#billygonewild

Coron

Wow this trip took quite a turn for a few hours! I experienced the most miserable boat ride of my entire life. To get to Coron, an island in northern Palawan, you either fly or take a 7-8 hour ferry from El Nido. I was tired, hungover and packed on a small, hot boat with 50 people at 8am. You can imagine how I felt as I sat there melting on a wooden bench. The water was calm and we made it eventually. The plan was for me to dive at some of the epic ship wrecks that surround Coron. I signed up for an 8am dive the next morning. I even went to bed at 9pm, however as exhausted as I was I slept through my alarm and woke up 12 hours later missing my one chance to dive in Coron. Great.

It wasn’t a total bust as some locals that Vance had met took us on motor bikes to cruise the countryside and go to a hidden waterfall. I had my first and hopefully final mishap my ancient scooter as the shock broke off (guess i’ve been eating too much) and shattered the wheel. luckily I wasn’t injured and the owner didn’t even make me pay anything as he was super nice and the bike was well past its prime.

That night we were invited to meet up with Matt, another awesome couch surfer from Manila that we met through Anthony. He invited us to an “after party” of a friends wedding on the island. It turned out to basically be the dinner reception after the wedding and only had about 30-40 people there, all close friends of the bride and groom. And then the goofy, underdressed Americans. Needless to say the hospitality came out again as we were fed, given drinks and introduced to everyone. The brides father was a legend and did a shot with us and toured us around introducing us to his family. I was amazed at how friendly everyone was and how they would bring us in to an intimate event never having met us. Such a cool experience, thank you for making me feel so welcome.

The next day Matt and some of the wedding guests invited us on their private boat tour. We hopped around to more amazing islands, did some snorkeling and ate a seafood feast prepared by the boat captain and chef. The food was amazing at it was clearly fresh and tasted like it. I think the highlight was a lake in the middle of a small island off the coast. It had an epic view of the ocean, deep blue water that wasn’t very salty and the sun shining. I even got a performance from our travel companions who are all in a choir. They sang two songs and everyone at the late was completely silent listening to them as their song echoed around the cavern. Man they can sing. 

It was a busy few days on the island as I got to camp out on an empty island with Vance and Matt. We slept on the sand, built our own fire and roughed it like true cavemen. Was awesome to get away for a day and be on an island in the middle of nowhere.

Another highlight for me was playing basketball with some locals. They have a serious love for basketball in the Philippines which is amazing. Everyone wears jerseys and plays when they get the chance. in Coron they play at the police station every day. I made my way out there and played for the first time in about 6 months. Safe to say I was way out of shape. I had half a foot on everyone in height but couldn’t keep up as they raced up and down the court. Regardless it felt so good to play again and we picked up a few W’s.

I had some of my favorite food here and tried a few new things. My favorite was Beef Tapa or Tapsilog with garlic rise. Usually a breakfast food, comes with beef in a bit of a sweet sauce, rice and a fried egg. I also loved chicken adobo which is a staple everywhere. I even got a bit adventurous with pork and tuna sisig, which was minced pork cheek (or tuna) and served on a sizzling plate with some veggies. It was surprisingly good.

We wrapped up the Philippines by heading back to Manila for a night and having a nice little send off with some of the couch surfers and the “Columbian” from Panama. All in all it was an amazing portion of the trip. I was surprised how many friendly people I met and how hospitable they were to us. A big thank you for everyone that hosted, toured us and generally included my lost self in things. I am forever grateful and will be back.

The final stop on my quarter life crisis tour is India for Anand and Ashwini’s wedding. In honor of Anand I have officially grown my travel beard to the appropriate length. Stoked to see the wedding and reunite with some friends from home. See you in India!

Update: Yes I am home. However the past few weeks of my trip had minimal to no wifi so I wasn’t able to upload photos. I wrote this posts as I traveled and will be loading them up now. Stay tuned!

El Nido

The Philippines is supposed to have some of the most amazing beaches in the world and I was prepped to tease out the truth. As many of you have seen from my pictures, I think it is easy to argue that. Palawan is an island on the west side of the Philippines that houses many of these beaches. We flew in to Puerto Princessa in the middle of the island and proceeded north to El Nido. A packed van that was delayed for about 2 hours finally got us there about midnight. In true last minute travel fashion we didn’t have a hostel yet so we searched around. With everything booked I ended up in a dump that was probably the worst place I stayed in my 5 months of travel, but I survived. 

We spent the next two days hitting the beach and doing a tour of islands. We saw some gorgeous beaches with water so clear you can see all the way to the bottom from the boat. Hawaii and Croatia have some beautiful water but I think this tops both. It is crystal clear with a light blue and green hue that can’t be described in words, at least not by me. Hopefully the pictures can do some justice. We met more nice Canadiens and I keep being proved wrong that all Canadiens are as miserable as my lovely roommate Chamo. I may have to make a visit to the North at some point after all. The tour was great as we side a wide range of lagoons, beaches and got to snorkel. Only downside as there were jellyfish everywhere and i felt like I was being stung about 5 times per minute. Good thing i’m so tough.

A real highlight all over the Islands was how friendly the kids were. I am not sure if they are just not used to seeing tourists but their faces would light up as we would walk by. Some of the braver ones would ask us our name and chat a bit, but usually we were in for a huge smile, wave and hello. They are so happy as they run around and play with their friends with simple things like a cardboard box or a broom and it shows in how they act. Who says we need smart phones?

I am prepped to hop on a boat tomorrow and head north to wrap up my island tour for this entire trip. Sad, but excited to see what is in store.

More islands, yay!  Shortly after Christmas we made our way to Boracay for some beach and maybe a New Years Eve party. This is a small island that has a gorgeoussss white beaches and lots of excitement. Everything is located on one side of the island split into 3 zones. There are endless bars, restaurants and clubs up and down the whole span. I was surprised to see how touristy is was with so many people vacationing here, many from China and Korea. It was bit too pricey and touristy for my taste but still worth the stop.

I also was reunited with Jackie who I hadn’t seen since I left for my trip! We balled out for a few days and had an awesome stay all thanks to her. Unfortunately, I chose this time to get a bacterial infection and was bed ridden for a few days. Still we had a blast on the beach and shooting the shit like we were in SF again. We also managed to bring a little Christmas to our hotel room, almost like we were home!

The highlight for me (besides obviously seeing Mushu) was the fireworks on New Years Eve. Anthony met us in Boracay and took us to his friends resort. They set up fireworks in the water maybe 40-50 feet out. They had them spread out over the whole span of the beach which we could see. We also had a show directly in front of us an it went on for 30 minutes. Unreal experience and the pictures don’t do it justice.

Sadly Jackie had to go home and we headed back to Manila to make our way to Palawan. Next up will be some island hopping, my favorite. Hopefully the thought and photos will warm up all my friends back home enjoying the miserable rainy and cold weather in SF!

I didn’t really know what to expect coming to the Philippines.  I had heard good things from friends but knew nothing besides gorgeous beaches, not even knowing what the local foods were.

We got in to Manila at about 3am and did the usual skate around trying to find a cab that wouldn’t rip us off. As our cab pulled to the street the hostel was on at 4am in the Makati district I was shocked to see strip clubs, homeless kids begging and people selling all sorts of questionable goods (I was asked if I wanted to buy Viagra probably 50 times, not sure what type of vibe I am putting off). I was wondering what I got in to, we found out later that it was just that specific street and Makati is actually an up and coming area. 

It was two days before Christmas and we had no idea how we were going to celebrate. Vance hit up a few couch surfers and we were invited out to a club with a guy named Anthony. We ended up having an epic night out with him and some of his family visiting from Hong Kong. Such a fun night meeting people from all over as we were about 2 of 5 western looking people in the whole club. We met, locals, people from China and even some Cali people from San Jose, 30 mins away from where I live in San Francisco. I even talked to a lady boy that I had no idea was a guy until she told me. Guess they can be quite convincing.

Meeting Anthony was a blessing as the rest of our trip formed around his guidance and connections. The next night was Christmas Eve and we were lucky enough to get invited to a traditional Christmas dinner with one of Anthony’s friends house. Traditionally they at at midnight so it is technically Christmas with their family. Nathan welcomed us in and fed us, introduced us to his family and other travelers, gave us drinks and strongly encouraged us to sing Karaoke with him. I ended singing all the girly/high pitched voice songs like Bieber and Britney Spears. Again, not sure what type of vibe I am putting off. I was so grateful to Nathan and his family as I was across the world from my family and friends on my favorite Holiday that I have never spent away from my family. Amazing hospitality which was a theme all through the Philippines.

I was so excited to see Christmas decorations everywhere and even made my way to the mall to buy some xmas essentials. Felt more like Christmas than I expected. Apparently they don't mess around when it comes to Christmas. They start decorating as early as September in places, which would be blasphemy in the US.