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.
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