September 3rd

Today, we drove through Manila to get to our resort in Tagaytay.

The Philippines is a third-world country. And largely a part of population is the poverty stricken... The homeless.

It was a bit of a rough drive seeing street vendors walking patiently in hope for the sympathy of it's daily commuters. They sell everything from newspapers to food; and two very young girls sold my parents some beautifully scented flowers, as we sat at a red light.

Many are fortunate to have flip flops, but then there were many who were barefoot.

Kids paced along the sidewalks, two of them were actually walking in the midst of the traffic.

One of the kids came to the driveside window of our car. My parents gave him some pesos.

Shortly after we came to a full stop on a small bridge where sewer water and rain water probably flowed underneath.

And it was underneath this particular bridge that, while sitting at a full stop, we watched families in shanties which were suspending from the bottom of the bridge. I clearly watched a mother and infant laying on a makeshift bed with bedsheets as walls.

It reminded me very much of this documentary I watched about the homeless tunnel dwellers below New York City.

The only difference was that these Filipino families weren't hiding from their inevitable fates... Instead for many or all to see.

------------------------------

I shared this particular experience cause this is the reality of the world. And everything I'm going back to the States to see and witness is an illusion.

All our pains and stresses we worry about on a daily basis at home, is simply overreacting to the rest of the world.

I think I finally realize why everyone hates Americans.

Lesson 3:
Everyone needs to visit a third-world country one day.


///

September 2nd [Photos]

We landed into Manila.

It took a whole day of terminal hopping to get here, but definitely an experience in itself.

This is what happens when you don't realize your phone is taking pictures.
Makes for some beautiful abstracts.

Customs and immigration area.

The Philippines stresses religion and family. This is a prime example of one.

This is what the night looks like, if you were wondering.

Alcohol is cheaper than water.

Grammy.

Pops, gameplanning the itinerary for the next 2 days.

Already on my first morning in the Philippines, I saw a whale.

Neighborhoods.

Rain. It just had to rain, I suppose.

Trust, Dr. Phil.

Tricycles are pretty popular.

The streets are real.

Went to the airport to get my grandma on a domestic flight to Nabua.
Pretty neat street scene.

This is where we part from grandma.

If you don't, you get tazed.

And then we ate.
It wouldn't be the Philippines, if it doesn't involve food. Lol.

///

September 2nd

Manila, now.

11pm:
It's dark... too dark to take all the sights in. The city is still all too mysterious to me still. But what I can gather from Manila so far, is that the lanes and lines of the roads serve more as suggestions than law.

You can touch the trucks and cars to your left and right if you wanted to. Lol

The driving here takes balls and thick nerves. And if you don't hear the horns of cars blaring every 10 seconds, something must be very wrong.


8am:
It's surely light out now.
And I slept like a dead body.
It's raining hard as cuss, so I haven't been able to look outside yet.

[I hear Spongebob Squarepants playing right now in the kitchen. Haha]

I think we're about to leave in the next hour to hit the city and run the initial errands.

K, that's it for now.
Good talk.

Lesson 2:
The misconception of asians being bad drivers is a matter of perspective.

They are quite talented at not wrecking, but have no interest in driving in an orderly fashion.
(survival of the craziest)


///

September 1st [Photos]

I'm up to my neck with photos to post.

I'm weeks behind, but the story in its entirety will be told.

Tonight, was a productive night. 

WiFi is finally to my disposal, but I have no clue for how much longer.

Hopefully, I can get my Sept. 2 & 3 post and pics up.

This will have to do for now.

Jax Airport (which is looking surprisingly more impressive),
waiting for this 16 hour flight to happen.

Grand Ma Ma, patient and undisturbed.

Pops getting bucked.

Atlanta looks a lot more interested on a tilt.

This lady caught me taking a photo of her.
She's either pissed or Japanese.

See, Atlanta looks so bland with out the tilt.
Looking like a campus cafeteria.

On-flight entertainment. I couldn't complain about the length of my flight.
Especially when you had their list of movies and music. Delta stepped their shit up.

See, like I said. Impressive stuff.
Tiesto - Kaleidoscope, on catalog. 

This is my own personally compiled playlist.
10 bucks goes to whoever can correctly match them all. Haha.
No, but seriously.

Complimentary...

The view from above.

English.

Jap.

Tokyo/Narita Airport.
Told you... its pretty ordinary.
I was expecting obnoxious neon lights and anime characters bouncing around.

Runway, Tokyo

It was refreshing to get this shot, right before boarding.
I think it was my favorite pic of the first few days.
The sky was surreal blue, and the framing of the plane couldn't
have been any more appropriate.

TSA

All the old people in wheelchairs got executive privileges to board the plane first.
My grandma was one of them (which I believe was purely strategic, haha).
But they were lined up, like stock cars waiting for the start of a race.

And off to the races.

Grandma was trying to make a pass.

Told you... Old people privileges.

And that's how Day 1 will end.

///

September 1st

First real day away from home.

In Tokyo right now. Figured the airport would be a little more extravagant then it actually is.
Maybe I'm on the wrong side of it. Lol

The plane ride was a feat, and for someone with mild claustrophobia, like myself, it was like climbing a mountain made of patience.

I tried to take advantage of the complimentary beer. But the stewardesses didn't come quite enough to get my fade on. I would have been able to sleep easier with a sixer. But on my 16 hour flight, I slept... an hour and a half tops.

My eyes probably have bags underneath them.
So, I'm shit tired, a bit relieved that the long portion of my trek is behind me, but most recently uneasy.
My skateboard doesn't abide by Japanese regulations as a carry-on. So they forced me to check it in.

My enjoyment of the sights and sounds of this trip will have to come to a screeching halt, until my board returns to me in Manila.

So I wait.

...and I left my damn watch at home. Fk.

Lesson 1:
If you think you packed everything... you're probably too overconfident to realize you're actually wrong.


///

Opening Notes

Hello world.
If you by some chance, don't have any clue what's going on...

I left the country... For the Philippines.
For the first time, and for all of September.

On August 31st, I left on a 16 hour flight for the far far east.

I'll be back home September 28th.

And so this blog will serve as my day-to-day, just like my main blog, [like an owl].

But unfortunetly due to the inaccessibility of Internet here in the Philippines, I was forced to push back progress and half of my posts.

I initially intended to run my posts and thoughts in parallel to the day's they occurred.

And the visual design of this blog site will have to remain raw, until I get back to the States.
I'm currently writing and posting between both my iPhone and laptop, and HTMLing would just slow me down.

Regardless of this inaccessibility, I have been consistly writing and shooting photos to diagram my whereabouts, sights, and sounds.

Well, not so much sounds but ya know.

Each blog post will also contain a lesson that I've learned from the day preceding.

I consider this month like school abroad.
[A cultural experience.]
So it would only be fitting that everyday here in the Philippines would be followed by some sort of lesson learned.

------------------------------

Your patience, will be followed by a cultural reward.
And to all my friends and family back home...

See you in a couple weeks.


///