Hey Everyone-

I have continued to travel around the Philippines before I go to China. I am going to heading to China this coming Friday. I can't wait and I am sure that you can't either. I hear that there is a lot of activity over there and I can't wait to get involved.



I went to Jolly Bee the other day and got a Yum w/ Cheese, Fries and a Coke Zero. MMMM the bee knows Jolly. This bee is trying to fly in select locations in the U.S. I can not imagine that they are keeping the rice and hot dog portion of the menu.


We flew from Manila to Dumaguete. Right when you walk out of the airport there are locals trying to rip you off. I think that they make most of their money from tricking unsuspecting foreigners. I call this the foreigner discount (A mark up to everyone who does not know any better).


Can somebody tell me how people who can barely afford to eat are tagging signs?



Tricycle ride. whoo ooh. Pat is Stoked.


There is history here, but I thought the statue was funny and disreguarded the history portion.



Birds Nest Soup. Surprisingly creamy and thick.


Saturday we went scuba diving at Apo Reef which is a marine reserve. When all of us surfaced after our first dive we could not believe all of the corals and marine life that was here. I would almsot say these dives were the best I ever had but there was one better in Monterey which has yet to be topped. Yes, only one. Everyone else said it was the best dive they had ever been on even here in the Philippines.

The workers have to transport all these tanks every day. Shity job.


The dive boat and yes, that is bamboo that keeps this puppy from tipping over.


Yes, I love pictures of myself even as much as Joe Teliard does.

Bottom of the boat. I love to point out the obvious.


Upside down howdy.


The underwater camera sure comes in handy

This is my new friend who can no longer see because I flashed him from about two feet away.


Pretty bubbles.


This is my scuba diving blue steel.

Peter this thumbs up is for you.

Pretty. This was just about black under water with no light I had no idea what color it was until I looked at my pictures.

Soft corals for as far as the eye could see which was about 30 meters of visibility on this diving trip.


The next set of pictures are from my second dive which was a drift dive. I have never done a dive of this kind. A drift dive is where there is a strong ocean current and you basically let it push you along the reef. Then the boat picks you up about a mile away from where you got in. I am going to do another drift dive asap. It just adds in that danger element that I am looking for in my life right now.

These are fish traps that we would grab onto to wait for the group.


Hanging on as tight as I can.


We got into a school of Jacks. To bad I did not have a spear with me or I could of had dinner.


The currents on the drift dive were wild and crazy. I think this video mildly depicts how strong it was. Yet, it was one of the best dives I have ever been on.



The current got so strong that when we grabbed one of the fish traps it got ahold of it. At first the current just was slightly moving the fish trap along the bottom of the ocean destroying the coral but then it lifted up. As divers scurried to get out of the way the dive master tried to slow the fish trap down to buy everyone some time but soon gave up. Then when he let go it did about four speedy rolls across the bottom. You do not want to get in the way of a tumbling steel cage under water but it sure is cool to see.



I then had a couple of pilot fish following me. These are the fish which usually follow sharks. They could tell that I am a preditor on the top of the food chain here.



I wanted to take a picture of the dive boat when we landed on Apo Island but some how luckly got a picture of this lady falling into the water. I think we have all been there and done that.


View from the Apo Island Restaurant which took about a hour and a half to get our food.


Sweet and sour fish I had for lunch. Caught fresh that morning they tasted better than they looked.


Yes, that is a damn rock on the red flower that I bit down on because it was in my rice. Of course when this happened I let out a little yelp. I told everyone what had happened and they very calmly said "yep, that happens here" what BS I tell you. How did a rock get in the rice? I mean freaking really.


There are a ton of street vendors which follow you here trying to sell you shirts. A great place to bargin. :)


Mike and Shannon were tired after a long day of diving.



Here we are at the pier in Siquijor on the province of Negros in the Philippines. This picture is to depict that even in paradise there is crap loosely floating about if no one cares. I need people to care how I care. If you don't know how much I care let me just tell you its a whole bunch.


Here is a view of the ocean from where we stayed at Villa Marmarine (http://www.marmarine.jp/en/) This place is a hidden secret of Siquijor Island. We about the only people staying there and at 8-10 USD per night you can not beat it. The owner who goes by Da-Man was really helpful and drew us up a map of the sites to see and the road to ride the scooters on to get there.





The Island of Siquijor as shown by Da-Man.


Here is DA-Man


Here is the room that we stayed in. The beds are not nearly as comfortable as they look. That is one problem here in the philippines that there is not nearly enough cozy beds here for travelers.



This is just one of many self portraits I took while riding the Scooter around the Island.



Picture Picture

Everyone in the provinces puts there rice and corn in the road to dry. Luckily there is not much traffic going by.


We all went and had Bula Bula performed on us. I had no idea what this was but go ahead and click on the first link or browse around on the Uncle google search.

This elderly lady takes a glass fills it with water and drops a black stone into it. She then takes a bamboo straw and blows bubbles into the glass while holding it against you. To start the session she says a prayer and places drops of oil on your head. Then as she blows bubbles into the glass the clean water turns green with debris. This happens multiple times. Supposedly she extracted a cigarette filter out of me. Weird huh? I dont want to believe but there is no way she is faking it.


Bula Bula

Dirty Bula Bula

Getting Dirty Bula Bula


After the Bula Bula it was time to cool off by jumping off the 60 meter water fall.


Yup, thats me.

This was taken after Shannon pat's GF pictured on the left lost her bottoms due to a strong current at the water fall. hahaha


My player mobile scooter got a flat. I rode on a flat for about 30 minutes before we found a Vulcanizer. This in the U.S. would be a tire shop.

The Magic Vulcanizer: Removes Tire

The Magic Vulcanizer: Removes punctured Tube

The Magic Vulcanizer: Prepares Tube

The Magic Vulcanizer: Melts rubber over the punctured tube.

la la la ~ On the road again ~ la la la ~Born to be wild ~ la la la

Back to Villa Marmarine for sunset


An early morning back to manila. This is a shot from the ferry to Dumaguete.

I am headed to China this week for the Olympic games. I am going to see my friend Matt Gentry who's website is http://mattgentry.com/if you want to look him up. This is going to be an experience of a life time and I can't wait to get over there. Until the next blog.

Nick