"It's more fun in the Philippines!"

Once again my blog posts are dragging behind my travels, so here goes a different format to let you know some of my adventures. Holiday break here is almost 3 weeks so I decided to fly a little farther away and explore the Philippines. I was excited to experience the beaches, visit Palawan and Bohol and see how much Spanish language influence I would encounter (turns out not a lot, but there are words here and there I can understand).

10) Getting a haircut before I left... The prep for a trip can be almost as exciting as the actual traveling! I had been nervous about having a trim, but really needed one. I decided to be brave and visit our local hairdresser. She does a hairwash, neck and shoulder massage, hair cut (without scissors - she used a razor!) and blowout/straighten for about $12. She only understands a little English, but I learned the word for "a little" and tried her out. I think it turned out pretty well!

Tired, but happy with new hair and for first day of vacay during layover in Bangkok.

9) Traveling light! This was my luggage for the trip - all carry on! And my blue backpack has my laptop inside. My fan burned out just days before the trip (I had backed up onto an external hard drive the day before which eased much anxiety) so I dragged my pc around 4 Philippine islands to eventually bring it to Bangkok (stop at the end of my trip), only to be told that the part would have to be special ordered.

I was pretty stressed out about the computer situation (luckily there is a desktop in my classroom I can use) after spending an entire day running around Bangkok, visiting four different stores with no luck. In the end I got an email address for a shop here in Yangon and the manager had a store in Bangkok order the part and then took my laptop for repair during one of his weekend business trips. I don't think that this was really his responsibility, but he seemed eager to help and I decided to trust him. It turned out to be one of those strange but wonderful events that happens when you are abroad. My computer is now back and running!

I recommend traveling light!

8) Manila - I wouldn't say that Manila is a "must visit" if you go to the Philippines, but I enjoyed the old part of town. The Spanish architecture feels familiar to me and having a day here broke up my travel to Palawan (I spent an entire day to get here... Yangon - Bangkok - Kuala Lumpur - Manila).

Cathedral downtown

Park inside the old city wall

Part of the wall

7) Walking to the Beach in Palawan - I stayed at a Yoga Retreat center called Bahay Kalipay and they are located a short walk from a nearby beach. More on Bahay Kalipay below!

Flying in I couldn't believe I was here!

Dirt road leading to nearby beach

I visited for sunset

And sunrise...

It's a mangrove beach so not great for swimming, but beautiful

6) Exploring Palawan - there is a LOT to see and do on this island. I could have spent my whole trip here and been happy. I did not make it as far as El Nido, but I did see the underground river and get in some beach time. Palawan definitely merits another visit...

Beautiful Palawan

A day at this beach...

On the way to the underground river

Wildlife at the park!

Beach at mouth of the river

Christmas day at the underground river

Navigating out of the cave

5) Reading! Buying a kindle in March 2014 as a birthday present to myself was one of my best purchases for my traveling lifestyle! It is so powerful to have so many books in one small machine. With flights, some delays and lots of beach time, I checked quite a bit off of my reading list.

• Za Za, emperador de Ibiza - Ray Loriga (this author's works were the focus of my thesis and he's still a favorite)
• The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls
• Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk
• Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
• The Lowland - Jhumpa Lahiri
• Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart (Thanks for the rec, Y!)
• I started The Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan), but got distracted by the novels. 

Not bad for 21 days, right?

4)  Yoga Retreat, Bahay Kalipay - This is an amazing space and the owners have a fantastic story; they built the entire place themselves with a careful eye on design, community and sustainability.

My simple room.

One of the resident cats relaxing near the yoga space.

The "lobby"

Path through the property

Our Tai Chi classes were held here

Coconut storage house

Yoga practice space - second floor has a treehouse feel.

3) Raw Food at Bahay Kalipay - I have been gluten, dairy and egg free for years now, but my experience with a raw diet was fairly limited. Bahay Kalipay is a great place to experience raw food - the meals and snacks are prepared with local, organic ingredients and lots of care.

Buffet dinner

Cold miso soup with apple and salad

Carrot pineapple salad, curry and fresh greens

Dessert!

Ingredients for our raw vegan dessert cooking class

Treats made by guests - Banoffe Pie with Meringue, Fruit Cobbler, German Chocolate Cake and Chocolate Pudding!

A typical breakfast: loads of fresh tropical fruits, topped with coconut, chocolate sauce and a side of chocolate nut milk.

I am not planning to add the raw component to my diet full time, but I enjoyed learning more about this approach to food and tasting all the wonderful dishes at the retreat!

2) Escaping the flood in Loboc - This is a better story now that it is over and I am safe. I arrived into Bohol 24 hours late due to a delay at this small airport (an airplane had a flat tire and that stopped all flights for the rest of the day...). After spending an extra night at an airport hotel in Manila I was so happy to get off the plane and find a taxi to take me inland to Loboc, despite the rain. Since when does a downpour stop a gal from Seattle? My plan was to stay two nights, touring the interior of the island, home of the chocolate hills and tarsier monkeys. I had also booked a stand-up paddle boarding nighttime tour to see the fireflies. Sounds lovely, right? I was so excited that I even snapped some rainy photos of the inn.

For more "before" pictures, check out Stephanie Grace's website or Trip Advisor's page.

Already a swelling river when I arrived to Stephanie Grace. 

Hotel in Loboc - my room is on the far right, perfect river view.

I confirmed my car and driver for the following day, settled into my room, ate a delicious fish dinner and went to bed early. Around 11pm I was woken up by noises in the hall. When they didn't stop, I got up feeling slightly annoyed that the other guests were being loud and so I wandered out to see what was up. No one else had gone to sleep - they had watched the river rise up, filling the lower level of the inn. The owners had not been worried at first, saying that the water never got too high. We found out later that they had opened a dam upstream and that Typhoon Seniang was passing right through Loboc. Water came through the entire first floor of the hotel, filling roads behind the hotel and trapping us.

Muddy water filling the reception area and dining room (view from second floor).

Floating furniture downstairs.

View from my room the after one long and rainy night.

I don't have a lot of photos of the event because I needed to conserve my iPhone battery to send updates to my sister (and it eventually died). I did take the following video, though. 

The pool is to the left of the flags and the right side is the driveway.

I was never seriously concerned for my safety and I feel incredibly lucky to have been at this hotel, with its sturdy foundation, second floor rooms and caring family. The Philippine family that owns the hotel live on the second floor also and they went out of their way to take care of us (swimming to the neighboring homes to bring back mangoes and rice, diving into the dirty water to bring back bottled water from the underwater kitchen, never mentioning a worry about their own property and livelihood).

We were trapped two nights and one full day. We couldn't believe it when we walked out on the second day. The water had receded, but the village was flooded with mud, homes and businesses destroyed and the locals were beginning to attempt to clean up the mess. The government even sent in workers with food and water donations. I felt so lucky to find a car and continue on with my vacation. As a tourist, I had the luxury to leave; most people in the village did not have the same situation.

If you would like to help the family that took care of me in their effort to rebuild their business, then visit their page and make a donation.

1) Beachside accommodation in Anda - I decided to splurge on accommodation here before the typhoon incident and it was definitely a treat to escape to tranquil Anda after the flood. Not a lot of tourists make it out to this side of the island, so I'd definitely recommend it if you want to get away from the busy beaches in other parts of the Philippine islands.

I spent my time reading, catching up with family and friends (phone re-charged and wifi connection!), wandering on the beach, walking to the nearby village and swimming.

My home for 5 days!

Beach!

Sunset from the second floor restaurant

Breakfast with this view

Typical fishing boat

Pool and property grounds

This feels like vacation!

Sunset walk on the beach

Of course many more stories, but I hope you enjoy reading about my highlights!

If you are missing Yangon, here is a neat time-lapse video.

Exploring Myanmar: Bago

Bago (not to be confused with Bagan...stay patient for a future post) is a temple-packed town a few hours north of Yangon. It is a perfect stop on the way back from Golden Rock. It would be easy to spend a few days and still not see all of the pagodas; we did our best to take in its greatest hits on a Sunday in November. The main pagoda is huge, with lots of temples and statues of Buddha surrounding it. We started there...

A few of the many golden Buddhas.

There are many devotees praying, meditating and also taking pictures of the sites. Many Myanmar people also come to sit and chat inside these temple complexes - usually they don't have to pay to get in and so many come and sit and hang out like you would in a park.

Ta da! This shot of me gives an idea of scale.

More Buddhas and donation boxes. 

A hint of what we'll see later...

The elephant shots are for dad!

These mythical creatures guard many temple entrances. 

View back from the street. 

The next stop was not on our original itinerary, but inspired by my mom, who was doing research about my trip. Thanks for the recommendation!

The story goes something like this: a Burmese python whispered to its owner that he was the reincarnation of a monk and he wanted to return to this monastery. He was transported back and has lived here ever since. He is over a century old, a foot wide and 17 feet long.

View back of the way in to the monastery.

We bumped along a dirt road which passed a dump on our way to visit the snake. When we got there, we followed the crowd to a building where the snake resides. You don't just look through the bars at the snake, but step into his spacious cage. He has a pool and different platforms on which to hang around. Many devotees and curious tourists patiently wait their turn to catch a glimpse of him.

Visitors in the snake's cage.

The man on the right is his caretaker. 

Just hanging around under the alter. 

Everyone wants their picture. 

View from the snake monastery.

Many references to the snake monk on the grounds. 

Next stop: the reclining Buddha! This massive and beautiful statue attracts many visitors as well.

Buddha's foot.

Buddha's big toe. 

Dad, this one is for you! Are all your questions answered?

Here I am again!

View from one of the entrances. 

Vendors selling statues, religious art, malas, etc. 

Last stop was one more Buddha (and we did not even every one in Bago!). This complex had a nice airy feel and a statue of a seated Buddha facing in each direction.

Alter with offerings.

And that was it! The end of a very full weekend. I got home just in time to log into my online virtual classroom and got to bed early for school the next day.

(To learn about the first part of the road trip, see the Golden Rock entry.)

What I'm reading: I just finished Patti Smith's Just Kids. It is an inspiring story of her journey to follow her own path and create art.

What I'm listening to: I finally got my laptop fixed and I finished putting together a best of 2014 playlist. Here it is. Buy these songs, support these artists, go see them when they come to your town.

Exploring Myanmar: Golden Rock

Back in November, a friend's friend making his way through Asia stopped in Myanmar. This was the perfect excuse for me to play tourist in this country which is fast becoming home. Even with less than four months here (back then), the details of the day to day and the comfort of routine had begun to settle in so this was an ideal opportunity to get out of Yangon and see some more of the Golden Land.

In order to maximize what we could do and see, I worked with a travel agent to design an itinerary and we hired a driver. This is pretty common here and definitely affordable. He picked us up at 7am Saturday morning and we were off - road trip!

View from the window

It takes about 45 - 60 minutes to get out of Yangon and we enjoyed watching the city go by in the early morning. We stayed on the freeway for awhile, but then turned off onto smaller and smaller roads, passing villages and countryside.

After checking into our hotel, packing daypacks and a delicious Burmese lunch, our driver dropped us off at the base of the mountain. You take a truck to the top of the mountain and then walk the rest of the way to Kyaiktiyo (Golden Rock).

On the way to Golden Rock

We got caught in a rainstorm on the way up, even though it was November (supposedly the end of rainy season). Needless to say, there were no pictures, even with our electronics buried deep in my water resistant REI backpack, we were worried they would get ruined. We were all soaked, but the weather didn't seem to dampen the pilgrims' spirits.

Official entrance. From here on no shoes or socks.

While Golden Rock certainly isn't "undiscovered," there aren't a lot of westerners there. Our visit to this spot was as much a sight as the surroundings. One of my colleagues compares it to being a B-list celebrity. Stares, shy smiles, "hello's" and requests for photos are common. The best thing to do is smile and say yes.

Taking a picture of their picture at the entrance to Kyaiktiyo.

The rain had stopped and the views were breathtaking from the top. The space is huge and there are pilgrims everywhere. While westerners are not permitted to camp out, this same rule does not apply to locals and most make the most of their time here, staying overnight, preparing food, praying, meditating, napping and of course, there are kids playing.

The panoramic mode on my iPhone!

We wandered, taking in the whole scene of this sacred space and eventually made our way to the Golden Rock. Legend says that it is not resting on the edge of this cliff, but floating, since a strand of the Buddha's hair rests there. It is covered in gold leaf, tissue paper thin sheets of real gold which devotees press on.

Here it is!

Unfortunately, only men are permitted to cross the small bridge out to the rock and touch it. There are security guards and an airport style detector to walk through, so I didn't push and try to get out on the ledge, but I really wanted to touch the gravity-defying rock. 

Another angle - it's mesmerizing.

We made our way down and around the rock. The other interesting thing about this site is that there are donation boxes everywhere. Most are made of clear glass and stuffed full of kyats. It's quite the combination to see so much cash against the background of this religious site.

Meditating next to a donation box...

Setting up bowls for candles - these are Myanmar letters, but I don't know what it says. 

The plaza above the rock.

Rainbow reward after getting drenched.

Storefront selling potions on the way up.

Although sunrise and sunset are supposed to be special and beautiful times at Kyaiktiyo, we didn't want to miss the last truck down so we squeezed into the back of a pickup and enjoyed the sunset views on the switchbacks working our way back to town.

Snaking our way back down the mountain.

Sunset ride back.

For more information about Kyaiktiyo, check out: http://www.go-myanmar.com/mount-kyaiktiyo-kyite-htee-yoe-the-golden-rock/

So, this was one full day! Stay tuned for the next entry about Bago as our trip continues - pagodas, buddhas and one very old snake. 

Technical Difficulties...

Please be patient for the next post. My laptop fan needs replacing and this has proved to be a very complicated task in Asia. This is an example of the not so fun side of living abroad. I hope to be back up and running soon.