Farewell Taiwan, Hello Philippines!

Well, we've said goodbye to Taiwan. We spend our last night eating some awesome pizza at Sandro's, one of the few places in Taiwan where you can get authentic Italian food. We gave big hugs to our son Willie and lots of petting to our dog and two cats, who we won't see for about a year. After getting about two hours of sleep we hit the road bright and early to catch our plane.

We were happy to make it through the Manila airport without a hitch, the whole process of immigration, customs, and getting our bags took maybe 15 minutes. This was a pleasant surprise, Manila airport has been ranked one of the worst in the world and we'd heard horror stories about it. The only annoyance was the friendly cab driver constantly asking to take us all the way to our destination Olongapo instead of to the bus station. 

While we hear that Manila is an underrated gem of a city for the true adventurer, we decided to just pass through quickly this time. We headed to Baloy beach, Olongapo, a town on the main island of Lizon in Northern Philippines. Most of the four hour bus-ride was just to get out of Manila due to major traffic and infrastructure issues.

We were instantly struck by the similarity to Central America in everything from the cultural vibrancy to the style and color schemes of the buildings. It must be the hundreds of years of Spanish colonialism. The economic divisions here are stark, especially compared to Taiwan. We passed areas of modern skyscrapers and upscale malls with Western shops and shanty neighborhoods with houses made of pallets, tarps, and tin roofs. The people here seem quite vibrant and friendly, but unlike Taiwan, caution is warranted. 

The coolest thing we've seen so far are the colorful “jeepneys”. These little privately owned buses are decked out by their owners and are all over the country. Another popular form of transportation, which we used to get from the bus station to our hotel are rickshaws, they have both bike and motorized versions.

Unfortunately a small tropical storm arrived at about the same time we did, so we've been mostly holed up in the hotel during our first day here. We ventured out a bit to see the beach. It is very close to the small town we're in, and almost reaches the doorways of the hotels and homes that line the beach. I imagine this place gets some serious flooding when typhoons pass through.

When the storm passes we plan to head to Jest Camp to see what we can learn about jungle survival. We hope to learn a bit about food foraging, and some basic survival skills we can use when we get to Fiji, or other places as the case may be.

Well, that's my adventure so far. It's still early in so stay tuned for more updates! As always I encourage you to comment and let me know what you think. This is an intimate group and I will always take the time to talk to you and/or answer any questions you might have.

Much Love,

Mike