the hike from hell (el nido, palawan)

after leaving bryan in naga, i flew back to the manila airport and met up with pert and his friend wilbert (native of the philippines.  works at accenture with pert.  lived in sea for two years and recently moved back.) before flying out to palawan.  we made our way up to el nido via a six hour car ride and had the afternoon to kill so we thought it'd be fun to hike up to the top of the limestone cliffs since this is what this area is also known for.


the tour agency we had booked a tour with said it would be best if we had paid for a guide because it's easy to get lost going up and down.  we weren't sure if this was a scam or not but thought it was probably better to play it safe.  the hike was only supposed to take an hour and naturally my assortment of footwear only consists of flip flops so the havainas would have to do.  wilbert was also in the same boat.  pert was all prepared with nikes.  we start what i thought was a hike and it very quickly turned into the climb from hell!!


in my head i envisioned some sort of path that we would walk up with switchbacks...you know...similar to the trails at home.  WRONG.  the only way to get to the top of the cliff was to climb on extremely jagged and large limestone rocks the entire way.  not only that but there were so many mosquitoes everywhere.  i coated myself with bug lotion before i left but we were sweating so much i don't know that it made a difference. 


slowly but surely we were making our way up.  i had to look at every single step we took because if you fell, it was going to be 1. extremely painful and 2. a bloody mess.  this was probably one of the stupidest things i've done.  luckily it was dry so the flip flops were slightly helpful since they were rubber...but not so much when you only options were to step on this extremely jagged rock, or that extremely jagged rock.

mid-hike

view from midway

sweaty disgusting mess

our guide felix (see those rocks?!)

we finally made it to the top after about an hour and it was awesome!  the view was fantastic and we enjoyed it for about oh...3 minutes before it started absolutely POURING.  so in my head i'm cursing a lot, and a little out loud because not only am i just wearing stupid rubber flip flops, but the rock is now getting wet therefore everything will be slippery, and my feet are starting to slide in the flip flops.  great combo for going back down and trying to not fall to my bloody death. we all know that going up is way easier than going down. 

view from the top!

about another hour or so more later we finally make it down despite the weather conditions.  luckily no one fell or got hurt.  i slipped and landed on some mud but that was it.  our guide, felix has taken lots of naive tourists up this trek as well and said that he's had people cry this journey...no tears from me though!  just relief when we finally made it back!  no more hiking attempts in the flip flops...

yea...i climbed that

visiting bryan!

one of the main reasons that i have been really excited to come to the philippines was the chance to visit one of my great friends bryan.  bryan and i have known each other since high school and also went to college together.  he's been over here living in san jose (near naga) for the past year and half volunteering for the peace corps.  he's in charge of working with the town on coastal resource management but since the peace corps really isn't as organized as you'd perceive them to be, he's kind of been keeping himself busy in his village doing things from building communal areas to hosting hiv/aids awareness courses.

i've been horrible at planning out each country so naturally the philippines were no exception but i had to see bryan.  so i decided that once i arrived in manila, i'd get another flight out to the naga airport and then bryan would meet me and we'd head back to his place.  [meanwhile pert headed to legazpi to try to check out the whale sharks in donsol...we met up a few days later.]  sounds like a fool proof plan, right?  well not if you're me!  my flight from bangkok arrived at 5am and my flight to naga left at 8:40am so i had some time to chill at the gate.  knowing myself and how exhausted i was, i decided to get smart and set the alarm on my watch to make sure i woke up in time to board.  i sat right in front of my gate and after a while my watch went off.  i went to the bathroom to freshen up and then went back to my gate to suddenly be struck with the realization that there was a mother effing timezone change that i did NOT account for while setting the alarm.  the flight already left.  i was still at the airport.  bryan was going to meet me at the airport.  i wasn't going to be there.  EFF!!!

i went up to the airphils express counter and i said to the ladies i was supposed to be on the naga flight to which they say immediately 'carolyn bee?' and i'm like yep that's me!  they're like where were you!? we called your name 7 times over the intercom.  i pointed to the chairs right in front of them.  yeah.  i had no headphones in when i slept.  i was that tired.  in the end, i got on the next flight, found some wifi after begging a coffee shop and then bryan found an internet cafe so i could tell him how big of an asshole i was.  in the end, i made it to his town and we were reunited.  yay!!

bryan lives in a very rural area about 1.5 hours away from the naga airport.  when i say rural, i mean there is no ATM in his town but he lives in a beautiful area surrounded by rice fields and palm trees.  to pass the time, bryan spends time on the hammock outside the house he rents and with his dog ender.  he is also a celebrity in his village.  everywhere that i walked with him people were shouting 'bry' this and 'bry' that.  i mean he is the token white kid after all.

view from my bus ride to san jose

jeepneys! main form of transportation here

brian and his coworkers

his crib

cooking me stirfry!

beer pong...naturally

we had planned to go check out the beach and some really cool waterfalls during my visit but the weather got in the way since the 'pines are headed into monsoon season right now!  the rain was so schizo though!  one minute it was nice out and two minutes later it was raining harder than i'd ever seen in my life.  it was a bummer not to see the sights but i didn't really mind because i got to spend time with him.  bryan has two other peace corps friends that live in a bigger town called goa, which is just a 5 minute bus ride away so we hung out with his friends a bit.  

 dinner at mel's in goa

 bryan, mel and taylor (his other peace corps buds)

so far, the 'pines have definitely been the least developed country that i have ever been to.  i commend bryan for his volunteer work and for surviving the past year and half in san jose.  he's had to give up so many of the commodities that he's used to.  the homeboy now hand washes and line dries all his clothing.  on many occasions he loses power which means no fan in the sweltering heat and he's lived without running water for multiple periods of time.  the water actually stopped running the last night i was there and i didn't know how to function.  he did it for three months!  these type of experiences really put a lot of stuff into perspective for you..

shot of san jose as we walked around

i was sad to leave bryan after a fun three days but excited to continue my journey around the philippines.  his family is actually heading over to visit him in a few days and they're taking off for vietnam so naturally, i informed him of everything he had to try while he was there!  can't wait to see him again stateside!

bye fattie :(

who am i? (said in the voice of derek zoolander)

so as far as i've been concerned, i've always thought of myself as chinese since this is what my father told me growing up.  usually people think i'm half but i assure them i am full chinese cause daddy said so.  well it didn't occur to me until i was at tu duc's temple back in vietnam (in hue) that my grandma's name is indeed tu thi nguyen.  yea...i know.  without a DOUBT that is a vietnamese last name...and yes it took me a while to put two and two together.

trust me when i tell you i've questioned my father in the past...'are you positive i'm 100% chinese?  no one is 100% anything these days.  you can't tell me there isn't another ounce of something else asian within our family?' the answer has always been no!! you are 100%!  well i don't think daddy's right.  i mean everywhere in vietnam, people mistook me for vietnamese and started jabbering in it until i politely said 'i speak english' with a smile.  and now in the philippines, everyone thinks i'm filipina but i think my tan is just deceptive.  anyway, i just thought i'd throw that out there.  i'm having a little talk with daddy bee when i get home...

bangkok for a day

with how our travel plans have had to change on the fly, pert and i ended up having a day to spend in bangkok before flying over to the philippines.  i haven't been back to bangkok in over ten years so i was pretty excited to visit again even if for a short period of time! 


after getting in, we stowed our luggage at the airport and then took off for the city.  we grabbed a bite to eat and then headed off for some temples via tuk tuk!  tuk tuk's are a cheap way to get around as opposed to taxi.  and it's fun!  they're essentially motorcycles that have a carriage built in behind to carry people.  i asked and these suckers go up to 45 mph.  it was a nice little break from the sun too because it was so hot and muggy out.

riding a tuk tuk

we went to three temples and that was about all that we could take.  it's like all the churches in europe.  you go to a few and you've been to them all...for the most part anyway.  we went to a temple with a giant swing in front, then a temple that was fairly high and above the city, and then we went to a temple with a HUGE reclining buddha.  lat po temple is probably one of the well known temples because of the buddha.  it is insane how many are in bangkok  when we were at the second temple, i counted and saw at least 10 in front of me.

temple #1

temple #2

temple #3

after that we headed over to kao shung road which is where they have a night market with good food and your typical souvenirs.  to kill some time, we got a foot massage which felt great and then headed back to the airport for our flight.

i'm sad that i'm not spending more time in thailand, but it's on the list for next time :)

how to be vietnamese

i should preface this post by saying that i don't intend to offend anyone (so apologies if i do) but it's mostly a collection of what i saw/gathered during my time in vietnam.  there aren't quite as many pictures so sorry for that!


1. love uncle ho
vietnam is a communist country (read: facebook is blocked) and they are IN LOVE with ho chi minh.  everywhere you drive there is communist propaganda with his face plastered on it.  i believe there is an election happening soon so there was potentially more than normal around the streets.  in addition, phong told us that every household in vietnam is required to have a vietnamese flag and that was evident as you explored the towns.  similar to to muslim countries that broadcast prayers throughout the day, we would hear a lot of announcements from the government blasted from speakers planted around the cities.


2. efficiency is key
transportation for many of the vietnamese is  via motorbikes and they treat this bike like it is a minivan.  not only do they transport themselves from location to location, they bring the family along or whatever else one would normally throw in their trunk.  for example, i saw a family of FIVE on one of these bikes.  mom, dad, and three kids.  yeah, they fit on one  of those suckers.  the only thing that bothered me was that only the parents wore helmets for the most part.  the little 5 year old was without one!  one thing that did impress me was that they have specially made booster seats that go between the driver and the bike for the little one to sit in.  in terms of transporting goods, i was quite impressed with garlic and greens man, but one of pert's friends saw a motorbike transporting a mattress.  i'm fairly certain he had one holding the mattress up, and the other steering.  now that is what i call skill.

3. master the yield
crossing the street is no joke in this country.  it puts other asian countries to shame.  i struggled the first time trying to cross in saigon.  it took me 5 minutes, but i've come to learn that if i slowly walk out, they won't hit me.  or, well, i have to believe that they won't hit me.  as long as they can anticipate where i'm going, they change their driving directions.  the thing is, the crosswalks really don't mean a whole lot there, so i'm not sure why they bother even painting them on the ground.  this goes for actual motorists as well.  sure, they have stop lights, but from what i've seen, they don't ever really 'stop' it's more of a i'm going to turn and the other cars also better not hit me.  


4. honking is music to your ears
i swear to you, that in one day, the average motorist has probably honked in one day more times than i've honked in my entire life.  honking here isn't as much of an angry gesture as it is in the us, it's more of a warning to tell someone that they're there.  you know, cause of the yielding and all.  it was weird at first to hear a honk every three seconds, but after enough days, it was weird to not hear a honk.  meanwhile, i struggle at home to figure out where to smack my steering wheel to produce the noise...


5. do as the vampires do...if you're a woman
the sun is your enemy.  like many asian countries, the vietnamese women work at every opportunity to keep their skin fair.  one would think that this would be difficult given that it's typically 100 degrees with the humidity, but this doesn't phase the women.   they wear HOODED sweatshirts with jeans, sneakers and finish it off with a face mask, gloves and ridiculously large hat.  looking at them literally makes me want to die.  i don't know how they do it!


6. perfect the asian squat
the vietnamese are down with the ground. literally.  all the street stalls and cheap restaurants have miniature plastic furniture that forces you to essentially squat while eating but it can get awkward when you don't know where to put your knees because they are in your face as you try to eat your noodle soup.  in addition, the comfortable resting position if you don't want to stand is an actual squat.  you just squat down with your knees at your side and your feet planted firmly on the ground.  try it.  not many can do it.

but in all seriousness, i really enjoyed my time in vietnam and i'm glad we opted to stay a little longer to do halong bay and skip out on laos because we didn't want to rush through the country.  it will definitely be interesting see how this country is five years from now.  everywhere we drove, there was a lot of construction going on to build more for the tourism industry.  i can't blame them...they have some beautiful land that should be enjoyed. another thing that really surprised me was how little english the vietnamese spoke for living in the touristy areas.  as the country is still developing rapidly i'm sure that is something that will be spoken more widely.  needless to say, i will definitely be back!

hoi an, hue and halong bay

we went to hoi an after leaving nha trang and it is the perfect little city.  hoi an is best known for custom tailored clothing at dirt cheap prices.  for example, pert got THREE suits, a sport coat and a peacoat for a little over $300.  I snagged myself a peacoat and two dresses for $100.  i also found out the tailor we went to ships overseas and keeps our measurements on file for two years.  this could be dangerous :(  but enough about the clothes.  the city is much smaller compared to hanoi and saigon which is nice because it's very peaceful.  there is an old quarter that is quaint and nice to walk around and not to mention a river that you charter a boat to take you down for an hour for about $1 USD a person.  i was sad that we couldn't spend more time there so next time, i'm packing an empty suitcase and dedicating more time here!

lady making terra cotta pots. NO electric wheel.

walking around hoi an

the place we got clothes made

hue about 3 hours north from hoi an and is known most for being the home of bun bo hue as well as housing the nguyen dynasty altars.  you come for the food and history.  we spent some time at the tu duc altar and his father's altar which were cool to check out but in my opinion, altars are all the same after you go to a few.  we had bun bo hue a few times which was a must, but i was disappointed.  the flavor wasn't as robust as what i had in saigon and apparently nha trang had amazing bun bo hue that the others tried.  if you didn't have very much time, i'd skip this city.

incense

tu duc temple--people were short!

car of the monk who burned himself in 1963

tu duc's dad's altar

karaoke

after hue was hanoi, about 18 hours away by bus (or 1 hour by plane if you're lazy like we were...).  we didn't have much time to spend in this city because we kind of napped the afternoon away.  oops.  but we woke up so early to take a flight and then we were subjected to trying turtle because lindsey's aunt graciously treated us to lunch at her restaurant.  i did notice that the vietnamese up here sounded extremely different from the vietnamese that i'm used to hearing despite not being able to understand anything.  from what i gathered from phong (who is vietnamese and had issues understanding lindsey's aunt), the north believe they are superior to those in the south.  they believe their dialect (i guess you could call it?) is more formal and the way that everyone should speak.  on top of that, she also believed that the cuisine up north is better which i have to disagree with!  everything that i had in hanoi was ok...but definitely lacking a lot of flavor compared to the other dishes i've tried in the south.  one thing that i did wish i could see but ran out of time for was ho chi minh's mausoleum.  they are IN LOVE with uncle ho there.

halong bay was our last stop in vietnam since we decided to skip out on laos.  typically you book a 2 day 1 night tour so that's what we did for onl $41!  phong and lindsey didn't come with us because they booked one earlier for $140 each.  yeah, not quite in my budget!  we got on a sweaty bus driving for 3 hours from hanoi before reaching the bay and then took off.  we saw some really cool caves that are in the bay but it was disappointing because they were decorated with horrendous articificial lighting in every color of the rainbow.  yeah.  other than that our junk (boat) sailed around the bay and stopped occasionally to let us swim.  we jumped off the roof of the junk which was really exhilarating!  i'm glad we booked a cheap tour because that gave us the opportunity to meet other backpackers on a budget.  we definitely made some great friends along the way (from finland, great britain, german, and belgium).  after halong bay, we spent the night in hanoi, then took a flight out the next morning to bangkok where we spent the day before flying out to the philippines!