so my new favourite chain store in the entire world is "orange brutus", serving very orange juliusesque drinks in the philippines and possibly elsewhere. using the murderer of the namesake of your competition's chain as the name for your own is fantastic.
i'm thinking of having kenny rogers taken out so i can open my own "roasters".
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Superferry
The ticket said we had to be at the dock at 4:30am to board, so we got up at 5 and ambled off. Had a bizarre cab driver who told us how sad he was Sarah Palin didn't get voted in and then gave us handfuls of mini bananas from a pile in the the trunk.
The ticket office we needed to go to to pick up our e-tickets didn't even open until 6, so we got to stand around while tiny children stared up at us with their mouths open swatting bugs and watching tiny bats flutter around our heads. The ferry itself is exactly like a budget cruise. A very very budget cruise. We had a tv, but only 3 fuzzy channels (sounds from next door suggested that might have been our own problem), there was an internet cafe onboard, which was a room full of empty desks, and a store that sold hats says "SuperFerry!" on them. I was tempted by those hats. I wonder if anyone here gets why white people think the name Superferry is so comical.
Most of the people onboard slept in large rooms in the middle of the ferry full of bunkbeds. We got the stateroom because we are princesses, and it cost about the same as the only other option available at the time (room with four beds). It wasn't that stately, the tap wouldn't stop running and there was a lot of dirt and hair on piled in the corners. We slept poorly because I can't lie still now without thinking of all the tiny bugs feasting on me so I kept turning lights on and bumping into Derek.
Cebu seems much calmer and friendlier then Manila already, and my bites have all faded away. Our reservation to Coral Cay was confirmed and things are looking up.
The ticket office we needed to go to to pick up our e-tickets didn't even open until 6, so we got to stand around while tiny children stared up at us with their mouths open swatting bugs and watching tiny bats flutter around our heads. The ferry itself is exactly like a budget cruise. A very very budget cruise. We had a tv, but only 3 fuzzy channels (sounds from next door suggested that might have been our own problem), there was an internet cafe onboard, which was a room full of empty desks, and a store that sold hats says "SuperFerry!" on them. I was tempted by those hats. I wonder if anyone here gets why white people think the name Superferry is so comical.
Most of the people onboard slept in large rooms in the middle of the ferry full of bunkbeds. We got the stateroom because we are princesses, and it cost about the same as the only other option available at the time (room with four beds). It wasn't that stately, the tap wouldn't stop running and there was a lot of dirt and hair on piled in the corners. We slept poorly because I can't lie still now without thinking of all the tiny bugs feasting on me so I kept turning lights on and bumping into Derek.
Cebu seems much calmer and friendlier then Manila already, and my bites have all faded away. Our reservation to Coral Cay was confirmed and things are looking up.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Leaving Manila
We haven't been able to find a decent internet connection, so I apologize for not e-mailing/skyping people.
We have to get up at 4am tomorrow to catch our ferry ride to Cebu, it's an overnight so we'll be on it for a while. I imagine it'll be like a cruise, only without the delicious buffet or anything to do. I'm just glad to be leaving Manila. Derek says not to write a negative post about the place, but it's impossible not to. Our laundry was held inside a closed down laundro-mat for 4 days when we were supposed to be able to pick it up the next day. I've been wearing the same outfit the entire time. My feet itch. There's really not much to do here, which all the guidebooks warned us about. People are pushy about taking our money and trying to rip us off. It's funny when you step out of a cab and another one starts hollering at you asking if you need a cab, but when the fruit stand charges you three times as much and then makes sure to give you all the rotten fruit, it's somewhat grating. I think the last straw is how someone will say "Merry Christmas" and when you turn to say it back they are giving you a real hateful grin. And that happens a lot. Apparently a bunch of white people stormed through Manila before we got here and pissed in everyone's cornflakes. Bah.
I won't be coming back.
The food was really good though.
We have to get up at 4am tomorrow to catch our ferry ride to Cebu, it's an overnight so we'll be on it for a while. I imagine it'll be like a cruise, only without the delicious buffet or anything to do. I'm just glad to be leaving Manila. Derek says not to write a negative post about the place, but it's impossible not to. Our laundry was held inside a closed down laundro-mat for 4 days when we were supposed to be able to pick it up the next day. I've been wearing the same outfit the entire time. My feet itch. There's really not much to do here, which all the guidebooks warned us about. People are pushy about taking our money and trying to rip us off. It's funny when you step out of a cab and another one starts hollering at you asking if you need a cab, but when the fruit stand charges you three times as much and then makes sure to give you all the rotten fruit, it's somewhat grating. I think the last straw is how someone will say "Merry Christmas" and when you turn to say it back they are giving you a real hateful grin. And that happens a lot. Apparently a bunch of white people stormed through Manila before we got here and pissed in everyone's cornflakes. Bah.
I won't be coming back.
The food was really good though.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Humbug
So Manila is a bad place to celebrate Christmas. Or spend any time in really. It's like Edmonton, only instead of snow it's carpeted with street kids. It does have the largest mall in Asia, but they don't sell anything of interest. It's basically the same 4 stores repeated through four large buildings. I thought one saving grace for this would be I'd be able to pick up a waterproof case for my camera, but no one sells them. We went to another giant mall today to check, and the only store in the entire building that wasn't open was the one we wanted to go to. Bah.
Yesterday we stopped at 7-11 on the way home and there were some scruffy kids outside, so I thought, it's Christmas, let's give them some cookies. It was a horrible idea. Suddenly I was surrounded by screaming kids, pushing and shoving at each other and snatching cookies out of the hands of the tiny ones, and when I ran out of cookies their eyes bugged out and they started screeching for money in rage. It is not an endearing holiday memory.
It was very similar to when I thought I'd take a cracker out into the water while snorkeling and suddenly I was in a cloud of fish, most of whom were trying to eat my arm. I am full of increasingly bad ideas.
At least the food here is good. The food in KK was awful. And we didn't get food poisoning from the raw oysters we ate. Merry Christmas! We have a reservation for Coral Cay on the 30th, so as long as that doesn't fall through at least things can only get better.
Yesterday we stopped at 7-11 on the way home and there were some scruffy kids outside, so I thought, it's Christmas, let's give them some cookies. It was a horrible idea. Suddenly I was surrounded by screaming kids, pushing and shoving at each other and snatching cookies out of the hands of the tiny ones, and when I ran out of cookies their eyes bugged out and they started screeching for money in rage. It is not an endearing holiday memory.
It was very similar to when I thought I'd take a cracker out into the water while snorkeling and suddenly I was in a cloud of fish, most of whom were trying to eat my arm. I am full of increasingly bad ideas.
At least the food here is good. The food in KK was awful. And we didn't get food poisoning from the raw oysters we ate. Merry Christmas! We have a reservation for Coral Cay on the 30th, so as long as that doesn't fall through at least things can only get better.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Merry Christmas
We are spending Christmas in Manila, which we hadn't wanted to, but trying to book planes or ferries out of Manila wasn't possible until the 28th. So we are here for 6 days. Manila is not a place you need to spend 6 days in. Maybe 2 at the most. It's dirty and covered in naked street children. Derek had this thought that we should spend Christmas in a country that actually celebrates it, which seems like a good idea until execution, because everything is CLOSED. We will spending tomorrow in our hostel room watching Nickelodeon and drinking 50 cent rum.
New Years will be spent at a resort on a small Island covered in white sands so hopefully that will make up for this.
Also I got eaten by bedbugs right before we left KK and I just need to whine about that for a bit. I can't even count the bites I have so many, and until I found some antihistamines I was very whiny indeed. I expected this to happen at some point in our travels, but I don't understand why I'm overdosing on antihistamines and Derek doesn't appear to have a single bite on him. His sympathy is zero. I should probably go back to glaring at him.
We'll try to skype people tomorrow if we can find a working wifi connection, hope all is less itchy on your end.
New Years will be spent at a resort on a small Island covered in white sands so hopefully that will make up for this.
Also I got eaten by bedbugs right before we left KK and I just need to whine about that for a bit. I can't even count the bites I have so many, and until I found some antihistamines I was very whiny indeed. I expected this to happen at some point in our travels, but I don't understand why I'm overdosing on antihistamines and Derek doesn't appear to have a single bite on him. His sympathy is zero. I should probably go back to glaring at him.
We'll try to skype people tomorrow if we can find a working wifi connection, hope all is less itchy on your end.
Scuba Certified!
Derek and I got our SSI Scuba certification a few days ago at Sabah Divers in KK. I'm thrilled by this, it's one of those things you want to do, but don't really think about because you grow up on the prairies. It's far less expensive in the tropics, and also you get to do it in the ocean instead of a pool, there's just something more exciting about watching the instructor demonstrate how to drain your mask under water with a school of fish swimming around us.
I was a little worried about being scared because having no visibility underwater was one of my biggest phobias as a kid, but I was doing pretty good until the end of the second dive. We had about 3 meters visibility and were 12 meters below, sitting on a sandy patch with nothing to look at. My nervousness was easy to deal with, it was the realization that if i did panic I could be in some serious shit that freaked me out. I decided I'd go back up and started waving at the instructor (Russ) frantically, but he wasn't looking at me, so I started trying to get Derek's attention as he was close enough to reach over and poke Russ. Derek saw me and waved back before going back to watching Russ. My hero. Jen, another student saw me freaking out and got someone's attention and a friend of the instructor's who came along for the dive came over and managed to calm me down enough to get through it. If he'd let me go to the surface I don't know if I'd have made it back down. Then Russ comes over and I need to demonstrate taking my mask off and spitting out my regulator and all that, which was only moderately terrifying.
The second day was better, even with visibility being just as bad. We were above some coral and having something to look at was easier. Derek did great, he was worried he'd be kicked out for being a bad swimmer, but apparently they make sure to tell you they'll do that because some people sign up and get 2 meters from the boat before sinking. My mask had a leak on the last dive and I was able to clear it every 5 minutes without being nervous. It feels like a real accomplishment.
There's actually more life closer to the surface, where there's more light. We made it down 18 meters, which is how far we're certified to go with the first course, and it was mainly sand. I did get to see an orangutan crab (it's covered in orange fur), a large red puffer fish, a large conch shell with the animal still inside, a bat fish, and a blue velvet nudibranch, none of which I saw while snorkeling, and Derek almost sat on a mantis shrimp (which would have been disastrous). I'm hoping we find some good shallow dive sites in the Philippines, where we are now, the visibility is supposed to be 30 meters here, which is much better then 4. Also, there's a shipwreck at 16 meters we can check out.
I don't have any photos of us in our scuba gear, and I wasn't able to find an underwater case for my camera (there was much sulking), but here's a photo of a hermit crab. I named him Scrambles.
I was a little worried about being scared because having no visibility underwater was one of my biggest phobias as a kid, but I was doing pretty good until the end of the second dive. We had about 3 meters visibility and were 12 meters below, sitting on a sandy patch with nothing to look at. My nervousness was easy to deal with, it was the realization that if i did panic I could be in some serious shit that freaked me out. I decided I'd go back up and started waving at the instructor (Russ) frantically, but he wasn't looking at me, so I started trying to get Derek's attention as he was close enough to reach over and poke Russ. Derek saw me and waved back before going back to watching Russ. My hero. Jen, another student saw me freaking out and got someone's attention and a friend of the instructor's who came along for the dive came over and managed to calm me down enough to get through it. If he'd let me go to the surface I don't know if I'd have made it back down. Then Russ comes over and I need to demonstrate taking my mask off and spitting out my regulator and all that, which was only moderately terrifying.
The second day was better, even with visibility being just as bad. We were above some coral and having something to look at was easier. Derek did great, he was worried he'd be kicked out for being a bad swimmer, but apparently they make sure to tell you they'll do that because some people sign up and get 2 meters from the boat before sinking. My mask had a leak on the last dive and I was able to clear it every 5 minutes without being nervous. It feels like a real accomplishment.
There's actually more life closer to the surface, where there's more light. We made it down 18 meters, which is how far we're certified to go with the first course, and it was mainly sand. I did get to see an orangutan crab (it's covered in orange fur), a large red puffer fish, a large conch shell with the animal still inside, a bat fish, and a blue velvet nudibranch, none of which I saw while snorkeling, and Derek almost sat on a mantis shrimp (which would have been disastrous). I'm hoping we find some good shallow dive sites in the Philippines, where we are now, the visibility is supposed to be 30 meters here, which is much better then 4. Also, there's a shipwreck at 16 meters we can check out.
I don't have any photos of us in our scuba gear, and I wasn't able to find an underwater case for my camera (there was much sulking), but here's a photo of a hermit crab. I named him Scrambles.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Climbing Mount Kinabalu
So we didn't climb Mount Kinabalu. Derek wanted to, but I was indifferent. Then he became indifferent and then it didn't happen. He decided for the same price we could get our scuba certificates, so that was that. We planned a night in the park at the start of the climb to check out the rainforest and maybe see some pitcher plants, which we did see, encased in plastic at the souvenir shop. Once we got to the park below the mountain I think we're both glad we didn't climb it. It was cold and wet and just gets colder and wetter as you go up.
We spent some time hiking in the rain around the trails, which was as fun as it sounds, but became even more entertaining when we got lost. They were very clearly labeled at the start, but that turned out to be something of a trap because the further you got the more the signs were just posts with the label having long ago rotted away. It would have been less harrowing if so many people and guide books hadn't warned us of the leeches that can burrow through your socks.
We didn't really see any animals. Well, we might have seen something in our hostel, but it might have been a cat. In Canada I would say cat, but we were in a rainforest, so who knows. However, and this is a big however, we saw LOTS of bugs. And not ordinary bugs. Enormous bugs. This photo didn't turn out great, the colours were a very pretty green, but it shows how big that moth is.
This beetle was clinging to a wall about 8 feet up. Each of those tiles is about 3/4 of an inch.
This moth was the size of my fist. I've seen bats smaller then this moth.
I have no idea what this is, but he was about 4 or 5 inches long.
And this guy was just pretty.
And this guy too. He looks like mold! We saw a crazy bug that I can't begin to identify that was even fluffier, but the photos didn't turn out and he ran away.
Oh, and we saw a snake! Sort of.
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