The Best of the Phillippines

I expected the Philippines to be my least favorite country and it turned out to actually be my absolute favorite.  I would go back in a heartbeat.  What made the Philippines so fun was the variety of incredible activities.  Hiking one day, beach the very next, canyoneering another.  There are just so many islands jam packed so close together that you can truly experience a million different activities all within just a few weeks and a couple of twenty dollar flights. 

We began our adventure in the little town of Batad.  Batad is a tiny village nestled in the most stunning rice terraces.  There are no direct roads into Batad and therefore very few tourists make it to this amazing little laid-back town.  It was the perfect place to really get to know the locals and see their everyday lives.  

To get to Batad we took a nine hour night bus from Manila to Banaue.  This bus ride was probably one of the worser experiences of our two months in Asia.  Luckily Batad turned out to be one of my very favorite places so the sleepless, bumpy night was completely worth it.  

After those long nine hours we bargained with a local to take us in his "tuk tuk" to the top of a summit.  Our hour long tuk tuk ride about made my whole life.  Little did I know tuk tuks are about the most common form of transportation in South East Asia so we had plenty more tuk tuk rides to come.      

From the summit it was about another hour of hiking through the jungle down into the village of Batad. 

Tired and exhausted after days of flying and hours more of journeying we immediately found a little "hotel" up on the mountainside and took much needed nap.  When we woke up, we were absolutely pleased to find the view from our balcony was breathtaking.  Right then and there I decided I wanted to be a rice farmer.  

We spent the next few days hiking through and exploring every inch of the terraces.  Andrew was such a trooper.  Breaking his femur, hip, and pelvis only months before our trip, he spent the week hiking up those gigantic terrace steps with his cane.  I was thoroughly impressed seeing as I could barely make it up the hill to our hotel at night with two perfectly good legs.   

We loved Batad.  I mean how could you not with views like this.  And it didn't hurt that the people and the food were equally just as amazing.  Philippino pizza is top notch if you were wondering.  

Next up was the island of Palawan where we explored the beaches and smaller islands of El Nido. We decided to book a 3-day 2-night boat camping tour to see some of the best sites El Nido had to offer. 

El Nido was incredible.  Sandy white beaches and the clearest bluest water I have ever seen.  We spent all three of our days doing Andrew's very favorite activity... snorkeling.  It was quite literally his paradise.  

Originally I was a little worried about our boat camping tour.  It was far from luxury and extremely affordable.  Almost too affordable.  I began imaging us on a slightly sinking ship, eating nothing but rice every night for dinner, and roasting away in the hot hot sun.  But luckily our crew of three 17 year old boys named Mark, Cheeto, and Jonathan proved me completely wrong.   

From finding the best uninhabited beaches to camp on, to cooking gourmet meals every night, it was easy to love almost every minute of our little camping trip.  Except for the mosquitos.  Jungle mosquitos are probably the nastiest thing ever.  Oh and the man-eating rats.  Those were fun too.  Heard them scurrying around all night long.  So paradise with a side of mosquitos and rats but still absolutely amazing. 

Sorry not sorry it was too hot for pants.  A real life Sarah-and-Beth-never-took-off-our-fanny-packs moment.

Now here is the one downside of the Philippines.  Every adventure in paradise was sandwiched with an awful horrible day of traveling.  Sleeping in the gutter at three in the morning waiting for the airport to open was one of those less instagram worthy moments.  But it was all worth it right?  

Luckily, even after this wonderful restful night of sidewalk sleeping, the Philippines again proved itself to be even more amazing.  Just when we thought the snorkeling couldn't get any better we went to Moalboal.  A little diving town where we did some of the most incredible canyoneering, swam with the whale sharks, drank 20 cent mango shakes daily, and snorkeled our hearts out.

These creatures were magnificent.  Completely gentle but extremely terrifying because with one swipe of a fin you are toast.  Let's just say I got a little too close for comfort.  And by too close I mean a near head on collision.  Yikes. 

We ended our stay in the Philippines by visiting the Cebu ward which was truly one of my favorite experiences.  It was my first time attending church out of the country and it made me so dang excited to serve a mission when we are older.  The people were darling, so welcoming, and all told us to say hi to their missionary from Utah that converted them 15 years ago and live somewhere in West Valley, Draper, or Sandy.  Little do they know how large Utah is.  So if you converted someone in the Philippines a few years back big shout out to you!  They are still going strong in Cebu.  

Up next... Malaysia.  And if you haven't checked it out yet don't forget to take a look at Andrew's video capturing some of favorite moments from this crazy journey.  

How We Traveled 2 Months in Asia for $40

Andrew and I both graduated from the University of Utah in May.  Woot woot!  To celebrate, we decided to take two months off before we got real people jobs, and travel through South East Asia with our favorite traveling buddies, Sarah and Pat.  It was the trip of a lifetime and I will forever love the memories we made during those two months.  

Ever since we got home, people have asked two questions.  First, how was it?  Second, how the heck did you afford to travel for two months?  Now before you continue reading this you must know Asia was far from glamorous.  We chose Asia specifically because we could get by so cheap for two months. And by cheap, I mean somewhere around $30-40 a day per person. Asia is as cheap as it gets and we could have lived like kings -- but the more money you save, the more places you can go, so we are all about that budget life.  So for all of you that have asked, here are the top six ways we saved money while traveling around Asia as a couple.

  1.  Points for Flights:  This isn't a novel concept but was by far the biggest money saver.  Saved us over $2,000 dollars.  We used points to book our flight to Asia making our flight basically free.  HECK YA!  Now if you are into points you know that a flight to Asia requires a lot of points.  Fortunately Andrew spends a lot of money for his company and then gets it all back when a job is done.  Basically free points.  We also have started to churn credit cards (Pat is the expert on this), meaning we open multiple new cards, reach the minimum spend, and get all those extra free points.  Just takes a little bit of management to make sure we don’t ruin our credit score but so worth it. A good card to look into for this is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. 

  2.  Setting Budgets within the Budget:  We not only set our $5,000 trip budget per couple ($2,500 per person), but we set budgets within that budget.  We had daily budgets.  We had a nightly housing budget.  Dinner budgets, breakfast budgets, and unfortunately Andrew even set me a treat budget.  But the more budgets you have the less likely you are to splurge.

  3.  Keeping a Running Money Total:  Big shout out to Sarah for her running money total throughout our trip.  This allowed us to monitor how much we were spending on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.  This also helped us to decide which activities to splurge on and when it was time to save.

The tigers were SO WORTH THE SPLURGE.

And so were the elephants.  I could write a whole blog post about how much I LOVED the elephants.

  4.  Traveling in a Group of Four:  This was probably one of our bigger money savers.  If possible I highly recommend it.  Four is ideal because you fit in a taxi meaning the taxi price gets spilt four ways.  Four is also perfect for family rooms, which are so much cheaper than a private room and a little bit nicer than staying in the dorms.

  5.  Family Style Meals:  Three dishes spilt between the four of us lessened the cost of meals.  It also was a fabulous way to try all kinds of new dishes without worrying about ordering an inedible dish.  With three choices we were bound to get something decent.

  6.  Filtering Water:  When Sarah and Pat suggested it I was a little skeptical, but we use it for camping so why not for Asia?  Quick plug for my water filter… I love it.  It is efficient and works like a charm.  We’ve had it for over a year and haven’t gotten sick yet and we have filtered some pretty yucky water.  Anywho we saved tons of money because it eliminated the need to continually purchase bottled water.  Sure, some of the water tasted a little muddy and of course I absolutely loathed filtering at the end of the two months, but it was worth it. As a couple, this probably saved us around $300 over the two months we were traveling.

      And if you are wondering what that $2,500 got us, here is an awesome little video Andrew made documenting some of our favorite moments throughout the past two month.  

      Stay tuned for more highlights of each of the four countries we traveled too.  And if you also want to purchase a camping tool that will change your life click here and check out the best water filter eva.  

Honeymooning

Honeymoons…. they are quite honestly the best.  And if I could I would take at least five more of them.  There is nothing better than having an excuse to do nothing but just sit in the sun all week long.  And that is just what we did.

We started with two nights in Park City.  We stayed in the most fabulous hotel and to our surprise they upgraded our reservation (perks of being a newlywed couple) to a room with a personal Jacuzzi on a little balcony that overlooked the entire canyon.  It was better than I could ever imagine.  A full day of good food, laying out by the pool, and walks along main street.  Then we were off to Cabo.

Neither of us had ever been to Mexico.  And after one hour of feeling completely lost and slightly swindled I began to wondered why in the world we didn’t stay at an all-inclusive resort.  However... by the end of the week I was extremely happy we didn’t, because by not staying at a resort we were forced to actually get out of our comfort zone and explore the city.  A city full of incredible food, phenomenal people, and some of the most amazing sights.

One of our first excursions was to “Lover’s Beach,” one of the last beaches found on the Baja peninsula.  The beach can only be reached by boat.  So we bargained our way onto a glass bottom boat.  "Glass bottom boat" was an extremely deceiving name.  It's more like a "one-little-dirty-slit-of-window-you-maybe-see-three-fish-out-of-boat," but nonetheless I still loved every minute of it.  

The ride to the beach also included a quick tour of the famous arch.  It was stunning. 

On Lover's Beach I discovered my really odd love for every kind of living creature as I became completely ecstatic when we passed sea lion rock.  And when we ran into a woman with an iguana you cannot even imagine how excited I was.  I was even more thrilled when she let me hold it.

I "took one for the team" and watched our stuff while Andrew cliff jumped.  

Cliff jumping = not my thing.  Blue water and flawless beaches = totally my thing.

That night we ate at what became one of our very favorite restaurants,  “Mi Casa.”

I immediately fell in love with the atmosphere.  Hand painted chairs, flowers pouring in from the ceiling, and lanterns galore.  It was the little Mexican restaurant I had always imagined.  Andrew fell in love with the sauces.  Six different dipping sauces = one happy husband. 

Wednesday was scuba diving.  And yes, I was nervous the whole ride there.  First dive in the open water…. EEK.  But to my relief it turned out fabulous and I was of course obsessed with the thousands of living creatures we saw.  

Turns out I am super photogenic underwater… NOT… I promise I was actually loving it despite the look on my face.

The fish were EVERYWHERE.  And not the least bit shy.  They swam right up to us and most of the dive we found ourself swimming right along with the prettiest schools of fish you have ever seen.

The puffers were my very favorite.  I was OBSESSED with their wide eyes and lopsided bodies.  

And don't even get me started on the starfish.  SO NEAT.

Thursday was the only day that it was not 1203975234 million degrees.  In fact it was very cloudy and slightly rainy making it the perfect day to visit Flora Farm.

Flora's Farm was started by an American couple.  It is an all organic farm and restaurant located in literally the middle of nowhere.  But that is what makes it so magical.  An oasis of green in the middle of the dustiest of deserts.  

The food was TO DIE FOR.  Homemade butter, fresh bread, and hand grown vegetables.  I craved the lunch we had there the rest of the trip.   

SHRIMP RATATOUILLE 

and CARROT CAKE I couldn't get over  

Full of the BEST food, we nearly started crying when the waiter informed us that an older couple next to us had paid for our meal.  If they ever read this blog somehow THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!  

I loved the food so much I wanted to take it home and I nearly did when I stumbled upon their organic market.

If you are going to Cabo any day soon I HIGHLY recommend Flora's Farm.  SO GOOD.   

Early mornings and evenings were my favorite in Cabo.  Partly because the temperatures were actually bearable and partly because the views of the sunset and sunrise were breath taking. 

Not to mention the most delicious pastries we ate on our balcony every morning for breakfast.    

And that view from our balcony.  So fabulous.  

So cheers to our first adventure as newly weds

Can't wait to spend a lifetime with my very best friend

Canyoneering

This weekend we went to Capital Reef for a little engagement photo shoot session and as an added bonus we got to go CANYONEERING.  

If we are being honest, until this weekend I had absolutely no idea what "canyoneering" really meant.  And when I originally agreed to the trip I agreed because:  

A.  I wanted to be semi-warm while shooting engagements and somewhere down south sounded much warmer than the bipolar weather Salt Lake has to offer. 

B.  The term "canyoneering" just sounded really neat.  It sounded completely unlike your typical take-a-hike-in-the-mountains kind of adventure.  It sounded like a real exploration. And it was something totally NEW and foreign.  And lately… I am all about new.  

So when Sarah and Pat suggested we go…  I, of course, said... HECK YA. 

Canyoneering was everything I expected but nothing I had imagined all at the same time.  If that makes any sense at all.  Ultimately it was NEW.  With lots to learn.  But that's why I love new things.  Because new experiences means learning and quite honestly I love learning.  

It turned out being one of my favorite adventures yet.  So here's to Sarah and Pat for taking stellar engagements, planning a fabulous trip, and teaching me...  

TEN THINGS I DIDN'T KNOW WHEN I WAS A CANYONEERING NOOB:   

#1:  You don't repel.  You rappel.  All week I had been thinking we were going repelling… hahaha I kill myself sometimes. 

#2:  Your right hand must NEVER leave the rope.  Never ever ever.  Or you may very well die.  EEK.   Please note that right hand death grip on the rope below.  

#3:  The Seven Wives are seven slot canyons found in Capital Reef.  This weekend we did Wife #5 and Wife #3.  Although Wife #5 is supposed to be the prettiest slot canyon with a total of five rappels; Wife #3 was by far my favorite… Probably because it began with my very favorite rappel of all… 

the 200 footer. 

  

A M A Z I N G

#4:  Wife #3 is INCREDIBLE.  Seriously, it blew my mind.  200 feet of nothing but pure exhilaration.  It was incredible to be so high.  To take in views that very few other humans have ever had to the opportunity to see.  And to feel so insanely small.  

#5:  I may possibly also love Wife #3 so much because quite honestly it made me feel like I could conquer the world.  I mean I just descended 200 feet… what can't I do?  

I am INVINCIBLE.  

Until I remind myself of the incident that occurred in #6.  

#6:  I can rappel 200 feet.  No big deal.  But I have major meltdowns when asked to trust fall over small five foot crevices.  Shaking.  Pure terror.  Another one of those ridiculous-this-really-shouldn't-be-as-scary-as-I-am-making-it moments.  Where I ALMOST started begging to be left behind.  And stated "I just don't think I am cut out for canyoneering."  But luckily Andrew is super patient.  And super persistent.  And luckily Sarah and Pat only found the incident to be completely humorous.  So we all got over it… after fifteen minutes of coaxing from the world's best fiancé.  

  

#7:  I am now a huge a fan of canyoneering.  And totally cut out for it now that I overcame what we now call "Beth's Wedge." 

#8:  "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire is never a suitable trip theme song.  Even though Andrew insisted it was.  And sang it continually during the 48 hours.  

#9:  I am the luckiest.  Because in 44 short days I get to marry my best friend.  And not only do I get to marry the boy of my dreams, but I also get the added bonus of gaining lifetime adventure buddies to go on countless couple trips with.  

#10:  Space Team is probably one of my new favorite I-Phone games everrrr.  Sorry to our neighbors who we probably kept up all night.  We didn't mean to scream we just didn't want to get caught in a worm hole.  YOLO.