Here is a link to my pictures: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/564049033CeZIit

I spent all day trying to get them on, I apologize that some of them have not been flipped upright yet, there are still about 30 more to put on there but enjoy!

Final Asia Post: All Pictures

I am having trouble posting so I will find an alternate means of posting pictures

of garlic and onions

Well I am in Chiang Mai, as I was my last post, but I have had a wonderful couples days to fill the gap. So wonderful that I forgot to post more items for reading. Anyways we decided we were going to rent motorcycles and drive to Pai, a small sleepy town of about 3000 in Northern Thailand pretty close to the border of Myanmar (Burma.) We did this, and without a map or anything followed a help[ers pointing finger and were able to find our way to Pai. The journey of about 140 kilometers included over 640 curves from what I read, and I really agree after having made the trip there and back. Driving a motorcycle is now second nature, even in the urban areas of Chiang Mai, and Thailand in general where you drive on the left hand side. On our way to Pai we were stopped by a military outpost 30k from Pai because of a strike by the garlic and onion farmers against the government. We were told the strike would last for multiple days and we were briefly confused as to our next course of action. Supposedly the strike had completely blockaded the road until the Thai government agreed to raise the raw price of garlic and onions so that the farmers could make more money.

Whaty we decided was to make friends with a cool Thai dude named Mammut, and he talked to the guards who agreed to let us try our best with the locals. We cruised down a mountain for about 25k to where the protest was and were able to drive right by it. There were about 100 cara and vans backed up though so motorcycles were the perfect choice to reach our destination. The road block was equipped by one large tree and about 1000 people that we were able to ride around.

Long story short Pai was near perfection. Imagine a lush mountain valley with more hospitable temperatures thatn I have experienced anywhere in the tropics. Couple that with a small town, many hippie-esque folk, cheap private bungalows with mosquito nets, and the nighttime sounds of geckos, crickets, other insects, iguanas and lizards, and frogs, a comfortable pool, cheap everything, and you have a combination for relaxation. I entered such a relaxed state that I only chilled in the pool, went to waterfalls in the mountains, read books, and ate delicious food for really few dollars.

We have now begun our trek back to the states with the first stage of driving the bikes back to Chiang Mai complete. We rode into the city and found our way around like it was our job. Keep in mind that Chiang Mai is not tiny with a population of aboue 3 million. Tonight we are taking an overnight bus to Bangkok, then flying from Bangkok to Manila, staying in Manila for an extended layover, then flying Manila to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to New York City, and then NYC to Washington D.C., and then overland to Harrisonburg Virginia. Thanks everyone for reading , the bulk of the adventure is now drawing to a close, but stay tuned for a butt-ton of pictures, and a follow up of my adventures once I get to the states and have much time and energy to put into the posts.

see you soon!

Chiang Mai

Well first off sorry because I have been spelling Chiang Mai wrong. Not that the English spelling matters much, but oh well.

The rest of our time in Cambodia was awesome, I will try to post pictures tomorrow if I can. I am back in Thailand now after a 3 hour taxi to the border, 5 hour bus to Bangkok, and 15 hour bus to Chiang Mai on a sick double decker. Chiang Mai is located in northern Thailand in the mountains and is really a cool place, it is nice to not be in Bangkok and to be getting a more authentic experience in some ways. It is still a heavily traveled spot so we decided to take a 3 day motorcycle trip through the mountains with no partiular goal in mind. We will proabaly go to the town of Pai which is much smaller and much higher elevation for a break from such hot weather all the time.

It is already noticably cooler than Cambodia though which is thrilling to me as I really enjoy colder temperatures especially for sleeping.

Two notes:

I got to explore ruins from over 10 major temples dating back to the 9th-12 centuries. All are in different shape, some have giant trees growing out of them, some are constantly preserved.

I got a meal during our bus ride last night after leaving the bus station that has 3 food courts and 3 stories with over 300 bus terminals. Anyways i got the food on a stop and it was Thai spicy which meant that my tongue actually became swollen it was so spicy hot.

Cambodia

Well a lot has been happening and I wanted to write some about Cambodia.

First off, I love everything about Cambodia so far, except the searing heat. It is 100 degrees today in Siem Reap, and it is noticeably cooler than yesterday. Today we rented Tuk-tuks for the day to be our private transportation for wherever our hearts desired. We started early this morning to catch sun-rise over Angkor Wat, and it was perfect. We then went and explored other temples until about 12 and also visited the War Museum where we met one of the most incredible people I have met thus far in my travels.

Angkor means city, and after Angkor Wat we drove over a bridge built in the 11th century, and under the city gate which stood about 50 feet high, to our second stop at Angkor Thom. Angkor Thom is home to Bayon which is a Buddhist temple with giant faces looking every which way. I am continually more blown away with each new thing I see. It is like a direct window into the past, when you visit places like these your imagination runs wild and creates thoughts and images of what life must have been like over 1000 years ago when these were being built.

The man I met today provided a very sobering experience. It is easy to forget and ignore the history of Cambodia when you are seeing temples, but in 1999 it was unsafe to travel to Cambodia because they were still in a civil war. Cambodia was in a constant state of war for over thirty years. Without going into too much detail the Khmer Rouge executed a genocide responsible for killing over 3 million people. Sadly the Khmer Rouge was supported by the United States at one point. Resulting from the war Cambodia was still littered with land mines, there were more than two land mines to every Cambodian.

The story is very tragic. The man will remain nameless for privacy's sake. When he was ten the Khmer Rouge killed his entire family and he narrowly escaped. Parents, siblings, everyone. He was captured at the age of ten by the Khmer Rouge and was forced to fight for them. He was shot three times through over 5 years of battle. He also has stepped on a land-mine that claimed his right leg just above the knee, and filled his body with ball bearings. He let me feel some of the ball bearings and I can not imagine the pain that would cause. He even has a ball bearing in his right eye, and he suffers from severe tetanus on occasion.

Later down the line after he had healed from his wounds, his wife was killed when she stepped on a landmine. He now lives with an 8 year old daughter. Despite all the tragedy the man treated us so well, and his kindness was overwhelming. He would make jokes and was just genuinely a kind-hearted person. You can not go anywhere in Cambodia without seeing land-mine victims, and there are still over 4 million active landmines yet to be found. It really illuminates how good we have it back home.

I tried to put pictures up but the worker here is watching internet t.v. and my connection is way too slow as a result. Hope everyone is doing well.

Angkor Wat

Here are some pictures from today. We rented bikes for a dollar and rode the 8 miles to Angkor Wat. I am not even going to touch on Angkor because I am still digesting the majesty of the place. also my fluency in any language, including my native tongue of English, lacks any accurate words of description.

Highlights:

Got owned in Thailand and had to buy another memory card.

Travling to Cambodia was nuts!

Have used 4 currencies in the past 4-5 days.

Rode bikes around in the HEAT of Siem Reap today.

Gained confidence in my traveling abilities.

Realized after finally reaching a breaking point in the number of people bugging the hell out of me to sell me stupid crap, that I love life in the states, but I also live that my citizenship allows me this freedom to travel.

Lowlight:

The Pens lost

Three Countries in Three Days

Sorry about the eratic post last night, internet is more expensive in Bangkok than what I hae experienced thus-far on this trip. Today we woke up early and took a taxi to the bus station, a bus to Aranyaprathet, Thailand, took a tuk-tuk to the border and walked into the Kingdom of Cambodia into Poipet. We then got another taxi for a three hours ride through lands that seemed to exist only in my imagination. The road was a giant mud pit for over 150 kilometers. Our taxi was airborne, sliding around corners, narrowly avoiding herds of water buffalo and caribou, and playing a game of "honk-tag"with other taxis. The honk-tag games forced our navigator to giggle wildly and hit jumps even faster than normal. Even with some of the desolate areas I have traveled to, including gravel mountain roads in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic, this is the worst infrastructure I have ever witnessed.

Alas we arrived safely in Siem Reap, Cambodia home to temples that date back to the 9th century. We are staying in a room that costs $3 a night, beer is $.65 a pitcher, Obama won the democratic nomination, the Penguins won in triple overtime to bring the Red Wings series to a 3-2 deficit, and T and JC are in Wyoming on their bike ride across the country. Life is wonderfully great right now and tomorrow I get to see some of the best preserved, oldest ruins in the world.

I hope everyone is doing well in the States, Vote Obama, Go Pens, and here is a link fo JC and T's blog: http://manifestdestiny08.blogspot.com/

I will try my best to post some pictures tomorrow!

Bangkok

Well we got into Bangkok last night aroud 2 in the morning. The place we picked is called Thanon Khao San and the street we are staying on is a festival every day and night...from my experience. Ther are a lot of western Europeans here so it is weird not being the only white person here. We still get solicited a ton, but it is not as bad as Manila. Bangkok seems to be more expensive than the Philippines, but we are planning to go to Siam Reap , Cambodia tomorrow to visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site: Angkor Wat. Today we visited the Thai Palace where the king lives, and experienced Bangkok on foot.

I have tried to post pictured bute the internet in Thailand is terrible. We are taking a bus to Cambodia tomorrow to go to Siam Reap to visit Angkor Wat!!!

Welcome to Bangkok

Well I arrived in Bangkok last night and there are some differences I noticed already:

You drive on the left side of the road, and thus the steering wheels are on the right

Thai makes me feel silly because not only can I not speak it, I also cannot read it

Buddhism is the main religion and I have never experienced that before either

Our waiter last night spilled my beer onto three people, still made me pay for it, and refused to refill it. In the states this would have meant a free meal, gas money, and gift certificates hahaha. Welcome to Bangkok what can you do.

I got some pad Thai from a street vendor last night and forgot that Thai food is REALLY SPICY

Eating with chopsticks is fun though.

Three minutes left I will try to post a picture from Boracay, Philippines real quick! Crap no time!!!!

Time to be moving on

Well the rest of our time on Boracay was awesome, and our program has finally come to an end. The scuba diving was great, and the shark dive was much more tame than what occurred in my mother's imgaination. Hi mom! We still had a great dive and got to see some incredible aquatic life including sharks, 3 feet long tuna, and a 9 foot long seasnake. The sharks were mostly relaxing in this small cave that we got to look into. You could see 1-2 meter white-tips many of which seemed to be sleeping and some that continued to swim back and forth inside the cave. The dive took us to 40 meters also so it was a great confidence builder. Oh yeah here is a link to a video one of the dive guys shot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qked0l29A18

Disclaimer: The videographer is sort of a perv so sorry about the European sunbather. Funny note about that, notice her child on the seat to her left!

Anyways many of our friends are now on their way back to the states, and I am preparing to fly to Bangkok tonight. It is sad that the program is over, but I am excited to so some traveling on my own. The study abroad far exceeded any expectations and I would like to take this opportunity to thank my parents and Natalie for their love and support of not only myself but my ideas.

Some places we are thinking about including in our future travels include: floating markets of Bangkok, Phnom Penh: Cambodia, Angkor Wat, Chang Mai: Thailand, possibly a stop in Laos, and maybe even a visit to a Burmese refugee camp in Northern Thailand. Our itenary is very agressive so it wil be exciting to see how our options play out.

Boracay

Well I am in Boracay now, and I have the opportunity to spell opportunity correctly thanks to two corrections. I am glad people are keeping up with my blog enough to be concerned with how I spell things hahaha.

Anyways Boracay is awesome, it is being developed very rapidly and I am surrounded by a concoction of crystal clear waters, Koreans, white sandy beaches, Filipinos selling sunglasses and massages, and bancas all over the place. I got to scuba dive a shipwreck site yesterday and that was awesome. The dive took us to 29 meters or almost 100 feet and I got to swim inside the ship and even look out over the hull from where the steering wheel once was. Tonight I am going on a night dive, and tomorrow a dive with sharks that I am super pumped about. Life is great here and I'm going to go relax on the beach, take care.

Cebu City

Well after our overnight ferry ride which included some comfy cots for sleeping we arrived in Cebu aroun 8:30 in the morning two hours behind schedule. This was due to the ferry running on one engine instead of two because it was broken. From what I have gathered thus far on my trip this is a fairly normal affair. We checked into our hotel relaxed for a bit and I went with three other dudes to a place where they make guitars. We got to just walk on and see the whole hand-making process, here some Filipinos play great tunes, and two of the dudes bought instruments.

After we returned from that we went and toured Lexmark's manufacturing factories that are here in Cebu. If you own a Lexmark printer there is a high chance your ink cartridges come from the Philippines. It was wild seeing the factory and how many automated and mechanized processes there were. It was also loud, im talking you need to raise your voice significantly to have a conversation, and most of the noises were similar to finger-nails on a chalkboard. It was by no means a sweat-shop but it certainly was not appealing to me. We were reassured that Lexmark has one of the better factories as far as payment, working conditions, and treatment of the workers. The double-minimum wages recieved by the workers is equlivalent to U.S. 10$ per day, but many of the workers make more than that. All of the information provided by Lexmark was very vague, but they did give us cold sodas and chocolate cake. I'm not entirely sure why this was but it was delicious. All in all a good experience that makes me really appreciate the opurtunities I have in the states.

To end the night we sang karoke and danced including a dance move in which my dance partner dropped me on the ground. We went to a place that had a strange name that I don't remember at the time but it advertised the "coldiest beer." I will attest that the beer was very coldie.

Today we woke up really early and took a ferry to the island of Bohol for an eco-tour in Buena Vista. Eco-tourism is really cool because all of the money goes directly to the locals instead of to a rich resort owner who probably doesn't need more money anyways. What we did was ride on canoes through the mangrove forests and then have a delicious seafood dinner that included fresh crabs, shrimp, squid, raw oysters, mangos, and coconuts. It was one of the best meals I can remember and I learned a lot about the anatomy of seafood. It was cool seeing that shrimp actually do have eyes. Utilizing the shrimp with eyes to our advantage we quickly played with them and made them talk to other people. Very childish, but very fun. The locals sang some songs and did some dancing for us and it was so much fun. The fun was made even better because we were out of Cebu, which is the dirtiest city I have ever seen. Even compared to Manila, it is hotter, dirtier, cheaper, and has more homeless families by far. Luckily Cebu is one of Asia's central hubs for shipping and manufacturing. Labor in Cebu is far cheaper than labor in Mexico to put things in perspective.

I just walked through a downpour to get here but luckily air conditioning doesnt really exist in the Philippines so I am quite comfortable. I am sad the Pens lost, but happy to be leaving Cebu tomorrow to go to Boracay.

Island

Hey anybody who reads this!

I have returned to what most refer to as normal life after being on Apo Island. Apo is a small island with a population of less than 1000, I will have the exact population later in the week. Anyways it is small, beautiful, has crystal clear water, and amazing coral reefs and aquatic life. I got to experience life in the ocean first hand as I got open water scuba certified. The training and dives were incredible, my brain lacks knowledge of words fit to describe my time there. The people there were extremely generous and genuine. My population register project was a breeze because all of the locals wanted to work really hard to help me out. Apo is also not developed in any major way and lives sustainably on rain water, solar power, and fishing. They import some things like beer and amenities, but these are not necessary for the locals to sustain healthy lives there.

Scuba diving was insane, I saw any brightly colored fish imaginable and even sea turtles, eels, and sea snakes. The feeling is being able to breath underwater is somewhat like what I imagine being in space to be like. Gravity doesn't really happen anymore once you establish neutral buoyancy and you just float suspended.

Aside from diving I got to sing karaoke in the village with the locals and that was a riot of a good time. Once again the locals were buying beers for me, even though they do not have very much money. I tried my best to return all of the favors, but their generosity knows no limits. Karaoke was awesome though, I got to sing Bon Jovi's Bed of Roses duet style with one of the locals named Cali? He was a random 30 year old guy I met who sings karaoke every night just because he loves it.

I have to go eat before an all night ferry right to Cebu City. Hope to hear from everyone soon.

Sex Tourism

After a misreable bus ride back to Manila from Banaue. (Misreable because we sat above the engine where the temperature was approximately 120 degrees. Keep in mind: A. we are in the tropics, B. our bus was constantly going up and down hills, C. most of the windows on the bus had cracks from being broken, D. the air conditioning got warmer as it got farther back. This combination left me shirtless on a bouncy seat sweating my butt off instead of sleeping. Traveling like the locals really makes you appreciate traveling like we normally do.

Tonight we went to the "girly bars" or the sex bars where foreigners come to buy sex. I went to about 10 different bars and talked to numerous girls and it was very enlightening but also extremely sad. We paid the girls just to talk to them, because obviously we are not paying them for sex, but we care about them suporting their families. When I say families it is because the girls are supporting not only them selves, but also kids, and also parents and brothers and sisters. Working in the sex bars is one of the best paying jobs in the entire country, and it is very easy for young girls to get hired.

We did our best to not support the bars, so we gave money straight to the girls. I found out that ALL of them were supporting more than themselves, many of them were in Universities trying to pay for school, and some of them had graduated but have not been able to find work. These are very smart and very bright girls. They are very kind, down to earth real people that I enjoyed talking to very much. Before anyone gets the impression that they only talked because I was paying them, know that I did not pay them until I was leaving and that I told them I was not loking to take them back to the Makate Palace (out current hotel) with me. The girls I talked to told me that they wish there was other work where they could make enough money, and when talking about my major and travels they said they think I should come back to the Philippines and hire them to work for me so they do not have to work in the sex bars anymore.

Soem of the conversations were very deep, very honest, very joyful, and very sad. One of the girls I talked to had multiple scars on her wrists and we talked about that and she shared about herself to me. I know this does not make anybody's day to hear about this but it is part of my experience that had impacted me very deeply already.

fyi: Most of the customers are Americans and Brits in their 50's and 60's. All ages are included though from 20's and up, and there are also customers from Europe, Australia, Japan, Korea, etc. Seeing the guys in these clubs paying to picm up girls 40 years younger than them was the hardest part of the whole night. To be honest all I wanted to do was beat the hell out of them. I know they are real people too, and I do not know them or their stories so I should not judge them, but is it so damn hard.

On a happier note, tomorrowe we are leaving Manila, and the island of Luzon to fly to Dumageti (spelling?) and then take a boat to Apo Island. Apo is a small sustainable community model on an Island with less than 1000 people. My project takes place here and I will be conduscting a population register and figureing out total fertility rates, and population growth rates to see if the Apo community is outgrowing itself when the register is taken again by another student next year. I will also be getting scuba certified. There will be no internet for me for the next 5 days so I will post again when I can.

More Hiking

quick update:

hiked rice terraces in the sunshine for about 4 hours today in Banaue. We ended at an overlook that is the featured picture on the 1000 Peso note. Later today we are taking the Autobus back to Manila, but we will be spending time in Makati, which is the rich district. We will be looking at things like how Gucci stores can exist while people are living in poverty all over the place. We will also be going to the "girly bars" or bars where commercial sex tourism takes place. We will be paying the girls only to talk to them and learn more about their lives. I am excited and nervous for this as I know it will be a very emotional experience. I am very tired from all of the hiking but very satisfied. The weather is clearing up too and the sun is back in full force. Hope everyone is doing well, does anybody know how the Penguins are doing???

Perfect

Well I have been very active since I last posted. On Saturday we hiked for 5 hours from Banaue to Batad. Batad is the home of the Ifugao people. They have lived in Batad for over 2000 years, and are responsible for the rice terraces that coved the mountains there. Literally there are not words in any language that I am familiar with to describe this place. It is by far one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen, and to think that it is over 2000 years old is mindblowing. Today after staying overnight in the terraces, we hiked all over them, and even hiked down to a waterfall. Our toure took us over the terraces, down into the valley, and around a mountain. It was detrimental to my mental health going from one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and back to one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Here are pictures because the English language knows no words to accurately describe what I have seen. Keep in mind that pictures also cannot do justice to this place.












Batad is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered by many to be the 8th Wonder of the World. It is sad though because the people that work the terraces still have to import rice, and are very poor. The only way to get to Batad is by hiking, and though I love this style of transportation, it deters many tourists. Keep in mind I am a Traveler, and not a Tourist, there is a big difference.

Leaving Batad included a beautiful 2 hour hike up into the mountains and then riding on the roof of a jeepney down dirt roads and next to landslides to Banaue, about 5-6 miles away. In case you have been wondering what a jeepney is here is a photo:


Note: Please click on any photo for a full size version: well worth the click!

Arrival in Banaue

Well our trip to Banaue was interesting to say the least. We rode on an old bus at had almost all of the windows repaired at one point or another due to broken glass. It was also designed for people who are very short. Buses are known for not having a lot of leg room, but is it by a large margin the least leg room I have ever seen. To add insult to injury the bus has one air conditioning setting and it is freezing. It was probably about 45-55 degrees in the bus and I was cold wearing long pants and long sleeves. Even though the odds were against me I still managed to get a lot of sleep. The bus did not have a bathroom so we stopped anytime anybody on the bus had to pee. Getting out of Manila took far longer than expected and the whole time all we did was get more behind schedule. Then I woke up to find that we were sitting still because there were two impassable landslides up ahead on the mountain roads we were on. We ended up getting off the bus, getting all of our belongings and hiking past the landslide. We then caught a jeepney to the next landslide for 20 pesos. It was about 10k to the next landslide and then we had to wait for an earthmover to clear a path before we could walk through. This was crucial because the water was so high on the high side where we were that we would have had to swim. The path was cleared, the water ran through, and then we passed through, knee deep in mud. We caught another jeepney and sat on the roof with our bags for the next 26 kilometers to Banaue. Luckily the weather was clear for our ride because it has been raining since we arrived. Here is a picture of the second landslide:

Here are some pictures from the past couple days the first one is a view from the garbage dump that shows the squatter settlements next to it.

Second is a view of the volcano's crater that we swam in. Notice the crater from the supervolcanoe in the distance, it is the lake behind.

Third is Reggie and me riding on top of the jeepney on our way back from the volcanoe

Hope you enjoy the pictures, it has been overcast and rainy from the remanants of a typhoon down south. We still have had plenty of sun though. The pictures don't really do justice to any of the places we have been but I hope you enjoy them.

woah so many things!

ok since I last wrote we have done a million things, and I will not be effective at writing much about all of them because we are catching an all night bus to the rice terraces to Banaue in a very short amount of time.

On Tuesday we went and visited a garbage dump in the Quezon City district of Manila. The dump was giant, smelled terrible, was disgusting and had squatter settlements all around it. The dump is remarkable because they have implemented a system to harvest methane gas from it. This is only possible because many of the poor work for very little sorting the garbage in their homes to take out recyclable items. This leaves mostly organic waste which produces a ton of methane. Ths system makes over 1 million Euros per year, or 1.5 million U.S. dollars.

We then drove to Pansol where we stayed in our own little villa-esque setting. We had four rooms, a patio, and a pool heated by natural hot springs. They had cold rum and cokes waiting upon our arrival, and our instructor left it as a surprise. It was a great change after being in the mass chaos and filth that is Manila. That day I had Japenese for lunch and Chinese for dinner. FYI Chinses food in America was food invented for Americans and is not much like real Chinese at all. We drank mixed drinks and beers and sang karaoke until we tired and went to sleep. Karoke is HUGE in Asia and I want to bring it back to the states.

Wednesday we took our jeepney to Lake Taal and hiked up to the top of the Taal volcano. Inside the crater is a big lake and it was beautiful. We learned that the lake we came in on was also the inside of a volcano crater from an old super-volcano that erupted millions of years ago. It was truly incredible and I am sad I do not have time to post pictures. We took a gnarly hike down into the small volcano's crater, probably about 1000-2000 ft elevation drop. Once at the bottom there were so many amazing colors due to the sulfur and volcanic materials. There were steam vents, and places where the lake was bubbling, it was like being on a completely different planet. I even went for a dip in the crater lake. How many people can say they have swam inside an active volcano? The last major eruption was in 1965. The water was warm, with very warm spots where the heat was rising from the earth. The experience was truly priceless and worth the whole trip.

Today we went and visited a festival that has been occuring for more than 100 years. The festival is to thank God for the harvest regardless of it is good or if it is bad. The festival was incredible and it made me think about how easy it is for me to thank God when things are good, but ignore Him when things are bad. After the festival we visited IRRI, or the International Rice Research Institute. It was cool to learn more here is a link to the IRRI website: http://www.irri.org/

Time to get on an all night bus ride I will write and put pictures up as soon as I can.

back in the states

Today I ended up back on U.S. soil in the form of the U.S. Embassy in Manila. We had a great tour guided by Olga Bashbush. (I support her last name) We learned more about the history of Manila and got to see the details of what goes on as far as getting visas to visit and live in the United States. It was also interesting to learn that Manila is second only to one of the embassy's in Mexico for number of applicants. Sadly for Filipinos almost everyone is turned down and we audibly heard a number of rejections on our visit. The crazy thing is that people will save for months just to have a chance, knowing that they will likely be rejected. Their fee for every time they even apply is almost $200 U.S. I also found out that the U.S. Ambassador at the embassy gets a rolling caravan as a VIP and that the Ambassador represents the U.S./President and their wishes and decisions abroad including militarily.

After the Embassy we went to the ridiculous mall here in the Malate district of Manila and some of us purchased our plane tickets for Thailand. After the study abroad session is over a few of us decided since we are in the area there is no good reason not to take advantage of cheap flights for what would be very expensive flights from the U.S. Thus I will be flying direct to Bangkok on the 3rd and am very excited for the opportunity. In the somewhat chaotic fashion that we have become accustomed to, getting our tickets took almost as long as our flight will take.

Prior to this experience I ate a squid for dinner, it was probably about 9 inches long and I got to eat the tentacles and everything. It was grilled, very tasty, and the tentacles still had the little suckers on it. The challenge of getting over the mental barrier of what the thing visually looked like was something both exciting and challenging. The pay-off was finding a new food that is very delicious, and here in the Philippines very cheap. I have some pictures that I will try to post within the upcoming days.

Tonight we visited a call center, where calls from the United States are routed via fiber-optic cables underneath the ocean. Anytime you call major name brands in the U.S. you may be talking to a Filipino/Filipina. Companies such as Dell, Sprint, and even Dominoes use this feature. The newest growing trend apparently is pizza delivery calls being outsourced, and also fast food orders. This seems absurd, but fast food orders are placed at the window, and then a person across the world sends the order electronically to a computer at the restaurant. This seems completely crazy, but next time you find yourself in the drive-through you should check it out.

We will be traveling south tomorrow night via ALL NIGHT BUS. My excitement is through the roof to spend all night sitting on a bus, but I am confident that I will still be able to get some rest. We will be hiking a storied volcano crater that I will inform you about later, and then we will be stopping in Manila again on our way to the Northern part of Luzon to visit the rice terraces. I may not have internet for a few days but I will try to update as frequently as I can.

It is almost Tuesday for me, but is noon on Monday for everyone back in the States.

What we did on Sunday

Yesterday we went to the walled spanish city of Intramuros, specifically we visited Fort Santiago. This city was built inthe 16th century, and was the last city ever built to be surrounded by a moat for protection. The moat was quickly outdated there-after but it was really cool seeing the remains of the city contrasting with the chaos that is modern day Manila right across the Pasig river. We paid off one of the security guards and he took us into the dungeon so we could see where prisoners were kept. It was pretty fun because it was super creepy, made for some good pictures, and because paying off a guard with about U.S. $2 would never fly in the states. To learn more about intramuros click on the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intramuros

After Intramuros we went to a cockfight across town. I had no idea what to expect going in other than roosters killing each other. It surely would not fly with the PETA folks, but it was an incredible thing to experience. The cock-fights were a bit boring to be honest, but they did have 6 inch razor blades attached to their feet so the matches went rather quickly. Also cocks tend to be territorial and fight each other naturally, which is most likely how the sport evolved. The most exciting part is the betting that takes place. The ring is set up with two halves and each light symbolizes when it is time to bet on a certian bird. The Filipinos go bezerk during this time and all are yelling out bets, and also signaling them with their hands. The hand signals are crucial because the place quickly gets as loud as a college football game. The most amazing part is that all of the bets are memorized, there is no time for writing anything down, so the Filipinos essentially develop a photographic memory for bets. I loved the experience there and I met a guy who lives in Reno part of the year dealing cards. He told me stories of how there are cockfights in Arizona in the desert, where it is all Filipinos and Mexicans placing bets.

Don't worry they eat all of the birds that are killed, nothing goes to waste. I will try to post some more pictures soon. For now I am done with my canned coffee and we are leaving in a little while to go visit the U.S. Embassy here in Manila. Feel free to comment, it lets me know people are reading.

Yesterday we went to Bacolor and saw a town on the Bataan Peninsula that was essentially covered in ash and lahar from Mt. Pinotubo. Lahar is ash that turns into a concrete sort of substance and it flows in mudslide fashion and eventually hardens like rock. The entire town of Bacolor got covered in about two stories of lahar, and it is over 70 kilometers away from Pinotubo, it was nuts.

We then had a small walk in the blazing heat on part of the route that the Bataan death march took. I can't imagine walking for two weeks straight in heat and sun like that without food and water, freaking ridiculous.

After Bacolor we ventured to the Subic Bay area and took an eco-tour of the rainforest there. The plant life was truly incredible. Some of the trees were just out of this world. Our guide Ariel showed us all sorts of different medicinal plants, and showed us how to make full cookwear for soup, meat, and rice out of bamboo, and later showed us how to start a fire using only bamboo it was really sweet.

This is a lame post, I just don't feel like writing that much, later when we returned to the metro Manila area in a giant thunderstorm we were very tired from a long day. We went out for dinner, and beers, followed by a dance club until four in the morning. I discovered that chaco's make pretty good dance shoes after all. It was pretty wild to be in a club in Manila until the wee hours of the morning on a Saturday night, truly an experience.

Best story: I bought a round of drinks for two transvestites as part of a deal, and went over and talked to them for a while. Marie, and Sabelle were both in their mid twenties and made me some generous offers so to speak. I lied about where I was staying of course, but they tried incessantly to get me to go back to my room, or to a secret spot they know of so that I could recieve "The Best Souvenir in Manila" sorry ladies/fellas (I'm not sure which is appropriate) but I'm going to pass. Strangely I am feeling awesome after staying out dancing until four and then waking up because my room is too hot to sleep any longer a mere four hours later at 8. The sun comes up around 6ish and it does not waste any time getting down to business.

Later today we are going to visit Intramural, an old Spanish walled city/ruins and learn some more about the history of this place. After that we are going to a cock-fight to place bets on some roosters, should be a good time.

Here are whatever random pictures I decide to post.

Corrigidor Island

Today we left Manila and took a 26 mile boat ride out to Corrigidor Island. For those of you who don't know, Manilla Bay has about 4-5 islands at its mouth to the South China Sea. These were espacially important during WWII. Anyways today that is where we went and it is the second most bombed island ever second only to Malta. It was a beautiful day as we left Manila's smog and traveled over the part trash/part water bay. There is literally trash piling up on the island from Manila so that is not so happy.

We recieved a guided tour on the island and it was really solid and I learned a lot. We got to see all kinds of anti-aircraft, and anti-ship guns as well as a bunch of 12 inch mortars. These guns were huge, and many of them had marks from scrapnel that hit them during WWII. The island was occupied by American and Filipino troops, and was bombed shortly after Pearl Harbor.

There is lots of history, but now back to some interesting things that I saw. One was a Japanese mass grave where over 5,000 Japanese are buried, and there is a memorial and anti-aircraft guns overlooking some of the other islands. The place is truly beautiful. I'm sure many of you have heard of the Bataan Death March. We saw where this happened across the sea a ways on the peninsula, and that it was the soldiers on this island that it happened to.

The Pacific War Memorial is also on the island and WWII is so hard to imagine for me. We saw tons of ruins on the island from battery's barracks, and all sorts of other things. There was a 12 inch mortar gun that had been blown over 200 yards up a hill. I can post some pictures tomorrow maybe so stay tuned. Also kind of cool is that the steel used to build many of the barracks was from the Bethlehem Steel Company. Johnstown anybody?

I think I am finally getting adjusted to the oppisite time zone so that means it is dinner time pretty soon. I got some sun today but no burns so that is sweet too.

P.S. I tried to find a map of the Philippines to post, but everything on this computer is in Chinese.
더ㅑ대ㅐㅑ너덜

body weird things

well I'm in Manila and its truly a city that never sleeps. I know this because I could not sleep and was out on the town until 9 a.m. and there was no difference in the amount of people in the day and in the night. This includes toddlers that are just wondering around trying to score some mulah.

before I left I was having diharea and i had it throughout 3 flights and 4 airports but I think it has finally subsided. this makes me happy, my body is feeling wacky from the jet-lag though it is a complete 12 hour difference and last night i felt more awake than I thought was possible. The following is a brief snippit of my route here:

Harrisonburg: Cinco de Mayo until about 2:30 at night, get home, finish packing. Sleep for 30-45 minutes, wake up and leave Harrisonburg.

No sleep in the car due to excitement, arrive at Dulles around 6 a.m., flew out at 8 and I was asleep before the plane took off. Clearly you can see I am not afraid of flying becuase I slept through take-off.

Get to JFK and fart around for about 5 hours until we board and fly to Hong Kong.

The plane to Hong Kong was sweet and we had unlimited movies, food, video games, pretty much whatever you want. I watched the kite-runner and I thought it was good, but the book is 1092487 times better.

I slept for the first 2 hours, woke up and had lunch, then slept after dinner for a good 7 hours until we landed. Total flight time: 15 hours

Hong Kong looked beautiful, and the airport was ridiculous, ridiculously nice, and ridiculously huge. our terminal had over 80 gates. there are more than one terminal.

Manila's airport was built in the 60's and looks like something out of an old movie. It has a pretty cool feel to it though. The 1.5 hour flight is now a joke compared to the Hong Kong flight

Get out into the air and Manila is HOT, and HUMID. It was midnight and I started sweating immediately. Nice drive over to the hotel and get our rooms, the place is chill. Not temp wise mind you. We are sleeping with A/C for the first two nights until we can sleep at nighttime, then we are no A/C for the rest of the trip.

Manila essentially has no rules regarding time, we went out for beers at 3 a.m. and were out until 9 a.m. about 3 hours after sunrise. 5 hours of sleep later, and some good food and here I sit.

Interesting differences:
All bars are open air, and you sit on the sidewalk
The whole city is hot humid and smelly
People try to show you around and sell you fake cigarettes to make money
This Filipino dude Fernando took us to a gay bar hahaha
We left after a drink and went to a different place so it was chill
He kept offering us sex and girls
He did not understand that I have a girlfriend and that I do not cheat on her.
This probably seemed foreign because she is foreign and so am I.

If you have read this far congratulations!

P.S. Today we can do what we want so I went to the mall: 6 stories, GIANT. Had some Shabu Shabu which means there is a table with a boiler in it, and I cook all of my own food. Pretty delicious, and fun to get used to. I had "fat beef" with yums, lobster, other seafood/fish meats, noodles, both clear and white ones, corn, carrots, and about 20 other things. Overall: solid, but expensive. My meal cost me about $5 U.S. because it was an expensive restraunt in the mall.

Last note: the planes and all the restraunts use chop-sticks.

Leaving soon

well I am leaving in a little more than 24 hours from now. I have a spider bite on my leg that has turned into a giant bullseye bruise. My whole ankle is swollen from it, and the anti-biotics presccribed by JMU's health center don't seem to be having an effect. This is similar to all treatments I have recieved from the health center and I was expecting this to happen. Now the important question is what should I do before I leave and am on airplanes all day, including a 14 hour flight from New York to Hong Kong.

I realized that I should include where I am going. I am going to be studying abroad in the Philippines for a month, and then spending some leisure travel in Thailand. The Philippines is going to be a lot of backpacking with lots of hiking.

I don't feel like writing anymore