Day 145 - Princes' Island

We woke up to a nice Turkish breakfast made by our host, Ahmet. It consisted of breads with olives, cheeses, and tomatoes, and a Turkish egg dish called Menemen, made with eggs, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and peppers. My first Turkish cultural experience was with food, which I can't argue with!

The first stop on my Istanbul/Turkey tour was Princes' Island, which was a 25 minute ferry ride from the Asian coast. We had a good group of CSers - Anto from India, Benny from Germany, Ahmet from Turkey, and me. I had my first Turkish tea on the ferry ride, which is one of the most popular drinks to have in this country. They are served on small tea cups made of thin glass to prevent the tea from cooling too soon.

There are nine islands that consist of "Princes' Island" and we visited the 2nd biggest island - The Island Chalcitis or Halki (Copper) because of the copper mines that used to be located in the southern parts of the island. The island was small and quiet for this time of year, due to the changing seasons, but we were lucky to catch some sunshine on our visit.

There were old, dilapidated wooden houses next to well-kept houses and Victorian Villas, each with its own character. We bought some lunch and took a horse carriage up to the Christos Monastery and had a picnic with a nice view of the sea in the distance. The air was fresh and clean, a stark change from my travels in most of Asia.

Later on at night, Ahmet cooked us all Turkish Manti (small meat ravioli with yogurt and a mix of spices) while we tried some of the local beers and spirits - raki, which is an anise-flavored drink similar to absinthe. You mix the raki with water, and it turns a cloudy white. The food was excellent, but I usually don't like licorice-flavored things, so the raki wasn't a favorite. Again, so much good food!

Ferry ride to Princes' Islands

Christos Monastery

There are plenty of stray cats scattered throughout Istanbul. It's funny, because all I saw were stray dogs everywhere in Nepal. 

Turkish Manti (meat ravioli with yogurt and spices)

The Local Turkish Beer

Turkish Tea

Day 64 - Coral Island

Quang and I decided to head to an island outside of Dirty Pattaya to see something cleaner and more relaxing. Stuck in this city and feeling out of place amongst the fat, old, and ugly sexpats, we walked past the Walking Street to get to the Balihai Pier to book a boatride to Coral Islands.

The fare was 150 baht roundtrip with our choice of what part of the island we wanted to be dropped off at, we chose the one with the whitest sand. It seems most of the younger Russians and Indians joined us on this trip to actually see a worthwhile beach. The beach was nice, but everything felt cramped, with a bunch of umbrellas and beach chairs all next to each other and only a small patch of sand between the water in front and the restaurants/bars behind. I decided to just relax in my beach chair the whole time while Quang went into the water. We forgot to bring food and water with us, so we had to pay exorbant prices for our lunch and drinks.

After getting back to Pattaya, we walked along the beach trying some more street food for dinner, including Crab Pad Thai, and some chicken hearts on a stick. I grabbed a beer at the 7-eleven and felt strange drinking beer while walking down the street and in a mall...We headed back to the Walking Street to check it out again since it would be our last night here before heading back to Bangkok...

Day 39 - Last Night in Boracay

Last full day in Boracay, and I know that I am already going to miss it. I guess I really needed this break from the stress of traveling. I usually get bored of doing the same thing day after day, but there was something special about this beach. People tell me that Boracay has lost it's magic over the years due to the effects of tourism, and that I should visit Palawan, but I am thoroughly enjoying myself here!

There weren't too many people in the area this time of year since the Philippines' Summer Vacation was in April/May, but that was OK since the beaches were less crowded. There were a good number of Koreans and Taiwanese tourists though. I didn't realize how close the Philippines was to Taiwan...shows how much I know about the geography of SE Asia, but hey, I'm learning from this trip.

Started the morning with another plate of Cornsisig, which has become a favorite of mine so far in the Philippines, before heading back to the beach. I got to catch up on a little reading on my Kindle, since I had been neglecting it so far throughout the trip, read a little more about Lizzy Bennett's mischaracterization of the charming Mr. Darcy on her trip to visit her newly-married best friend Charlotte...

I went back to the shopping area to buy the obligatory tourist shirts from Boracay. It's tough having to pick and choose the shirts I want, because I know I will have to retire some shirts from the journey, lest I carry them as added weight along my trip. I purchased the typical colorful Boracay tank and tee from a couple of girls who thought I was Filipino, and complimented my teeth. :) I should thank my orthodontist.

By dusk, I tried to take some pictures of the sunset, but the weather was overcast and the sunset was hidden by the clouds in the sky. Seeing it was my last night out, Chad made a special appearance tonight to wish me well on my travels, even though he had a long day of work today and anticipated another long day tomorrow. I told him that I'd see him in the United States, since he planned on moving there in the next few years because his mother was already living there, but he didn't sound too excited about it. I would have thought that most people would be eager to move to the United States, but he said the same thing that I had heard my friend in Vietnam say. He wasn't looking forward to it because he knew the job prospects would not be good, being that he wasn't American. 

I asked Chad where he was travelling next and he'd be spending a lot of time travelling throughout his home country because there is so much to see here. I think there are over 60 airports here and so many different islands all clustered to make this one great country. You could only imagine how many different places there are to see. I wish I booked a longer stay here, so I could see more of what is offered. Maybe I'll come back in a couple years...or months? Who knows?

We went back to the beach once the sun set and listened to some of the live bands playing in the restaurants lining the beach shore. Chad is somewhat of a local celebrity on the small island, so I met some of his friends, including one of the guitar players, and some of his friends dressed in drag. After a couple beers, we headed to one of the local nightclubs called Epic, and danced until around 3:30am. The islanders party hard and the clubs don't close until the sun rises, but I was ready to sleep as it was way past my bedtime. A perfect farewell night in Boracay with good, friendly people.

Cornsisig

Obligatory Beach Photos

Nearing sunset on the Beach

Mark and I, tanned after 2 nights

Day 38 - Boracay Island Day 2

The second day in Boracay was pretty much a duplicate of the first, and I think the next few days will be a wash, rinse, and repeat as well. I mean, what else is there really to do on a beach island than doze off under the sun, catch up on reading, drink beer, and take a dip in the calm and shallow waters? I thought this was the perfect plan, since I was not a fan of water sports.

I booked 3 nights here because I thought that would be the perfect amount of time for me to enjoy the location without getting bored. I'm don't think of myself as a beach person. Normally, I would go to the beach maybe twice a year, and even then, I would only lay under the sun for a couple of hours before finding any excuse to leave.

I think it was different here because the beach was just so beautiful, nothing like the dirtiness of OC or LA beaches. Also, the water was so calm that I could float in the waters without freaking out if a wave were to crash over me as I gulped down the salt water.

Mark and I decided to get breakfast in the morning and I tried Cornsisig for the first time, which was a plate consisting of fried eggs, rice, and corned beef. So far so good with the Filipino food. I wasn't so sure that I would enjoy the food here since most of it is pretty heavy and greasy.

We then headed to the beach again and picked a spot along the beach to chill out. I think we literally spent about 8 hours on the beach, getting slowly drunk off the beers. We talked a little about some of his aspirations, and he said he hoped to retire in 10 years, in his mid-thirties by investing in various real estate in the Philippines and Texas. One thing I liked about his plans were his ability to vocalize and externalize his hopes and dreams. The more you make it known to the world, and to yourself, the more likely something like this would come to fruition.

He then told me he had a fake eye, which I had been trying to figure out for the past two days because he didn't really look me in my eyes when he talked. It was funny because I told him I thought his fake eye was the one that was working when it was the other one all along.

By our 6^th beer or so, we started having a deep conversation about religion and whether there was an absolute truth in the universe. It's funny how drunkenness can lead to such conversations when I don't think I would normally talk about or express my ideas on such abstract topics. Being drunk, I don't remember much about what ideas were thrown around...

After beaching it, we headed back to the main shopping/restaurant area and attempted to scale the rock climbing wall there. I was a little nervous about the safety of the apparatus since I don't know what type of safety standards are used in the P.I., but my intoxication lead me to climb the Easy and Medium sections of the wall. Mark had trouble on the Medium section of the wall, and it was funny to see the crowd form around him.

Chad was at work the entire day, but invited me to his boss's 40^th birthday celebration at the end of the night. His boss was a woman from England who married a Filipino and settled in Boracay, owning a couple resort properties and a beauty product shop along the beach. It was here that I saw my first glimpse of the karaoke culture of Filipinos. No magic mic was used, but instead, a karaoke machine was rented with a television in the center and speakers attached on the bottom. Songs were sang in both tagalog and english. And we all had endless amounts of wine and rum and cokes before calling it a night.

The Rock Climbing Wall we scaled at night

Birthday Party at Boracay Hills Resort

A Must-Have at Every Filipino Party

What's in your Head? In your Head? ZOMBIE...ZOMBIE...ZOMBIE...

Day 37 - Arrival in Boracay Island, Philippines

So much jetlag from all the flying. By the time I arrived in Boracay, I was exhausted from the lack of sleep, jumping from plane to plane to get to Boracay. The worst flight was the Cebu Pacific flight that I took from HCMC to Manila since I had an emergency exit row seat, and the chairs didn't recline. I had to try sleeping on the foldaway table in front of me.

It was comforting to hear the banter of all the Filipinos speaking in Tagalog at the airports and airplanes though. For some reason, it made me feel safe, since it was something I was familiar with, with all the Filipino friends I have back at home.

Getting to the Boracay Island was quite a task with a bunch of departure/arrival/environmental fees that I had to pay at each stopping point. I had to pay 200 pesos to leave the NAIA airport in Manila headed to Caticlan. Once I arrived at Caticlan, I had to pay around 200 additional pesos for an environmental fee, arrival fee, tricycle fee, and boat ride to Boracay Islands. Then, I had to hire another tricycle driver in Boracay to get to my destination - another 150 pesos.

I was going to stay with another CS host again in Boracay. He was at work when I arrived at his home, but had his friend there to welcome me. Another CSer was staying with him too, so I'd have some company around the island during my 3 night stay.

The entire island is very small, and it'd probably take less than 30 minutes to get from the south of the island to the north by tricycle. There were 3 popular areas for tourists on the island called Boat Station "1" "2" and "3" based on actual boat stations used in the past to get to the island. Now, there are different Ports to get to the island, but the popular areas are still called "Boat Station" 1-3, despite not really being stations.

We headed to Boat Station 2, the center of all the tourist activity with restaurants, stores, and bars. The whole area reminded me of being in Hawaii. We decided to get some breakfast, and I would have my first Filipino meal of the trip. I had bulalo (beef marrow) soup and a sweet and spicy chicken with rice dish.

Afterwards, I got the first glimpse of the white sands of Boracay. We stationed ourselves in an area where there were a couple beach chairs to sit on and relaxed for most of the day in the sun, reading books and taking quick naps.

The other CSer, Mark, was Filipino, teaching English in China, and originally from the United States. I spoke with him about what he knew about the Philippines - and we brushed a little on the political climate of the country. Seems like there is always something to criticize about the current president, Benigno Aquino III, and how effective he has been while in office. Mark told me that the Filipino public is not really educated or concerned on making the right choices when voting for government officials, and they end up criticizing the president for lack of effort. They vote for famous people, like Manny Pacquio only to realize that these people don't really have the skills to take on such a role. The current president is the son of former president Gloria Acquino, and he probably won the title of president because of that... I guess this can relate to the politics in America (Bush Jr) and California (Schwarzenegger)..

After beach bumming, we met up with our CS Host Chad, and headed to the market to get some seafood since Chad would be cooking dinner for us! I'd get an authentic home-cooked meal on my first day here!

The dinner was delicious, and consisted of fish, squid, and octopus, along with rice. We had dinner the Filipino way by eating with our hands, and I learned the special technique of holding the food with four fingers while pushing it into your mouth with your thumb. I'd eaten with my hands before while eating Ethiopian food, but never with Filipino Food.

The rest of the night was spent lounging around and drinking our San Miguels and Red Horse beers until we were too exhausted to go out..

Flight from Manila to Caticlan

Tricycle ride along the main road

Bulalo Soup

Sweet & Spicy Chicken with Rice

Seafood Market

Chad, Mark, Rose, Me, and Jerome

Home-cooked Filipino Dinner

Day 20 - Funky Monkey Boat Tour

I heard a little about this boat tour from my old housemate, who sent me a link from someone else who had done this tour. It was mostly a party on a ship, with short stops at four different islands around Nha Trang. More emphasis on PARTY than anything else. All the tour companies around the city had this type of tour available, but "Funky Monkey" really pulled me in with the advertisement since it looked more like fun than any of the others.

The tour bus picked me up, along with many Vietnamese families who were probably in the city for the Beach Festival. We were shuttled to the pier, where tens of boats all floated on the dock, waiting to be packed with locals and foreigners alike. My boat consisted of mostly Vietnamese families and a couple Dutch and German guys who worked in Saigon, but were in Nha Trang for vacation. Each of them had a Vietnamese girl by their side.

The first stop was on an island that had an aquarium (Tri Nguyen) that housed many giant fishes. Nothing too exciting here, except for the fact that they had so many HUGE fishes in such SMALL tanks... There was also a small enclosed area with fishes and giant sea turtles that you could feed.

Next, we sailed to the next island, where we could snorkel along the shallow waters. I've had pretty dismal experiences snorkeling, mostly relating to me freaking out in the saltwater. Since I don't really know how to swim very well, I tend to panic easily when I'm in open waters, even when wearing a life jacket. The same thing happened here, when I jumped into the water and tried to swim to shore, which took so much energy. Once I was on shore, I realized that I would have to swim again to get back onto the boat... I snorkeled for many a couple minutes, before swimming back onto the boat, more concerned about getting back safely than looking at the pretty fishes and coral. By this point, the fun began, when some of the guests jumped off the top of the boat into the waters and relaxed on lifesavers while drinking Tiger Beers.

During this time, I noticed one of the girls,who came with one of the white guys, sitting alone on the boat, not wanting to get wet. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to get some answers from her about the relationship she had with this man. For the most part, it seemed like she was conveying the fact that they were just friends, and that she was single. I tried to ask her how the two of them met, but I didn't get an answer. She then proceeded to ask me where I was from, what type of job I had, what my phone number was, what hotel I was staying at tonight, and what I was doing tonight, emphasizing the fact that she had a lot of single girlfriends that she could introduce me to. I could only laugh in my head since I didn't know what her motives were and told her that I didn't have a phone number and I was busy tonight... I don't know if I got any of my questions answered from this inquisition...

After that, we sailed to the third island, while it was nearing lunchtime. Floating near the island, we had lunch, which was a smorgasbord of delicious Vietnamese food that alone, was worth the price of admission on this tour ($5 USD). We heartily ate and soon after it was time for Happy Hour and Live music from the "Funky Monkey" Boy Band. But before any of the festivities, there were introductions of people representing different countries and parts of Vietnam. A German Guy, Dutch Guy, and American Guy (me!) were each separately asked to come to the front, where we all sang our own renditions of "Frere Jacques" in our own native languages.

I didn't know "Frere Jacques" in English...

I felt like that girl in Sister Act 2 who didn't know the words to Mary Had a Little Lamb and had to resort to singing "The Loveboat" Theme song...

When I was onstage, I told our host that I didn't know the song in English, but only in French (which was a lie, because I only knew parts of the song in French). Anyways...who really knows this song in English???

After that, our host and the Funky Monkey Band sang different Vietnamese songs before ending the performance with a rendition of "Unchained Melody."

Floating Bar Happy Hour came next, where we all jumped into the water to get free "Funky Monkey Cocktails" while we floated in lifevests and lifesavers. Music blasted in the background, including House of Pain's "Jump Around" and The Wonder Girls' "Nobody." I did find the courage to jump in the water in my vest...who can say no to free alcohol?

The last island stop was at Mot Island, which allowed many of us to lazily lie on the beach for a good hour, recovering from the day's activities. Overall a good trip that was worth the $5. Additional optional fees included the acquarium ($1), Sea Urchin Soup ($2.5), and the Mot Island Entrance ($1).

After the boat trip, I headed back to the beach to soak in more sun. I bought a kite to fly since it was a nice and windy day. The kite string ended up being very short, so my kite cowered over the other kites flying in the air. Next time, I'll make sure I purchase the higher quality kites... Spent the rest of the night lounging on the beach until dusk before having dinner at a street corner where they served beef steaks and retreated back to the hotel for the night...

Tri Nguyen Aquarium - First stop on the Funky Monkey Boat Tour

The top of the aquarium provided beautiful views of the boats around the island.

Feeding Sea Turtles at the Aquarium

Preparing lunch for all the hungry guests

Sea Urchin Soup - A mix between a rice porridge and egg drop soup with pieces of sea urchin

Sitting on the top of the boat, starving before lunchtime

LUNCHTIME

The Funky Monkey Boy Band

Funky Monkey Happy Hour/Floating Bar

Mot Island

Flying Kites at Nha Trang Beach

Having a Beer at Dusk

Beef Steak with a tomato sauce, onions, and homemade Mayonnaise, along with salad and a baguette. I had two of these for dinner.