Lost and Found

Gallery: Puerto Gallera (2)

g2 — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:19:00 GMT

Gallery: Puerto Gallera (1)

g2 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 21:18:00 GMT

Diving Tomorrow

g2 — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 21:06:00 GMT

Puerto Gallera, Philippines:

Hey everybody i was finally able to spring lillian (the parsons) from her overbearing (i.e. very filipino) hosts this morning. I literally had to be interrogated by her 'tita' last night before i could take her out. (We went out with my brother and his girl friend to the U.P. faire and all got these wicked tattoos) This morning tita even had her driver see us to us onto the bus with a packed lunch and a periodic check bt cell not withstanding. Three hours on bus and an hour by banka (i.e. pump boat for those not in the know) and we've found overselves in paradise. We've let a cliff-side room at the Deep Blue Sea for 900 pesos/night and made arrangements to make two dives tomorrow morning. Presently we find overs elves under the influence (of a GREAT many things), on the internet (on another beautiful cliff-side establishment butwhy reeeallly ask lilian about someone's bday), and stoked that we can upload a few pics to make you all envious. More tomorrow.

Gallery: Hello Coral

g2 — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 19:30:00 GMT

valentines and old flames

g2 — Fri, 9 Feb 2007 16:08:00 GMT

Quezon City, Philippines:

Last night i caught up with an old highschool crush. I last saw her ten years ago when we were both in first-year highchool (grade 8/9 for those not in the know) and wow have we both grown. She had cut her hair short and punkish, apparently just within the past week, and she looked completely different. A good different. Had we randomly crossed paths i may have not recognized her; though I certainly would have stilled pined for her smile.

She is now an accomplished thespian and teacher. That is a professional drama queen now training princesses. She was and remains the best highschool friend of my cousin, and we finally got a chance to catch her improve act at mag:net cafe. An artsy, ala SoHo, cafe with terrible food; go for the atmosphere. Her act was amazing, her wit and timing ridiculous. My only regret was not being able to find a rose to give her then, considering the ten years since our last valentine's day and all.

hello world

g2 — Thu, 8 Feb 2007 21:26:00 GMT

Makati, Philippines:

I've finally executed on my 8 month plan, taken leave from my PhD, and find myself backpacking in southeast asia. I've been meaning to start a journal to keep everybody updated and help me stay organized so here goes ...

i am now on the Filipino leg of my trip where i'm mostly reconnecting with family (it's pretty large) and making small making trial treks alone
into the provinces. In the past few weeks i've made a trips to our family farms in tarlac, participated in a fiesta, drank from a still, and swam in a volcanic crater. I hope to recap those experiences later

Today i settled on the dates for the second and third legs of
my trip. I will be in and around Thailand March-17 to May-17 and in
India May-17 to July-17. After india i plan to return to the
Philippines for about a month to detox before returning back to the
states. FYI: if anybody ever decides to do Asia i've completely
figured out cheap airplane tickets here. Screw the all-asia pass, you can get tickets here to just about anywhere within 2 hours by air for under $100. I got RT tickets from singapore to channai for $300!

Today I also experienced the pain of getting an Indian tourist visa (everybody needs one). I made an attempt to visit the consol in one of the snoootier gated communities here, but got turned away by the guard, they're very strict about the hours they entertain visitors. Note to all: be there well before noon. While it cost about $20 more i decided to foot the bill and apply for one through an uncle's travel agent; frankly i didn't even know this was an option and then it will save me a return trip to that damned walled village.

Diving into Volcanos

g2 — Tue, 6 Feb 2007 16:43:00 GMT

i just did it yesterday :-) if you're a trekker it's definitely worth it !! .. here's something i wrote up for a friend:

Larger groups are better, more fun, otherwise there is ABSOLUTELY nobody up there to enjoy it with. Plan to go swimming, the crater lake is absolutely beautiful but very deep: bring flip-flops, sun screen (i'm burnt to a crisp), and a change of clothes. There are chained-up canoes at the lake that we wish we had known to inquire about at Santa Juliana. I'm a decent swimmer and wanted to swim across the portion of the lake (it's a big lake) closest to the trail (100-150m), but the prospect of having no way to be rescued ruled that out (it's VERY VERY deep).

Do bring food (more than you would think) and an able supply of water. Close to the top of the trail there was a mountain spring that our guide said we could drink from and so far no stomach problems :-) For the hike do wear hiking shoes you're prepared to get wet in, you will be cross over the same stream a lot. Runners will absolutely not cut it; my cousin's went straight to the trash afterwards.

We left Santa Juliana 7ish and were all at the lake (we were a large group, one aunt had a hip problem) by noon, we stayed there till 3ish, and were all down by 7ish. Note the entire trek is half 4x4 and half hiking. I don't know about staying the night ... i would consider it only for pictures of the sunrise/sunset. Please do plan to carry out your garbage.

My uncle organized the trip from capas where he runs a small resort (coco grill off the hiway if you're interested) It was a trial run, and he say's he'll do it again soon. He arranged everything but the cost stated in the latest ed. of lonely planet are about right. Hope this helps, it’s what I would have liked to have read beforehand myself. cheers, g2

Gallery: Pinatubo

g2 — Tue, 6 Feb 2007 16:06:00 GMT

volcanos can be refreshing

Gallery: bagiuo

g2 — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 04:46:00 GMT