Goddess, I Am.

Chin once told me that she envied my portable life. That was back in 2007 when I packed up and left for Thailand.

Everything I owned could fit in a single suitcase. I was free to come and go whenever I pleased. Those were among the best days of my life, and like Chin then, I envy my portable life now.

These days, I’m feeling that all too familiar restlessness again, that itch go someplace far and exotic – not for a few days’ holiday, but to stay for a while, to stay indefinitely. And in theory, I could. After all, that’s the beauty of working online. I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to feed and shelter myself in some exciting foreign land.

But a theory is all it is for me now, now that I’m married and can never think solely for myself ever again. My life is still fairly portable (or I can make it so in a heartbeat because I don’t exactly go crazy on wholesale appliances). Why, I can give away most of my clothing and my shoes and my books and I won’t even bat an eyelash. All I need are a few t-shirts, some underwear, a few pairs of pants, my laptop, my iPad, and my camera, and I’m a happy camper. The Husband, however, is another story.

You see, he gets very attached to things, like his huge-ass TV and home theater system, his hundreds of Blu-Ray movies, his electric couch, and even the goddamned refrigerator. Most of these things traveled all the way from England to Thailand when he moved to Bangkok in 2006, and again from Thailand to the Philippines in 2008. When we do move again, he’s going to insist on taking all of these with us, plus everything else we’ve bought since.

And if you’ve ever had to go through the ordeal of moving furniture and appliances from one country to another, you’ll know it’s not a walk in the park. So it goes without saying that moving from one country to another on a whim is out of the question, and when we do move again, it’ll have to be a big one (read: for good) to make the most out of the time, money, and gargantuan effort that transporting his stuff will demand.

Heavens, why do material things have to make life so complicated?

- Posted using BlogPress on Agrippa, the iPad

It’s been nearly two years since The Husband and I moved out of Thailand, and truly, there is no love lost between myself and the Thais. I’ve never made it a secret that I like most of them as much as I like fitness equipment (which I don’t). In fact, I’ve even written a nasty thing – or two! – about them at some point. Still, no matter how much I dislike the majority of the Thai population, I never ever would’ve wished the horrible events of the past few weeks (or has it been months already?) on a place I called home for over a year and a half.

The fact that I actually care enough to keep myself informed of what’s going on is quite surprising, really. I never thought I would, but I guess there’s something very horribly disconcerting about seeing a myriad of streets and buildings and even freakin’ 7-11s that should have been familiar but are now barely recognizable from all the damage that’s been done.

And as shallow as this may sound, what shook me most was seeing Central World Plaza burning. I cannot count the many Sundays I’ve spent taking refuge in Central or in Siam Paragon next door because I was a new girl in a strange city and had absolutely no idea how to get around. Siam was the easiest place for me to get to back then, so week after lonely week I would journey to that crowded, bustling place, and sit and read or write beside the fountains, or meander from shop to shop, daydreaming as I did so. For me, it was the place of first dates and glorious IMAX movies and expensive wifi, and by the time I finally left the city, I could’ve probably walked through the area all the way to Pratunam, or Chulalongkorn University, or Soi Nana, or even Silom blindfolded. Why, I probably still could.

Oh, Bangkok. How I grieve for you! Once upon a time, you helped a girl finally find herself. I hope, after all that’s been said and done, your people will help you do the same.

They say that by running for Congress (and winning), our president (she of the short stature and high self-regard) is hoping to become Speaker of the House so she can push for the change of our democracy to a parliamentary legislature and ultimately become Prime Minister.

Well, truth be told, from what I know and understand of how a parliament works, I think it would do this country a load of good – that is, as long as we don’t end up with a dwarf for a Prime Minister. I’ve always felt that the very essence of democracy is lost on people as undisciplined, belligerent, stubborn, and insular as the masses that make up the majority of the Filipinos – and most of Asia, for that matter (read: Thailand) – so a tough, authoritarian system of government is long overdue.

But let’s not get into all that, shall we?

Going back to the subject of parliament, how cool would it be if we had a Whip? And no, I’m not talking about ‘em whips of the S&M kind (sorry, Chin!). According to Wikipedia, “whips are party ‘enforcers’, who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy.” Wouldn’t it be cool if our government officials could stop bickering aimlessly for a change, or at least bicker with more sense because there’s someone around to keep them in line?

Oh, what I would do to become a Whip! If I ever do run for public office and become one, I would do the job one better by really wielding a whip. Then I will literally whip any party member who won’t agree to buy phentermine in bulk to reduce the national weight average, or whatever new drama the country might be facing by then.

Do you think it’s too early to start campaigning for the, umm, Whipship? Just a thought.

As far as life experiences go, this is definitely somewhere at the top of my list – probably somewhere between traveling for a week in Malaysia and Thailand with only about $80 in my purse and watching Lea Salonga play Kim in Miss Saigon back in 2000. It’s powerful, intense, and completely surreal.

The Husband, he knows a lot about wildlife, and it was he who told me about the whale sharks that migrate through the waters somewhere east of the Philippines. After a bit of research, I found out that we can actually swim and interact with this fantastic fish off the coast of Donsol, Sorsogon, about an hour’s drive from Legazpi City in Albay. Not only that, we can fly straight to Legazpi City from Cebu via Cebu Pacific, so the moment there was a seat sale, I booked our tickets without even batting an eyelash. Yes, I’m a sucker for seat sales.

But I digress. Being the ‘organized’ traveler that I am, I spent months reading through travel blogs and trawling forums to get ready for the trip. I read that although the whale sharks (or butanding, as they are locally called) travel through the Donsol sound between November and June, they are best seen during the dry months of March to May because rain makes the water murky otherwise – quite similar to a pond without a garden pond filter. And since I was celebrating my birthday on the 13th of March, anyway, I figured it’ll make for a great birthday holiday. I also found out that it was a good idea to book accommodation months in advance as guest houses in Donsol are quite few and far between and can get pretty crowded during the peak months, so I had that sorted out as early as November.

Day One

We left around lunchtime on the 11th to catch our 1310 flight. Yes, I know we should’ve left at least an hour before that, but The Husband forgot to sync movies to his iPhone, so we had to wait for that. Thankfully, we found a cab driver who drove like a maniac and got us to the airport in about 15 minutes, so we were able to check in with a few minutes to spare. It was a bit embarrassing, though, because while I lined up at the airport Dunkin’ Donuts, our names got called over the loudspeaker to board the plane, and when we did, all the other passengers glared at us. We took off about 10 minutes early, so really, that was unnecessary.

We would’ve landed early, too, if it wasn’t for the really thick and really scary fog that had the pilot circling around Albay for a full 40 minutes. It was strange because it really was quite sunny and pretty on the way over.

I was told that another 20 minutes and we would’ve had to turn back to Cebu. Thank heavens the fog cleared up long enough for the pilot to land! That really was quite a harrowing experience. I wasn’t sure whether I was more scared of crashing or having to turn back!

It was drizzling when we landed in Legazpi City. Just our luck. We planned a trip for high summer when it was highly unlikely to rain (there’s a drought, after all!), and that’s exactly what happens!

The airport was really small and quite functional. I spoke to the lady at the tourist desk to ask her where we can get the tricycle to the public terminal where the vans to Donsol are, and she suggested taking one of the private vans right outside the airport because of the rain. A van to Donsol costs about P1,500, but she told me we could share with other tourists who were heading our way, so that’s exactly what we did. We ended up with 3 other people, and we were off!

Normally, the drive to Donsol is meant to be quite scenic, thanks to the Mayon Volcano. The mountain was a complete no-show that day, however. The fog was THAT bad. Still, Albay is quite pretty. We passed rice fields aplenty and some of the prettiest cemeteries I’ve ever seen. Now, I’m deathly afraid of cemeteries, no pun intended, but these ones were so pretty, I couldn’t help taking a little peek.

Donsol was a lot larger than I expected. We got to drive around the town somewhat to drop off the other passengers in the van, and it really is quite a pretty town. The locals seemed friendly enough, and I’ve never seen so many foreign backpackers since Thailand.

Our driver drove us straight to the Amor Farm Beach Resort, where we would be staying for the next couple of days. Apparently, this family-owned resort was the first resort ever to be established in Donsol. One of the Amor daughters checked us in and showed us our pretty little bungalow. Now, being staunch budget travelers, The Husband and I have been in some real shitholes in our time, and this was definitely NOT one of those. In fact, our bungalow was one of the nicest places we’ve ever stayed in. I was very impressed by the room and was even more impressed by the bathroom with its faux Greco-Roman tile design. Yes, it was definitely worth the price of P1,800 per night.

After we settled in, one of the resort staff directed us to where we could sign up for the next morning’s butanding interaction tour. It was about a 5-minute walk from the resort, but it took us about half an hour to get there. There were just so many pretty things to photograph! The new 35mm was on a roll! I took photos of everything from cows to flowers to boats, while The Husband did what he does best: bird-watch.

There was a small crowd of travelers when we got to the Butanding Interaction Center. Everyone has to register for the trip, and no one will ever get scammed here when all trips are regulated. The registration fee is P100 for Filipino citizens and P300 for foreign nationals. Each boat costs P3,500, which is divided amongst its passengers.

Everyone’s encouraged to register early because they only allow 30 boats to go out to sea each morning. Each boat carries a maximum of 6 people, and the staff usually groups people together to make up those 6. When we got there that afternoon, everyone else already had their groups, so we were told to come back at 7:30 the next morning, and they’ll find us a group then.

It was already near sunset when we got back to the resort. We walked to the beach and watched the beautiful Donsol sunset. The water was so calm that you can almost ignore the fact that it was raining just a few kilometers away across the sound.

We realized that we haven’t eaten anything since we left, so The Husband and I then had dinner at the resort’s restaurant. The food was mostly Filipino, so he settled on the safest thing on the menu – fried chicken and fried potatoes – while I had pork sinigang with rice.

Unfortunately, the food wasn’t all that good. His fried chicken was bland, while my sinigang was quite dismal. We ended up feeding most of our dinner to the resident puppy, instead (who we decided to name ‘Patch’, for obvious reasons).

After dinner, we went back to the bungalow and ate almost all the sweets and chips we brought with us to make up for the disappointing dinner. Beat after a long day of traveling, we decided to turn in early.

To be continued…

More photos of the trip can be found on Flickr.

I never got to blog about this then, but a few weeks back, I finally managed to get my driver’s license renewed. The whole exercise was a lot like pulling teeth, but I’m not going to complain as the whole thing was largely my fault.

My driver’s license expired in 2007. Back then, I didn’t have a car anymore, so I just put the whole thing on the back burner. Then I moved to Thailand and lost the expired card somewhere. When I moved back home, mum arranged for an Affidavit of Loss so I can get it sorted out, but I kept putting it off and putting it off. By the time I got around to it a few weeks ago, it has already been expired for over 2 years. And this means that LTO now had every right to make my life a living hell.

I practically had to start from scratch, sans the student’s permit and driving lessons. The worst part had to be the drug test. I’ve always hated public bathrooms, and having to use a horrible, smelly one in the dingiest LTO-accredited drug testing center imaginable to pee in a cup AND then personally transfer the contents in a teeny tiny bottle was absolute torture. Thank all the stars that the whole process didn’t last too long, so I was in and out and done with the medical hoopla within minutes. Really, that drug testing center/medical clinic was like a well-oiled machine. Why, they can even process car insurance while you wait!

The rest of the steps weren’t as horrible, thank heavens, but they were still unbelievably exhausting. I had to travel all the way to the main LTO office downtown – which is quite a long way away from where I live now, mind you – several times every day for nearly a week. I had to sit through a very boring lecture in a very stuffy room, take a written exam that I (naturally) aced, and a driving test.

I have to admit, I was very nervous about the driving part. Although I drove my own car for nearly 4 years, I have not driven at all in nearly 6, so I was absolutely terrified. We also had to supply our own vehicle, and since I didn’t have one, I had to borrow a car from one of my mum’s friends. Good thing she agreed – after all, not a lot of people would lend an unlicensed driver who hasn’t so much as driven a wagon in 6 years their car.

Well, as it turns out, my (and I imagine, her) fears were unfounded. The moment I got behind the wheel, it really was a lot like finding a long lost friend. I never realized how much I missed the freedom of driving. Even The Husband, who was always so skeptical about my driving skills, was thoroughly impressed. Tee hee.

It was a relief that the car was a stick (manual transmission), actually. I learned on a stick and drove a stick. I was once forced to drive an automatic once, and I hated every minute of it. There was just no . . . artistry to it. I guess my examiner saw that I’ve been driving for a while because he just asked me to parallel park and that was it. The other examinees took half the freakin’ morning. After that, I just had to take a quick trip to LTO one last time, and I got my driver’s license card within minutes.

I must say, I was very impressed with the new LTO, even after all the crap that I had to go through. If my license wasn’t expired for over 2 years, I would’ve been in and out of the LTO office (with the proper driver’s license card, mind you, and none of those shitty temporary receipt things) in about an hour. The Husband got his student’s permit (he had to start over because he lost his UK license) in 10 minutes. Truly, the things that government offices can do when they decide to join the rest of us in the Information Age never cease to amaze me.