I hit the jackpot today when I found Jobee online and idle.
She is the only good friend of mine who doesn't have a proper day job and can join me on a three-day backpacking trip in the place of our choice in the Philippines.
So we are leaving Manila for a few days and going somewhere beautiful.
She likes Batanes, and I'm torn between Bohol and Coron.
Bohol, because I want - and NEED - to see a live tarsier.
All my life I've been calling big-eyed people tarsiers, and yet I have never seen a live one. I need to hold one in my hands to make my next tarsier comment legit.
Also I've seen dozens of people on FB posing on top of one of the Chocolate Hills. They look so happy, like Maria in the Sound of Music. Maybe being there gives one that feeling. I want to see for myself.
And Coron, because it is just amazing in the pictures. I've met countless of people in Dubai telling me how wonderful Coron is, and how it's a crime that I haven't been there, given that I am Filipino. I don't want to be a criminal here, so I'm seriously considering it.
Batanes... Jobee has a point. I was told that it is one of the most beautiful places in the Philippines, so yeah we might give that a try.
Suddenly I am itching to travel within the confines of our archipelago. Five years ago I totally ignored my motherland in an attempt to "see the world". To date I've been to a few countries and I'm happy to have travelled and pushed myself out of my comfort zone, but now I have this insatiable desire to just hop on a plane and fly to any of our 7,000 islands to see what I've been missing.
I'm sure it will not be an easy trip. We're not about luxury. We're about pooping in the mountains and peeling worms off trees and dipping them in vinegar. I'm sure there will be bad roads and power outages and pickpocketing incidents, but all of them will be cancelled out by friendly smiles, invitations to home-cooked dinner and huge discounts.
I'm going to tell you why this trip is so important to us.
Jobee used to be an anti-social who stayed in her room for two years, throwing tantrums and undergoing medication and just shutting herself from the world.
I take pride in telling everyone that I was one of the people who convinced her to sing in front of an audience during a noontime karaoke session when we played hooky at work.
And me? I just miss home so much, and I think it deserves the same level of enthusiasm I had when I was exploring Kenya, the same wide-eyed look I had when I saw the Taj Mahal, and the same energy I possessed when I walked around Bangkok.
Also the pictures. I will make Jobee take my pictures until her hands fall off and she goes blind.
