Wow, home.

I was away for 16 months. I came home to a terrible snow storm, and it is only by a miracle that I cannot explain that I landed on time in Vancouver. Denise was not so lucky. She got stuck in Chicago, and then in Toronto for 4 days. She finally got a flight to Fredericton, and her mom had to drive from Halifax to get her, just in time for Christmas Eve. Poor Denise. I can't imagine.

The snow here is ridiculous. I have had a wonderful Christmas with my family. I sit here typing and there are eagles flying above the trees out of my window. Its weird to see TV and commercials again. Its nice to cook and eat familiar food. Driving around the city, there are so many things that have changed. New buildings. Old ones gone. Driving is very strange again. Especially since its only a truck that can be driven out of my parents cars because of all the snow. That truck is HUGE!

NO MORE SLEEPS LEFT!

Only a long day of traveling.

I left Manila, finally. I wasn't really impressed with the city. I found it too busy and dirty. Maybe I need to give it another chance, but there are other places I will go first. I arrived in Taipei for a layover. I went to the tourist desk for a map and some ideas of things to see. I got on a bus and headed downtown.

I didn't really want to go into the city, but I am sure glad I did. Mind you I was only there for a few hours and saw one small part of the city. It was clean and vibrant and beautiful. It was very diverse and the people were really nice. I spent time in some malls. I found one of my favourite stores in the world, which I found in Japan, and I think is only in a few asian cities and in the UK. Its like a department store. I took lots of photos and wandered through the streets and stores.

But I am almost home...only a few more hours.

Back to Manila

We left our beloved sedentary location to head back to Manila. We got to the airport. Denise wanted to have a "Tetanus" tournament with our Nintendos. That would be Tetris to the rest of us. Somebody got a bit to much sun.

Our flight was delayed by 3 hours. It sucked, but they gave us free fried chicken. At least they did something AIR CANADA.

We got into Manila and went back to our same hostel that we were at before. The next day though, we set out to find a nice, yet affordable hotel. Its our last night together on the road so why not! We deserve hot water, cable and air conditioning! Its a really nice place. We spent that day at the mall, getting "mani pedi botox" (Samantha Jones, 2002). Minus the botox. Denise bought a new dress. We drank wine in our room 'til late.

The next morning we had to leave. We had room service, extreme luxury. I still had one more night there so I moved all my stuff back to the hostel. Denise left for the airport. Goodbye Denise!

More Cebu, and doing nothing

We feel like we should be doing stuff, but we're too lazy.

I did have to go find an ATM the other day though, that was an outing. The whole experience had the potential for extreme disaster. First I was dropped off at the hospital, where there was an ATM, but it was out of order. My trike guy had already left, so I just walked down the road, hoping I would eventually find one. I asked a lady where I might find one, and she pointed me in the right direction. Amazing, since neither of us could speak each other's language. I did manage to get money and a taxi back to the hotel.

There is a good collection of National Geographic magazines at the hotel, so I have been going through all those, but only looking at the photos. I feel smarter just holding a NG magazine.

Been watching Seinfeld on my iPod and mastering some Nintendo games on my DS. I finished A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. Wonderful book, I don't care what Oprah says. I loved the way he wrote the story. I am now reading Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts. Its 933 pages and chronicles his break out an Australian prison, arrival in India, and his life as an actor in Bollywood films, a devoted employee of the mafia and the founder of a free medical clinic in a slum. Fascinating story. Denise already read it now it is my turn. Although ask me what I am reading in a few months and it may still be this book.

There have been some carolers coming around signing Feliz Navidad. Oh yeah it's Christmas! It's nice, but I think they are only doing our street, in a circle. So its been going on for a few hours.

Loving Korea, in the Philippines

Funny, we left Korea months ago, yet in this small town we are in, there are Koreans everywhere, with restaurants and corner stores to boot! The prices are not as good, but Denise and I are pretty happy that we can get galbi, kimchi, soju and every side dish that we fell in love at our local places in Seoul. The people that are here left Korea years ago to start businesses, and if they have children, they are in English schools. I think that getting the kids to learn English here is a huge draw.

We've had a few Korean meals. A few Filipino ones at our hotel, which has mostly been fried rice. And beer. Lots of Koreans come here to scuba dive. There is a ton of scuba diving here. One night, there was a class of Koreans that had been learning to scuba dive over the last few days. They were celebrating by drinking soju shots out of scuba masks.

Other than this, we haven't done a lot. During the day, sitting by the pool, we have the pleasure of listening to the Karaoke bar next door. The machine is outside, right next to the fence. When they are not signing, they are leering at Denise and I. Sometimes a whole family will come up to the fence and leer together for about 10 minutes.

We walk to the market some days, and buy fresh mango. We changed room, from air conditioning to a fan. We're too cheap right now, and we're used to the heat. We went to one of the resorts next to our hotel, for a fee, and used the pool. Its mostly Korean families on vacation. The women dutifully wear their visors and SPF 60.

To Cebu

This morning, we flew to Cebu. Before we left our hostel, we went to the Starbucks across the street. It was 8am, but it was not open for business. According to the sign, it closed at 5.30am and opened at 9.00am. It was open for most of the day, except for the prime coffee-drinking, caffeine-requiring time. Very strangee.

The flight was short. We got to our hotel and ate Oreos for lunch, which Denise is now known to pack around all the time. Its become a bit of a meal replacement, especially on all the long bus rides. Our hotel is right on the beach, squeezed between two large resorts. Its the cheapest hotel on the island. It has a pool and a nice view, a beach and a restaurant. Its a place, and Denise and I are planning to do nothing but read, drink beer, sleep and swim while we are here. Its been a long trip.

Manila

We woke up early, when it got light out, because we were sleeping outside. I went to the bathroom, baby-wipe and changed my clothes. I'm ready for another day of traveling! I think my last shower was 3 days ago.

When we arrived in Manila, we arrived at a new airport that was built solely for discounted airlines. Its super inconvinient because this airport is 2 hours outside of the city. When we got out of customs and got our bags, we had to get on a bus that then went into the city. It would be like flying on WestJet to Vancouver, but its acutally the Coquihalla Highway and then you have to take a bus to the city.

The bus dumped us in the most sketchy part of Manila that could be chosen. I had no idea where were. But I knew we needed a taxi to get to our hostel. We were stood at the side of the road surrounded by kids that looked like they were going to rob us. There was garbage al over the streets and the stench in the air was horrible. I knew I had to just stay in the game and get out of there. An unmarked taxi came to pick us up, I showed him the address of where we needed to go, and we were off. We were dropped off at the hostel where Denise was staying and where we were meeting. It was Romi's last night, so she went to splurge on a nice hotel room with air conditioning and a hot shower. I checked in to the hostel and had a long overdue shower.

Denise was not there, so I went for a walk and got a sandwich, which was 90% mayonnaise. I went back and met Denise. It was so good to see her! We met Romi and went for dinner. We went back to her hotel and watched a little Oprah on tv. Then it was time to say goodbye. Romi was going home the next day and it was me and Denise for the last 9 days of our trip. I adore Romi and it was an amazing trip with her.

Kuta, Bali and back to Kuala Lampur

We got back to Kuta Beach and had about 20 hours before we had to be at the airport to catch a flight to KL. We went to the temple on the south coast of the island. Again, Romi got attacked by monkeys. They once again stole her water and then stole her camera case. Some guides in the area gave the monkey some food, and the camera case was rightfully returned. Romi really hates monkeys now.

We got a hotel room for the time we were there, but mostly to stash our bags. The room was gross, and we vowed to spend as little time there as possible. We went to a restaurant and watched a movie. We spent as much time as possible in an internet cafe. We walked around everywhere. Finally, I had to get some sleep, so I went back and crashed on the bed, but I had all my clothes on and was wrapped in my sarong to I didn't really have to touch anything.

We had to get up at 3am to go to the airport. We were walking towards the main road with our backpacks on and some drunks guys were coming back from the bar. They couldn't figure out why we had our packs and were convinced that we were just lost, and wanted to help us find where we needed to go. Pretty funny entertainment. The airport was closed still when we got there, so we just hung around. Thanks for telling us we needed 3 hours...

Our flight was good. We got into the airport in KL and I realized that I had lost my credit card. After going over the last few days, I was pretty sure that I had just left it in a bank machine in Ubud. It sucked. We put our bags in storage because we only had 12 hours in the city. There was no point of getting a hotel room because of the timing with the airport shuttle and when the flight left, blah blah blah. We took the bus into the city and went to an internet place to I could call the credit card company. Nothing was charged on it since I had lost it, so that was good.

On the way out and walking down the street, I had to squeeze between two scooters that were parked on the sidewalk. The inside of my left leg touched the tail pipe of one of the bikes, and the searing heat of the tail pipe burned my skin. The pain was so intense that my leg almost gave out on me and I almost fell down on the sidewalk. After swearing out loud for a good minute, I was ok to keep walking. I kept my eye on it, and soon enough, a huge bubble formed where the burn was. It was the size of two twoonies put next to each other, and it bloody hurt!

We went to the big mall to spend the rest of the afternoon. Romi wanted to get a hair cut so I just went to a restaurant and had some wine and read my book. I felt like a high school mall rat walking around. My clothes are feeling snug. Probably form all the cheap beer and deliciously fatty food I have been eating for the last 4 months. I have a backpack with big rip in the side. My hair is plastered down on my head because I can't be bothered to do anything with it. I am almost home and am so excited to start putting some effort back into the way I look.

My burn was getting worse. I had to go to a pharmacy and get some bandages and some antifungal cream. This is one of the most common injuries that travelers get in this part of the world. But its usually from getting off the scooter on the wrong side, and burning your right leg on the tail pipe. I was pretty proud that I didn't have this happen to me. Well, it did, but in another way, and I really did not want it to get infected.

We headed back to the airport on the last shuttle. We got our bags and were making a little camp spot in the airport. Then Denise walks by! I was so happy to see her. I knew she would be in the airport around the same time as us. We were going to be meeting in Manila anyway. She went off to catch her flight and Romi and I went back to our new beds in the airport. But we soon got kicked out because they were cleaning. We headed outside to some benches. I looped all the straps of my backpacks through my arms, curled up under my sarong, and went to sleep on a bench outside of the airport.


The monkey drinking Romi's water, again.

The rest of our time in Ubud

Since this book Eat Pray Love has come out, I think that this town has seen a rush of single women tourists. Romi and I didn't notice it until about the third day here, but all of a sudden, we like Elizabeth Gilbert a lot less and think that some of the people here are super flaky. Did you really come to this town because you want to find the same experience that she had? Her experience was about the journey, and she found a connection with this place. Just because people follow her to this place, doesn't mean they'll have the same connection or experience. Come on people!

We spent the rest of our time here doing yoga, hanging out by the pool at a nearby hotel, and riding scooters to the volcano north of Ubud. One yoga class I went to, I had the most surreal experience. The only other time I have had this feeling is when I have laid in bed after a night of drinking, and the room starts to spin when I close my eyes, and then I have thrown up. But I felt that same "room spinning feeling" from doing yoga and meditating. It was amazing. Is that what they call flow or nirvana? It was achieved by a lot of deep breathing and holding deep stretches, obviously. But I was so into it. The instructor for the class was named Uma and is from North Africa originally (I can't remember the country) and has lived here for 20 years. She is part Indian, beautiful, is probably in her mid 40s but looks 25. She was an excellent yoga teacher, very encouraging and inspiring. Romi said that she never really loved yoga, but Uma was so encouraging that it made her want to practice regularly. We were blown away, and I think Romi had a big girl-crush on Uma. Basically I could spend the rest of my days learning and studying yoga with Uma in Ubud.

We spent lots of time at a local restaurant that served delicious local organic food. We observed the weird women tourists that were trying to be Elizabeth Gilbert. Romi and I talked a lot about life and what it was going to be like going back to Canada. We're both super excited to go home.

Congratulations to Matt and Naomi who are engaged!

Yoga, Hindu temples and cheese

Once again, ok this is my favourite place!

We went to yoga this morning and it was pretty amazing to be surrounded by Indonesian jungle and rice fields. Its been a long time since I have done yoga so it was interesting to see how my body has changed. And by interesting, I mean sad.

Then we hopped on the back of some scooters and rode all around the area to see the rice terraces and to see a temple. The landscape is amazing. Palm trees, farm land, hills, rice fields. Everywhere. Plus there are some amazing houses. The temple we went to is a holy water temple. It was really old and every inch of stone was covered in moss. The water was very clear and it was overall so beautiful. At one point, I slipped on a rock near one of the pools and fell into the water. Oops.

We went to a huge waterfall. We saw a funeral procession along the road and followed it for a while. We met a local guy named OK (for real) that worked on Alaska Cruises out of Vancouver a few years earlier.

Then we found this deli that had cheese platters and it made my whole day complete. We ordered a plate and a bottle of wine and spent the rest of the night meeting a ton of expats that call this town home. They were much older that us, but left their lives in Australia or Scotland or the US to live here full time. We had a great night, we were feeling good by the end of it.