On to Philippines

Well, after Taiwan we went to the Philippines. A kiwi guy from our hostel in Taiwan named Sean was also going to Manila on the same flight so we chatted with him and he ended up staying at the same hostel as is in Manila as well. It was very bare bones, but it had a restaurant and lounge downstairs and cost only about 15$.

Anita was feeling tired, so Sean and I went out for a few drinks around the hotel. At once it became apparent that everyone was out to get our money in a very aggressive way. The managers of the bars sat outside the entrances trying to coax us in. A quick walk down the street gave us the impression that each bar was the same as the next. We were also accosted by swarms of dirty children trying to shove their hands in our pockets as bar salesmen tried to get us to enter their establishment. We settled on the first bar we saw on the street, since it was closest to our hotel and we wanted to escape the plebs. We had a few beers and watched some go go dancers perform. We were the only customers in the place, and even though it was dirt cheap somehow the place could afford its rent, to employ about 10 dancers, and 5 various other types of staff.

The next day Anita and I took the ferry to Puerto Galera. We had a nice day there despite seeing a gigantic cockroach in the bathroom. Unfortunately we got very sunburned, since my sun cream application skill is low. The beach there was nice, and relatively quiet despite the plethora of hawkers of goods and services. We left on our way to Boracay a few days later at around 8 in the morinng and it was quite the trip. We took a motorbike sidecar journey for 30 minutes, a jeepney ride for about 2 hours, a minibus ride for about 4 hours and then we waited in a shitehole of a town called Roxas for another 4 hours until it was around 7:00. Then we took a 3 hour ferry to a forgettable port town (I forgot its name). It was pouring rain, but the good news is that a local hostel with closet sized rooms was happy to overprice us for refuge. We got up early, took a 30 minute ferry to Boracay.

Boracay was awesome. We stayed a a reasonably posh hotel about 30 seconds walk from the beach for about 40$ a night. Several other hotels that looked nice offered rooms for about 25$. but we were so exhausted after our previous days trip, we splurged.

Although its a bit touristy and has the usual hawkers, the atmosphere was wonderful there. The sand was fine, soft and white and there were many options to enjoy the cliche of tropical drinks while watching the sunset on the beach. Its too bad we cooked our skin a few days earlier and couldn't fully enjoy it. The food was amazing, with an international diversity. We ate great Mexican, Indian, Western food, but the restaurant that stole the show was an all you can eat with unlimited drinks Mongolian BBQ they cook up fresh for you, for 5$.

I wanted to take some scuba lessons, or other coastal experiences but Anita is afraid of the water, so I figured I'd wait until she's busy with massage courses in Thailand and do it there.

First Entry - Taiwan

Well, since I'm travelling around Asia and feel I should somehow chronicle the journey, I'm going to see if I can keep up a blog. Don't expect great writing skills, this is essentially a place where I can puke up words on a keyboard. Maybe my skills will increase with time.

So far its been a good trip. We started off in Taiwan. Pretty cool there. coming from Korea I was utterly amazed at the organization there. People actually waited in line, and on the subway they let people get off before trying to cram in. In Korea in both elevators and subway entrances they seem not to understand that two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, and tried to push in before other people had left.

There was good shopping in Taiwan, and the overall atmosphere was very modern, but had a sort of cultural flavor that Korea seemed to lack for me. One of the coolest things about Taiwan were these special book businesses. They functioned as a fusion between Internet cafe/library/restaurant and coffee shop. You paid by the hour, and could have as many drinks as you like for free. Also, you have unlimited access to their computers and a large variety of magazines and books. The food there was good and cheap. It seemed like the place to hang out for studying students.

One weird experience I had there was going to see Batman 2. Man, what a freakin' awesome movie. The Joker was so damn crazy. Anyway, Anita and I were waiting in line to see the show. We showed up about 15 minutes before it started, and we already had our tickets so no problem. The waiting room started to fill up with people so there was barely any room to breathe. We sat there waiting uncomfortably for a number of minutes, then at last the doors to our particular theatre opened. As we followed the stream of people pouring into the very dark room I noticed the previews were well underway, which was weird as the doors had just opened. Our seats were "H9 and H 10" or something like that, and although the letter for the rows were labeled, the seats were not. So we had to count our way in. Just as we sit down the movie starts, however only about 1/2 the people are seated. The last wave of people finally settles in about 5-10 minutes into the movie. When the movie ended we were all rushed out of this tiny bottleneck staircase that screamed fire hazard. Weird way to do things.

While in Taiwan I read "Does anything Eat Wasps?". Essentially a bunch of questions that were mailed to scientists about everyday curiosities. My kind of book. And yes, many things eat wasps, such as the Asiatic Fraggle.

So, some final evaluations on Taiwan. Good food at reasonable prices. I tried a variety of Chinese fare and some wonderful Indian food. The pollution in Taiwan also seemed more tolerable than Korea, but that could have merely been the season that I visited it in. Overall, I'd recommend a trip there if you happen to be in the area.