The journey REALLY begins . . .

June 4th, 2009

So, I'm in the Incheon airport a few hours early waiting for Serene to say goodbye to her friend

Well - I've just interrrupted myself to talk to a Western guy who turned out to be Julian from France - so now about an hour later . . .

and we're off!! We've checked in - in mere hours we will board the plane and our journey begins . . .

So, day one of South East Asia has come to a close and although we didn't manage to do any of the things I wanted to do it was still a good day. The ride in the taxi to the hostel just thrilled me - seeing the street stands, the people moving around, the bustle . . . it was great! Reminded me of Jamaica and the life and vibrancy of a world that has never really been mine - or not at all I suppose.

Unfortunately our hostel are much further out than we hoped and I don't know how muc of the city we'll actually get to see. Today, however, was local and commercial. We met up with two British guys, had some Philippino street meet, met a talkative old seaman and then hopped on a tuk-tuk (motor- bike with a sidecar) - 4 of us and the driver were on board - crazy! Then got on a jeepney that took us to what we thought was the third largest mall in the world only to discover after about 3 hours we were in the wrong place! As I said though - fun was still had: from trying on dyed wigs to leaving fake poo and duping some mall workers into thinking it needed to be cleared up - they sectioned it off and everything as we and some other workers lauged - and just getting ALL the stares from men. ;) Have I mentioned that since I was 5 I've wanted to marry a Philippino man? I can thank the Tabije boys for that - and then my brother and his daughter for affirming my belief that my ethnic mix with the Phillipino blood would create a BEAUTIFUL mix.

One thing though I hand't really thought of seeing here was children in the city just 5-6 years old picking up garbage from the street gutters in the rain at 9pm. Yes, this trip will bring a lot of pain as well. Pain and Joy. Now I think of the kids who laughed and yelled at seing us today. Getting such a kick out of our strangeness. That was some joy.