This time it’s the mysterious Philippines! It actually started very strangely. 3 of my friends decided to go to Philippines to visit another friend who lived there for a while and learning scoobadiving. I was looking for a place to go, so while I was working a night shift, I got really pissed off (don’t remember why, maybe I just needed vacation), checked if I could take vacation in one week, contacted my friends who were going there and joined the “crew”. Later it turned out that one of my friends couldn’t go so there was less headache for me to figure out where I was going to stay.

This time the trip was a bit different from my first one (Zanzibar), because we were 3 girls. “A little” crazy girls i would say.

We had a stop in Hong kong for about 1 day, so we dicided to check out the city. When we got out of the airport, i though it was foggy. But my friends explained that “that is how hong konh looks when the sun is sihing”. OH OK!! :/ the air polution. woow!! We just walked around the town, a lot of people were offering us some Guci, G&G and other unseen brands. Watches, purses and so on. We came back to the airport, where we spent the night. I had all the attributes to sleep at the airport- a blanket, the thing yo uput on your eyes, into your ears and stuff. So I found a place to slep, and just when i fell asleep, the cleaning lady starts poking me and says that this part of the airport is closed for cleaning. DAMN IT! So I went to my friend, lied down next to her on the floor and slept for a few hours.

We landed in Manila in the middle of the day and started enjoying the heat. We came into the 30 degree heat from -10 (?). Feeling a bit dizzy, we took a cab and went to the place in town where they have boats going to the island where our friend lived. Unfortunately I do not recall the name of it.. I think it was Mindoro, but not entirely sure.

First, we exchanged some money in the local bank which is strictly guarded, and then we started running around looking for the boat. Fortunately it did not take long as my friends have quick orientation and they have traveled more than me, so I had nothing to worry about. If you’re reading, thanks guys:) Our trip with a boat was quite long, in fact, the whole trip from Manila to the island was quite long, I think it was 5 hours or something, so if you count the flight, that was a bit exhausting. I don’t remember the details of how we got to the place, but while we were reaching to the shore, our friend who lived there was already waiting for us by the dock.

We settled at the place he stayed. It was an awesome place with ocean view. So we sat on the porch and drank a lot of rum that night. I mean A LOT. I became a dragon that night if you know what i mean:)

We looked around the next day and went snorkeling, had some food and took it easy. We also took scooters and went too look around the island. We stopped at this place where we saw a waterfall, took a coconut drank it and enjoyed the nature. Then it started raining but it doesn’t seem to be a problem, because its hot and I didn’t care much. We went to this beach ate some food and decided to chill. Then these nice ladies came up to us offering an extremely cheap massage. And I thought, massage? On the beach? OK why not?! so we enjoyed some nice sandy scrub massage. While driving back, I almost ran into 2 people standing there with my scooter, but i managed to escape the unfortunate situation, so that saved me some money:)

Early the next day we left for an island called Boracay. This was where all the fun started. We decided to take public transport to get to that island, and we were not disappointed. We went to the place where local cars called jeepneys start their trips (we needed to go to the other side to the island ~ 5 hours) and asked the driver if we can go with him. Then a few locals came by asking if we want to take a private car with conditioning and etc, and it cost about 100 times more than the jeepney, so I said to the guy “no, 20 is OK”. And so our journey began. At first there were only us, 3 girls in the jeepney, we felt like queens in a limo, but that didn’t last long, The vehicle stopped quite often and more and more people were coming in. so after about an hour, it was full, people were sitting on each others lap and had some people on the roof and “walls”aswell. At one point we realized that there was a chicken sitting next to us. And I think I saw a guy drop a goat onto the roof. We noticed that we were like entertainment to those local people, because we didn’t see any tourists around, and they were looking at us and smiling, trying to understand what we talked in our own language. So we decided that we bring joy to local people:) Also, the drivers tend to put a lot of toys on the front panel of their car window so it leaves a very small part of the window to see the road. I honestly don’t know how they stay alive:)

We finally arrived to the pier where our fairy would sail out to Boracay. When we boarded it, we started drinking some beers and hang out when the crew showed up. They were taking pictures of themselves but we knew they were actually taking our photos. We had some sleep on the deck and I woke up to the face looking right at me. The guy was right there in my face. Kind of scared me, but when he saw that I opened my eyes he didn’t move or anything. I started laughing. We arrived to the island at nigh, took a tuk-tuk and headed for the hotel area. It was rainy so we had to be quick. We found a nice room for 3 not far away to the beach andthe beach party area. So basically on this island all we did was party:) Oh, I almost forgot, I was so excited that the next day I almost burnt my skin in the sun and couldn’t bear it for about 3 days. But once you get some alcohol running through your veins, and the sun comes down, it doesn’t hurt anymore:)

One day we decided to have some fun, found a local guy and he suggested that we go paragliding over the water. The view is amazing from up there. There were 2 of us up there – me and my friend. She is afraid of heights, so you can imagine what it is like to glide 500 meters above the ground with a person who is scared of heights. She was screaming that we were going to fall and die. And my skin was hurting but I didn’t really care about that at the time. In fact, I just remember now that it was painful. At the night time we found a bar where they played live music with drums. It had this vibe. Anyway we went there every night afterwards.

Now lets talk about the real stuff. What happens when there are 3 girls partying in a place no one knows who they are. It looked like this. We go out, spread and then meet up at the food stand where they sell something similar to kebab (delicious by the way). So I will tell my story what I did there. One night we were walking around, checking where to have a few drinks and I saw a few local girls hanging out. I decided to join them. Turns out two of them were transsexuals. They were talking how much they earn per night, pointed out people they slept with that night, and then they tried to hook me up with a man. That was the funniest part, because they didn’t really care about how the guys looked, etc, they just tried any guy they stopped. So I spent half of the night talking to them and just hanging out. That might have looked weird for the people passing by, but I actually had a lot of fun. After hanging out with them I remember that I have two friends somewhere in the island and went to find them. I found them in the drum bar I talked about earlier, so we had a few drinks and decided to do some more fun stuff. I decided to spend some money, so I went to get a temporary tatoo and afterwards I bought an ornamental pink guitar. My friend also decided to do a tatoo on her boob, so the guy doing it looked very happy to make it:) Later our other friend told us this from her point of view: “I go buy a drink at the bar, I turn around and no one of you is there. I come out of the bar and I see this view: One of you is sitting in a chair drink in one hand, cigarette in other, and another one is sitting next to her playing a pink child’s guitar”. We had a good laugh about it the next morning. The next day I realized that it was a month before Christmas (November 25) and suggested that we should celebrate. So we decided to buy each other a gift for less than a certain amount of money (don’t remember, but it was small). So we headed to the local stores and markets to buy stuff. I dont really remember what I bought, but I remember what i got. It was a fridge magnet – (big crab with moving claws) and a key chain (a white guitar). The last day we decided to go to the other side of the island where all the kiteboarders hang out. It is pretty impressive what people can use wind for. And how they can control the kite being on water. This was our last day in Boracay and we had to go back the same way we arrived so we were not very happy to leave the place.

Oh, and there are these kids running around selling stuff. So while we were laying on the beach a little girl came and sat next to us offering us to buy bracelets and other stuff she made. She tried to convince us for about an hour. Then after all, my friend said that she would buy something from her later in the evening. And guess what, the girl found us at night and demanded that we buy some shining thingies. i think you can juggle them or something. So we bought them, played with them and then gave them to other kids. They were very happy with our decision:)

Philippinese are really nice. They are helpful, happy and bright. Well at least its my opinion. Although before going to the Philippines someone advised me to watch out, I didn’t feel like I had to, because its a very happy place.

First, excuse my english, because its not my native language
My friend works at an airline and as a benefit he can get huge discounts for flights to all kind of places, and a benefit for me, he can bring a friend. It is a bit complicated, but we got the tickets to Zanzibar (Tanzania).
So we planned a lot of details, what would we do there, where would we stay and all the small things, so it would cost as as less as possible, because we will be in Africa for crying out loud and it was a bit scary at first, because it was our first big trip with no involvement of any kind of travel agency.
We decided to go there in November because it was low season, less people, and everything is cheaper. Ok I wont get into details. Time to tell the real stuff now.
So once we arrived to Zanzibar airport, I was a bit shocked because I saw a little house in the middle of the jungle and a weird way there. that was it. Kind of cool, I have never seen anything like that before:) So we got out of a plane, went into the house and stopped by the door by the airport guys to get a visa. while we were standing there, it started raining. And, offcourse the airplane started its engines, and blew all the rain into the people who were standing and waiting in line for a visa. A lot of people were frustrated with this, but I liked it, It’s hot as hell, and raining, and someone putting water on me? Why not!?

After about an hour we got our visas, and headed to the baggage claim. Another adventure:). We walked into a room and we saw a few tables which looked like a u shaped fort. and shortly a truck came next to the room. A few guys were taking out the luggage and dropped it on the desks, or handed them to their owners. When I saw my backpack, I had to shout out “MINE” to get it, but the guy that carried it felt “macho” and asked for a kiss from me to get it back. So I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

The next step was getting a cab. We walked out of the airport, saw a lot of guys offering a cab. There were too many drivers so we chose the one which looked the most reliable, and I think we read some stuff on the internet and that’s how we decided who to pick. We were not disappointed. While we were getting to the car, a local man grabbed my my roommates bag and carried it to the car. and then asked for money. My roommate thought it was just a good gesture, but nothing is free when your skin is of different color there.:) (just heads up – i am not racist or any kind of intolerant).

The drive from the airport to our hotel was about an hour so we took the opportunity and asked the driver a lot of questions about the Island, all I remember was “do not speak to beach boys”. I was a little disappointed, because I wanted to meet new people, and it is an island after all, so where would you meet people other that the beach? But afterwards someone else explained that the beach boys the taxi driver was referring to was the guys who sell “stuff” on the beach. I hope you know what “stuff” means:)

While we were driving from the airport, I  was watching the view all the time. It was more than awesome. Beaches, jungle, local people, schools, villages, rain ,sunshine, the nature looked completely different from Europe. Well offcourse, because its Africa! Then I realized that all the places in the world are different. Not only Oak trees, cows and skyscrapers.

By the time we reached the hotel in Jambiani village, It was mid day and it looked like no one was there. I suppose they had siesta or something.

So we fount the reception. The guy was really nice, and repeatedly saying “Welcome”. Sometimes it meant “You’re welcome”. I wish I could be able to express the accent he was saying it with. Its priceless:) Also, he missed a few front teeth. Realy nice guy!

Is so we settled in the room, and decided to take a look around. The receptionist advised that we should not go outside the beach territory, because we could get attacked, unless we were walking in groups or with a local guy. But for the first day the beach territory was enough. The hotel house was on the beach itself, so we did not have to go far to see the water. Beautiful. The feeling is priceless when you are there. I want to go back. And I think I will once I go through all the continents (3 left). The food was perfect. Everytime I go abroad I try to eat as much seafood as I can (we dont have a lot of it in Lithuania). Imagine fresh shrimp, or a squid or anything!! I just love it!!!

Another day we just decided to chill on the beach. I forgot to take my book, but that didn’t seem to be a problem. They had a chill place with books from all around the world. People just left their books for others to read. I I found some pretty cool stuff there. So I hang for a while in my hammack and read.

Then, in the afternoon a  local boy showed up offerring to swim with dolphins. So we went for that! And, again, it was absolutely awesome.

We took a boat with a few other tourists and headed for the place where the dolphins usually “hang out”. It was hunting time for them, but we got to see them from a quite close distance. I think i forgot to mention that I went there with my roommate who was so excited when he saw the dolphins that he forgot to put on his snorkeling mask before he went to the water. It was very funny when he tried to breathe underwater without the mask and came out of the water all confused and coughting (I am an evil person so I laughed a lot).

We stayed at the hotel for 2 nights. The second night electricity was cut off in the whole coutry, so I decided to go play pool with the locals in the hotel lounge and got drunk with them. Then stayed up all night talking about how is it like to live there. I remember they talked about education, money, and how hard it is to survive there. They had temporary jobs in hotels and as taxi drivers, they are from Tanzania, not the island, they work 7 days a week and when they get vacation (every 2 years maybe) they go see their families for 2 weeks and then get back. People who worked ant the 2nd hotel were working long hours. I used to see them working when I woke up, and they were still working when we went to sleep late at night. Imagine? 7 days per week, looks like 18 hours of work. People in what I call paradise work this long for pennies so the tourists would be happy. And these people still seem happy. I could not imagine that. Actually I found out that Zanzibar is not a part of Tanzania. It is a sepparate country with its own president. That was quite new, because some of the locals say it belongs to Tanzania, the others say it doesn’t.

Ah, one more thing. while we were talking with the locals, we heard a scream from one of the hotel rooms screaming AAAH AAAAH very loud, and a girl came out screaming for help. We went to help her. She told us something was moving in the trash bin in their room and they think its some sort of a rat or something. So the guys checked and found nothing. But they looked really scared and kept on screaming. Well, they didn’t find anything there, but the screaming was very funny:)

So while I was getting drunk with these local people, one of them said he was my taxi driver from now on and he drove us to another hotel the next morning. He even suggested that we go check out the jungle (Jozani). My now ex-roommate loves monkeys so it was like paradise for him, because zZanzibarhas these monkeys called red colobus. I don’t really like monkeys, but I enjoyed the jungle. Took a lot of pictures with my phone, but still it does not reflect the view and the feeling you get when you are out there..

So we got to the second hotel in Kendwa. We got a room with air conditioning (!!!). The only confusing thing was that you could not buy stuff for cash there. You had to tell them the name of your room. Our room was called “MAFIA”. Its a cool idea to name the rooms not by their numbers:) So when we were about to leave, we did not know how much we owed them, and laughed that if our money would not be enough in the end – we should run:) then i decided that i was not a good runner and leg this idea go:)

So the second hotel was a little different from the first one. It had air conditioning, a safe for your stuff. This was more of a place to party at night and lay at the beach at day, but I decided only to use the night stuff. So the first night we got very drunk because we found out that they had a happy hour from ~5PM. So why not? the next day was hard offcourse, so I slept until the mid day, and then decided to tale a walk along the beach. The view was perfect. Did I mention that Zanzibar is a paradise? No? Well, it is. It has everything I need. White sandy beaches, blue clear water, dolphins, and smiling people.

There were quite alot of people at the beach bar, so I made some friends. Mostly the bartenders, but it was good for me. We played a little game where they gave me fruits and I had to taste and guess what it is. They gave me fruits which I don’t even know exist.. So that was enough for dinner, and then they made cocktails for me from these fruits. I have never tasted anything like that before and after that trip.

Later that night, after my roommate went to sleep, I got ALOOOOT of attention from the bartenders. One of them proposed to me, another one “complimented” me by saying “you’re so white”. And the third one asked me to go “for a walk on the beach” with him. I said “lets go!” (thinking we’d actually go for a walk), but when I went to my room to the bathroom, I forgot that I was supposed to go and went straight to sleep. The poor guy was waiting for me on the porch long after that. He was angry in the morning that I din’t come out:) he said he was calling my name outside. I didn’t hear a thing:)

The next day we went to the Prison island to check out the turtles. You can see their size in the photos I took. Some of them are 250 years old. They survived a lot of human crap I would say.. Good job turtles!

When we were walking around the prison island, we saw a boat full of tourists. It was completely overloaded, we though it would turn over and sink, but it didn’t, so that was good for them:) I don’t remember much of this, but the turtles were cool! One of them was sleeping, so I put my hand where its head would be and stroked his head softly. It slowly pulled its head out of its shell and enjoyed it so cute!

Ok so the third and the last hotel we went to was in Stonetown. The capital. It’s where Freddie Mercury was born. This was more like a town, had interesting architecture, we saw a lot of mosques there, and one church. and the mosque signs were put higher so people would know that there are more muslims there than christians (it’s weird, but ok).

The hotel was a bit further from the actual town area, and we were not very pleased with it when we arrived. If you ever go there, start there, and then travel along the island.

We came a little early there and the staff was not prepared for it so they asked us to wait for 2 hours. so we went to look around.

It looked a bit like after war, I think the tide had just flown back. Not much to say, we just walked around and talked and remembered the places we have been before. So we came back to the hotel, and the room was shortly prepared. When we came into the room, we started laughing hard, because the guys prepared it thinking that it would pleas us, but actually, it didn’t at all. When we entered the smell of toilet freshener “gently” touched our noses and we started sneezing. So, off course we opened all the windows and went for a walk again.

We didn’t stay at the hotel much, because the next day we wanted to check out the town.

I don’t remember if we had a map of Stonetown, but when we got to the actual town, we were going in circles for a few hours until we met a guy from Kendwa just walking down the street and shouting our names. That was cool, he showed us around, even showed us his apartment. He had a coop for chickens in his hall (it was an apartment building).

We went into this church where they used to hold slaves, and saw how cruel people could be. It really does not fit in to my head how people can sell other people, or how they can hold women and children in a 15 square meters dungeon.

The tour guide of this church introduced himself as Morgan Freeman, and actually he looked a little like him too:) not much to say about the church, you can google it if you want, i think its the only church in Stonetown.

I hope you like my story about Zanzibar, I want to go back soo bad that I am going to cry right now in the corner.. Meanwhile check out some photos i took there.

Enjoy!

Hakuna Matata a Zanzibar!

HAPPY MONDAY!

So now we are all competing against each other and we are very happy when one of the competitors eat cake, or anything that is considered fat.

One morning I came into the office and saw my colleague eating buchwhead porrige with sugar. Not sure if you know what that is, but you are supposed to eat it with a bit of salt, it just tastes better. And another morning I saw him eating this:

OOO Sooo tasty, buckwheat porrige with natural yoghurt. You can see the size of it.

Now you have a new recipee for yummy family breakfast:)

Bon Apetite!

I could say that long long time ago, basketball was lithuanias second religion. I’m not sure if it still is. Well, maybe, when we play at world or european championship:)

I can say that first two quarters went quite well, our team even moved their asses, but right about when the third quarter ended – I decided to go to sleep. But still, we will play for a medal on saturday, which is nice:)

Ah, and during the game my friend ate too much food and said “I ate so much I don’t even want to smoke”.

PEACE!

“Lock, Stock and two smoking barrels” in our language is translated to “Bark, howl or shoot”

“The girl next door” –>”My neighbour is a pornstar” (LT translation)

“100 year old man” – ” A 100 year old man who climbed out of the window” (What???)

Don’t remember the others but there is a countless number of these. If i remember – I will update the post.

PEACE!

I don’t have much to say today. I am an angry person (not sure, but might be because I entered a weight losing contest and dont get to eat much).

Oh.. I watched a movie yesterday, which is called “Deliver Us From Evil”. They say its a horror movie, but somehow I laughed alot.. I really don’t have much to say about it. Maybe just that I wasted my precious next day lunch money. Do Not Watch It! Its not a horror movie, its the kind of movie that makes you jump around in your chair when a loud noise appears suddenly. Unless you have absolutely NOTHING to do.

PEACE!

Actually, I watch a lot of movies, so I can write a Blog about all of them. It depends on my mood.