Cherry Blossom Season in South Korea

It's been an exceptionally long winter in South Korea.  While every one in America was wearing tank tops and playing bocce ball in freaking March, I was still wearing a winter coat while teaching inside my school.  Yes, that's indoors!  A couple weeks ago spring finally decided to show up to the party and this can be verified by all the trees sporting cherry blossoms.  The cherry blossoms begin showing up at the beginning of spring and stick around for maybe over a week.  In this brief period the city looks quite beautiful and winter depression melts away while we place our long underwear at the bottom of the drawer.

As the cherry blossoms bloom with the arrival of spring, so do the amateur photographers.  After computer games and hiking, photography is probably the biggest hobby in South Korea.  Standing next to each tree is a young Korean with a $5,000 camera with a lens the size of the Stanley Cup attached.  How could I blame them though?  The scenery is beautiful and there's little time to capture it.  I decided to join the fun (with a bite-size camera by Korean standards) and here are some of my pictures:

Get outta that tree!

Jesus and the Cherry Blossoms

The new trend in South Korea: Couple's Raincoats

Attack of the Ladyboys: Traveling Through the Philippines Part 2

The second half of my traveling began in Donsol.  This town is famous for one thing; whale sharks.  The whale shark is not so much a shark as it is the world's largest species of fish.  It's a freindly animal and it spends most of its time swimming around with its huge mouth open sucking in plankton.  Oh yeah, the whale shark can grow up to 40ft.  It eats a lot of plankton.  Every year the whale sharks migrate to the shores of Donsol around February to feed.  They usually stick around until summer and then migrate to where ever it is whale sharks migrate.

Sheesh, chew your food.

As far as the Philippines go, this was my favorite place.  I never felt like a walking ATM, but I actually felt like a welcome guest.  I believe this is because the locals are extremely proud of the whale sharks.  There is whale shark decor everywhere and the locals love the fact that this is one of the only places in the world where people can swim along side the beast in the open ocean.  Let's hope it stays that way!

Whale Shark Decor

We were there at the very beginning of whale shark season, so we were nervous as sightings could be infrequent.  We boarded a boat with three spotters and a driver.  They drove back and forth off the shore for what must have been two hours.  The first hour we kept our eyes to the water hoping to spot the beast.  The second hour we tried not to close our eyes and succumb to an inevitable boredom nap.  Then suddenly the excitement began and I mean SUDDENLY.  Just when I was getting comfortable on my towel turned pillow, the main spotter was yelling at the driver to steer towards a small fin just above the water surface and simultaneously yelling at us to get our asses to the front of the boat and get the snorkel gear on!  Then he yelled at us to jump in the water NOW as he leapt off the boat.  Next thing I knew I was swimming behind other people's fins looking down for something huge.  Then it was over.  Unfortunately I didn't see it but others did.  The water was unexpectedly cloudy as a result of plankton everywhere.  The ones who saw it said the whale just came out of the mist of plankton without notice and they were suddenly face to face with a fish over the size of 30ft.  I got back on the boat filled with envy.

How can I miss something this big?  It was cloudier than this picture, I swear!

While others back on the boat boasted about what they saw, I sat there with my head down as the spotters began the process again.  Then just as I thought it was going to be time to head back home, the spotter began the yelling again and I was back on the front of boat ready to jump in to the unknown.  This time was much different.  When I got in to the water a whale shark the size of a bus swam directly under me from out of nowhere.  I turned and swam next to it for what must have been a full minute.  I was so close at one point I could have grabbed its top fin and hitched a ride.  The experience felt so surreal that after it swam in to the depths of the ocean I thought I must have dreamed it.  However, we got back on the boat and had three more sightings!  I don't have a water proof camera but I probably looked like this swimming next to the whale shark:

My what a big fish you are.

We were so lucky our first time out that we decided to lounge around the bungalows the next day because there's no way the second time could be as good.  In the middle of the day Caroline mentioned hearing the faint sound of bees buzzing with in the wall of our bungalow.  There were also a few bees chilling on the wall.  Thinking that bees don't usually hang out with people indoors, we alerted the staff.  Two guys came over and pried off a piece of the outside wall to discover a fully functioning hive in honey making mode.  One of the fellows decided the next course of action was to blow cigarette smoke in to the wall.  This of course sent the bees in to a frenzy as bees tend to do when you annoy them.  Cigarette smoke only pissed them off so the next step was to pry off more wall and stick flaming branches in there.  I had been curiously watching outside when the thought popped in to my head that the bungalow is probably going to to turn in to a bonfire.  I rushed in to the bungalow to get our belongings to find it filled with smoke and angry bees.  Quickly I wrapped a wet towel around my head and began blindly grabbing for things to throw out the door.  I was able to get everything out with only one bee sting to the neck and minor smoke inhalation.  Great success!  The staff decided they better find us a new room for the night.

Not the bees! Listen to them in our wall.

Yup just stick that there burnin' branch in the hole.

Our heroes?

Any honey in there?

After Donsol Caroline had to go back to Korea to teach, but I still had a week left of vacation.  I wanted to go somewhere easy to meet people, so I decided to go to the Philippines "premier" destination; Boracay.  The island has a very nice and long white sand beach that is perfect for wasting the day away, but Boracay is one of the most overwhelmingly touristy places I have ever been.  Just off the beach are resorts that would cost me a week's budget for one night of accommodation.  Places with names like Shangri-La, Golden Phoenix, and Ambassador in Paradise.  I stayed in a hostel behind one of the big boy resorts.  Then there are huge tour groups of umbrella-holding Chinese tourists following a yellow flag up and down the beach while over-weight, ultra-tan, speedo clad Germans soak up the rays.  Then just when I am getting relaxed a Filipino carrying two hundred sunglasses asks if I want to buy sunglasses after I point at the sunglasses on my face.  Then another Filipino asks if I want to pay $30 to ride a wave-runner for 15 minutes.  After I decline another offer an old woman asks, "Sir, Ma'am, Sir massage?"  Yup, it's back to the walking ATM look, except this time on steroids.

Oh it's a good thing they have this beach.

Not only did I look like an ATM, but by being male it must have looked like I was desperate for some love.  And not the type of love between a man and a women, but the kind of love between a man and a ladyboy.  For those who haven't been to Southeast Asia, a ladyboy is a skinny Asian man who has made himself look very much like a lady.  Not the kind of lady that you see walking though a department store, but the kind of lady that lurks around dark lit avenues at night.  Boracay, the Philippines "premier" destination, is filthy with them after the sun goes down.  The funny thing is that I never encountered any prostitutes that were actually women.  It made me wonder about Boracay.

I was very tempted to put a picture of a ladyboy here, but then I didn't really feel like googling ladyboy.  So here's another picture I took of the beach.  Ooooh good thing they had this beach.

Boracay did have some good things, like cool people to hang out with and ridiculously cheap bottles of rum.  I met some people and we soon discovered the best way to spend an evening was on the beach with cheap rum, a chaser, and new friends.  One evening we decided to meet at a cluster palm trees with rum and supplies in tow.  I was the first one there and I was hanging out for just a few seconds when I heard the faint calls of "Sir?"  I looked around and from behind the palm trees heads were popping out. "Sir?"  I couldn't really tell who was behind the trees but I could see a few head shapes through the darkness.  "Um...yes?" I replied.  "Sirrrrrr?" is all the heads said and then suddenly there was a ladyboy standing right next to me grabbing my forearm.  (The story gets a little graphic here.)

"Come with me," the ladyboy demanded in a husky voice.
"Haha...no, why?" I replied nervously.
"Coooooome."
"I think you have the wrong idea, I'm meeting friends here.  They'll be here soon," I say as I glance around frantically.
"Just come on," the ladyboy pressed.
"No, friends.  You know friends.  So, no!" I said starting to get annoyed.  However, the ladyboy tightened the grip on my forearm.
"Come on, I give you message long term."
"Definitely NO.  Ok I really need to..."
"Come on, I suck you off on the beach,"  the lady boy insisted, to which I replied by with a frightened "Aahhh!", tearing my arm away, and fleeing to the closest bar for shelter.  I stayed hidden there and kept watch on the trees for my friends.  When one of the other guys arrived at the meeting point the same ladyboy was on him like a hobo on a muffin.  I ran over and grabbed my friend.  "He's with me!" I proclaimed as we struggled to break free from the death grip of an aggressive, almost rapist, prostitute with man hands.  Lesson: Palm trees are for something else when it is night time in Boracay.

I'll never look at you the same palm trees in Boracay.

There are more stories from Boracay (like being deathly ill for two straight days only leaving my hotel room for more medication and Gatorade, or the story about eating at a Lord of the Rings restaurant where all the servers are dwarfs), but I've written enough already.  In conclusion the Philippines make for some intense traveling, but I was glad I got to have the experience.  The scenery combined with friendly whale sharks combined with some cool people made the effort worth it.  However, I wouldn't recommend anyone to visit who can't stomach terrible poverty and the feeling of constantly being hustled.  It was interesting and nice to know you while it lasted Philippines.  Here's a few pictures to feast your eyes on:

Rum on the beach with Wade.  What I did at night after I ran away from the ladyboys.

Rum and laughs with Peter & Jodi.

I guess this is where they do kite surfing in Boracay.  I don't know how they don't run in to each other.

It looks fun!

A glorious sunset.

 

Sleeping in a Closet: Traveling Through the Philippines Part 1

The second part of our Winter Vacation 2012 took us to the Philippines.  I found that in this country you have to take the good with the bad.  I have what is referred to as a love hate relationship with the Philippines.  We had some fantastic and memorable experiences, but it was some of the most stressful traveling I have ever done.  It is the first country that has tested my limits as a backpacker, and I have been to many countries in Asia by this point.  I'm going to do that thing where I say something good about it before the insult so I can soften the blow.  Like when a girl says, "I love Tammy, she's like the greatest girl in the world, one in a million...but girl needs to take a shower because she smells like reheated Chinese take-out."  So if it sounds like I'm doing a lot of bitching about the Philippines it's because I am.

We encountered stunning scenery, beautiful ocean waters, ate some good meals, and met some very nice people.  However, the best way to describe the Philippines is a trailer park situated in a beautiful setting.  Or the Mexico of Asia but without the delicious cuisine and charming culture.  It's sometimes trashy, sometimes depressing, sometimes scary, and sometimes wonderful.  The whole time I was there I was a walking ATM.  Something to extract as much cash out of as possible.  I wasn't viewed as some one who wanted to soak up the country, take in the sights, do some relaxing, and gain some experiences.  I was viewed as some one who went to the Philippines, threw around all the cash I could, and get out.

Hey Philippines, where's the beach?

We didn't even bother with Manila after hearing all the horror stories about it.  We heard stories of horrible poverty, suffocating pollution, constant scams, dangerous alleys, and the overall opinion that the city is a dumpster fire.  The whole country is poor though.  There are full grown men hanging out everywhere in the streets.  Doing nothing but standing around and looking.  Some one I met compared it to India.  I've been to very poor countries before (Cambodia, parts of China) but I have never seen so many men wallowing on the side of the road.  I don't know what I'm implying, but either the country needs to hire some motivational speakers or everyone is receiving disability checks.

I only saw Manila from the inside of an airport or through a plane window.

The first place we flew in to was the overwhelmingly gorgeous island of Palawan.  When you arrive at a new location in the Philippines, whether by bus or plane, expect to encounter who I like to call "the piranhas".  When we walked out of the airport there were ten guys in our faces saying, "Get in my tricycle.  Give me your bag.  You have reservation?  Give me the money."  When we settled on one driver we next found out that accommodation is a big problem in the Philippines during the travel season.  Elsewhere in Southeast Asia I just find a place to sleep when I get there.  We learned quickly that you don't do this in the Philippines.  I blame the Chinese.  The tourism board for the Philippines must have a huge marketing campaign in China and it's working.  It's working very well.  The problem is there are a lot of people in China and they travel in huge groups of over twenty people.  That's a lot of hotel rooms.  So we spent our first night in Palawan in a utility closet with bunk beds too short for my 5'8" frame and a pack of fighting wild dogs outside our window all night.  Yay, welcome to the Philippines!

Notice how the mattresses curve up against the wall.

The next day we took a dusty seven hour bus ride to the city of El Nido in northern Palawan.  Luckily we made a reservation on the phone the night before.  This is when I discovered that customer service doesn't exist in the Philippines, and if it does then it's extremely awkward.  When you walk in to a store, restaurant, or hotel you are rarely noticed until you grab some one's attention.  My favorite moment was when I had enough of it and decided to do a little experiment.  Now remember everyone in the Philippines can speak English.  So I went in to a store, grabbed two bottles of water, and put them on the counter in front of the cashier woman.  Then it was the battle of who would make the first move.  She sat in her chair behind the counter staring at me and I stared right back at her.  After about a minute of complete silence I couldn't take it anymore and victory was her's.  I finally asked, "Do you want money for this water?"  Basking in her glory, she knew she had broken me and kept staring.  "HOW MUCH FOR THE WATER?!" I snapped at her.  She finally muttered, "50 pesos."  This was an everyday occurrence in the Philippines.

Clint couldn't even win a staring contest in the Philippines.

Another example of bad customer service, or just awkward customer service, is when you got in to a restaurant.  First, find your own table.  Second, wave for a server to come over and they will walk over and stare at you.  Third, say the word "menu".  Fourth, the server will give you the menu and continue to stand and stare at you until you order.  Fifth, take five minutes to decide between a ham and cheese sandwich or a chicken sandwich to punish the server for their horrible service.  Sixth, wait 45 minutes for the kitchen to make a simple sandwich.  Lesson, get to the restaurant 45 minutes before you're hungry.

Can't tell if they're taking their time make a delicious sandwich or they forgot.

My final example is prying the information out of customer service people who have the information you need.  This brings me to arriving in El Nido.  When we got to our hotel we walked in around 4pm and said we had a reservation.  They said "not ready" and did that damn staring thing I keep talking about.  So we asked, "When will it be ready?"  They answer "sometime" and stare.  We ask, "Can you say how many minutes?"  They answer "one hour" and stare.  We ask, "Can you tell us the problem?"  They answer "working on it" and stare.  So we leave and thus is the way of the customer service in the Philippines.

Anyway, I'm putting a break on the bitching and it's time for the wonderful.  The thing to do in El Nido is to go on boat tours of the surrounding islands.  The islands are limestone karst cliffs that rise out of the ocean and are surrounded by hidden beaches and lagoons.  To get to one hidden beach we had to swim through a hole in the rocks at the right time so a wave doesn't smash us against the roof of the hole.  We also swam around in a lagoon filled with caves, corral, and perfect blue water.  It was simply magnificent and here are some pictures:

The view from El Nido and the boats that take you out to the islands.

Such great scenery.

Caroline enjoying the beach.

Snorkeling in a lagoon.

Can you find the hidden beach?  Yeah it's there.

Beautiful

The captain of our boat, a chain smoking sixteen year old.

The clear blue waters of the lagoon.

A good spot for a picnic on the beach.

After a few days of taking boat tours in El Nido, we traveled back down to central Palawan to see the subterranean river in Sabang.  It was voted as one of the new seven wonders of the world.  I don't know if it really deserves that entry, but I'll happily put in the category of pretty cool.  They put you in a tiny boat and a guide rows you 1.5 kilometers in to the belly of the river.  The river actually goes for 8km, but tourists are only allowed so far.  There are literally millions of bats that live in the cave.  Pointing the flashlight up revealed the most bats I have ever seen in my life.  I found out why the mosquito population is low in that area.  It was a worthwhile experience and here's a few pictures:

In Sabang!

Taking a pose in front of the subterranean river.

A helmet for protection.

Almost in the cave.

Oh and watch out for the giant lizards that guard the cave.

The post is getting along so I'm dividing it in to two parts.  In Part two you can expect whale sharks, bees, lady boys, and some more ranting.  In the meantime here is video of the 800 meter long zip-line we found when hiking in Sabang:

Dodging Falling Rocks in Taiwan

So I just got back from a much needed four week vacation.  The cold of Korea was settling in to my bones and the middle school students were making me want to break bones.  As soon as I could I was on a plane going south.  The first part of the trip was to Taiwan to see our very good friend Ms. Kerri Davidson.  Taiwan could also be called China 2.0.  It looks a lot like China except without the yellow air, black rivers, and blatant propaganda.  Hey, where's Mao Zedong?  Taiwan also has a nice dose of democracy, civil rights, and open press.  To loosely quote Kerri, "It's like China but without all the bad stuff."  It's no wonder the Chinese are only able to visit in tour groups.  They stay on the bus, get off to take as many pictures as possible of a landmark, and get back on the bus to go back to the hotel.  The Chinese Communist Party doesn't want its people to take notice that essentially the same people are thriving in a free country.  Who knows what they tell them on the tour?  I'm sure it's something like, "The Taiwanese hate voting and everyday pray to the Communist Party to save them."  Or, "Look at what China has done for Taiwan.  Yeah this is all China baby!"

"Sure, it's your country Taiwan."

It's all a little confusing to say where Taiwan's place is in the world.  They are controlled by the Republic of China.  Mainland China is controlled by the People's Republic of China.  So Taiwan is part of China but it's not.  Taiwan was populated by Chinese people escaping the Communist Party's takeover in the late 1940's.  So Taiwan's identity is Chinese, but they are separate from the other Chinese.  Chinese People + Island + Freedom - Mainland China + Political Tension - Delicious Chinese Food - Environmental Disaster + Friends With Benefits For The USA = Taiwan.

"Wait...what?"

Enough of that nonsense, let's talk about traveling.  The first thing you do when you get to Taiwan is rent a scooter.  The country has a hardcore scooter culture.  It's only about twelve dollars to rent a scooter for a day and it seems like the gas tank never loses any fuel.  I spent half my time in Taiwan sitting on a scooter seat and it was great!

Ms. Davidson acted as our tour guide for the duration of the trip and the best thing she took us to was Taroko Gorge.  It was one of the most dramatic and beautiful places I have ever seen.  It was unexpected because I had never heard of Taroko Gorge before a couple months ago.  I believe it is one of Asia's best kept secrets.  And I'm going to shamelessly blow the lid off it!  Taroko Gorge was formed as many gorges are formed; by erosion from rain water and a river over millions of years.  However, the mountains in the area are marble and marble is hard and resistant to erosion.  So this particular gorge is narrow with very steep sides.  The area is also prone to seismac activity and this has warped the marble in some of the cliffs.

The Explorer Look

 

The real attraction is the road that cuts through the gorge.  It is an engineering feat.  It is mostly hangs off of cliffs, cuts in to the cliffs, or tunnels through the mountains.  450 workers were killed in its construction and they are represented by the Eternal Springs Shrine at the start of the road.  It is on many people's lists as one of the most dangerous roads in the world.  I couldn't wait to drive up it.  There are warnings everywhere for falling rocks and with good reason.  Scattered on the road are freshly fallen small or medium sized rocks.  But the real danger is the tour buses.  I can't believe they are allowed on this road.  Some parts of the road are so narrow an SUV could barely make it through.  These tour bus drivers have no fear and miss rock ledges and scooters by centimeters.  However, with my expert scooter skills I was able to survive the twists, turns, sheer drop offs, falling rocks, and insane bus drivers to make it to the end of the gorge.  It was totally worth it.

The Eternal Springs Shrine

Besides Taroko Gorge there isn't really much else to go in to great detail about.  It was sad that with such a huge Chinese influence, food in Taiwan is very below average.  We ate at a Chinese restaurant on maybe our second day and it was horrible.  Kerri explained that Taiwanese are so hard working that cuisine is often overlooked and fast food is preferred.  They have places called "Lunch Boxes" that serve rice with some vegetables and a piece of meat thrown on top.  This is the meal of choice for them.  So we found ourselves eating a lot of western food.  However,  we did find a one Michelin star dumpling restaurant that was delectable.  Also, it was surprisingly expensive to go out to have some drinks, but that never stopped us.

Mmm, one Michelin star dumplings.

Overall, Taiwan was a great experience.  I'm glad I had a friend there or else I might have missed it.  When the Portuguese landed in Taiwan they named it Formosa, which is Portuguese for beautiful island.  After seeing the gorge, the forests, the beaches, and the people, I would say I agree with Portugal.  I think that's the first time I've ever said that.

Enjoy some random pictures from Taiwan:

Taipei 101 - Second Tallest Building in the World

This market is too crowded.

Kite Flying

Random Outdoor Choir

Inside a pagoda.  Trippy.

A windy day at the beach in Kenting, Taiwan.

Taken from an abandoned amusement park/active bar.

From the abandoned amusement park.

Watch out for killer centipedes, killer bees, and killer snakes in Taiwan.

At the top of a jungle.