New Years ResolutionsCheonan, Korea Rep. Cheonan, Korea Rep. I’ve been AWOL for a few months I know! Things have been more than crazy with the dogs and the shelter fundraisers and bottle feeding puppies and trying to squeeze some teaching in there somewhere! More of that to come later…if I ever find time! Since we are nearing the end of 2011, I thought I would spend the last week of school teaching the boys about New Year’s resolutions and achieving…
Back to the big smoke(s)Manila, Philippines Manila, Philippines Green Verde has an amazing young chef and we ate there every night we were in Sabang. I had the lemongrass chicken almost every night, which was an amazing combination of flavours and just thinking about it makes my mouth water! Christine also found her favourite and stuck with it – pineapple chicken I think it was. As an ex-luxury lodge manager I can safely say that the staff members at Green…
Finally! The Underground River! Sabang, Philippines Sabang, Philippines When we started researching the Philippines, the first thing that caught my eye was the Puerto Princesa Underground River on Palawan Island. Because of this, I started looking more into Palawan and what was on offer there and then discovered that it is the less travelled and less touristy island. This, of course, is very much my cup of tea and Christine was keen too so we decided to make it the…
The world from the top of a Filipino jeepneySabang, Philippines Sabang, Philippines Once again we were up bright and early and ready to hit the road. We caught a tricycle to the bus stop in El Nido where there was, again, an overfull van waiting for us. We jammed in our luggage, some went on the roof and off we headed to Sabang. The van, we were told, was going back to Puerto Princesa and not to Sabang, so we…
An Island Paradise – El Nido El Nido, Philippines El Nido, Philippines On Monday morning, bright and early (as in 4:30am!) we were wondering why on earth we had booked such an early flight to Palawan. Needless to say, we got up, got packed and walked out into the humidity and along the street to where the taxis, jeepneys and tricycles wait for passengers. We found a taxi and he agreed to use the meter (they often try and sell…
The Philippines – ManilaManila, Philippines Manila, Philippines After a few weeks of hasty planning, Christine and I headed to Incheon airport for our summer holidays in the Philippines with much excitement. I managed to pack my backpack with only 9.5kgs of luggage which was a good start. In the check-in queue we met a girl, Anne, who also works in South Korea who was going via Manila to Aus, with a 9-hour layover. The 3 of us stuck together and…
My birthday in KoreaCheonan, Korea Rep. Cheonan, Korea Rep. Who would have thought, a mere two months ago, that I would have made such special friends in such a short space of time? Two months ago I didn’t know that these people even existed! Yet they made my 29th birthday so very memorable and the beauty was that it wasn’t only a day, but lasted for four! My birthday this year fell on a Sunday, but the spoiling started on…
Oodles of Noodles! Cheonan, Korea Rep. Cheonan, Korea Rep. Contrary to my prior entries which are mostly about food (!) this one is not actually, as the name implies, about noodles. Since my last entry I have been kept busy by one very energetic little boy who has become known as “Noodle”. Noodle arrived in my care when Hester called me to say she had found him roaming her area and could I possibly look after him for 2 days…
A night in the jjimjilbangSeoul, Korea Rep. Seoul, Korea Rep. I braved a Korean hairdresser in Seoul who had been recommended by two of Karina’s blonde friends. Karina had a dentist appointment in Seoul last Saturday so I made a hair appointment for 3pm and we made a day of it with Aalia joining too. We ran late because of a late night before at the reopening of a bar near my house and managed to catch a bus which…
Routine…Cheonan, Korea Rep. Cheonan, Korea Rep. Life seems to have caught up with me the last few weeks! I have settled into a routine and seem to have very little spare time left! School has been busy as I teach more and more and I also stupidly planned a lesson that involved me marking a worksheet, so about 400+ to mark in one week. I won’t be doing that again soon! Also, I got sick! The yellow dust from China…