Oh the Philippines!!!!

I started recording this blog almost exactly a year ago when I was leaving France and heading to Thailand. I had a great time for a month bouncing around different islands on Thailand and in Malaysia. After that it was a very interesting year spent in Taiwan where I learned only basic words in Chinese and thus had very limited conversations with all of the adoring non-English Chinese speaking girls I met. In all it has been a pretty interesting and fun year.

And now after all those adventures I decided take a quick, easy and cheap flight to the Philippines. I'll admit that when I was mentally preparing myself for this trip I just figured that it would be kind of the same experience as Thailand. However, after several days of the most intense traveling imaginable surrounding one of the coolest island destinations you could dream of, I think that this is a pretty uniquely special place.

The best part is that the trip isn't even over. I don't think I am ever going to be able to go back to short little 5 day vacations after I've had so many long and exciting ones like these.

I guess the things that make this country so great are that everyone treats you like a local. There aren't many gawky eyed glances as you walk through crowed street side markets with your giant backpack and blond hair. Even when visiting such small local spots like the closet sized shoe repairman you can easily explain to him in English what you need and how much you'd like to pay for it. The food here is cheap and they give you smaller portions so that you leave feeling satisfied but never stuffed. The beaches are white and the sand feels like flour from an unmade cake. The culture is mixed with it's previous rulers, the Spanish, so there are many similarities in the language and in the way of life. And then there are the girls. Any girl you see on the street, on the bus, walking in the mall, or laying on the beach will smile at you, wave, and even talk or dance. It is awesome. It is to the point that when you glance back at a girl you pass on the street, chances are that she is already checking you out herself. Where else on Earth can you find a place like that?

On that gushing note let me do what I do best and fill you in on some shitty and miserable experiences that I have had so far on this trip that will basically run fluent until the middle of October. While almost everything has been great on the trip the main shittiness has been centralized around our days of travel. And actually I can't even even explain to you yet what has happened because I still haven't slept after a 20 hour trip that only covered 350 KMs. Do the math. Maybe I'll fill you in tomorrow.

The important thing is that this place is cool and I sort of want to live here.