Post-Flying Post

So lately I've noticed from my stats (I check 'em everyday!) that people have been searching for really weird things and they end up on my blog. Also, these search terms don't appear just once, but multiple times! Whaaaat.

Here are a few examples:

1. the only thing i'm scared of is getting sucked in to the airplane
I honestly do not know why anyone would search for this. Although, after careful deliberation, I shall assume that they meant to search for this to try and find a support group online for people with a similar fear. I tried googling this to see what would happen and all I got were people on Yahoo! Answers asking how probable it is that their plane might crash, also a Mean Girls Move Transcript for some reason. Google images was of no help either since what came up were images of Lex Luthor, dried fish, Orlando Bloom, a star tattoo and what seems to be vegetable soup (?), among a lot of other random stuff. In all fairness, there is something related to airplanes: a goose-shaped airplane. However, the person/s who searched for this may have really just wanted to open up to their search engine about their deepest fears.

2. blue eyes falling out of an airplane lavatory, meaning
Now this would be really weird if this person was talking about this literally, since if blue eyes started popping out of the airplane lavatory, I would not stand there and make a mental note about going on the internet and searching for the meaning behind it later, so I'm assuming he/she dreamt about "blue eyes falling out of an airplane lavatory" and wants to know what it's all about. Frankly, I think it means you should lay off the ice cream and pickles before bed, darling.

3. something bit me under the water and swelled
So something bit you underwater and it suddenly swelled up like a balloon? Err. It was probably a pufferfish. I've always wanted to have a taste. They're extremely poisonous and it's always a gamble if you decide to sample it, prepared only by a certified Japanese chef, of course.

4. people sitting on the toilet
Ah, someone searched for this 6 times over the course of a couple of days. He/she really seemed to be very determined to search for people sitting on the toilet. So, due to "popular demand', here's a person sitting on the toilet drawn just for you:

Thank me later, Anon-who-searches-for-people-sitting-on-the-toilet.

In other news, I flew out yesterday and am now back in Jeddah after another 16 hour flight all in all. I have about a month left of my summer vacation and I'm going to make the most of it. For now, I need some well-deserved shuteye.

Cheers,

Underwater Monsters: Confirmed (Puerto Princesa Part 3b)

The last thing to do before going home was to go snorkeling.

I volunteered immediately since I love adventure. However, if you haven't yet deduced from the last few posts, I am deathly afraid of underwater monsters. Nothing could ever strike fear into my heart better than them. I'm rather fascinated by them, sure, I just don't want them to be anywhere where they could bite off a limb. Heck, I freak out when my foot touches the drain cover in a swimming pool, for crying out loud. This is a problem since I love to swim but I have to live in constant fear of something taking me to a watery grave.

What I think of every time I go for a dip.

Anyway, the guide and I, armed only with our snorkeling gear, swam out a good distance from the shore. As I looked down, all I could see were rocks, corals, sea anemones and all these fish. It was beautiful. There were rainbow colored ones and "Finding Nemo" ones, all in a variety of sizes. At one point I even encountered a swordfish, which was as long as my forearm. I tried not to get too close, though. We were armed with a packet of bread and it was fun feeding the fishes and watching them gobble everything up underwater. The guide kept showing me these corals but I wasn't really interested.

I did see something that caught my eye, though - a single fish darting around frantically in the water. It seemed to be rather protective of this little rock. I wondered why. Silly me. I dived down there and touched that rock. I didn't think it was worth anything. Anyway, as I turned my back to swim away, I felt something bite me and hard, too. The fish I saw earlier just bit me. I looked back at it and it seemed ready to bite me again. I stared right into those rabid, bloodshot eyes from hell.  At this point, I panicked. Everything seemed to slow down, my limbs felt like jelly. I quickly resurfaced and started screaming, flailing my arms and kicking. The guide rushed to my aid, but I could not say anything of significance. I climbed all over him and dunked his head into the water over and over again in my panic. I kept screaming "It bit me! It bit me! OH GAWD! I don't wanna die!". At this point, the guide starts to become freaked out as well. He grabs me and drags me back to dry ground as fast as he can, as I cling on to him for dear life. As he drags me onto the shore, he looks me over and I point to my leg. There was a little bite mark there, the size of a human kiss mark. Seriously. It was swollen and was bleeding a bit. The guide facepalme'd and told me he thought a shark bit me or something. All I could utter was: "THERE WERE SHARKS BACK THERE?!"

I'll leave you with that,

Underwater Monsters: Confirmed (Puerto Princesa Part 3a)

On our last day at Puerto Princesa, we were treated to one last hurrah-island hopping!

The first two islands were quite interesting. One of the "islands" was a bunch of bamboo/wood rafts with turtle shell-shaped roofs crafted together situated smack dab in the middle of the ocean. There was a food stall and benches and that was about it. You could buy some bread at the food stall, grind them up in your hand and throw them into the water. Pretty soon, a wide assortment of fish would come to gobble every last crumb. I rather enjoyed sending the fishes into a feeding frenzy. Also, there were a lot of jellyfish, surrounding the "island", big and small ones. You weren't allowed to touch them, though. But if you wanted to die within a few hours, you were more than welcome to.

The next island was the aptly named "Starfish Island" because -and you guessed it- there were a ton of starfishes in the waters surrounding the island. There was also an equal number of stonefishes (which are rather deadly). I felt bad for them since the island wasn't named after them, but maybe that's a good thing. Now, you had to be careful with the starfish, though and not leave them out of the water for more than 30 seconds at a time. They need their sea water, apparently. I met Patrick here. Although I do not remember he had all these bumps on his body. Also, he was missing his pants.

Don't you just dig my palm tree shorts?

Next up, the incident,

Hermit Crabs, Woodworms and Bat Poop (Puerto Princesa Part 2)

Second day story everyone, gather round!

On the second day at Puerto Princesa, we had to wake up extra early. A shuttle bus picked us up from the hotel and drove us to our next destination. It was a 2 hour drive with a very welcome rest stop in between. On the second day, we were scheduled to visit the famous Underground River. There have been campaigns to list it as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Pretty cool, huh? You can actually vote here. You will need to register, though.

However, since it is quite famous, a lot of people line up everyday to go and see it so we had to wait a while. In the meantime, we decided to take the Mangrove Paddle Boat Tour. My brother and I chased a couple of mudskippers along the shore before my family and I, along with another family boarded a boat fit to seat eight people. We were taken on a tour down this river as our guide told us a couple of random facts about the river and the rich number of mangrove trees residing around it. Once in a while, we'd see a monkey or a snake in the trees.

The river we traveled on. 

I was paranoid that there were a ton of crocodiles or piranhas in there and the guide just didn't tell us so we wouldn't freak out. I still sort of believe this is true. *shivers*

During the tour, the guide talked about the woodworms that inhabit the trees. She said that these worms are considered a delicacy around those parts. Everyone in our boat all gagged. After the river tour, as we got off the boat, this woman came up to us and shoved a plateful of these woodworms in front of us. I swear I saw some movement. Being the adventurous (and at times stupid) person that I am, I thought oh what the hell, and decided to sample one. *cue Fear Factor theme music here* I picked one up and it was slimy and slippery and everyone was staring at me with a what-the-heck-are-you-doing-you-crazy-person look on their faces.

\

Nom nom nom. Surprisingly, these worms deviated from the usual chicken taste and tasted like oysters instead. How interesting.

Aaaaanyyyway, on to the underground river. The place was beautiful. It was like a hidden gem carefully tucked away. The water was clear, the the sand was clean, and there were fish swimming around our feet as we waded in the water. See for yourselves:

I wanted to set up camp here and live off the beautiful scenery.

To actually get to the underground river, though, we had to ride a canoe. So into the canoe we went. There was this spotlight thingy at the head of the canoe that someone had to use to illuminate the area and the rather interesting rock formations. One was shaped like a butt-naked woman, another was shaped like Jesus, etc. I know, it was pretty crazy. 

The mouth of the cave. It was pitch black inside. Also, I feared there were a ton of blind mutated river monsters swimming under our tiny canoe. Oh gawd.

We didn't really get to encounter my supposed blind mutated river monsters, though, and that was a good thing, a very very good thing considering the only "protection" we had on was a helmet and a life jacket. That's like protecting a steak from a hungry lion by sticking marshmallows on it. Heck, throw in some sprinkles on there, why don't ya?! On the other hand, we did encounter: 

. . .bats. Lots and lots of them.

We were also graciously introduced to their poop which came dropping down from above every once in a while. It was nice, especially if you had your mouth open as you stared upward. I am not implying anything here. *cough*

As a parting thing, here's another rock formation sample from inside the cave. My camera's flash was super weak and I couldn't really get some decent shots. Oh well.

Oh, I also collected shells at the beach later that day and as I laid them all out in the sand, I noticed they began to move. Turns out, there were these hermit crabs inside these tiny shells. They were so cute and so tiny. I watched as they disappeared into the sea, probably forever.

Next (and last) story comin' up next,

Hello Paradise! (Puerto Princesa Part 1)

G'day everyone! *waves*

So I am still very much alive despite my apparent inactivity the past couple of days. I just got back from a three-days-two-nights mini-vacation at Puerto Princesa, Palawan and I am here to recount my experiences. Hoho. Also, I'm leaving again tomorrow on another trip to another province for five days so I may be a bit dead again (also significantly darker from all the swimming under the hot summer sun).

We had to catch a plane to get to Puerto Princesa. It was a relatively okay one hour ride. There were a ton of Caucasian backpackers with us, all of whom were hot, athletic and rugged so that was okay. Next, we rode a shuttle bus to our hotel. It was situated right in front of a beach, and that was awesome. The first thing I did upon arriving was take off my shoes and run around in the sand then fall over yelping in pain since I stepped on a rather sharp chunk of coral. It was unpleasant, I tell you. Anyway, check out some of these photos of the place we stayed at:

Our hotel room is the one in the middle.

The view from our hotel room. The water's so far out since it's early morning but by the afternoon, the mangrove trees over there are half-submerged in water and all this space disappears.

The pool area.

The first day was a pretty laid back day. We were first taken on a tour around the city. We visited a lot of important landmarks and a couple of other attractions.

We visited a  souvenir shop and I bought a couple of these cute little keychain bottles with little shells in them. Some of my IRL friends should expect one of these. I wish I could mail one to all of you guys. Now, my parents actually went crazy with all the buying of souvenirs and take-home gifts. We got loads of banana chips (which was okay since I love banana chips), cashew butterscotch candies, pearls, bead necklaces, etc.

Bottled shell keychains. I find them quite adorable.

We also got to go and visit a crocodile farm and touch some live crocodiles. We also got to see the biggest crocodile caught alive in our country (so far), named Rio. Well, its remains, anyway. The caretakers said it died after about five years in captivity due to internal bleeding and stress (poor thing). It was captured because it had killed someone (by chomping on the dude's lower body!). I guess Rio played fair since the guy he killed was a dynamite fisher.

Rio's bones and skin. He was about 50+ years old when he died. Look at the size of him. Eep! Check out that old guy on the right for comparison.

Say hello to little miss croc hunter! I hunt crocodiles, the inanimate statues kind, that is.

After a few more stops, we also got to go and visit this weaving place. People who want to have a good source of income go here and use these wooden contraptions that I honestly do not know how in the world are operated to weave hats, bags, fans and other items. They have this shop up front showcasing the finished products. I bought a striped wide-brimmed hat, by the way. It goes pretty well with a navy blue summer dress, or a white one. But then again, I don't know since I have sucky fashion sense. Guests and tourists are welcome to try their hand at weaving using one of the wooden machines and I think I messed up whatever it is the woman who let me try was working on.

She looks pissed; pretty understandable considering how badly I tried.

After the city tour ended (around 3 PM), we were given another ride back to the hotel, where we spent the rest of the day alternating between frolicking by the beach and swimming in the pool. At the end of the day, we had dinner by the beach. We had a big feast and I stuffed myself with food since everything was so delicious. It was a fun day. Surprisingly exhausting, but rather fun. 

Stay tuned for day 2,