Dingoes and Whores

This past week has been a great one. My younger brother, aka The Dingo, is currently out to visit. Hence the Dingo part of this entry’s title. Myself, the Dingo, Jen, and Craig have all just returned from the Philippine island of Siquijor (pronounced Sig-ee-whore). Hence the whore part of the title. We chose this island solely based on the name.

After catching a taxi, to an airplane, to van, to a ferry, to a jeepney, we finally arrived at our island resort. It was awesome. Palm trees, huts, hammocks, geckos, etc. They also had awesome food.*

The island was about 10 miles in diameter, and the best way to see a lot of it is by motorbike. We rented these and spread terror into the hearts of all by the intimidating picture we made rolling into the barangays (neighborhoods). We were actually pretty popular wherever we went, but Jen could have run for mayor in every place. Blond white women on motorbikes don’t roll through town every day apparently. Go figure.

I’m still in training for the Singapore marathon, so I had to put in a lot of miles as well. I wasn’t as popular as Jen, but I was no less a spectacle when running. Besides the normal “Hey Joe!” several people chose to shout “Manny Pacquiao!” He is a famous Philipino boxer. It’s not that I look like Pacquiao; it’s just that he and I are apparently the only people stupid enough to run for the sake of exercise in the Philippines. Whilst dodging caribou and goats on an 20 mile run, i managed to suck down 2 packets of energy goo. That suuff is awesometown. I now spread it on toast.

We have since returned to Manila where we recently went out to the Malate area in costume for Halloween. Funny enough, we were just about the only people in costume. Bizarre.

Today, I took Greg on every tourist’s favorite part of SE Asia: bootleg DVD shopping! However, karma intervened as we were pulled over on the motorbike on the way home and I had to bribe the policeman out of taking my license. The best part was that when I handed him my license, he said I should not have clipped money to it. “This makes me think you are trying to bribe me sir.” He then asked for more money. I love the philippines.

* Craig made a vow to eat bacon with every meal during our trip. He succeeded, and is currently still on the streak. I try to spend a lot of time with Craig, since his cardiologist suggests he will not live past 35 at this rate.