Philippines

November 15

I caught the night bus from mong kok to the airport for only 23 hkd, which is a steal! Drawback was having to sleep at the airport at 4 in the morning. If only the seats weren't separated by the arm rests, I would have had a better horizontal sleep. I ended up sleeping in a curl position on one of the end tables. Overall it was OK but not as Haneda airport in Japan. I highly recommend this website suggested to me by David called sleepinairports.net.

The flight to Manila was pretty short and uneventful unlike my taxi experience. I had been told to look for the yellow taxis and avoid the white ones that some locals use. Naturally I didn't listen and got into one that hustled me out of 400 pesos and dropped me off far from my destination. I was lucky enough to catch a jeepney for 8 pesos instead. So jeepneys are essentially wagon Jeeps where they load people in by the herd. Pretty cool experience.

it's unfortunate that the Philippines has experienced so many natural disasters as of late. There are many relief efforts underway and more volunteers are needed.  At my hostel, Our Melting Pot, there's a signup sheet for volunteer shifts.

November 16

checked out of my hostel and took a super early bus to Vigan in the Ilocos region. It's consider a historic site. The bus ride was 10 hours but felt much longer due to the frequent stops. Vigan was declared a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO know 1992 and has retained much of the old architecture and history. In the evening I tried their famous empanada, which is a fried taco with veggies and meat. The other interesting item I had was sinanglaw, which is boiled beef intestines. Taste is OK but still pretty chewy. I also had one of my favorite ilocano dishes called pinakbet, which is a good mixture of garden veggies.

November 17

Spent the morning checking out souvenir stores and syquia mansion, home of elpidio quirino, the first Ilocano president. After that it was a walk to the river to check out some weaving. The other cool thing was the hidden garden where I had some more pinakbet and halo halo. Their halo halo is a bit different from what I am used to. It was in a pretty shallow dish as opposed to a glass so mixing was a bit of a challenge. Overall a slow day of sightseeing.

November 18

started the morning with a traditional Filipino breakfast consisting of rice, fried egg, and bangus or milk fish in English.  Then headed out to see some pottery making which was a bit of a letdown. After that I checked out the bantay belltower and witnessed a funeral procession at the church next door. The afternoon was spent going to Santa and the Quirino Bridge.

Dinner included pinakbet and a soup made of ampalaya or bitter melon, saluyot (a leafy green vegetable) and clams. All pretty tasty! Back on the 10 hr bus back to Manila! Bye Vigan.

Observation: the many modes of transportation include calesa or horse, tricycle,  motorbike, vans, bus and jeepneys.  I think I've tried it all but horse. Interesting enough,  I did have horse in Japan: )

November 19

I checked back into Our Melting Pot and luckily I was able to do early check-in. I asked the guys in the front for some things to do in Manila and they suggested Intermurals. Getting there was an adventure that consisted of bus and jeepney.  Once I got there, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I did get solicitations from tricycle guys about doing a tour. I always prefer to walk so I declined and just explored on my own. Not much for report back on.

For my return I decided to catch the train instead. It was relatively quick and efficient. I met a Tita who helped me navigate the right route.

Back at the hostel, I decided to join 2 of the staff members and go help with the super typhoon Yolanda relief efforts.  We took a taxi to Villamor Air Base and jumped right in. There was a line of volunteers waiting for orientation but we said screw it and just went in and started working. We sacked huge bags with rice, canned goods and other non-perishable items. Then were tied and hauled the bags away. At one point we were  carrying 50kg rice bags from trucks into the warehouse.
There were volunteers of all ages, gender and ethnicities. It was amazing to see strangers working side by side in unity.

I went in with no expectations and left feeling overwhelmed to see so many local Filipinos and volunteers from all around the world coming together for a common cause. We bagged dry food, hauled 50 kg rice bags from trucks, and loaded food into the warehouse this evening. I'm very impressed by the spirit of the Filipinos. Despite unthinkable hardships, they are resilient people who always find a way to see sunshine through darkness with their impromptu songs, happy dances, and easy smiles. Mabuhay!

November 20

I woke up pretty exhausted from the night before. I guess I'm a little out of shape since I haven't been to the gym since September before I started my travels. At breakfast I met Susanna from Montana, who was just wrapping up her stay in the Philippines and had a flight in the afternoon for Sri Lanka. She told me that she needed to go to the mall and buy a fake ring in hopes that it would ward off strangers in Sri Lanka. I went along with her since I had not checked out Greenbelt and Landmark Mall yet. I gotta as admit Susanna is pretty easy when it comes to ring shopping. Within minutes we found the perfect ring in terms of appearance, size, and price. She joked that this may be her one time getting a ring so we made it official with me getting on one knee and slipping the ring on her finger. The Filipinas who worked there loved it. We joked that it was a short marriage...especially with her leaving that same day.

When I got back to the hostel, I discovered that uncle Vic was closeby. Soon after he picked me up and we headed to Antipolo to see his school and some other businesses.  I took some photos to share with Donna later. Later in the day we went to the mall and walked around to kill time. Then we headed to this bar/restaurant for some San Miguel beer. Argh too many San Migs... still have a headache now.

Back at the hostel, this Aussie Clark Kent guy and a Pakistani joined up with me to explore Burgos St. I think the most interesting thing we saw was midget boxing at this bar. Nuff said.

BTW, all over China they call restrooms toilet. In the Philippines it's called CR, which stands for Comfort Room.

Oh and be careful of ladyboys. This Israeli guy at my hostel told me to pay attention to elbow shape, feet size and walk...

November 21

I checked out of the hostel early in order to catch my flight to Boracay. I've heard from many that Boracay is a bit touristy but still worth a visit if you have never been. The flight was delayed a couple of hours due to all the air traffic related to the Yolanda relief. To get to Boracay you have to fly into Kalibo and board an hour long van ride to the port. From there you pay a couple of taxes before riding a ferry over to boracay.  I spent the evening listening to some Filipino reggae band play right on the beach. Overall a pretty laid back day.

November 22

negotiated with some street vendors for an island hopping and helmet diving tour. Helmet diving does not require a certificate and pretty straight forward.  They plop a huge helmet on u that provides oxygen and u slowly sink to the seafloor.  There's not much to see in that area but worth the experience.  The island hopping allows you to snorkel and swim at various points. Pretty relaxing and I even fell asleep on the boat.

November 23

Got sick in Boracay.  Not sure what I ate but I felt horrible...almost like I was in labor with stomach cramps. Didn't do anything today but rest.

November 24

met a girl from Cali on the flight back to Manila. Turns out we are both going to be in palawan around the same time so we made plans to meet up. Today is the Pacquiao fight and to put in perspective how big a deal it is, it was the first time that I have seen no traffic in manila. I met a couple of guys from Canada and we decided to do the free intramuros tour that Ate Chateau was conducting. I guess it was better the second time around with a guide since now I understood more of what I was seeing.

I capped off the night by playing pisoy dos with a couple of guys from the hostel. Pisoy is a Filipino card game similar to big 2, vc,  and 13 card poker. We even taught one of the Canadians how to play. Unfortunately he was the big loser and kept asking his buddy for more money.

November 25

I woke up early to catch my flight to Puerto Princess, Palawan.  I've been really looking forward to Palawan based on the way people rave about it. It was a quick 1 hr flight. I still had not made up my mind on whether to go to El nido first or stay know Puerto. I decided to get some assistance from the booking agents at the airport.  It was advised to me to stay in Puerto, get my underground river permit, hit it up the next day and then head to El nido in the evening.  With the afternoon to kill, I decided to book a city tour. Overall, I would rate it as just OK. There were some nonvalue added shopping stops. The highlight was probably the indigenous palawan visit where we met some of the aboriginal aboriginals. They even rolled a banana leaf cigarette for me. The other cool things were the poison dart weapon demo and the big ass snake that they draped around my neck.

In the evening, I met up with the girl I saw on the plane. Had a couple of drinks with her and her roommate and then called it a night.

November 26

I got picked up early for the underground river tour since it's almost a 2 hour van ride to Sebang. The first stop was for some caving and spelunking.  It was pretty fun inside the cave and the climbing effort was pretty minimal.  After that we headed out for a buffet lunch that had a decent spread of Filipino food. Then we made our way to the underground river. To get there you take a boat to this part of the island that truly looks like the set of Lost. It's hard to put into words the look and feel of this place. The greenery is truly amazing. The underground river itself is about a 1.5 km ride gondola style. You are inside this pitch dark cave and hydrogen pretty interesting for the first few minutes. Then I fell asleep. I'm not sure whether I was tired or something about that cave that lulls you to sleep. Afterwards I got dropped off at the van terminal for El Nido.  I was crammed into a van with 13 other people bound for a 5 to 6 hour ride. I met a Chinese dude from LA named Kent who's pretty cool. We passed the time by sharing backpacking stories.  One observation about the night van to El Nido - it stops for no one. At one of the pitstops,  I swear one guy got out to use the bathroom but we may have left him behind. We don't take headcounts : ) by the way, the road is dark and curvy and at one point I heard a huge bump and a loud squeal. We think it was a dog or a person. The van kept going.

We made it to El Nido near midnight and got lucky with a cheap room at La Banane aka the banana. No AC,  no Wi-Fi,  no thrills but it was still a roof over my head.

November 27

I ended up booking the option A island hopping package. Dont really know the difference in the tours but everyone says A is good.  The pickup for the tour is right at the beach and my hostel is literally steps from the water. The view is spectacular with a great shot of a mountain and various islands along the horizon. The boat took us to a couple of lagoons to swim and play in. This is what parades feels like. I was totally relaxed and really feeling like I was in heaven. The water is this amazing blue green hue that just invites you to jump in. Not to be second fiddle, is the beautiful mountain and caves covered in lush green vegetation. I swam and I snorkled...so much fun. The lunch that we grilled on the boat was so good too. We had grilled fish, squid, chicken, pork and eggplant. Very yummy.

November 28

I checked out of my place and headed for the van terminal to catch my 6 hour van. The ride back to Puerto is extremely bumpy because the national highway is not finished. On the ride back, I sat next to this dude who is planning an adventure called surviving Asia where he .attempt to travel around Asia for 1 year by spending 0 of his own money. Should be a cool challenge. I did give him the suggestion of including north Korea since that would intrigue people a bit more.

November 29

There's an opportunity to have a stake in a new hostel opening up in El Nido.  The idea of being associated with a hostel is intriguing and I will have to review this a bit further. I met with one of the partners today to learn more about the opportunity. In the evening I met up with uncle Vic and JP for dinner. Ahhh nothing like a Filipino buffet as my final meal in the Philippines.  Overall it has been a great experience here the past two weeks. Many eye opening moments from volunteering at the typhoon relief efforts to meeting locals and fellow travelers. I've also come to understand the Filipino culture a bit more and perhaps gained a new found perspective. Now off to Vietnam. Link to pictures: http://www1.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=7164950015/a=9293579_9293579/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/