Example #1: In December, Wenli told me that she would inform the principal that my family was coming to Taiwan over Chinese New Year and that I would need the time off..but in fact..she had known about my plans to go to Boracay with Shija for a while..I told her.."but Wenli, my family is NOT coming to Taiwan..I'm going to the Phillipines.." She explains that she thinks it's best if they tell the Principal that my family's coming here and that's why I need the time off because it sounds better than going on "a trip with my friend"..So..I then reconfirmed what I thought was understood about CNY: We get 9 days off, correct? Yes, correct. People indeed do travel during this time, correct? Yes,Correct. So..why the hell are we lying to Principal Chen about my vacation?? And I got the same answer, if I go on a trip with a friend, that may not be a good enough reason to not be working..(BUT NOBODY SHOULD BE WORKING!???) The Wenli finds out I'll be returning from Boracay on the 25th of January, not the week after, so this lightens the mood completely and she gets all excited and asks if I'd be able to start work early and I could make extra money...then she says in not so many words, if I do this, then it'd be ok to tell Mr. Chen that I'm going on vacation (is anyone even following this logic..because I'm not) So I agreed to work the week before school is even starting, which would be a Wednesday to Wednesday of half days with my same amount of classes crammed into the mornings. I'd get 400NT per class ($12..wow) and then I can finally come clean to Mr. Chen. So now when he mentions "oh when do your parents come to Taiwan..?" I could say, "Well Mr. Chen, they aren't. It's very expensive so I decided that I'm going to go to the Philippines with my friend instead.." (Half Wenli's lie, Half My truth.)
Example #2: After having lunch with Chiao the week before the New Year "break" started, she informed me that her and her boyfriend would be going to Bali on vacation..(um that's amazing news!) She insisted that I keep it secret because she shouldn't be "going on a trip"..if people talk about their trips/vacation, others will think that they are not hard workers..ok I think that people who are offered 9 days of vacation and don't take it so they can pretend that they're working, are idiots..If you tell me you are going to Bali, Europe, Japan, or even Malaysia..you're impressing me! If you tell me that you sat in an empty school with books that have your lesson plans written out for you and you took midday naps on your desk for 9 days..Not only would I be very unimpressed and think you are unintelligent, it also shows me nothing of your work ethic..And there are my thoughts about vacation time in Taiwan. Now time to brag about my vacation in Paradise which is known as Boracay Island, Philippines.
Boracay Island..the Land of White Sand, Blue Skies, and Green Mojitos (oh and Tan Lady Boys)
Although this was the most memorable trip I've ever been on, I can't seem to sit down and write every little detail..I want to break it into sections to help me remember..
Transportation- The actual flight to Boracay was only 2 and a half hours..that's the amount of time we were in the air..the amount of time it took to actually get from each airport, was a total of like..5 extra hours. Shija and I woke up at 4:30 to get to the bus station and took a 3 hour bus to Taipei. From there we had to wait in this incredibly long line to check our bags. When we were on the first plane we were given one of those little sheets of paper that you have to fill out when you go to a new country..I mean I filled one out on my way to Taiwan but had no clue what the hell I was doing and this time I'm reading through it and check yes and no to things..like asking if I have any valuables on me that I want to claim and asking how much money I'm bringing over and I'm just answering normally and by the time we had to turn our little paper in by customs. the lady was like.."umm so you want to claim this and this and this.." and thank god Shija was there to chime in and was like, oh no no she made a mistake, and we changed it and the lady let us both through. Shija's like laughing and saying she told me not to mark yes for anything. I didn't know! This is why I shouldn't be allowed to travel alone..I pretty much admitted to smuggling jewels and drugs and money or something (actually I still have no clue why it's not ok..something with taxes right?)
When we got to Manila we had to take a shuttle and get onto another plane to Calibo and that plane was like the size of our old station wagon with some wings taped on..I'm positive my mom would literally have a heart attack getting on this thing..No air. No room. No xanax ..but on the bright side, I somehow managed to pass out for 20 minutes of the 45 minute plane ride. They unloaded everyone in the middle of the runway and we were hurried to get out of the way for a plane that was slowly driving towards us..so from that airport we had to take a shuttle to the ferry station. The ferry station was a crowded place where man made boats pulled up to the people that had to cross this fragile thin rope bridge to get on to it. The "captains" helped you onto the ferry. It was just this crazy lookin boat with big wood tree branches tied to it in order to keep it a float. It was called the, Jen Jen 2.
The ferry actually took us to Boracay Island but we still needed to hop into a "tricycle" to get to our hotel. The tricycle is a motorcycle loosely attached to a cart. The guys helping us off the ferry, who do this for tips, literally dragged me and Shija's nice luggage through gravel and mud and then threw them into this cart haha. The tricycle was scary at first..well for the first 4 days of the trip it was terrifying, but you gradually get used to it.Paradise Garden Resort
So our hotel: Paradise Garden resorts..the hotel that had reviews referring to it's drugs and rapist workers, was completely fine. The hotel was great. I mean obviously it wasn't perfect but the service there was great. Sometimes our room would have some ants towards the end of the night but they cleaned the rooms every day and the ants would disappear for most of the day. Some hotels provided mosquito nets and didn't have air conditioning so compared to those, I felt like I was in the Hyatt.We had cable tv and two normal twin size beds with normal mattresses.
Everyday we would grab our free breakfast. Breakfast was good! Juice, coffee, eggs, omelets, corned beef hash, toast, and other things you can choose from. It started at 6am and ended at 10am..but if you strolled in at 9:55 am they weren't too happy and things were picked over...there were two mornings when Shija and I strolled in around 6 am just getting home for the night..and they were just setting up. I got an omelet almost every morning. We also successfully took a nap 6 out of the 7 days..some people may say that this is a waste of vacation, but that right there is vacation to me..eating, sleeping, drinking, tanning, shopping sleeping...minimal sightseeing needed..
On the second day we did island hopping where we got to see different caves and even go snorkeling. Snorkeling was a crazy amazing experience..it proved to me that the Planet Earth episodes really aren't created by CG technology. Even though our little boat rode up to an area with about 10 other tourist's boats, these fish were not scared!! We bought some stale bread off of our tour guides..you know they like to add on costs like that..and got suited up to jump on in. Ok, so I have NEVER been snorkeling before..and for people who know me well know that a) I hate swimming b) it's probably because I can't swim--typical response when I tell people this, "what! but you have a pool in your backyard!" My pool is like 3 and a half feet deep..maybe 4 feet after it rains for an entire day..walking in water is not going to help me in a drowning incident.. so needless to say, I was freaking out. My shoulder pain was also increasing so swimming was nearly impossible. Thank God I had a life vest on and could just float around. It took me about 10 min or so to get comfortable in the water and that was after I decided the flippers were ridiculous and had to come off. I felt like they were preventing me from moving! I really regret not having an underwater camera because the amount of fish I saw was crazy. There had to be 45 different kinds of fish within 10 feet of me..the water was so clear so you could see all sorts of crazy things. The guys on the boat kept throwing them bread so they would stay close to me and those things weren't scared at all. They were swimming right up to my hands. I saw some crazy long skinny fish with this weird bottle nose and it was like blue and neon yellow striped. Everything looked fake basically. The only downside to the snorkeling was that my shoulder was in excruciating pain starting from then on..I was unable to take off my shirt and even lift my right arm high enough to shave under it (those were probably the two worst examples to give..but it's true)
Shija and I also did this really cool foot spa thing. It's pretty gross, but it's interesting. It takes out all of your toxins and depending on the colors that the water in your foot bath turns, that's what toxins it's taking out of your body. So you just sit there and soak your feet for 30 minutes in this little foot tub that has a special magnet that pulls everything out of your body. After you do that you get this amazing 30 minute foot massage.
Me and Shija were pretty spoiled with the food in Boracay. We didn't necessarily have any traditional Filipino dishes but every place we ate at was amazing. We had some good Spanish food at this place called Ole, good Mongolian stir fry at this other hotels restaurant on the beach, and the our favorite was this Italian restaurant, Christina's. It was good quality food and had this crazy deal where you could order a set meal and it was cheaper than just ordering the dish so obviously we did that. Compared to all of the rice and soggy green vegetables back in Taiwan, I felt like we were dining in 5 star restaurants. Much like Taiwan, the Philippines did not disappoint with it's fresh fruit juices. I drank a mango juice almost everyday. I also drank mojitos the whole week..that was like my drink of choice out there. I love them. The beer choices weren't great so I had to switch to some sort of cocktail and mojitos aren't too sweet so they were a good substitute.
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| Best Sangria! I didn't get a shot of my fajitas.. |
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| I love you, Christina's. |
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| this picture was bad..but it was cream of asparagus/broccoli..yummmmm |
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| chocolate cake with caramel filling..yes please. |
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| Meeting a friend at Shangri La! One of the most expensive hotels in Boracay |
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| We got the hook up with some free dessert |
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| and then some free Filipino dessert with beans and corn and jelly cubes.. NO. |
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| Morning breakfast! |
A few nights we decided to do massages on the beach, go back home and shower and get ready, get dinner, then go out to our favorite favorite favorite club, Club Paraw. As you walked down the beach there were plenty of happy hours, bars, and clubs, but we took this guys suggestion and took a tricycle out to Club Paraw and it won our hearts instantly. This one club, Epic, had a big dance party on the beach one night but it just so happened to be the night that both me and Shija weren't feeling great. We grabbed cocktails at different places here and there, but Club Paraw was cool because it was a good mix of foreigners and locals. Since it was Chinese New Year and then a long break for a lot of other countries, there were people from all over that were in Boracay. England, Germany, Ireland, Australia, you name it! I loved meeting people from different countries. These really cute guys from Manchester were really nice and they were teaching in South Korea. Some girls from Ireland were super friendly, and then I also met a really cool guy from Sydney, Australia. I told him I've always wanted to go there and then he asked what I knew about Australia and I was like "ummm..it looks cool on Planet Earth.." and he said I probably thought of kangaroos and koalas and I must admit, I did..but when I asked him what he knew about Chicago, his reply was simply, "Oprah's from Chicago..." So I'm glad we got that going for us..I'd rather have kangaroos and koalas hopping around then Oprah. The waiters and bartenders were also awesome! They were so friendly and would give away shots and the overall atmosphere reminded me of a place in Cancun. The main bartender lovedddd Shija. He was so cute! One of the funniest stories is when Shija went to the bathroom and a Filipino worker looked at her and said, "You're black..but you're beautiful!" Now that's one of our favorite jokes from that trip. Basically the night life was filled with fun music and crazy bartenders and people from all over the world dancing and singing to the same songs that we like. It was a blast.
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| With our Australian friend! |
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| Our fantastic waiters |
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| Last night at Club Paraw :( |
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| yep I own this shirt now :) |
The only really sad thing to see was all of the prostitution that was going on in front of everyone! You'd walk along the beach and once it hit about 10pm, these girls, and not quite girls (who we refer to as Lady Boys) were walking up to guys both young and old, and offering themselves for the night. A lot of times you would see very very old foreign men walking along the beach, hand in hand with one of these girls. They were like a nightly escort. The lady boys were the most mind boggling because they really did a great job of looking like girls..and would still walk up to guys..it reminded me of the Hangover 2 or something..I dunno just finding out that a girl isn't a girl in that situation has to be the worst situation in the world, but that's what you get for buying a prostitute. You got yourself a fine lookin' lady boy. The lady boys were also the fire dancers on the beach. They were really good..they'd just dance to techno music every night and throw fire around and stuff. It was cool!
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| Man hitting on girl. |
Saturday and Sunday it actually rained a little which was crappy but it didn't stop us from doing much. On Sunday we went to this very traditional parade and celebration that was on a different island and it was called the Ibajay Ati Ati Festival. Shija found it's info online and thought it'd be cool to check it out and it was definitely an experience..I felt like I was on the Discovery Channel..Once we entered this town it was like.."Oh so this must be what a 3rd world country looks like.." I mean there was a lot of poverty and shacks for houses in Boracay as well, but it wasn't as noticeable as this. These people covered their bodies in charcoal and were wearing crazy face paint and outfits made out of tree bark and stuff..I thought they were going to sacrifice me. But just like Taiwan, they were so excited to have 2 foreign girls walking around. We were brought to the festival by our usual tour guide, Danny. Him and his friends took us island hopping/snorkeling and said they'd help us get to the festival as well so we did have some people there to help us out. Overall, this was a pretty incredible thing to see. You could just see how important and traditional this parade was to their culture and it was really nice. The people of the town spend the whole day drinking and dancing and everyone is either watching the parade or in the parade. It was raining on and off that day and we were both kind of hungover from our late night/early morning at Paraw, so we decided to take off at a decent time.
On our last day in Boracay, Shija and I planned on doing some ATV riding with Danny boy. You get to ride up to the highest point of the mountain and you're only on the ATV for a total of 30 minutes or something. But on the way up to the mountain, you stop to see this cool little zoo in the middle of this forest. There were a ton of lovebirds with colors I've never seen and there was this cute monkey, Ti Ti, who tried stealing my phone. We also got to hold this big bat, Angel. Now that was crazy..I've never held a bat before. It was no surprise that the highest point was a beautiful scene. I mean the entire island is gorgeous so overlooking it was good but at the same time I'd rather be down at the beach in the water instead of staring at it from above. The ATV ride wasn't scary at all. the mountain wasn't super steep and ATV's are way easier to ride than scooters (which is good considering I had an accident the week prior..) After the ATV ride we laid out some more. Shija actually got sunburned for the first time in her life..and I actually wore SPF 30 for the first time in mine (Of course I brought my SPF 4 spray tanning oil..but Shija lent me her lotion and insisted I wear it and I'm glad she did.) I still got tan and a little red. The only crappy thing was that since the beginning of the trip, I started to acquire a billion bug bites that would itch sooooo bad that I would break the skin scratching them. They were all over my chest and face, which at first made me think it was hives, but I went on down to the sketchy little pharmacy that sells you just about anything, and got some benedryl. It helped only a little. Even 3 days after the trip those bites were STILL itching and I think that all of the sun made the scars set in a bit more..mosquitoes are after me, I swear by it. They still manage to bite me on a daily basis in Taiwan (it's probably because I wear perfume and no Taiwanese people do..) For our last night, we got massages on the beach, ate at Christina's again, and hit up Club Paraw so we could say our goodbyes.
Overall, the trip was absolutely amazing. Boracay Island is ranked #2 in Travel Destinations following Bali..so it's like the experience of Bali but a bit cheaper. The people there were so hospitable and the weather was perfect. I spent a lot of my "savings" here in Taiwan..but I have no regrets! I almost looked into teaching gigs in the Philippines because I could easily live that lifestyle everyday.
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