The Philippines: Bohol

I can’t think about The Philippines without smiling.  Boyfriend and I shared our first kiss on a tiny, remote beach off Bohol Island.  Just a mention of the country makes me beam.  Following our kiss we spent the next week and a half with our friends, eating, snorkeling, exploring Bohol and Borocay and getting to know each other.   After finishing our contracts in Korea, we spent three weeks exploring Palawan Island.  I have such warm memories of the country.

On our first trip we started off as a group of five in Bohol and then met up with a larger group in Boracay.  My friend Anna and I were the only girls and lets just say Boracay is know for its loose women.  Needless to say, we both had our testosterone fix for a few months.

Collectively, we greatly preferred Bohol. Mainly because its less touristy.  Everything was simpler and cheaper.  We could eat fresh resturant prepared fish on the beach everyday without hesitation.  San Miguels and Red Horse beers were about 1 dollar a bottle as well!  So were the mangos!

Bohol. 

We had originally planned to stay overnight in Cebu.  We knew it’d take 18+ hrs to get there and even longer to take the ferry to Bohol.  When we arrive at our hostel we immediately turned around and bolted to the Bohol ferry.  We had to wait for the last one out, a problem solved with a roadside beer and intestine stand.  We arrived in Bohol as the terminal was closing and got to the tourist office at the last second.  We took there recommendation and hopped in a car .  We crossed numerous bridges and found ourselves on a tiny island somewhere off Bohol in a lovely family run guest-house.  It turned into five safe and happy days.  We were right next to town near all the favelas and ran into absolutely no trouble.  Every older tourist we met said Bohol was like Thailand 30 years ago.  I hope they’re right because it was lovely.

Our first day was spent exploring the beaches and wandering through the town.  My friends feasted on intestines and balut while I opted for rice and fish. Oh, and a mango for dessert (every night).  There was also loads of San Miguel being consumed.  The second day we hired a boat and went island hopping and snorkeling allll day.  I think collectively we payed 25$ so 5 $ each.  We stopped at a fishing families house for the best lunch of the trip and spent the rest of our time exploring oceans and deserted beaches.  We ended the night eating freshly caught fish from one of the night stalls lining the beaches.

The next day we hired a car and explored the inland part of the island.  Most famously, we saw the chocolate hills and sweet little tarziers.  We, oddly enough, ended the experience on a catered river cruise.  Later that night after drinking on the beaches with our party of friends, boyfriend and I slipped off together and shares the kiss that would begin our relationship.  I can’t believe how wonderfully lucky we were to begin our life in such a beautiful location, under the stars and surrounded by happiness.  The next few days involved beaches, booking tickets getting to Boyacay and lazy beer filled meals.

That tin can took us to Borocay.  It was beyond scary.  We all thought it would plummet to the ground.  The turbulence was so violent the roof of the plane was covered in our water.  SCARY!  Boracay deserves it’s own post.  I can promise lots of ‘tourist’ tax, hookers, overpriced meals and beautiful beaches.

Travel: India

I’ve travelled a lot. Travelling brings out the adventurer in me and often leaves me fearless and crazy excitable.  However India, to me, was f&^king scary.  My first two weeks I was alone seeing the country.  My itinerary was Mumbai, Udaipur, Jaipur, Varanassi and then to my ashram in Rishikesh.  Before leaving Korea, I had all my train tickets and hostels booked, something out of characteristic for me but mandatory for this trip.

It’s so difficult to discuss India with a single view.  Yes, it was wonderful and, really, I think my experiences made me a more honest and up-front person but the harassment a western, single female receives is completely overwhelming.  I view the harassment from two viewpoints:   1. India is a male dominated society dripping in misogyny.  2.  I am a western foreigner and therefore have amble money to give to poor Indians.  These two ideologies shaped my entire experience.  I could not eat alone in any restaurant; I was harassed every single time.  Men would come up to me daily, and often hourly, telling me what I could and could not do without explanation, “You cannot use your camera.” “You cannot enter this shop” when the opposite was very true.  Nothing I did felt pure.  I was stressed and overwhelmed by who would come up to me next, what I was doing, where and how I could eat my next meal.

Simultaneously, India was mesmerizing.  The skylines, the colors, the chaos, the cows, the people at hostels!  Finding beauty after being stressed has a way of entering your body and bringing you peace and stillness.  There are moments in my mind of glorious skylines on my 18-hour bus ride from Mumbai to Udaipur after my train ticket was randomly cancelled and I had no backup plan.

 Things changed greatly after arriving to my ashram, Rishikesh Yog Peeth and Roshan, my instructor, became a great friend to everyone there.  There were loads of Indian men in Yogic training all whom we developed sweet friendships with.  I’m simply stating that the harassment comes for the poorest members of society.  And unfortunately, the poor are so immense and so poor that it’s in avoidable.

 Every time I left the ashram to ventured outside the harassment started.  Our ashram was tucked away into a hill but once we were out and in the town, person after person, family after family were in your face wanting something.  Pictures were among the most popular.  I couldn’t walk anywhere without getting countless requests to take pictures with me. The reason?  So people can claim they have a Western friend and therefore are wealthy enough to have good English and, thusly, are better than their friends and family.  However, if you said yes you were pulled, tugged and used.  No one was actually interested in talking to you.  This wasn’t a culture experience for everyone involved it was only to benefit the person with the camera.  You can only take so much of this before you devise a strict no pictures rule, buy a big hat and start walking with you eyes on the ground  (btw, this was when you were alone.  Being in a group was definitely different).

The stress of India was too much.  I didn’t have had that amazing, captivating experience you usually look for in an adventure.  I want to go back, but with my boyfriend, who’s tall and manly, and re-experience so many things; walking down the busy chaotic streets, eating in real restaurants (not always at my hostel and often alone in my room), being spontaneous and climbing into a rickshaw and going somewhere to drink a beer (when respectable) and watch the sun set.

 I went to India to experience the culture and I did!  Unfortunately, the poverty is so immense and prevalent it can’t be escaped.  For the most part, the people I met who weren’t immensely poor were fine and nice.  All my hostel owners, excluding one, were generous, informative and presented safe and relaxing environments including some wonderful conversations over long dinners.  It was a bittersweet journey.  I don’t regret anything I did but I learned loads and will go back much more prepared and with a better understanding of how India works and exists.

A Thankgiving in Prague.

Do you remember here and here, when I was depressed, unhappy and searching for a change?  I contacted all my friends in Europe and found myself with mini-vacations planned in Troyes, France and in Prague, Czech Republic.  I strategically planned Prague to be over Thanksgiving so I would be looking forward to the day rather than dread it for fear not being able to really celebrate it.

In an attempt to be very honest about my experience I have to say the city was truly great.  There was a lot to do but all not an overwhelming amount of attractions.  I never felt stressed or rushed then entire time and I was there for 3 days.  And its really safe!  I had to walk the street at 5am to catch my commuter tram to the airport bus and had the kindest interactions with people.  The bus driver even waited for me to run frantically across the street (I may have waited at the wrong stop). I would take my family there or recommended the city to anyone who hasn’t travelled much and is looking to start.

I made the silly mistake of planning the trip with an old friend.  A friend I haven’t seen in years and maybe, completely, forgot about her flakey and narcissistic habits.  At different parts of the trip I was kicked out of the room, ditched for an entire day (without explanation) and talked down too about petty things.  She also never spoke her feelings so I inadvertently would do things that annoyed her.   I would find out after we’d be at home and would receive passive aggressive facebook messages.  I really examined my entire relationship and realized, “Hey!  She’s not my friend”.  I sent her an honest email, written kindly, not berating her but to simply saying ‘I don’t believe you’re my friend and I need to get out of an unhealthy relationship’.  It was horrible and liberating at the same time.  The last time I did something this dramatic was in the early years of high school.  Morale of the story: be choosey with picking a travel buddy.  And if you travel partner is M.I.A. for 3 days before you’re suppose to meet up don’t depend on her at all. :)

So thats the truth.  The city and the adventures I had were truly nice; for example I don’t regret any touristy things I did.  I made friends at my hostel, took a fabulous free walking tour from Kate at Sademans resulting in a long lunch with new friends, explored the castle and drank my weight in big beers and hot wine.

1. Town square and walking tour 2.  Cathedral.  3.  Long winding roads from my hostel to the square.. 4.  The Castle at night  5.  The castle cathedral located with in the walls.  6.  View from the Prague Castle + hot wine. 7. Red Coconut curry at the vegan restaurant Lehka Hlava. 8.  View from Prague castle. 

1. Cheap snack. 2.  Wonderful walking tour. 3.  Sweet cinnamon Czech snacks. 4.  Town square 5.  Worlds most expensive ham. 6.  Non-vegan pumpkin pie.  7. The Czech clock tower. 8.  Vegan ‘pizza’ or fried dough with garlic paste and ketchup.

1.  Endemic berries 2.  First and grossest hot wine 3.yummmy red curry 4.  The streets at night. 5.  Jewish remembrance museum. 6.  Untouched town square pictures 7.  Cathedra.l 8.  Czech boys and there food. 

1.  Prague castle and the Charles bridge. 2. Beer shampoo  3. Cathedral 4.  Vegan chinese food.

Troyes, France

I’m back from France.   It was fun going somewhere other than Paris.  My first day in Troyes I wandered the streets while my friend went to school.  It’s small city and I was finished around 1pm but had to stay entertained until 5.  Fortunately, there were parks and bars to enjoy :)  Troyes is small and not touristy, there weren’t any tourist shops or any English.  There was, like every city in France, a tourist information center.  Here I was given a map with 2 1-hour long walks.  I mainly saw cute streets, churches and small museums.   I did get to walk through the Knights Templar museum.  I guess one of Templars’ meeting points was in the Troyes.  Who knew, hey?  The museum had English leaflets but I’m assuming they were translated on Google translate because it didn’t make much sense.  I ended the day with my friend and her boyfriend making dinner, playing cards, and drinking lots of French wine.

On the second and final day in Troyes, we had a lazy girls morning and then borrowed her boyfriends car, picked up her friend and his daughter and drove to the countryside of Champagne to go Champagne tasting!  We had a very detailed 2 hours tour of Chassenay d’Arce winery and then we’re given 6 types of Champagnes to try (all for free!).  When we got back to Troyes we went to a French dinner party.  (Everything was ham and cheese heavy so I ate beforehand cheapo pasta beforehand.)  It was a late dinner then we all sat around and talked.  Around 1am everyone headed out to go dancing.  I was told this was a very typical French dinner party. I woke up early the next morning and started my 14hr journey back home.

I did have a 2 hour break in Paris where I visited the famed tower.  And, can I be honest?  It was lackluster.  I’ve been to Paris twice before; at night I think the Eiffel Tower is gorgeous but during the day it was, kind of, a let down (can I say that?).  The metro stop had a very bustling outdoor market surrounding it.  I ran through it for about 10 minutes with my hugh backpack.  I didn’t see any specialized vegan foods but I did eye a lot of French bread, cheese and meats.  Then I got on the bus and we drove through northern France, Belgium and southern Netherlands.

The view when exiting my friends house.

Day 1:

My walking tour.

I decided to not edit any of my pictures.

Everything was so beautiful!

This church was very special because of the roof.

I believe it was the oldest church in Troyes and was built during a more eclectic period in French history.

The Knights Templar museum

Beer time

Day 2:

We were searching for pumpkins and founds goats and donkeys.

Don’t be fooled by the blue skies.

It 3 degrees Celsius and very windy.

Champagne tasting

Day 3:

The tower.

Since both myself and my friend are poor we mainly ate food at home.  I didn’t really venture into eating French vegan food.  I did eat lots of baguettes!