Day 3

I woke up early to head to the dive shop. Alona Divers. I went diving with three other German people. They were really nice and it was a perfect day for diving, except the water was a bit choppy. August is not diving season there but its still good. I got a bit nauseous on the boat which I was pretty nervous about because I didnt think I would be able to dive. Once I got into the water, it went away. I felt fine until we came but up to the surface. We then got back on the boat and went to shore for lunch. That made me feel much better being off the boat. The boat didnt make me food good at all that day but the diving was awesome. I saw lots of colorful reefs and fish nothing too crazy but  I did see very large clams, eels, crabs, trigger fish and lion fish.



That night we went out to dinner and were exhausted by 10 we went back to the hotel for bed to get up again early in the morning.

Skyler and me

Day Two

Now we are in Bohol. We stay at a hotel called something Regent I think. Its a little bit off the ocean front but still really close. Its another nice hotel.

We walk around and check out the island for a bit. We get Thai food for lunch, I book my scuba diving trips and they book some island tours. We have happy hour and just hang out for the day.

Holiday in the Philippines Day One

 Its taken me some time to get to sit down and blog about my summer trip. I was in the Philippines for one week in August. Because of uploading pictures, Im going to try to write about one day at a time and upload photos for that day. I wish I wrote sooner because now it is hard to remember everything but I'll try my best.
So lets start with July 29th. After school I took the bus with Dominic to Seoul. We met up with out friends there and had pizza on their roof. Then a couple of us went out to a bar called Woodstock. I liked it there, it felt like a real bar which isnt really all that common in korea. You just find hof's everywhere. The next morning Melissa, Carolyn, Skyler and I all took a bus to the Incheon airport. This was the beginning of our long journey to Cebu.

Incheon Airport. Me, Skyler, Melissa, Carolyn

We flew from Incheon to Beijing to Manila to Cebu. Our journey to Cebu consisted of trying to sleep, a quick layover in Beijing where we were told to hurry up and we ran as fast as we could places for no reason, we had time! (not much but enough for us not to run around like chickens with their heads cut off)

Sunrise in Beijing

Rainy time!

and then sitting in Cebus airport at 5am after getting no sleep waiting for our friend Jamie to come pick us up. Since we were all so tired it didnt dawn on any of us to go outside and see if she was out there. We sat inside for almost 2 hours until we thought to get a taxi because there was no Jamie.

Cebu airport. Very tired. 

 If course when we went outside...Jamie was waving us down from the car park! Stupid us! Anyway, we get to Cebu and Jamie takes us to get some breakfast but since it was so early we had a long time before we could check into our hotel. So we got to the hotel decided to get in our bathing suits and lie out by the pool until we could go to our rooms. The hotel was really pretty. It was called the Montebello.

The first night in Cebu we got massages down the street. For a two hour massage it cost $10! Needless to say, I got 5 massages throughout this trip! So cheap!!! I even got one right on the ocean which was nice. That night we went out with Skyler's korean friends who were visiting there too. We all had Mexican and then went out to a club.
The next morning we got up early to take a ferry and head to an island called Bohol.

Flooded Seoul

So my town did not get hit by this storm but a lot of S korea did! Here are some links to the news articles about it! Its crazy! Here is a picture of my friends trying to walk to work in the rivers!

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16038130
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=447_1311829812   This is a video of the landslide!!
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainment/view/1143641/1/.html

Thanks Ma!

Thanks Mom for sending me a care package! Its been a day and most of it is already gone! Delicious!!!!!!!
Love you!!

video clips

Here are a few random videos. First, we have Polly singing in the car. Then, we have have a couple clips from the bus ride home from the DMZ. They had norebang (karaoke) on the bus! Finally, there is a clip from last Fridays water gun fight at Namsam Park. 

Boryeong Mud Festival

July 16th was the 14th Annual Mud Fest in Boryeong. I think this tradition originated because the mud was considered healthy for your skin and they went to indulge in its benefits. Eventually, this festival turned into one massive foreigner party. I think about 85% of the foreigners in Korea go to Mud Fest. It is held on a beach and everyone just gets covered from head to toe in mud and go on rides, go swimming, and there was even bands like a concert. It was all day and night and pure chaos. The rain stopped by noon is and the rest of the day was pure sunshine. Everyone got sunburned including myself and I spent all day today rubbing fresh aloe vera straight out of the plant onto my skin. It is already feeling much much better. Here are some photos from the event!

waiting in lines for muddy rides!

Sunburnt!