I am sorry if this email is a bit long but you dont have read the whole thing if you dont want, but read the bottom half if nothing else. Haha anyway after the amazing time in Manila we headed up to Bagio which is about 6 hours north. Its a really nice town, kind of the San Francisco of the Philippines (not a bunch of billy boys, its built on a hill). We stayed in a rather rough hotel but it was super cheap. Lauran woke up with a cockroach on her head but, but we saved a bunch a money!!!Anyways from there we went another 8 hours north to the Mountain Provence and the city of Bontok. The roads were a bit rough and a little steep to say the least. Grandma I am sorry but you wouldnt have made it. From Bontok we made our way up to Batad which is this little village that you have to hike about 2 hours to reach. The UNESCO Rice Terraces sit right in back of this perfect, electricity free village. one of the most perfect villages I have ever witnessed. There lives are so simple but filled with so much happiness. We stayed the night
in the village in a hut that we literally we walked out the door and the rice terraces where directly in front of us. The only hang up with the whole experience was that we left our bags at the guesthouse in Bontok which was a three hour bus ride and 2 hour hike away. We were going to go back that day but there weren't any buses leaving that late. This actually turned out to be a blessing because the hike wasn't easy so we didnt have to pack our bags. Also, Batad was so fantastic that Lauran and I decided that our bags were worth less then the experience. We didnt have our sleeping bags and it got really cold at night. We tried to ask for more blankets but I kid you not there where probably 10 extra blankets and 2 other people staying there, a couple from Germany, and they took all 10. I hope they got dehydrated from all the extra heat! Haha Anyway on our way back I left my camera and had to get off the bus about an hour walk from the town where I left it. When I got back my camera was fine, in fact the lady had put it away in a drawer for me. Our bags were fine, the didnt even charge us for leaving them at the hotel in Bontok . The Filipino people have been so unbelievable kind and generous. I feel very lucky to have spent three weeks in their country getting to know them. W
e stayed in the Bishop of the Mountain Province house back in Bontok that night. It was the highest peak over looking the hill so we went up there to watch the sunset and they offered us a room. I met a Swedish guy named Tom who had taken his family and moved to the Philippines to help them improve their roads. He is a civil engineer who is married with two kids, age 2 and 4. I was so Intrigued that he would move his young kids there but he said, which is just brilliant, "he wanted to live back words." He wanted his kids to at least grow up for a while in a simpler life. The next day we did some caving in a town called Sagada about 2 hours away. The caves were amazing. We w
ere 1000 feet under the ground and we traversed from one cave to the other. The cave was filled with hanging caskets. Some had fallen open and it was a bit eerie. Lauran had no problem, but I am a little bigger then the Filipinos so it was a struggle! We ended up after a few days flying into Palawan, which is the big long skinny island on the south west side of the Philippines. I was able to do some diving in WWII wrecks in Coron (north Palawan). It was spectacular to see the insides of the ships. I dove 2 Japanese cargo ships that were downed by American Hellfighters. They ships still had the jail and they dining rooms inside them. Jon, I got stung by a jellyfish in the leg and I am a little disappointed that you were not there to pee on me. There will be other times I am sure! We did some beaching it on a couple of little towns on the coast. Ry I met the Filipino version of you in this little town called El Nido. Really cool kid that walked around on the beach and played music for everyone. He played the drums like a champ. We ended up watching Obamas inauguration with him and all his friends. They were really excited. It was one of the coolest experiences. Last time I traveled people loved us as Americans but had a large distrust and distaste for our government. Its been so different so far, people have really grabbed on to Obama and his message of America being allies to everyone. At least abroad, in southeast Asia, people seem to have confidence in him. Anyways life was good in Palawan, we rented a motorcycle which I drove to see the Underground River which is in one of the Wonders of the World. Its massive!! And yes I killed the motorcycle like a rookie about 5 mins in, but that was it so Andy, you probably dont believe me, but you would have been proud. I also road on top of an 8 hour bus through Palalwan likes the locals do it. Really amazing, who wants to be cramped up in a stinky bus when you can ride on top and see the countryside. We flew back to Manila after about a week from Puerto Princessa which is the capital of the island. The town is beautiful, really eco-friendly. There is no garbage in the whole town. We took an earlier plane flight to Manila to see our friend Ryan who was the Filipino guy that we met during the festival. We didnt tell him we were coming, so he was a little surprised, but very happy to see us. He took us around all day to different places where he grew up. We played pool at the local pool hall. It was sweet, I held my own, even after a few shots of wonderful Filipino Rhum. We spent the whole day meeting his family. We were very blessed to have met Ryan. He dropped everything to show us around a side of Manila and the Philippines that we would have not seen without him. That is something I am truly grateful for. As someone once said, " the true gem of a country is not its wealth, power, or attractions, it is its people." From Manila we went up to Clark to meet my uncle. He is a pilot for UPS and it just so happened that he was flying into the same apart we were flying out of to go to KK (Kota Kinabalu), Malaysian Borneo. I am really grateful because even though we didnt get to hang out for that long it was one of those experiences where I can always say that I met my uncle in the Phillipines. We flew to Kota Kinabalu, stayed there for a couple of days. Its a really nice place it just lacks a little of the culture that you kind of are reaching for when you go to Malaysia. From there we climbed Mt. Kinabalu. Its the tallest mountain east of the Himalyas until Papa New Guinea. Its the tallest mountain in South East Asia at 12,300 feet. Which is pretty impressive, but whats really impressive is that the climb takes 2 days because the trail head start at 5,400 feet and climbs straight up for 8.5 kilometers. Its a two day hike thats actually really expensive but we found a way to get around it. They make us pay for a summit pass which is fine but they also make you pay to sleep in these huts at about 10,500 feet. Thats not the problem the problem is that they wont give you a pass to climb unless you have a reservation in the huts which is the only place you can stay and way over priced. They make you pay for meals to. Lauran and I reserved 2 beds in the huts but didnt we give them a credit card. Our plan, or at least my plan, was to sleep on the mountain because, with the early summit your not in the room really anyways. Lauran actually talked her way from 360 ringuit, about 70 dollars, to 60 (about 15 dollars) for one person. Anyway we ended up getting free meals because, it was a buffet and when it was over, no one else was eating so they gave us food. Also, the guy at the front desk hooked it up and put Lauran in a dorm room that was empty with 4 beds and he saw me come in so I think he was being 
nice. I ended up sleeping in ono of the empty beds. Anyway we got up to the hut about midday, it took us about 4.5 hours to get up there. We woke up and summited the mountain with about 200 hundred people. It was a few to many people to say the least but still wonderful. We watched the sun come up it was beautiful. Here is what I cant grasp. I climbed the last 2 hours with people everywhere in the dark. The summit isn't super spacious so when we reached the top people where crammed together. The top was freezing. It took some people 9 hours just to get to the summit. When the sun came up at 630 there people everywhere, but by 715, no lie, there was myself and an Italian couple at the summit. One lady climbed up literally took a picture of herself and the summit sign and started down.To each there own but it baffles me that people would spend that much time and effort and not take the time to enjoy the fruits of there hard work. I shouldn't judge but I almost felt like it was disrespectful in some weird way. How many times are you on top of a mountain and how much will you remember if you don't at least take the time to take it all in. The Italians were great though, the
y gave me some rice wine to warm up with and as they said, "toasted the spirit of the mountain". From the top of that mountain I could see almost all of Borneo, if not the most diverse jungle second only to the amazon, the Philippine islands and both seas. It was unreal. The most breathtaking scenery I have ever seen. . I shouldn't care that everyone left though, I should be thankful, because after the Italians left about a half an hour later, I spent about 2 hours on top of the mountain by myself. Not one single person in sight. I guess in the end it was truly a blessing.
in the village in a hut that we literally we walked out the door and the rice terraces where directly in front of us. The only hang up with the whole experience was that we left our bags at the guesthouse in Bontok which was a three hour bus ride and 2 hour hike away. We were going to go back that day but there weren't any buses leaving that late. This actually turned out to be a blessing because the hike wasn't easy so we didnt have to pack our bags. Also, Batad was so fantastic that Lauran and I decided that our bags were worth less then the experience. We didnt have our sleeping bags and it got really cold at night. We tried to ask for more blankets but I kid you not there where probably 10 extra blankets and 2 other people staying there, a couple from Germany, and they took all 10. I hope they got dehydrated from all the extra heat! Haha Anyway on our way back I left my camera and had to get off the bus about an hour walk from the town where I left it. When I got back my camera was fine, in fact the lady had put it away in a drawer for me. Our bags were fine, the didnt even charge us for leaving them at the hotel in Bontok . The Filipino people have been so unbelievable kind and generous. I feel very lucky to have spent three weeks in their country getting to know them. W
e stayed in the Bishop of the Mountain Province house back in Bontok that night. It was the highest peak over looking the hill so we went up there to watch the sunset and they offered us a room. I met a Swedish guy named Tom who had taken his family and moved to the Philippines to help them improve their roads. He is a civil engineer who is married with two kids, age 2 and 4. I was so Intrigued that he would move his young kids there but he said, which is just brilliant, "he wanted to live back words." He wanted his kids to at least grow up for a while in a simpler life. The next day we did some caving in a town called Sagada about 2 hours away. The caves were amazing. We w
ere 1000 feet under the ground and we traversed from one cave to the other. The cave was filled with hanging caskets. Some had fallen open and it was a bit eerie. Lauran had no problem, but I am a little bigger then the Filipinos so it was a struggle! We ended up after a few days flying into Palawan, which is the big long skinny island on the south west side of the Philippines. I was able to do some diving in WWII wrecks in Coron (north Palawan). It was spectacular to see the insides of the ships. I dove 2 Japanese cargo ships that were downed by American Hellfighters. They ships still had the jail and they dining rooms inside them. Jon, I got stung by a jellyfish in the leg and I am a little disappointed that you were not there to pee on me. There will be other times I am sure! We did some beaching it on a couple of little towns on the coast. Ry I met the Filipino version of you in this little town called El Nido. Really cool kid that walked around on the beach and played music for everyone. He played the drums like a champ. We ended up watching Obamas inauguration with him and all his friends. They were really excited. It was one of the coolest experiences. Last time I traveled people loved us as Americans but had a large distrust and distaste for our government. Its been so different so far, people have really grabbed on to Obama and his message of America being allies to everyone. At least abroad, in southeast Asia, people seem to have confidence in him. Anyways life was good in Palawan, we rented a motorcycle which I drove to see the Underground River which is in one of the Wonders of the World. Its massive!! And yes I killed the motorcycle like a rookie about 5 mins in, but that was it so Andy, you probably dont believe me, but you would have been proud. I also road on top of an 8 hour bus through Palalwan likes the locals do it. Really amazing, who wants to be cramped up in a stinky bus when you can ride on top and see the countryside. We flew back to Manila after about a week from Puerto Princessa which is the capital of the island. The town is beautiful, really eco-friendly. There is no garbage in the whole town. We took an earlier plane flight to Manila to see our friend Ryan who was the Filipino guy that we met during the festival. We didnt tell him we were coming, so he was a little surprised, but very happy to see us. He took us around all day to different places where he grew up. We played pool at the local pool hall. It was sweet, I held my own, even after a few shots of wonderful Filipino Rhum. We spent the whole day meeting his family. We were very blessed to have met Ryan. He dropped everything to show us around a side of Manila and the Philippines that we would have not seen without him. That is something I am truly grateful for. As someone once said, " the true gem of a country is not its wealth, power, or attractions, it is its people." From Manila we went up to Clark to meet my uncle. He is a pilot for UPS and it just so happened that he was flying into the same apart we were flying out of to go to KK (Kota Kinabalu), Malaysian Borneo. I am really grateful because even though we didnt get to hang out for that long it was one of those experiences where I can always say that I met my uncle in the Phillipines. We flew to Kota Kinabalu, stayed there for a couple of days. Its a really nice place it just lacks a little of the culture that you kind of are reaching for when you go to Malaysia. From there we climbed Mt. Kinabalu. Its the tallest mountain east of the Himalyas until Papa New Guinea. Its the tallest mountain in South East Asia at 12,300 feet. Which is pretty impressive, but whats really impressive is that the climb takes 2 days because the trail head start at 5,400 feet and climbs straight up for 8.5 kilometers. Its a two day hike thats actually really expensive but we found a way to get around it. They make us pay for a summit pass which is fine but they also make you pay to sleep in these huts at about 10,500 feet. Thats not the problem the problem is that they wont give you a pass to climb unless you have a reservation in the huts which is the only place you can stay and way over priced. They make you pay for meals to. Lauran and I reserved 2 beds in the huts but didnt we give them a credit card. Our plan, or at least my plan, was to sleep on the mountain because, with the early summit your not in the room really anyways. Lauran actually talked her way from 360 ringuit, about 70 dollars, to 60 (about 15 dollars) for one person. Anyway we ended up getting free meals because, it was a buffet and when it was over, no one else was eating so they gave us food. Also, the guy at the front desk hooked it up and put Lauran in a dorm room that was empty with 4 beds and he saw me come in so I think he was being 
nice. I ended up sleeping in ono of the empty beds. Anyway we got up to the hut about midday, it took us about 4.5 hours to get up there. We woke up and summited the mountain with about 200 hundred people. It was a few to many people to say the least but still wonderful. We watched the sun come up it was beautiful. Here is what I cant grasp. I climbed the last 2 hours with people everywhere in the dark. The summit isn't super spacious so when we reached the top people where crammed together. The top was freezing. It took some people 9 hours just to get to the summit. When the sun came up at 630 there people everywhere, but by 715, no lie, there was myself and an Italian couple at the summit. One lady climbed up literally took a picture of herself and the summit sign and started down.To each there own but it baffles me that people would spend that much time and effort and not take the time to enjoy the fruits of there hard work. I shouldn't judge but I almost felt like it was disrespectful in some weird way. How many times are you on top of a mountain and how much will you remember if you don't at least take the time to take it all in. The Italians were great though, the
y gave me some rice wine to warm up with and as they said, "toasted the spirit of the mountain". From the top of that mountain I could see almost all of Borneo, if not the most diverse jungle second only to the amazon, the Philippine islands and both seas. It was unreal. The most breathtaking scenery I have ever seen. . I shouldn't care that everyone left though, I should be thankful, because after the Italians left about a half an hour later, I spent about 2 hours on top of the mountain by myself. Not one single person in sight. I guess in the end it was truly a blessing.Well I am on my way to see some monkeys in the Borneo jungle. Just so everyone knows the food in Malaysia is amazing! They have these things that we nicknamed Malaysian pancakes that are these fryed bread wrapped with vegis and noodles. Ummmmm anyway I digress. I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all!
Peace and Love
Brent
"people either have time or money, they rarely have both"
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