A great big adventure (Part One: Abu Dhabi, Karaoke and Boracay)
Okay, okay. Here. Some words:
I flew to Abu Dhabi on the 8th of November. I had to get a taxi to the coach park at around 4:30am, after about 3 hours of sleep (I'd been multitasking the night before, packing and trying to cram stuff onto my new iPod, which ended in things taking a lot longer than they otherwise would have), which was stupid by all accounts. I arrived at the airport on time, got checked in (Though I shouldn't technically have been able to check in so early, as I found out on the way back. I guess the ground staff didn't know the rules regarding standby tickets so well, although the flight wasn't anywhere near full), and sat at the boarding gate sending my last text messages in England for the next two weeks. On the flight I started reading Peter Jinks' Hallam Foe, which Sarah lent me quite some time ago, after we watched the comparatively-poor movie adaptation on our second date. I also passed the time watching Azumanga Daioh on my iPod, and The Station Agent on the in-flight entertainment system (I'm aware that I've mentioned both of these things before, but I'm sure no-one remembers what I wrote three weeks ago. I'm going to stop overusing parentheses now, too). Arrive in Abu Dhabi 7 hours later.
Spent 6 hours at the airport. First feelings of culture shock. People were staring openly at me, and it felt kind of good to be a complete foreigner. I read more Hallam Foe, listened to Björk's Post, and when I finally made it to the boarding gate, played Pokémon Diamond for a while, before fatigue started kicking me in the ribs. It was about 3am when I boarded the plane, I think (It was delayed), which meant I'd been awake for about 20 hours on 3 hours sleep. Nothing major, you could say. I managed to get two or three hours' sleep on the flight to Manila. Sleeping on public transport is not something I can do voluntarilly, frustratingly. I landed in Manila 8 hours later, and 8 time zones ahead of where I started. Total travelling time was about 28 hours, all told.
I was met at the airport by Jun (johnburger_ph), and we went to his house via a restaurant called The Aristocrat (I think..), my first taste of Filipino cuisine. At home, I slept. For 12 hours. The next morning I made my way to Mega Mall and met Jun before going to Glorietta to meet Joiz and Sasa. My body was still adjusting at this point, so I was a little uncommunicative and awkward. We walked around some shops for a while, and then went to Domino's for something to eat. After this we visited Anna, to convince her to come to Karaoke with us. She did.
I was apprehensive about the thought of doing Karaoke, but then I've only done it once before at a dreadful of social club in Coventry, and had to stand on a huge stage singing 'I've Got You Babe' with my cousin. Never again, I declared. I'd not been to this kind of karaoke before, though. Singing in a small room with a group of people is so much easier (as I'd discovered previously when playing Singstar with Shelly, Jon, Steve and Sarah). Appropriately, the first song I sang was Spandau Ballet - Gold. I can't remember the majority of what else I sang, but I did enjoy singing Radiohead's Karma Police. There are videos somewhere, which I haven't seen yet. Jun and I ended with a rendition of Linkin Park's In The End, which almost killed us. Went home, and slept.
The next day we woke up early in the morning and left for the domestic airport, stopping to pick up Joiz and Sasa on the way. Brian turned up some time later and bought me some kind of soy/syrup drink, which I promptly spilled on my suitcase. Anna joined us some time later, and we eventually flew to Kalibo. Mostly uneventful flight. From Kalibo airport we got a taxi to the ferry port which was about the most terrifying hour and a half I've experienced in a long time. One thing that strikes you about the Philippines is that the traffic in the cities is almost entirely chaotic. People walk out in front of cars with little regard for safety, there's practically no such thing as Right of Way, and everyone beeps their horn at everyone else, which I came to assume was just a way of letting others know they were about to drive out in front of them. On the country roads outside of Kalibo, however, it's quite different. Perhaps it was just the driver we had. He would frequently overtake other vehicles with oncoming traffic approaching, narrowly avoiding head on collisions.
More vehicular lunacy was in store upon our arrival on Boracay. The ferry ride over was ordinary enough. I was quite tired and hot at this point, so I didn't get to enjoy the view as much as I would otherwise have done. From the ferry port we got a tricycle to Station 2, which was on the other side of the island. Take a look at this. Now try to imagine how 6 people and their luggage, and a driver can fit safely in such a vehicle. Logically, we should have crashed into a tree, or the tricycle should have just fallen apart under our weight. Somehow, we made it, however. Found a place to eat, though I didn't have much of an appetite, thanks to the heat. What a wimp. Joiz and Brian found us somewhere to stay, and we rested for a while. I felt much better after a little sleep, and that evening we went to the beach for a swim. Beautiful sand, beautiful water. There's a link to my photos at the bottom, in case you're interested.
That night we walked along the beach, and found a place to eat. An Italian restaurant. We had pizzas and pasta, and some flatbread. Nice! Walked along the beach after this, as Joiz wanted to find somewhere to dance, but nothing really fit the bill. Besides, we'd agreed to go on an island hopping expedition the next day at 5:30am, so some sleep would have been nice.
We arrived on the beach at Station 2 at around 5:50 the next morning (At little later than we'd hoped), and got on one of the boats. After about 15 minutes of sailing through some beautiful islands, the boat stopped, and we went snorkeling. Unlike my scuba diving in Gran Canaria, this was a much more hands-on encounter with tropical fish. We got to feed them bread! I saw a pipefish! The black, spiky sea urchins were menacing-looking! Next stop was an island with a tourist attraction called Crystal Cove. Jun and I saw a monkey! We went to two of the island's caves, one of which had some kind of crystal-type rock in it, and the other of which had a Malkovich-style tunnel that we had to crawl through to reach. I had a Coke afterwards, to replace the much-needed fluid, sugar, caffeine and artificial additives that I'd expended through the course of the morning.
Back on the boat, Anna, Joiz and I sat on the bow, and I dangled my feet in the water. Anna did the same, splashing me quite heavilly. It was a nice ride. We landed at Station 1, and decided to leave our guides in favour of swimming. We bought some goggles, and after struggling with the mechanism for changing the size of the strap, I finally got them working, and notice that there were a number of white fish swimming around my legs! Amazing. We walked further along the beach to a restaurant that specialised in thick milkshakes (Joiz, do you remember the name?), and had a large selection of Filipino food. I really enjoyed this, and I think it was my favourite meal I had whilst I was there. I had crispy calamares (Battered squid) myself, and sampled some bangus sisig, honey & lemon chicken, and a soup whose name I've forgotten. The walk back to Station 2 took us about 20 minutes.
After this we slept. I got about 3 hours myself, and woke up around the same time as Joiz (About 8pm). As no-one else showed any signs of waking up, we went to the beach and found a quite spot to sit and chat. I'm glad I got to do this, because I'd kind of fallen out of touch with her recently. We returned to the hotel to find everyone still asleep, so we went back to the beach and had something to eat at a beach restaurant with big flaming torches and big, swinging chairs (I can't describe them better than that). The food was kind of disappointing, actually (Undercooked chips and a mediocre sandwich which I kept dropping on myself), but the setting was second to none.
When we returned, the others finally got up, and we walked back and forward along the beach a few times, again looking for a place to dance. Again, no luck. I got my trousers wet, and talked to Anna for a while as we walked. A group of about 6 women simultaneously asked me if I wanted a massage as I passed their shop. I politely declined. We ended up at a pub called The Hobbit House, which was, unsurprisingly, staffed by dwarves. Slightly more surprising (Read: Incomprehensible) was the fact that Boney M's greatest hits were playing. I had Beef Tapa, which I really enjoyed, and shared some of Jun's fish. About halfway into our meal, a downpour started, and we had to switch tables to avoid being caught in it. We returned to the hotel quite late, and had to wake up quite early the next day, to fit a few things in before leaving the island.
I didn't get much done the next morning, really. Bought some postcards, some souvenirs, and ended up in a korean food-place with Jun, eating chicken satay. Anna called, to tell me that she and Sasa were about to go paragliding, which I'd previously said I also wanted to do. At the time, though, we'd just started eating, and it was raining a little, so I didn't go. I regret this. It looked exciting.
Shortly after this, we packed our things and made our way back across the island to the ferry port, this time in two tricycles instead of one. Much more sensible. At the ferry port, I made the mistake of letting one of the porters carry my suitcase, something which I was perfectly capable of doing myself. I gave him some money, and then he asked me for more. The cheek! I told him I'd already given him what he'd asked, and eventually he went away. The taxi from the mainland ferry port to Kalibo airport was long and uncomfortable. Anna listen to Shoes on Joiz's iPod. Fatigue took hold of me when were in the departures lounge waiting to board, and I had trouble keeping my eyes open, which made me a little grumpy. I make myself sound like a miserable sod throughout the course of the holiday, but it wasn't that bad, really! I got about 15 minutes' sleep on the plane, which was enough to make me feel better, and we arrived in Manila at around.. 7pm? I can't remember. I want to go back to Boracay some time.
Sorry that wasn't particularly interesting or well-written. It's hard to maintain a high standard of writing over such a long entry when you're just trying to get it done. Anyway, I'll post the rest tomorrow.
I flew to Abu Dhabi on the 8th of November. I had to get a taxi to the coach park at around 4:30am, after about 3 hours of sleep (I'd been multitasking the night before, packing and trying to cram stuff onto my new iPod, which ended in things taking a lot longer than they otherwise would have), which was stupid by all accounts. I arrived at the airport on time, got checked in (Though I shouldn't technically have been able to check in so early, as I found out on the way back. I guess the ground staff didn't know the rules regarding standby tickets so well, although the flight wasn't anywhere near full), and sat at the boarding gate sending my last text messages in England for the next two weeks. On the flight I started reading Peter Jinks' Hallam Foe, which Sarah lent me quite some time ago, after we watched the comparatively-poor movie adaptation on our second date. I also passed the time watching Azumanga Daioh on my iPod, and The Station Agent on the in-flight entertainment system (I'm aware that I've mentioned both of these things before, but I'm sure no-one remembers what I wrote three weeks ago. I'm going to stop overusing parentheses now, too). Arrive in Abu Dhabi 7 hours later.
Spent 6 hours at the airport. First feelings of culture shock. People were staring openly at me, and it felt kind of good to be a complete foreigner. I read more Hallam Foe, listened to Björk's Post, and when I finally made it to the boarding gate, played Pokémon Diamond for a while, before fatigue started kicking me in the ribs. It was about 3am when I boarded the plane, I think (It was delayed), which meant I'd been awake for about 20 hours on 3 hours sleep. Nothing major, you could say. I managed to get two or three hours' sleep on the flight to Manila. Sleeping on public transport is not something I can do voluntarilly, frustratingly. I landed in Manila 8 hours later, and 8 time zones ahead of where I started. Total travelling time was about 28 hours, all told.
I was met at the airport by Jun (johnburger_ph), and we went to his house via a restaurant called The Aristocrat (I think..), my first taste of Filipino cuisine. At home, I slept. For 12 hours. The next morning I made my way to Mega Mall and met Jun before going to Glorietta to meet Joiz and Sasa. My body was still adjusting at this point, so I was a little uncommunicative and awkward. We walked around some shops for a while, and then went to Domino's for something to eat. After this we visited Anna, to convince her to come to Karaoke with us. She did.
I was apprehensive about the thought of doing Karaoke, but then I've only done it once before at a dreadful of social club in Coventry, and had to stand on a huge stage singing 'I've Got You Babe' with my cousin. Never again, I declared. I'd not been to this kind of karaoke before, though. Singing in a small room with a group of people is so much easier (as I'd discovered previously when playing Singstar with Shelly, Jon, Steve and Sarah). Appropriately, the first song I sang was Spandau Ballet - Gold. I can't remember the majority of what else I sang, but I did enjoy singing Radiohead's Karma Police. There are videos somewhere, which I haven't seen yet. Jun and I ended with a rendition of Linkin Park's In The End, which almost killed us. Went home, and slept.
The next day we woke up early in the morning and left for the domestic airport, stopping to pick up Joiz and Sasa on the way. Brian turned up some time later and bought me some kind of soy/syrup drink, which I promptly spilled on my suitcase. Anna joined us some time later, and we eventually flew to Kalibo. Mostly uneventful flight. From Kalibo airport we got a taxi to the ferry port which was about the most terrifying hour and a half I've experienced in a long time. One thing that strikes you about the Philippines is that the traffic in the cities is almost entirely chaotic. People walk out in front of cars with little regard for safety, there's practically no such thing as Right of Way, and everyone beeps their horn at everyone else, which I came to assume was just a way of letting others know they were about to drive out in front of them. On the country roads outside of Kalibo, however, it's quite different. Perhaps it was just the driver we had. He would frequently overtake other vehicles with oncoming traffic approaching, narrowly avoiding head on collisions.
More vehicular lunacy was in store upon our arrival on Boracay. The ferry ride over was ordinary enough. I was quite tired and hot at this point, so I didn't get to enjoy the view as much as I would otherwise have done. From the ferry port we got a tricycle to Station 2, which was on the other side of the island. Take a look at this. Now try to imagine how 6 people and their luggage, and a driver can fit safely in such a vehicle. Logically, we should have crashed into a tree, or the tricycle should have just fallen apart under our weight. Somehow, we made it, however. Found a place to eat, though I didn't have much of an appetite, thanks to the heat. What a wimp. Joiz and Brian found us somewhere to stay, and we rested for a while. I felt much better after a little sleep, and that evening we went to the beach for a swim. Beautiful sand, beautiful water. There's a link to my photos at the bottom, in case you're interested.
That night we walked along the beach, and found a place to eat. An Italian restaurant. We had pizzas and pasta, and some flatbread. Nice! Walked along the beach after this, as Joiz wanted to find somewhere to dance, but nothing really fit the bill. Besides, we'd agreed to go on an island hopping expedition the next day at 5:30am, so some sleep would have been nice.
We arrived on the beach at Station 2 at around 5:50 the next morning (At little later than we'd hoped), and got on one of the boats. After about 15 minutes of sailing through some beautiful islands, the boat stopped, and we went snorkeling. Unlike my scuba diving in Gran Canaria, this was a much more hands-on encounter with tropical fish. We got to feed them bread! I saw a pipefish! The black, spiky sea urchins were menacing-looking! Next stop was an island with a tourist attraction called Crystal Cove. Jun and I saw a monkey! We went to two of the island's caves, one of which had some kind of crystal-type rock in it, and the other of which had a Malkovich-style tunnel that we had to crawl through to reach. I had a Coke afterwards, to replace the much-needed fluid, sugar, caffeine and artificial additives that I'd expended through the course of the morning.
Back on the boat, Anna, Joiz and I sat on the bow, and I dangled my feet in the water. Anna did the same, splashing me quite heavilly. It was a nice ride. We landed at Station 1, and decided to leave our guides in favour of swimming. We bought some goggles, and after struggling with the mechanism for changing the size of the strap, I finally got them working, and notice that there were a number of white fish swimming around my legs! Amazing. We walked further along the beach to a restaurant that specialised in thick milkshakes (Joiz, do you remember the name?), and had a large selection of Filipino food. I really enjoyed this, and I think it was my favourite meal I had whilst I was there. I had crispy calamares (Battered squid) myself, and sampled some bangus sisig, honey & lemon chicken, and a soup whose name I've forgotten. The walk back to Station 2 took us about 20 minutes.
After this we slept. I got about 3 hours myself, and woke up around the same time as Joiz (About 8pm). As no-one else showed any signs of waking up, we went to the beach and found a quite spot to sit and chat. I'm glad I got to do this, because I'd kind of fallen out of touch with her recently. We returned to the hotel to find everyone still asleep, so we went back to the beach and had something to eat at a beach restaurant with big flaming torches and big, swinging chairs (I can't describe them better than that). The food was kind of disappointing, actually (Undercooked chips and a mediocre sandwich which I kept dropping on myself), but the setting was second to none.
When we returned, the others finally got up, and we walked back and forward along the beach a few times, again looking for a place to dance. Again, no luck. I got my trousers wet, and talked to Anna for a while as we walked. A group of about 6 women simultaneously asked me if I wanted a massage as I passed their shop. I politely declined. We ended up at a pub called The Hobbit House, which was, unsurprisingly, staffed by dwarves. Slightly more surprising (Read: Incomprehensible) was the fact that Boney M's greatest hits were playing. I had Beef Tapa, which I really enjoyed, and shared some of Jun's fish. About halfway into our meal, a downpour started, and we had to switch tables to avoid being caught in it. We returned to the hotel quite late, and had to wake up quite early the next day, to fit a few things in before leaving the island.
I didn't get much done the next morning, really. Bought some postcards, some souvenirs, and ended up in a korean food-place with Jun, eating chicken satay. Anna called, to tell me that she and Sasa were about to go paragliding, which I'd previously said I also wanted to do. At the time, though, we'd just started eating, and it was raining a little, so I didn't go. I regret this. It looked exciting.
Shortly after this, we packed our things and made our way back across the island to the ferry port, this time in two tricycles instead of one. Much more sensible. At the ferry port, I made the mistake of letting one of the porters carry my suitcase, something which I was perfectly capable of doing myself. I gave him some money, and then he asked me for more. The cheek! I told him I'd already given him what he'd asked, and eventually he went away. The taxi from the mainland ferry port to Kalibo airport was long and uncomfortable. Anna listen to Shoes on Joiz's iPod. Fatigue took hold of me when were in the departures lounge waiting to board, and I had trouble keeping my eyes open, which made me a little grumpy. I make myself sound like a miserable sod throughout the course of the holiday, but it wasn't that bad, really! I got about 15 minutes' sleep on the plane, which was enough to make me feel better, and we arrived in Manila at around.. 7pm? I can't remember. I want to go back to Boracay some time.
Sorry that wasn't particularly interesting or well-written. It's hard to maintain a high standard of writing over such a long entry when you're just trying to get it done. Anyway, I'll post the rest tomorrow.