Andrew,
Ben and I took off for Kuala Lumpur the Friday school ended. Just get
us outta here. Exploring the Bukit Bintang province of Kuala Lumpur was
quite weird. A lot of white people. We see so few bules in north Jakarta
(outside of school, of course) that we start to whisper along with the
other locals when some crop up. "Oh my, there's four white people" "what
are they doing here?" "This is so weird...white people! Really?!" But
the Bukit Bintang area was like being in a dirtier version of
California. Some people's night went better than others, but really
quite fun overall.
We
then made our way up to the Cameron Highlands for a couple days to
frolic through the strawberry patches and tea plantations. Super
fantabulous! Pffft. I went golfing. The other two were frolicking.
Granted, I spent way more money and was pretty horrific on the golf
course, but at least the Japanese group I was paired with learned plenty
of English curse words. I should apologize to Andrew and Ben though. I
wasn't the best company of the trip up until I satisfied my hunger with a
Snickers. I can only imagine that it was just like their old
commercials. Bitching until you take that first bite, then everything
is better.
After
another brief trip to Kuala Lumpur and the Central Market, I sped off
to Boracay. A relative pain to get to where you need to go, but the best
beaches I've ever seen. Makes Lake Red Rock look like a sewage dump.
Apologies to anyone who is going onto Red Rock soon. Try to avoid that
massive log that's hiding right below the surface.
Cliff
diving and perfect beaches behind me, I flew back to Manila to meet up
with my friend/colleague, Joe and his buddy before
turning around to
Palawan in Puerta Princesa. Poor weather didn't deter our trip. We ate
crocodile, half born chicken fetus (balut) and washed it down with
enough San Miguel to make my mother scoff ("Hmpf! Joshua Carl!"). The
cherry on top: the Underground River tour. Recently dubbed one of the
seven Wonders of Nature, it didn't disappoint. The waiting time was
terrible after such a long night, but the underground river itself was
fascinating and well worth the trip.
turning around to
Palawan in Puerta Princesa. Poor weather didn't deter our trip. We ate
crocodile, half born chicken fetus (balut) and washed it down with
enough San Miguel to make my mother scoff ("Hmpf! Joshua Carl!"). The
cherry on top: the Underground River tour. Recently dubbed one of the
seven Wonders of Nature, it didn't disappoint. The waiting time was
terrible after such a long night, but the underground river itself was
fascinating and well worth the trip.
Three
more days in Manila yielded no great stories to speak of. Got to see
some friends, saw some old Spanish architecture, etc. All the touristy
things. Settling back for week 4 of the first term and this year has the
makings to be a good one. Shout out to my friend, Kenny. Recently got
engaged. Congrats man! More pictures are on Facebook. Only four months
until our next reunion, but I'll give y'all another update about my
Vietnam trip before then.
