New Years and Palawan

Happy 2013! I rung in the New Year in Seoul dancing with some friends at this great LP bar in Hongdae, where I proceeded to slip twice on the ice and ruin my white pants. I had planned to stay out all night and then catch a cab to the airport for my 7:30 flight. Of course, the night slipped away from me and I had to rush to the airport, only to fall asleep on the bench waiting to check in and woke up with 30 minutes to check in, go through immigration and security, and sprint to my gate. Lets just say that flight was one of my most miserable and I will not be choosing itineraries like that in the future. After a couple of hours of delays due to ice/snow, I made it to Manila and on to Puerto Princessa, the capital of Palawan. From there, it was a two hour trek through the jungle until I arrived at the resort. I was thoroughly wiped and crashed early. I woke up to a beautiful night sky so I could head into the city for my first excursion.

I visited the Underground River, which was really cool. Picture Lurray Caverns, but you're on a boat the whole time. The formations were massive and it was really fun trying to decide what shapes you could pick out (like watching the clouds). I had great weather that day and so the water was beautiful. After, our group had lunch on the beach where I sampled tamilok, a Palawan delicacy that is called "wood worm" in English. Its really similar to oysters, just bigger, and was pretty good!

Entrance to the Underground River

Heading into the cave on the boat, hard hats and life vests included.

Tamilok! It looks a lot worse than it tastes!

The next day, I awoke to a lovely tropical storm that lingered for the rest of my vacation. The landscape was still beautiful and I took some rainy walks on the beach, but I mostly curled up in my cabana reading. So much for a winter tan!

Still beautiful despite the storm

Because my resort was so remote, transportation to and from was very difficult. Add in a lot of rain and you end up with roads washed out and river banks overflowing. So in order to get to the airport, I ended up as the third person on a back of a moped speeding down and very rocky dirt path for about two hours. I'd never ridden a motor bike before, and the lack of helmets (and space) was a little scary, but after a few kilometers I started to relax and enjoy the scenery. I wound through beautiful jungles and mountains, passed small villages, and even rode along the beach for a while. There are worse things I could be doing then zipping along the ocean on a sunny day in the Philippines. After the bone-shaking, butt-numbing ride was over. I hopped in a motorized tricycle for the last leg of the journey to the airport. After breezing through security (no taking off shoes/belts, all liquids allowed... just like the old days) I head back to Seoul, where temperatures had been about 3º Fahrenheit and my washing machine froze my clothes into a giant slushie.

I rode down this for two hours...

...on the back of this. With three people!

I was actually really excited to return to Korea. It became really obvious to me how much I feel comfortable here and how much this place feels like home. Funnily enough, the first song that came up on my shuffle on the bus ride to Beomgye was "Home" by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Seemed like an appropriate welcome back to Korea.

xo Julie