Life of Luxury - Blogabond

So this next leg of my trip has been pretty amazing. I was in Dumaguete really hoping the weather would permit and I could go diving off Apo Island. Luck swung my way and we received sun, and were able to dive. Unfortunately the side of Apo that is a marine sanctuary was struck by a typhoon last year so people aren't allowed to dive there for a while to allow the coral to rebuild itself.

The dives were still amazing. We swam out from the reef a little for one and were along side a school of jack fish. It was very serene, and then the last dive we did was a wall dive, which are amazing, because you can't see the ocean floor really below, and you get this amazing profile view of the reef and everything living there. It was beautiful.

After Dumaguete I went up to Cebu for one night and I met up for dinner with my friend James, who I met there, and then with another two friends, Shuto and Francis, who I met while in Dumaguete. Well I met Shuto in Dumaguete, and then I met Francis that night in Cebu. Shuto I met through a friend I made in Dumaguete, Circee, from the site CouchSurfers.org. Shuto was traveling around too, and Francis was a friend who Shuto had made through the same site. Francis had hosted Shuto for a little in Cebu. I made a lot of friends as a direct result of that website so I'd definitely recommend it to people traveling alone.

After dinner Francis, Shuto, and I went and did karaoke. It was a blast and a great way to end my Cebu trip. The next day I flew up to Clark, and here's the part of my trip where I had a taste of luxury.

One of my friends in San Diego, Carlos's, dad is mayor of Rizal, which is

in the greater metro area of manila. Carlos told his family I was coming for a couple days, and they really rolled out the red carpet. It was unbelievable. When I landed in Clark airport, about 3 hours from Manila, they had a personal driver pick me up and take me to a resort,

they may own I'm not positive, and gave me such an amazing room.

Then as if that wasn't enough they had the same driver drive me around while I was in Manila and take me back to Clark so I could catch my flight tomorrow for Phuket. The driver was a really nice guy named, Aries, who really loved working for Mayor Boyet, Carlos's dad.

While in Manila I went to an aquarium they had on the ocean. It was a lot of fun. I was able to see a some shows. They had a sea lion show

which was really cute. One of the sea lions kept tapping her trainer to get food and when she didn't get some she would applaud and then tap her again like 'See look what I did give me food.' It was really adorable. Then the aquarium was really neat

too. They had a big jellyfish area full of tanks of various forms of jellyfish in LED lit aquariums. Then they had a large aquarium full fish which

I had seen while diving and some I hadn't.

There was multiple kinds of sharks. The whole thing was really facinating, and then to be able to go back to the resort and really relax was such a treat.

I was invited to lunch with my friends family today, before I left to go to Clark. I am so grateful to have so much generosity extended to me, and what a luxury after backpacking and living on such a budget for a month. I don't know if Carlos is reading this, but if he is thank you so much to you and your family, you were all so welcoming and kind.

My trip has been so crazy, with all it's highs and lows. I'm sometimes amazed at my life, and all I'm lucky enough to get to experience. I'm looking forward to this next months adventure in Thailand.

written by

Kirk on September 30, 2012 from Manila, Philippines

from the travel blog: Kirk's South East Asia Adventure

Send a Compliment

comment on this...