The wandering bug has bitten again.

It's only been about 2 weeks since I went to Montreal and already I've been hit with the wanderlust. I've been finding myself fantasizing about my next trip and I've been scouring travel sites and airline sites looking for a cheap outlet for my traveling bug.

I'm bound to go to Ohio during the Christmas time, so I won't be able to go anywhere new during that time. However, I may try to shoot over to Pennsylvania for a day or so to check out Primanti Brothers' sandwiches. What I really want is a week or two hiking trip. I'm really wanting to go check out some of the Rocky Mountain states such as Wyoming or Colorado. I haven't been hiking in a few months so I'm aching to get on some trails. Unfortunately there aren't many good hikes in this part of the country. You can do some mild trails over in Shiloh, but really it's nothing but wandering through fields. I want to go up and down hills and to see some fantastic sights.

I'm seriously toying with the idea of going to California next summer and do some hiking in the Yosemite/King's Canyon area. It will be particularly nice since my uncle will be living in that area at that time. Also, I can hit up one of my favorite cities: San Francisco.

San Francisco is a great city. I truly believe it to be one of America's greatest. There is abundant culture and history, great food and just an overall atmosphere which promotes relaxing and calmness. I really enjoy the international feeling I get when I'm in SF. There's a little bit for everyone there.

Till next time, keep trekking on!

Montreal

Well today is my last day here in Montreal. I've had a really good albeit short trip. I actually made contact with an old friend who lives here shortly before leaving. I ended up staying at his place and without him, I doubt I would have had as great of a trip.

One thing about this trip is that nothing has really gone right. It's not a bad thing, but most of our plans went awry. First off, my plane from Atlanta to Montreal was delayed. There was a gate change and then no one really knew what time it was going to depart or when it would arrive. Finally about 30 minutes late the plane leaves. Once I met up with my friend we headed back to his house only to encounter construction and confusing detours. After about an hour we finally made it back to his place.

The next day my friend, his girl friend and myself went to the Tibetan restaurant that was mentioned in the last post. We work our way through China town and even more detours and we cruise around the block a couple times before finding a decent parking place. We arrive at the restaurant to find it closed due to an emergency. So after a quick walk around we choose a sandwich shop called Dagwood's. It's not too bad, but there is nothing really worthy of writing. After Dagwood's my friend and I headed to the old part of Montreal. There we saw the Basilique Notre-Dame. It was nice, but we encountered another problem: the area in front of the chapel was under construction, limiting good photography spots. I did manage a few good shots though. We bought tickets for the evening light show and then embarked on some souvenir shopping. I picked up some hockey shirts for myself and my roommate. I also got my girl friend some nice Canadiana stuff. I also toured the riverfront area and got some really nice pictures.

Evening brought poutine. Poutine is a really simple dish and I'm very surprised we don't have it in the United States, something I want to change. It's french fries with gravy and chunks of white cheddar cheese. It makes for an awesome side dish or meal. I first had it in Toronto a few years back and had it once in Memphis (not very good I might add). What I had here though was awesome. I chose to get something a little different and opted for the Italian poutine. It basically substitutes tomato sauce for the gravy. It was nevertheless great. After dinner my friend and I headed back to the Basilique Notre-Dame. We watched our show and I took some shots of the Basilique. We left the building and I, feeling a bit thirsty and unwilling to give up the chance to enjoy some Canadian beer, asked to find a nice quiet bar in order to enjoy some beer. We found a place nearby and grabbed a couple beers. I had a nice dark ale, unfortunately I forget the name of it. The company was called Sleeman's though. If you ever have the chance you should try it. I asked the waiter if I could buy a glass to take home as I collect them and was told no. I unfortunately felt back to steal one even though he said it was ok. I left empty handed.

Saturday saw a late start. I was perfectly happy with that as I was tired and the whole point of this trip was to relax, which I did. We went for a late lunch to Schwartz's deli. It's famous for smoked meat sandwiches. I got a large plate which was a bit too much food for me, but it was pretty good. I was a bit surprised at the mild taste of the meat. I was expecting something more flavorful. I still enjoyed though. Be prepared to stand in line for a long while. We waited for about 30-45 minutes just to get a seat. We then headed to the Montreal Botanic Gardens. I've been to botanic gardens in the past, but this was definitely one of the best I've ever been too. They had a very large green house filled with various plants from around the globe and an insectarium. I found both very interesting. They also had a Japanese garden and a Chinese garden. Both were very nice and peaceful allowing for more relaxation. The Japanese garden was particularly nice as the last one I had been to in the Philippines left something to be desired. I really felt like I was back in Japan at some points. The evening finished with a great steak dinner at Baton Rouge. This place is classy and a bit expensive. Steaks range from $24 to $32. But they rock and are well worth the money. The only bad thing was that they seemed to run out of stuff fairly early. I originally wanted the prime rib, but had to get a sirloin instead. One of my friends wanted seafood linguini but they were out of the red sauce. A quick ride after dinner and we were at our last stop for the night: The Comedy Nest. It was a pretty cool place. The drinks were slightly above average for bars, but pretty decent on their booze level. The opening act/host was really funny as was the second act. The third act was sadly from the US and wasn't as funny as the others. Her stuff mainly revolved around sex jokes and race jokes. It was nothing I hadn't heard from junior high school students. The headliner was awesome. He was very funny and did some great stuff. If you ever get to see Winston Spear, you should.

Today was another slow start. Again I just rested up and got ready to return home. We ate a great breakfast at Tutti Frutti and are now back at my friend's house preparing to go to the airport.

All in all the trip has been awesome. One complaint that I have is that I brought too much money. I didn't come close to spending everything at all. Oh well. I guess it's better to have too much than not enough.

And that wraps up this adventure.

One more week until Montreal

So I have only about a week more until I head off to Montreal. I'm pretty excited. I've been biding my time looking at stuff to see and do there. I'm not quite sure yet what I'll be doing, but at least I have a rough idea. I'm definitely going to be hitting up a Tibetan restaurant that I've read about. I know I know, why eat Tibetan while up in Montreal? Well, I love that type of food and I haven't been able to find some where I live yet, so I've gotta take it where I can find it.

I booked my hostel today, so I'm all set in that aspect. It's down in Old Montreal so I'm pretty stoked about it. I hope that it gives me a great experience.

New trip is in the works.

Well, I've been sedentary for almost a month now and that's far too long. I found out that I have a small "fall break" from work in October. Actually it's the day before my birthday, so I decided a trip was in order. My destination? Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I will be there for the better part of 3 days.

So far my trip will entail me eating delicious French-Canadian food, drinking awesome beer and just trying to relax. One thing I really enjoy about traveling is seeing the architecture of the place I am in. For instance, I loved seeing the old Japanese temples and shrines and how the Japanese incorporated their culture into western design styles. I'm looking forward to seeing similar sights in Canada.

I've been to Canada, but it was for about 2 days for an interview. I really enjoyed my time there, so that is what is fueling my decision to go again.

I'll post my further preparations later.

The Univeristy of the Philippines

Yesterday I had the unique experience of going to the University of the Philippines as a guest I attended two classes with my friend and I also hung out with some students and ate lunch there.

The university itself is rather large. It looks like an American university, maybe somewhere down in Florida. Most of the common, socializing areas are outside. The classes are a bit small, but they are air conditioned. I really couldn't tell much difference between here and the States. I guess the biggest thing is that the classes are conducted in both English and Tagalog. Other than that I could have been sitting in a classroom back home.

The food was pretty good too. They have a BBQ pit where they cook up fresh skewers of meat. It was pretty awesome. They have a canteen too that had several very tasty looking options. Something that I really liked was the fresh fruit shake. I had an avocado one. Yeah it sounds weird, but it was good. I'm glad I had it.

So far this trip has totally destroyed my deformed image of the Philippines. I am very glad to have come here. It's been a very great experience and I have grown and learned a lot because of it.

Public transport in the Philippines

The Philippines have 4 main modes of public transport: jeepney, tricycle, train and taxi cab. I was fortunate enough to be able to ride all 4 while here.

Jeepney is by far the cheapest. Most places cost about 7 pesos to get to via the jeepney. Basically jeepneys are a long, truck looking vehicle with a rear entrance at the very back. You board the vehicle and pass your money forward using other passengers. Don't worry, everyone is very honest and no one pockets your change. One fellow passenger actually counted out my change for me to make sure the driver didn't cheat me (drivers cheating the passengers is extremely rare, so no worries).

The tricycles are a bit more expensive, but faster as they go directly to where you want to go. Think taxi but a motorcycle with a large sidecar. This is a very bumpy and sometimes harrowing experience. Drivers in the Philippines are quite skilled, but it seems very chaotic to the inexperienced. You also have to check how much the price is before riding. I've been told you can haggle the price lower if you think it's too much.

The train is very nice. It's quiet, fast and pretty cheap. It is also very uncomplicated. There are three lines in the Manila area and they are all very easy to read (i.e. they are in English). However, some of the stops can be dodgy, especially Recto. I've been to Recto both in the day time and in the night. It is definitely scarier at night. I highly recommend against being in Recto at night alone.

The fourth and the least used by me is the taxi cab. In Japan I use cabs a lot. They are expensive, but they will usually get you where you want to go safely. In the Philippines they are the most expensive mode of transport and the can be very dodgy. I have been told several times that I should not trust a taxi cab here. Mainly they will try to take advantage of their customers. It's not only foreigners who should watch out, but Filipinos too! If you absolutely must use a taxi confirm that the meter is working before getting into the taxi. You should also ask general price. If the meter is broken do not get in. My friend's parents have driven me around Manila several times in order for me to not use the taxi. It was their idea not mine. That's how worried they are about it.

Overall public transport is awesome in the Philippines. It allows you to see another culture and to meet more locals.

The Philippines Day 1 and 2

I was feeling pretty apprehensive about the Philippines before I started this journey. Although it's different from my home country and of my adopted country it wasn't necessarily bad. The people have been very friendly and I haven't been plagued by what travel books and websites made it sound like the hordes of touts. I was asked a few times about taxis, but one no was all it took for them to leave me alone. One surprising thing was that the cops were even asking if I wanted a ride.

My first few hours in the Philippines went very fast. I arrived, found my friend and then went back to her house. Her dad fixed us up some really good Chinese style noodles and after that we went to bed. I must say it was a pretty strange night. I kept hearing strange, scary sounds and had a kind of unrestful sleep.

The next morning I was treated to a great breakfast with tons of great food. I was really digging my friend's dad's specialty: a spicy bacon and vegetable dish. It was awesome. After breakfast we headed to one of my friend's other friend's house. This guy turned out to be really nice and he drove us (me, my friend Tiff, and 2 Japanese people) to the city of Tagaytay.

Tagaytay was really nice. It overlooks the Taal volcano. It was very picturesque. The only bad thing was that it was crowded and pretty rainy. We would've gone to the island in the center of the crater lake, but the adverse weather put the kebosh on that. Still it was a nice time. After Tagaytay we returned to Manila for our last activity of the day.

As we drove back to Manila my new friends decided to go to karaoke. We made plans to meet up with another Japanese guy in order to have a larger and thus funner group. Everything was going good until we hit Manila. The main highway we were on was closed. We had to get off in a section of town that the two locals didn't know. We wandered for over an hour looking for familiar ground. Finally we collected our friend and went to karaoke.

I've gone to karaoke before many times. I've gone to karaoke in several cities in Japan and ranging from small dingy places to magnificent hostess bars. All of those experiences differed from last night. First off we got about 5 different kinds of food and 10 beers for about 1,999 pesos. That's for everyone for two hours. You'd be lucky to get that in Japan for one person. It was awesome. Everyone could sing really well and we just had a blast.

Today was much quieter and slower which was fine with me. Tiff and I went to the University of Saint Tomas and quickly learned that the University was open to visitors from Tuesday to Friday. So we headed over to a mall near her house. This mall was straight out of America. The shops were nearly identical to anything in America. It was pretty amazing. The strangest part was that you are briefly frisked before entering. Also, armed guards are everywhere. The supermarket was very close to an American one. There were tons of American foods. It was pretty great. After browsing around we ate at Jollibee. This is a chain fast food restaurant. It's everywhere in the Philippines. It's pretty good and very reasonably priced. I bought Tiff's food and mine and it was only about 5 bucks. It was very nice.

After that we went over to a massage place. No, it wasn't one of THOSE massage parlors. No, this place was reputable and very professional. The girl who massaged me was very good and worked out the tightness in my shoulders. It was a very relaxing time. The other workers were very friendly too. They all chatted me up after I was done. It was fun.

Now we're waiting to go see Inception. Apparently movies are super cheap here.

More tomorrow.