So, lets be honest. I can't function off of three days with a total of 14 hours of sleep. I get cranky, start to cry and generally want to hurt Koranin for putting me in this situation. This is how our trip to the south of Thailand (aka paradise) began. No need to give too many details just be warned that me, lindsay and koranin on no sleep traveling together= screaming, fighting, crying and people on the public bus telling us to hush.
We arrived in Railay after calming ourselves down at the ferry dock with a rousing game of hearts. Hearts has been known to break up tense situations all trip. I really should correct this sentence and say that it wasn't a ferry ride rather a longboat. Longboats are exactly what they say" long wooden boats that fit about 20 people if they are crammed or eight comfortably. We boarded the boat in Krabi and immediately were surrounded by small bays with large monolithic limestone cliffs everywhere. It was amazing. We passed a few that had exclusive resorts on them and turned a corner to see our long stretch of white sand and knew we were at Railay. When we got off the boat we followed a British couple to their hotel to see if we could get a room. Bad news: Lonely planet undershot the price of the room by about 2000 baht (57 USD). We wandered around the island for about an hour with packs on our backs looking for a hotel until we finally decided we were wasting out rime at this amazing beach when we could just find a hotel and get to swimming. We settled on a fairly nice one after haggling the bell boy about price for a good ten minutes.
Immediately we were in the water and off on our adventure. The bay we were in was full of families, European couples, young travelers and a few older couples. We decided to swim over to the next bay thinking it was a really exclusive resort we could sneak into. We swam (read: floated in salt water) over to the next bay and were immediately greeted by three young guys. Two from Holland and one from Iowa (didn't know people in Iowa travelled out of the US). They told us we actually could have walked over but we didn't care. As we got out of the water we realized we were not at an exclusive secluded resort bay but rather a hippie commune. The beach was lined with hammocks, bars, Bob Marley posters and music and marijuana "peace cakes." Men and women of all ethnicity's sported dreads and pretty much everyone wore Thai fishing pants and scarves. Sweet! Time to explore.
The three young guys on the beach let us know of a cool rock climbing school up on a "road" parallel to the beach. (Railay actually has no roads only walking streets and dirt paths). Railay is famous for it's rock climbing and we definitely were in the market for a good school. This one offered a trip called "solo climbing" which featured a full day on the boat with stops at easy spots to boulder up cliffs and jump off into the water. Cliff jumping, boats, snorkeling, lunch and English speaking friends? Sounded good to us and we set out to find the school.
After scouring the beach front we saw no sign of Wee's Climbing school. Finally we realized (with some help) that we needed to venture onto the dirt paths and further back into Tonsai Beach (the hippie beach). Although we were barefoot we decided it wouldn't be too bad since everyone was pretty much barefoot or half naked over here. As we are walking along the 400 m dirt road we spot tents in the jungle as well some small bamboo huts that didn't look too inviting. Once we reached the road we were surprised to see an actual little city (read: hippie commune) back in the jungle. Most hostels and guest houses had pot leaves on their logo and advertised peace cake and flame throwing parties. We really wanted to get a look at this place at night. We also spotted a "craiglist" board on the middle of the path that said things like "lost sunglasses last week please return them to the Chill Out lounge- I'll be here ONLY for one more month."
We finally found the rock climbing school, got good vibes from them and booked our trip for the next day (more on that in the next blog). We had to swim back over to our beach so we set out on our journey home taking note to return for the parties and some quality people watching that evening. When we got back to our beach we were greeted by yuppies with fancy cameras, pedicures on the beach and really beautiful European couples. No dreads or pot, no tents or stinky bungalows. It was a whole different world on our beach.
After we had the most amazing dinner of my time in Thailand (mango chili shrimp salad and garlic and fresh pepper squid) we decided to try to make it back over to Tonsai to check out the scene at night. One problem: we weren't about to swim over to the next bay at 10 pm and the tide was still too high to get there any other way. We had no clue how to get across the giants rocks in our way. We poked around with our headlamps but were still clueless. We thought we found a path but it turned out to be a creepy cave with a couple purses in it and empty beer bottles.
As we were heading back to our beach feeling defeated and ready for some cold beer, we stumbled upon two girls heading toward Tonsai (or rather they stumbled upon us). They drunkenly said they would show us the path and we decided why not. They said they had been "livingat Tonsai for a while" and had made the trek across the rocks many times. One of the girls was a petite swede with beer in her hand and the other was a college grad (or drop out) from Boulder with roots in Wisconsin. They were just drunk enough to feel confident about walking into the woods/rocks at night but not too drunk where they would fall.
The path was completely hidden and we had to start climbing up it with assistance from a rope. Considering the two girls were jabbering the whole time about some hoola hooper they didn't like, we didn't even have time to realize we were ascending a giant rock and coming back down the other side. We got to Tonsai beach by crawling through two tightly wedged rocks and jumping down into soft sand to see the waves crashing at our feet. Lindsay and I were fine however Kor looked like he was an overworked race horse in 100 degree heat. That was just the beginning of his exertion struggles.
Once over onto Tonsai beach we started out at the Viking Bar which consists of bamboo mats and pillows in the sand, reggae music and hammocks with hippies everywhere. We had a couple of beers and watched the stars and discussed what type of people actually choose to stay on a beach like this for months at a time. We decided they were mostly trying to escape the real world (who isn't these days though?). Next stop was the big party back in the jungle. We basically just followed the sound of live music until we happened upon the bar stock full of Europeans and Americans listening to a pretty decent live thai band.
Without being at the party for more than five minutes we immediately noticed an outlandishly drunk or high man running around dancing, singing and generally looking in whichever direction with glazed over eyes. After a few mins he progressed up to the stage area as most drunk people do. On the stage there was a slack rope set up for climbers to practice walking across and improve balance. He decided this rope should actually be used as a "slingshot" and tried to convince everyone he would sling himself over to the next island. It was hilarious and interesting.
We made our way back to the rocks where we were geared up to make the trek back to yuppie beach. It wasn't as easy on the way back without our jabbering drunkies. We encountered a giant spider as well as some rustling in the bushes. We also saw a few other walkers and were delighted that other people roamed this path at 11 pm. They seemed indifferent about us and offered us no advice or explanations for bush rustling.
We made it back to yuppie beach in one piece with lots of laughter about the evening. The next day we set out on another amazing adventure that will have to have a blog entry of its own. Railay was such a great place to start our trip because it really introduced us to the variety of people that we have encountered in Thailand. Many young disillusioned or lost people come to Thailand for the cheap prices and good parties. Plenty of families come for the beaches and endless activities. Older men come for pleasure and others (like ourselves) come on their 'tour' of SE Asia. While we loved Railay we are curious to see how things will pan out between pot smoking hippies and yuppies with tanning oil. Can they really both make it work?
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Bangkok on a Shoestring
Ok, so we are currently in Phuket and we found a cute little espresso shop that has 15 mins free internet when you buy a drink. Here goes Bangkok in 15 minutes or less...
Our two days in Bangkok were action packed. Looking back now I can hardly believe we fit it all in. We got off the plane at about 1pm and were greeted by Kor and his dad and immediately hit the ground running. Kor's dad was kind enough (and smart enough) to buy us some sugar cookies and brownies for the car ride. Our first stop was the Grand Palace in Bangkok. This was built in the late 18th century by one of the king's and is the main temple of worship in Bangkok as well as the center of all discussions and Parliament activities. It was truly amazing. The gold embossed temples were beyond what photos could capture and the Buddha statues were all very beautiful. I especially liked how calm and peaceful the whole palace was. Everywhere you went you took off your shoes and all the temples with Buddha were quiet although we were in the middle of a bustling city.
Our next stop was, of course, the mall so that Koranin could get his long hair cut. The mall was huge. Beyond belief huge and in the center of downtown in an area called Siam Reap. Siam Reap is essentially a few blocks of malls and giant shopping/eating/hotel/business parks. It is high tech and high fashion central. While Kor got his hair cut and ears cleaned we watched a talent show, drank Thai iced tea and listened to his dad talk about funny things KOr did as a kid.
To end the night we went to the Chao Praya river for a dinner cruise. The traffic in Bangkok is INCREDIBLE (as in terrible) and it took us nearly an hour to drive what was probably between 1-2 miles. We made it just in time to hop on the boat and begin the cruise. Normally this event is sold out but due to the protest scares Bangkok is looking a little empty. The cruise was a great way to see the whole city at night and enjoy delicious Thai cuisine. After the dinner we went up to the deck and what did we find but FILIPINO singer and pianist doing Karaoke! We just can't escape them. Of course the woman pulled Kor and I on stage to sing Dancing Queen. Kor's dad is a great dancer, by the way.
We got back to the apartment and fell asleep before our heads hit the pillow. After being awake for 20 hours we were dead.
The next day we got up at 6 am and headed out in a van Kor's dad had rented to go to the "Floating Market." This was such an awesome experience and probably my highlight of Bangkok. The floating market is a series or small stands lining a narrow river. Tourists hop in long wooden boats and float along as they shop. As you are floating along you can point or show interest in a stand and the person working at it will literally fish you over with a long stick with a hook at the end. Lindsay and I got really cool little Buddha and elephant statues as well as some gifts for friends and family at home. Kor's dad managed to buy nearly every food offered on the boats and we got to try a whole lot of new sugary candies and sweets.
Next stop was the ancient city. Due to the traffic in Bangkok it took us three hours to reach this spot. Lucky for us our van driver had a karaoke machine and tv in the back. We were able to pick really old songs (98 degrees, madonna etc). Unfortunately the karaoke company hadn't bought rights to the music videos so we were getting a mixture of scenes with ducks and ponds and bridges mixed with topless women on beaches drinking fruity drinks. It was entertaining for all.
After three hours of Karaoke, sleeping, eating treats and potty breaks we arrived at the ancient city. The ancient city has amazing buildings that have been restored from the "formal time" as Bunpot calls it (Kor's dad) as well as relics of different types of ancient Thai homes and palaces. The whole village is huge and we walked through all of it (probably the most exercise I've had in a month). We went from bridge to bridge and walked through tons of beautiful temples. We stopped and got ice cream on the way, saw some deer (kor decided to feed his ice cream to the deer) and made it back to the car just as it was getting dark.
Our final stop for the evening was MUAY THAI BOXING. You really can't go to Bangkok without seeing this. Kor's dad negotiated with one of the 'brokers' to get us what we thought were pretty good seats right in the front. Turns out they were good seats but only white people, "Farang" as Thai people say, were sitting here. All the true Boxing fans were up in the stands betting thousands of baht on each match. Kor wanted to go up there but the ticket broker said that he wasn't bad ass enough to hang with the big boys.
The first three matches were boys weighing in at about 102 lbs and with a median age of probably 14. These boys are generally sent to their Thai Boxing schools/camps at around age 7 and grow up living and breathing boxing and by 14 are ready to hit the ring. The matches consist of five 3-minute fights. The boxers are allowed to attack using four weapons: fists, elbows, knees and kicks. They use these four so skillfully that it hardly looks like they are hurting. Generally we didn't know who won right up until the very end but on a couple matches one of the boxers would be so badly injured or dizzy that he would essentially surrender and they would just wait out the last few minutes.
Our favorite match was definitely round three. The two boys looked maybe 16 or 17 and they weighed 120 lbs (which actually looks huge when you've been watching little weebee's fight for two hours). During round two red guy got slashed in the eyebrow by blue guy's elbow. He starts to bleed but continues to finish the round. Between rounds he gets his blood cleaned off his face and his coaches attempt to put some sort of wax on it to help the wound close up. This does him no good and each round after he continues to bleed profusely. The ref lets him pause for a few seconds to wipe the blood off his face and he is back at it. Red guy actually is putting up a decent fight; blood and all. Everyone in the stands is cheering on red dude as he is the scrappiest boxer we have ever seen. After five rounds the judges finally announce blue as the winner but the crowd gives red a big applause as he limps off bleeding and sweaty. It was pretty awesome.
The fighting did get a little old after four hours of the same thing over and over and over. Once again we were running on 5 hours of sleep and my attention span was weaning. After the match we headed back to the condo and stopped at a roadside diner for some quick pad Thai and started to do our laundry for the south (at 11 pm). After finally going to bed at 1 am we were back up at 430 am to begin our journey to Railay-an amazing and undiscovered beach town in Krabi province in the south of Thailand.
Overall Bangkok was a blast but also a culture shock. We went from being in poor, crowded, dirty, smelly and overly religious Cebu to walking around a developed city with high rises, normal amounts of children playing, white tourists, beautiful, quiet Buddhist temples, delicious food and no roosters anywhere in sight. We almost didn't know what to do with ourselves. Thailand seems to have some things figured out.
(p.s. I definitely didn't finish this blog in my 15 free mins of Internet in Phuket. It's now three days later and I'm finally getting back to it. Whoops!).
Our two days in Bangkok were action packed. Looking back now I can hardly believe we fit it all in. We got off the plane at about 1pm and were greeted by Kor and his dad and immediately hit the ground running. Kor's dad was kind enough (and smart enough) to buy us some sugar cookies and brownies for the car ride. Our first stop was the Grand Palace in Bangkok. This was built in the late 18th century by one of the king's and is the main temple of worship in Bangkok as well as the center of all discussions and Parliament activities. It was truly amazing. The gold embossed temples were beyond what photos could capture and the Buddha statues were all very beautiful. I especially liked how calm and peaceful the whole palace was. Everywhere you went you took off your shoes and all the temples with Buddha were quiet although we were in the middle of a bustling city.
Our next stop was, of course, the mall so that Koranin could get his long hair cut. The mall was huge. Beyond belief huge and in the center of downtown in an area called Siam Reap. Siam Reap is essentially a few blocks of malls and giant shopping/eating/hotel/business parks. It is high tech and high fashion central. While Kor got his hair cut and ears cleaned we watched a talent show, drank Thai iced tea and listened to his dad talk about funny things KOr did as a kid.
To end the night we went to the Chao Praya river for a dinner cruise. The traffic in Bangkok is INCREDIBLE (as in terrible) and it took us nearly an hour to drive what was probably between 1-2 miles. We made it just in time to hop on the boat and begin the cruise. Normally this event is sold out but due to the protest scares Bangkok is looking a little empty. The cruise was a great way to see the whole city at night and enjoy delicious Thai cuisine. After the dinner we went up to the deck and what did we find but FILIPINO singer and pianist doing Karaoke! We just can't escape them. Of course the woman pulled Kor and I on stage to sing Dancing Queen. Kor's dad is a great dancer, by the way.
We got back to the apartment and fell asleep before our heads hit the pillow. After being awake for 20 hours we were dead.
The next day we got up at 6 am and headed out in a van Kor's dad had rented to go to the "Floating Market." This was such an awesome experience and probably my highlight of Bangkok. The floating market is a series or small stands lining a narrow river. Tourists hop in long wooden boats and float along as they shop. As you are floating along you can point or show interest in a stand and the person working at it will literally fish you over with a long stick with a hook at the end. Lindsay and I got really cool little Buddha and elephant statues as well as some gifts for friends and family at home. Kor's dad managed to buy nearly every food offered on the boats and we got to try a whole lot of new sugary candies and sweets.
Next stop was the ancient city. Due to the traffic in Bangkok it took us three hours to reach this spot. Lucky for us our van driver had a karaoke machine and tv in the back. We were able to pick really old songs (98 degrees, madonna etc). Unfortunately the karaoke company hadn't bought rights to the music videos so we were getting a mixture of scenes with ducks and ponds and bridges mixed with topless women on beaches drinking fruity drinks. It was entertaining for all.
After three hours of Karaoke, sleeping, eating treats and potty breaks we arrived at the ancient city. The ancient city has amazing buildings that have been restored from the "formal time" as Bunpot calls it (Kor's dad) as well as relics of different types of ancient Thai homes and palaces. The whole village is huge and we walked through all of it (probably the most exercise I've had in a month). We went from bridge to bridge and walked through tons of beautiful temples. We stopped and got ice cream on the way, saw some deer (kor decided to feed his ice cream to the deer) and made it back to the car just as it was getting dark.
Our final stop for the evening was MUAY THAI BOXING. You really can't go to Bangkok without seeing this. Kor's dad negotiated with one of the 'brokers' to get us what we thought were pretty good seats right in the front. Turns out they were good seats but only white people, "Farang" as Thai people say, were sitting here. All the true Boxing fans were up in the stands betting thousands of baht on each match. Kor wanted to go up there but the ticket broker said that he wasn't bad ass enough to hang with the big boys.
The first three matches were boys weighing in at about 102 lbs and with a median age of probably 14. These boys are generally sent to their Thai Boxing schools/camps at around age 7 and grow up living and breathing boxing and by 14 are ready to hit the ring. The matches consist of five 3-minute fights. The boxers are allowed to attack using four weapons: fists, elbows, knees and kicks. They use these four so skillfully that it hardly looks like they are hurting. Generally we didn't know who won right up until the very end but on a couple matches one of the boxers would be so badly injured or dizzy that he would essentially surrender and they would just wait out the last few minutes.
Our favorite match was definitely round three. The two boys looked maybe 16 or 17 and they weighed 120 lbs (which actually looks huge when you've been watching little weebee's fight for two hours). During round two red guy got slashed in the eyebrow by blue guy's elbow. He starts to bleed but continues to finish the round. Between rounds he gets his blood cleaned off his face and his coaches attempt to put some sort of wax on it to help the wound close up. This does him no good and each round after he continues to bleed profusely. The ref lets him pause for a few seconds to wipe the blood off his face and he is back at it. Red guy actually is putting up a decent fight; blood and all. Everyone in the stands is cheering on red dude as he is the scrappiest boxer we have ever seen. After five rounds the judges finally announce blue as the winner but the crowd gives red a big applause as he limps off bleeding and sweaty. It was pretty awesome.
The fighting did get a little old after four hours of the same thing over and over and over. Once again we were running on 5 hours of sleep and my attention span was weaning. After the match we headed back to the condo and stopped at a roadside diner for some quick pad Thai and started to do our laundry for the south (at 11 pm). After finally going to bed at 1 am we were back up at 430 am to begin our journey to Railay-an amazing and undiscovered beach town in Krabi province in the south of Thailand.
Overall Bangkok was a blast but also a culture shock. We went from being in poor, crowded, dirty, smelly and overly religious Cebu to walking around a developed city with high rises, normal amounts of children playing, white tourists, beautiful, quiet Buddhist temples, delicious food and no roosters anywhere in sight. We almost didn't know what to do with ourselves. Thailand seems to have some things figured out.
(p.s. I definitely didn't finish this blog in my 15 free mins of Internet in Phuket. It's now three days later and I'm finally getting back to it. Whoops!).
Friday, May 1, 2009
I'm alive but internet is not on my budget!
Hi All, I am the WORST blogger ever. I have completely dropped off the face of the earth because I have entered an Oasis of paradise. Yes, Thailand is amazing. The only problem is that unlike the Philippines where Internet was 24 cents an hour here it is 6 cents a minute which really adds up when you want to blog about all the amazing things going on!
Let me give you the BRIEFEST synopsis and I am currently journaling so once I arrive at kor's house (May 8) I can update with full entries.
We arrived in Bangkok Monday April 27th and hit the ground running with Koranin and his wonderful dad as our tour guides. We got to see the grand palace (amazing architecture and stories behind it) and then made a pit stop at the mall for Kor to get his hair cut (malls here are unbelievably large it is terrifying), and then went on a night cruise along the river before calling it a night. Traffic in Bangkok is unreal by the way!
The next day we spent the morning on the floating market and got to buy some Thai souvenirs. During the afternoon we went to the ancient city and saw some amazing architecture.
Since then we have been in the south at two different AMAZING locations. The first is Railay- a small oasis/hippie town where we rock climbed, cliff jumped, snorkeled and made friends. We are now in Ko Phi Phi and it is incredible! Same friendly hippie vibe and no roads (same as Railay) so everyone is on foot everywhere or bike. it is really incredible! Tomorrow night we are heading to Maya Bay which is where they filmed "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio. We are so excited!
on a VERY EXCITING side note, LINDSAY JUST GOT HER ACCEPTANCE (email) FROM OHSU MEDICAL SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!! She is crying so hard in the Internet cafe the lady handed her a box of tissue! gotta go back to the room to get some money so we can buy drinks to celebrate!
More blogs soon. We are safe, happy, a little upset stomach and a little burnt but enjoying every minute of it :-)
Let me give you the BRIEFEST synopsis and I am currently journaling so once I arrive at kor's house (May 8) I can update with full entries.
We arrived in Bangkok Monday April 27th and hit the ground running with Koranin and his wonderful dad as our tour guides. We got to see the grand palace (amazing architecture and stories behind it) and then made a pit stop at the mall for Kor to get his hair cut (malls here are unbelievably large it is terrifying), and then went on a night cruise along the river before calling it a night. Traffic in Bangkok is unreal by the way!
The next day we spent the morning on the floating market and got to buy some Thai souvenirs. During the afternoon we went to the ancient city and saw some amazing architecture.
Since then we have been in the south at two different AMAZING locations. The first is Railay- a small oasis/hippie town where we rock climbed, cliff jumped, snorkeled and made friends. We are now in Ko Phi Phi and it is incredible! Same friendly hippie vibe and no roads (same as Railay) so everyone is on foot everywhere or bike. it is really incredible! Tomorrow night we are heading to Maya Bay which is where they filmed "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio. We are so excited!
on a VERY EXCITING side note, LINDSAY JUST GOT HER ACCEPTANCE (email) FROM OHSU MEDICAL SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!! She is crying so hard in the Internet cafe the lady handed her a box of tissue! gotta go back to the room to get some money so we can buy drinks to celebrate!
More blogs soon. We are safe, happy, a little upset stomach and a little burnt but enjoying every minute of it :-)
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Summing it up: impossible
So it's 9:30 pm and we are on our last load of laundry. All other clothing is rolled and ziplocked into my backpack and I am ready to go. Money belt will be on at 4:30 am as we depart for the airport for our first flight to Manila and then from Manila onto Bangkok where Lindsay and I will meet up with Kor, our close friend from Santa Clara who will be our tour guide for two weeks in Thailand.
All day today I was ready to go. I was ready to be out of this country and wanted nothing more to do with it. It poured rain, lightening shot through the sky and the thunder was deafening. The power went out three separate times today and Lindsay and I felt like we wasted our day packing, waiting for the DSL man to come to Hilary and David's and then waiting for him to fix the computer for another three hours. I was done with Filipino time, Filipino food, traffic and power outages. Without Hilary and David here to tell us funny stories about how crazy things are or help us take everything in stride we were feeling more ready to go.
How do I even sum up this past month? I can start by saying that two years ago I did a very similar month (6 weeks) in El Salvador at the National Maternity Hospital. I had a lot of the same roller coaster emotions, was frustrated with the same issues, and saw them same poverty. What struck me most was the parallels between El Salvador and Cebu City. They are so far from each other yet both share a few common characteristics that have made them so similar.
Primarily, they are both countries with a strong (if not overpowering) catholic/christian theocratic government. This allows for people who have nothing to still have profound faith. It also allows the church to mandate rules about women's reproductive rights and makes for the fertility rate to be through the roof. This has a large ripple effect throughout all populations leading to women who are not able to work or pursue education due to the five or six children on their hips and men who feel that their power and domination is inherent and are able to be the primary decision makers while often times not bringing in any income.
Secondly, both countries have been passed around by different world powers and had little time to form their own identities. The Filipino cuisine is a prime example of this lost identity. What is Filipino food? Well, it's basically Asian food that is fried and turned into an American/bad Asian restaurant. The lack of a cultural identity in the Philippines makes it hard to want to stay and identify with your people. The fact that most educated Filipinos speak English also gives an easy out to the US or other foreign countries for work. This exodus of Filipinos to the US (and Salvadorans as well) is visible in any unskilled work force or housekeeping company. It's not so much that Filipinos (or Salvadorans) have given up on their economies rather their governments have failed to provide jobs and industries to sustain the population. Lindsay and I met three men while here. The father and his two sons are all trained as engineers. In the US, engineering students are almost always guaranteed to find jobs and generally lucrative ones at that. In the Philippines these three men are able to make a much better living as caterers. Engineering has no value or market even in a booming city like Cebu.
Lastly, there is no out here- at least not one that is worth dreaming about at night. Foundations, institutions and initiatives set up in the US to help undeserved communities don't exist her because the entire population is undeserved. In the US we like to think that the poor kids from the ghetto can still make it to college or into the big leagues. We have reasons to believe these things, citing Obama as our biggest story yet. In the Philippines these types of opportunities are not realistic and not dreamed about. The kids at the dump will remain at the dump and the girls in Kamagayan will still be there for the next group of visitors. Father Heinz assured me of these suspicions without me even asking. Even though the dump we visited has since partially burnt down, the families will simply relocate to another part of the same dump site or onto the next one and remain. The medical check ups that Father Heinz administers are merely enough to keep these people afloat but no where near enough to get them out of their mess (literally).
So, if nothing can change here and the government makes pointless laws and the women are constantly being pushed down, why even come at all? I have asked myself this question regarding both my time here in Cebu and in El Salvador. Is it really worth it to endure the pain of seeing all of this and helping such a small amount only to know that when I leave it will still be the same desperate place it is now?
The answer is I don't know. For me, it has been eye opening a second time around and helped me draw parallels between some of the dangerous effects of the Catholic church's divide and conquer methods of the past. It was also yet another opportunity for me to challenge myself with the living conditions, cultural norms, heat and the discomfort of leaving my comfortable home. I think I know what I have gotten out of the experience but I still have yet to decide if the Philippines got anything out of having me around. One of the reasons I see myself (and Linds) as small beacons of hope is through using Hilary as an example. Hilary came to the Philippines nine years ago as a young and fresh midwife right out of school. She probably endured some of our same struggles (and far worse) and must have contemplated why she was here in the first place. But within three years of her arrival she was able to set up a clinic and now has delivered nearly 2,000 babies. That is real progress that you can feel. She has plans to go to medical school, open a larger clinic and expand the areas of expertise. If I can even say that I contributed to her vision in the slightest than I am satisfied with my time here.
All day today I was ready to go. I was ready to be out of this country and wanted nothing more to do with it. It poured rain, lightening shot through the sky and the thunder was deafening. The power went out three separate times today and Lindsay and I felt like we wasted our day packing, waiting for the DSL man to come to Hilary and David's and then waiting for him to fix the computer for another three hours. I was done with Filipino time, Filipino food, traffic and power outages. Without Hilary and David here to tell us funny stories about how crazy things are or help us take everything in stride we were feeling more ready to go.
How do I even sum up this past month? I can start by saying that two years ago I did a very similar month (6 weeks) in El Salvador at the National Maternity Hospital. I had a lot of the same roller coaster emotions, was frustrated with the same issues, and saw them same poverty. What struck me most was the parallels between El Salvador and Cebu City. They are so far from each other yet both share a few common characteristics that have made them so similar.
Primarily, they are both countries with a strong (if not overpowering) catholic/christian theocratic government. This allows for people who have nothing to still have profound faith. It also allows the church to mandate rules about women's reproductive rights and makes for the fertility rate to be through the roof. This has a large ripple effect throughout all populations leading to women who are not able to work or pursue education due to the five or six children on their hips and men who feel that their power and domination is inherent and are able to be the primary decision makers while often times not bringing in any income.
Secondly, both countries have been passed around by different world powers and had little time to form their own identities. The Filipino cuisine is a prime example of this lost identity. What is Filipino food? Well, it's basically Asian food that is fried and turned into an American/bad Asian restaurant. The lack of a cultural identity in the Philippines makes it hard to want to stay and identify with your people. The fact that most educated Filipinos speak English also gives an easy out to the US or other foreign countries for work. This exodus of Filipinos to the US (and Salvadorans as well) is visible in any unskilled work force or housekeeping company. It's not so much that Filipinos (or Salvadorans) have given up on their economies rather their governments have failed to provide jobs and industries to sustain the population. Lindsay and I met three men while here. The father and his two sons are all trained as engineers. In the US, engineering students are almost always guaranteed to find jobs and generally lucrative ones at that. In the Philippines these three men are able to make a much better living as caterers. Engineering has no value or market even in a booming city like Cebu.
Lastly, there is no out here- at least not one that is worth dreaming about at night. Foundations, institutions and initiatives set up in the US to help undeserved communities don't exist her because the entire population is undeserved. In the US we like to think that the poor kids from the ghetto can still make it to college or into the big leagues. We have reasons to believe these things, citing Obama as our biggest story yet. In the Philippines these types of opportunities are not realistic and not dreamed about. The kids at the dump will remain at the dump and the girls in Kamagayan will still be there for the next group of visitors. Father Heinz assured me of these suspicions without me even asking. Even though the dump we visited has since partially burnt down, the families will simply relocate to another part of the same dump site or onto the next one and remain. The medical check ups that Father Heinz administers are merely enough to keep these people afloat but no where near enough to get them out of their mess (literally).
So, if nothing can change here and the government makes pointless laws and the women are constantly being pushed down, why even come at all? I have asked myself this question regarding both my time here in Cebu and in El Salvador. Is it really worth it to endure the pain of seeing all of this and helping such a small amount only to know that when I leave it will still be the same desperate place it is now?
The answer is I don't know. For me, it has been eye opening a second time around and helped me draw parallels between some of the dangerous effects of the Catholic church's divide and conquer methods of the past. It was also yet another opportunity for me to challenge myself with the living conditions, cultural norms, heat and the discomfort of leaving my comfortable home. I think I know what I have gotten out of the experience but I still have yet to decide if the Philippines got anything out of having me around. One of the reasons I see myself (and Linds) as small beacons of hope is through using Hilary as an example. Hilary came to the Philippines nine years ago as a young and fresh midwife right out of school. She probably endured some of our same struggles (and far worse) and must have contemplated why she was here in the first place. But within three years of her arrival she was able to set up a clinic and now has delivered nearly 2,000 babies. That is real progress that you can feel. She has plans to go to medical school, open a larger clinic and expand the areas of expertise. If I can even say that I contributed to her vision in the slightest than I am satisfied with my time here.
Making Friends 101
Not that Lindsay and I don't have loads to talk about but at times we want to make some friends! We decided that while at Club Serena we were going to make some friends even if it killed us. We brought Yahtzee, scrabble, cards and our game faces. We were happy to meet the Jesuits but bummed to find out they were leaving the next day. We saw a French family but they were very busy with golfing, diving and being French. We decided to start sitting up at the bar in the evenings and get to know the wait staff. This proved to be a huge success. We met two of the waiters who were our age (Jofel and John Ray) and of course were married with kids. Being that we were two young, white women (and the priests told the whole wait staff to take good care of us), they were at our beckon call.
Not only did we make friends with Jofel and John Ray, we also beat them shamelessly in hearts. Every night at the end of their shift we played cards for an hour. The first night they were terrible and we gave them mercy, the second night they improved and we still showed a little mercy and the third night they finally got the hang of it and there was no holding back. All three nights we still whooped them.
We also got a chance to make friends with the rest of the staff and make sure that our pancakes were always made to our liking (with whipped cream and bananas), and when we wanted a chocolate milkshake we instructed Jofel on how to make it and he did. It was incredible. We had dessert about 5 times a day. Sometimes it was fried bananas, other times chocolate cake, mango shakes, bubble gum ice cream, native hot chocolate and fresh fruit. It was amazing.
One afternoon we coerced John Ray to take us into town on his motorbike to go get hot cheesy rolls from our favorite bakery. During our 20 minute moto ride, John Ray knew and waved/honked at nearly every passerby. He said most of the people were curious as to who his American friends were and he was an immediate superstar. He showed us the local "dating" spot aka the pier and tried to get us to come to the disco with him. We politely declined.
The next local we met was Rick, a tattoo and henna artist. Rick came to the Club Serena on Friday night and did amazing (henna) tattoos for us. Pics of this on the blog soon! Our last local friend was a nine year old girl- Cherry. Her mom was the hotel manager and she pretty much lived the life of a resort bum. She played scrabble with us, ate ice cream, and even had sleep over with some hotel guests who had kids around her age. She said she would cry when we left but somehow I think she will be infatuated with another guest soon enough.
The resort was an incredible experience minus one aspect: the money. We have been back for over 24 hours and still haven't paid. The visa machine at the resort didn't work (no surprise there) and the one in the city office also didn't work due to a brown out (power outage) throughout the city. We are now waiting for the resort to pick us up so we can finally pay for our stay!
We head to Thailand tomorrow and will be cruising through the country for two weeks. This will be a whole different type of Asia with plenty of new experiences! I will definitely do a few more entries summing up my experiences here in Philippines and at Glory Reborn.
Look at all the new pics!
Not only did we make friends with Jofel and John Ray, we also beat them shamelessly in hearts. Every night at the end of their shift we played cards for an hour. The first night they were terrible and we gave them mercy, the second night they improved and we still showed a little mercy and the third night they finally got the hang of it and there was no holding back. All three nights we still whooped them.
We also got a chance to make friends with the rest of the staff and make sure that our pancakes were always made to our liking (with whipped cream and bananas), and when we wanted a chocolate milkshake we instructed Jofel on how to make it and he did. It was incredible. We had dessert about 5 times a day. Sometimes it was fried bananas, other times chocolate cake, mango shakes, bubble gum ice cream, native hot chocolate and fresh fruit. It was amazing.
One afternoon we coerced John Ray to take us into town on his motorbike to go get hot cheesy rolls from our favorite bakery. During our 20 minute moto ride, John Ray knew and waved/honked at nearly every passerby. He said most of the people were curious as to who his American friends were and he was an immediate superstar. He showed us the local "dating" spot aka the pier and tried to get us to come to the disco with him. We politely declined.
The next local we met was Rick, a tattoo and henna artist. Rick came to the Club Serena on Friday night and did amazing (henna) tattoos for us. Pics of this on the blog soon! Our last local friend was a nine year old girl- Cherry. Her mom was the hotel manager and she pretty much lived the life of a resort bum. She played scrabble with us, ate ice cream, and even had sleep over with some hotel guests who had kids around her age. She said she would cry when we left but somehow I think she will be infatuated with another guest soon enough.
The resort was an incredible experience minus one aspect: the money. We have been back for over 24 hours and still haven't paid. The visa machine at the resort didn't work (no surprise there) and the one in the city office also didn't work due to a brown out (power outage) throughout the city. We are now waiting for the resort to pick us up so we can finally pay for our stay!
We head to Thailand tomorrow and will be cruising through the country for two weeks. This will be a whole different type of Asia with plenty of new experiences! I will definitely do a few more entries summing up my experiences here in Philippines and at Glory Reborn.
Look at all the new pics!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Dolphins and Turtles and Lizard Fish, Oh My!
Day two of our tropical adventure was full of sea adventures. After indulging in our morning mango and banana pancakes, we rented Flippers, snorkels and masks and hopped on the big diving boat for a day out at sea. We were joined by a French family living in Hong Kong, two diving guides (for the French), one snorkel guide and one boat driver. Within 10 min of being on the boat we spotted dolphins in the distance. The boot immediately turned toward them so we could catch them in action. We saw a whole pod- including some babies who were fond of doing flips and spins. This was really incredible because apparently there is only a 50/50 chance of seeing dolphins on the boat. Not only did we see them but we got to get up close and watch them play.
Our next stop was a small island 3km away from our beach called Pescador Island. The island is surrounded by small fishing boats and other divers as it is a haven for manta ray, sea turtles and other cool sea life. The divers descended to the depths and Lindsay and I put on our shoddy snorkeling gear and began our circumnavigation of the island's coral reef without guide. We saw masses of coral and every type of fish buried within it. Right as we jumped into the water a seaturtle swam by and headed for the far depths. It was going to be a good day. Our guide showed us lots of types of fish including a weird iguana looking fish called the lizard fish. We chased down schools of fish and tried to get crabs to come out from hiding.
We all piled back on the boat and conferred on the creatures we saw as we headed to our next snorkel spot- Kasai Wall. This area consisted of a coral reef wall full of sea life. Lindsay and I headed out with our guide again and spotted two sea turtles and many more of the same fish. After about 30 mins of snorkeling we got back on the boat to rehydrate, take some photos and play around on the arms of the boat. Concerned that our fitness is EXTREMELY lacking, we tried to do some pull ups on the boat arms and felt sore the next day. We truly are pathetic.
We returned back to the beach to find lunch waiting and our skin slightly burnt. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the shade and hanging out with our local friends (more on this in the next post).
I have now spent two hours in the sweaty internet cafe and haven't finished all the blogging I wanted to do but will have to stop here and head up to Hilary and David's house where Lindsay and I will spend the next day and a half getting ready for Thailand. More later!
Our next stop was a small island 3km away from our beach called Pescador Island. The island is surrounded by small fishing boats and other divers as it is a haven for manta ray, sea turtles and other cool sea life. The divers descended to the depths and Lindsay and I put on our shoddy snorkeling gear and began our circumnavigation of the island's coral reef without guide. We saw masses of coral and every type of fish buried within it. Right as we jumped into the water a seaturtle swam by and headed for the far depths. It was going to be a good day. Our guide showed us lots of types of fish including a weird iguana looking fish called the lizard fish. We chased down schools of fish and tried to get crabs to come out from hiding.
We all piled back on the boat and conferred on the creatures we saw as we headed to our next snorkel spot- Kasai Wall. This area consisted of a coral reef wall full of sea life. Lindsay and I headed out with our guide again and spotted two sea turtles and many more of the same fish. After about 30 mins of snorkeling we got back on the boat to rehydrate, take some photos and play around on the arms of the boat. Concerned that our fitness is EXTREMELY lacking, we tried to do some pull ups on the boat arms and felt sore the next day. We truly are pathetic.
We returned back to the beach to find lunch waiting and our skin slightly burnt. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading in the shade and hanging out with our local friends (more on this in the next post).
I have now spent two hours in the sweaty internet cafe and haven't finished all the blogging I wanted to do but will have to stop here and head up to Hilary and David's house where Lindsay and I will spend the next day and a half getting ready for Thailand. More later!
Bamboo Rafts and Tropical Amazingness
Our first full day in Moalboal started with a trip to Kawasan Falls. We had read about this three layer waterfall but not yet talked to anyone who had been. It was a gorgeous morning without a cloud in the sky and we hopped in the car without tuna fish sandwiches, mangoes, water bottles and cameras to the thirty minute drive to the trail head. Don't be fooled by the word trail head, we were still surrounded by huts, trash, kids trying to sell us snacks and the occasional pig sleeping in the grass. Our two drivers picked up two assistant guides who just came along hoping for a tip. The walk to the falls was about 20 mins long and along the way we saw a monkey in the trees (an actual monkey in the wild, far better than the caved up Tarsier monkey) and a giant spider. Along the way we passed by huts equipped with karaoke machines, snacks, roosters and ice cream. The river was full of women washing clothes, kids playing and bugs floating.
When we approached the falls we had to pay yet another hidden fee and made our way to the picnic tables surrounding the falls. The water was absolutely amazing. It was the type of waterfall you always wished we had in the US; strong and beautiful but small enough and with warm enough water to swim in. The fall was surrounded by a perfect lagoon for swimming. We immediately were in our swimsuits ready to go. One of our guides grabbed a bamboo raft for us and we rowed out to the falls. He then instructed us to lie down and we slid under the falls just barely. The whole time we are screaming/laughing as we look up at the one inch that separated our noses from the rocks above. Once we made it under the waterfall we were simultaneously in heaven/hell. The water was gorgeous but it was pounding down at us. We went through the waterfall and emerged on the other side. Our guides than instructed us to lie down again as they brought us back under the waterfall for a high pressure back massage.
Of course the waterfall had some amazing (and not too high, mom) rocks to jump off of. Our guides hoisted us up onto the rocks and we jumped multiple times into the turquoise water. We swam around for another half hour just taking in how amazing everything was. More groups continued to arrive but no one else seemed to really enjoy the fresh, cool water as much as our Pacific Northwest blood did. We sat at our picnic table eating mangoes and tuna when a woman came over and gave us a bill for 600 pesos (12 USD). This was yet another hidden fee of merely sitting at a picnic table and using a bamboo raft. Filipinos are tricky little business people.
Next up was stage two. We were so ready. We grabbed our cameras and headed up a trail for another 5 or 10 minutes to the next lagoon. This one was much smaller than the last with only a little waterfall but we jumped right in and climbed up the rock for another round of waterfall jumps. One guide helped us find our footing while the other photo documented blurry action shots of us.
We continued up a bit further to the second large waterfall. This one had more bamboo rafts and expensive picnic tables. We opted against those two and instead explored the falls on our own. We watched as others scurried up the rocks to jump but decided on this one to just wade around and enjoy the water.
On our way down our guides pointed out the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen. Our photos of her were unsuccessful but the men assured us it was a pregnant female spider due to her large size and puffy midsection. Great, now I can sleep at night knowing that many more baby spiders of that giant type exist.
We came back down to waterfall one and couldn't resist jumping in for a last time. We went all the way to the waterfall, jumped off the rocks,went under and through the fall and back out again. When we got back to the resort we were pooped for the first time in a month. It was the first time I felt my adrenaline again since arriving here. This was a good taste of what is to come in Thailand in two days!
I took tons of pics and will post them when I can use Gina's computer!
When we approached the falls we had to pay yet another hidden fee and made our way to the picnic tables surrounding the falls. The water was absolutely amazing. It was the type of waterfall you always wished we had in the US; strong and beautiful but small enough and with warm enough water to swim in. The fall was surrounded by a perfect lagoon for swimming. We immediately were in our swimsuits ready to go. One of our guides grabbed a bamboo raft for us and we rowed out to the falls. He then instructed us to lie down and we slid under the falls just barely. The whole time we are screaming/laughing as we look up at the one inch that separated our noses from the rocks above. Once we made it under the waterfall we were simultaneously in heaven/hell. The water was gorgeous but it was pounding down at us. We went through the waterfall and emerged on the other side. Our guides than instructed us to lie down again as they brought us back under the waterfall for a high pressure back massage.
Of course the waterfall had some amazing (and not too high, mom) rocks to jump off of. Our guides hoisted us up onto the rocks and we jumped multiple times into the turquoise water. We swam around for another half hour just taking in how amazing everything was. More groups continued to arrive but no one else seemed to really enjoy the fresh, cool water as much as our Pacific Northwest blood did. We sat at our picnic table eating mangoes and tuna when a woman came over and gave us a bill for 600 pesos (12 USD). This was yet another hidden fee of merely sitting at a picnic table and using a bamboo raft. Filipinos are tricky little business people.
Next up was stage two. We were so ready. We grabbed our cameras and headed up a trail for another 5 or 10 minutes to the next lagoon. This one was much smaller than the last with only a little waterfall but we jumped right in and climbed up the rock for another round of waterfall jumps. One guide helped us find our footing while the other photo documented blurry action shots of us.
We continued up a bit further to the second large waterfall. This one had more bamboo rafts and expensive picnic tables. We opted against those two and instead explored the falls on our own. We watched as others scurried up the rocks to jump but decided on this one to just wade around and enjoy the water.
On our way down our guides pointed out the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen. Our photos of her were unsuccessful but the men assured us it was a pregnant female spider due to her large size and puffy midsection. Great, now I can sleep at night knowing that many more baby spiders of that giant type exist.
We came back down to waterfall one and couldn't resist jumping in for a last time. We went all the way to the waterfall, jumped off the rocks,went under and through the fall and back out again. When we got back to the resort we were pooped for the first time in a month. It was the first time I felt my adrenaline again since arriving here. This was a good taste of what is to come in Thailand in two days!
I took tons of pics and will post them when I can use Gina's computer!
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