THE PHILIPPINES AND BORACAZ OPEN 2017 - DON'T LET IT END

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Remember when I went to the Philippines for a few weeks of beachy and frisbee-y goodness? Well, it happened again. Bummer, right?

JBDF rejoined forces to defend the beach and we all re-converged on Boracay in the Philippines for round two of the Boracay Open, this time the 2017 edition. But before that could take place, me and my buddy Doug headed to an island paradise for some chill vibes and relaxation before some frisbee.

Pre-Trip

I couldn't wait to get out of the office the day I was to embark, so I left early. I went home, procrastinated a bit from packing by napping, but eventually got my stuff crammed into my backpacks, and then had a taco dinner and great conversation with my dearest mommy before heading to the airport.

Got into PDX and was able to jump onto an (slightly) earlier shuttle to Seattle, where I'd have a good three hours to kill. Thank goodness for my lounge pass. This got me into the Alaska lounge (last time I was in there I got a picture with Paul Sr. from American Choppers 11 years ago), had some snacks and then grabbed a coffee to watch the planes go by and gather some amount of caffeine to hopefully keep me awake enough so the jet lag doesn't wipe me out for a few days upon arrival. Enjoy the blast from the past...

In preparation for the trip, once I closed down the lounge, I threw on some tunes and wandered my way towards the gate. I gotta say, that may be one of my favorite aspects of plane travel - walking through the airport, people watching, and getting some good tunes coming through my ear drums. It's relaxing and energizing (depending on the song), and just seems to get me relaxed and in a clear state of mind. I'm a big fan. Especially when a really dope track comes on and I can dance while walking.

Boarding was smooth, and then I remembered I got top deck in the 747! Woot! And not only that, but holy leg room batman! I could fully extend my legs even with the seat fully reclined. That really eased the whole 12 hour flight, including watching Rogue One and Passengers, and getting a decent amount of shuteye for the rest of the time.

We landed in Taipei and I was quite surprised at how easy the transfer was. I didn't have to do the whole customs process, just went through another security point and then I was in the terminal. I thought it was more stringent for transit, but I guess not!

Went and found a lounge open that early, and grabbed a snack. As I was sitting there I looked at the terminal and it really reminded me of the giant terminal in Beijing. I guess that coincidence is not much of a coincidence, but interesting to note nonetheless.

Eventually I migrated to another lounge, got a nicer breakfast, and watched some TV. One TV was an MLS game, Orlando vs New York, kinda lackluster, but cool to see the MLS with a little traction in Asia! The second was an Asia-wide news network. Times for programs were displayed for Jakarta, New Delhi, and Singapore, it covered news stories from all over the world, and because of the diversity of the region, it was all in English.

Quick Thought - Two things stuck out with that to me. First, that it was in English. Thinking about it, it only makes sense. SE Asia is a hot-pot of highly diverse countries with unique politics, languages, peoples, and histories. So a common communication means is necessary. It's still impressive that this has (I'm assuming) such a wide audience in such a large and ridiculously populated area of the world.

The second was the sheer diversity and attention given to topics all over the world. The emphasis was on Brexit with the official invocation of Article 50, but they covered stuff from all over the world, not just limited to the local region, which I wish we did a better job of in the US.

When I left the lounge, I did a little bit of walking around. There was something really interesting and unique about the Taiwan airport. Rather than your standard, generic airpot gates, each gate had a unique theme. There were topics such as the postal service in Taiwan, Taiwanese aviation, rock and roll, and even...

The flight from Taipei to Manila wasn't too bad. What's crazy was, on the 12 hour flight from Seattle we were on a 747. But the 2 hour flight to Manila was on a wide-body 777. So many people on such a short flight. It confused me for a while, but then I remembered that Asia has a helluva lot more people than the US. So with that demand comes a greater need for bigger planes.

Rather than wasting the whole flight sleeping, I cleaned out my phone for most of it, then had probably the worst landing of my flying experience. There were some ridiculously crazy crosswinds. It felt like we only had one gear on the ground for about half the runway with a seemingly legitimate chance that we veered off of it. But we somehow touched down.

Because of that roller coaster landing, I struck up a conversation with my neighbor, who ended up being a trucker living in Fontana, CA. He was back in town real quick to sell property then head back to the US. What a nice guy.

Welp, there was a crazy line at customs. Sheesh. I guess I should have expected that.

Got through the maze, then headed to the baggage claim. As luck would have it, the fuckers lost my bag. Well, to give Eva Air some credit, they would have had to actually get the bag from Alaska in Seattle to be able to lose it. Either way, I was thankfully smart enough to pack some shorts in my carry on so I could not fry up in the crazy Manila heat. But to add insult to injury, I got stiffed on my change from the taxi driver. Dicks.

After that whole shitty fiasco, I finally met up with Lester and Ben. Lester is an amazing person and frisbee dude. He's (from what I've seen) somewhat the face of Philippino Ultimate, and an unbelievably gracious and welcoming human being. Ben's a guy I'd just met who lives in Thailand and turned out to also be a really awesome person. Well, we met up, had some lunch, and then Ben had to split for a flight back to Thailand. Lester and I then headed to Makati, part of Manila's "bubble".

On the way over to Makati, he explained to me about the bubble, and compared Makati to the Hunger Games, where Makati is the Capitol and all the other parts of Manila are the various districts. From the looks and feel of it, it was not a bad analogy.

Well Lester had some meetings and crossfit to get to, so I wandered around the big shopping district in part of the bubble. I guess the benefit of the shitty airline losing my bag was I got some new board shorts paid for by my credit card benefits. Silver linings, right? So I wandered around, did some shopping, and started to get pretty pooped once the sun went down.

Quick Thought - In the weeks leading up to the trip, I'd had some conversations with John, one of my coworkers, which became fully applicable through this shopping. Globalization totally came through in the clutch for my benefit. I got to shop at a few chain stores (generic sporting goods, generic drug store, Payless), find products either analogous to or the same as what I could find at home, and although at varying comparative price levels, I'm half a world away and essentially have full access to what I would at home. It's a crazy world we live in.

Despite the whole globalization benefits and reality, and this could be because I was in the bubble, I didn't really feel like I was in a foreign country. English is everywhere, brand names in my local mall are all over the shopping plaza there, and I got mostly cold stares when I nodded or smiled at someone on the walkway. It's almost like I never left home.

Burnt out with shopping and pretty much just ready to fall asleep, I wandered back over and watched Lester kick ass at some crossfit. I did a little reading too, but soon enough it was time to head outta there.

We left the bubble and went back to his place, then headed out to dinner with him and his friend Joyce. The conversation was light and open, and we chatted a lot about work and layoff waves and corporate life and stuff. Really interesting, but I was really beat that whole time, and started to nod off at the table despite my best efforts.

At some point, probably when I was just about to succumb to jet lag, Doug met up with us and there was enough of an energy boost to keep me going. Dinner was light and fun, but Doug, Lester, and I eventually went back to Lester's place and continued the conversation with a little bit to drink. Lester 'encouraged' me to finish a bottle of wine as they had some whiskey, and we talked a lot about life in general and stuff. Then bed.

Friday

As I should have expected, I didn't sleep too well. The combo of jet lag and early morning flight anxiety were the killer combo I know all too well. I woke up, showered, and got ready, then said our thanks to Lester as Doug and I headed to the airport.

It was an easy drive over and a smooth check in, and we even got a little snack bag from the airline! Hot damn! It turns out that the only airline that flies directly to El Nido used to not be open to the public, but rather only exclusively available to guests of the hotel that is paired with the airline. Kinda crazy, and that's how the classy treatment makes a little more sense.

It was an easy and quick flight, I slept most of the way. Once we landed, Doug and I got a feeling of how in the boondocks we were by taking a look at the super small town runway that was connected to the beach. Well, Doug lost his phone on the plane, so there was some anxiety with that, but they found it while they were prepping for the next flight. So we grabbed his bag and were off to town.

Another sign of the small-town-ness of this place. Although we got the last trike in the parking lot at the airport, we had to wait a while in the parking lot because the road out of the airport was right next to the runway, and we couldn't pass by until the planes left. Eventually the planes took off and we were able to motor on.

Our quick trike ride got us right into the small town of El Nido. Once there, we threw our stuff down at the hostel (but weren't able to check in yet), then headed off to get some breakfast. Thanks to Lester's recommendations, we headed to The Mezzanine, and were blown away by our first look at the amazing view. The Mezzanine is right on the beach looking out onto the bay/cove, and it's just gorgeous there.

Doug and I feasted on some breakfast, our first in the Philippines since last year's fiesta of mango pancakes at our hotel in Moalboal. It was good, but while we were there, we met up with Lester's business partner, Jay, who talked our ear off and, although it was a bit too touristy for my tastes, walked us around town and showed us some of the key places.

We were both still pretty tired, but after that we killed time in the lobby of the hotel until our room was ready. Then, nap time. That nap was killer. Unfortunately, Doug woke up not feeling too well, so we extended it a bit, then got ourselves back in gear with a plan for the sunset.

We headed back to the beach and started walking, heading for a couple of places recommended to us by Jay. The first one was just around the point away from the main cove, and was absolutely awesome. Makulay is probably the best place in El Nido, with a chill patio vibe with chairs and tables also on the beach, and overlooking the entirety of the beautiful bay. Just awesome. We grabbed a glass of calamansi juice and calamari, chilled a bit, grooved to their dope tunes, and then continued along the beach.

Not being right in town anymore, it got much quieter, and much more relaxing. There were a number of resorts and hotels this way, and it seemed like a much more get-away-from-it-all type of vibe. The road looked like it curved away from the beach too much, so we deviated and headed back to the sand. Once we got back to the water, it was time to watch the sun go down.

And oh boy was it a beautiful sunset. What more could you imagine?

After that, we kept walking towards the end of the beach, and finally found the other place Jay recommended, completely out of sight of everywhere else tucked into its own little hole. Seemed like a very relaxing place to be. We noted it, but decided to start making our way back in.

Along the way, a nice little patio above the beach caught our eye, so we went to check it out and then decided to stop there for dinner. Oh boy was that the right choice!!!

The only downside was the price, being a bit more expensive than expected. But everything else was stellar. We settled on some grilled squid stuffed with mango salsa and the sizzling seafood. Holy SHIT it was declicious! The squid was cooked to perfection, and the mango salsa gave it a very fresh and spicy kick. The sizzling seafood was saucy, sizzling, and also quite spicy, and went perfect with the garlic rice. To top it all off, we each had a strong and flavorful mango margarita, and oh damn was that good. The perfect meal to wrap up the first night.

From dinner we kept walking back to town, but then went back to the first place we stopped at on our walk, this time to lounge out on their beach chairs (which were awesome) and watch the moon set with a couple of red horses. We had some good and intriguing conversations to pass the time, then got to watch the barely visible moon say good bye for the evening.

Beers in the belly and slowly ready to wind down the day, we walked back to town, and followed the beach past all of the lively and not lively bars and clubs along the water. Some were more intriguing than others, but we decided to head back to the hotel and call it a day.

Quick Thought - while we were walking along the beach in town, Doug pointed out how there were a lot of the locals sitting on the beach, not at a bar or anything, and just chatting and hanging out. It immediately reminded me of Cuba. But rather than a porch or stoop used as a gathering spot, the Phillipinos had a beach to gather on. Not good, not bad, just different, right?

Saturday

Didn't sleep too fantastically, but woke up and still didn't have a bag. Went down, asked the lady at the front desk for an update, nothing. Tried calling and got a total runaround - I got hung up on, put on hold for ten minutes and then during that call, got rerouted as if I was calling anew. I was fed up and frustrated, so I left it for now, so we could get our day going.

Doug and I got ready and then were about to head off to breakfast, but a different lady at the front desk said my bag was at the airport and I had to go pick it up in person. Frustrated and annoyed that I had to do that, I made my way back to the airport and finally got my bag. After I got back, we went and got some food.

This time we went to Cafe Athena and had another good breakfast. Who knew fried eggplant was so yummy? This place also had a great view onto the bay, which definitely added to the morning start. Filled up and ready to go, we headed back to prep for a beach day, but had to wait in the lobby for housekeeping to finish up...

Once we got our stuff, we headed out. Got dropped off at a café to... Oh wait, it didn't open til two in the afternoon. Not to be let down, we changed plans and commenced beach wandering. We walked up the beach back towards the direction of El Nido, and were a little surprised at how unbeachy it was. There were not a lot of just plain sandy spots like you'd imagine, but we settled on the beachfront bar recommended to us, L'Plage.

We posted up on the lounge chairs for some beers and commenced chilling. First things first, I waded out in the water to cool off. Glorious, fresh, sea time. Until I got poked by a sea urchin. I couldn't remember if they were poisonous in any way, so I got a little anxious, especially seeing the black dots of where I got poked. But, no harm so far. Either way, in the moment I was a little freaked out, so I waded back in to chill out on my lounge chair. Bummer, right?

We chilled at L'Plage for a while, and were digging the low key vibe. Apparently El Nido has a pretty notable French Expat population, of which most of the places to eat and drink in town are owned or run by French Expats. Eventually we got hungry, and since it was then past two in the afternoon, we wandered back down to the place we got dropped off at earlier, La Republica.

This place turned out to be awesome. It was on a part of that beachy stretch that was very unbeachy, and the cafe was up on the cliffside overlooking the water. Theres a bar there and also a bar facing out into the water, and the view was just impeccable. Well we took full advantage of the place, and sipped on some cool beers and chowed down on some deeeeeeelicious tapas. Hot damn it was good.

From there, we triked down to Cabanas beach. The trike dropped us off at the far end of the place, so we had to walk along a gorgeous, white sandy beach. Again, bummer, right? As we were walking along, walking past some chill beach bars, some not-so-chill beach bars, and some other stuff, we looked up and there was a zip line that went from a hill behind and to the left of us, all the way over the beach and to an island across the way. As we were checking it out though, we decided against taking the opportunity to ride it because it looked slow enough zip line where you had to either grapple yourself in or get towed in from one of the helpers to the other side. We made a good call.

We kept on walking down the beach, and eventually made our way to Las Cabanas for drinks and cards. Lester said this was his favorite place in El Nido, so of course we had to check it out. We posted up at a nice table off of the beach, played some cards, hung out, but then as the sunset approached, we jumped down onto the beach for some more drinks and a sunset. Funny enough, it was another good sunset.

With the sun already gone for the day, we walked back to the start of the beach and found a trike to take us back to town. Doug and I took a little breather, but then got cleaned up to meet up with Matt and his sailboat crew for dinner! They were on their voyage back from somewhere headed to Coron, but had a little bit of a stopover in El Nido and timing worked out great that they were here when we were!

We all met up for dinner at a big 'ole fish fry place. It was packed. Outside they had a seafood market-type thing going on. We ordered up and had a bunch of fantastic seafood with the drinks flowing the whole time. From there, we headed out along the beach and started the dance party at one of the bars/clubs along the way. The end goal was to get back to Makulay, however, as they were having their 1st-of-the-month party.

We started that, as in being the first group there, but it picked up and started getting awesome. We unfortunately left way too early because the sailboat crew was off to their boat. Some of them were diving in the morning, and they didn't want to go too overboard. With a little bit of the life off to bed, Doug and I decided to get some sleep as well before the tour in the morning. Responsibility blows.

Quick Thought - I don't know what it is about fire dancing, but that is the most stereotypical tourist thing in the Philippines. They had a few of them at that party, and later on in the trip in Boracay, it was at every tourist restaurant on the beach. What is it about people twirling little jars of fire that gets tourists so jazzed? I may never know...

Sunday

Doug and I had a quick but relaxing prep morning. Once ready, we headed off to meet half of the sailboat crew for a private tour. When Jay was giving us the touristy tour around El Nido, he said he'd help us out if we wanted to go on a tour. Well in El Nido, there's four tours (A, B, C, and D) that go around some of the highlights around the island. We wanted to do A and C, and it worked out great because their group did too, so we teamed up for a private tour.

Five of the eight from their group plus their cook (from Coron, he had never been to El Nido!) jumped in a boat for a day to go around exploring the islands. We essentially did Tour A, and it turned out to be pretty cool.

First stop was Small Lagoon. It was a small lagoon. We parked the boats outside of it and rented some kayaks. Gotta say, it was a pretty cool little spot.

Big Lagoon was right after Small Lagoon, and it was gorgeous. The tides were right so we could just float in and out on our boat. Just gorgeous.

Secret lagoon was a trap, too many tourists and plankton in the water, so we dipped out of there really quick.

After that we headed to a secluded part to snorkel and have lunch. Having facial hair, it seems, essentially prohibits you from any kind of snorkeling fun. I tried it with my normal swim goggles, difficult. Tried it with the full mask snorkel, my beard was too big. After that I just gave up. It's either snorkeling or the beard. And as much as I'd love to snorkel, the beard is staying. But here's Doug looking like a badass!

Lunch was fucking awesome. On the back of the boat, there was a built in grill where they cooked up all the goodies. Then while we were snorkeling, they set up the spread and oooooweeeeeee was it delicious! Mussels, chicken, some kind of seeweed, rice, cooked eggplant, and a bunch of other stuff. Yummy.

From there we went to another snorkel spot for a bit, then headed to a beach. They took us to the most packed one, but then were able to move to a much less crowded beach to hang out for a while. Some beach frisbee times, chilling out in the eaves, climbing the rocks on the beach side, fun times.

Throughout our trip I had my waterproof case on my camera, and at the start, it was working great protecting it. But as we got more and more in the water, as soon as I'd come out, the water would bead on the outer lens. So most of the pictures didn't turn out that great later on. Kinda frustrating.

From there, it was back to shore. The sailing crew had to get dropped off at their boat, and then Doug and I headed back to town.

As we were leaving the shore, there were a few groups of kids squatting down on the walkway throwing something on the ground. As it turned out, these Kids were playin pogs!!! I don't remember playing pogs, but I do remember that I played it. So fun to see that being a thing over here!

Once we got back to the hotel, we rested a bit, got cleaned up, and then headed out. Just like the first night, we walked down the beach to the far side out of town to the awesome restaurant for the sunset and apps that we took part in that last time. This time we had some delicious pineapple crumble to go with easily the best sunset of the trip, if not the last few years. Perfect colors

Quick Thought - El Nido is a tourist city that's at the tipping point. It's a 50/50 mix of local and tourist, and that's a nice balance, where it's not like Boracay and just nothing but tourism.

From there we headed back to the Mezzanine, where we had breakfast the first day, and choked down on some delicious pizza and gnocchi. Food was great and the place had an awesome chill vibe with great tunes going. After dinner we were indecisive if we wanted to go out or not, so we got another drink, and my caipirinha with calamansi turned out to be fantastic.

Not feeling extremely energetic, we decided to head back and call it a day. Unfortunately we missed out on another party night with the sailboat crew, but we were both pretty pooped, so that's how it goes.

Quick Thought - something we both talked about comparing solo to group travel was the need to go out at night. When we solo travel, we feel the need to be active, go to a bar, try and socialize and meet people (where in my case that never happens like that). But when we're traveling with people, we don't feel that pressure to stay out late, but are more willing to go with the flow like that.

Monday

Monday was a split day. Doug had some scuba diving lined up, and I decided to rent a motorcycle and ride around the loop on the north part of the island. Doug was off early to join the boat, and I got ready, grabbed some breakfast downstairs (something was fishy about the meat, it didn't taste well and didn't sit well either), walked over, then snagged myself a schnazzy bike for the day.

I gassed up the rig and then was off. I decided on the clockwise route, and the first big stop along the way was the Nagakalit-kalit waterfall. I pulled up, paid for parking, signed into the visitors sheet, and smartly told the man that I didn't need a tour guide, but will go hike to the falls on my own. Winning decision.

After I paid the pass to get on the trail, I was off. It was an ok hike, a few ups and downs in the jungle, fording a few rivers along the way. There were a bunch of Ys in the trail, but most of them led right back to the main trail. After a while, I started to hear some water, but realized I was on the one trail that didn't lead in the right direction.

Back tracking a bit, fording a couple more rivers, and I finally made it to the falls. Or at least what was left of it. It wasn't wet season, so it was just a light trickle of water coming down. Oh well, I bet it's pretty when the water really starts flowing.

Along the way up, my stomach started hurting, and because of that I think, I'm no doctor, my back and legs started aching. I rested a while at the falls, then finally lit a fire to keep on adventuring.

From there, I just kept riding along, until I passed a sign that said beach, and I figured it was about time for some sandy shores. I had to double back, and when I got back to the road, there were a couple dudes on a bike with a surfboard or two in tow. That was a sign I was probably on to something...

The ride from the main road in was a little hairy - steep, loose dirt - but I made it to the gate leading to Duli beach. I had to pay the entry fee (a whole dollar!), and while I was doing that, a group of three ladies (sounded like brits) had just gotten back from the beach. For scouting and anti-introversion-habits purposes, I asked them how the beach was. Immediately I got a negative reaction. The reason? Sand flies. Apparently they were everywhere. Moooooooo.

Well, despite the bad news, I made my way in and was totally blown away by the beach. I'd say it was a mile-long stretch of pure beach. Big waves crashing in (with some surfers peppered in riding them), a tiny resort on the far left, a few shacks behind the trees along the way, but other than that, an empty beach. So glorious.

I sat down for a bit and watched the waves, but then decided to walk the length down to the other side. Unfortunately my stomach, back, and legs weren't letting up, but I kept on going. A couple surfer dudes on motorcycles with their boards passed me and headed down to the far end, and I kept trudging along quite surprised at how beautiful and solitary the place was.

Eventually I made it to the other side, and was feeling really bad. Thankfully, there was a short palm tree just waiting for me, so I threw out my towel and worked on resting my aching corpse through a nap. I did my best to cover up the burnt spots, but passed out for a good bit.

I woke up, flipped over, then took another nap, which was also well needed. At some point the sound of the surfers' motorcycles woke me up. To my surprise, I actually felt a little better. Unfortunately I think it was a combo of the bad meat at breakfast, but most likely predominantly being dehydrated. I chugged a good bit of water before I laid down, and I think that did the job.

Once I was awake, the humidity and heat got to me. Thankfully, there was this giant body of water right next to me, so went and waded in. Holy SHIT did that help to cool down. That was a perfect dip in the big blue.

Leisurely I packed up my stuff, and made the long walk back to my bike. There were a few more people that were there on the way back, but still the place was empty considering how beachy it was.

I got back to my bike, headed out, but picked up some water and Gatorade as a boost along the way. I kept on riding, enjoying the sights, then eventually came to a gorgeous lookout. I stopped and sat for a while, before moving on.

The road kept going, now with more sections of unpaved dirt road mixed in with it all. Eventually the road turned a bit away from the coast, and there was a spot where I looked to the right and immediately pulled over to soak it in.

This place was essentially what I search for when I adventure. It was pure peace and solitude. There were some kids playing off in the distance in the fields, the wind rustling the palm trees and shrubberies, and just a gorgeous view to soak in the silence. Just gorgeous. And there was something about the outstanding rock off in the distance that really drew me to it...

From there I soldiered on, on to the last stretch back to town. Fuck I was not stoked about it. The last roughly 10km were straight rocky road, with no smoothness to it. That did not pair well with my achy body, but I had to get through it. Eventually I made it back to pavement, and holy shit was I happy about that...

I got back to town, and headed back to the hotel to see if Doug was there. He wasn't so I plopped down on the couch to give my body a break. One of the receptionists thought I was a drifter, but I told her I was staying there and all was good. As luck would have it, in walks Doug, banana crepe in hand. We gathered ourselves, then jumped on the motorcycle to head off to sunset.

We first went to La Republica, but the place was packed and bro-y as hell. So we peaced out of that mess and headed to L'Plage, a place we hit up a couple of days ago, for drinks and sunset right on the beach. Definitely the better place to go, with metal straws, dogs hanging out, and a perfect view.

Unfortunately my body started to take another turn for the worse, so after the somewhat mediocre sunset, we headed back, I went and dropped the bike off then went to take a nap, Doug went to figure stuff out for the next day and check out pictures from his dive.

I was totally surprised at how smooth the whole bike rental process was. Picking it up took all of 4 minutes, and dropping it off was as simple as handing the keys and getting back my ID. Boom. With that, I was off to the hotel to rest.

Let's just say I wasn't feeling good. It made a huge difference to have a flat bed to lay down on, but even then I just ached. Eventually I made it to sleep, after some water from Doug and a cold shower.

Tuesday

Thankfully I woke up without any aches, pains, or body problems. All back to somewhat normal. The plan for the day was pretty up in the air though. We planned on going with another tour guide to check out Tour C, but apparently we were at risk of having it cancel due to high winds. Backup plan was for Doug to go diving again and for me to hang out on the boat.

We got ready and prepped as if we were heading on the scuba boat, as it was an hour and a half earlier than Tour C, then went and got breakfast. Doug found a killer crepe place, so we chowed down on a mango-nutella and banana peanut butter. While we were doing that he got things figured out for us. First bit of news, Tour C was canceled by the Coast Guard due to high winds. I guess that cleared things up for us. So backup plan in action, he talked with the dive shop and we were good to go. He got prepped to scuba, and I got ready for a relaxing day on the boat.

We set off, and I was pretty captivated by the landscape. I spent most of the time we were underway just out on the sides taking pictures. It was absolutely gorgeous.

The first stop was right next to the island right off of El Nido, and in a great spot to set sights on the mountain. They went off and dove, and I sat in the boat and did some reading. It was super relaxing. Then towards the end I figured I was in a boat on the water, now I gotta jump in. So I did. It also was super relaxing.

Eventually the divers came back and then we were off to the second stop. More sightseeing. The cool thing was, we were headed towards helicopter (hungry hippo) island, which was a super cool island.

The divers went and dove, and I went and had a beach all to myself. What awesomeness. I didn't take anything with me to the beach, but regret not bringing my camera a bit. As I came ashore, looking both left and right produced an amazing view. Brilliantly tan sand, coupled with crisp blue ocean water, backdropped by some huge mountains. No pictures, but that'll stick in my mind for a long time to come.

Interestingly enough, there were a few informational placards on the beach sharing some information bout corals and beachez and sea turtles and more. Very interesting reading.

Quick ThoughtDid you know, 5 of the 7 sea turtle species in the world can be found in the Philippines?

Well I read that information, then walked over to one side and did a (very small) bit of scrambling over some super sharp rocks, only to be cut short because going over one boulder brought me right to a cliff that wasn't really possible for my bare-footed self. Bummer.

With that, I turned around and headed the other way along the beach. As luck would have it, there was a great shaded spot with some rocks and sand. True to myself, it was nap time. I dug myself out a comfy little spot on a sandy hill and clocked out for a bit. It was fantastic. The waves lapping against the rocks, the warm heat of the day, and the cool shade above me made for a great place to rest.

Eventually I woke up, reluctantly, and at some point I was waved back to the boat, as we were moving on to the next spot. It was a fun swim against the waves, and I made it back out there. Just in time for us to move about 200m north along the island literally to the other side of the beach. I definitely didn't have to swim back to the boat, but oh well, that's how it goes.

The divers went and dove again, and I decided to keep lounging on the boat. I jumped up to the roof of our little vessel, and had a really relaxing time soaking up the sun. Unfortunately, that would come back to bite me for the next day or two because of the quick little burn I got, but I enjoyed it in the moment for sure.

Thanks to the 'curfew' imposed by the Coast Guard, we were supposed to head in earlier than normal. But before we did, I made sure to jump in a few more times and enjoy the hell out of the fresh ocean water all around me. Plus, it was fun to dive into the water from the roof of the boat. Win!!!

But all good things must come to an end. Our little sea-worthy schooner made its way back to shore after a very successful, relaxing, and sun-soaked day. Not ready to call it all quits just yet, Doug and I grabbed some drinks with a couple we met on the boat.

Mateo and Anna are a Columbian-Lithuanian couple that were super friendly and fun! After we got back to shore, we headed up to the bar above the scuba shop and had a few drinks overlooking the bay. Being Americans, Mateo had a bone to pick with us. Namely, he was irked as to why we U.S. Citizens call ourselves Americans. His point was that we're essentially staking the claim of two whole continents (North and South America), despite being only a part of one continent. He had a point, but MURICA. But really, he's got a point. We're a little bit over-assertive with that demonym. I don't think I'll easily change my ways with that, but he's got a point.

Quick Thought - Something a little on the personal side here, I would LOVE to be a part of such an international relationship. I see so much value and learning that could come from such a diverse couple. Person A brings their own upbringing, culture, customs, mindset, etc. to the relationship, and Person B brings their own of all that as well. Mixing that and seeing a relationship thrive like that is awesome, and that's a secret desire of mine to find something like that and make it work. But we'll see about that.........

Talking with those two was fun. We had some very diverse conversation, and really enjoyed the time together (at least I did...). At some point we decided to head off on our own path, and Doug and I headed back to the hotel to rest up for a bit, get cleaned up, then we headed back to L'Plage for the sunset again. It unfortunately wasn't the greatest, but hey, a night on an island paradise is nothing to sneeze at, right?

After dinner, the plan was to head back to Makulay. Apparently, that night was their first night of a new series - All you can eat mussels. BOOM BABY!!! Unfortunately my stomach was still on the fritz, but I tagged along and drank while Doug took advantage of the offer. Either way, it was another awesome night in El Nido drinking on the beach with a great friend. Winning.

Book Review

So during the scuba cruise, I spent a bit of time reading and ended up finishing a book during the way. The book I was reading really surprised me in a lot of ways. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami was my main read of the trip. It was a really intriguing and engaging book. But for me it was really a great read, mainly because I drew a lot of parallels between myself and Tsukuru. This next bit is going be highly introspective, so read on if you'd like, don't if you don't want to. Here you go:

• Work - Tsukuru worked as a railway station engineer at an architecture company. He excelled at his job and found a lot of passion in it, and for him it was the overwhelming majority of his life; something he could spend more hours than normal working at and be ok with it.
  
  I'm an engineer at a truck manufacturing company, and I'm pretty ok at it. I have some passion with it, but it still somehow ends up being a huge part of my life, being something that I spend more time than I should at.


• Mindset - Tsukuru had a pretty lackluster life. His main activities were work, cooking at home (every now and then), swimming after work, and sleep. He wasn't a very social person. Every now and then he developed a close relationship with someone, but sometimes they were short-lived, sometimes they faded off quickly, and sometimes they stuck.
  
  I don't think I live a lackluster life, but sometimes I get down on myself thinking that I should have a more active life than what I do. Being an introvert, I expect myself to be an extrovert, but I'm not, so that's kind of a stupid expectation, yet it still causes a lot of frustration and self-directed negativity.


• Social Contribution - Tsukuru was colorless compared to his friends. The book revolves around a friend circle Tsukuru had in high school. Not to give it all away, but four of the friends all had colors in their names, and provided a specific color and energy to the group. Tsukuru, on the other hand, the fifth of the five friends, was labeled/considered/described as the grey member of the group. No color in his name, or energy, or contribution to the group. Just seemingly there soaking up the contributions of the others.
  
  A few months ago I was having a conversation with a buddy, and he called me out for being 'colorless' in a way. His point was that I am more of a support person. I don't contribute enough to conversations or events or stuff, essentially filling in to what other people contribute, but not providing on my own. To be honest, that kinda hit and hurt me a bit. The bad thing is, I know it's the truth. I know I'm not original or witty or quick-thinking enough to be the one to interject in a conversation with something fun. Most of the time I end up just nodding along to what others are saying and asking questions where they fit, but not being one to add something huge to the conversation.


• Suicide - The main plot line of the book is about how Tsukuru was, at some point, all of a sudden shunned and blocked out from this very strong friend group he had. After that happened though, he went into a very dark point in his life and ended up coming close to committing suicide. He came close to going through with it, but never did. Despite coming back from the edge, it comes up constantly in relation to his struggles with his current place in life
  
  Surprisingly enough, there was a point in my life where I almost committed suicide. Part of me (at this point in time) kind of laughs it off thinking it was my immature and unaware 12-year-old self just being dramatic. But I remember sitting at my desk writing out my goodbye-letter, crying about it as I wrote. Unfortunately I have a shit memory about the real reasons why I did this, but talking with my amazing Mom gave me a better insight as to why.
  
  I was never the coolest kid growing up, and this would take a lot longer to explain, but I feel in a lot of ways that my social maturation was stunted for a few reasons. But overall, I felt alone without a place to fit in, I didn't really like homeschooling (stunting my social growth, fewer interactions with kids my age outside of the home, and the sheltered homeschool and church life), the stress of my parent's issues being placed on me, and I just don't think I liked myself and who I was.
  
  I'm not sure what prevented me from doing it, but obviously, and EXTREMELY thankfully, I didn't. Because it was such a long time ago (probably about 15 years), and in reality that was such a different version of me, it all seems like an afterthought, a distant memory. But reading through Tsukuru's experience, it hit fairly close to home.

Wednesday

(Disclaimer - I'm writing this in July, 3 months after the fact. Hence the brevity.)

Doug and I had a very slow rise. He was still not feeling spectacular, so I read and learned about mutual funds. Eventually went and got what we thought was a safe breakfast. To find it, we walked around a bit, up past a couple of our go-to spots from the week, and did our last little bit of wandering around town, as our flight to Boracay was that same day.

Long story short, we got all packed up and headed out to wait at the tiny little El Nido airport. The tiny place was pretty quaint and unique. We played cards as we waited, and sat watching the people arrive and one or two planes take off before us.

Before we knew it, we were wheels up headed to Boracay! It was a short flight, and I tried to sleep as much as possible. But the quick flight went by quite quickly. It was kinda weird though, because they're expanding the airport, and now it's all kinds of discombobulated.

Boracay

Because I'm writing this so much later than April, I'm going to do a quick summary of Boracay:

• There was lots of drinking
• There was also a good amount of Frisbee
• My team - JBDF - played well, but our record wasn't that hot
• The one game that we were live-streamed though, we killed it
• There was a lot more drinking
• It was really fucking hot
• Ariel's Point pre-tournament was awesome
• Good way to hang out with most of the team
• Did the 15m dive again, still got it
• Kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, all the fun stuff
• The parties were fun
• Wednesday - chilling at a bar, smoking hookah, chatting around and meeting some awesome people, one in particular
• Thursday - drinking around at Casa Pilar. Good times seeing some old faces and new ones too.
• Friday - rented out some huge place with a rooftop patio and a beach patio. It. was. AWESOME.
• Saturday - touristy spot rented out, full with fire breathers, great tunes, all on the beach, and of course lots of free drinks
• Sunday - the go-to chill vibes chilling around at Summer Place. Love it.
• Some of the food was delicious
• We went back to that seafood place from last year. SOOOO GOOOOOOD.
• Sunnyside Cafe - you will always be the one
• The water fun was great
• Sunset cruises
• Jumping into the water after every point in attempt to not overheat
• I hit up Spider House a few times, and it was awesome each time, as expected
• Boracay is growing at an astronomical rate, it's insane
• The airport is expanding - it can now support jet engine aircraft
• There are hotels and resorts popping up all over the place
• There was a ton of algae in the water, surely some connection to the growth and poor sanitation
• I think the only reason I would ever go there is because of frisbee people and this awesome, amazing frisbee tournament

Sendoff and Hard Goodbyes

Here's what I wrote on the plane leaving Boracay

What do I say. Such an amazing time with such a beautiful woman.

• Touching in public - holding hands, her head on my shoulder, walking down the beach, maintaining contact wherever we were
• Sunday party - I'm sitting around with friends, and Ms. Social Butterfly is doing her thing, but she continues to stop by and put her hands on me. Always coming back to me to show I'm still on her mind
• She was the one that showed the signs and the interest. She made the moves, she pushed the conversation, it all stemmed from her
• Went on a first date. So relaxed, so flexible but brilliant. Nothing but conversation together. It was so genuine and relaxed, and maybe the best date I've been on. Granted, we'd had a little bit of heavy interaction before that point, but it was just so stress-free, fluid, and excellent
• She confirmed and reiterated that I am an attractive individual. Especially hit the fact that I shouldn't be so afraid to talk to women. They're gonna wanna talk. If that goes further great, if not, oh well. I'm a helluva package either way.
• I developed an obsession with Ed Sheeran's 'Shape of You' during the weekend, and shared it with her at some point. Well, during the drunken awesomeness of Saturday night's party, the song came on. As soon as it did, we locked eyes and found each other to dance. That was awesome.

Melancholy goodbye. Did not want to leave, especially because I'm missing out on Chiang Mai hat, the Water Festival, and a whole extra week of hanging out with a bunch of amazing people.

Got to the ferry terminal, the shape of your body song comes on. Way to twist the knife...

Listening to some melancholy music on takeoff, just adding even more weight to my already heavy heart. Five days together with a wonderful woman, then it's just gone. Fuck it hurts.

On the plane to Seattle I had an on and off very strong feeling as if I was secretly returning to my other life. Two weeks in an island paradise, soaking up the sun, playing frisbee with a ton of friends and making new ones, getting a teaser of a great relationship with a beautiful and fun woman. That was my last two weeks and they were amazing.

But then I had to jump on a few airplanes and leave all that behind. I'm headed back to my other life where I'm at an ok job, in a cool city, still trying to feel established and integrated. It's not like I'm going back to a shit setup. It's just that what I had in front of me for two weeks was such an amazing time, how can one not feel 'mournful' to have to leave that all behind?

Original Publish Date: July 17th, 2017