Having visitors only leaves me sad.

A few months ago my sister and I discussed traveling together. My whole family has the travel bug, so naturally she planned on making a trip out here while I’m living here. More than anything, I would have loved to do a month long backpacking trip with her, but with our work schedules it just wasn’t realistic. She is a school counselor with summers off. I work at an after school-tutoring center, so summers are our busiest time. Luckily for my sister Anna, her best friend is a schoolteacher. Lindsey lived down the street from us growing up. Anna and Lindz have been friends for most of their lives. Lindsey’s next-door neighbor Jenna is my best friend. It’s a very darling Leave it to Beaver scenario, so I was pumped to hear that I would get to see the both of them.

Dragon Boat Festival races.

Anna and Lindz started their journey in Beijing. They hiked the wall, saw some stuff (the ushe) then flew into Hangzhou. They got in June 11^th, it was a Tuesday evening. There was a bit of a mix up regarding when their flight would arrive and how they would get to my apartment. Keep in mind, no phones or Internet upon arrival. So coordinating this kind of stuff is old school. Unfortunately, just as I arrived at the airport I got a phone call from Anna. They were at the front gate of my apartment using the guards phone to call me. Wednesday was Dragon Boat festival, a national Chinese holiday. Hangzhou has beautiful canals running through the city that all stem from the Granfd Canal. A massive manmade canal used to ship cargo to Beijing. We met up with some friends to partake in the boat races. It’s fun to see the traditional culture and I’m so happy Anna and Lindz got to experience it. We then walked to a nearby park. The girls were a bit jetlagged so we went back to my apartment to get some grub. There is this whole in the wall restaurant just outside my building. It’s fantastic. We had some eggplant, dumplings, and fried rice. We had a rest then went out to dinner with my friends were they were able to try more authentic Chinese food. I had no idea Anna was a fan of bullfrog?

The following day we planned to bike around Westlake. There really aren’t a whole lot of “sights’ here, but the lake is always fun to explore. Plus biking here is an experience of its own. And I’m happy to report that no one was seriously injured on their bike. We had a great lunch and made some friends! These darling Chinese boys wrote us a note in English asking to take a photo with us. Dancing is very popular here. It is so common to see large groups of women dancing in public squares, as well as men and women practicing their ballroom dancing. It's like a flashmob every few hours. Anna and Lindz having both been dancers were pumped to get in on the dancing! And the Chinese women standing by me loved it too. We continued to bike around the whole lake. The west edge of that lake is much quieter, little traffic, and very serene. As we made it back to civilization I took them to a really popular Shao cow, or street food. The first day they were continually asking me “do you use the water to brush your teeth” and sanitary questions of the sort. Either I’m naïve or just really brave…. I rarely worry about any of that. Seeing them eat the street food was quite the juxtaposition to their original concerns. China has the largest population in the world, if they are all surviving off the food and water, I assume I will too.

That night we stayed in painted our nails and watched The Bachelorette. The next morning they headed off to Shanghai and I went to work. I worked Friday and Saturday. On Saturday I went straight from work to Shanghai to meet them at their hostel. I have the luxury of always staying with a friend in Shanghai, but this hostel was great! Hostels are always a great place to meet interesting people. We relaxed in the lobby and had a couple beers before heading to the Airport. Our flight to Manila was at 12:40am. We left the hostel around 9pm (it takes an hour and a half to get to the airport by subway). Once on the subway you have to transfer to another line that continues on the airport. Yelp, that second line stops running at 10. Wasn’t aware of that. Standing on the platform with that “oh shit” look on our faces we were immediately approached by a woman who offered to drive us to the terminal. Worried about the time a bus would take we took here up on her offer. Luckily we made it to the airport in plenty of time. We arrived at Manila airport just before 5am and was greeted by my dear friend Arz. We headed back to her apartment to get a little more sleep. We then went to a delicious “Father’s Day” brunch.

She is her mothers daughter.

Manila was much different than I expected. The city is quite polluted with a lot of litter on the streets and shanty houses/communities all over. The area we went to was a recently developed commercial neighborhood. It was very modern and felt as if it had been designed by the Irvine Company.  With the warm tropical weather It felt like Honolulu. We wandered around the shops and markets all afternoon.  For lunch we ate at CPK. You have no idea how great it is to see American chains!. The only chains in Hangzhou are McDonalds, Pizza Hut and KFC, and I don’t eat at any of them!

The restaurant we ate at two nights in a row.

The following day we headed out to Boracay, one of the most popular and beautiful islands in the Philippines. From the airport we took a two our bus that took us through the provinces and farms, then a small boat took us to the island, then a trike (like a motorcycle with a side car for multiple passangers) took us to our hotel. The bus was actually really nice in that we were able to see what most of the land in the Philippines looks like. When traveling you often see the larger cities. I love to see the more rural/common lifestyle. We settled into our hotel then headed down to the beach to find a restaurant for dinner.

Pre-Storm

We woke up the next morning and headed back to the beach. The weather was a little dodgy and looked as if a storm was coming in. We found a resort and laid out hoping to get as much sun as possible before the storm came in. I hadn’t been in the sun in 8 months and in fear of not getting any color didn’t use any sunscreen. It was rather overcast, yet still warm. I think this trip has finally taught me to use sunscreen no matter what! The Irish blood in me just can’t handle the sun. I don’t think I’ve ever been burned that bad. Almost three weeks later I’m still peeling. I like to think of it as new skin. Shedding the old, a rebirth if you will. After a few hours on the beach it began to rain and get a bit chilly. We headed to the Jacuzzi. After about an hour of enjoying the pool the storm really came in. In a matter of minutes the rain and wind were so aggressive water was seeping into the lobby. We sat in the lobby to wait it out, staff constantly trying to sweep out the water. The hotel had a shuttle service that was kind enough to drive us back to our hotel. Later that evening, when the weather had settled down we went back to the restaurant we ate at the first night. Filipino food is amazing!!  

The next morning we wandered around the little town and did some shopping before heading back to the airport. We had lunch at a small open air restaurant/bar playing game 6 of the NBA finals. We showed up just in time to watch the end of the 4^th quarter and OT. Asian cultures love the NBA. Arz and I continued to shout “Lakers” to the locals who asked where we were from.

Her backpack is bigger than she is.

We shared a van with a really nice group of friends also from Manila. They were so talkative and friendly, very unlike the Chinese. The fact that almost everyone in the Philippines speaks English is a huge plus, but also, I have never met friendlier people. It was unreal, or maybe I’ve just been in China too long. Customer service in this country was fantastic, so many smiles. In China, any store/restaurant/office you’re at, you will rarely get a smile or any kind of greeting; just blank stares. It’s quite irritating.

We got back to Manila and had dinner, then Anna and Lindz headed to Bangkok. I stayed one more night and got to meet a bunch of Arz’s friends and coworkers at a birthday party. It was great to get a feel for her daily life (not that she’s going to birthday parties everyday or anything). I headed back to China the following morning.

Leaving paradise.

The vacation and break from China was much needed. It was amazing to get to spend time with my sister and Lindsey as well as Arz! Also the Western culture in the Philippines was wonderful… CPK for lunch, come ooonnnn.

Next family member visit: My brother and sister-in-law in August!!!