Our winter trip to the Philippines was my idea.\u00a0 I wanted to shake up our winter holidays, since we usually go to Thailand, and I wanted to expand our horizons a little.\u00a0 Also I wanted to spend some time on a beach, and in Bangkok we usually swim in the hotel pool.<\/p>\n
The trip started with a drive to Kobe airport, a ferryboat to Kansai International, and then dinner at a dim sum place in the airport.\u00a0 We drank lots of beer and ate a little more than usual, since we figured we had lots of time to kill in the Manila airport later and the food was probably better here in Japan.\u00a0 After a few cocktails at our usual airport stop we wandered down to the boarding gate to wait.\u00a0 Unfortunately, our flight was delayed by about three hours.\u00a0 The delay was enough to earn us each a voucher from the airline to spend back at the restaurants inside security, so we went back to our usual place and kept the party going. Finally, at midnight, we boarded our Cebu Pacific flight to Manila and it took off.<\/p>\n
The flight time is four hours between Osaka and Manila, and originally our plan was to arrive in Manila at midnight, wait until our connecting flight to Virac left at 5:45 am, and just kill time in the Manila airport.\u00a0 As it worked out we arrived in Manila and went directly to our connecting flight, and we only had an hour or so in the Manila airport to wait.\u00a0 So in the end it was actually pretty nice to spend our waiting time in Kansai airport rather than in Manila.\u00a0 That\u2019s good because the Manila airport was just as I remembered it – a little dinghy and a little lonely.\u00a0 Not exactly a safe, modern vibe.\u00a0 Granted it was at 4 am, but we were happy to leave.<\/p>\n
We caught a one hour flight to Virac, which is a small village east of Manila on a different island.\u00a0 Once we deplaned we could really see that we were in the third world.\u00a0 Jungle everywhere, and it seemed as if the whole town was gathered to watch the plane come in.\u00a0 The airport only has 2-3 flights per week, so it was a big event.\u00a0 The weather was slightly humid and comfortably warm – I could see that shorts and a T-shirt would be enough for this trip.\u00a0 Nice!<\/p>\n
We had arranged through the hotel for a driver, and he was a friendly enough guy.\u00a0 He drove us out of town and towards the harbor, which according to my research was less than an hour away.\u00a0 The drive was comfortable, and it was interesting to look out the window and see how people in completely different circumstances lived.\u00a0 We saw lots of motorcycles with sidecars, and the occasional bus filled with people.\u00a0 Apparently they were the primary system of transportation – cars like the one we were riding in were rare.\u00a0 Everywhere the green jungle formed the backdrop for what we were seeing – water buffaloes with white stork companions, and we saw many people drying rice out on the road.\u00a0 The cars and motorcycles tried to avoid driving over the rice, but sometimes it was necessary to drive over to avoid an accident.<\/p>\n
Finally we arrived at the harbor, which was a very small fishing harbor with lots of people lounging around.\u00a0 The driver drove to the end of a cement pier, and then waited with us as our boat staff came running.\u00a0 They moved a tiny outrigger canoe over to the pier, and we jumped aboard, with a little trepidation.\u00a0 I felt pretty comfortable with the size and configuration of the boat, but this was Kuniko\u2019s first time on a boat this small.<\/p>\n
They started the engine and slowly we headed out to sea.\u00a0 The trip was from the port of Virac to the resort directly, and the resort had advertised a 40 minute boat ride across blue waters.\u00a0 As soon as we left the calm waters of the port, however, the situation changed dramatically.\u00a0 Big waves were coming in, we motored directly into them, causing a lot of boat movement, a lot of ocean spray, and a lot of concern for Kuniko.\u00a0 She almost panicked, but somehow kept it together as we got past the worst of the waves.\u00a0 The boat was just putt-putting along, which made for a very long ride.\u00a0 The boat operators could see that Kuniko was uncomfortable, and they stretched out a tarp to help block some of the ocean spray that was splashing us now and then.\u00a0 I think they thought that our marriage was in big trouble, and to be honest I was getting concerned about the same thing.\u00a0 Luckily, somewhere in the middle of the trip, a Zen-like calm came over Kuniko, and she made it through without any problems.\u00a0 The second half of the trip I was thinking about our return trip, and we would have to do it at 5:00 am in the morning.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t decide whether it would be better or not to do the return trip in the darkness.<\/p>\n
Finally we reached a cove on the other side of the water, and we threw our stuff onto the beach and then jumped into the shallow waves and walked onto dry sand.\u00a0 A member of the resort was waiting for us, and he dutifully gathered my shoes, backpack and other items that I had cast aside while trying to ensure Kuniko made it safely. \u00a0He introduced himself, and then led us through the resort to the restaurant that served as the home base for the entire resort, which was located at the top of a big hill overlooking the ocean.<\/p>\n
We filled out a little paperwork, we sipped blue lemonade, and we waited patiently for our room to clear out.\u00a0 We had arrived pretty early – around 9 am, so it was reasonable to wait a little bit.\u00a0 There were a few other customers there as well, but not as many people as I had expected.\u00a0 Maybe we had just arrived early. The staff served us some snacks while we waited – fried bananas, and some garlic cheese potato wedges that really hit the spot.\u00a0 We asked for a couple of cold beers, and the staff quickly pulled out two cold bottles, opened them, applied a napkin condom to the top, and handed them over.\u00a0 I was encouraged by how painless it was to get cold beer.\u00a0 I was a little curious about the price, but I tried not to worry about it too much.\u00a0 As it turned out, they were really cheap here.<\/p>\n
Once our room was ready we were introduced to a staff member named Nolly, a shy young man who led us to our room.\u00a0 The manager told us that if we needed anything at all, just contact Nolly.\u00a0 No problem!<\/p>\n
The room itself was very nice – we were pleased with the design.\u00a0 It was basically a bungalow with cement walls, with big sliding windows that you could open to let the tropical breezes come through.\u00a0 We had a nice king-sized bed and a separate shower and toilet room that was in a modern style.\u00a0 The toilet flushed every time, and the air conditioner and TV worked fine.\u00a0 We did notice a weird noise in the room after the staff left – it sounded like a huffing sound coming from the corner. \u00a0At first we thought maybe an animal was stuck under the room, but it turned out to be the power transformer stepping the voltage down to 110 volts.\u00a0 When we turned it off things were silent, except for the occasional \u201cmoo\u201d from some cow out in the jungle.<\/p>\n
After putting away our stuff and changing into more comfortable clothes we walked back down to the beach and looked around.\u00a0 The beach was really nice. The sand was white and very fine – like sugar, I remember thinking – and we waded out a ways into the water which was quite warm.\u00a0 The sky was blue, the air was warm, and our relaxation was just beginning.\u00a0 It was a good feeling.<\/p>\n
We had lunch at the restaurant and had our first taste of Philippine cooking.\u00a0 The menu had many different items, some of the local dishes and others more \u201cwestern\u201d like spaghetti and nachos.\u00a0 I thought the menu was a good balance, but we ordered almost exclusively local dishes and we liked what we ate.\u00a0 The food was spicy, usually well-laced with garlic, and sometimes a little sweetness to it.\u00a0 We were 100% satisfied with the food we had on this trip.<\/p>\n
We had beer with our lunch and dinner, and each time they served us with the napkin condom.\u00a0 I looked around at the other guests, and it seemed like we were the only ones drinking beer.\u00a0 I think the first day we drank almost every beer they had in the fridge.\u00a0 Luckily a boat came with more the next day.<\/p>\n
The next morning we slept in, enjoying the big bed and open schedule, and then went out to the restaurant for breakfast.\u00a0 The weather was a little cloudy, and while we ate the buffet breakfast some wind came up and blew some of their outdoor furniture around.\u00a0 The wind was quite warm however, and it didn\u2019t bother me a bit.\u00a0 After breakfast we took a hike through the jungle to get some exercise, and then headed back to our room for some more relaxation.<\/p>\n
By lunchtime the wind was getting stronger.\u00a0 After lunch we played billiards on the table they had in the restaurant.\u00a0 Kuniko and I really got into billiards when we stayed in Bali, and although this table had some balls missing we had fun shooting around.\u00a0 I think Kuniko really improved during our trip – I don\u2019t think I did.\u00a0 We kept drinking beers, kept playing pool, and kept one eye on the weather.<\/p>\n
As we were walking back to our house from dinner, it started to rain a little bit, and I was starting to get worried about our beach time.\u00a0 It was still warm, but the wind was as strong as ever.\u00a0 When we woke up the next day, it was a full-on tropical storm.\u00a0 There were torrents of rain, and the wind rushed outside, blowing around the palm trees and sending coconuts falling to the ground.\u00a0 The beach was out, the pool was out, and we had little to do but stay in our room and read the books that we brought, run out to the restaurant for food and to take advantage of their intermittent internet connection, and drink beer.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t turning out like I had hoped.<\/p>\n
We stayed inside for two days, and just waited for the storm to pass.\u00a0 Unfortunately, it wasn\u2019t moving very quickly.\u00a0 In Japan the typhoons move through in about a day, and the next day is sunny and clear.\u00a0 Here we were waiting for almost three days and nothing but wind and rain.\u00a0 The good news was that the food was good, the cabana we were staying in was made of concrete and wasn\u2019t going to blow away, and we had plenty of reading material.\u00a0 The bad news was three days of continuous rain had started to drive some ants into our room to look for food, and we were always squishing tiny ants everywhere.\u00a0 The weather change made the water temperature of our shower feel a little cold – it was comfortable when the weather was balmy outside, but now were hoping for a hot shower and getting a barely lukewarm one.<\/p>\n
In addition, the number of guests stayed pretty low.\u00a0 Sometimes we saw other people – but most people probably knew in advance of the tropical storm and cancelled, or they stayed mainly in their rooms and used room service.\u00a0 It was starting to get a little lonely at our meal times.\u00a0 The lack of company made me wonder just how big this storm was.<\/p>\n
So while eating at the restaurant I started thinking about how we could take control of this situation and improve the trip.\u00a0 There were a lot of challenges, but I figured that if we threw some money at the situation we could make things happen.\u00a0 As it turned out, I was right about some things and I was wrong about others.<\/p>\n
First, we used the spotty internet of the resort to check out our flight options.\u00a0 There weren\u2019t many flights out of Virac, but there was one leaving the next day.\u00a0 If we missed that we would have to take our original planned flight out.\u00a0 With the bad weather I was worried about making the connections for our original planned return, so we figured it would be better to make an attempt early and if it didn\u2019t pan out we could fall back on our original plan. It wasn\u2019t encouraging to turn on our TV and see non-stop coverage of a missing AirAsia flight, and also a burning Greek ferry on the news.<\/p>\n
Kuniko booked a room in Manila, at the Hyatt Regency, and so our goal was to get off the island, get to Virac, take the earlier flight, and spend two extra days in Manila instead of sitting around in our room at the resort.\u00a0 We booked the hotel, I managed to get seats on the next day\u2019s flight out of Virac, and then we told the hotel staff that we\u2019d like to leave earlier than planned because of the crappy weather.\u00a0 They were very understanding, and got to work making arrangements to wrap up our bill and arrange transportation to Virac.\u00a0 The manager said he\u2019d try to get a more comfortable boat back to Virac, and I told him that there was extra money available if that was what was necessary.\u00a0 He just smiled and said he\u2019d do his best. We settled down to our \u201clast meal\u201d, and tried not to get nervous when the power went off for a minute or two.\u00a0 Outside the wind was still howling, the rain was still coming down in sheets.\u00a0 After dinner we paid our bill, which was quite reasonable considering how much food and beer we enjoyed.\u00a0 As we started to leave the manager quickly mentioned that if the weather continued like this that the boat ride out wasn\u2019t going to happen.\u00a0 Kuniko heard this and said, \u201cWhat!?!\u201d\u00a0 It suddenly dawned on me that we didn\u2019t have nearly as much control over our holiday and I had expected.\u00a0 The manager said that if the weather was still bad we were welcome to stay as long as necessary.\u00a0 At least we had a roof over our heads.\u00a0 The manager promised to call us at 5 am the next morning and let us know if we could leave or not.\u00a0 It all depended on the weather, and perhaps the sailing skills of the boat operators.<\/p>\n
So we went back after dinner and we packed up, just in case we were leaving.\u00a0 Honestly I thought we would probably have to stay.\u00a0 The wind and rain were still beating heavily against our windows, and it showed no signs of stopping.\u00a0 The local Philippine TV stations said the storm was moving on, but they had been saying that for the last few days.\u00a0 I was feeling a lot of pressure – if we didn\u2019t catch the boat we\u2019d lose out on our hotel reservations at the Hyatt, and we\u2019d also eat the cost of the earlier flight to Manila.\u00a0 There was some money on the line as well.\u00a0 I was pretty stressed that night – and it didn\u2019t feel good to be powerless to change anything.\u00a0 Kuniko was still in her Zen relaxation state, and she talked me down and helped put everything back in perspective.\u00a0 We finally went to bed about 10 pm, but we didn\u2019t sleep well, and I kept waking up every few minutes to listen for the gusts of wind and rain.\u00a0 Were they slowing down a little?\u00a0 No, that was a big gust just then.\u00a0 Maybe they are a little calmer…\u00a0 I was second-guessing my semi-sleeping self the whole night.<\/p>\n
I woke up around 4:30 in the morning, and Kuniko was already up.\u00a0 It was totally quiet outside.\u00a0 I looked out the window, but it was too dark to see anything.\u00a0 We were both encouraged, though, and went ahead and got ready.\u00a0 The phone rang at 5:00 am, and the manager told us what we wanted to hear.\u00a0 The boat is going to cross!<\/p>\n
We packed up our gear, skipped the not-quite-lukewarm shower and decided to travel a little dirty.\u00a0 Outside it was starting to get a little lighter, and there was just the slightest breeze.\u00a0 It was still very overcast and the skies were dark, but it seemed like there wouldn\u2019t be any rain.\u00a0 Perfect conditions to risk your life trying to make a plane connection.<\/p>\n
We went down to the beach and found that we had almost the exact same kind of boat that we had used before.\u00a0 Luckily this time they had a ramp that we could climb up without getting our feet wet, and even plastic bags that we could put our baggage into to stay dry.\u00a0 Our crew also included Nolly, who was coming along to see us off (and get his tip?)\u00a0 Although it wasn\u2019t raining and the wind had mainly stopped we still had to deal with some big waves, and the ride back was not easy.\u00a0 I still got plenty of seawater splashed all over me, but the engine of this boat was a little stronger, and the captain\u2019s skill was more apparent.\u00a0 He maneuvered the boat between big waves, sometimes riding them like a surfer to avoid rough treatment.\u00a0 It seemed like a shorter trip, but when we got back we were all smiles (and pretty wet).\u00a0 I gave Nolly a reasonable tip, and our original driver was waiting in the same place on the cement pier.\u00a0 We thanked our intrepid crew for helping us escape the resort, and then got in the car and started driving back to the airport.\u00a0 We were even a little ahead of schedule.\u00a0 Every part of my body was much wetter than usual, but otherwise things were looking good!<\/p>\n
On the way back the driver, who was very friendly on the way in to the resort, was not so customer-friendly. \u00a0He said that it was pretty common sense that storms come during this time of year, and he clearly thought we were fools to come to the resort at this time.\u00a0 He suggested many other better times of the year to come, and it seemed like he wanted to make things clear that any bad times we experienced were simply our own fault.\u00a0 Maybe he considered himself kind of a PR agent for the Philippines. We just remained wet, tired and silent in the back seat and watched the scenery.<\/p>\n
Once we got to the airport, we unloaded our stuff at the curb, and then the driver suddenly asked me for payment.\u00a0 I was a little shocked – we had arranged the transportation through the hotel, and I was under the impression that we had already paid it.\u00a0 The driver said the price was 3000 pesos, which is serious money for a developing country.\u00a0 I thought he was trying to rip us off, and I asked him to call the resort to confirm that we already paid them.\u00a0 He tried, but couldn\u2019t contact them for some reason.\u00a0 He told us that he had to park his car somewhere, so we should go inside and check in, and he\u2019d find us.\u00a0 Unfortunately the check in process at the tiny airport was a one way deal, and we had to enter the waiting area right away.\u00a0 We never saw the driver again.<\/p>\n
I had a lot of time to think about the situation, and I think that probably he was right – we should have paid him.\u00a0 The money we paid to the resort for transportation was likely just the water transport.\u00a0 Probably the resort has an agreement with the driver to pick up guests, and the resort doesn\u2019t mention the price to the guests when arranging.\u00a0 Then he kicks back a little money to the resort.\u00a0 If we had known the price we would have made other arrangements, but the hotel and the driver count on people not knowing the price from the beginning.\u00a0 So in my mind, the bad guy is the resort for handling things like that.\u00a0 More communication is the take home point, and something I\u2019ll keep in mind for next time.\u00a0 Anyway, the guy probably thought we were ripping him off, and we thought we were being ripped off, and so it was a lose\/lose situation for everyone.<\/p>\n
While we were waiting to board we bumped into a family that had been staying at the same resort.\u00a0 They had left the day before us by taking a long boat ride around the back of the island, then a long drive around the Virac, spending the night there, and then catching the same flight.\u00a0 I was glad that we didn\u2019t have to sleep in Virac – it didn\u2019t look like there were many sleeping options without dirt floors.<\/p>\n
Our flight left early, since it was the only flight of the day.\u00a0 When everybody is on board then we could leave.\u00a0 As we taxied to the runway I saw that many villagers had gathered at the side of the airport to watch the plane leave.\u00a0 I wonder what they thought about the departing planes, and whether they wanted to ride it someday or not.\u00a0 The flight was painless, and there were some goofy teenage girls sitting across the aisle from us who kept everyone around them entertained.<\/p>\n
We arrived 20 minutes early in Manila, and we grabbed a taxi from the airport on kind of a paper quote system.\u00a0 We told the airport staff where we are going, and they gave us the price up front and wrote it on a paper that they gave to the driver.\u00a0 That way there was no haggling.\u00a0 Our driver reached back and locked our doors for us before we left, so I knew the ride should be interesting.<\/p>\n
Manila was just what I had expected.\u00a0 I had seen some scenes of Manila from Amazing Race this season, and it pretty much matched up with my expectations.\u00a0 It kind of reminded me of Delhi in India – plenty of slums and dirty areas, dogs walking around and tough conditions for the locals.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure there are better parts of Manila but from what we saw on our thirty-minute taxi ride it didn\u2019t look great.<\/p>\n
We arrived at the Hyatt Regency Manila on New Year\u2019s Eve, which by coincidence was undergoing a change to new ownership at the stroke of midnight to new branding and a new company.\u00a0 Construction workers were busy changing the signs over to the new name, and we had the unique opportunity to check in to one hotel and check out of another.<\/p>\n
Our room was beautiful and clean, without any ants, and we immediately got in and took one of the best showers of my life.\u00a0 The shower was pretty magnificent – marble floors and tile walls, with windows everywhere and it had a deep elevated bathtub on marble slabs.\u00a0 We showered and scrubbed in hot water and used as much soap as possible.\u00a0 I think this shower was one of the top 5 in my lifetime.<\/p>\n
After showering we changed into some fresh clothes that we had protected in our luggage with waterproof bags, and then went to the caf\u00c3\u00a9 for some beer and lunch.\u00a0 It was strange to go from the sleepy resort life to a five star dining experience, but we just relaxed and enjoyed it.\u00a0 It felt great to be clean and free again.<\/p>\n
After lunch we walked across the street to a 7-11 for beer and snacks.\u00a0 The streets of Manila around the hotel had a strange vibe, and the beggars were out in force.\u00a0 Lots of drivers pulled over to try to get us to use them as a taxi service, and I was glad that we didn\u2019t have to put up with too much of this environment.\u00a0 We bought our snacks, went back to the hotel for a workout in the fitness center, and signed up for the rooftop New Year\u2019s Eve countdown party.\u00a0 Then it was nap time to try to get up the energy to be party animals.\u00a0 We don\u2019t often stay up until midnight.<\/p>\n
We woke up and still had some time to kill, so we went to the ground floor lounge for cocktails and wine, and a Caesar salad just in case there was no food available at the party.\u00a0 Then, at around 10:30 pm we took the elevator to the top floor.\u00a0 We had to sign a waiver that said we wouldn\u2019t sue anyone, and then they gave us some goofy party hats and three drink tickets and let us up on the roof.\u00a0 The hotel is a pretty tall one, located right on the bayside of Manila, and the view was spectacular.\u00a0 They had a DJ playing loud dance music, the bartender kept us in sweet champagne throughout the evening, and they even had a group of professional dancers who entertained the fairly large crowd.<\/p>\n
As we waited for midnight we could have a pretty complete view of the Manila skyline.\u00a0 I had heard that there would be fireworks, but I was surprised to see that they were firing them off all over the city.\u00a0 It was still an hour before midnight, and there were steady fireworks happening everywhere we looked.\u00a0 It felt like a scene from the movie Blade Runner – a not-quite futuristic city being lit up by neon and bursts of fire. \u00a0By the time midnight was approaching the volume of fireworks was unbelievable – it looked like a war zone.\u00a0 Kuniko said the city was crazy to spend the kind of money they must need to do fireworks on this scale, and I kind of agreed with her.\u00a0 At midnight they started launching even more fireworks over the bay right next to our hotel.\u00a0 Some fireworks were exploding low to the ground, and it was strange to be looking down on them.\u00a0 The DJ was telling us all to \u201cwelcome 2015\u201d, and I think starting a new year with more fireworks than I have ever seen was a good way.\u00a0 To think that we almost spent this night stuck in our room at the resort, too.<\/p>\n
The next day we had all to ourselves for relaxation, and we made the most of it.\u00a0 A huge breakfast buffet, delicious coffee (they only had instant back at the resort), and we had a room service dinner the next night with chicken adobo and garlic fried rice. \u00a0The last night was rainy, so we stayed inside the hotel eating, drinking and using our phenomenal bathtub.\u00a0 Before we went to bed I realized that during the whole trip I never once was able to use my swimming suit, which seemed tragic.\u00a0 The rain seemed to have stop for the moment, so we decided to suit up and go jump in the hotel pool.\u00a0 It was pretty cold, but finally we got some use out of our swimsuits.<\/p>\n
The next day we checked out of the Manila Bay Hotel and Casino, and took a taxi ride back to the airport.\u00a0 This taxi had a meter, and the driver even stopped to use the toilet on the way to the airport with the meter still running.\u00a0 Classy!\u00a0 I was ready to argue about the price but after I did the math in my head it was only a difference of 40 yen, so it wasn\u2019t worth a confrontation.\u00a0 No tip, though, buddy.<\/p>\n
The flight back was delayed a little, but we got back to Kansai reasonably quickly.\u00a0 The change in weather was a big shock – the sight of snow and cold wind surprised us when we walked out of the boarding tunnel. More bad news – the ferry that runs between Kansai airport and Kobe airport was stopped due to the bad weather, so we had to catch a special bus that added about an hour to the journey back.\u00a0 We finally got home around midnight on Friday, so we had the next two days to get back into cold weather mode at home.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t the trip that I expected to take, but every moment of it was an adventure.\u00a0 It is one of those trips that we\u2019ll be talking about for a long time afterwards, and in the end, that is all we want our trips to be.\u00a0 Can\u2019t wait for our next one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our winter trip to the Philippines was my idea.\u00a0 I wanted to shake up our winter holidays, since we usually go to Thailand, and I wanted to expand our horizons a little.\u00a0 Also I wanted to spend some time on a beach, and in Bangkok we usually swim in the hotel pool. The trip started […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pOpl7-KV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bryan.fredricks.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}