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Halfway around the world in 1 year
Welcome to Sotje62 ! My blog intends to make the world a smaller place. Automatically and real-time, the blog traces Beatriz and myself's whereabouts, it might just tell you a thing or 2 that interests me - therefore not you, that's the privilege of having a blog - but read new blogs on the top and click on the pictures in the side bar to see older blogs, the blog,and Beatriz and I hope you grow a good 'travel' appetite. Sotje62 travel blog is in Vlaams (donker gekleurd) and in English (light coloured). So read what you understand and again what you like.
21-11-2009
In Puerto Galera, the city of galleons and the beach of ladyboys // ..., de stad van de galjoenen en het strand van de ladyboys
Puerto Galera is founded by the Spanish in the 16th century. They used to keep their ships safe in 'the city of the galleons' for typhoons and any other bad weathers. It is a 2 hour bus-trip, and a 2 hour boat trip, to get here from Manila, and we are on a beach that is only 1km long. Around the beach it is cliffs and mountains.
In my last blog from Manila I said that this country is so very different from any other country I have seen before. Well, on this beach it is no less. I have actually never seen a place like this before! We thought it was a quiet beach, but in the evening the place transforms into a fantastically entertaining ladyboy playground. It is unbelievable and hard to explain. They are our waitresses, cooks, salespeople on the beach for diving and snorkeling, and in the evening there organize shows. They are everywhere. The shows are dancing and singing, do impressions on Mariah Carey, do poledancing (they are stronger than me !!), wear their cocktaildresses, and very dramatic.
We are traveling together with Thin and Jonty that we met in Vietnam, and enjoy the Philippines a lot. We stay until Monday morning, and then go more south in the Philippines.
Puerto Galera heeft een Spaanse geschiedenis, opgericht in de 16de eeuw. De Spanjaarden ankerden hun schepen in 'de stad van de galjoenen' tijdens typhonen en ander slecht weer. Het is een 2uren busrit, en een 2uren boottrip, vanuit Manila, en we zijn op een strand dat maar 1km lang is. Rond het strand zijn het rotsen en bergen.
In mijn laatste blog vanuit Manila zei ik dat het land heel verschillend is tot de andere landen die ik gezien heb. Ook op dit eiland is het zo. Ik heb eigenlijk nog nooit zoiets gezien als op dit strand. We dachten dat het een rustige strand was, maar in de avond verandert de plaats in een fantastische speelplaats voor ladyboys. Het is ongelofelijk en ik heb er geen woorden voor. Ze zijn onze garcons, koks, de verkopers op het strand voor duiken en snorkelen, en in de avond organizeren ze shows. Ze zijn overal. In de shows dansen en zingen ze, ze playbacken Mariah Carey, ze paaldansen (ze zijn sterker dan ik!!), ze verkleden zich in cocktailjurk, en zijn heel dramatisch.
We reizen samen met Thin en Jonty die we leren kennen hebben in Vietnam, en genieten op dit moment van het mooi weer. We blijven tot maandagmorgen, en gaan meer zuid in de Filipijnen.
16.09.09. Half-Round the world in 1 year / Kick off. 9th of April 2009, Mumbai, India’s biggest city, is our best destination to take the train south to Goa, Kerala and Bangalore. From there we go 4,000 km by train back to north India, see Karnataka, Rajasthan, the Taj Mahal, Varanasi and Nepal. In Nepal we do small treks in the Himalayas and visit Kathmandu. Over de friendship highway, the route goes from Kathmandu to Lhasa by jeep, maximum altitude 5250m and we get to see the Mount Everest. In Lhasa we take the train through China, see the Terracotta warriors in Xi'an, and go 3,500m north to enter Mongolia and arrive in Ulan Bator. In Mongolia we camp in the Khovsgol area near the Russian Siberia, and renew the Chinese Visa to go back south. The clock says 4 months when we trained through China and see Yunnan, South China with its wonderful terraced rice fields. We enter the tropics and after 6 months travels we are in Vietnam. 2 months after that, we should have seen Angkor, the beaches in Thailand & Maleysia ...<e.d. 25.10.09. There is a change of plan after Angkor: we fly from Bangkok to Manila, we go to the Philippines!!> and on a ferry to Indonesia. From either Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok, we find our way to Sydney and work for 3 months. We will have traveled for 1 year when we are in Oz and ... and ... and ... that is how far we planned. But we were supposed to come back in 1 year but we are only half around the world. Beatriz and myself love Asia!! So much for planning ahead and scheduling. Let's just see how we get on and the more exciting our trip will be. Wish us good luck on the trip!!
