Tarsiers in Bohol

Tarsiers are on of the big attractions on Bohol Island. They are tiny monkeys that look like their heritage may be a result of Gullum from Lord of the Rings getting busy with the local monkeys. Being the animal nut that I am, I insisted on seeing them.

After reading other people's advice, our plan was to make it out to the Tarsier's Natural Sanctuary up in the hills behind Tagbaliran City, on Bohol Island. For reference, it takes about 20 minutes by car from T-City up to the sanctuary, which closes at 4:00. Our driver was sure he would get us there one time, but by 4:40 when we arrived, we were afraid that we had missed them. He was determined to let us see the Tarsiers, so we went over a mountain road that let us out right back at the Loboc River Tour center where we had started.

We stopped at the side of the road at a set of shacks set up with hand painted signs saying "Tarsiers Inside". I was skeptical, but we went inside to check it out anyways. There was no charge to come inside, only a tin can labelled "Tarsier Feeding Donations". They had potted plants all around and it resembled a green house inside. As we walked be the plants, we looked inside to see massive eyes staring back out at us. The more plants we looked in, the more we found.

They had probably 20 or more tarsiers in their little garden. Apparently, they had been bred in captivity. Although it wasn't the most natural of habitats, it really wasn't bad. These people made their living off these animals, and constantly walked around, making sure they were fed, and people didn't handle them on their own. They would take them down and put them on willing, courageous participants arms for photo opportunities, but people weren't allowed to handle them themselves. So, although it wasn't a natural habitat, it did give us the chance to view them up close.

The part that impressed me most about this was they didn't ask for money at all. They just had their tins out for donations and sold souvenirs at the front. I gladly gave more money to them for not insisting on an over-priced entrance fee.

When asked if we could take one home, Candy quickly answered , "NO"!

Coming to Taiwan

I would assume that if you are reading this you probably know me, but you never know. So let me take a step back and introduced myself for the first time. I'm a Canadian guy, born and raised just outside of Vancouver. I was never quite satisfied living in the small town of at the Abbotsford. Although I love it, and it's home, I knew that there was more out there. I have been through a lot of crap in my life, and it seemed that no matter what was thrown at me, I always landed on my feet. Not that that's a bad thing, but I was up for a new sort of challenge. How much of your strength that comes from the people around you, from the comfort of your surroundings, from the security of familiarity? What would happen if I took away all those things? How then would I react to situations that were out of my control? Without previous securities to fall back on, what would my natural reaction be? How comfortable had I got in the things that I thought I knew? What was I missing?

So I sold or got rid of everything that I had, except for four boxes of sentimental things that I just couldn't get rid of. If you knew my parents tendencies to horde, you would know what kind of feat that actually was. I had taken my TESOL course, so now the question was where to go. The idea was to go to another country, stay for maybe a year, and then move on country to country. I knew the starting point was going to be in Asia, but where in Asia I had no idea. China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand...? It was all foreign and I really didn't know which one to pick.

That's when my friend, C. A. got a hold of me. She already lived here in Taiwan and heard that I was considering coming out to Asia with my then girlfriend Kate. She wanted to recommend Taiwan, saying the food was good, the people were friendly, the money was decent, there were a lot of jobs, and she had a 3 bedroom place that we could come and stay in. That quickly made the decision for us. I bought a one-way ticket to Taiwan, got my multiple entry tourist visa, and got on the airplane. It was a wild trip of faith.

I arrived in this country, didn't speak a word of the language, had about $300 Canadian in my pocket, had no job, and didn't have a ticket or enough money to get out of the country. For me it was pretty much do or die. I was able to find work quickly out here. I instantly started to learn the language, and I was completely intrigued to see this culture at a deeper level.

Kate and I took very different paths out here and soon found ourselves growing further and further apart if you ever really want to test your relationship with the person, travel with them. You will find out very quickly the real person that lies underneath. Often when dating a new person we try to keep up this level of who we want people to see us as. Leaving all the comforts and security of a home behind keeping up the façade of who we want other people to see us as becomes near impossible. All you're left with is who you really are. You find how strong your strengths really are and your weaknesses in your ugly parts become painfully obvious.

Needless to say Kate and I went our own separate ways. I am very grateful to Kate, because without her I never would've taken on this journey. I know that she had a tough time, but I'm very glad that she didn't leave after we didn't work out. She ended up staying out here for a year and doing her own thing. I stayed and lived with CA for the next while, until she moved back to Canada. It was great people around me at the right times that brought me here and kept me here.