VACATION - Philippines & China

07.16.10 – Vacation (backlogged)

Apologies for the delay, but here is my promised post about my vacation!

After a near-disastrous delay from typically unreliable Air Astana in which my flight was cancelled at 4 a.m. the day of due to suspicious “technical problems,” I finally managed to get out of KZ via Urumqi and land in Beijing for all of 12 hours before heading out again to Manila on a re-booked flight.  There I visited my middle school BFF Jessi, who is on a Fulbright there and has recently completed her amazing documentary on child prisoners in the Philippines.  Jessi is a journalist, adventurer, and all-around baller and it was amazing to join forces again and explore the place she has called home for the last year.

First of all, let me just say, I fell in love with the Philippines immediately, consider it one of the most awesome countries in the world, and could easily see myself living there for a long period of time.  This is primarily due to several crucial shared loves: mangoes, basketball and karaoke.  Though I only spent a few short days in Manila, Jessi and I managed to fit all of the following in:

• Riding in plenty of crazy WWII-era “jeepneys,” or American jeeps remodeled into public transport  
• Bringing a donation of personal sanitation supplies to a juvenile detention center where the kids were kept in one dirty, barred room 
• Taking a famous Carlos Cedran tour of the historic Intramuros district, and learning about the tragic history of Manila and how it was in turn massacred by the Japanese and bombed by the Americans during WWII 
• A refreshing halo-halo stop at the end of our tour, the favorite Filipino dessert (shaved ice, milk, sweet beans and candied fruit) 
• Having drinks and binbingka (rice flour pudding served with cheese, salty egg and coconut...delicious!) with Carlos and friends, because Jessi of course already knows everybody in Manila 
• Going to an awesome blues band show and going up to sing “Summertime,” ala our days as middle school jazz band vocalists!  
• Visiting the Qiapo church and voodoo market, where I lit a candle and got my Tarot cards read (apparently I will win the lottery and live in the Philippines for a very long time) 
• Watching the new Twilight movie in English, followed by a delicious Red Mango yogurt and cocktails with one of Jessi’s journalist friends (where are we?!)
• Eating the most amazing dish in Manila – pomelo, prawn and coconut salad at the posh People's Palace restaurant/bar at Greenbelt  

But the bulk and highlight of our trip was a diving expedition out to Coron, a site that is known and pursued by divers worldwide due to its sublime aquamarine waters, interesting WWII Japanese sunken shipwrecks, pristine islands, and crazy thermal lakes.  We stayed at the Seadive Resort, highly recommended, and I went on my first ever dives! Diving was an absolutely surreal and incredible experience – Jessi called it “the closest you can get to flying,” and I agree.  I took naturally to it somehow (thanks to my magic automatic-pressure-adjusting ears!) and was able to dive to 18m my first time.  The sea life we saw was incredible: a huge sea turtle, a beautiful but eerie sting ray, poisonous lion fish, a school of giant batfish that swam fully around us, hundreds of clown fish guarding their colorful anemone homes, infinitely intricate types of coral, neon sea slugs, and other unimaginable things.  The wrecks were fascinating while at the same time being overgrown with marine life – I had never witnessed anything like it with my own two eyes and it was truly unforgettable…like entering an alternate universe where everything is 10x more colorful and exciting.  We went on a total of 3 dives and then island hopped the last day (as you are not supposed to dive within 24 hours of getting on a plane).  Our last day at Barracuda Lake was also memorable, as it was incredibly creepy, we were alone without another human in sight, and the lake was eerily deep and blue with nothing in it but a few weird looking tiny silver fish and spider-like shrimp crawling up the scary eroded rock fissures.  The thermal water, in which the hot and cold layers of the lake separated into drastically different temperatured strata, created a strange visibility-distorting mirage.  If our previous dives were like Sebastian’s “Under the Sea” fiesta, this was Ursula’s lair for sure [cue villain music!]. Finally, when we had just decided we were creeped out enough to return to the boat, we saw a giant barracuda swimming right towards us (only about 5 meters below).  Luckily it ignored us, but we still swam for our lives!!

Other highlights of Coron:

•  Joining a random drum circle with a bunch of fire throwers
• Karaokeing and hearing “Misty” come on – our middle school song!!!
• Jessi eating balut, a fertilized duck egg with a semi-developed embryo
• Lots of delicious fruity drinks and seafood
• Soaking in a salty hot spring and getting drenched in cool rain on our way back
• Meeting two awesome Danish guys who shared their patriotism and love of AQUA, Kierkegaard and Lars von Trier
• Playing pick-up basketball with some village kids
• Hiking up to the top of the Coron hill and taking in the gorgeous sunset and island view

Thank you Jessi for an amazing time! :)

After the Philippines, I got to spend a luxurious and relaxing 10 days at home with my ENTIRE family.  Not much to say here except that of course, I love my family and I love China.  I missed my parents and my sister so much!  We took family portraits, my mom’s big project for the summer (getting us all together in one country is quite a feat!).  My sis is of course a true fashionista now and has a forboding collection of sky-high heels and military jackets…at sweet 16, she is already too awesomely cool and cute for her own good. We toured the 798 art district together, went on epic shopping trips and got cocktails and Mexican food. I got to spend quality time with Haibo, who is moving to China for good soon (exciting!), and see other wonderful friends in Beijing (Cody, Frankie, Cho, Rich).  I also saw my grandfather and both sets of uncles and corresponding aunts/cousins, including Pengpeng who is playing professional golf now in Australia (he is SO big, he was still about 4 feet tall when I last saw him!), and my new little cousin Toutou (his nickname basically means “big head,” you can see why!!!! SO PRECIOUS!).  Home never disappoints – it is always so good to be back and now I have something to curb my homesickness with.  Not that it has even hit me again since I’ve been back honestly – I’ve been too busy! But that is for the next post.  :)

[Family Portrait:)]

[Toutou!!<3]

[Hanging with Cody and Frankie]

[Pengpeng and Yuanyuan!:):)]

[Haibo and the big buddha face made out of cow hide at 798]