And with that, the beggining ends.

Hey,
hope everyone everywhere is doing well. This is the beginning of what I hope will be a blog where my friends and I can talk, and keep in touch with me as a travel. For those of you who didn't know I had gone anywhere, just leave. you're not my friend.

To give you a rundown of whats been going on with me since I left: It was a crazy long plane ride. basically 20 hours of darkness because the sun was on the other side of the world and was apparently moving about the same speed as my plane. I crossed the int. date line. so i'm now a day ahead of you guys.. that really messes with your system. After 20hrs of movies, airplane food, and sketchy sleep I switched planes, in hong kong, and then flew an easy two hours into Manila.
Pics from the trip:

This one really describes the trip, blury, and boring.

Personal TV screens help a bit.

mmmm.. airplane food.

half an hour before Manila they give me this... Wish I had known this BEFORE I started packing.

The heat hits you the moment you step off the plane. I sweated for like a week straight. I got my stuff went through customs and out into the street. My uncle picked me up and we drove about half an hour outside of Manila city. If you've never been there, you can't fully comprehend what Manila City is. Its crazy. Like a huge rich city, combined with a huge desperatly poor one, smashed together in an area to small for either, in the middle of a jungle. something had to go in the making of Manila... so they chose to scrap the traffic laws, and , it seems, any form of waste management. Its an incredibly exciting place. With enough to see and do to last you forever. Yet, I'm kind of glad we don't live right in the city. Our(my aunt and uncles) condo complex is in the hills of Antipolo, and in the middle of a world class golf coarse. You couldn't really get a better location. I'll interupt here with some pictures.

Yea...sweet.

The view of the pool from out 5th floor apt. think i would make it?

Manila remains a constant part of the skyline.

The smell of burning breezes through from the city all night.

Hey.. is it still like... cold there?

These are the streets. Well.. the streets in our area anyways.

The poverty is very "in your face"


My first big trip took place two days after I arrived. My aunt a uncle took me on a two day trip to the island of Corrigador. This island is strategically located in the mouth of Manilla Bay. It goes down in the record books as; the second "most bombed" piece of land on earth. as in bomb shells per spare meter or whatever. It was fought over multiple times by the Japanese and American forces during world war two and is riddled with tunnels, caves, and escape hatches. Its pretty crazy when you think about how many tens of thousands of men died where you are standing. On one of the night tours we were shown some bones of a dead japanese soilder, still lying in a remote tunnel. "take a piece" the guide says, "I won't look" ...only in the Phillipines.... Other then all the tunnels and battlements, Corrigador has a pretty nice beach on the south side(south china sea). The beach on Manila Bay side is one of the most disgusting things I have ever seen. We stayed over night in some old barracks, fixed up and used for the workers on the island. There is a beautiful hotel on the island. but we were out for the cultural experience...aka, it was cheap. Did I mention that before? the Phillipines is an extremely cheap place to live. fine with me; you can litterally live on a few dollars a day. Picture Time.

Score! Manilla harbor gives me my first half decent coffee since home. I say half decent because its no timmy's.

After several hours on a boat the mountanous Island of Corrigador shoots up out of the sea.

This is the main tunnel used by the US. Dozens of laterals and side laterals branch of from this. ITs like a city under the mountians. ..not interesting to you all I know. sorry.

now these are some big guns. THese things can hit ships that are like 27km away.

The bombed out reminances of WW2 buildings are all over the island.
The jungle doesn't take long to reclaim its territory.

Don't ask questions.. just drink it.

a unique angle through the wreckage showing the the Phillipino/American commitment.

My little cousin.

Its scenery..what do you want.

Our "hotel" room for the night. ...mmhhmmm...

The beach on the Manila Bay side. Sick... It was hard to find sand through all the garbage. THe sad part is, that this is only a small percentage of the garbage from Manila b/c it had to stay afloat for 27kms across the bay and manage to hit the shores of the tiny island.

This is more like it. The South side beach more than makes up for the sketchy dump on the north end.

Jimi can check off the south china sea on his list of places he's swam.

Awww.. my cousins are so cute.


Its still all about the glass bottles around here.

These little guys are everywhere. "Budikai" is what they call them.

Its hard to think of problems out here...



Hostile take over.

Good times...

The next away from home adventure was north into the provinces. To a place called Banaue. I made the trip up on a bus, its arounda 7 hr ride. We stayed in the home of Trevor and Norma Douglas, who live in the mountians and run a Bible school that trains native people to go missionarries to the rest of their tribe. ITs pretty intense. The next day we borrowed there truck and drove another couple hours into the mountians. Check these out.

siopao...mmm... a tasty new dish I bought on the way up.

Our bus also acted as a supply truck for the mountian villages. Anyone want a smoke?

we get to Douglas's and Norma has her house helper prepare a coconut for me to drink.

The City of Banue is one of the most interesting places in the world.

It is built on top of itself on both sides of a steep mountian valley.


still couldn't find a Tim's....

YEa... this is reasuring.

But, I liked it better when he was aiming at the other guy.

This is a stall in a huge basement market. ...I don't think the kid is for sale..

..Then again.. kid couldn't be that bad.

huh, for a minute I thought I saw another white person. I also forgot to show you what we really came to Banaue to see.

Did I mention the scenery?

PS. The things in the background are terraces, carved into the mountian thousands of years ago to grow rice. These are some traditionally dressed ifagao people. These kids can only stand to like a 45 degree angle. There backs are permanentally warped from years of carrying things up and down over the terraces.

A little higher and we can hardly see through the clouds and the rain.

You should go sometime.

These little shacks are all over the place up there. THese are basically souvenier shops. These carvings were made by the ifagao people far off in the mountians and then brought here, sold to these "middle men" and then in turn sold to us tourists. I bought a wooden statue that would have taken days to finish, for the equivalent to $5. It blows your mind to think of how little these people have.


We stop in Banaue again on the way down to get lunch.

How does $1.75 Canadian sound to you?

The

Scenery

Doesn't

Stop. Except for here, where we had to wait for them to remove a landslide that had just covered the road.

Almost back to the Douglas's, but I still felt I had a little adventure left in me. What should we happen to drive past? You got it, a cock fighting arena. How could I not right? So my aunt and kelly dropped me at the roadside and I went for a solo mission. For some reason they didn't want to go. One might have been that women aren't allowed into these arenas anyways. So they kept going. This is great I thought, untill I got inside. On thinking about this situation later I decided that it probably wasn't a good idea. Here, in the middle of nowhere, miles from help, and anyone who spoke english, I decided to go spend time with men that A: were very drunk, B: were desperate for money(you only go to cock fights to gamble) and C: who very interested in violence.
The minute I stepped in the door I was having second thoughts, as hundreds of blood-shot eyes turned to look at me through the smokey building. I would have taken more pictures.. but Everytime I took out my camera you could see the drunken wheels in their heads turning; trying to decide how to get it from me, or which ditch to hide my body in. I was the only one with shoes. The only one with clothes that wouldn't be considered rags. It was sketchy to say the least. I only stayed for one fight, cuz I wanted to get out of the area before dark. And, although I didn't get many pictures, I did film the whole thing. So you can all see that when I get back. So I got out of the cock fight with little more than jeers and insults because I wouldn't bet. Not that I could understand them, but I think thats what they wanted.

The walk home was alot longer than I thought. I was getting nervous as the sun set. but I found the house just after dark, and just as they were setting out to find me.

So ends another experience.


Ok, So I got done this part about Banaue and got to thinking. I haven't really shown you the regular everyday stuff I do yet. In the Phillipines I will actually be doing alot more than just traveling and having fun. For example. I work At an orphanage. I'm there prettywell everyday. I teach gym class 4 days a week to the older ones. These kids have sad stories. Most of them were found living on the streets, under bridges, no where to go. They are not adoptable kids. This means that they still do have parents and so cannot be legally adopted. Most of their parents are in jail. Some other just live on the streets and refuse to take care of them. So they ended up here. Lucky for them. Alot of them would probably be dead by now if they had been left on their own. I don't usually take my camera to work. But we had a christmas party the other day, so I have some picture for you.

See that. I taught him that.

Micheal

Vanessa

THe boys.
Eya.. ha I just got her nose.

So Besides the orphanage, I hang out with kids from faith. Thats the highschool my aunt works at.

This is Seth. He's Canadian and has the same humour as me, so we do alot of stuff together. This is him fighting Zack's great dane.

I work out in a place called "the cage" Its totally motivational cuz its all fenced in, walls and ceiling. And there are pictures of Arnold everywhere.


Thats right, jimi's gettin ripped.
Yesturday My aunt took me to Green Hills.

This place is crazy. Its a huge market composed of hundreds of little stalls selling.. well, whatever you want to buy.

We met Mark Thomset and his collegue for lunch. For those of you who don't know, MArk grew up in my chruch and is now a missionary in the phillipines as well.

The other day I went past the Collosium. This is the arena where Alli fought his famous "rumble in the jungle" match.
...boring...
ok. So I spent the last couple days in the city. I've been down there before, but didn't take any pictures. I hope that you all have seen a little bit of the everyday/ordinary life of the phillipines on this blog. Poor, and dirty is the way so many people live here. However, there is also Another end to the spectrum. The poor people here, are so much poorer than people who would be considered poor at home. The rich people here are far richer than rich people at home. There is no middle ground. You are either one or the other. Here are some pictures of the nicer areas of Manila City. These pictures are a solo mission. My aunt,uncle and cousins are back at the hotel.

The malls here are insane. This is one of the rich ones. The Shangrala. It is two city blocks of 7 level shopping mayhem. You can buy any name brand on the planet in this place. From Gucci to 725original, they have it all. It takes you like half a day to see the whole thing. and... although I couldn't find a timmies, this mall does have four starbucks.


Ok..Whats next, Mega Mall. Even bigger. Not quite as fancy, But much much bigger than shang.


I can't fit the whole building in the frame...sorry.

The Hotels. Un-real. You have never stayed at hotels like this. How do I know? Because North America does not have ones of this caliber. No one could afford it. Labour is too expensive. These hotels provide every service imaginable. And because I'm white. I can walk in a use some of them. The don't ask... I don't tell.

The Sangrala Hotel. Bling Bling Bling

lounge?

Outside looking in...

The pool

...and garden

how long could you stay here?

The hotel we stayed in that night was not as nice.


..but... I can't complain.

man.. this backpacking is tough.


ok.. To be honest. I did have to sleep on the floor cuz we cramed 5 people into a room with one bed. But what do you want. We're missionaries.



This next adventure was all shot on the same night. Two places..one night. An everlasting memory. Thanks to Racheal for being my company for the evening. It would have been alot more lonely with out you. Eastwood. The closer of the nightlife districts. This isn't a huge place... its like a little village, but its incredible inside.

These are taken from a balcony at night, outside a little coffee shop. The in the streets of eastwood its hard to tell if you are inside or out.


Thanks for comming Racheal

on, to the biggest and best. MAKATI This place is insane. Makati doesn't sleep. I have hung out here a couple times. ....till like.... 4 in the morning. Makati is money. The finest clubs, bars, restaurants, coffee shops, shoping, and anything else you can think of. Its probably the most beautiful man made place I have ever been. If you ever come here. we're going to Makati. You ready for the show?



see the people down there?

Yea... you are outside right now, a tropical night breeze is blowing. Its 2:00am. and Makati is hoppin.

You are surrounded by beautiful gardens, fountians and walled in by sky scrapers.


The palm trees are covered in lights.

The live band is just getting warmed up.

Oh one other thing I should mention. Because of the financial demographic of Makati it is a target for scams and thieves. Me and Racheal got stopped twice. Not a good experience. The first time we got stopped by the police. We didn't have a Phillipino drivers license. The car wasn't ours, we didn't have the ownership papers, and the cars owner hadn't kept it up to date on its regestration. Add the fact that they don't speak english... well you get the idea. We were there awhile. Eventually they just let us go. Cops are usually alright....real ones that is. About 40 minutes later we made a wrong turn and entered a jeepnee parking lot. We were just turning around when an angry guard ran up. long story short, he called a cop. the cop wanted to give us a ticket that we would have had to go down town next week to pay for, or take a three hour seminar on drivers ed and not pay. Either way, both options where out of the question. Driving downtown on a week day would take.. well, all day. not worth it for the equivilant of a 6dollar ticket. I was a little mad at this point because it was an inocent mistake and they weren't being very nice about it. So I told the cop what was going to happen. "I am going to give you P500, and you are going to give us our license back and let us go." the reply came fast in broken english. "yes, that should be ok, it is Christmas after all." -unbelievable- So the cop started walking back to his bike and the guard was left holding P500 and Racheal's license. "What is this" he said. After re-telling him about our little deal, he laughed and said, "mr. sorry, my ear heard 500 dollars, not 500 pesos." (500 pesos is 10 dollars) This was it, I was not in the dealing mood anymore. I got our license back and we left. The rules here are different here. The police treat you according to the size of the bribe you give them. $10 is a big bribe. Believe it or not. unfortunately you have to do this stuff because the police will charge you for offences that don't exist untill they make enough money to pay their bills.
Its a time and a half.

Christmas... Wow... Its here.. and it doesn't feel like it at all. What did I expect though. Its tough not being with you all. It would be so cool to be able to go back for 24 hours and see everyone. But I'll deal with it. So Christmas eve we had a big event at the orphanage. WE gave out packages to hundreds of squater children(street kids) it was so cool. THey came running from everywhere. More and more all the time. I was on security, and it wasn't easy. these kids are proffesional theives by the age of 5. So dealing with hundreds of them, well... You gotta watch them. Anyways it went fairly well. We had the street roped off. The idea was that they would all line up on one side, then come through the gate, get their stuff, and exit on the other side of the rope. line up again, get the next round, and so on. well.. here




These kids love cameras.


Mayhem. I like it.

So Christmas Eve... The sun sets in fire over Manila.

This is now Christmas day. The kids have all opened their toys and stuff, so they are pretty happy. Not smiling, but still happy.

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One of the steet kids with his gift bag, and new shirt.


So the other day me and my cousin Daniel went to explore some caves. There are/were hundreds of these little caves in the hills around our complex left over from world war two. Though most of them were bombed and colapsed after the war was over, there are still several left. THese caves were dug in the solid rock by japanese soldiers trying to hide from the american allies. They lived in these things for weeks and even months after the war untill they were found and bombed. The entrances are tiny. Actually the whole caves are sketchy, with more rocks falling from the roof all the time. Its crazy to think of living there for any amount of time.



First trip to the Pacific.
So my first trip to the pacific ocean was memorable. It was actually very beautiful, however it was pouring rain and really windy the whole time. I would love to go back a stay at this place for awhile, cuz its nice.... and cheap. This isn't considered a really nice beach. its basically just the closest thing to Manila. On a nice day it would have been totally worth it.

It wasn't a nice day.

But I still got myself into the Pacific ocean. Check.

This place was hit hard by the tsunami last year, it was completely whiped out. The mudslides and crosses, are still here. Though most of it has been re-built. I suppose that is the advantage of having a house made of tin scraps. Quick to re-build. You may recognize this beach from CNN as it was hit a day before Thiland was.

I was on my way to the grocery store today when I suddenly realized that This:


Is becomming totally normal. Everyday street scenes that for so long kept me completely busy, looking out the window, and feeling so out of place are becomming normal... This is wierd.

MEDICAL ADVENTURES IN ASIA.

This next adventure is not one that I would recommend. It wasn't fun. And unless you have insurrance, it is also rather pricy. So where do I start. I guess I'll start by Saying that this whole thing was caused by an infection that developed on an injury I had on my leg. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. I had banged up my shins on a trampoline and had two cuts, one on each leg, halfway up my shins. No big deal. I go through stuff like this all the time. Unfortunately for me, there were some tropical germs that had a different idea. Not being from here I was at a disadvantage because my body isn't used to dealing with tropical bacteria. With that said. I will start the story.

Dec. 28th. Not feeling well. Stay in bed, freezing cold.
-Wake up around 12:00am very hot. High fever, head blurred.
-Get up to go to washroom. Just inside the washroom door I suddenly felt much better, this feeling only lasted about 2seconds. Long enough for my body to fall across the tiny bathroom and smash my head on the back of the shower stall.
-Awakened again, rather un-pleasantly by the impact of my head against the wall, find myself lying in the bottom of the shower.
-stagger up, down the hallway, collapse in a kitchen chair sweating, with a temperature over 103.

This is where/how my aunt finds me and quickly realizes something is wrong. For the next 24 hours or so I had a high fever, and I lay in bed. My leg at this point is getting continuously more painful, I can no longer walk on it. However, The connection between flu symptoms and a sore leg are still not brought together. Some time later my fever broke. I was feeling much better, and thought this would all be over soon. By this time my leg has gotten really swollen and red. We have figured out that there must be some connection, and had been trying for about half a day to get the swelling to go down. A short nap later, and I knew I had to get to a hospital. A red line had shot up from the infected area and was making its way up my leg. Now... I'm not sure the specifics on this stuff. Is it true that if the line reaches your heart before you get medical attention the infection can stop your heart? Thats a rumour anyways, someone fill me in.
With this new found developement we were ready to go to the hospital. Half an hour before we left my fever visited me again, and I went to that unconscious place again. Lucky for me I was sitting down for this one. The trip to The hospital was un-eventful, I did pass out a couple more times once I was there and in a wheel chair, but to be honest I don't remember most of it.
So to make a long story short, I was in hospital almost a week, two "surgerys" on my leg to open the wound and cut the inffection out, lots of IVs and medication, blah blah blah. For the most part its kind of hazy, being in a out of anestisia and not being in my right mind anyways.
One thing I do remember is new years eve, when I stayed up to watch the fireworks out my 8th floor window. Not that I could have slept anyways, Manila is like a war zone on new years, so crazy, I wish I could have been down on the street. By the time 12:00 hit I couldn't see across the parking lot because of the smoke.
So I'll end this adventure with some pictures. Most of them are of fire works out my window. What a way to bring in the new year.
ps. Thanks to my aunt and uncle who where there for my always. I wouldn't have made it without you.

The view out my window.


Here it goes.








Full of IVs. no fun.


or is it? ha, my nurse liked that one. Quart of starbucks, stat!

What a view.

don't act like you didn't know it was comming.

Sorry for the gros-ness of this last picture. You are lucky I didn't show the close up.
So now I'm back home. Well. back to the condo. I'm on really strong meds. They aren't fun, cuz taking these pills is like swallowing coals. They burn good. The doctors say that this will take along time to heal. I'm slowly getting stronger, but it will take awhile. Multiple doctors are telling me that I'm lucky to be past this with my leg and my life. And I'll admitt, though I only do so now that my parents aren't as frantic, there was a time when I wasn't sure if I'd make it.
This post isn't about a pity party. I'm not into those. I'm merely writing my thoughts, or lack of them for most of this adventure. And I'm letting you all know that I'm fine now. And through the rough end of it. I'm not sure how this adventure will end up. Most people are telling me, including my doctor that I have to go home to recover fully. They say travel is out of the question for several months. I don't know what to think yet. Day at a time. thats all

So, many doctors appointments, insurrance calls, and worried parental phonecalls later, It has been determined that I will return to Canada. This will hopefully only be a temporary thing but, it will take at least six weeks to get this thing over with. The doctors will not let me travel. THey say the chances of re-infection with an open wound are too great. And they say round two would be even worse. My insurrance will not cover me if it does get infected again because it will be considered a pre-existing condition. So. My adventure brings me home.
This is obviously not something that I had planned on. I am suppose to be living by myself, out of a hammock on the beach right now. However, there is little I can do about it, so I might aswell enjoy coming home and seeing some of you again.
At first I really didn't like the idea of coming home. I refused to think this was the end. Fortunately I have been able to get an independent, round trip from manilla to home, and will be comming back here as soon as I am better. So the adventure will continue. I realize some of you have been worried. You can stop that now. I'm fine. I did/do appreciate everyones prayers and letters through this time.

But, just for a minute, I would like you to think about something thats been on my mind lately.

I get hurt. I am immediately given the best medical treatment, cost not being a factor when it comes to health. I am then flown home to a clean, western civilization to fully recover; and will probably have to go through another round of doctors/medical attention before its all done. I do not have to worry about getting fired from a job or my family starving.

However, had this happend to anyone outside the orphanage walls. The people who earn dollars a day, they would probably be in critical condition, quite possibly down a leg. With their kids having to resort to begging at intersections to put food on the table.

This IS NOT suppose to make you feel guilty. We should only feel guilty if we take what we've been given for granted. Its amazing what it takes before we realized how blessed we really are.