Back in Manilla now.

We've been in the Philippines for a week - longest stop yet - but it hasn't seemed that long. The first three days were in Manilla, the next four were down south in the closest adjacent island, and now we're back in Manilla, leaving for Hong Kong via Kl tomorrow.

The first three days in Manilla were very tame. Amy was still sick, and I was a little exahusted too. (Lesson learned - pace yourself when you go backpacking... We really overdid it the first two weeks). We did a bit of sightseeing around their tourist/foreign district and around the Intramuro (the old walled city), but mostly stayed at the hotel resting, watching TV, and eating Congee at the Chinese restauruant across the street.

We both felt much better a few days later, and so we took a taxi, bus, and boat down to White beach - a smaller resort village thingy a few km east of Peurto Galera - the closest beach resort area to Manilla. It was a very different beach experience from our previous one, on Phi Phi Island off the coast of Thailand, and I can't say that it compared well. However, the water was very blue, and there was a refreshing lack of foreigners at the beach. On the flip side, it was pretty crowded with local tourists, and the general upkeep of the whole area was pretty bad (trash everywhere), as well as many of the facilities. On the third day, we took a Jeepney (their public transport - old converted US Army jeeps) to the other side of Peurto Galero to the more westernized Sabang beach.

The town there was much larger, much more geared towards westerners, but there was very little beach to speak of. It's main draws are the coral in the region leading to fantastic diving, and an "active" nightlife scene. We spend the day hanging out on the beach, and wading in looking at the fish, coral, and other random sealife. That night we had dinner, and started poking our heads around the scene there, not really intending to participate. Sabang was infested with a phenomenom seen in many other places in SE Asia, and particularly in Thailand - old very ugly very fat white men who tow around one or more very young, very scantily clad local women, generally making fools of themselves. I've reached some kind of breaking point, and this is really starting to annoy me observing this phenomenom, and the attititude these old white guys take - at best it's arrogant and pathetic, at it's worst it's racist, neo-imperialist and degrading. I could rant on for hours, and will take the opportunity at a later date, but will end my digression here.

In any case, I made great entertainment by taking pictures of these odd couples. Later on that night, while stopped at a karaoke bar, we met back up with two british backpackers we had met earlier in the day on the Jeepney to Sabang. They had befriended several young weekend-vacationers from Manilla, and we all ended up hanging out, first embarasing ourselves in front of the karaoke mike, and later dancing the night away at the local disco. Our new found british friends were way-cool, and I have several pictures on my camera to document the evening.

This morning, we woke up early, and had to make the decision to either go diving, or to leave the island earlier in order to travel to a volcano crater near Manilla and do some additional sightseeing before we leave tomorrow. We decided on the latter, and caught an early boat going back to the main island of Luzon. Unfortunately though, not only did transportation take an extremely long time, but by the time we made our stop to transfer busses to go to the volcano crater, it was raining something crazy, as if the heavens themselves were trying to smother the earth. At that point, we decided rather than to suck it up and go anyways, we would just go ahead and go back into Manilla.

Manilla is a huge city - one of a handful of cities in the world with over 10 million people - so there's stil stuff for us to see here. We spent most our time today after we got back exploring and eating our way through Manilla's Chinatown.

Anyways, Amy just finished using her internet, and her staring bored eyes are willing me to wrap this up - so KL tomorrow, HK the day after to attend a wedding, and eat lots of food.

I'm now in Manilla, the Philippines - this is our second full day here - pretty much just resting and enjoying the modern, American-esque convienences of a large urban center. Amy's still slightly queezy, so comfort and convience is good.

After spending several unexpected days in Kota Kinabalu, we finally checked out of our hotel on Tuesday and headed for the hills (Mt. Kinabalu National Park, to be exact). After two hours of evening rush hour and winding mountain roads in a small van, listening to the same 30 min tape of cheezy local music on repeat, we arrived at the national park headquarters at the base of Mt. Kinabalu. It was a refreshing change from the heat and smog of KK, as the altitude, misty clouds, and remoteness made the air much cooler and cleaner. Mt. Kinabalu is the highest peak (4092 meters high) in Malaysia, and actually claimed to be the highest in SE Asia "East of Burma and West of Guinea". The plan was to climb it the next morning.

We woke up early the next morning to the clamoring of the large party of local malaysians next door cooking breakfast noodles. In less of a hurry, we hiked a bit to the nearby canteen, ordered some (western style) breakfast, and headed towards the park headquarters to arrange the climb. We paid the climbing permit fee, and got a guide (required), took a van to the entrance gates, and started climbing.

The beginning of the climb was in the deep rainforest at the base of the mountain. After crossing a river, and passing a small waterfall, we started the ascent. Amy at this point was still not feeling normal, and since she had practically eaten nothing for the past three days, probably shouldn't have even attempted the climb. At about 1.5 km in, she decided to turn back around, and stay around the park headquarters, while I decided to continue on.

As it turns out, it was probably a good idea. The hike was strenuous, especially since I wasn't 100%, since I had felt ill and hadn't eaten much the day before either. The next five hours, I made the steady climb up, covering 6km, and climbing to about 3500m. By the end, I was having to stop every three steps because of exhaustion, and because of the lack of oxygen at that altitutde. It was about 5pm when I reached the midway lodge, ate some food, rented a bed, and crashed.

Everyone in the lodge woke up about 1:30 a.m., and after a small breakfast, I headed out in the middle of the night with my guide, armed with a flashlight. While the previous day had been strenuous but on the whole uneventful and not that interesting, this day turned out to be amazing. The previous day, most of the hiking was through rainforest, and even when we passed through clearings where you might have been able to get views of the scenery, the cloud and mist prevented any visability. By that evening though when we started hiking again, the clouds had compltetly cleared, and we had reached an altitude where the tall trees were replaced by small shrubs and bushes.

Looking straight up, I could see more stars than I had ever seen before, and could clearly make out the white stripe of the milky-way. Looking out across the land, I could see the sillouettes of the mountains and surrouding geography, peppered by the lights of humanity. It was even clear enough to see the lights of Kota Kinabalu, and where the lights stopped, the Pacific Ocean.

Having not gotten much good rest, the hike up was equally as strenuous as the day before. The goal was to reach the summit by sunrise, which was scheduled for 6:15am. The last kilometer and a half was climbing straight up a steeply sloped flat granite surface, using ropes as assistance. As 6am got nearer and nearer, I was getting dizzier and more exhausted, but kept on pushing, determined to reach the summit on time. Edged on my by guide, we finally reached the top right as the sun exploded out of the horizon. I sat on the top of the mountain, having hiked over 8 and a half kilometers, and ascending 3000 meters.

The summit was beautiful. The surrounding landscape of Bourneo is dramatic and amazing. I took a whole roll of film at the summit, and half a roll coming down. The way back to the midway lodge was a complete different experience in the daylight. The scenery kept changing as the clouds moved back over the island, and as the sun kept on rising.

Hiking from the midway lodge back to the base, though, was probably one of the more painful experiences of my life. By the time I reached the bottom, my legs were failing to move on their own accord, and my knees were threatening to explode. To quote two of my fellow hikers: "Coming down is torture on the knees!!", and "I'm limping like friggin Yoda!!!"

Anyways, that's the melodramatic recount of my hike up and down Mt. Kinabalu. It was truly an amazing experience, and I can't wait to upload all the pictures.

We're kicking back in Manilla now for the second day. Yesterday, we spend half the day wandering around the old ruins and churches of the Intramuro - the old medieval-style walled-city built by the Spanish. Tomorrow, we're heading out of town, down the the island immediately south to hang out on the beach, and to go swimming and (maybe) diving.