I'm currently in an internet cafe in dumaguete on negros in the philippines, which is a geek cafe with smelly noisy boys playing crap computer games. it smells. im token whitey in town and getting ripped off as only a blonde haired white girl can (yes thats right my hair is getting blonder by the second).

on the other hand the filipinos are horrendously friendly and helpful, yesterday i got off a bus in the middle of nowhere in manila, and seeing my struggle to haggle for a taxi, one guy told me he would find one for me, he ran barefooted into the middle of the road in the rain to hail one, and then shouted at another guy for not holding his umbrella over me!

very different from borneo where the muslim malaysians did not appreciate western girls, even though i had knees and shoulders covered. we got stared at, and tutted at, and worst of all, horror of horrors, we got called 'amerikanos'.

im trying to get to a random island tomorrow (apo island) but there is no consistent answer as to when the boat leaves and where from, and like every other asian they wont say no, so conversations go something along the lines of 'does the boat go from dumaguete pier?' 'yes' 'does the boat go in the morning?' 'yes' 'are you just agreeing with everything i say?' 'yes'

so im trying my best to work it out on the internet...