Did I mention how impressive Singapore is? Nearing the end of my time there, I was successful in tracking down my mom's old stomping grounds. Today it's a quiet, posh neighborhood. A majority of its residences are dressed with a fancy gate, luxury car, and some sort of water display that you can hear bubbling from the sidewalk. And of course, modern architecture everywhere. Walking theses streets was a cool experience knowing my mom had done the same at about the same age on an adventure of her own.
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| chinatown at night |
I made plans for the next day to go out to lunch with Rayhanah - the receptionist at the hostel. She's also the sweetest, bubbliest local I've met on this trip. But before that, I had a few more things on my list that I wanted to see before leaving - the Artscience Museum and the Helix bridge:
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| field on water! |
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| ooooh |
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| Eames collection at the museum - evolution of the chair |
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| and a Chanel exhibit - Little Black Jacket |
I rushed back for my lunch date with Rayhanah. She maneuvered us through the train station and a mall to get to a local Malay lunch spot where we ordered "packet rice" with a plethora of fixin's to choose from. The lady behind the counter took a sheet of brown paper, lined it with a banana leaf and twisted it into a cone with one swift motion before proceeding to stuff it with rice and all the other goodies I pointed at. Then she fashioned it into a sort of cube bound by a rubber band.
By the end, I was stuffed and happy :) I said goodbye to Rayhanah and took one last ride on the MRT to the airport.
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| Singapore airport |
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It was a three hour flight to Manila, Philippines. The transition from first to third world was pretty abrupt. I was a little nervous about this leg considering the back-to-back beatings that this country has taken in the past month. Originally, i was going to lounge on Boracay Island and maybe get a PADI license, but that island has been in recovery mode since Yolanda. I looked into some volunteer opportunities online, but they all required some sort of relief or medical experience and a couple of weeks commitment. Of which I have neither... I was kind of surprised that they weren't just taking anyone and everyone. Anyway, what led to my decision to go through with the Philippines has a lot to do with a dear friend from home, Roark - love you buddy! Now, Roark has been on an epic journey since March, leaving footprints all over India, Nepal, and Asia in general. He was going to be passing through Manila close to the same time as when I was considering going. In trying to coordinate our timing of possibly crossing paths, he had told me about the Batad Rice Terraces in the north of Luzon. After a quick google of that amazing place, and sitting on the idea of getting to see a familiar face for the first time in a couple months, I was sold. And boy am I glad about that - my last week has been a total blast.
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| flying in to Manila |
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| view from the hostel |
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I had heard that the local Red Cross in Manila was taking volunteers to help pack rice, noodles, etc. to be sent to the disaster areas. Some new arrivals to the hostel had also wanted to help out, so we all headed out later in the morning. It was only an hour or so, but I was so glad I got to contribute in even a small way. It wasn't long before more volunteers showed up and took over for the next shift, which was really cool to see. It was an inspiring day.
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| bags of bags |
That night we stayed up til about 4am for a lot of people's last night. In fine form of course :)
The next night, Tuya - who is awesome! - and myself took the night bus to Banaue - a town about 12k from Batad. After 9 hours of being "sardined" on the bus, we arrived to a much cooler climate - about 65F. We found a place, grabbed some breakfast, and crashed for a few hours before checking out town.
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| such a nice place |
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| mountain living |
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| greenview! |
The next day, we took the almost hour Jeepney ride to Batad. These rice terraces were built by indigenous ancestors, are more than 2000 years old, and encircle you when you're in the middle of them. It was an incredible trip, and we certainly had to work to get to it. There is no road into the actual village of Batad. Only four hundred something steep steps and a treacherous trail that takes about 45 minutes to an hour on the way down. Then, once you get to the terraces/village, you can hike another 45 minutes or so down to a waterfall. The bitch of it is coming back up. I was sucking air like a dog, and sweating like an I don't know what. Like a sweaty out of shape American in the jungle, I guess!
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| jeepney! |
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| ouch |
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| Tuya |
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| waterfall! |
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| it was brighter in person! |
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| fun group! |
We hopped the night bus back to Manila and got in around 4:30am... Later that morning, I was filled with happiness to see Roark :)
Myself, Tuya, Roark and our friend Jeffrey went out for some awesome Mexican food before seeing Catching Fire, which was great. Then we found a bar with cheap beers, rum, and live music. We spent the rest of the night dancing, singing, and having way too much fun :) The hangovers were well-deserved...
I left last night. Again, as always, I was sad to say goodbye to friends. Finding buddies like Roark and Tuya have been a huge part of my fun on this trip - it wouldn't have been the same without a lot of the people I've met these past couple of months.
Today marks my last day in Asia. Next you'll hear from me, I'll be in beautiful Kauai.
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| bed for one night... |
