My Guide to Siargao Island, Philippines

Before I begin to talk about all my memories I've made here. I will start with talking you through the true vibes of Siargao. We arrived by plane, which was lucky as the airport had only recently finished from being built in February 2017, which was just a few months before we landed. The Simplicity hits you soon as you step foot outside the air conditioned plane, with a great task already ahead of you, it begins with helping to unload your own baggage off the plane. No security checks and we were straight through to the unorganised taxi rank. Unknowing where to go a man approached us saying two words: 'General Luna'. Fortunately this was exactly where we were wanting to head, the most touristy part of Siargao. If this doesn't happen to you just ask around and don't pay any more than 300P per head.

Our accommodation was still unconfirmed from air bnb and hoping we could just turn up, we were on our way. I noticed this happens a lot here so they don't want to pay air bnb the 3% from the booking, so don't be frightened to simply turn up. You'll soon discover how this island functions.

Getting around

Transportation on this island is not something they have indulged in building at all. So I don't recommend visiting unless you're adventurous enough to ride a moped by yourself with no helmets. If you've been travelling in South East Asia this probably isn't an unfamiliar site. The most brilliant but perculia part you will experience is when your moped runs out of fuel and you need to fill up. Don't worry you can get fuel everywhere and anywhere. Most people sell it from their own homes in their front yard. 1 litre Coca Cola glass bottle, filled with a fizzing red liquid which is supposedly gasoline is all you need. Charging between 35-45P, it looks so funny pouring pop into your bike but it's how you get by.

The only other way is to have a wad of cash to spread out between tricycle taxi drivers which will be costly. Ranging from 400-1,500P depending where you are going. It could even mount to 2,000 if your travelling the lengths of the island, so this is not recommended.



What To Do- The Ugly, The Bad and The Good.

Everyone is going to have their own unique to do list whilst being on the island.
Most people would start with the good and then go on to explain the bad and the ugly afterwards, but I want my readers to be totally aware of what does go on here.

The Ugly

For you personally seeing a cock fight might be on your list but I see that as a disgusting sport, which I will happily explain why I see it as that. Many travellers have asked if I wanted to join them on attending this event, I express my views and they come back to me saying "But it's a tradition". You know what, tradition doesn't mean it's right. It's a tradition in Africa for female mutilation to take place, it's wrong hugely but it's tradition. You just wouldn't support it? But why when cruelty is an act performed on animals it's suddenly completely different. I'm not saying that animals and humans are equal, but cruelty IS equal regardless what it's done on. I don't see bounds of people wavering around bets on which girl is hurt more through the unwanted surgery of female mutilation, so why are bounds of people wavering around bets on which chicken is unwittingly made to fight to cause pain, for them both to die as a final result of the sport. Both cruelty. Both inhumane. Both unwanted, yet humans continue to support both of them anyway.

When I meet travellers discussing the cock fight they attended they could only bare to watch for maximum 20 minutes as its to 'painful' to watch. So even if you are an enthusiast in seeing this tradition take place (in my eyes a madman with limited morals) most people have told me it's not worth the watch. Which I could easily of summed up but don't take it from me take it from the stories the other travellers who attended and told me.

I thought I'd update this as I'd also been doing some bible studying specifically on treatment of animals and it actually states it hugely displeases God to see his animals suffer for entertainment. If you are a Christian and reading this I expect you to really consider that these are gods animals suffering; his creation. Yes he is even more upset when us humans suffer but he equally is upset nevertheless when his animals do too, so therefore supporting it is sinful. So be careful if you want or have attended such events; it displeases your father, my father, our creator.

The Bad

Enough talk of animal cruelty, moving from the ugly to the bad. A pointer to take note of is come to the island healthy as their is one hospital on the island which can do a basic stitch on you and prescribe no antibiotics for the pain. So if you are unwell stay where you are to properly recover. If you are in a crash or something horrific happens to you whilst your staying here you will have to wait in whatever stare you are in, (maybe a limb piercing through your skin) at the docks in Dapa to get a 2-3 hour ferry journey to Surigao and then get a second ferry journey lasting 4-5 hours to Cubo, where there is medical help. So I suggest staying as safe as you can and leaving the dangerous rebel inside of you at home.

This is also the same for any animals you may bring with you, don't. There is one or two pet food suppliers on the island where dry food is the only thing available. There is no vets, one veterinary assistant that's if you're lucky to find her.

The Good - My Top 5 Guide of Things to Discover is Siargao

Finally. You've made it to the happy part of this post. Now you've swamped through the worst this island provides hopefully without putting you off, you can now fixate your gaze to paradise. Which this island most certainly is. It is the most beautiful place I've visited for beach bums, wave thrilling surfers and simple time passers by. Here's my list of Top 5 things to do here is Siargao:

1. The beaches. I know that the beach may not sound exciting, especially to those who surf but honestly there are so many parts of the coastline you can discover for yourself. One of my favourite beach discoveries I'll share with you was Doot Beach or United Beach. Doot beach is supposively a private beach and you will have to just ignore the trespassing signs. I did see a few others who had the same idea as me, to just go through. It's worth the risk not that there is a risk as no police officer is about to tell you otherwise. It's pure paradise, no reefs to look at but nice blue swimming water with great sunbathing spots. United beach is directly opposite with more of a drive to get to, but you're not trespassing so it's busier, and known to the public.



2. The reefs. I have a huge place in my heart for marine animals, I always have done. It grew especially when I was 10 years old and my parents got me a goldfish for my birthday, the unexplainable life under water fascinated me, and to this day still does. Whether you like to get in the water and experience it up close and personal or whether you want to sit and observe from above the rock pools. Siargao has the best of both. The best place to see the reefs is blue lagoon. You have to get a 30-45 min boat ride from Del Carmen to the lagoon, and the loud noise from the boat almost deafening you when getting off is most certainly worth it. Here is also the best paddle boarding, for a price of 200P an hour it's great transportation where you can take yourself around the limestone rocks. If you're lucky you will also spot the stingless jellyfish and the bright blue star fish!

3. Third on my list is island hopping. Go to general Luna for this, you can go private if you get a bunch of travellers together or go via a hostel. If you want to go via a hostel go via Kermit or bravo every Tuesday and Thursday you have the opportunity to link up with others and go to 3 islands. These islands include: naked island,... To pop your bubble there is no naked people on naked island, it's literally a bare island, more like a Sandhill with nothing growing on it, so lather yourself up in sunblock. Going privately costs similar to going with Kermit so ultimately it's your choice and in your hands. I find if you've found some great people go privately then you have no time limit on each island.

4. Siargao is a surfing Mecca for those who are into the sport, so of course this was going to be on my list. One of my surf discoveries were: 'Secret Spot' If you're into surfing I would try find a local who can not just tell you but take you to where 'Secret Spot' is. It's a unknown beach which you could probably have guessed by the name and only very few people know if it, so you may have to talk around the locals to find someone who knows it. Expect to travel a good 20 mins by moped (going fast) and then trekking your surfboard through a good 10 minute walk of the wild forest until you reach the small bay. This bay is great for beginners and intermediates, or surfers who just want less people in the ocean with them. The reason I made this number 4 is because I found online they bigged up the surf too much. Before coming here I'd been to surfers corner, South Africa so if you're used to Hawaii or anything similar you may be slightly disappointed. You have to get boats out to the good surf, and the swell usually isn't as great in comparison to other spots in the world.

5. Last but not least is the drives. In hope that you've easily hired a moped, you can drive endlessly, finding beautiful views to just hop off at and take in. The fuel is dead cheap so this is a great activity to do out here, and don't worry if you haven't ever driven a moped before because this is a great practicing spot, the roads aren't busy and I never once saw an accident. If you've visited places like Thailand, imagine that but with 50% less traffic, and Thailand isn't even that busy. If you want to go fast, you can the roads are great for going 100-120kph with no bumps that will throw you off, or if you want to cruise along you can. With endless rice fields and coconut trees to see across the whole horizon, it's great for discovery.

Day Three Grace City Fellowship Youth Camp

Day three

This final day really was pursued filipeano style. I know this because the schedule wasn't stuck to, in the slightest. The day was suppose to begin at 7am with a prayer meeting, and when I awoke at 9am realising everyone in my room was still getting ready,I knew I had all the time in the world. However worried I had missed breakfast at 8:30am I still continued to get ready at a fast pace just in case. I hoped by this point I had got across to the reader how much I cared about my stomach and that eating was highly important to me, as I've insinuatingly mentioned it's my favourite part of the day.

Breakfast hadn't begun yet so I had time to go to a quiet corner and have my own prayer session. I was sharing my testimony in a few hours so my prayers were predominately based around calming my nerves and speaking from Gods mouth and not my own. I also wrote basic notes of my testimony as there is a lot too it, to aid me on stage.

We all ate and at this point there were no vegetables left or anything else that was vegetarian so rice it was. I quickly gobbled it down and we all gathered in our normal meeting hall, for one of the last times. The last session, session 6 was based on sonship, the teach was delivered by Hannah's dad, he is great speaker a great God gift given to him. He was re-emphasising to know our identity stands in Christ alone, and that we all have come to be sons and daughters of Christ. After he spoke he welcomed me to stage, throughout his whole teach my nerves were winding up inside of me, but strangely enough soon as I began walking down the aisle to the microphone all my nerves vanished I was relieved God was listening to my prayers.

On a separate post I'll get round to posting my testimony in hope to inspire others in their steadfast relationship with Jesus.

LunchTime again but my enthusiasm was less knowing it was another dish of plain rice. Then it was the strenuous task of photo taking this went on for literally hours. I felt like we then waited even longer then for the bus to take us back to lagro, Quezon City. The bus was booked to arrive at the camp at 2.. It arrived at 5pm. No one seemed bothered other than Dan and I, but then again they are all used to the filipeano style of being famously late.

Day Two of Grace City Fellowship Youth Camp

Day Two

When waking up this morning, I don't think half the campers really knew what God had in store for them, I certainly didn't. Today was going to be a life changing day for half of the camp, a day they would remember for the rest of their lives. Every day started at 8am with morning prayer, it's such a wonderful way to start the day. I really have learnt the vital importance of preparing yourself for the day with Christ, you have no idea what you're going to face during the day and by preparing yourself in the morning 'you can do anything with Christ who strengthens me' Philippians. I want to make it a target of mine to read my bible in the morning, or if I really don't have time have a decent prayer and listening session, this will help anyone who wants guidance in their lives.

After morning prayer we all gathered for breakfast which was a very Asian breakfast; tofu, rice and vegetables. I was so happy when I saw tofu I really thought I would be living of chopsuey for every meal. I really noticed how in England how we live with such urgency, every country I visit they are all much more relaxed with timings and trying to achieve perfection. I think I can definitely learn a thing or two about having a more relaxed life, it helps you gain in patience I thought I was a patient person until it would wind me up not sticking to schedule. Breakfast was over and it was time for our daily morning praise and worship session. I love worshipping it's one of my favourite activities, I really connect to the holy spirit when worshipping and God can really drum truths into you through worship, which is what we all need in a world full of lies and diecet.

Our third session of the camp was Prayer, this was lead by Juliana another Dubai church member. She is such a motherly figure and it was a blessing to have her come over. She'd been waiting for a chance to teach in Philippines and share her testimony which was an amazing story, to sum it up in just a few words she went from riches to rags and her family was nearly all jailed, but through this she found Jesus and shone the light to the rest of her family. Her testimony related to her talk on Prayer, it showed me the importance of never stop praying for salvation for your friends and family because you never know Gods perfect timing.

This is something I first started praying when I turned Christian 2 years ago I wanted to rejoice with my family and share with them the love of Christ, after a year and a bit I gave up. I also learnt that I need to show a much better Christian example to them, when I return I hope they notice a big change in me and I won't give up on praying for them, they are my life my family I don't know where I'd be without them so I can only want them to have salvation more and more, and know how much they are loved.

The time had come round again, lunchtime yum! After lunch we had games and team building activities. I have not experienced games like it. We went on a group river hike where we all held hands and had to make our way up river. It symbolised if we did it alone it would not be possible but because we had our church friends helping us we can get through any current. We then Trekked to the top of this hill where sugar cane was growing. I found a shy plant, a plant that has always fascinated me, when you touch them all the leafs close I love seeing moving nature; it's awesome.

It was 6pm and time again for our second worship session of the day. We then had a teaching on who is Christ, which was taught by Hannah. She said something that really resonated with me. If Christ was insignificant, your reborn life wouldn't reflect a change, so if God was like paper and you dropped the paper onto water, it would float and the water would remain unchanged. However, Christ is so significant he is like a rock, once thrown into the water it all splashed and totally shakes. God shakes our universe, you just have to allow the rock to be thrown, and you won't be disappointed.

We had a double session, Pastor Kim taught the second session which was on Salvation. The preach also indulged straight into worship afterwards. This worship session was like no other. We worshipped over the preaching, and the Holy Spirit was phenomenal roaring like a lion spreading through the people. Everyone started to get more energetic, and saying their praises to God at the tops of their lungs. I was over Joyed to see everyone fixating their eyes to Jesus, Kim said rush to the front if you want to give you lives to Jesus. I saw all the people who I'd spent my time with in the camp, all who were non-believers courageously go to the front in ore of what they were experiencing. I was so blessed when I saw my best friend commit his life to his loving father, I burst into tears of joy and my months of praying about this camp, praying that there would be a moment on our travels where this would happen; God never disappoints.

The worship went on and on and I saw people getting released of strong holds, I saw children lifting their hands high, everyone dancing with energy I've never seen before. Hours passed and it still continued it was a truly amazing experience and sight to see; transformation. All these peoples journeys have just began but it'll be the most fantastic journey yet. The worship session started at 6pm and went on till 9:30pm when the final song was sung.

Straight afterwards a bonfire was lit, however I was too hungry so I went straight to get myself some rice as dinner had been skipped due to the overwhelming worship. That evening I went back to my room still singing songs of praise with the biggest grin on my face, my church family coming up to me saying did you see your friend, with the same amount of joy in their hearts as mine. I can't ever express what experiencing the Holy Spirit is like as it's something out of this world, yet on this world for us all to experience. I can never do justice through adjectives and making sentences of what the Holy Spirit is truly like, but I can say this much it is a wondrous treasure on this world; a remarkable encounter of God.

Grace City Fellowship Youth Camp 2017

Day One

A moment I'd been waiting for has finally arrived; the youth camp. The previous night I had stayed at redwoods with my Dubai family, I stayed with Hannah and her dad, prim rose and Juliana. I was fortunate I could stay there as it was near the church, unlike my last hostel. Dan was lucky too he was staying at the church with some of the other boys in the youth. I considered it lucky as it meant he could have more of a lie in, but then he didn't have any comfort as he was on he hard floor, so don't know how well the quality of sleep would have been. It was a late finish and an early start, we all went to bed at midnight and had to wake up at 2:45am for the youth camp. Which in my eyes was way to early, we weren't getting picked up until 4:30am, therefore I wanted to wake up at 3:30am but as I was sleeping on the sofa I could only wake up when everyone else did.

The journey

When we woke up on the 7th April we all got ready and got a lift from Leo to the church, he is known as the taxi driver for the church. He was also the person who picked Dan and I up from the airport at 4:30am; bless him. We were all ready by 4:15am and were collected on time. When we arrived at the church at 5am I was expected the coach to be there relatively soon after arrival. However, the coaches arrived late at about 6/6:30am, which meant we were behind schedule. When we all eventually got on the coaches, as it seemed there was no sense of urgency, I fell asleep missing out on most of the lovely scenery. I told Leo who sat next to me on the coach to wake me up if there was anything really worthwhile seeing. He woke me up for central Manila which was meant to be like the London of Philippines, and I was awoken to see the volcano. I then swiftly fell back asleep.

Finally, we had arrived! My first impressions were 'what a beautiful camp'. I later found out it was a camp specifically run by Christians who encourage Christian retreats here, it is called the garden of the forest. The name perfectly describes the camp, with wild flowers growing from the treetops all the way to the floor, and lovely intricate decorations, as you would have in your own garden. The layout was really nice too with stone pathways and big community areas, a perfect location.

Arrival

As we were late on arriving we went straight into the hall and got assigned groups and tents or dorms. Fortunately, I was in a dorm shared with 20 people and I was placed in group 'Unity'. Each group had a hand made flag which were so pretty, the groups we were placed in would be the people we sat with in the hall. Our next scheduled event was Lunch, my favourite part. On a down side though the chefs did not know how to cater for vegetarians, some of the foods were cooked with chicken fat, vegetarians would have a riot if it were England.

Then it was our first worshiping session at the camp, I love how filipeanos worship they have so much energy. We then had a teaching about the bible which was lead by prim rose from Dubai church, it really makes me reflect how much more I need to read the word of God. (I lost my bible in Thailand so that doesn't help, have to rely on the bible app on my iPad now.) We then played games and had our second teaching, the topic was 'What is God like?' teaching us the characters of God and the importance of knowing our creator.

At 8pm we had dinner and then we had until 10pm to relax but I was in bed and asleep by 9pm!
End of day one.

Our Journey to the Philippines

Hello Philippines! Let me start with our flight. What a panic, we were flying with a really budget airline called tiger air and the cheapness reflected in the service. I was warned by trip advisor reviews but I didn't listen. We arrived at the check in desk, and I didn't have my head fully screwed on, as the staff asked if we had any return flights out of the Philippines. I should have just replied saying yes, even though we didn't have flights out of Philippines it wouldn't have made a difference, as passport control never ask. However, Dan and I both replied saying no, and the staff immediately said you won't be checking in with us unless you have flights out of the country.

Frustrated I wanted to back my valid points up as it said this no where on the government website and that it wasn't a requirement, but they were not having any of it. With only 50 minutes until our flight took off we had to rush and book tickets using the airlines terribly wifi from Philippines to Bali. They also then tried to charge for baggage I had already paid for, but again they weren't having it yet again, so we had to pay £60 which is a lot to just check in one baggage! I will be leaving them a terrible review and kept my receipt so I can hopefully claim back my expenses. At least I wasn't having the problems a girl next to me was having with them, they weren't allowing her on the flight at all for having too much baggage, so she missed the flight.

With flights to Bali booked, we rushed through security to then find out our plane was delayed. This concerned us more than usual as we had a connecting flight to catch in Singapore. Fortunately it worked out okay. When we arrived at Singapore airport it was like arriving into royalty. The airport is the nicest most luxurious I've ever seen with amazing water features with koi fish, all the way to western styled toilets! Toilets are almost a whole other blog post too talk about, let's say some are very basic with no flush or seats. If you are ever stopping at this airport make sure you've left enough time and pack a bikini because they have a rooftop pool and sauna room. They also have a butterfly garden house and a cinema! What more could you want I wouldn't even want to leave the airport.

Anyway moving on, we had a Starbucks at Singapore this is somewhere I always forget have good food. Even though it's expensive, it's worth it after being on a diet of rice and vegetables, we indulged into two spinach quiches yum!

5 hours later and we were here, 4:15am local time. We arrived half an hour earlier than expected, which is definitely unlike tiger air. We had a church member meeting us at the airport, Leo is the known taxi driver for the church; God bless him. Dan and I were booked to stay at the happy turtle hostel in Quezon City, we were so tired when we arrived we went straight to sleep.

Last Few Days of Thailand

My last few days in Phuket, Thailand was spent back at our first stop, Patong beach. We didn't really do much here. We stayed at a different hostel from our first choice as I wanted to have a decent sleep. Our previous hostel Patong backpacker served us well but the rooms were noisy at night as it was just off of Bangla Road, the strip of Phuket. Boy I was wrong thinking I would get a good sleep in this new hostel. It wasn't noisy which was a nice change for Patong, but the mattresses were like sleeping on planks of wood. They were similar to the hospital beds which I experienced. No wonder NHS hospitals in England are always full, we make our beds too comfy for the sick, hospitals out here were very quiet. Maybe the expense of the also adds to that factor.

When we arrived at out hostel I was overwhelmed with cuteness as they owned a husky puppy. The puppies name was cola and it had adorable blue eyes with a white tip on her tail. She instantly loved Dan and I. Most of our downtime at the hostel I spent cuddling the little excited ball of fluff. She was full of energy and teething, so she wanted to carefully bite you to wear down those baby teeth of hers. Cola was a new addition to the family and they had only owned her a mere couple of weeks. It was evident it was their first time looking after animals. They needed to learn a huge amount more about caring for dogs. They handled her incorrectly, fed her the wrong diet and they didn't have constant water out for her. This all changed when I arrived I taught them how to care for a dog, which was much needed.

On our second day in the hostel, I had just finished getting ready for the day ahead and sudden to our shock we heard an awful cry of pain. I instantly rushed to the balcony to see what it was all about, I saw the owner hit cola to stop her from crying. My heart started racing as her cries continued, this wasn't right and it was worst that they tried to quiet her when she was only letting us know she was in pain. I ran downstairs, she was my baby already, and I loved her. I saw her owner holding her (fairly badly) and one of her legs were flopping. I asked what happened even though I had already guessed as I saw her shouting at a man, and too right aswell. A taxi had run over her leg. May I take you back a few steps, this hostel is on a dead end road with very very little traffic. It was surprising that out of all the places to have a crash or incident that it was here. The owner of cola was furious at the taxi driver, he took no responsibility for the accident, didn't apologise or even show any remorse or even apologise for that matter.

Cola was rushed instantly to the nearest vet. After all the distress, we decided to calm ourselves with a nice trip to the beach. When we returned back to the hostel cola was still not back. Worried, I wondered if it needed operating and maybe was more serious. Half an hour after being back at the hostel and waiting downstairs for her to come home, she did. However, she was in a cone of shame, drugged up and her back leg totally plastered in a cast. Bless her the little fighter that she was she didn't let this stop her from playing, but Dan and I were encouraging her to rest.

3 days we spent here until Grace and George arrived. Grace arrived saying I need to go to hospital, those were almost her first words to me; not another disaster I thought. The night before coming to Patong she had fallen with a glass bottle in her hand, which had shattered and gone into her finger; cutting it deep. She had to have it redressed daily, luckily we weren't too far from the local hospital. 6 or 7 stitches she had in total, not what you want, especially when arriving at your first beach area. Her trying to swim was a little entertaining for others as she wrapped plastic bags round it, in order to prevent it from getting wet.

Unfortunately when grace and George arrived we were due rain everyday. We managed to spend one day at the beach the entire time we were with them, where grace badly burnt herself. But the disasters didn't end there. One evening we went out for a couple drinks nothing too much, we decided to play a game of beer pong. It was dans turn he threw the ping pong ball and missed, it had bounced and landed underneath the bar. I went to get it and as I came up, I smashed my head on the bar. Totally disorientated I didn't feel right I let grace take my next three or four goes and my vision still hadn't returned to normal. That's when I got concussion. Typical me, especially as I'm someone who has a great fear of head injuries. I put an ice cube on it as I thought it would swell a lot that's when I noticed the ice cube had blood on it, I had cut my head open. I asked George to take a photo, even though everyone was saying it was small I had to see for myself.

An inch long cut and a few millimetres wide, not so bad. I didn't want to use my insurance again as it was only a cut so I got grace to do some hair stitches, which involve using the hair to pull the skin back together. 3 of these and I was ready to continue playing. This is hopefully the end of any disasters.

On our last night together we went out for some street food. I ordered my usual stir fried vegetables, rice and Spring rolls. The stir fry ended up being cooked in oyster sauce, which is like 10-20% oyster, so I couldn't have that just ate my rice and rolls. Dan ordered some macaroni cheers which ended up not to be macaroni cheese at all, he had a funny stomach so his weird pasta probably wasn't the best choice. We said goodbye to George and grace who continue onto Phi Phi island, it was a lovely way to finish Thailand. Philippines here we come.

Why Travelling is Good for the Soul!

Good movies often set the bar real high for real life. Moana the new Disney film captures the concept perfectly, escaping your home town for something with more adventure. Home Alone, also creating joyous moments, in the comfort of your own house. Some of you may want something in between the two, to kick start your journey. I found Moana fitted my description the best, a story I will attempt to capture in my own life for the rest of it. Don't be to frightened to step beyond the shores you know so well.


In my adult life, I find myself constantly wondering of the “S” word – settling. As a kid, you are constantly stimulated with little adventures mostly of your own making. Strangely a lot of them are simple memories but memories that fill you with such excitement, even if it was just raiding your friends treat cupboard without trying to get noticed by their mum. Or playing hide and seek with a big group of people and almost giggling but having to keep quiet at the same time because your suppose to be hiding. Every tiny thing holds a sense of wonder and interest and possibility, then you grow up and that feeling numbs out a bit. Actually, a lot of feelings do that.

It’s hard to capture that super intense feeling of the first time you had this feeling. It has taken me a while to realise that adventuring doesn’t go away, it might just require bigger picture adventures and usage of holiday, taking it off of work in order to get the job done. It’s important to your creative mind as well as your heart to transport yourself to another world regularly, no matter where the rest of your life is – whether that be tied up in a clean and pretty bow or in complete disarray. Mine probably falls somewhere in the middle.

Although I’d like to think that I would plan adventures alone, it helps to find a few good travel buddies, and a good travel buddy is harder to find than one would think. One of the most scariest things is to step out of your comfort zone, and it often requires a little push from your parents or loved ones. Once your out there you notice why they pushed you, maybe wondering why they didn't give you the shove beforehand, or why you didn't give it to yourself. Now you're almost there it is the time to discover the world for yourself.

A month ago I left for maybe my most adventurous trip yet, travelling South East Asia. Starting with Thailand and ending up in Bali. I live for the hardships of travel as much as the sweet spots, and there are usually many of each. The thrill of “have we got enough petrol in our mopeds to get round the whole island?” to “do you think they’ll murder us?” to “I love this,” and “I can’t wait to start planning another.”

For me Playlists are key. The best thing ever is going home and replaying songs to replay memories in your mind. Keep that Moana heart of yours going, keep that kid inside you happy and joyous. Take maps, write things down, take so many pictures, then don’t take any pictures at all.

Never stop adventuring, and you’ll never feel settled. You only ever really grow up in your heart if you stop growing.

Volunteering at Soi Dog Foundation

Day One

On our first day we turned up later than we wanted because it took us so long to find our hostel. Our hostel had free bikes that we could use so we got up the route and were on our way. 40 mins later we arrived at Soi Dog the scenery we witnessed on our way to Soi Dog was beautiful, rows and rows of amazing trees. We were truly submerged by nature passing cows every so often who were allowed to roam where ever they wanted in this mesmerising countryside.

When we arrived we had just missed the last tour so we ate our jam sandwiches with the volunteers who were also lunching. We finished our lunches quite a bit before them so we went to greet the cats for half an hour and played with them. They were adorable dans favourite was this three legged cat. My favourite was glass who was a cat with no eyes. For cats who were at such a disadvantage they had so much happiness and loved interacting with humans. 3 cats were separate from the rest they had FIV which is an animal equivalent of HIV. I felt sad that humans couldn't play with them.

At 3:30 our tour began. It was 45 minutes long and such an interesting 45 minutes it was, the time flew by and I wanted it to continue. This lovely lady from Cornwall conducted the tour and was excellent, she showed us round all the grounds. When the tour finished we had a chance to play again with the cats, which we were eager to do. When the rest of the tour group left we stayed behind to jump start our volunteering so tomorrow's we could get stuck in. We watched a volunteering video which took you through the health and safety. I was thinking half way through watching it that it was all fairly obvious and that I would know it all, having dogs of my own. How wrong I was when I started volunteering the following day, the video helped and I wouldn't of known what to do if it wasn't for it. But I'll get to that.

There was one dog who was spoken about in the tour who really touched my heart. He was called lockjaw, I'm not sure what breed he was but he was a light tan colour. He got tragically hit by a car and was badly injured, they thought the impact would have killed him and with treatment he wasn't predicted to live long. When he arrived both of his eyes were hanging from his head connected with only threads of ligaments. Unfortunately, they couldn't save his sight so they removed his eyes. He was a stray dog before he got hit and was suffering from a terrible skin condition, he had no fur upon arrival. They predicted he'd either fight through the vital 6 week recovery or give up and pass away. When I heard this story in my depth than I can describe I was almost in tears, what an incredible inspiring story. One all us humans could learn from. He was one of the most happiest personalities in this shelter and that's what added to his inspiring story. Soi dog thought he'd never get adopted as he'd been here a long time, for a while he couldn't be adopted because of his health issues but he'd been declared healthy for quite some time now. The good news flooded in that someone in Russia an ex volunteer wanted to have him. He'll be the first dog getting shipped to Russia and I wish him the best for his happy life, blind but still full of bounce.

Day Two

The day was upon us, we could begin volunteering with mans best friend. We arrived at 9:30am, where a senior volunteer was waiting for us. She told us the great news that we would be working with the puppies all day! We grabbed our volunteer bags which contained 3 leads, 3 harnesses, a choke collar (for emergencies), a folder with photos of all the dogs and their names.

We spent our first hour getting to know the puppies and trying our hardest to learn all 12 names. Then we began walking them, we took one each so they went out in twos. For some of the puppies it was their first time on leads and leaving their cute puppy runs. They all got rather jealous over each other when we took two on their walks.

Although we were told that puppies don't have a heiracy. We were told we don't need to walk them in any particular order, so they were walked in random orders. However, you could see with time who would have been the alpha males and who wouldn't. 3 dogs were really shy so shy we couldn't even stroke them, let alone walk them, we just let them be. There was a small amount of bickering between some dogs, but it was fine more like playful fighting. We did have to clap a few times loudly near them to break it up, which we were taught in the training video the day before.

There was one dog called Daisy, this was dans favourite dog, she was a lovely grey short haired dog, quite a medium build. When we got back from our 3rd walk of the day. The one thing I didn't want to happen happened. A dog fight broke out. Dan and I were the only two people in the run. It looked serious Dan was stunned and stayed back I was there clapping by their heads. Noticing that that didn't work I did what I was trained to do, grab the nearest dog water bowl, which were fairly large. I grabbed the bowl and threw half the water over the two that were fighting, it had no impact so I threw the rest of the water, still nothing. I wanted to grab them and pull them apart as I knew I was capable of it, but we had been specifically told not to do this. The fight went from bad to worst when they both started drawing blood from one another at this stage 4 other workers were running into the run and pulled them apart. Daisy started the fight, she was segregated from them for the remainder of the day.

It was a slight shock but perfect timing as it was lunch time so we could recover from the sight of it all as well as the dogs. We ordered some lovely veggies and rice which only cost B40 which is equivalent to £1, it was a huge portion that fed Dan and I. Over lunch we chatted with a lovely girl from London who had just finished her veterinary degree and was now working out here to gain some more experience and relax. She gave me inspiring career advice, as I believe animals are the forte in which I want to pursue.

Lunch was over and it was back to walk the rest of the dogs. Some dogs even got the chance to have two walks which was nice. There is a lovely pond walking area on sight which all the volunteers use, so it was nice to have small talk with a few of them whilst walking our dogs. We saw some people on the Soi Dog tour, I went over with my dog as they were all looking at the adorable puppy I was walking. I knew he wasn't a shy one and loved human interaction so we went over for cuddles. When I was on the tour I loved it when dog walkers would take their dogs over for a hug, so I did just that. There was a chicken by the pond which my dog was so apprehensive about but I made him walk past it to know that it's not scary. When he saw me walk first he picked up confidence to follow.

Overall, it was a life changing experience. I loved getting to know all the different characters and personalities, I will definitely return one day. When I'm back in England I'm going to also try adopt the cat my soul fell in love with. It's comfortable with dogs, but if not its 3 legged and could stay up stairs, I've thought through all the answers my parents will question to try prevent me from getting this cat. I really want it though it fell in love with me as much as I fell in love with her, she's fully house trained and won't leave the house anyway which is perfect! If not I just pray she goes to a loving household. Ive left Soi Dog with memories I couldn't build anywhere else on this large earth. The foundation and everyone running it has a special place in my heart and I was sad to see the end of it.