Bangkok, Boats, and Buddhas

I've been having far too much fun in Thailand and its been awhile since I've had a chance to write anything. Laura and I fell in love with Bangkok, such a cool city. There are sky high shopping malls mixed in with temples and giant buddhas, and delicious food stands on every corner. Its quickly become my home away from home as its the perfect travel hub for all of SEA. We spent way too much money, ate way too much pad thai, and maybe drank a little too much but we had a damn good time doing it.

Oh Bangkok, where to begin? The food. The food! What an improvement from the Philippines, the food in Thailand is unreal. Everything is delicious, there are tons of vegetarian options, and you can easily get an entire meal for $1. The shopping is unavoidable. Clothing, jewlery, home decor, electronics, beauty treatments, you name it, we bought it. You can literally buy anything in Thailand. I had to leave an entire backpack behind while we travel the islands and I plan to stuff it full before I mail it home next month. Laura and I both agreed we could have spent the entire month in Bangkok but our bank accounts would have dwindled quickly. 

We booked tickets on an overnight sleeper train headed south where we would hop on a bus and then a ferry to get to our first tropical destination: Koh Tao. Again, my naivety has me thinking that this overnight train is going to be like the Hogwarts Express with our own private room, beds, and food carts periodically going through the aisles. Laura is excitedly telling me that she LOVES traveling by train. Me too! I took the Eurorail all over Italy and it was wonderful. Let me tell you that it was NOT like anything we were expecting. When we first got on the train we exchanged confused glances and proceeded to ask every worker we saw if we were on the correct train. Excuse me sir, there must be some confusion, we purchased tickets for the sleeper car? After being assured many times we finally accepted that we were on the right train and took our seats on the urine scented car. It turns out the two leather seats we were in slid together to make one bed and the metal cage above us folded down into a top bunk. We decided to sleep together on the bottom "bed" and used the top one to store our luggage. I refused to drink anything because there wasn't a chance I was going to use that bathroom again and by the time we reached our destination 10 hours later my mouth was so dry I could barely talk. I wish I could say that chapter ends with us getting off the train but it has only begun. We got to the deserted train station at 3am and waited until 6 for our bus. The bus was a quick 30 minutes to the pier and I slept the whole time. And then was what I can confidently say was one of the worst experiences of my life- the ferry ride. Its high season in Thailand right now and everyone is spending the holidays on the islands so the ferries are at full capacity. The weather last week wasn't ideal and made for some choppy seas in the gulf. Why they didn't warn us or cancel the ride all together is beyond me. Two hours on a catamaran rocking so violently side to side that the only thing you could see out the windows was the wave washing over it. Women shrieking as if they are on a roller coaster. Nauseous passengers vomiting into plastic bags every couple of feet. And me with my eyes closed tightly, hands gripping the seat in front of me, breathing deeply and picturing myself meditating on a calm beach with the horizon in front of me. It was horrific. How I managed to hold it together and not puke is a miracle. There were moments when I was questioning whether or not we would even make it to the island. I think I almost cried when the boat finally pulled into a harbor and the announcer said the name of a different island. I thought we were the first stop!! How long to Koh Tao?!?! Thankfully only 5 minutes away or I would have found myself vacationing on this other island I'd never heard of.

Aside from the terrible transportation experience, life in Thailand has been great. We've been on Koh Tao for 4 days now and just completed our Open Water scuba diving certification! The weather is beautiful and we plan to spend the next few days relaxing on the beach, hiking, doing yoga, and exploring the island. Time to lay low and enjoy the holidays :)

Thank You, You're Beautiful

30 days in the Philippines has come and gone. It's been a great month filled with endless white sand beaches, waterfalls, motorbike rides, and underwater adventures. However it only takes a couple of hours in Manila and I'm ready to get out of here. I can spend weeks on the beach but the hectic city is not for me. I'm not sure if it's the swarms of people, the foul smells, or the thick dirt filled air but I know once I arrive in the city I'm counting the hours until I leave. I'm sure there are some beautiful parts of the city so I don't want to hate on it too much as I haven't spent enough time here to judge but I will choose the islands over the city any day. And aside from Manila, I will miss the Philippines. Minus the food, which has been pretty disappointing. I've had a great month and I've learned some valuable life lessons.

The trip has been eye opening and has reminded me how blessed I am to live the life that I do, filled with endless possibilities and opportunities. There are people in this country with next to nothing and yet they still go out of their way to help a lost foreigner, to feed a stranger, to get to know someone who they will never see again. The kindness and hospitality that I have experienced this past month has humbled and inspired me. I am constantly in awe of the generosity and warm smiles extended my way. It's sad that it isn't the norm in America but I hope that can change. After an entire month in the country I have only learned 2 words of the language. They are all the only 2 I've needed and I won't soon forget them. Salamat and maganda ka, thank you and you're beautiful.

Thank you for an exhilarating and enlightening month Pilipinas, you're beautiful!

Laura and I had a great week on Bohol. One of the days we rented a motor bike and went to a completely deserted waterfall where we swam for an hour waiting for the crowds to show up but they never did. Then we went to the Bohol Bee Farm for lunch. The Buzzz was our favorite restaurant on Alona beach, we ate atleast one meal a day there, despite the prices being high- I was too excited for healthy food that I didn't care about my budget. We laid on the famous white sand beaches, got massages, face scrubs, and foot scrubs, ate ice cream every day, and even maintained a morning workout routine on the beach. It was the perfect start to our travels together and we're both dying to get to Thailand. Number one on both of our agendas? Pad Thai of course!

A Blissful Moment

This past week has been a bit of a disaster. We left Coron on Monday and flew to Cebu with high hopes of famous waterfalls and marine adventures but Mother Nature had a different plan. A typhoon rolled through on Tuesday and lasted the better part of the week, putting a big damper on our plans. I basically spent 6 days taking busses to different hostels in different towns and finally ended up in Cebu City where we could atleast walk around inside of a mall and go to the movies. I tried my best to remain positive despite wanting to rip my hair out and for the most part I succeeded. It was a minor set back but thankfully I still have a little over a week left to visit everywhere I've wanted to go. Seeing bridges, roads, and homes destroyed made me realize that my frustrations are insignificant.

Today is December 1st and the sun has been shining all day. I love the new beginning that the first of the month represents. The bad weather is (hopefully) behind us and we can resume our plans. We were up at sunrise this morning to catch a bus, a ferry, another bus, and a little motor boat to make it to itty bitty Apo Island. The island only has electricity from 6-9pm, 5 guest houses, and 1 restaurant. I was so happy when we finally got on the little motor boat to get here. It felt amazing to be on a boat and not a bus, on the ocean instead of the road. 

We grabbed snorkels as soon as we arrived this afternoon and got into the water. We were all itching to be in the ocean after a week of being stuck inside. It felt like a rebirth being able to swim around in the salt water again, exploring coral reefs that line the shore. As if that wasn't enough in itself, the reefs were filled with my favorite marine animal, sea turtles! I can die happy now, having spent an hour swimming side by side with handfuls of these majestic creatures. It was one of the coolest experiences I've had and I can't wait to jump in the water with them again tomorrow. Of course this was our sole purpose for coming to Apo Island so it wasn't any sort of surprise but still when you actually see them you can't help but squeal. They are so tranquil and elegant, not giving a second of attention to the strangers following them around. 

All it took was one blissful moment in the ocean, swimming side by side with a giant sea turtle, and this entire week has been completely worth it. 

**December 2nd: Having no electricity last night and therefore no fan for sleeping was absolute torture. I don't know how people sleep in those conditions every night and I know I'm being a diva but it was so miserable. But the misery was worth it because this morning, after we hiked up to a lighthouse, we spent a solid hour swimming with sea turtles. We were all trying to come up with a way to describe them and were at a loss for words. All we could say is that they are just so freaking COOL! Once we were over swimming we got on another tiny wooden motor boat and started the 2 hour ride to Siquijor. I can already tell I'm going to love this little island. It's much cleaner and seems to have more development and civilization than some other ones we've been to. The sunset we saw this evening was a beautiful swirl of pink and purple and the water was perfectly still and peaceful. Tomorrow we'll rent motorbikes and explore the island. I've only got one full day here before I head to Bohol to meet a friend from home who is coming to travel with me for the next month. It's going to be so nice to see a familiar face and have someone to spend the holidays with. To say that I'm excited would be an understatement, I can not wait to see her!