Still on Koh Phang Gan and still no sunshine and lots of wind … it is forecast to stay this way for the next week as well ….. I am trying to just chill out and stop myself from drinking as much as Louise and Ian … I still can’t exercise, so don’t I want to turn into a fatty :).

In spite of what I am outlining below, I am still feeling happy, which is good!  The fact I am still happy, has actually made me happier, in spite of not feeling at all well.

I worked out that in my month in The Philippines, I’ve only had 6 days surfing and about the same in the sunshine.

I have been in Manila for 4 days, as there was no point staying in Siargao if my cracked ribs meant I couldn’t surf.  I started chatting to a lady on Tinder a few weeks ago and decided to come and see her in Manila.  I’m in an apartment I found on Airbnb, which has a very hard bed.  When I lie on the bed, it puts a lot of pressure on my ribcage which hurts and my ribs have not been healing.  Last night I had about 2 hours sleep and spent a lot of the night sitting up to protect my ribs.

When I got up, I immediately had stomach pains and have had bad diarrhoea all day.  I am due to go to meet Louise in Thailand tomorrow evening and I logged on to my itinerary, only to realise that I have booked a hotel for the night in Bangkok , that is next to a different airport from the one I am flying into and out of to Koh Samui the next day. I contacted the hotel and they won’t change the date of my booking to the New Year, when i return to Bangkok and actually do fly from the airport I won’t be near tomorrow evening, so I have lost my money.

The icing on the cake is that I was due to go out this evening with the lady I met on Tinder.  She was actually going to stay at my apartment for the night (for the 1st time) and go to work from here in the morning.  However, due to my current condition, I’ve had to cancel!

It’s one thing after another at present, but as I said at the beginning of this post, I actually feel pretty happy about everything.   The only thing I can put this down to is my change in mindset as a result of the meditation I have been doing.  I recommend www.headspace.com to everyone.

I am looking forward to seeing Louise in Thailand for Christmas  and hopefully I’ll feel better very soon and can start relaxing and get some sun and do some exercise again.

I went on  tour of Siargao on my motorbike yesterday and saw some of the rural areas, where not many tourists go.  A great trip.

I set off on the busy road.

Rode passed the 2nd biggest mangrove in the philippines

Water buffalo that had been in the water ‘and mud’.

2 friends enjoying a meal together

I’m not sure this lot will last beyond Xmas day.

Ready for Sunday’s cock fight.

Pork is the favourite food in the Philippines

This photo sums up the happy Philippino people

High street store

Jeepney

Cute kids curious about what I was doing in their village.

I had the stitches taken out of my head a week ago, but could still feel what seems to be stitches in the 2 cuts, so I went back to the hospital today.  Lucky I did, as they found 3 more stitches that they’d overlooked.  They took them out, but when I was showering this evening, I think I found another one still in place, so I will try to get back to the hospital again, so they can check.

Just had a surf and enjoying a nice cold beer

I got back in the water today for the first time in 2 weeks.  I feel very relieved.

Well, the storm has passed and things are getting back to normal.  After 3 boring days in a hotel in Cebu, I am at the airport, waiting for a flight back to the lovely island of Siargao.  Surfing here I come … I can’t wait. Even the sun is shining this morning.

Got back to Siargao yesterday and had my stitches out.  Then I found out that there’s a huge typhoon coming straight to where I am.  I’m trying to get a flight out tomorrow as my room is only about 20 metres from the water and a metre above it … oh dear. This is the copy from a web site:

I thought it would be a good idea to go to manila for a long weekend, as I can’t surf and have had enough of sitting around …. what an adventure!

We had a tropical storm for 2 days and all of the boats off the island to the Island where planes go to Manila from have been cancelled.  I got up at 4am this morning to get the 5am ferry.  As there were no boats for 2 days, both the 5am and 6am ferries were fully booked.  The next ferry was at 10am, which was too late for me to catch my flight.   Therefore, as I had paid for my return flight and 3 days in a swanky hotel in Manila, I wanted to go.  I had to hire my own private boat, which took me to a different port than the ferry, from where I got a van (minibus that runs as a bus) and had to pay the driver not to stop to collect anyone, so I would make it to the airport in time.  He pelted along the road hooting his horn and screeching around the bends, I was shitting myself.

However, I made it and am now sitting in departures … I hope the weekend is worth the effort … we’ll see!

I went out for a surf this morning and head butted the reef when diving through a wave.  I’ve just got back from the hospital … Loads of internal stitches and the doctor said it is too deep for the external stitches at the moment.

Not very clever

I lost and the reef won

They had me in stitches