The long awaited blog update (the days when and after I left The Netherlands)

Well, it has been a while since I last updated my blog.

For those who like to know where I am: 14.777827, 120.291434    Fill it in in Google Maps and you will find a forrest^^ and only see part of the drive up. if you look closely you might see a few cage corners. but those are not that easily noticable.

It is 20:05 here atm of writing and so I have some time before I go to bed ^^. What also helps is that I can use the pc/notebook here and so typing is a lot easier then on my tablet where I am always wondering if the touchpad has felt my finger touching a spot on the screen and so if the words I typ are correct.

Before the whole story starts I want to thank my brother for giving this camera. The week before I left he came back from Switserland/India for the weekend (also for my sisters oldest son's birthday). I got a Nikon Coolpix AW120 from him, it is a 16 MP camera which also can go 18 meters below water, can fall from 2 meters (if I ever would let it drop), had a 8GB SD card,could send it's own Wifi (not internet) signal to connect to other smartphones/tablets (it lets you control the camera with your phone/tablet froma distance and also lets you download the photo's you make from the camera to the phone/tablet, and more^^).

So lets get this started with the evening before my flight

Mondag 3-11-2014 > somewhere that day ^^

I made a Excel list of everyting I wanted to bring with me, with it I could check what I packed and what was still missing. Also I could see if I had thoughed of something or hadden till that moment. So it came in very handy when I was packing because I could just mark everything that I had packed already.

That evening I unpacked both my bags and got the last things I wanted to take with me but had to wait till then for packing because they needed charging or other things. Then I packet it all again and marked down on the list what I put in. That took a lot of time, started around 14:00 and it was around 1:00 at night when I had everything in. Just when i thoughed I could go to bed I remembered that I did not make a copy of my pasport, other papers that I needed. so it became 1:30 before I could go upstairs. Just like most other people you lay awake for a while thinking if you have forgotten anything and I gues that around 2:00 I fell asleep.

Teusday 4-11-2014 > 6:00

Well yeah, only 4 hours of sleep max, and my body also thoughed that. To be even more precise: when my alarm went of I was wondering what the sound was, when I rememberd that it was my alarm I didnt know what to do (no problem normaly), so I thoughed > lets turn on a light first (normaly I dont need that). Then i looked where my phone was (also normaly no problem to find it in the dark^^), phone in my hand thinking what to do next. As you can understand my body and mind were far from awake ^^. The first thoughed that ran trough my head when my I turned my alarm of was: What have I started.. Remeber that this is the first time for me to fly, go away somewhere far alone and also to such a climate... (and hot it is, even without the rainfall it is already hot..)

So after a shower and getting my rats with me for the last time in the upcoming month I went downstairs to get the really last thigns ready (like putting my phone in my bag for I needed it as a alarm before), eating and such. And around 7:40 I drove with my sister and mother to Bunnik to pick up my father who just had a nightshift that night. You might understand now why I stood up so early while my plane would fly at 12:00, so that is the reason.

I let my father ride us all to the airport because I didnt had my license with me because I wasnt planning on driving here in The Philippines. We arived around 9:15 or so at Schiphol. There I got rid of my backpack (15kg^^) and got my tickets for both flights on the way to Manilla.

Me and my family went to get something to drink before I had to go. One of my friends also came by train to wave me of. Sadly my other friends couldnt come because of different reasons. Dont get me wrong that I liked it if they came, but even mroe then that I wouldnt want to give them problems with the things they had to do. (so dont feel bad please, we will see each other when I get back^^).

So it was around 11:00 that I went to board the plane. It was more full then I expected, so far I could see only the middle 3 seats at the back were empty. When i came to my seat I knowtest that my flightcompanion for the long trip would be a german girl who went to Bali for a week to a friend she only knew from Facebook for a while.. I hope that she had a fun time there.

Sadly we have to turn of any electronic devices during liftup and touchdown, so i couldnt take any photo's of that sadly. but during normal flight I have taken a lot of pictures. Because we were flying towards the east it soon became dark. Luckely I could change the settings of my camera so i could some nice (I hope) photo's from the sunset. I was hoping to see some stars during the night, sadly the light at the wingtip. I think I only saw 2 starts, but I am not even sure about those =_=.

Because we flew to the east it also became day earlier, by that time we were flying a lot above the sea and because I was sitting on the right side of the plane I could only see the sea while on the left I might have seen some land. O well ^^ At the end of the flight it was morning again there and so enough light to take pictures again. I sad some big clouds and even 1 that every so much time with lightning. I have tried to take pictures of the lightning but I am not sure if I succeeded. that I will find out when I get back. Lightning is so fast that you are far the slow to take a picture, so it is just luckyshooting ^^ I think I have taken at least 50+ pictures if not 100 of that cloud in the hope I could catch the lightning ^^

Then came the unexpected painfull part, the decent. Just like some other people I get a lot of pain in my ears when decending fast. Chewing, swallowing, pressing around my ears, putting my finger in my ear wouldnt help at all. I tried it all multiple times but every time to no relieve =_=' I kept hearing bad because of it for a long time, even after I took off with the next plane. but lets rewind for a bit before going to fast forward. Sadly I didnt take any time when I was still home to download manga on my tablet for the journey. so I soon ran out of those during the flight =_=' 

Wensday 5-11-2014

I arrived at Kuala Lumpur where when we were desending I saw a lot of plants I never had seen before. I also saw a lot of different city area's. From rich/medium/poor/construction area's/fast open area's between parts of the city (I think)/factory area's. Totaly different from what I have seen in NL. I got out and went to the main hall with Michaela (the German girl). there were some tubes that leeked strange. Soon I toughed it was for some sort of train. and soon I discoverd I needed to get on 1 which just arrived at the main hall. So we parted there. I got her e-mail for I promised I would sent the pictures I had taken during the 12 hour flight to her when I get back in NL. (Nothing more, no interest and she already had a boyfriend. so before you all get all sorts of thoughs, I will simply not respond to those messages to be clear. First I want my own life on a better rail before I pull someone with me).

So I boarded the next plane, a much smaller one. I believed I would be sitting on the right front seat. but apperently not as front as a thoughed. at least I wasnt sitting above the wing, so dont worry. So we took of again and I got my hearing back ^^ This part of the trip would largely be above water, even so I took plenty of pictures of the water, clouds and land that I could see. Again during the desent my ears hurt a lot and I couldnt hear for a long time after I arrived.

So I arrived at Manilla airport, my first impression there was not really welcoming, poor facinity, and not that productive for arriving travelers. (I wonder if I will find my way to my plane when I go there for my flight back, hope they still allow me to get on the plane because of what I have written just now..). when I finaly got my backpack I went outside. So far I knew I would be picked up but other then that I didnt know. This most likely because I didnt go to the meating of JOHO before. so I was looking around for someone from WIN/JOHO/WAP or any other familiar organisation ^^. suddenly a girl (Jolien I think, sorry if I got it wrong, I am bad with names =_=' ) asked me if I was there also for WAP, she luckely had some more information about where we should go and look for. so when we got to the meating area we found our pick-up (Kirsten), Merie already arrived before us be a other plane and was also waiting with Kirsten. Because of the trafic in Manilla it took a while before our transport arrived. 

It took a couple hours before we arrived at the hostel I would stay for the coming 2 nights (and the others longer). the hostel was called: Happy Turtle (if I remember correctly). After we put our stuff there and took a refreshing shower (it was hot that day and spending a couple hours in a hot car even though it had airco). We went to the market where WAP headquaters is located. there we stayed for a couple hours and talked and such. after that we went back to the hostel and talked a bit before going to bed. It was 21:00 before we went to bed, and like I have said in the reply in the other blog I hadnt slept since the 4 hours between Monday and Tuesday^^. The LAN party's I have had in the past helped me I think to stay awake that long, alongside the adrenaline of seeing all the new things.

Thursday 6-11-2014

(at the moment of writing this it is 21:45 already O_O' and I havent even started about going to WIN yet... maybe another blog is needed for that, maybe also more fun to ^^).

We had to get up on time to go to WAP for the training after a breakfast they provided. We learned about The Philipines and its people, history and some words (good that I have written them down for I dont know them anymore o_o', never been good at any other languages beside English and Dutch..) We also got a SIM-card from WAP, so that we had a Telephone number to use there. They also let us use phones they had spare for that. I was one of the last ones to choose. I had the idea to use my own Nokia N95 for teh Card there and the spare phone for my SIM from NL in case I would get contacted by my parents for something important (do not call me or message me on my phone, it will be expensive for us both. Just e-mail me if needed). I had the idea that the Nokia I choose from their spare phones could be charged with a USB cable I had with me for my tablet (Later at WIN I discovered it wouldnt charge with that, but luckely my own powercable from my N95 could be used on the phone).

On this day it was also Kyra's birthday (another girl who came to Manilla/WAP for anotehr project). so this evening we went out to party. First we went to a cafe to eat dinner. There we met Jeremy who met Kyra and (Koen or Maurice or mark before. sorry I know your names but havent been able to put the faces of you all to the name o_o' sorry). He was there visiting his family. a very nice guy who came along this evening while we went to celibrate. Because no one of us could understand what was on the menu or what we would get we ordered 2 of some meat dinner that had a picture on the door behind us ^^. apperently it was chicken, pork, fish,crab,mussel,shrimp. We also drank some Red Horse which is the strongest beer they have here (7%). sorry to say but it didnt impres me, I am used to stronger and better tasting beer luckily ^^ The beers I usely drink with my father/brother are between 6 and 11% most of the time ^^. After we had dinner we went looking for a nice place to party, we ended up in a musicbar where Kyra took up the microphone and some a couple good songs, I have taken a lot of pictures and also recorded her songs so she can enjoy them again when I have send them to them all when I get back to NL. 

After we left the cafe Kyra wanted to go to a Karaoke place, and so we did. there we sang along till late. Again I took a lot of pictures there. I also sang some oldies, and few they knew ^^ But I have to say that those songs werent that much party songs =_='.

So we came back late at the hostel and went almost right to sleep around 3:00 if I remember correctly. I had set my alarm early around 8:00 because I needed to get to the bus to Olongapo (WIN).

Friday 7-11-2014

The days since then I will write next time ^^ it is 10:15 now and I think this is a nice start for the next blog. I also think that if I would write it to now, I will keep writing... so next time ^^. I think I will write it soon though, but when that will be I am not sure. It depends on how much time and energy I have and if I am skyping with the homefront/friends.

I hope you have enjoyed this story. some was already said in a reaction in dutch in the second block. but still ^^ I said that I would write it again in English, and I am not sure if everything I told here is also said there ^^

Maybe next time I will see if I can upload some pictures. I will have to check how that works ^^

Till next time, Harm