of the storm missed Manila and after all the hype we were subjected to a wet and windy day, just like being in Manchester really. Meanwhile it did hit my next destination, Puerto Galera…
Today was the beginning of our end of year treat, weirdly it started with a 5:30am get up, but even this was taken in good spirits as we were heading off to the nearby island of Mindoro, specifically to Puerto Galera.
After the ferry had taken us across the damage immediately caught my attention.  I’ve never seen such a natural disaster before. The typhoon obviously ripped its way through the jungle uprooting trees and throwing large amounts of debris into the ocean. All of this is the driftwood which had been washed up on the shore.
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But it’s definitely contrasted by the gorgeous scenery around it.
Naturally as soon as we had set foot on the island we traversed the beaches and consequently someone fell in love with Miss J. Island tradesmen selling necklaces, bracelets and other trinkets roam around hoping to sell to the tourists in paradise. After one such seller realised Miss J was fluent in Tagalog he sort of pulled back with a shocked look and said “your Tagalog makes my heart beat like a drum!”. That still didn’t persuade her to buy anything but it was worth a good laugh. He then turned to me and thought I was German. No one guesses British straight away (unless they hear me speak), that being said, this resort is a very popular place for European tourists (particularly Germans) to experience the world class diving locations.
Cue the beach sunset which is both free and priceless
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Exploring our surroundings: 
As the sunlight poured upon the resort. We woke up to a day filled with nothing but freedom. Master B and I abandoned the girls to their swimming and we went off to play billiards. It’s been a while since I played and though I would love to buy a billiards table it shall only ever be a hobby for me. Afterwards we were in want of some fresh air so walked down to the beachside where I was greeted by a rather perplexing sight. It seems that this is obviously quite a popular holiday resort, even the Loch Ness monster has come out for a swim, please note that the photo below while blurry is definitely authentic and there is absolutely no room for doubt over Nessies existence.

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Lunch was half an hours hike away which included a rock skimming competition (the record stood at 5) but at last we arrived at an Italian restaurant. I ate the best pizza in the world and ordered a mango juice.

This… is living life.
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The evening was a bit quiet where I read my classical novel and learnt to play Rook. Yet another aspect from the B family which I’ll be taking home to Australia. I never thought that living with another family would cause me to pick up their habits and adopt their customs.

Day 27 19/12/16 (Monday)

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There is a place in Olongapo known as Tatlong Krus. This translates to “three crosses” and they are found at the top of 500 steps heading up a mountain. Hence the three musketeers (Kuya Joel, Caesar and I) climbed to the three crosses and arrived in the crisp morning air of 5:53am. Looking over the upside down twinkling stars of Olongapo city I could see ant sized Jeepneys roving around and new “stars” appearing from every window of every house.
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Sunrise was the best time hands down, there was about 4 minutes of amazing light and then it was blue skies and a sunny morning. Photography is a rushed art I think. Nevertheless from that brief exposure I was rewarded with the following.
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We consumed our breakfast of bread and water (a bit short of holy communion sadly) and admired the sights for a little longer. Now, the sun was shining down and instead of burning the horizon with rays of orange and yellow it was starting to burn us. So we trotted back down the 500 steps and in my opinion the descent was a much more tiring experience.
Insert 1 hour of general time wasting and mere existence here. Although at least this bus ride had terrible martial art movies playing… The types where the villain is identified by having the coolest hairstyle. But just as I was arriving at Manila I realised my uke has stayed behind in Olongapo, first my phone and now this… Doesn’t any inanimate object love me? Well I hope it enjoys its extended vacation. I’ll have to investigate the postal service here it seems.
At home there were a few errands to be run so I hopped on back off the motorcycle to experience the rushing winds and exhilarating acceleration once again. The bike was only bumped once by a car but apparently that’s unusual and a first for Mr B.
In other news Miss B number 2 has arrived, Miss B’s sister who we shall refer to as Miss J. The two sisters make quite the dynamic duo and I’m not sure quite how having two sisters is going to pan out. But on the whole Miss J appears to be of very pleasant character, I sense a slightly sarcastic humour but a warm heart nonetheless.
Is there a better way to bond with siblings than Christmas cookie decorating? I think not. Admittedly the art I am most critical about is my own. That being said please take this special opportunity to admire my burning Christmas tree cookie.
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Entry log 324: The sibling bond is at the point where towel whipping is acceptable. I can’t write for long… Oh no! They found me. Both of them… I don’t know how long I can sur……Arghhh!
After that bout of punishment we finished the day with trivial pursuit (my American knowledge both geographically and historically is below average apparently) and I concluded my evening by passionately quoting classical literature with 2 fellow enthusiasts (the dynamic duo of course) it was Cyrano De Bergerac and I have never met another soul who knows it. What a frankly bizarre way to finish the day.
Christmas entry:
Insert my warm and loving Christmas holiday here. Lots of food, games, Tagalog Christmas carols, a very poor performance at bowling (on my part), an armed regiment in the shopping mall (picture below) and the ukulele and I were reunited in a very touching scene. We even rode off into the sunset on a motorcycle (which is more painful on the eyes than most would guess).
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Oh and by the way we survived the super typhoon that passed through. Thank God…

Day 25 17/12/16 (Saturday)

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Warning: Many pictures to come. This may overload the senses of everyone but a Filipino.
So I did have a bit of a fitful sleep, I’m used to sleeping on my side which is harder than it first appears in a hammock. But here is where I slept.
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In short this place is paradise, heaven, a Cadbury chocolate factory full of free samples. Get the idea? I really think I could live here.
Island hopping is what the adventure is called but this isn’t actually a separate island but a place only accessible by boat due to the mountain blocking all pathways behind the cove.
With a view like this revealed in the light ideas of breakfast were quickly forgotten. I climbed up to a rope swing which was suspended above the water. Three of my fellow adventurers took off into the sea and others walked along the sands or explored the rock pool. Just around the corner from my rope swing I found the most tranquil spot upon planet earth.
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Where I nearly died. Please note that Kuya Joel is not trying to save me he’s trying to save the ukulele.
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After a quick breakfast (we were keen to get back into adventuring) I went off kayaking.
Ahem. We attempted to go kayaking… The wind was gusting and our paddling was a bit squiffy. But it was a happy hour with the freedom to go where we wanted to, provided that we had the energy to paddle back to the beach.
Notable difference between this beach and Australian ones. The water is always warm here! Even when we arrived at night it felt like the sun had heated it up like a bath. So everyone dived in and after many attempts to hoist oneself up onto the rope swing from the water and a bit of fighting we were ready to eat again.
Now I didn’t know this at the time but there was a shop on the island which sold food and I had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that an entire fish had magically materialised onto the table. I wondered momentarily if someone had caught it while swimming about, so it was cut, shredded, fried and served with rice and salty salad.
The next adventure on the list was island trekking. We all ran over the rocky ground towards the island (one of the only activities where I can feel my eyes planning out a route to run along without my brain consciously thinking about it. Some friends went on ahead and the next I saw them they were on top of a cliff. So I climbed up (it was a small cliff mum, don’t worry) but the stone slipped under my feet and I scored a wound to my elbow, much to the exasperation of Kuya Joel. Of course I missed the clear walking trail up to their spot which was just round the corner. Of course. But it was more fun to do the climbing.
Once over the rock face we came across a Filipino setting up fishing traps in the rock pools dotted around the place, we came across some sea urchins (one of us came a little bit too close). Afterwards I entered my Hawaiian portal and lay in a hammock composing a new ukulele song.
Before too long the boat had arrived to sail us back to reality. I will return one day to Playa La Caleta, but most of all I’d love to show others this place.
Back at Olongapo I was waiting to catch the bus when some street kids randomly came up and asked to have a photo with me. They treat me like a celebrity but the difference is I’m not special. Just different.
I stayed the night in yet another house… Kuya Joel’s this time. Between helping his nephew by fixing a drone and wondering how to become invisible so the dogs will shut up I got some sort of evening rest. And boy did I need it.
Small note before bed: In my room there exists a cat person (me) a dog person (Kuya Joel) and a turtle person (Kuya Caesar, my Olongapolian tour guide). The existence of a turtle person creates an entirely new perspective in the war between cats and dogs, it’s quite a paradigm shift to accept the very existence of a turtle person. Deep thoughts to fall asleep on.
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Ladies and Gentlemen there will now be a short blog intermission as I take a break from writing to celebrate Christmas. So I wish you a Happy Christmas and  will see you again next year.