Pan-Asian Gallivanting

The hardest part of traveling is not being alone, entering into the unknown, or worrying about my safety. Rather the most difficult aspect is when you find something so desirable yet you know that the likely hood of maintaining it is next to impossible.

As a foreigner you enter a country with the eminent knowledge that you must leave, and separate yourself from what you’ve grown fond of. Every time I’ve entered the Philippines I’ve possessed this knowledge. However, it has not struck me so hard until now.

I’ve always found it easy to make friends and enjoy life in the Philippines! So much so that I’ve never sought out anything more than friendships. But when something special falls in your lap, like it did this previous time around, it makes leaving even harder.

Yes, I could stay and see where things go. But would we be better off? I eventually have to leave, and leaving later rather than now would likely be more difficult for her and I. But I hate this belief because I’ve learned that it’s much better to live in the moment than worry about the “what ifs” in life.

So what is the right thing to do then? I’m utterly confused and have resorted to my old habit of running from that which scares me most, the possibility of failure. The possibility that things won’t work out and I’ll be left to wimper on the side of the road like a dog struck by a car just before its plunge into the next life.

Not all is sad. I feel very fortunate to have met her and to share the time that we had, however brief it was. I will never forget your smile or your distaste for a certain extremity….HAHAHAHAH! So, thank you! Thank you for reminding me that the simplest things in life are easily the most beautiful!

When I was in the Philippines a year ago I met a group of college students who made my travels during that period very pleasurable…and no not in THAT way. Every since meeting them I have been in contact over the internet. However, it was nice to finally see them after such a long time!

I ventured up to Baguio, known for its cool climate compared to the rest of the Philippines, to see them. I won’t go into too much detail but basically we went to go-go bars, cock fights, gang wars and the like! Just kidding. Since all of them are nursing students they were very busy and serious (more so than American students) with their studies. Here are some photos of what we did during their free time….

First off…sorry for the late update. The internet connection in the Philippines is quite slow, making it hard to place images on to smugmug and update this blog. Now that I’m in Hong Kong, with a slightly faster connection…I’ll update you on what I’ve been up to.

Leading up to my departure I had read many things about Samar and Leyte, two large islands in Visayas, just north of Mindanao in the Philippines. Many comments that I came across suggested that these two islands were some of the poorest in the country. And since poor usually means friendly people, I had to check it out!

I took a bus from Manila to Naga….then another bus to Legazpi… and another bus to montoc…ferry to Allen….and finally a bus to Calbayog City in Western Samar. Due to such a long series of travels I decided it was best to spend a couple days in Calbayog just to rest and catch my breath. Boy was I glad that I did so.

On the third day there I went to a basketball game where previous stars in the Philippines National Basketball League played a friendly game against local players. It was quite entertaining! At the game I ended up meeting Yano and Elvie, two locals who were friendly. After sizing them up during the duration of the game I realized that they were quite harmless. So, I invited them for a couple of beers. From there it only got better….

I ended up staying in Calbayog City for 10 days because of my friendship with Yano and Elvie. We went out drinking quite often and I spent much time at their family’s house eating, drinking and playing basketball.

I only left Calbayog because my visa was about to run out. So I traveled for a couple days until I got to Cebu…got my visa extended…and then took a boat back to Calbayog. Yano’s family was so friendly that once I returned they let me stay at their house for 10 more days. They were very generious making sure that I ate massive quantities of rice with every meal and they even bathed me…hahah just kidding.

I only left because I really wanted to see my friends from last year’s trip in Baguio.

So I went to the pharmacy here in Calbayog, Samar, Philippines to pick up some doxycycline to fight off these damn mosquitos and their strain of malaria. Not only do I not need a prescription here to get these drugs, but I also only had to pay 2.25 pesos PER PILL! That equates to roughly 5 CENTS PER PILL!

Before my last trip I made the stupid decision of purchasing the pills while in the states. After visiting the doctor to obtain a prescription and purchasing the pills the total cost for 60 of them turned out to be around $65. So each pill in the U.S. cost around $1 each.

Not only is this absurd but I think it sheds light on how much the health care system in the U.S. is stealing all of our money. Just a thought.