Lists: Anilao, Surfing, Japan

Reasons to go to Anilao with Andrew and friends (your friends, his friends, whoever's friends):

1. For 300 a night you get accomodation plus snorkel, board (wind surf - courtesy of Sailboards San Jose, wakeboard courtesy of Andrew), kayak, and jetski use.
2. Everybody's really friendly.
3. It kicks ass to get wiped out and dragged by the jetski if you ever try wakeboarding.
4. Actually, I take that back, it's better to watch Andrew wakeboard because he's really good. (For someone doing it for the past 5 years, he better be :p)
5. It's a nice way to bore yourself wind surfing in the middle of Anilao Bay, trying to find, maintain and regain your balance, trying to lift the sail, and trying to keep yourself afloat while the wind is not that strong yet.
6. It's fun to watch out for sea urchins while swimming.
7. It's fun to snorkel and watch the blue fish and soft corals only to realize you've been stepping on them all along during low tide.
8. Tri-yaking is really fun and a nice way to put your muscles to use.
9. Tri-yaking while dragging somebody (in this case, Andrew) on a ski-bob is more fun.
10. Tri-yaking to rescue Ayisse near open sea is probably even more fun... and tons more tiring.
11. I didn't try jetskiing because I got scared when I hitched a ride on one. Apparently, I'm not very daring when it involves a motorized form of water vehicle, myself, and the possibility of me getting toppled over together with the whole jetski.
12. Liam, the little kid, is adorable.
13. You can literally sleep under the stars.
14. You can literally wake up to an open view of the sea and not to mention, sea breeze.
15. If the catamaran's owner is there, he can let you ride with him. In our case, we got to go to the market to buy a few things with him. And he let us do the steering, which anybody with a brain can do.
16. We didn't see dolphins but they said there are.
17. It's fun to be on the look out for Korean tourists.
18. It's fun to watch the other windsurfers sail really fast while positioned 30 degrees or lower from the water surface and then plunge down when the wind suddenly decides to stop or when they just lose their balance.
19. The water is very, very clear.
20. It hurts like a bitch to have salt water up your nose due to getting dragged by a jetski and suddenly plunging to your pseudo-death into the water repeatedly. But then, it only hurts the first few times.
21. It's crazy fun to blow your nose, trying to get all the salt water after.
22. Finding a blue starfish is a pretty sight. Seeing Liam after that carrying the now-stony starfish, to add to his collection, and showing it to you is adorable. Because he's adorable. And he likes collecting shells. And he's adorable.
23. It's fun to lift yourself up the bamboo raft and funny to watch Ayisse attempt to lift herself up into the same said raft. She did get better at it.
24. You are suddenly converted and call Tuatc (as we oh-so-affectionately call him) by his real nickname, Andrew.

As for the wakeboarding... the first few times I plunged to my death because of balancing problems. After that when I got how to balance my weak, weak, weak, and did I mention weak?, arms failed me so the handle thing slipped. I only got less than 10 tries though before I finally gave up... due to sudden influx of salt water up my nose... and possibly up my brain.

Now, here are the reasons why I think I can surf even though I seem like a failure at wakeboarding:

1. Surfing will not involve my weak arms as much as wakeboarding does.
2. I did okay with balancing in wind surfing (although I wasn't able to fully test it since the wind suddenly decided to die... because Habagat is weak. And that's just a bitch.)
3. I don't have to use a short board immediately, there's always the long board.
4. I am okay when it comes to balancing.
5. You don't plunk down the water as hard as you do when you wakeboard, I'm guessing. And it's not like I'm dreaming of doing pipes, because I'm not.

So the Baler trip will be the moment of truth. Let's see how I will fare when it comes to surfing. Well before we all learn about that, we're gonna see how my trip to Kyoto alone will be. In fact, I'm going to Manila tomorrow to get an International Youth Hostel membership.

[Sales Talking Mode: On]

If you're planning on backpacking in the near future, want cheap accomodation or share the same traveling principle I have which is you only use the hotel to sleep and relax on a bed, then I suggest you get a membership too. The experience you get out of that would be better than staying with relatives: your tour time being limited to when and where they can bring you (most of the time, based on other people's accounts), you cause a bit of a hassle (unless they're totally, ultimately willing... which is rare or plain luck, I'm guessing), etc. With youth hostels you get to meet fellow travelers or build international networks. (But I must admit I like to indulge in 5 star treatment every now and then or a lovely resort and room - only when it's free though, aka older relatives paying for you. So in the event of no moneh to pay for good accomodation, there's always the lovely youth hostel.)

[Sales Talking Mode: Off]

Damn. I need to even out my color.

And I'm leaving next Friday. Gah. Itinerary planning is stressful.

What will I be doing in Japan anyway?

Going to Kyoto alone. Meaning lots of old Japan alongside a bit of new Japan, taking of pictures in old back streets where some people still wear kimonos, going to temples, loads of cultural immersion, etc. I can now foresee that I will indeed be more friendly to strangers. Doesn't mean I'd be trusting, though >:[

Going to the World Expo with my dad.

Checking in a ryokan, w00t, my first time actually. (Natural hot spring (onsen) plus lots and lots of authentic japanese food served by women in kimonos in a traditional tatami room inside a traditional japanese house. Some ryokans are in western-style buildings though.)

Pokemon Themepark maybe? hahaha

Clothes shopping. Yes, AM is going to shop. The only time I really shop is when I'm in Japan. Wait, I said that before already.

Taking tons more photos.

Maybe I'm going to do a Kyoto-Tokyo side by side photo project. I so, so, so hope there are still cherry blossoms in Kyoto even though I fear the cherry blossom blooming has now ended. (It already has in the eastern parts like Tokyo, Chiba, Yokohama, etc.)

And I'm freaking happy because the hostel rooms for males and females in Kyoto are separate now. Now I don't have to worry about that.