I’m going to forego the usual blogger apology for lack of recent updates and I’m not going to promise anything for the near future because quite frankly we’re both preoccupied with other things that have to take precedence right now.  But Rest assured that once we are settled in Chicago and have a bit more time to devote to this we’ll be uploading many more photos and videos from the end of our travels and the past few months.  We’re on a pretty amazing ride right now and can’t wait to share it with you!  So, please excuse the hiatus…

For now, here are a few pictures from the recent months…

For more detailed descriptions view on flickr – click here!

For those of you who don’t know, Kate and I were stranded in Paris because of the Icelandic Volcano.  We stayed there for 3 extra days then took bus to Barcelona and on to Madrid where we got a flight home.  It was an adventure and it was ridiculous (and annoying).  Now we’re fighting battles with the travel insurance company which is very frustrating but in the end it was a nice bonus to get to see spain a bit!

Enjoy the Pictures,  We’ll be back soon!

We can’t wait to see some of you at the wedding in a few weeks!

-Chad

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Here are a few more pictures… I’ll try to keep uploading more as soon as possible….

Enjoy and we can’t wait to see you all soon!
-Chad

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A quick update of what we’ve been up to…
We frantically left our apartment on the 26th of February after being told we had to leave a day earlier because the new teachers were coming! We stayed with some friends in Samcheok then left for Daegu for a Temple Stay. We stayed at Haeinsa Temple for one night and had a great experience with the monks there. Next we headed to Busan (southern Korea City) to visit two friends from IU who just moved there to start teaching English! After a few days there we headed up to Seoul for a day on the high-speed train then flew to Beijing!

I developed a nasty cold while in Korea so we took it pretty slow the first few days in Beijing and stayed in a great hostel just north of the forbidden City. We visited the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, A few parks in Beijing, The Great Wall, and saw a Peking Opera. The last two nights we stayed with some lovely Couch Surfers named Prometheus and Lucy and went out for a great Hot Pot! Beijing was really a lot of fun and we definitely will go back at some point. (Kate found a number of galleries that have great residency programs!)

Next we took the high-speed train to Shanghai where we are now. As I said above, we’re working at the Biofarm in shanghai and having a great time. This morning we transplanted seedlings and now we’re designing some icons for their new website. (What a vacation!) We’re enjoying getting to know the farmers and staff and having a more intimate Chinese experience – and we’re learning a thing or two about organic farming too!

I’ve uploaded a few photos to flickr so take a look at this gallery for a sample of what we’ve been up to! Check back here as we upload more photos.

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I don’t know if Chad mentioned that it was raining A LOT when we were in El Nido.  Above is a picture of Chad on our first day.  We were famished and dirty from the bus ride.  We just sat and watched the waves.

A view from the restaurant in our hostel.  Watch out for sea spray!

I have to say, yes, I went to the Philippines because I wanted some Vitamin D.  That being said, it was really wonderful to see the islands surrounded by storms.  You never see clouds in a postcard.  Despite the fact that we couldn’t run around in the sand without being pelted by rain drops, it was very beautiful.

One our second day the weather cleared up by the late afternoon so we decided to take a sunset cruise.  Cleared up meaning we could walk without being drenched.  It was a rocky boat ride but it was nice to get out and Chad took some magnificent photos.

On the third day we decided to sign up for an island hopping tour and brave the weather which cooperated above and beyond our expectations.

Island Hopping Boat Tour – Sea Level

Sunshine!  We are so happy!

Next is a video of me waving.  Woot.  You can tell we were adjusting to the underwater filmography.

Kate Waving – UNDER WATER!

My mask was a little tight.

Chad has some awesome nautical moves!

This is probably me favorite video (LaGOONy).  Chad head butts the camera and when the lens is in and out of the water it looks like we have HUGE bodies and tiny heads.  Oh, and NAME THAT TUNE!  Sorry, it’s me and not Chad singing!

LaGOONy

We finally found fish!  This spot was amazing.  We saw more fish here that our entire diving trip in Thailand last year!

Fish

Look forward to another fish video at the marine sanctuary on Panglao.

This is our lunch spot.  Look at the video for a panoramic view!

Lunch Break Beach

Relaxing after a long and wonderful day on the water – wow we got roasted!

The porch area of our hostel.

Our final day we decided to do a cliff climb.  It was fantastic.  Just us and the guide and limestone!

The view was incredible and terrifying!  Look at the video!

Cliff View of El Nido

We could see that red flag from the beach in front of our hostel – it was soooo tiny!

Me with our guide.

Water break!

Whoa Nellie!

So, after the sunset sail we went on an evening swim in the ocean.  I got in a fight with a stray board – it won.  While we were snorkeling my wounds got sunburned!  You can tell that I had fun!

Time to go back to Puerto Pincessa.  Above is the kind of bus we took to El Nido.  Below is the less comfortable option we took back.

Next, Bohol!

In other news, we are doing really well!  I can’t believe that our time here is almost up.  We finish at school next Wednesday, we leave Samcehok a week from tomorrow, then we take off for Beijing on the 4th!  Also, we will officially be back in Chicago on the 19th of April at 3:10 PM!  YAYY!!  We can’t wait to get home and see all of our family and friends!

Thank you for keeping Grandpa Baird in your thoughts – keep it up!  He is improving to the point of serenading Grandma Baird on her birthday/Valentine’s Day!  We are very happy!

Well, it’s time to look for some more Couch Surfers for our trip.

See you two months from today!

Love, Kad & Chate

On the Plane…

Over this…

Palawan is often called the “last frontier” of the Philippines.  It was only claimed by the Philippines in the 1960s after being tossed around between Japanese rule in WWII, American rule earlier in the century, Spanish rule before that, and Malay long ago.  So, as expected this island was much less developed than Manila or our later stops on Bohol and Cebu.  We flew into Puerto Princesa (the capital of the island) and had to stay the night before heading up to El Nido.  We arrived at Manny’s guest house by tricycle (there are no taxi’s on the island – WATCH THE VIDEO HERE!) just in time to catch this great view of the sunset!

We took off into town to find some internet and came across this church.  They had 3 masses a day 2 in English and 1 in the local dialect.  Pretty cool!

I think we were hungry!

The next morning we left at 7am on a local bus for our next stop – El Nido.  We had the option to take a local bus for 300 pesos each (~$4) or a minivan with aircon for 600 pesos each.  We opted for the cheaper version hoping for more of an adventure …   The bus was a huge open air giant of a machine and looked like it had been in use since about WWII or so.  The bus slowly filled with all local Philippinos …. and us (the only foreigners in sight).

This was our navigator

This was our seat…

She was our entertainment…

The bus ride took a solid 8 hours to get from Puerto Princesa to El Nido.  We spent most of the trip admiring the amazing scenery, clinging to the railings as we hurdled down rough pavement, gravel, and dirt roads, or we watched the children sitting in front of us.

On top of the bus, people packed on loads of goods to ship, bags, and at one point in the trip… a motorcycle!  When the bus was full, people sat on the roof.  No one fell off, but I’m sure there were some close calls with the rough roads and crazy driving.

One of the many amazing views on the bus ride up to El Nido.

Here’s another…

We made it safely to El Nido.  Luckily it only rained for about 20 minutes near the end of the ride.  We’ve heard horror stories of the bus getting stuck in the mud on rainy days and taking 12-15 hours to get to El Nido.  We also avoided flat tires (another common occurrence).  Video of our arrival into El Nido is below.

The bus ride was definitely an adventure.  We chose it because it we wanted to have a more realistic Philippines experience and we got it.  We saw a lot of beautiful sites, but also so the shanties and shacks of rural Philippino life.  We stopped a few times and encountered some begging children, hungry and dirty.  A sad sight and a strange reminder of Manila.  The restrooms along our trip were shacks with holes in the ground or a basic toilet with no seat or water.  Needless to say we limited our water and food so we could avoid them as much as possible.  Many of our companions on the bus didn’t speak, or didn’t want to speak English so it was hard to know what was happening when we stopped, or how long we had left on our journey.  But that was all part of the experience.  It was one of our more memorable experiences of the trip and I’m glad we did it.

Up Next – the town of El Nido and it’s paradise limestone islands!  Oh.. and some great underwater videos!

Please keep my (Chad) grandfather in your thoughts.  He’s having a rough recovery from knee surgery a few weeks ago.  He’s doing better the past few days but still has a long road to recovery ahead.  Nothing makes us feel farther away from home than when someone we love is sick.  We just thankful for the wonders of Skype that help us keep in touch.

All the best,

Chad

As Chad mentioned in his last post, Molly, Chad and I all left Incheon the same day.  One slight snafue in our planning – Molly took off at 9:30 AM, we took off at 9:30 PM.  Little did Chad and I know that we would fall in love with the Incheon airport.

Once we had our MacDonald’s breakfast we headed upstairs to find a cozy place to catch up on reading/sleep/picture taking.  Incheon has huge bean bags all over upstairs.  We saw one open up and pretty much sprinted to claim it.

Chad took lots of pictures.

I read lots of D.H. Lawerence’s Women in Love.

I love this picture.  Notice there is only one man who is standing still.  Can you find him?  Ill give you one hint – he’s Korean!

Sleepy heads!

Hangin’ with D.H.

So, we landed in Manila at 12:30 AM.  It was beautiful and balmy and the airport made the Indianapolis airport look like the biggest airport in the world!  We got into a cab and had an experience.  The cab driver was appalled at the location of our hostel and spent the entirety of our drive telling us we shouldn’t go there.  This was between wrong turns and police checkpoints!  Wow.

When we finally arrived at the hostel it was very nice and the owner was incredibly welcoming.  It was very clean and we had great roommates.  The location was slightly dodgy but we’re here to tell the tale!

The next morning we walked around Rizal Park.

These kids got super excited when Chad was taking pictures.  They all lined up and jumped around for him!  They are much more active picture takers than our students!  I wish I had my camera out to take picture of Chad taking their pictures – it was pretty cute.

This is me, Ana (German), and Blanca (Columbian living in China).  They were our roommates in Manila and we spent the day with them.  They were quite lovely ladies!

There were ice cream trucks everywhere and they all constantly played the same ding-dong tune!  After about 3 minutes of wandering around the park we all had it stuck in our heads.

A view of Chad at work.

A view of Chad’s work.

After the park and some lunch we headed to a fort commemorating Jose Rizal (every main street in Manila is Rizal Avenue).  Rizal was a huge nationalist/martyr in the Philippines in the late 1800′s.

Below is a view from the top of the fort wall.

The Manila metropolis.  Vastly different from what we left in Seoul.  I had no idea how different it was going to be.

Gazing at . . . . ?

By the end of the day we were very tired.  Instead of fighting to get onto the subway system we decided to hop into a jeepney.  They are bus-jeeps that people jump into for a quick, cheap ride.  Hold on tight!

The next day, right before we headed to the airport, Chad and I decided to check out the Chinese cemetery that was right outside of our hostel.  It vaguely reminded me of the tombs I visited in Cortona 4 years ago.  In the Philippines people really go all out for their deceased loved ones.  Some of the tombs have air conditioning, running water, full fridges, etc.  I think we should have just stayed in one of those!

We wanted to take this little guy home but he was too big for our backpacks.

Manila was a very interesting and educational experience.  We saw a ton of poverty and many people with a much different standard of living then we are used to seeing as the norm.  Chad mentioned some of it in a post he made while we were traveling.  I  felt like a naive voyeur the entire time we were in Manila.  It was very sobering and prompted a lot of discussion for the trip.  Who are we to decide what is comfortable and not comfortable?  Who are we to live in a three bedroom apartment with plumbing?  Do they want that?  How do we help?  Do they want help?  Maybe they are perfectly and happy and just because it wouldn’t make us happy doesn’t mean they aren’t even happier than we are.  There is a fine line and  seeing it is a huge challenge.  I hope that Chad and I remember how that felt and that we manage to do the right thing and not ignore it.  We both want to get back into volunteering when we get home and maybe even while we are traveling.

One a lighter note, we are in the midst of arranging our trip for the spring.  Right now we plan to be in China for about a month then we’ll head through Vietnam to Cambodia.  After that we plan to fly from Bangkok to Paris.  We plan to be home in mid to late April.  We’ll let you know as things firm up!  We are incredibly excited and each time we sit down to plan we just talk about how crazy it is that we get to see all these amazing places!

Well, we only have one computer now and I need to get a few things accomplished before I hand it over to Chad.

I hope everyone is doing well and staying warm!  Anyone buried in the snow?

Kate’s sister, Molly, came to visit us in Korea in late December.  She stayed for about 10 days and we had a great time with her.  It was wonderful to actually get to share this place with someone from home.  The last 4 days that she was here we were off work and we all went to Seoul.  The trip was mainly a whirlwind tour of the city’s hot spots.  Here are some pictures from Seoul.   There are more in the gallery to the left.  As always – click for a larger image.

We stopped at a KimBap Restaurant (Korean Fast Food) for a cheap snack before heading off for the afternoon.  This is Ram-bokki a combination of Ramen Noodles and Dakbokki – spicy sauce and rice cake.  In the background you can see Kim Bap (Korean sushi rolls without the sushi) and Mandu (Korean Dumplings).  Molly had a pretty good amount of Korean food while she was here… its definitely an experience.  Kate and I love this stuff now

There was an Andy Warhol Portraits exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art, so naturally we checked it out.  It was a coooold night but we ventured out.  The exhibit was fantastic!  A really wide range of his work and a lot of historical information and artifacts about his life.  The English translations of the commentary were also really entertaining.

We got a little lost walking back to the subway which wasn’t good because it was about 1 degree outside…but we made it!

The next day we went to Bongeun-sa Temple near the Coex Mall.  Every Thursday they have a “Temple Life” program where foreigners can get a tour of the temple, learn some basic meditation practices, participate in the Tea Ceremony and make lotus flowers.  It was about 2 hours and a really great way to experience Korean Buddhism up close.  We had hoped to do an overnight Temple Stay the weekend before, but Kate was sick and it didn’t seem like a good idea.  This was a nice way to still get at least some of the experience.

Lanterns are hung at the temples for a period of time before and after the four major Buddhist holidays.  I think these were up for the New Year.

This is one of the tallest Buddha Statues in Korea.  The picture doesn’t really do it justice but it was huge!

Tea ceremony!

Kate and Molly making Lotus Flowers

The Temple is right in the middle of the city – providing an interesting contrast between the skyscrapers and apartment buildings all around it.

Kate and Molly on the Subway.  Seoul has one of the best subways I’ve ever been on.  It’s quiet, clean, and fast… amazing!

The last day we took a bus tour around the city.  This was the easiest and cheapest way to see all the highlights of the city.  It was a fun way to spend the day.

I think this is Namdaemoon, or Dongdaemoon …  From the bus.

We also went to see Avatar in 3D one afternoon, and ate some Mexican food in Itaewon.  On Saturday we took Molly to the airport for her early morning flight, then we waited there for our 9:30pm flight.  Stuck in the airport for 13 hours… not too fun.  Incheon is kind of the most amazing airport in the world though, so it was not a problem… more on that in the next post… Manila!

]]> http://www.spicyfishy.com/winter-vacation-part-1-seoul/feed/ 1 http://www.spicyfishy.com/el-nido-update/ http://www.spicyfishy.com/el-nido-update/#comments Sat, 16 Jan 2010 15:12:38 +0000 http://www.spicyfishy.com/?p=1063 Hello from El Nido!

We are here in the northwestern tip of the island of Palawan.  The last few days have been great!  Really a nice place and the scenery is incredible.  Truly a “paradise” – at least by the views…

Day 1 – it rained a lot

But it cleared up just enough for a quick sunset cruise!

(the picture is more ominous than it really was)

Day 2 – Island Hopping tour and snorkling!!

AMAZING Views and some fantastic snorkeling.  We’ll post videos later on….

(And we have this great underwater bag for Kate’s camera! Lots of fun.)

Day 3 – Climbing!

We climbed some of the limestone cliffs in the area (with a guide).  Great fun but tiring.

Tomorrow we head back to Puerto Princesa and then on to Cebu/Bohol the next day.

The bus ride up here was pretty crazy so we decided to take a more comfortable (hopefully) van back tomorrow.

[UPDATE] – 1/16/2010 – We are now in Puerto Princesa.  Had to leave the internet cafe quickly yesterday could not finish this post.  The trip down from El Nido was fine today – although not nearly as comfortable as we had hoped – 16 people in a minivan is a bit much but we made it in about 6 hours and made our way to Anicito’s Pension where we will stay tonight before flying to Cebu and Bohol tomorrow.  The bus/van journey goes down a partially paved road that spans the northern length of the island through tiny villages and huts scattering the mountains and plains.  It’s a sobering reminder of how much of the world lives and definitely adds a layer of guilt to our seemingly voyeuristic touring.  We just keep trying to remember that our tourist pesos help them in more ways that we may realize.  Seeing images of the tragedy that continues to unfold in Haiti only reminds me of sites we are seeing here as we travel.  Amazingly similar – the lack of proper sanitation, shacks made of make-shift thatch roofs, buses overflowing onto the rooftops careening recklessly down dirt roads…  It’s another world.  I can’t imagine adding a devastating earthquake or tsunami to the mix.

Kate and I have been discussing plans for our China Trip in March and we’ve both agreed that our focus won’t be as much on getaway type tourism.  We hope to do a few weeks of “Wwoof”-ing —working on local organic farms in exchange for food and housing or other volunteer opportunities.  I hope it all pans out – of course the requisite Great Wall visits etc will be part of the tour, but to have a more hands on interaction will be wonderfully refreshing, more similar to our experience in Korea.

Anyway – I’m just rambling now, and my ramblings are costing me pesos so I will wrap it up.

Hopefully we’ll have access to internet again before we leave on the 23rd – but if not – look for more extensive updates after that.

Hope everyone reading this is happy and healthy – we can’t wait to see you all so soon!

-Chad

Hello all,

I wrote a longer post a little bit ago but it got deleted Sorry… here is an abridged version -

Kate and I are in Puerto Princesa right now sitting in an internet cafe surrounded by World of Warcraft Gamers.  This morning we were in Manila  – which was an interesting experience.  Very grimy gritty city – more third worldy than we expected but it was definitely worth a day or two.  It Put everything in perspective for sure.  We will post more about that later.

Kate’s sister Molly was in Korea for the last 2 weeks visiting us.  We had a great time with her!! She came to school with us.. toured around Samcheok and went to Seoul for a few days before she flew home and we flew to the Philippines.

Making Lanterns at Bongeunsa Temple in Seoul

Again at the Temple

Kate and Molly on a Seoul Bus Tour

Kate and I had to wait in the airport for 12 hours for our flight (after Molly flew out in the morning) .  Gave me some time to practice with my Camera

Kate doesn’t like sitting in the airport for 12 hours

Some Kids in Rizal Park in Manila.  They were really excited when they saw my camera

Kate, Blanca and Ana (friends we met at our hostel) at Fort Santiago in Manila.

The view from our hostel tonight on Palawan Island – Puerto Princesa City…. Pretty amazing.

We’ll post some more pictures sooon when we get internet access again.

More soon,

-All the best

—-Chad & Kate!

The first is a standard posed picture – (from the roof of the school) with all of the Geundeok teachers and staff.  This is everybody

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The second picture is a new-age-awesomeness picture envisioned by the artiste photographers… If we were a band, we would be awesome… but we’re not, we’re elementary school teachers – so it’s just goofy.  But that’s Korea!!

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Some of these people are really amazing.  We’ve become great friends with a number of them and will miss them greatly when leave in a few months.  One advantage of being at such a small school is that it’s really like an extended family.  I know every one of these people pretty well and some of them are really our best friends in Korea.  That’s much less possible at a school with 80 teachers that is departmentalized and divided.   I’d list the names and positions of everyone in the picture but it would probably be silly.  Our closest friends are the woman on the far left (black sweater tan skirt) – She’s the 5th grade teacher, teacher Kim Young-mi and is a year older than us.  She came this year from Taebaek and has been a great friend!  Can’t imagine the past year without her great sense of humor and fantastic English.  The woman in the front with the White Jacket (younger woman) is our official Co-teacher, Son Eun-Jin.  She’s amazing!  Such a fantastic friend and always willing to help us when we have problems.  (And she’s the hardest working person in our school ) In front of Kate (to the left a bit) in all black is Teacher Kim Suk-jin.  She was our first friend here in Korea and really helped us a lot our first semester here.  She was in the U.S. last summer studying English and is now teaching most of our classes with us (long story).  She’s great and we will miss her a lot.  Hopefully some of these ladies will come to our wedding!!  There are a number of other teachers I’d love to tell you about and surely will sometime soon, but for now that’s it  Just wanted post these pictures while I was thinking of it.

All the best…

Kate and I are enjoying homemade apple pie and whip cream tonight.  Thanks KATE!

-Chad