I spent a night by myself in Manila before going to Malaysia. It was ok, but uneventful. I didn’t like walking around Manila much. It’s a very dirty city with no side walks and little to do if you only have one night by yourself. I got a taxi to the airport, he over charged me but I wasn’t in the mood to argue. The plane ride was about 3 hours long when I landed in Kuala Lumpur I could already see a huge difference. First the airport was far nicer then any of Manilas three airports (of which I had the pleasure of visiting). Secondly while we were landing I noticed street lights something I hadn’t seen much of in the Philippines. I got ripped off again by the taxi ride from the airport, next time I arrive at an airport I’ll be going outside and find a bus or a metered taxi anything but the absurd airport taxis that cater to people that think in American dollars and not Malaysia Ringets. Needless to say the ringet is close to a quarter what an American dollar is and I paid about 4 times what I should have.
I guess now is as good as time as any to talk about the roads. When in the Philippines I thought the road system was going to be pretty standard thoughout Asia. I was wrong Kuala Lumpur (KL) has some of the best roads I have ever seen. There is far less congestion, and far more rules of the road, I even saw my first speed limit.
In the Philippines especially in Manila the roads are filled with trikes and Jeepneys. A Jeepney is sorta like a long jeep. I have a few pictures but can’t upload them right now so I’ll just direct you to a google image search. A trike is just a bike with an attached side car. Theres also taxis and huge buses. The rest of the cars are either trucks or assorted grocery vehicles or very nice cars. Its strange to see such a wide variety of run down commercial vehicles with so many very nice private cars. Equally shocking considering the lack of lane markings and rules of the road is the lack of dents and scratches on cars. Manila was mostly gridlock, from all I could tell the government is constantly making a futile attempt to make roads to match the traffic. They refrain from making any rules or sign postings to regulate this traffic. In a few places there are traffic lights or people directing traffic but for all extensive purposes no one enforces these forms of traffic control. Walking across busy lanes of traffic is the only way to get anywhere. Its likely this won’t change anywhere in Asia. Crosswalks are apparently a north American phenomena. I’m surprised to see some sidewalks painted on the road but not shocked to see no one pay any attention to them. Once you get use to vehicles constantly zipping by you it becomes fairly easy to cross roads.
Kuala Lumpur has one of the most efficient transit systems I have ever seen. It consists of buses, trains, monorail, and subway. There is very little congestion and the roads are in extremely good condition and in many places even have sidewalks. There are forms of traffic control but just like in Manila little enforcement. Lately I’ve been surprised to see traffic cops… mostly for double parked cars. Seeing police is a very rare site.
Malaysia is far more developed then the Philippines. It also seems to have far less poverty. There are slums, shakes and beggers everywhere in the Philippines. In Malaysia I haven’t seen a shanty town, and haven’t seen many beggers (about as much as downtown Calgary). There aren’t many security guards and many places are placed or have rules that would allow a thief easy access to stealing things. From what I can tell despite the lack of police and security there is little crime here.
Upon landing in Kuala Lumpur and getting a ride in the taxi to my hostel I took a walk around got something to eat and went to bed as it was already fairly late. Unfortunately because I arrived so late there was no space in the dorms so I had a single room. The next night I spent in a dorm. Its far easier to meet people in dorms especially others like myself traveling alone. There were so many backpackers at the hostel and hostels close by. It was fairly surprising to see so many, especially after the Philippines where I saw very few white people. It was nice to be able to walk the streets without people constantly staring at you. I spent two full days in Kuala Lumpur. The first day I walked over to some museums and sites close to my hostel. It was nice walking and just getting an idea of the city. A few places were closed because it was a holiday. The following day I took the Subway to Kuala Lumpur City Center (KLCC), which as the twin towers that KL is famous for. I went early so I could get a free ticket to the sky bridge. The twin towers were very impressive. They had a very informative center at the base and despite not being able to go to the top of the towers I’d rate the twin towers over Taipei 101. I spent the day exploring KLCC and the mall that is underneath the twin towers. The mall is one of the biggest in Asia and had an impressive collection of nice stores. It was fairly expensive, comparable to West Edmonton mall. Still I had no problem in shelling out 10 ringet to see Star Wars Episode 3. Its hard to get a baring on how much things should cost but I’ve found that the easiest way to figure it out is by finding out how much a pop from a pop machine costs. In Malaysia that’s 1.5 ringet but for all extensive purposed 1 ringet has the buying power of 1 canadian dollar. This helps control spending. Some areas that cater to western people are far more expensive (3 to 4 times there actual cost to natives). Its easier to avoid these areas if you know what the value of the local currency actual is.
After KL I went to Taman Negara, Malaysia’s largest national park. The place I was staying in KL was next to a large bus station. I asked one of the ticket booths if I could get to Taman Negara or Jarantut its gateway city. She told me no and that it was at another bus terminal I asked which one… didn’t recognize the name so asked if it was the other one listed in my guide book and she said yes. I wasn’t completely confident in the answer as there was an apparent communication problem between us so I checked it with the manager at my hostel. I took the subway to where this bus terminal was then asked someone for directions. I was led to a train station… a little confused I made a futile attempt to explain bus not train. I noticed a nearby hotel and went in to ask someone who pointed out where the BUS terminal was. When I finally arrived I asked if I could get to Taman Negara and the attendant said no other bus terminal (ARGH). So I asked her to point it out on my map. I think she was confused it was likely that she didn’t speak English but she got someone to help me and after some difficulty I was shown where the bus terminal was. Luckily it was just a 15 minute walk away. I arrived at the bus station and was directed to one of the 5 ticket booths where I was told I could get a ticket to Taman Negara. I found a few white people there and asked them where they were going. They told me it was Taman Negara and the bus was boarding. I quickly got my ticket (which was pretty cheap, at just 10 ringet). I talked to the two Switzerland guys who told me that they came the day before to find that the bus was booked up. I was very lucky not only to find a bus that had a seat, but also a bus that was to leave in a couple minutes. I would have otherwise have had to wait three hours for the next bus.
I spent two days in Taman Negara. I met an American in the dorm there (the first person I’ve met whose first language is English). Its interesting and helpful talking to other backpackers as they often have similar experiences to share. It makes me feel good to know that I’m not the only one that has problems communicating with locals and getting places. I spent the two days in Taman Negara mostly hiking on the trails. It can be challenging walking trails in a rainforest because of the heat and humidity (my glasses were constantly fogging up and I was always soaked in sweat). There was very little wild life to be seen. The most interesting part was the long walking canopy they had which was several hundred meters long and dangled over 10m above the ground surface.
From Taman Negara I took boat and bus to Jarantut where I stayed until I could catch the 3:30am train to Kota Bharu a city on the north end of the Malaysia Peninsula. The train was 1 hour late I was the only white person on board and the women next to me had three children. The seats were made for people far shorter then myself and despite all this I slept for most of the 7 hours train ride. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t figure out when to get off. While the stations had signs, I was faced the wrong direction and it was difficult to see the signs. The train only stopped for a few minutes and because of several delays I had no concept of when to get off. Thankfully I had purchased a Malaysia map in KL and could figure out where I was after several stations. I got to Kota Bharu in one piece and have since been walking around the city exploring. Tomorrow I plan on heading to the perhentian islands where I plan on relaxing a little and enjoying the beach.
I’m starting to get a little home sick. I feel so foreign. It gives me some bearing on how people that immigrate to Canada must feel. While I have been meeting lots of people relationships only last the day or so you spend in the same place. People are fairly helpful and by asking questions you can usually figure things out. Even so its always a little stressful riding with a taxi driver that doesn’t speak English, going on trains where you aren’t sure where your stop is or walking around a city that has no street signs. I calm myself by assuring myself that even if I end up where I’m not meant to be I could find my way back or eventually find someone that speaks enough English to help. This is indeed true and has prevented me from panicking in situations others might find impossible. It still leads to an overall sensation of always being out of place, something that will take more than a couple weeks to get use to.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Sunday, May 22, 2005
First Impressions of Malaysia
I'm going to make this short because I just got here and I want to sleep soon.
Kuala Lumpur is completely different from the Philippines.
Kuala Lumpur is completely different from the Philippines.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Week 2 Palawan
Palawan is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been in the Philippines. Upon landing in Puerto Princesa we went to Lorenas friends place (the ones that we stayed with in Manila). Their house in Puerto Princesa is not as nice or as new as their Manila house but in many ways much better. First its lived in so theres things on the walls and secondly Puerto Princesa is a much nicer city then Manila. I learned a few more things about the family (The Castros). They’re main business is a series of pawnshops about 125 over the whole Philippines they also own a mango plantation and a resort that we visited in el nedo.
Puerto Princesa is around 100,000, its far cleaner then Manila and the atmosphere far less chaotic. Outside of Puerto Princesa and throughout most of Palawan there are beautiful rainforests with a wide variety of plant and wildlife. We visited a salt-water crocodile farm and the Castros plantation the first day. At the crocodile farm (which is more of a zoo then just a crocodile farm) we explored by ourselves (practically no on there). If we cared to we could have gone into any of the cages, there were no locks. I think I enjoyed the monkeys the most. They didn’t seem well fed and were eager to snatch leaves we gave them (see pictures). Most of the animals at the “zoo” were captured by poachers. The plantation that we went to after the crocodile farm was a real treat. As its summer most of the fruit is in season here and there is a lot of fruit. Fresh coconut is nothing like what you get in Canada! My favourites so far have been calmance (a small lime) and mangos. There are so many Mangos! I have no idea how a country so small could have so much of one fruit. Needless to say I’ve had my share of mangos. I think I average at 4 a day.
The next day we went to the underground river. The river is the longest underground river in the world. It was really impressive! It stretches almost 5 km underneath mountainous terrain. The tour went 2 km. I can’t even speculate at how high the tallest areas were but from what it looked like the mountains covering this underground lake were only shells. After the tour we had lunch in a picnic area close by. There were tons of dragon lizards and monkeys who’s obvious food source were tourist lunches. The lizards were over a meter long and there were over two-dozen monkeys running around. One monkey somehow got a mirror. He’d frequently pause and reflect on himself, making sure he was groomed for the pictures we took of him.
The following four days were spent in El Nedo. Its located about 250km north of Puerto Princesa. Half that distance is paved the other half wasn’t. It made for an extremely bumpy ride. Worse yet was for whatever reason they are currently in the process of constructing about 30 bridges all at the same time along that road. On the way back it rained hard and the road was extremely muddy. El Nedo is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. It only has power 12 hours of the day and no running water. We spent two days in El Nedo island hoping. Unfortunately due to a cold and bad sunburn I only went one day but it was very fun. Snorkelling was really neat. I saw all the fish except the turtle and whale from Finding Nemo. The terrain in El Nedo is wickedly beautiful. Huge heavily vegetated shear cliffs everywhere.
I’m spending my last day in Puerto Princesa relaxing and uploading photos. Todays the last day with Lorena and Peter the rest of my trip will be on my own (unless I meet my uncle near the end). I’m looking forward to the adventure. One day in Manila, then off to Kuala Lumpur. I’ve read in my Let’s go book that theres a couple of hostels next to the bus station in Kuala Lumpur. That’s where I’ll start. I’ll explore the city then go north to a national park, then farther north and explore some of the coastal islands. Hopefully I’ll meet a few people with advice of what to do because as of right now that’s all I have. I’m sure it will be fun… I’ll post later.
Puerto Princesa is around 100,000, its far cleaner then Manila and the atmosphere far less chaotic. Outside of Puerto Princesa and throughout most of Palawan there are beautiful rainforests with a wide variety of plant and wildlife. We visited a salt-water crocodile farm and the Castros plantation the first day. At the crocodile farm (which is more of a zoo then just a crocodile farm) we explored by ourselves (practically no on there). If we cared to we could have gone into any of the cages, there were no locks. I think I enjoyed the monkeys the most. They didn’t seem well fed and were eager to snatch leaves we gave them (see pictures). Most of the animals at the “zoo” were captured by poachers. The plantation that we went to after the crocodile farm was a real treat. As its summer most of the fruit is in season here and there is a lot of fruit. Fresh coconut is nothing like what you get in Canada! My favourites so far have been calmance (a small lime) and mangos. There are so many Mangos! I have no idea how a country so small could have so much of one fruit. Needless to say I’ve had my share of mangos. I think I average at 4 a day.
The next day we went to the underground river. The river is the longest underground river in the world. It was really impressive! It stretches almost 5 km underneath mountainous terrain. The tour went 2 km. I can’t even speculate at how high the tallest areas were but from what it looked like the mountains covering this underground lake were only shells. After the tour we had lunch in a picnic area close by. There were tons of dragon lizards and monkeys who’s obvious food source were tourist lunches. The lizards were over a meter long and there were over two-dozen monkeys running around. One monkey somehow got a mirror. He’d frequently pause and reflect on himself, making sure he was groomed for the pictures we took of him.
The following four days were spent in El Nedo. Its located about 250km north of Puerto Princesa. Half that distance is paved the other half wasn’t. It made for an extremely bumpy ride. Worse yet was for whatever reason they are currently in the process of constructing about 30 bridges all at the same time along that road. On the way back it rained hard and the road was extremely muddy. El Nedo is a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. It only has power 12 hours of the day and no running water. We spent two days in El Nedo island hoping. Unfortunately due to a cold and bad sunburn I only went one day but it was very fun. Snorkelling was really neat. I saw all the fish except the turtle and whale from Finding Nemo. The terrain in El Nedo is wickedly beautiful. Huge heavily vegetated shear cliffs everywhere.
I’m spending my last day in Puerto Princesa relaxing and uploading photos. Todays the last day with Lorena and Peter the rest of my trip will be on my own (unless I meet my uncle near the end). I’m looking forward to the adventure. One day in Manila, then off to Kuala Lumpur. I’ve read in my Let’s go book that theres a couple of hostels next to the bus station in Kuala Lumpur. That’s where I’ll start. I’ll explore the city then go north to a national park, then farther north and explore some of the coastal islands. Hopefully I’ll meet a few people with advice of what to do because as of right now that’s all I have. I’m sure it will be fun… I’ll post later.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Pictures
I'm uploading pictures to my uncles ftp account, he setup for me, as we speak. He's looking at getting read only access for people who want to look at the pictures and will probably post the directions to logon and retrieve the images or I will later. For the time being I'll post a few images on this blog.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Week 1 Manila and Boracay
I must say the response to my first blog is amazing. Maintaining the level of detail I placed in that first post is going to be very daunting. Since entering Manila the trip has been anything but an adventure. Its been more of a vacation. Lorenas family and friends have been very hospitable to the three of us. We haven’t spent a dime in Manila. Friends of Lorenas family have a house in Manila for there kids who usually attend school here. Their main house is in Palawan an island we will be going to tomorrow. Besides letting us use there house they’ve given us the services of there maid who cook us meals and a driver who has driven us anywhere we want to go. People here are use to it but I’m not. Its like being famous. Everyone is serving you and everywhere you go they look at you because you’re the only white guy and are twice as tall as the average person. We stand out everywhere. It has its blessings and curses. Everyone treats us like we’re the richest people on earth, security at airports, malls, and everywhere else (they have a security people at EVERY entrance) hardly look at us. Unfortunately at markets and tourist hot spots this means every vendor wants us to buy from them. This was especially prevalent in Boracay the tourist hot spot of the Philippines. Ever minute we’d get a jet ski ma’am/sir, Rolax ma’am/sir, sunglasses ma’am/sir, ride ma’am/sir…. Its amazing how real counterfeit goods look. 20 dollars for a Rolex really does look like a bargain.
Manila is grubby, has high pollution and the traffic is amazing. I’ll leave explaining the traffic in a later post (because it needs that level of detail). Manila is nothing really special. Most of it looks far worse than the worst parts of Calgary. Its so strange to see a combination of very rich people and very poor people in a very grubby setting. Because we were driven around most of the time I really never had an idea where we were in the city. My favorite parts of our stay here has been our current accommodations (with Lorenas friends), our one day visit to a golf and country club with a friend of Lorena’s mom, and our picnic and dinner with Lorenas Aunt and Uncle. The malls which I’ve heard so much about are nothing great. Most of the ones we’ve gone to are for the rich in Manila which means nothing is at great value. We did visit Green Hills which is a market like I’ve never seen before. Hundreds of vendors all selling counterfeit goods at unbelievably low prices. Some parts of Manila are really beautiful. This includes a mall we visited last night which has a beautiful food court and where we had dinner with Lorenas uncle who owns a club in a richer part of Manila. The dinner was in a super trendy and expensive bar. But it was their opening night and an open bar.
Lorenas uncle was very nice and also took us on a picnic with his family. I must say I’m getting use to this Filipino food. The only thing that continues to surprise me is that they seem to eat the head of almost anything. In Canada the heads are always chopped off. It seems in the Philippines you always eat the head. I’ll try everything once! For the record I like squid head but not shrimp heads and I haven’t had a fish head yet. Its really best not to know what it is such as the pig blood I had for lunch. It tasted good but I could only have a little of it because I thought about it to much.
On our second day here a friend of Lorenas moms (none of us had met her before) invited us to go to what I’m sure is one of the nicest golf and country clubs in town. While none of us have any idea what her or her husband does for a living its pretty obvious they are well off. She told us that her and her daughter go to the golf and country club (called wok woks) everyday. We enjoyed a nice swim in a large pool by ourselves as the place was pretty empty mid week. We then had a one hour full body message. I haven’t had a message before and this was definitely an experience. We finished the day off with dinner. These sort of days remind me of you guys back in Calgary and Red Deer. Every time we are really enjoying ourselves we look at our watches and confirm that people in Calgary are working and it makes it that much more fun. I heard it snowed in Calgary yesterday!
We just got back from Boracay the tourist island of the Philippines. Boracay felt really safe. I think this was because the locals really milk the tourists for as much money as possible. Everything had an international and a local rate and for many things it was obvious that they had huge mark ups. We spent four days in Boracay the highlights were the beautiful white beaches and blue water, the sea food, and the walks I went on. For an island that is supposedly a party island I was surprised to find that restaurants were never full (always at least half empty), and things closed down at 10 to 11 at night. Its hard to get use to darkness at 6pm and always finding it much warmer outside then inside. Despite being peak tourist season in Boracay there were very few Caucasians, and it never felt crowded (like in the super super busy stores in Manila). The water was very clean but the sand had a fair bit of garbage on it… especially smoke butts. There was hundreds of palm trees. The vegetation, and sunsets were amazing.
Lorena and Peter weren’t much for walks but I took the time to go on a few long ones. I had several conversations with locals who felt a lot more comfortable approaching someone that was walking off the beaten path alone (once again I remind you that Boracay felt a lot safer than Manila I don’t think I was every in danger). Unfortunately because of the language barrier these conversations didn’t amount to much more than where are you from, where are you going, what is your name, how do you like it here. Still I felt that I learnt more about how it is to live in the Philippines with just a few of these conversations then 2 months of being paraded around by a driver could ever make you feel. Its amazing how little these people had. Still I’d love to be in there shoes for just a month to feel it. Its hard to understand what it would be like, but I think you can get happiness from a lot of sources and money is only one of many sources. I’d like to go into more detail about how I was humbled by the experience but the truth is I haven’t strayed far enough from the tourist path to be humbled by my experiences. This is one of the reasons why I look forward to breaking away from Peter and Lorena.
Most of this trip so far has been planned by Lorena and while its been nice, its also been difficult making sure everyone is happy all the time. At times its been a struggle to find a happy medium between the three of us and for the most part I’ve given up and just followed what Lorena and Peter wanted to do. The alternative, doing it alone, would probably not be as fun, as Lorena’s family and friends have been great hosts for us. Plus, I’ll have plenty of time to do it a lone and despite a few conflicts traveling as I have been is very relaxing (far more than finding your way by yourself).
The next part of my trip is a week in palawan then its one day by myself in Manila and then off to Kuala Lumpur to start the real adventure. Please feel free to ask me questions in the comments section of this post. I’ve missed a lot of details that I’d be glad to expand on if anyone is interested. Its far easier to answer questions then try to remember a week worth of activities.
Manila is grubby, has high pollution and the traffic is amazing. I’ll leave explaining the traffic in a later post (because it needs that level of detail). Manila is nothing really special. Most of it looks far worse than the worst parts of Calgary. Its so strange to see a combination of very rich people and very poor people in a very grubby setting. Because we were driven around most of the time I really never had an idea where we were in the city. My favorite parts of our stay here has been our current accommodations (with Lorenas friends), our one day visit to a golf and country club with a friend of Lorena’s mom, and our picnic and dinner with Lorenas Aunt and Uncle. The malls which I’ve heard so much about are nothing great. Most of the ones we’ve gone to are for the rich in Manila which means nothing is at great value. We did visit Green Hills which is a market like I’ve never seen before. Hundreds of vendors all selling counterfeit goods at unbelievably low prices. Some parts of Manila are really beautiful. This includes a mall we visited last night which has a beautiful food court and where we had dinner with Lorenas uncle who owns a club in a richer part of Manila. The dinner was in a super trendy and expensive bar. But it was their opening night and an open bar.
Lorenas uncle was very nice and also took us on a picnic with his family. I must say I’m getting use to this Filipino food. The only thing that continues to surprise me is that they seem to eat the head of almost anything. In Canada the heads are always chopped off. It seems in the Philippines you always eat the head. I’ll try everything once! For the record I like squid head but not shrimp heads and I haven’t had a fish head yet. Its really best not to know what it is such as the pig blood I had for lunch. It tasted good but I could only have a little of it because I thought about it to much.
On our second day here a friend of Lorenas moms (none of us had met her before) invited us to go to what I’m sure is one of the nicest golf and country clubs in town. While none of us have any idea what her or her husband does for a living its pretty obvious they are well off. She told us that her and her daughter go to the golf and country club (called wok woks) everyday. We enjoyed a nice swim in a large pool by ourselves as the place was pretty empty mid week. We then had a one hour full body message. I haven’t had a message before and this was definitely an experience. We finished the day off with dinner. These sort of days remind me of you guys back in Calgary and Red Deer. Every time we are really enjoying ourselves we look at our watches and confirm that people in Calgary are working and it makes it that much more fun. I heard it snowed in Calgary yesterday!
We just got back from Boracay the tourist island of the Philippines. Boracay felt really safe. I think this was because the locals really milk the tourists for as much money as possible. Everything had an international and a local rate and for many things it was obvious that they had huge mark ups. We spent four days in Boracay the highlights were the beautiful white beaches and blue water, the sea food, and the walks I went on. For an island that is supposedly a party island I was surprised to find that restaurants were never full (always at least half empty), and things closed down at 10 to 11 at night. Its hard to get use to darkness at 6pm and always finding it much warmer outside then inside. Despite being peak tourist season in Boracay there were very few Caucasians, and it never felt crowded (like in the super super busy stores in Manila). The water was very clean but the sand had a fair bit of garbage on it… especially smoke butts. There was hundreds of palm trees. The vegetation, and sunsets were amazing.
Lorena and Peter weren’t much for walks but I took the time to go on a few long ones. I had several conversations with locals who felt a lot more comfortable approaching someone that was walking off the beaten path alone (once again I remind you that Boracay felt a lot safer than Manila I don’t think I was every in danger). Unfortunately because of the language barrier these conversations didn’t amount to much more than where are you from, where are you going, what is your name, how do you like it here. Still I felt that I learnt more about how it is to live in the Philippines with just a few of these conversations then 2 months of being paraded around by a driver could ever make you feel. Its amazing how little these people had. Still I’d love to be in there shoes for just a month to feel it. Its hard to understand what it would be like, but I think you can get happiness from a lot of sources and money is only one of many sources. I’d like to go into more detail about how I was humbled by the experience but the truth is I haven’t strayed far enough from the tourist path to be humbled by my experiences. This is one of the reasons why I look forward to breaking away from Peter and Lorena.
Most of this trip so far has been planned by Lorena and while its been nice, its also been difficult making sure everyone is happy all the time. At times its been a struggle to find a happy medium between the three of us and for the most part I’ve given up and just followed what Lorena and Peter wanted to do. The alternative, doing it alone, would probably not be as fun, as Lorena’s family and friends have been great hosts for us. Plus, I’ll have plenty of time to do it a lone and despite a few conflicts traveling as I have been is very relaxing (far more than finding your way by yourself).
The next part of my trip is a week in palawan then its one day by myself in Manila and then off to Kuala Lumpur to start the real adventure. Please feel free to ask me questions in the comments section of this post. I’ve missed a lot of details that I’d be glad to expand on if anyone is interested. Its far easier to answer questions then try to remember a week worth of activities.
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Enjoying myself. No time to surf the internet.
I haven't had a lot of time to write and even now I only have a mater of minutes until I need to get off this internet. Its so hot here 35C or hotter but its really beautiful. I'm currently in boracay enjoying the fine sands and warm water. Its price is about double anywhere else in the philippines because its as resorty as Banff (just a whole lot hotter). Anyways times up so I'm going to go to the beach and read. I'll post another blog when I have time (or rather surf internet then enjoying paradise).
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Travel and Arrival
I just arrived at Lorena's mom's friends' place. I have just spent two days traveling half way around the world. We had a 4 and half hour layover in Vancouver. I was really tired because I haven't really slept that well before we left (trying to start adjusting early for the jet leg). Vancouver was really nice, especially compared to Calgary’s -10C.
From Vancouver we took a 12.5 hour flight on China Airlines to Taipei. It was a good introduction to being in a world that doesn't speak english because most of the passengers were from China. Although China airlines mainly catered to Chinese languages they always had things spoken and written in English. In Vancouver we went to the China Airlines desk and asked if we could change our tickets to an exit seat so we could have more leg room. They were really nice and took the time to change our seats and double check our baggage receipts (that is Lorenas and Peters bag tickets because I didn't have to check my bag). It was really nice having the exit seats because it was five times the foot space and we could get up and stretch every so often (not to mention lay back in our seats and put our legs out). It was also right in front of the washroom, this proved to be relatively interesting as we saw countless people try to figure out how to open the door to the washroom. Its also interesting to note that 5 people used the bathroom 90% of the time (I think if my mom was on the flight she'd be one of them). The food and movies were really good, but it was really hard to sleep even with the extra leg room. Still 12 and a half hours went by a lot faster sitting in one seat than I would ever imagine.
Because the flight was going West we followed the sun the whole trip (daylight for 22 hours). We got to Taipei at 3:30pm. China airlines had arranged free accommodations for the night and a bus was waiting for us at the airport. It was interesting walking from the plane because there was a large group of photographers, media and police. From what it looked like there was someone important coming to the city. When we departed today everything was taken down. Both at the airport and throughout the city I noticed that the police always had there lights on and that many cars also had red and blue lights and a few had horns that sounded like sirens. If this was going to be my only vacation outside of America I would have paid 2100 dollars just for the bus ride from the airport to our hotel. Taipei has two airports. One is near the center of the city the other is close to an hour away from the city. We landed in the one far from the city and our hotel was half way between the airport and Taipei. I knew that Taipei would be different from Canada in a lot of ways but I was still amazed by how much. Its impossible for me to explain what it looked like (when I have more time I'll try uploading a picture). The vegetation was unbelievable, if theres dirt there were plants. It makes sense why there is so many people living in Asia. Even the most run down garbage stricken building was absolutely beautiful.
Maybe it was because of the lack of sleep or the high humidity but everything had so much more to it than in Calgary. What I mean is that every where you look it is like looking at a beautiful painting with an extreme level of detail. Something you could look at for days to absorb all the details. It reminds me of something my mom likes doing and that’s going to the mall and just watching people interact, only here its not only people that are interesting but its also the buildings and trees. If I could I would have loved to walk to the hotel and look at everything on the way, but it would have taken me months!
The hotel was stunning and I am confident it will be the nicest hotel I stay at on this trip. Its actually a golf resort which includes an amazingly beautiful golf course designed by Jack Nicholas. When we got in we checked ourselves into our rooms, took a shower (which felt really good after traveling for 18 hours) and went for the complimentary supper. When we sat down to eat the first thing they gave us was glasses of ice water. It seems so odd to be worried about the water and hard to deny it when you’re so thirsty. Equally hard is trying to ask for bottled water when the server knows little English and doesn’t expect the question. We asked them if it was boiled or purified and after asking a couple other servers to confirm the first answer we were pretty satisfied it was safe. I think that being served questionable water is going to be fairly common. In Manila we had a similar circumstance where we were served pop with ice cubes which we confirmed were made from purified water. I don’t think I can nor do I always want to worry a great deal about water in places that look sanitized and that have lots of people drinking the water. Personally if the locals are doing it (and aren’t dieing on mass) I think there is some merit that I won’t get deathly sick from doing it. When I do get sick, as I have been assured by many I will, my outlook on this may change (I’ll keep you informed).
Me and Peter had decided before that no matter how tired we were we wanted to go into Taipei and see the tallest building in the world (Taipei 101). So after dinner we talked to one of the hotel staff about getting into Taipei. It was 6:30 by this time and already dark. Our taxi driver hardly spoke a word of English but got us to the tower (it cost about 800 Taiwanese dollars, the exchange rate is about 25 to 1). After a somewhat difficult conversation we were able to arrange with an extreme amount of doubt that he would wait for us for three hours and drive us back home for an additional 1000 dollars (we didn’t pay until we got back to the hotel). The elevator to the top of the tower cost 350 dollars. The elevator up to the observation deck is the fastest elevator in the world and it only took a few seconds to get up (my ears popped far more than when we flew). Of course all I could think of as we went up was that they had to get one of these in the F block of Engineering. This one took less time to do 85 stories than that one takes to do one story. In the observation deck we grabbed some audio tour equipment. To borrow the equipment you need to give some form of ID or 1000 dollars. I gave my ISIC card which I could care less about losing but I noticed that most people gave their passport (which seems fairly crazy if it could be avoided). The tour was fairly pointless when it was pitch black outside. We could see the second airport I mentioned before was located next to Taipei 101 in the middle of the city, but other then seeing a few planes land and looking out to a seemingly endless city the view was pretty boring in the dark. Taipei 101 also hosts the largest and one of the only publicly viewable dampers. If only there was a structural engineer there to explain things for me and Peter. We decided to go right back home after about an hour of looking around. The whole trip cost us about 50 Canadian each, and while the tallest building in the world is a must see for a structural engineer the trip would have been 100 times better if they gave us a detailed structural overview of the building design. Maybe I should phone ahead so that they have it on hand when I got to Kuala Lumpur to see the second tallest building.
Our trip from Taipei to Manila was short and painless. Things I had been warned about before hand were no where to be seen. Going through customs was extremely easy. At the security check point in Calgary I set off the metal detector and had to run my money built through the x-ray machine, then I had to open my bag to identify a package they were concerned about which happened to be my camera. In Vancouver I set off the metal detector and had to explain to the security personal what an object was on the X-ray machine (my lock). In Taipei the metal detector didn’t go off and no questions were asked. Neither Taipei or Manila had swarms of people asking us to buy stuff, the airports were not crowded nor were there many police (except when we entered Taipei).
A great way of getting rid of foreign currency before going to a new destination is to buy a pop at a vending machine while waiting for a plane, then walking around the terminal enticing other people to buy soft drinks then waiting by the pop machine and exchanging American dollars for local currency that works in the vending machine. We got rid of all our extra Taiwanese dollars at a favorable exchange rate.
I’m so glad I didn’t have to check my bag on the plane. I doubt I will have to check it on this trip (unless I get so much I have to take back both bags I have full). Unlike Lorena and Peter I always had everything I had at my disposal and if it hadn’t been for them I would have saved about half an hour waiting for my baggage.
Just writing this makes me realize how much I have actually seen and done that I would like to remember. I think tomorrow I’ll buy a journal so that I can record while moving rather then having to sit in front of a computer and think of things that happened within the last 7 days. Its now nearly 11pm and while I feel that I’m hardly going to have any jet lag 11pm seems very late (9am Calgary time). So I’m going to call it a night and continue on about Manila another day.
From Vancouver we took a 12.5 hour flight on China Airlines to Taipei. It was a good introduction to being in a world that doesn't speak english because most of the passengers were from China. Although China airlines mainly catered to Chinese languages they always had things spoken and written in English. In Vancouver we went to the China Airlines desk and asked if we could change our tickets to an exit seat so we could have more leg room. They were really nice and took the time to change our seats and double check our baggage receipts (that is Lorenas and Peters bag tickets because I didn't have to check my bag). It was really nice having the exit seats because it was five times the foot space and we could get up and stretch every so often (not to mention lay back in our seats and put our legs out). It was also right in front of the washroom, this proved to be relatively interesting as we saw countless people try to figure out how to open the door to the washroom. Its also interesting to note that 5 people used the bathroom 90% of the time (I think if my mom was on the flight she'd be one of them). The food and movies were really good, but it was really hard to sleep even with the extra leg room. Still 12 and a half hours went by a lot faster sitting in one seat than I would ever imagine.
Because the flight was going West we followed the sun the whole trip (daylight for 22 hours). We got to Taipei at 3:30pm. China airlines had arranged free accommodations for the night and a bus was waiting for us at the airport. It was interesting walking from the plane because there was a large group of photographers, media and police. From what it looked like there was someone important coming to the city. When we departed today everything was taken down. Both at the airport and throughout the city I noticed that the police always had there lights on and that many cars also had red and blue lights and a few had horns that sounded like sirens. If this was going to be my only vacation outside of America I would have paid 2100 dollars just for the bus ride from the airport to our hotel. Taipei has two airports. One is near the center of the city the other is close to an hour away from the city. We landed in the one far from the city and our hotel was half way between the airport and Taipei. I knew that Taipei would be different from Canada in a lot of ways but I was still amazed by how much. Its impossible for me to explain what it looked like (when I have more time I'll try uploading a picture). The vegetation was unbelievable, if theres dirt there were plants. It makes sense why there is so many people living in Asia. Even the most run down garbage stricken building was absolutely beautiful.
Maybe it was because of the lack of sleep or the high humidity but everything had so much more to it than in Calgary. What I mean is that every where you look it is like looking at a beautiful painting with an extreme level of detail. Something you could look at for days to absorb all the details. It reminds me of something my mom likes doing and that’s going to the mall and just watching people interact, only here its not only people that are interesting but its also the buildings and trees. If I could I would have loved to walk to the hotel and look at everything on the way, but it would have taken me months!
The hotel was stunning and I am confident it will be the nicest hotel I stay at on this trip. Its actually a golf resort which includes an amazingly beautiful golf course designed by Jack Nicholas. When we got in we checked ourselves into our rooms, took a shower (which felt really good after traveling for 18 hours) and went for the complimentary supper. When we sat down to eat the first thing they gave us was glasses of ice water. It seems so odd to be worried about the water and hard to deny it when you’re so thirsty. Equally hard is trying to ask for bottled water when the server knows little English and doesn’t expect the question. We asked them if it was boiled or purified and after asking a couple other servers to confirm the first answer we were pretty satisfied it was safe. I think that being served questionable water is going to be fairly common. In Manila we had a similar circumstance where we were served pop with ice cubes which we confirmed were made from purified water. I don’t think I can nor do I always want to worry a great deal about water in places that look sanitized and that have lots of people drinking the water. Personally if the locals are doing it (and aren’t dieing on mass) I think there is some merit that I won’t get deathly sick from doing it. When I do get sick, as I have been assured by many I will, my outlook on this may change (I’ll keep you informed).
Me and Peter had decided before that no matter how tired we were we wanted to go into Taipei and see the tallest building in the world (Taipei 101). So after dinner we talked to one of the hotel staff about getting into Taipei. It was 6:30 by this time and already dark. Our taxi driver hardly spoke a word of English but got us to the tower (it cost about 800 Taiwanese dollars, the exchange rate is about 25 to 1). After a somewhat difficult conversation we were able to arrange with an extreme amount of doubt that he would wait for us for three hours and drive us back home for an additional 1000 dollars (we didn’t pay until we got back to the hotel). The elevator to the top of the tower cost 350 dollars. The elevator up to the observation deck is the fastest elevator in the world and it only took a few seconds to get up (my ears popped far more than when we flew). Of course all I could think of as we went up was that they had to get one of these in the F block of Engineering. This one took less time to do 85 stories than that one takes to do one story. In the observation deck we grabbed some audio tour equipment. To borrow the equipment you need to give some form of ID or 1000 dollars. I gave my ISIC card which I could care less about losing but I noticed that most people gave their passport (which seems fairly crazy if it could be avoided). The tour was fairly pointless when it was pitch black outside. We could see the second airport I mentioned before was located next to Taipei 101 in the middle of the city, but other then seeing a few planes land and looking out to a seemingly endless city the view was pretty boring in the dark. Taipei 101 also hosts the largest and one of the only publicly viewable dampers. If only there was a structural engineer there to explain things for me and Peter. We decided to go right back home after about an hour of looking around. The whole trip cost us about 50 Canadian each, and while the tallest building in the world is a must see for a structural engineer the trip would have been 100 times better if they gave us a detailed structural overview of the building design. Maybe I should phone ahead so that they have it on hand when I got to Kuala Lumpur to see the second tallest building.
Our trip from Taipei to Manila was short and painless. Things I had been warned about before hand were no where to be seen. Going through customs was extremely easy. At the security check point in Calgary I set off the metal detector and had to run my money built through the x-ray machine, then I had to open my bag to identify a package they were concerned about which happened to be my camera. In Vancouver I set off the metal detector and had to explain to the security personal what an object was on the X-ray machine (my lock). In Taipei the metal detector didn’t go off and no questions were asked. Neither Taipei or Manila had swarms of people asking us to buy stuff, the airports were not crowded nor were there many police (except when we entered Taipei).
A great way of getting rid of foreign currency before going to a new destination is to buy a pop at a vending machine while waiting for a plane, then walking around the terminal enticing other people to buy soft drinks then waiting by the pop machine and exchanging American dollars for local currency that works in the vending machine. We got rid of all our extra Taiwanese dollars at a favorable exchange rate.
I’m so glad I didn’t have to check my bag on the plane. I doubt I will have to check it on this trip (unless I get so much I have to take back both bags I have full). Unlike Lorena and Peter I always had everything I had at my disposal and if it hadn’t been for them I would have saved about half an hour waiting for my baggage.
Just writing this makes me realize how much I have actually seen and done that I would like to remember. I think tomorrow I’ll buy a journal so that I can record while moving rather then having to sit in front of a computer and think of things that happened within the last 7 days. Its now nearly 11pm and while I feel that I’m hardly going to have any jet lag 11pm seems very late (9am Calgary time). So I’m going to call it a night and continue on about Manila another day.
Sunday, May 01, 2005
On my way
My flight leaves tomorrow morning. I will be in Manila Philippines on May 4 at 9:55am local time.
Here are some links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/
5day.shtml?world=2387&links
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/
south_east_asia/manila/index.htm
http://www.manilaview.com/
Here are some links
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/
5day.shtml?world=2387&links
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/
south_east_asia/manila/index.htm
http://www.manilaview.com/
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