During the entire flight to Haneda I could feel my body readying itself to accept the warmth. Freezing my ass off in Western Japan was not quite my idea of the ideal Christmas, so I decided to shake it up a bit and meet my whole family in the rainbow state. Quite on a whim, I called mom sometime in October and this is how our conversation went.
"Hey mom, wanna meet in Hawaii for Christmas? You, me, Andrew, and Papa?"
"Yea sure, I'll just ask everyone else."
2 days later
"Cool when should we book?"
Totally a random decision turned out so GLORIOUS! I love Hawaii. I've only been there one time before and I'm pretty sure I didn't do any of the main touristy things except for sit of a beach and burn my ass for 12 days. It was the epitome of vacation and I promised myself that one day, I would move there.
Unfortunately, half of the fam fam couldn't make it to the land of misty mountains and serene light blue sea. But one day, they will come and see why I love it so much. Andrew still came to spend some quality non-Christmas feeling Christmas time. I packed some little presents for his new apartment and wrapped them sloppily in magazine paper. Then hung up Christmas cards that my Buddhist Japanese students had made for me and decorated the room with one string of lights I bought from the 100¥ store. It was quite the Christmas sight to see, with the Waikiki skyline in the backdrop. I let him open the presents and throw the wrapping onto the floor like we do at our home. Just a small tradition. I didn't make breakfast casserole and I didn't make deviled eggs, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls or a pumpkin pie for dessert. We just celebrated the two of us being able to be together on Christmas which was perfect. After, we took advantage of the incredible sales running. Every store was open on Christmas. As I said, it didn't even feel like a holiday. Different but comforting, nonetheless.
Andrew and I did a lighthouse hike with Shawn to see one of the most amazing sunsets of our lives. The sky literally turned bright pink. Honestly, we didn't think there would be such a good sunset that night but we got really lucky.
After Andrew left, I spent my time sunning on the the beach. He's not such a fan of laying in the sun and burning, but I am! Shawn, Ali, and I went and played a bit on the beach and watched some awesome sunsets. I think, no I know, that is my favorite time of the day. Sunset.
And then there was New Years. I pick Shawn up from work at like 8ish and we go to eat in Hawai'i Kai's Outback. I ordered a much needed steak, seeing as they aren't too popular in Ramen-land. After stuffing ourselves to the brim, we settle on going to Waikiki for a couple.. a COUPLE of drinks... watching the fireworks at midnight and then coming back the house. Hm. So we started at this bar that was right next to the Jimmy Buffet restaurant. I'm pretty sure the bars name was something like 'The Surf Bar.' It had lights hanging from surfboards and some 1970 video of men ridin cute little waves replaying on the TV. After the 4th Vodka Sprite with lime and a balloon penis hat gift from the bartender... we grabbed a Blue Moon at the Jimmy Buffet restaurant. At 15 minutes to midnight we decide... "We definitely need champagne for midnight!" and we scurried to the nearest ABC store to grab 2 $7 bottles and sprint to the beach... avoiding all cops.
We found a prime spot next to a paddle boat in front of the water and waited 5 minutes for the countdown. Shawn popped his champagne 2 minutes too early (and he'll kill me for writing that bc I made fun of him way to much for it). At midnight we shook it up at blasted the top into the air with the crowd screaming and craziness ensuing. Behind us was a family (bros, sis, and cousins) of Japanese people and we joked with them while watching their drunk 17 year old cousin run back and forth into the ocean in sheer bliss.
Walking out of Waikiki beach I jumped in a photo with these 4 Japanese boys who all turned out to be my age. From there, complete insanity ensued. We went to the boys hotel room, chugged a beer and ventured to the Red Lion for some $3 LITs and a ridiculous amount of tequila shots and dancing. Shawn discovered his international translator that night.
Somewhere between Red Lion and tequila shot number (##)('92837498'"#)(987 Shawn and I woke up... sand in our mouths.. vomit on our shoulders.. sunrise in the distance... on Waikiki beach... with no recollection of how we got there. Perfect. :)
The next couple of days were pure recovery and then I said my goodbyes to the tiny pacific island that I would one day return to and ventured onto the land of motor tricycles, famous pig head meat, and never-ending hissing from ambitious Philippine men.
Philippines: January 3rd-January 8th
Arriving in the Manila International Terminal is easy, but getting anywhere is quite the adventure. I had booked a flight with ZestAir to Kalibo at 11:40 for the same night but supposedly 6 hours after the previous arrival from Hawaii. Here's a quick rundown of how I got to Kalibo...
-Waited 30 minutes for the shuttle to ZestAir terminal.
-Waited 3 hours to check-in (my fault) but watched the most ridiculous soap operas of my life on tv with at least 20 airport workers not doing anything.
-Met a really Philippine man named Patrick who works in Saudi Arabia. He showed me photos and let me play with his amazing cameras while we waited an extra hour delay for our flight.
-Got to Kalibo at 140am tired and ready to crash.
-Took a trike, the driver took me to the wrong hotel trying to sell me that one instead of mine... after telling him I had a reservation at the other hotel he delivered me to La Esperanza Hotel.
-Woke the hotel staff up at 2ish am to grab my room.
To Boracay.
I ate at a Chinese fast food place for breakfast called Chow King. Then asked where to take the bus to Caticlan to get to Boracay. They said take the Ceres bus which was right around the corner. So, I got on a bus.. But it was the wrong bus.. So they stopped and dropped me in the middle of the road. This other dude got off who was Philippine and 19 and was like I have to go back too... So we took a tricycle and chatted a bit back to the bus station. Then a little man selling spicy fried shrimp in a bag helped me find the right bus but I still didn't buy his nasty shrimp...
I took a 2 hr bus ride for only $2 to the ferry port. Took a ghetto ass speed boat for like $10 to the island. Then a Trike for too much money PHP100 (It should be PHP10-14) to some dirt road... Then walked along the beach to get to my hotel. But the hotel was so nice. I stayed at Villa Camilla. By nice I mean it was nice for 3rd world. The staff was so cheery and kind which was a change from the non-working people I had previously come in contact with. Immediately after getting into my room, I put my bathing suit on and headed for the clear water, white sandy beach. It was so beautiful and hardly anyone was around. Peace.
I laid out and floated about in the water for a good hour or so before this little man name Aroli approached me trying to sell me some boat ride. Although I didn't want to do anything after not sleeping for 25 hours the day before, he said something about an ATV ride through the mountain to see a view of the whole island. This sounded like a cute little adventure so at 330 I took another overpriced PHP100 trike to the ATV place. I received half price because Aroli was friends with the guys that worked there so I only paid PHP1600 for the trip. I received a guide a whole head shorter than me but the same age, who told me to call him two different names. He was a sweetie though. We trekked along the smooth, non-dangerous concrete path stopping at a bird farm and then the peak of the mountain. We climbed some stairs at a hotel in order to see the real view. It was beautiful and you could see the whole island- 1/2 where they do windsurfing and the other half with White beach where the waves are calm and the wind a slight breeze. That night I settled on the restaurant next to the hotel for a San Mig beer and some pork something for dinner. Cost PHP350.
The next day, laying on the beach, Aroli somehow found me again. He offered me a boat tour for PHP1000 for four hours to go around the whole island with lunch included. Sounds like a plan... and I had a nice relaxing day seeing the surrounding tiny islands and eating traditional Philippine foods for lunch. Along this journey I met 2 really sweet Singaporean girls and another single traveler from S. Africa, Craig. Quite fun and chill people. Although the trip wasn't full of crazy wave crashing and boulder diving, the relaxing wind and one vitamin D was much needed. Although I had a bit too much sun and ended up with the sexiest not so sexy burn I have ever experienced all over my body. No, I take that back.. the 2nd not sexy burn I've ever had. (1st was the first time surfing in Hawaii - blisters covering the entirety of my legs)
The third day it rained. I studied some Japanese and sipped tropical drinks at the hotel bar. One of the hotel guys also fixed my boot with a huge bottle of some kind of glue while we watched the first season of glee on TV.
Getting to Manila was impressive.
I woke up at 6am showered ad took a tricycle to the port... Then some guy like greeted me and asked me if I was going to Kalibo airport (which I was). And he said he had a service boat+bus for $4 (PHP200) so I took it. Got on the most ghetto ass boat with all my luggage.. Then got into a van were they had to bungy all the doors shut.... So then I waited 4 hours for my flight .. I was thinking "maybe I should get a pedicure". They have a place in the terminal that does it. It was hella cheap so I said what the hell. I sit down and one girl starts doin my feet and the other starts doing my nails. Like I got a manicure for free. Then I felt bad so I tipped them extra. And then they felt bad so they gave me a full body massage. Then I studied some Japanese and ate a hamburger made many days ago. It was weird and the ketsup here is sweet. Weird.
So I got on the plane.. When I got off I waited like 30min to catch a taxi to the right bus terminal. When I got to the terminal they said the last bus going where I wanted to go left 3 hours ago. And they directed me to another bus line to take. So I trekked around the block... Men whistling from all directions. It was hilarious.
Then I took the bus called "5 Star Bus" and meet an old Australian dude who lives in Manila named David. We take the bus for 2 hours and he says he should probably help me get to my hotel bc it's a crazy place.
So we jump in this party jeep (is what it looks like but it's actually used to transport people). It's called a jeepney. And we pay like $.14 and jump... Literally jump off when we want to get off and we jumped off in the Redlight district. Then I took another jeepney to my hotel.
I slept in 'America Hotel' which I think is code-named for 'all Australian men hire a Philippine woman for the night and bring her here for fun times yay!' I was the only white female guest. But the staff was really sweet and the hotel was only PHP1150 for the night. Good deal.
I took an overpriced cab PHP400 the next day, directly to Clark International Airport. I decided to avoid jumping off a jeepney in the morning. I waited in line for them to fix some glitch in the system. In the meantime I took advantage of their wireless connection. I paid my PHP600 terminal fee and eased through inspection. It's very nice for that. I flew AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: January 8th-9th
I had a row of 3 seats all to myself on the flight. Row 26 SCHWING! The seats were really tight with no leg room but what the hell.. the flight was really cheap.
Arriving in Kuala Lumpur LCC Terminal is like complete day and night change from Manila. There are actually stores and places to take busses. Its really organized. The only prob.. my bank froze my account... but easily resolved by cashing in all of my Japanese Yen an USD to get Malaysian Ringgits. Hah it was definitely enough. I took a bus for RM8 (like $3) to KL Sentral and then an Monorail to the Bukit Bintang station to take a 5 minute walk to Pujangga Homestay. (a hostel for RM32) So cheap (US$10). Granted its next to a night club but if you have ear plugs its no problem. I walked to the famous Petronas Towers and ate a place called Dome with amazing fish and chips. As I started walking back I met an interesting guy named Ezz and his friend Ash who are here studying engineering but originally from Dubai. We walked for about an hour, chatting and then settled on some coffee at a posh little cafe. Such interesting people. I learned a lot about the Muslim culture in just 2 hours. I feel like I should study. ... ok...
note to self: study some religion before coming back.
And now I'm on my way to Tokyo then off to Roanoke for 2 weeks to help my momma! Rock and rollllllllll yo.
