Where is that again?

The Philippines certainly was a great start to a journey. It is hard to describe the experience of swimming with the Butanding. Imagine being arms-length away from a creature whose mouth could fit ten of you inside it, and is as long as a two story building is tall, yet there is no fear, no worries, only a calm excitement and hope the creature does not dive down. We swam with nine separate whale sharks, and spotted a tenth from the boat, and I could have stayed out hours longer in order to swim with another twenty. I have learned to truly love the moments spent observing what goes in spite of me, and not because of me.

We did many other things on the Philippine islands. We took many a jeepney or trike ride and spent two days with a scooter bike rental cruising around the Palawan islands. We rode out to a prison where the inmates made their own homes, grew their own crops, and made souvenirs to sell to tourists. This prison even had a resort with a swimming area for tourists to vacation in. It had a small market and general store, a chapel, a playground, and a community center. It was a massive place, and we each remarked how the prison seemed to be a nicer community than most of the villages just outside the gates of the prison.

We also took a day trip up to the Taal volcano, north of Manila. We saw other volcanoes that trip, one massive one just outside of Legaspi where we spent a whole day and did not even notice the volcano until we were near leaving. The volcano was easily the biggest and most recognizable thing in the while city, or for 100 km even, and yet we somehow seemed to miss it most of the day. We had a good laugh at that, and snapped some quick photos. We had a young Filipina gal join us for a few days. She took a liking to Dallin, and her family all hoped he would come back for her. She certainly made an effort, and while she was a cool gal and we both enjoyed her company, Dallin was obviously not so interested in her. Oh, to be a man as high in demand as was my brother.

We spent some time at the bay and Manila Mall and saw the first annual music-pyrotechnic Olympics, where several countries went head to head in a fireworks show set to music. It was billed as the best fireworks show in the world, and while it didn’t seem to be the best, it was enjoyable, and before the show began we watched the sun set over the water. It reminded me of nights on my rooftop deck in California, watching the fiery orange ball slowly slip from sky to water. Sun sets are something we never really seem to tire of.

After the journey in the Philippines, we flew to Borneo and spent some time in Kota Kinabalu meandering and exploring the Malaysian part of the large Island. One day we took a ferry out to Labuan Island, a three hour ferry ride. It is an island that played an important role in WWII, and was where the Japanese surrendered in the Pacific war, though the island sees very little tourism now. We spent one night there, and early the next morning took an additional ferry ride out to Brunei, a small sliver of a country surrounded by Malaysian Borneo. It is among the smallest countries in Southeast Asia, but the wealthiest, rich in oil fields, and the Sultan of Brunei was once the wealthiest man in the world, living in a home that cost $350 million when built, and has 200 bathrooms. He is the political, military, and spiritual leader of the country, and is part of the longest lineage of aristocracy in the world. His family has been ruling since the 1400’s and are direct descendants of the Islamic prophet Mohammed. Mostly we went to Brunei for the stamp in the passport, though did the highlights around the small capital city. We walked through the plank pathways of the largest water village in the world, all the homes built on stilts rising from the water. We walked around the famous mosque, silently watching the sacred ceremonies of prayer on their holy day. Prayers rang out through the temple grounds and crowds of men gathered. After the prayers, we walked the grounds and washed our face and hands in the holy fountains. Brunei was my first experience in a truly Islamic state, and I was fascinated with the calls to prayer, and people watching, and the beauty of the mosque. I suppose it would feel different were I to revisit, as I now live in an Islamic state in the Arabian Gulf, though even here I still find myself fascinated at times and enjoy the differences and uniqueness in the culture.

We hired a water taxi to take us down the river past the Sultan’s palace, barely visible through the trees. We jetted through the villages made of homes on stilts, all lined in curving rows, old decaying wooden homes with large patios and hanging pots holding colorful flowers.

We taxied out to see the river, the forests surrounding, the palace, the mosque, the villages, and the animals living along the banks, birds and the unusual, long-nosed proboscis monkey jumping from tree to tree and splashing in the shallow banks of the river. We walked around the city for the sake of walking and seeing and exploring, and watched the sun set over the small city, and at dark returned to the mosque to walk the grounds with the mosque a glow in the dark sky. Colored lights and lantern lit paths carved out around the sacred building, spotlights gleaming on to the marble white walls. Buildings such as this I think are best at night, the way the lights blend against the stone and marble and walls. We circled the building gazing at each new view, each new corner and angle, walked over cement bridges on to cement boats that seemed to float atop calm water that surrounded the mosque in mote like fashion. This building was the thing I most wanted to see in all of Brunei, having seen the pictures in photography and travel books, and I crossed one more thing off my list, adding another yellow dot upon my map, and my brother, another dot to his. We are fortunate souls this way, as fortunate as we make ourselves to be.

At night we snuck in to an empty room at a hostel and showered and slept. We woke early the next morning and tried to hitchhike to the ferry terminal to ferry back to Kota Kinabalu, and bid Brunei adieu. It is a fun thing to think we have been to Brunei, been to Borneo. They are even fun to say, and now when each of us look at maps, we’ll know that small spot far down in the pacific is a spot our feet have walked, and will such a thought ever cease to leave a smile?

After Borneo it was Singapore, another small country in Southeast Asia, though a much larger population than Brunei. Singapore is a city state, where the whole of the country is comprised of only one city, a population of over 6 million. It is a remarkably and ridiculously clean city/country. Smoking in public is illegal, as well is chewing gum, and for that matter, gum is not sold within the country because the government does not want people spitting it out on to the streets. It is a bit of a joke there how everything is against the law, all in effort to have a neat, clean, and orderly city. They do well at it though, and we enjoyed our time there.

We stayed in a nice hostel in Little India, walking distance to the shopping and food that Singapore is so known for. One day we went out to the Singapore zoo. I am not typically a zoo fan, something about seeing animals in a captive state takes out the thrill and amazement of seeing animals, but this zoo was a great zoo, and many of the exhibits were remarkable facsimiles of a natural habitat. We walked the zoo near all day, the enormous grounds housing hundreds of species of both flora and fauna. We joked around and grabbed some good pictures, and there are certain places where my brother Dallin makes for great company. He’s hilarious, and when we both are in sync with our humor, I love the moments.

In Singapore we also toured the city on push scooters with a small group from the hostel. It rained that night, and we waited for the rain to calm down, threw on some rain ponchos, and grabbed the kick scooters and headed out on to the wet and slippery pavement, in some places sliding more than rolling, but it was a fun tour, through China Town, and Little India, the Malaysian District, to the Singapore Museum, around government buildings, around the bay and waterfront that was lined with trendy pubs and restaurants with fashionable people enjoying a Singapore evening. It is a beautiful city, clean and well-laid out, and at night, lights shone on to the buildings and the bay creating a lovely skyline surrounded by water.

We went out to a bar one night with some people we met at the hostel, and between the bartender and another guy there, we were given several rounds of beer, plus, the bartender came out and taught us how to make his specialty house drink, letting us all help with the mixing and the shaking. He gave us that drink for free as well. Singapore is an expensive city, and the alcohol particularly expensive, so had I been a drinker at all, those free drinks would have been a truly grand treat. I didn’t drink, but still enjoyed the night and the gestures, and had a great time. Dallin was a little more adventurous than I that night and went out clubbing. I should have joined, but was exhausted and stayed back at the hostel and struck up some wonderful conversations with people there.

Dallin left Singapore early in the morning and flew back to Manila for a few days before going home. I stayed in Singapore till early evening and explored the city by myself before catching a flight to Bali. I said goodbye to my brother, who I had not seen in a year before the trip. It was great to travel with him. I know I would have done things differently had I been on my own. I would have gone to different places, seen different things, and perhaps stayed longer in certain areas, and spent less time in others, but I would not have experienced some of what I did, and I certainly would not have built memories I am now able to share with a family member, nor would I have experienced my brothers return to his former home. I was sad to see him go, and was truly on my own the rest of the trip, not even sure how long the trip was going to last, but looking forward to all the various moments of the journey. I’ll brief through the rest of it all later.

Big Brother, Basketball, and Butanding.

I have been to thirteen countries since I last wrote in my blog, fourteen if including going back to the USA. That is how much of a blogger I am. Yes, I have been busy, seen much of the world, and experienced some of the biggest events and greatest days of my life, and I have written no words about any of it. I’ll make an attempt now, but how am I to try and recapture even a modicum of all things I have gone through and seen with this time that has passed? I cannot do it, and so you’ll never really know, but let’s peer in through the foggy windows that these words will make, and I’ll share a thought or two I left Korea and flew straight to Manila, the Philippines. I have mentioned before that it is a dream of mine to take each member of my family on a vacation, just the two of us. My father and I visited England several years ago, where he spent two years as a missionary. My oldest brother Dustin and I went to Australia about two years ago, something I have written in my blog about, and the Philippines, that was for my older brother Dallin. He spent two years as a missionary in those lovely Islands and it has been his dream for the twelve years since to make it back. I was happy to be a part of that dream. Perhaps it is a small sense of pride within me, unrighteous pride, that I have been able to help make such dreams come true for some of those I care most about, and that I do not think those family members would ever have left the US, or even gotten passports without the encouragement I am blessed enough to offer. Of course I wanted to go to the Philippines on my own, but I could not have imagined visiting without Dallin, touring those lands so sacred to him, and him not there. I was as much looking forward to seeing how it was for him to be back, to watch him step off the plane, hear the memories he suddenly recalled, and watch for subtle smiles in those moments it hit him that he was there, back in the Philippines. For that alone, it was a great trip, and for others too. I’ll share some of it with you, if you care to read. I’ll only include a brief account of some of the highlights, mostly taken from my journal. Wednesday, March 3rd, the year of our Lord two thousand ten. Today, I am not disappointed in the Philippines…Yesterday morning we took a jeepney to Sabong. It is a 2 ½ hour drive over bumpy roads. The inside was packed as full of people as it could be, with every nook filled in with bags and luggage. The top was piled with fruit baskets, suitcases, shopping supplies, and many passengers. People held on to the back, the side, and one girl even rode on the hood. It was not a comfortable ride, but very much a Philippine experience. In Sabong we hopped on a boat and took a short ride out to the entrance of the famous underground river. It is a huge cave going back 8-12 km with a fresh water river running through it that smoothly and calmly meets the salty sea outside. Just at the entrance of the cave there is a clear turquoise pool, still and unmoving with fish swimming through the brackish. It is the type of place you pray to see in silence and solitude. We did not have the solitude, but still enjoyed the serenity of the water and the trees that bent and crooked into natural benches to dangle feet from. We walked down the river and the bank past a large rock standing at the mouth right where the water of the sea swooshed in with the current to mix and mingle with the water from the river. The current pushed in lazy river motion drifting onward toward the pool and the cave. We took a small boat up the river in to the cave. The only light was a flashlight spotting out calcite formations in the cave. Some are supposed to look like the Holy Family, the Virgin Mary, giant candlesticks, and one looked remarkably similar to the image stained in to the Shroud of Turin. The cathedral ceilings and rooms housed 400,000 bats that flew and fluttered through the darkness as water dripped in blackness onto our skin. We floated along through this place made for movies and I kept thinking how it would be to swim in the silence and total darkness of the cave’s deep waters. After the cave we walked back to the boat that took us back to the main beach and spotted a lizard as long as I am tall. The beach was a spot vacation magazines photo for their covers. The waters of the sea separated in darkening layers as it moved away from the soft white sands of the beach. Palm trees reach up to the blue back drop of sky fluffed with cotton clouds and shells shimmered in the light glazing down to the beach. We stopped for lunch and walked the small roads and grabbed a van back that winded up and down the mountains and through small villages of huts, and the green mountains covered in forests of vines and palms stood tall around islands and sea-blue and sea-green waters. The whole ride home was an enriching end to an activity full of views and vistas. Today, we hopped back on the scooter and rode out with no destination in mind. Far out of town we spotted a path partially leading down to the sea. Near the path sitting on large cement cinders under the shade of trees was a group of Filipino boys. We talked with them and asked where to play basketball and they led us down a narrow path in to a small community centered around a wooden backboard and bent rim court. We played a 3-on-3 game and the whole community came out to watch the two tall Americans playing ball on their court. Every home was built entirely of sticks, no electricity, and only one well to pump water in the center of the community. Dallin and I did not play well on the unfamiliar court, though we did win. We all played in our flip-flops, and back here at the hostel I noticed a bloody blister on the palm of my foot had ripped and torn off all my skin in one thick layer. Dallin and the girls from the Hostel bandaged me up and Dallin laughingly and sadistically doused my foot with rubbing alcohol as I cringed at the stinging. It was well worth it, and playing basketball in the hot and humid sun of a small Philippine village was the highlight of the day. Yes, I am not disappointed with the Philippines today. It has been a wonderful two days, and now I am back at the hostel and blessed with the company of two attractive blonde galls from Germany. Friday March 5th, the year of our Lord two thousand ten. Today I surely must write, for I have swum with gentle giants…We arrived in Donsol, Sorsogon at4:30 a.m. and found some straw and bamboo umbrella hut on the side of the road with a wide bamboo bench we both slept on. When we woke, we walked further down the road and registered for our highlight activity in the Philippines, and were soon on a boat out spotting or Butanding. Butanding is the local name for whale sharks. We hoped to spot a couple and jump in the water to swim alongside them. We were fortunate today. I swam with nine separate whale sharks. The largest was 30-35 feet long and had it swung its tail, it would have hit me. Even the fish that suctioned on and fed on the skin of the shark were large. Their mouths were bigger than I am. I swam atop them and beside them, staring down to their white spots and giant fins. This is the biggest reason I came out to the Philippines, and today, I have swum with Butanding, the gentle giants of the sea, with only blue water between me and their massive bodies. My body aches now from sun burn with my skin tight and stinging, but I have seen whale sharks, with me myself below in the blue waters. I have been close enough to touch their thick and fatty skin. It was a grand day indeed. While nothing else this day cold top that, still there were pleasant moments. We walked the small town and came out to a village on the sea just as the sun was setting behind the mountains of other islands. We looked and saw a small thatched hut standing tall on long bamboo rods that rose out of the water. A bamboo bridge journeyed out to the hut that stood above a small lagoon, its reflection clear in the calm water and the orange sun behind. It was a remarkable scene… We walked along the beach as the sky grew from sunrise in to dusk with the pink and orange of horizons whispering down to the grey sea shimmering dark in the night. Locals sat out in the sand enjoying the scene or flew kites high in the air, or did back flips off the sand. Bats zigged and zagged and twittered in their feasting hour and men with tight nets fastened tightly to bent sticks waded in the water for an evening’s fishing find. I cannot help but think the scene we saw this evening is the exact scene we would have seen 200 years ago, a small fishing village of bamboo and palm huts sitting serenely seaside in tropical Donsol. Everything I have seen screams out island life and tropic. It is a journey and I am only weeks into it. Wednesday, March 10th, the year of our Lord, thousand ten. ... Dallin has been popular here. He’s popular everywhere he goes, though speaking Tagalog gives him extra wow power. We’ve both gotten a lot of attention from women and lady boys, and had people develop crushes on us…In most of the country people shouted out to us…They all seemed happy and excited when we shouted or waved back, and they loved when Dallin would speak Tagalog with them. It’s been fun for me to watch him. I never imagine him as bi-lingual, but he is, and I can tell he loves speaking it again. One thing I have enjoyed here is seeing how Filipinos really live. We have gotten in to the small neighborhoods and communites and talked with them, ate with them, and stayed in their homes. It is a filthy country, the neighborhoods, streets, and homes are layered in dirt and the homes are shared with ants and flies and giant cockroaches. My white t-shirts turn in to a dusty gray in only hours. The dirt and filth is part of the charm. I would not want to live here, but am glad for the visit and my experiences here.

Land of the Morning Calm.

How time seems to fly, and yet, America seems some distant memory to me, and still she is my home. I am hours away from leaving Yeosu. I will take a bus to Seoul, and in the morning will fly out of this country, perhaps never returning. This has been a journey and an adventure, and in the morning a new journey begins, and hopefully many adventures. How do I feel as I approach the hour to leaving? As is often the case, I do not feel anything yet. When it hits me, I will be sad to leave. I do not think this is where I am meant to stay, or even where I most want to be, but still, Yeosu has been my home and treated me kindly.

I must rush to write a few things of Korea and of my past year living on the hard soil of her southern shore.

The food. Will I be sad to leave the food? Korean food often seems to be a love it or hate it relationship. Many of the foreigners hate much of Korean food, though quite enjoy some of it, while other foreigners seem to love nearly all of it. Koreans are deeply proud of their food, particularly in the province I am in. It is known for the best food in the country, and the food is deeply tied in to the culture. Certain days of the year according to the lunar calendar require certain meals, and food is sometimes eaten for a specific purpose. Koreans believe much of the food or drink has some type of health benefit, often for the male libido, such as rattlesnakes fermenting in a soju bottle for a long time. Soju is the alcohol of Korea, and alcohol plays a huge role here. It is sad that it often plays the only role. Koreans do not have many hobbies in general, and most people you ask what they like to do, they'll answer drink with friends, or play video games. It is such a beautiful country for outdoor sports and activities, scarcely utilized. The older people do hike a lot here, but mostly only the older people, and the hikes are very easy. Koreans do not like to do anything alone. It is always about the group. Unfortunately this often also includes how they think. This is certainly a culture where everyone wants to fit in with the crowd and do their best not to stand out.

In Korea, everyone is born already one year old, and the every person in the country ages another year each lunar new year. This mean if you are born the day before lunar new year, you turn two the day after you are born. On lunar new year, the whole country eats rice cake soup and they say they have eaten a year. Eating the soup on lunar new year is what makes you grow older. Anyone in your age group is automatically your friend, and vice versa, people not in your age group are rarely your friends.

Koreans do still eat dog here, though only a small minority, and even fewer eat cat. Because cats always land on their feet when falling from great heights, it means they have strong bones, so when you are older and your bones get weak, if you eat cat it will help your bones get stronger. I have eaten dog here, but missed out on the cat. I have eaten oodles of squid and octopus tentacles and even an octopus head, brain and all. I have also eaten live octopus, feeling the tentacles suction on the inside of your mouth and throat trying to crawl back up. It is popular here in Korea, and people have died from not chewing the octopus well enough and having it suck on too tight and suffocate. I have eaten other live sea creatures that looked like they should be crawling around in the mud, dried fish that they leave out on their porches for days or weeks and then eat bones and all, blood sausage, intestine, and so much more. I don't like a lot of the seafood here. They often serve the fish whole and you have to use your chopsticks to try to pick around all the bones, and often just eat some of the bones. Some of the seafood taste a lot like the water it was swimming around in, or taste like you would expect it to smell, though some is good. Korean bbq can be very good, and they'll often wrap the meat up in lettuce with red pepper sauce, white radish or other vegetables. I do like that. Kim chi and rice are eaten with every meal, and you can't really distinguish between breakfast, lunch, and dinner. At a restaurant the servers bring out a ton of different side dishes, usually picked or fermented vegetables and various types of kim chi. There are a ton of restaurants here, some of them tiny and I dont' know how they stay in business, but Koreans love to eat out. They love their food in general.

The mountains here are gorgeous. The sea is beautiful. The cities are usually ugly. I have heard foreigners say it is a shame Koreans settled the peninsula. It is a beautiful country, but the buildings and cities are ugly, dirty, and run down.

There seem to be seasons here for doing things. For example, their is a beach season, and many people in the country don't visit the beach even a single day outside of beach season, no matter how nice the weather is. The women wear their bathing suits underneath their clothes, but never take their clothes off at the beach, even when they decide to go swim in the sea. They swim in their shorts, or often even jeans and long sleeve shirts. Koreans do not like the sun. They want their skin to be as white as possible, and some even bleach their skin or wear lots of make up, which makes them look a bit like a corpse. Few women look like that though. The women here do have thick, dark hair, and sexy legs. The people here are overly dramatic, super sensitve, extremely shy, and stress about everything. They point, they stare, they criticize, they make demands, but they also are very hospitable and generous. In ways they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. In ways, they are some of the rudest. Every country is like this, and all in all, this has been a great experience, and while things about this country do drive me crazy, I am only going to take with me the good memories and the funny stories. For example, electric fan death. Many Koreans believe that if you sleep with an electric fan on in your house, it will kill you. This is not just what country bumpkins believe, but doctors write about it in medical journals and news stations report on people being killed by electric fan death. All foreigners seem amazed at Korean logic, or rather lack of logic and their reasoning for doing things. It makes no sense, often they know it makes no sense, but they will always do it that way.

Teaching in the school has been fun. The kids are cute, and the younger they are, the cuter they are. The education system is horrible, and the teaching style is much of the problem. High school kids in Korea are often in school from 9:00 a.m. to midnight, plus some Saturdays and Sundays. You would expect them to be the smartest people in the world, but not at all. They have a hard time thinking for themselves. They are trained that way. Teachers will give them the answers to everything, so they just get accustom to not having to work out a problem on their own. They work a lot, but they don't work hard.

Where I live is considered the country. While my city itself is not small, people here sure act like they are small town country folk. Shopping here is hard. There are no department stores, and things are hard to come by. Unless you want rice or kim chi, the selection and variety of items is limited as well. There are lots of farms around, and even more small garden plots that they put in any empty plot of land. They are often dirty and overrun with garbage, but in the summer they clean up nice. The mountains around are beautiful and driving out in to the country where the real farms are is lovely. I loved taking my motorcycle for rides out on Dolson Island or out to some of the more remote beaches, particularly in spring and fall or early summer when the weather is a perfect calm made for motorcycles.

The foreigner community is very tight knit here in Yeosu. Most people seem to know everyone else, and you always feel like you have a friend. In the bigger cities, the foreigners aren't as friendly with each other, but here, everyone is automatically in the group and willing to help out anyone else, and their are foreigner get togethers frequently. Often the Koreans go extremely out of their way to help you and can be the most gracious and giving people you'll ever meet. Sometimes old women will come and touch my hair and laugh and give me hugs or hand me fruit or rice cake or other various treats. Walking down the street school kids giggle and laugh, the younger ones often screaming out "hello" or "nice to meet you" and then run away laughing triumphantly.

The nature is beautiful, the culture is fascinating, the people are unique, and the experience has been memorable. I wish I could write more. I am leaving so much out. All in all, I really have loved it here, and as different as it sometimes seems, that is sometimes what I like most about it, and I will hold tight to the memories and always be grateful for the experiences here, the people I have met, and for the warmth that Korea and little Yeosu have shown me this past year. Goodbye Yeosu, goodbye. I shall miss your mountains, spring blossoms, and the islands of the yellow sea. I shall miss your people. I shall miss you.