the Philippines and more

alright its been a while but let me catch you up on what i've been doing. The group and I left for the Philippines. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:15 but we were delayed till 12:15. This actually worked out well because the airline gave us a meal pass that we could use pretty much anywhere. So i spent it on some pizza. The airport was so massive that we spent the rest of the time looking around and exploring until our flight was delayed again. Even though we were kind of up set it wasnt to bad since we were going to sleep in the airport once we got to the Philippines anyway. Finally our flight took off and we made it to Manila where we just stayed up the whole night (just me, i was reading and watching everyones stuff as they all slept) and then got on our next flight to Kalibo. Once there we took a one and a half hour drive to Caticlan where we got on a boat to take us to Boracy. If you think that was an adventure, once we landed we had to take a tricycle. Yes a tricycle, which basically consisted of a small motor bike with a box cart attached to it, to get to out hostel. It was pretty interesting and we received even more interesting stares when we fit 6 people onto one (as seen here).

Once we finally got to our hostel everyone was happy to put their stuff away and relax for a little bit. The hostel was like a small village comprised for multiple huts. As far as the price goes it wasnt to bad. It was a bamboo room with 4 beds (6 people, the girls had rented a room at a different hostel) and the bathroom comprised of a sink with water that smell like crap, a toilet what the seat was kind of loose and a shower head right next to the toilet, with a drain in the middle of the floor. Even worse there was only cold water so that didnt make showering fun. but since we were only going to be there to sleep and change it didn't really matter. It also seemed like the ones who owned it lived there as well as their cousins or something of the sort. Every morning they would all be outside eating a mixture of different things for breakfast (a family feast). We were about a 2 min walk from the beach so after about an hour power nap we all got up and went out to explore in the 85 degree weather.


The next day we meet up with the girls and had breakfast and laid out on the beach most of the day. Tanning, making sand castles ( I made an alligator) and throwing the Frisbee around. Most of use got sun burnt this day. Clement got burnt the worse, he was only out for about an hour and he looked like a french cherry. He was soooo red. but that didn't stop clement from doing anything. That night we went out and found a nice place to eat right on the beach. While we eat there was live concerts going on (local singers and stuff) so the entertainment was a good addition to the amazing and cheap seafood we had. There was fire dancing later that night which was incredible too.


The next day was another beach day, relaxed, explored more of the island, went to a few bars. That night we to another awesome restaurant and later went to a bar on the other side of the island called the Jungle


The next day, we did some more exploring, some went snorkeling while some of us took ATV's to the top of a mountain to see a birds eye view of the islands. In all we had alot of fun on the beach and had some amazing seafood, but i was starting to miss Hong Kong. I was going to feel good to take a real shower.


Our last day in the Philippines we stayed a night in Manila in a nice hotel close to the airport. We explored the city a little and went to one of the malls (which was very big and had a lot of nice shops) but me and clement had no desire to explore a mall so we left and went into a taxi that took us to the financial district. Everyone said that manila was  nasty place thats very dangerous, but where clement and i went to was far from that stereotype. It was beautiful, with very nice buildings and a huge park in the middle that everyone was running around and doing stretches in. 


Now that i am back in Hong Kong and survived the Philippines, im just going to my classes and relaxing. Still exploring the city and going to some new areas. I will keep you all posted with whats going on. We have some big trips coming up later such as the great wall and the forbidden city but until then, its going to be class and going out occasionally on the weekends. until i post again, take care and i'll talk to you all soon