World Traveler

 I was travelling with my sister and we took the cheapest way from Malaysia to the Philippines, by boat for 22 hours!  Stupidly we forgot to eat beforehand so we starving but the cafeteria sold nothing but meat (we’re vegetarian!) but soon had a donation of some freaky vegetable from one of the passengers and was up singing karaoke (not Celine Dion as requested) whilst being sick at the same time (sea-sickness!)  Laying down took the sickness away but we could barely fit on the miniature beds which were exactly 5″7, I know this as my head and feet were pressed firmly at each end!  The mattress was just about wide enough for me but the giant waves made it even harder to stay in! Coming from the UK I stupidly presumed that we would have our own cabin, duh!  Communal bunk beds covered the deck in sets of four so you end up laying next to some random man, and there was no bars in between either.  I wasn’t comfortable with that so managed to pay extra for one of the two cabins which had one other girl in.

We woke the next morning with 3 hours until we reached land, during which time I think we spoke to everyone on the boat!  There seemed to be a lot of concern for our safety, we found out that Zamboanga, where the boat was heading, was a terrorist area and tourists don’t go there as it common for them to get kidnapped, there was also a bombing the week before.  I did wonder why we were the only tourists on the boat!  I like the way our guidebook tells us about the cheap ferry but nothing at all about Zamboanga – helpful!  We spoke to a lovely Filipino girl whose Brother worked for the Tourist Police, she said that they could help get us out of the area safely.

We arrived at the port and her brother collected us and took us all back to the tiny 2 bedroom family house where there were already 10 people staying and were cooked the tastiest meal we had in ages, vegetarian too which was really kind as in the Philippines they just eat loads of meat, no one eats vegetables and trying to buy them anywhere is a nightmare! One thing led to another and soon we were up singing karaoke in the sitting room with the family, the neighbours, and the random audience outside in the street!  As you may of guessed, karaoke is very popular in the Philippines!  I was forced into singing and I am the worst singer in the world – in England when I do karaoke they turn the microphone off and say its broken, and then when I put my name down again they wont call me up, so I put fake names down.  I warned them that I sound cross between a donkey and a dolphin but as usual no one gets the extent of how bad I am until they hear it, people always think I’m exaggerating.  I sang ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ as some how I think it take the attention off of my hideous voice as it puts a little bit of humour in instead (obviously I’m fooling myself).  It was bad but I have done worse, everyone looked a little shocked until my sister started laughing at me, no one was shy to get up after that!

Time flew and we hadn’t enough time to get the tickets, so they suggested we stay with them overnight and get the tickets the following day.  I felt guilty staying the night as they had been so kind to us and the house was jam-packed already – talk about ten in a bed, but they insisted.  We ended up staying with the family for two days! Although Zamboanga was such a dangerous area, I felt really safe with the family and it was actually my favourite place in the whole of the country!  They were definitely the kindest people I have ever met and it was by far the best bit of my trip!

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