Les désavantages du positivisme!

Quand on me demande si le verre est à moitié plein ou à moitié vide, je répond, il est plein au complet: à moitié d'eau à moitié d'air.

Je suis certainement positif dans ma vie et pour ceux qui me connaissent, j'ai pas besoin d'expliquer, pour ceux qui me connaissent pas, c'est simple, chaque situation se doit d'avoir un côté positif, il s'agit juste de le trouver.

Mise en contexte terminée. J'ai reçu un courriel ce matin et je suis un peu beaucoup tombé en bas de ma chaise. C'est en général le type de courriel auquel tu ne t'attends pas et encore moins de l'autre côté du globe. Je vous cacherai pas que c'est le fun de lire ça. On m'offre un poste à temps plein! QUOI!!! Assis sur la plage avec un Rhum & Coke en main (oui oui j'ai lu le courriel à 11h et j'étais déjà en train de boire, c'est pas ma faute, les autres aussi voulaient boire) j'ai eu un petit rire. Pensez-vous vraiment que je vais me lever de ma chaise de plage pour aller travailler au froid! Ahhh, fou d'une poche comme diraient quelques uns!

Je perd un peu de temps sur le livre des faces, regarde les bateaux passer, déguste la chaleur, etc... et soudainement l'idée me revient. Wow un poste à temps, c'est trop cool, en plus c'est un boulot que j'adore faire. Ça serait trop cool top génial. J'adore mon boulot, j'apprécie autant voyager, que faire? Je suis devant le fait accompli que j'aime autant voyager que travailler. J'adore mon boulot, je pense sérieusement que je suis ultra chanceux de faire ce que je fais, entouré de gens extraordinaires, compétents et intéressants, alors pourquoi tourner le dos à cette opportunité.

Un instant. Ça fait deux mois que je voyage, j'ai rencontré des gens aussi intéressant, qui m'ont apporté autant et qui sont certainement eux aussi des chics personnes. (Gences de mon entourage, je vous aime encore, faut pas s'en faire) C'est un conflit de positivisme! Quand tout dans ta vie est intéressant, passionnant, éducatif, le choix de professions, activités, destinations, plats à manger, linge à porter devient tellement plus compliqué. Voir un cauchemar!!! Comment décider si je veux faire une profession trop cool ou une profession top génial? Si j'étais dans la situation j'hais ma job et je veux toujours voyager, ça serait tellement plus simple.

Certains pensent que je suis un peu trop intense côté bonheur/positivisme, je leur donne en parti raison. Pour moi la pluie de Vancouver, ce sont des goutes de bonheur... Pendant 2 mois, le ciel te couvre de bonheur. Pas mal non?

   

Donc, comment trouver un processus décisionnel pour assurer que chaque situation soit la moins pénible que possible? C'est-à-dire, ne pas être devant une décision et vouloir faire les deux. Bon, faut s'entendre, je ne suis pas à plaindre. Je crois juste que chacun a ses problèmes et pour moi, pour l'instant c'est exactement ça et c'est pas un grave problème parce qu'à chaque jour, la vie continue et je suis heureux. À suivre...

Port Barton

This place is by far, I think, a nicer place then El Nido. Here's why in very simple words. It's secluded, there's way less people and the beach is, well just a little part of paradise.

So Port Barton is this little village on the west coast of Palawan about 20km away from the main road. Don't get too excited! It takes about 1h30 to from the main road to Port Barton because it's only doable by 4x4, mega jeepney or motorcycle. And that's why there's not a lot of people going there.

From El Nido I've made my way to Port Barton with Yasmin and Florian to go spend new years eve. Certainly not the same kind of ambience that I would of found in El Nido but still quite fun. The last day in El Nido, I've wrote that we've made our way to Papaya beach but also to Greenview for the sunset and once again it was breath taking. Point of the story is that we've chatted with the owner that I can't remenber is name so he's called Darby because that's where he's from and he was telling us about is other resort in Port Barton and how he'll do the same buffet that he did on Christmas eve for New years eve! So we've booked in and so that's how we've spent new years eve. Eating once again a crazy good buffet! It was with Florian, Yasmin and another very nice couple.

There's not much to do in Port Barton but to enjoy yourself in this very small part of heaven!

If you go to Port Barton, try to make your way to El Nido before for transport logistics. It's quite simple and will save you a lot of trouble. Here's why. From El Nido you take a van and get dropped of at the Port Barton Junction. There you wait for the 11am 12 noon jeepney that will bring you in the jungle of Palawan. If you try it to do it the other way, you'll wait a long time at the junction for a van that won't be full that goes up to El Nido.

-Try the cornflakes bowl at Jambalaya
-Bamboo is affordable to eat
-There's a really nice eatery called, if my memory's good, Cagayan. Ask around they know it
-Take a day to walk to white beach. It's nice
-A tour in Port Barton is really affordable

Saying goodbye

I've been travelling for a while now and saying goodbye is always hard and painful. Especially after spending such a great and intense time. Laura, Sofia and Joonas had to leave on the 28th in the morning to make their way to the next destination. We were all having a good time at the bar listening to great live music and around 10pm the Finns got up and said: It's time for us to go! So we all got up, shake hands, hug, kisses, good word, farewell my friends, more then welcome if you ever come by, safe travels and so on. It lasted about 5 minutes, no tears, only smiles and a profound feeling. Feeling of what, I'm still trying to figure out what it is.

Travel friendships are so intense, so real and usually quite short. Every travellers knows there will be many good friends along the journey and are open to it. You meet people in a matter of seconds, in a matter of hour you know pretty much everthing, and then you spend a couple of days with those amazing people and it will end the same way it started. As simple as life goes on.

But this time it was still hard to see them go so Yasmin, Florian and me decided it was time for another round plus Tequila shooters to kill the pain. Seeing our good friends leave just like brought the mood down and  we where not about to let that happen. Well it did worked out and so the night went on.

I certainly think that I won't find many group of 6 people so tight but I can certainly hope.

This situation certainly bring up the question why aren't we able to socialize with people back home? Are we scared of social contacts, rejection or something like that? Let me explain how I've meet these people and if you compare those situation to our normal living environment, it's quite different. Laura: I've meet her at the travel office of Sagada. Waiting in line behind her, I've noticed she was by herself so I just said: Hey, you're travelling alone? Want to spend the day with me? Well it ended up being 4 days plus a week!
Sofia & Joonas: I made my way to the hostel Laura told me to go. I drop my stuff and so on. I see this guy coming up the stair. He says to me: Are you Laura's friend. Indeed I am. Well I'm Joonas (shake hands) I'm Antoine, pleasure.
Florian & Yasmin: I was walking along a path with two other people and I saw this couple walking in the same diretion. Hey guys, where are ou going? We don't know we're just walking. Cool. And so we've walked together! As simple as that.

I personnaly don't think those situation would apply at home, but because I'm an optimist in life, I'll try back home!

To Laura, Sofia, Joonas, Yasmin and Florian, thanks for the amazing time, safe travels and farewell. 

Antoine

El Nido & great friendship

After the motorcycle saga, I did mak my way to El Nido by van and remeet with Laura, that I've meet in Sagada. But before meeting with her, I took a walk to go discover El Nido with the Italian dude and the Chinese girl. On that walk, we've meet with a German couple, which I'm now making my way to Port Barton to. I also meet with a Finnish couple who were travelling with Laura for the last two weeks! Well group chemistry with the fins, the german andd Laura was so great to we ended up spending, the six of us, four days together, breakfast to sleep we were together and did amazing things.

First off was the Tour A which is Island hoping. Really nice. Beautiful beaches, really good meal, and fun times. But most of all, great snorkeling. Christmas Eve was spent with those guys. Amazing buffet, roasted pork, chicken, beef, shrimps, squid, fish, rice, veggies somewhere for a whopping 350php! Christmas day was spent Island hoping 9 (again). Being so exhausted, on the 26th it was time to go to the beach and relax. Excellent evening listening to live music almost on the beach!

Basically, El Nido was either beach or Island hoping. Really nice for Christmas and turning my attention away from not being at home!

The last bit of El Nido was going to a beach called Papaya beach. We wanted to go to a beach that everyone talks about: 7 commando beach. So we've looked around for option how to get there. We got a quote by the agencies that was around 1500 php. Woah, I understand we are tourist but there's a limit to being ripped off. So we made our way to the Corong Corong beach where there's a ton of fisherman (with boats) and we've asked around, 600 php and we were able to negociate at 500 php. That's more like it. So in a small bangka, we've made our way to 7 commando beach but the fisherman, a really nice man, proposed that we should go to the adjacent beach. Well it was paradise. Alone on a 500 metres beach, it was perfect. It was certainly romantic for the couple, but for me it was just really nice!!! :) Me and Florian swimmed to 7 commandos beach and it was so packed with tourists. Around 100 people on this beach that wasn't really bigger than the one we were on! That was instant satisfaction. We paid less for more!

El Nido was a place of great friendships. A instant family which I spent christmas with. The British: Laura, the Fins: Joonas and Sofia and the German: Florian and Yasmin. It was amzingly brillant.

Tips for El Nido

- La Banane is a new hostel backpackers oriented. If you're travelling alone, it's the place to go.
- Friendly's Inn is a nice, quiet and clean place with affordable rooms if you're travelling with a partner
- The best place to see the sunset is at the Greenviews resort at Corong Corong beach
- There's no ATM and there's only the art cafe that will do Credit card cash advance for 8%. Bring a lot of money.
- Las Cabanas beach is really nice to go. Trycicle driver WILL rip you off to go there.
- Everything is more expensive in El Nido so buy your soap, tooth paste and so on before arriving.
- Accomodations that aren't on the beach are way cheaper.
- If you do tour A-B-C-D make sure the mask/tuba/fins are included, otherwise your tour could cost 150 php more!
- Tours: always try to go on the smaller boats. 6-9 pax.