Philippines Video

Alright, here is the video from my trip to the Philippines. I hope you enjoy it!

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Congrats on Your Marriage!

Congratulations Xander and Mokie on your marriage!

This past weekend I was in Abbotsford for my friend’s wedding. His name is John A MacDonald. Well, sort of. He changed his name to Alexander (Xander) DeWinter several years ago. Don’t ask me why. He just did. Everyone knows him as Xander now. So when I call him “John A” all of his Abbotsford friends look at me weird. I guess he didn’t want to be associated with being the first Prime Minister of Canada! We met awhile back when we were both attending Uvic but he went to Abbotsford to go to school several years ago. We hadn’t spoken in a long time and then one day I get a call from him saying he was gonna get married. I was pretty shocked! His wife’s name is Erin Elizabeth Loewen, or “Mokie” for short. That is another long story. Anyways, the wedding was great and lots of fun. Phebe and I both enjoyed dressing up and eating lots of good food.

Me, Phebe, Jennah, Xander, and Mokie

Me and Phebe all dressed up

The Filipino Experience

January 4-16, 2009

Alright, here is my best attempt to summarize my trip to the Philippines. Although my trip was short, I think I did everything I could to jam-pack all I wanted to see. I enjoyed my trip tremendously and if I had more time I would have loved to explore more of the islands. Next time!

For all pictures of the Philippines click >>>HERE<<<

Manila – “Can I Buy Some Clean Air”?

I flew from KL to Clark airport early on January 4th. Clark is about a few hours away from Manila. Discount airlines such as AirAsia fly there. If you need cheap flights around SE Asia, I highly recommend Air Asia. They are pretty good. When I arrived I wanted to go straight north to see the famous rice terraces but I had to backtrack to Manila first and take an overnight bus. Manila is not as difficult to navigate around as compared to other big cities I’ve been to. The difference is whether I could handle the pollution. Throughout my whole time in the Philippines not once did I spend a night here. Thank goodness. I’m afraid to say this but I would actually prefer second-hand smoking (not that Manila doesn’t have any) compared to the massive cloud of exhaust fumes. I spent most of my time staying inside the malls. I actually saw the Sherlock Holmes movie in Manila for about $3 CDN! I also found an internet cafe for about $.35 cents CDN per hour. Not bad. That is how I spent my time in Manila to try and stay alive from all the pollution.

Here are a few other things that struck me when I was in Manila:

• There are a lot of fast food places here (Jollibee, ChowKing, Mcdonalds, Burger King, Yellow Cab Pizza, Burger Machine, Shaky’s, Andok’s, and much more!)
• Security guards are everwhere (MRT stations, shopping malls, restaurants, and even movie theatres!)
• Garbage is everywhere. They should make it a fine for when people litter. The government would make a killing
• Male urinals (sorry ladies) are in most street corners. This is not enough though. Most other street corners smelled like pee. I’ve seen people pee on most street corners. How sad.

Wow, look at all that garbage!

Caught a guy peeing at the male urinal station

You didn’t believe me did you? (read above)

Banaue/Batad rice terraces – “The Grand Canyon of rice terraces”

I’ve seen pictures of these rice terraces in books and on the web but to actually see it in person is something special. These rice terraces were built over 2000 years ago by the indigenous people of Ifugao. It is said that if the steps of the Banaue (Ban-ow-wee) rice terraces were put end to end it would encircle half the globe. I stayed a few nights in Banaue (Greensview Lodge) which is central to see all the rice terraces. The first day I booked a tour to see the Banaue rice terrances and Hapao which is about 17km NW of Banaue. The guide (Jordan) took me through a nice walk through the rice terraces and at the end there was a hot spring for me to relax. The next day, Jordan decided to have one of his tour buddies take me on a tour around Batad. He didn’t speak much English so I got a bit of a discount from the trip. Batad’s rice terraces are considered the world’s most striking. About a 40 minute hike from Batad is the 30m-high Tappia Waterfalls where I had to walk through the villages and across the rice terraces to get there. I didn’t want to leave that place. Afterwords, I had a massive lunch (rice, fried chicken, mixed vegetables, fried egg, and noodle soup) at a nearby village for about $3.50 US. It was the perfect day.

Me at the Batad rice terraces

Banaue, the “Grand Canyon” of rice terraces

Me at the hotsprings

Sagada – “Porn Caves”

Alright, before I talk about “Porn Cave”, I’d like to talk about Sagada and how I got here. This tranquil town is located 12 hours away from Manila in the Cordillera, up in the mountains where it is much cooler. I went by jeepney from Banaue which is about 3 hours. In case you don’t know what a jeepney is, it is a cross between a bus and a jeep. Along the way I met two Koreans on the jeepney, Sunny and Brad. Well, Brad’s real name is Kim but since there are millions of other Kims in Korea he decided to switch his name. When we arrived, we quickly booked a room at the Sagada Guesthouse ($4.50 US/night) and then went to the tourist info centre to book our tour of the famous caves in Sagada. The most popular tour is the Cave Connection where there is an underground passage that links Sumanging and Lumiang caves. This was about a 3 to 4 hour tour and is not for the claustrophobic! The only light we had was our guide’s lantern. Ok, so you are wondering about “Porn Cave” right? Well, at various spots throughout the caves, there are areas where it looked like…well…um…you know…porn images. There is actually somewhere in the cave called the “Porn Chamber”. It is pretty funny. Anyways, after the tour we walked a half hour back to the city. The two Koreans went back to the guesthouse but I wanted to conquer more. So I went to a place nearby called Echo Valley to see the hanging coffins. And yes, Echo Valley does in fact have an echo. The next day I went for an early morning hike with Sunny to Mt. Kiltepan which is about 40 minutes walk (not hike) from Sagada. There were superb panoramic views of the rice terraces and the surrounding mountains.

Along the road to Sagada

Inside the Cave Connection

You’ll have to use your imagination on this one

The hanging coffins in Echo Valley

Boracay – “A Diamond in the Rough”

I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived in Boracay. Was it gonna be another tourist trap like Bali? Was it gonna be “resorty” like Cancun? Well, it was a little bit of both but the atmosphere was a whole lot better I thought. I managed to stay in a relatively cheap guesthouse for about $18 US per night (that is cheap in Boracay)!! The whole reason for me being here is to attend my friend Mabel’s wedding. They had a beach wedding at Friday’s Beach Resort and I must say it was a very impressive wedding. I think what impressed me the most (of course) was the food. There was about 25 people at the wedding and reception but they had enough food to feed about 200. There was so much food. All the food was Filipino and it was all good and yummy. Afterwards there was dancing and drinking. The Filipinos have a tradition called the “Money Dance”. It is where the bride and groom dance and all the guests would get their money and pin it on their dress/shirt in exchange for a dance. It’s kind of like pin the tail on the donkey except there is no donkey and we are not blindfolded. Ok, nevermind. You know what I mean.

I didn’t do much around the island due to the wedding. It was probably a good thing though because if I did I’d be broke. I did go fishing with the guys on the morning of the wedding though. It was supposed to be Craig’s present. When they said “fishing”, I thought it we were gonna catch these huge fish with real fishing poles. It turned out that we just had simple fishing lines tied around an empty water bottle with a small fish as bait. We were out at sea for a good 3 hours and I did not catch anything. Lots of bites though. Craig, the guy getting married, caught the biggest fish out of all of us- about 10cm long.

The groomsmen and the bride

One of the many main courses

A view of White Beach in Boracay

Taal Volcano – “Please Don’t Rip Me Off….“

Taal Volcano is also known as Volcano Island and is part of a chain of volcanoes on Lake Taal. Nearby is a city called Tagatay where I stayed the night (about 2 hours bus ride from Manila). When I arrived in Tagatay, there were several touts greeting me where I got off the bus. Since I was several km’s off the main drag, I thought I’d better check out the rooms. One guy (his name was Paul) was offering me a room for 1500 pesos which was about $33 US. It was more expensive than Boracay! There was another room that didn’t look that good (a lot smaller) and it was about 900 pesos or $20 US. I told him I would take the smaller one for 900 pesos but then he said if I paid an extra 100 pesos I can take the bigger room. Deal.

However, being the salesman that Paul was he didn’t stop there. He wanted me to go on his boat to see Taal Volcano. The tour was about 1500 pesos or $33 US. As there was no one else to share the cost, I knew I had to bite the bullet. He then explain to me everything that was included. As I did not have enough time to shop around and it was getting late in the afternoon, I decided to go with him. We took his tricycle (motorbike) to Talisay, the jumping point to Taal Volcano, which is about 30 minutes from Tagatay. We hopped on his boat along with his cousin and off we went. The boat ride was about 20 minutes long. He then starts telling me that I would have to rent a horse as the hike to the mountain was too long, about 6 km one-way. To rent a horse was about 2000 pesos, or $43 US. I almost gagged. However, Paul said I could bargain down. I was a bit upset that he didn’t say the horse was included. Anyways, I was planning to hike the mountain anyways but he said some of the areas might be hot due to the active volcano. So hiking wasn’t recommended. Gimme a break. When we reached the entrance, I had to negotiate the horse price with one of the managers. I told him I would hike the volcano but he laughed. He said it was 8km. That’s funny, because I read in the Lonely Planet that it was a 45 minute hike and that I don’t need a guide. I waited awhile and noticed all the other tourists had horses as well. It was getting late in the afternoon, around 3:30pm. I didn’t have lunch as well so I had no energy. I did not want to risk hiking in the dark so I decided to rent a horse. After much bargaining, I managed to get it for 900 pesos, or $20 US. To be honest, I most definitely did not need a horse. I had a guide directing the horse with me. The hike was so easy I could’ve done it in 30 minutes! Aiya! Oh well, at least I got the experience. Tip: if you do decide to hike Taal volcano someday, you do not need a horse unless you want to be really lazy.

After the whole volcano ordeal, we got back to the boat and went across to the other side and headed back to Tagatay. Another thing that Paul did not tell me was that I had to pay for the tricyle ride to/from the volcano. He told me specifically that the tour included everything and I did not have to worry about added costs. I should have known. In the end, he did honor my request for not paying the tricyle ride but he did request a “tip” when I left. Like I said, he was a very good salesman.

Me on my horse “Bernadette”

Me at the top over looking the lake in the crater

A snapshot of Taal Volcano crater

Donsol and Mt. Mayon – “Win Some and Lost Some….How about Lose Them All”

I took an excruciating 12 hour overnight bus from Manila to Donsol which is south of Manila. Although I was bundled up in 2 jackets I was still freezing my butt off. The air-con on the bus is brutal. Most buses are like that in most Asian countries. Donsol is famous for spotting whale sharks. I’m glad I met Zoe and Jan from Belgium on the bus. Without them, renting a boat to see the whale sharks would have cost be about $77 US. Instead, it only costs me  about $20 (we also found one more person). You have to book the boat at the visitor info centre which opens at 7:30am. If we had gone earlier we would’ve been on a full boat as three boats had already left. I had to get a snorkel mask and fins which cost an extra $6 US. However, if we did not spot any whale sharks then we would get our money back at the end of the day. We were out on the boat for about 4 hours. The way it works is that there are several guys that try to spot the movement or shadows of these sharks in the water but it was difficult as it was cloudy most of the morning. The guide gave us an extra hour as we did not spot any all day. We were just sitting there on the boat all day and awaiting his call to get into the water. Near the end of the trip, our guide got a call from another boat as they spotted a whale shark! We saw off in a distance several people jumping off their boat with their snorkels on trying to spot a whale shark! Our guide quickly yelled at us to get our gear on and jump into the water. It was like a fire drill. A burst of adrenaline. Mind you, we had been sitting on the boat all day long and to have us quickly jump into the water was very exciting. We all quickly swam about 50 metres to the spot where the whale shark was but to no avail. The whale shark had disappeared. We got back into the boat breathless and tired. It was disappointing to come all this way not to see a whale shark but at least I got my money back for the snorkel and fins.

The next day, I joined Zoe and Jan and took an early morning bus to Legaspi which was about an hour away from Donsol by Jeepny. There, we wanted to go see Mt. Mayon which recently was erupted a few weeks ago. It is known as the perfect volcano with its symmetrically conical shape. We thought the bus was going straight to Legaspi but it ended up dropping us off in Daraga, just on the outskirts of Legaspi. We demanded the bus driver to give us change as he did not drop us off straight to Legaspi. Although I was fortunate enough to get my change, Zoe and Jan were less fortunate. We managed to arrive at the Bicol Adventure Tours to enquire about tours to Mt. Mayon. After waiting an hour for it to open (we killed time at a nearby food court for breakfast), we asked whether it was safe to hike Mt. Mayon. Although it was open for hikes, the weather was cloudy and unpredictable. We could not see the volcano at all due to the clouds. Plus it was really expensive to hike. After much discussion and planning, Zoe and Jan decided to go elsewhere in their travels and I had to go back to Manila to catch a bus to Mt. Pinatubo. They both gave me some advice on Mt. Pinatubo and told me I should ask for Alvin for a place to stay. That’s all I got. No address or anything. That was my only lead. More on this later.

So I had the whole day to kill before my 10+ hour overnight bus back to Manila. I caught a jeepney to Cagsawa Ruins, about 8km NW of Legaspi. There are the remains of the sunken Cagsawa church and supposedly the best views of Mt. Mayon. It had cleared up a bit but unfortunately I could not see the whole volcano. Afterwards, I decided to get a haircut. I looked all around the city and found one that looked reasonable. Guess how much? It was .75 cents US!! They gave me a haircut and shave. I felt like I was stealing from them so I tipped them and they were surprised. After the haircut, I decided to explore the malls and see if there was a movie theatre (there wasn’t much to do in the city). I ended up watching this movie called “Ninja Assassin”. Not the greatest movie but I can’t complain for $3 US.

The guides trying to spot some whale sharks

That’s me at the Cagsawa Ruins

Mt. Mayon in the background (if you can see through the clouds)

Santa Juliana/Mt. Pinatubo – “Can I speak to Alvin”?

If I have one beef about the Lonely Planet or LP (ok, I have many beefs about the Philippines LP but this was the kicker), it is that they only dedicate a little more than half a page on Mt. Pinatubo. And most of the information is wrong. I got more reliable information from Zoe and Jan from Belgium. The last eruption was in June 15, 1991 when there was a massive eruption. The mountain lost 300m in height and sent fine dust in the nearby towns. There was also a severe typhoon that turned the ash into lethal lahar (mobile volcanic mud) which flooded downhill and sank nearby villages. The result of the eroded lahar is a stunning moon-looking landscape which is now started to recover some if its vegetation. The thing that the LP was wrong about was that now you cannot hike the mountain. They will not allow you to. You have to rent a 4WD and book with a guide. What sucks is that if you book alone it will cost 4000 pesos, or about $87 US and if you book with three people or more it is 1500 pesos or $33 US. I was really praying that I could find someone else to go along with me! When I arrived at the jumping off point in Santa Juliana, I was lucky enough to find two Americans (Rick and Dwayne) to join me. It was perfect timing. If I had arrived 10 minutes later, they would’ve left without me. Joining them was entertaining to say the least. They were loud, outgoing, and always in your face. They are Americans after all (I know not all Americans are like this). The drive up to the crater was about an hour I think. The hike from the entrance to the crater was about 15 minutes, or 20 minutes for a senior citizen (they actually had a sign for that).

After the volcano, we headed back to Santa Juliana for some Filipino lunch. By the time we got back it was around 3:30pm so it was probably “linner” or “lupper”. As it was getting late, I was starting to think where I was going to stay that night. I started to ask around the restaurant but they said there are no places as the town was very small. I recall the advice I got from Zoe and Jan from Belgium asking for Alvin but I was too shy to ask. I mean, come on. Do I really think an Alvin lives here? After lunch I decided to go to the visitor info centre and ask if there was a place to stay around here. They had recommended a few places outside of the town but it was too expensive. Risk of losing nothing, I decided to brave it out and ask if Alvin lived here. Sure enough, the lady at the counter said yes and she even had his number! What a small town! Unfortunately, Alvin was not around to answer his phone. So I recommended that I walk to his place which was about a 5 min. walk. Big score!! The place was great. Alvin was really nice. Spoke perfect English and has a nice family. The place was about $8 US that includes a huge breakfast. They offered me a free dinner as well but I strongly offered to pay. Inside his house was a sweet looking jukebox straight from the 80’s. It was cool. Later that night I accompanied some of his relatives out for a night of kareoke. Filipino entertainment. It was pretty much the only thing to do here at night as there were no internet cafes or bars or anything.

Me at the top of Pinatubo Crater Lake

Pinatubo’s surreal moonscape starting to see vegetation

I was in the moment here (forgot what song I was singing here)

Special thanks to:

Jan and Zoe (Jan is in the middle and Zoe wearing blue)

Thanks so much for all the Mt. Pinatubo advice and especially for recommending Alvin’s place. You were such a great help!

Angie and Alvin (and baby Angelo)

Thanks for the great dinner and breakfast and for having me over at your house. Your jukebox is amazing!

Dwayne and Rick

To my neighbors down south (Americans), thanks for making the Mt. Pinatubo trip memorable (and also for sharing the cost)

Sunny and Brad (Pitt)

Thanks for an amazing time at the cave connection in Sagada. You guys are really funny!

Mabel and Craig

Thanks for inviting me to your beautiful beach wedding in Borocay. Sorry I couldn’t finish all the food.

Larry and Jeannette (Craig’s aunt and uncle)

Thanks for all the good chats about travelling. Hope you enjoyed your SE Asia trip!

Jordan

Thanks for taking me around the rice terraces in Banaue

Back in Beautiful British Columbia

I am now back in Victoria, BC. Here is a summary of my 15 hour flight home from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia:

- Watched 4 movies: Inglorious Bastards, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, This is It, Love Happens
- Meals on flight were (main course): Chicken with Rice, Fish with Rice, and Scrambled egg with bread and weird sausage
- Had about a 5 hour lay-over in Taipei. Slept on a couch pretty much the whole time. Did not eat as the food court was closed
- The plane landed 6:30pm pst in Vancouver (half hour delay)
- Got out of the plane and past through customs around 6:40pm (one of the first ones to get off and managed to squeeze by the 30+ Chinese tour group and the guy with the flag in front)
- Went to get my baggage. Picked my 2 pieces of baggage at 7:20pm (one of the last ones to exit airport)
- Met Phebe at airport. Chatted for a bit and then I was off to Bridgeport Station at 7:50pm to catch the Tsawassen bus to the ferries
- Caught the 9pm ferry and arrived in Victoria 10:45pm
- Managed to get on the overloaded bus back to Victoria (over an hour bus ride)
- Arrived at my place around 12 midnight.
- Slept around 1pm
- Got up around 6am. Made some breakfast and was ready for work at 8:30am!

End of my Trip

These past few weeks have gone by so fast, yet it feels like I have been away for months. I have jammed a lot in during my trip here but a few weeks in the Philippines does not do justice. There is so much to do here that it would probably take another month or so to explore the other islands. I’m glad I got to see what I wanted to see though. The people here are friendly and hospitable and I never felt more safe here. There are security guards in practically every corner. They are in shopping mall entrances, restrooms, train stations, and even in the movie theatres (I’m glad I didn’t bring any outside food in the theatres or else I might be punished…Filipino style, haha). I will be flying back to Canada today and will take the next few days to organize my pictures and write-up a summary of my trip to the Philippines. So stay tuned. I am going to miss my time here, especially all the good food and warm weather. I say warm now and not hot as I have grown accustom to the weather now! However, I am looking forward to going back to beautiful British Columbia – the “Best Place on Earth”

Update from Philippines

It’s been a crazy few days here in the Philippines. Not sure where to start. Right now I am at an internet cafe writing this at 6:30am. I just arrived from a 12 hour overnight bus from Bontoc to Manila. I arrived at 3am and I wasn’t sure what to do. I walked to a 24hr Burger King to wash up and then later walked to another fast food place to eat some breakfast as nothing else was open. I now have a few hours to kill before my flight to Borocay.

I am looking forward to getting out of Manila. It’s polluted, streets full of garbage, smells like pee, full of traffic, you name it. I would not want to live here. I am sure there some nice things about this city but right now I am not seeing it. Get me out of this prison!

Prior to this, I was in Banaue for a few days and Sagada for a night. Banuae is a great place. Simply put, I would call it the Grand Canyon of rice terraces. Around Banaue are amphitheatre-like stone-walled rice terraces which were built over 2000 years ago. It is commonly referred to by Filipinos as the “8th wonder of the world”. I wish I had pictures to show you but I did not bring my usb cord. I will be back home in a week anyways so I will load everything all at once. The first day I travelled with a guide and he took me to see the famous viewpoint of Banaue rice terraces. It is printed on the back of the 1000 Filipino Peso bill. We later went to Hapao to walk through the rice terraces and later ended up in the hot spring for a nice dip. The next day we went to see Batad which is the mecca of rice terraces. I’ve seen pictures of it online and in books but to actually see it in person is truly amazing.

I was in Sagada for only a night but I wish I could stay there a few more days to explore. I met up with these 2 other South Koreans on a bus and we decided to share a guide to do the cave connection tour. We were in these caves for about 2 hours and I must say it was pretty amazing inside. There were a few times where the guide where throw his sandals down a huge black hole (who knows how deep) so we would have to retrieve it. It was pretty neat. So I copied the guide and threw my sandals down and I noticed it splashed in water. The guide said I threw it in the wrong place as there is a river down there and it got washed away. He was joking of course. We climbed down through the tight tunnels and crevices and I managed to get my sandals back. Phew. There is a section in the cave called “Porn Cave”. When I get back home I will show pictures and show you why they call it that. My 2 Korean friends are funny. They are Sunny and Kim. As Kim is a typical Korean name, he actually prefers to call himself Brad. So I called him Brad Pitt to help me remember. He also called me Kevin Costner to help him remember.

There are many other stories and adventures to tell but I will have to wait for another time. I will keep you posted.