Busuanga Island

I had a couple of days in Manila during which I didn't do much - caught up on some emailing, did a little shopping and saw a movie (Easy A - okay, not fantastic) - before taking off to Coron on Busuanga Island.  Busuanga is part of the Calamian Group of islands just north of Palawan.  The Calamian Group is a cluster of tiny islands full of gorgeous beaches and swimming holes and great snorkel and dive spots.  Most people come here to dive or to island hop.  The movie The Beach was filmed in Thailand, but the book was actually written about a beach in the Philippines and it is rumored to be somewhere within this group.

Unfortunately, my trip to Busuanga came with two little hiccups: 1) a tour of the islands was kind of pricey and I wasn't able to track down someone to split it with and 2) I was hit with a pretty bad cold just before arriving.  This wasn't such a huge issue as I was pretty happy to lay in a hammock on the deck reading for large parts of the day, a the while being serenaded by strangled cat karaoke renditions of cheesy love songs from the bar across the inlet.

The view from the deck.

I know it probably sounds a little ridiculous that I didn't go check out the nearby paradise, but it just didn't seem worth it when I was sick and pretty drained from being on the go for so long.  I did break up the day to have a massage or wander around town.  A few pictures from Coron:

Coron's version of the Hollywood sign.

My beloved hammock.

I flew back to Manila after a few days and spent one last night in my regular hotel - Malate Pensionne.  It was one last quick afternoon of emailing and a bit of shopping and a quick visit with Inken and Katrin (they booked their last night in the same place as me) before flying out to Bangkok the next morning!



Vigan

Next up was Vigan which meant heading out of the mountains and over to the far West of North Luzon.  It was a long journey as the most reliable route required heading 7 hours South to Baguio and then 5 hours back North on the other side of the mountain range.  The first bus was fairly rudimentary and a rather uncomfortable ride.  The second was much more comfortable, but again had the extreme air conditioning. At least I was prepared for it this time!  It was on this journey that I discovered chocolate popcorn - delicious!

As we passed through Baguio I noticed that they have loads of crazy jeepneys there.  I kind of wished I was spending a night there just to get a picture of a few.  They are painted crazy colours and have great names (one of them was Canada Dream!) and decorative objects all over them.  So fun.

When we finally arrived in Vigan, I had my first trip on a tricycle riding side-saddle on the back of the bike.  A bit dodgy, but not so bad since they don't go very fast.  We were dropped off at our accommodation - Grandpa's Inn - to find that they LOVE Christmas here and the place was decked out in great decorations (keep in mind this was November 8th).

Inken showing off the lovely snowmen.

Katrin and the Christmas tree.

Vigan (pronounced like vegan) was untouched by the bombings of WWII and so it still has a quaint Spanish colonial feel to it.  The first night we had a lovely dinner at an outdoor cafe - pretty much the only place still open at 9pm.

The next couple days were mostly spent poking around shops, enjoying the little cafes and restaurants and reading.  One day we took a horse and buggy tour around Vigan and some of the neighbouring villages.  Our guide took us to the bell tower, a clay jar factory, a garden and a loom weaver's shop.  We were quite the novelty in the small surrounding villages and I'm pretty sure part of the tour was designed just to put us on display for the locals.  I finally understand why the queen has such a prim and subtle wave - it can get tiring!  Everyone wanted to say hello!

Our tragic looking horse.

I had a bit more time than the Germans, so we parted ways in Vigan for them to head back to Manila a day earlier than me.  I spent my last day in Vigan hanging out in cafes and reading before getting the night bus back to Manila.  I opted for the deluxe bus (with lazy boy like seats) this time and still didn't get any sleep because it would stop all the time.  Sigh.  At least I was able to check in for a half day when I arrived at 4:30am to get some sleep in in the morning!

Sagada

The next morning Katrin, Inken and I packed up to head West to Sagada.  Sagada is a little village of about 1600 high up in the mountains and a favourite among backpackers for its outdoorsy activities and cheapness.  On our way to getting the jeepney over to Sagada, we were intercepted by a local who was driving a van to Sagada for a bit more money, but also much more comfortable.  We piled in with five other tourists making the same trip and headed out.  About two hours in we got a flat tire.  And I don't mean a slow leak, we should patch the tire kind of flat tire.  It was rim to the ground flat.  Luckily we were just outside the next town - Bontoc - and were able to make it there to get the tire replaced.  For some reason this took about an hour, so we went for a little wander.

Tricycles in Bontoc.  These motorcycles with sidecars are a common alternative to a taxi all over the Philippines.  Sometimes they'll jam 3 or 4 people in the sidecar with another passenger riding side saddle on the back of the bike.  Good thing they never get going much more than 30 km/hr!

Once we got on the road again it was only another hour to Sagada.  Katrin, Inken and I got checked into a guesthouse and took off to check out the tiny village.  Like the rest of the Philippines, Sagada is a mostly Christian town since it was colonized by the Spanish way back when.  But an interesting tradition from before colonization still exists here.  While many are now buried in the graveyard, some people still like to have above-ground coffins.  These people believe in an afterlife and don't like the idea of spending it rotting away underground.  In fact, the further from the ground the better.  Many coffins are hung off the cliffs in the area or put on ledges or caves in the cliffs.  It is important for important members of the tribe to been seen and remembered after death.  Interestingly (and kind of morbidly), part of this tradition is to make your own coffin.  When you start to feel that death is approaching, you go off into the woods, chop down a tree and carve out your coffin.

Hanging coffins.  The one with the white writing was just added earlier this year.

Can you spot the hanging coffins?

The next day was my first sunny day in the Philippines.  It was gorgeous and stinking hot - perfect for checking out some caves!  We walked down to one of the big caves only to find that we needed to have a guide or we'd probably die in there and that we were supposed to book one back in town.  Luckily, there was guide there with a small group about to head out and they very kindly let us join them.  We really had no idea what we were getting ourselves into which was probably for the best, because I may not have done it otherwise.  It turned out that we had to wade through knee deep water and rappel down a small (okay, very small) cliff.  Us girls were quite glad that the group we had joined was made up of a few strong men because we might still be down there had they not been around to give us a lift up in a couple of spots!

Inken in the cave.



Emerging from our caving adventure.

Our guide also took us by a burial cave which was full of the coffins of people who didn't want to be buried underground but I guess weren't important enough to be put up on the cliffs.

Thanks for the warning.  I wasn't planning on it though...

Random tidbit from Sagada - the cleaner at the guesthouse was using a halved coconut husk to clean the wood floors with.  It picked up all the dirt and polished it at the same time - amazing!

Banaue and the Rice Terraces

So I have to start this off by telling you a little bit about the bus company I used out of Manila.  Because, despite being run in a much more rudimentary fashion, I found it far superior to our own Greyhound system back in Canada.  They had different types of buses to choose from.  A regular bus was the equivalent of a run down Greyhound.  But they also had first-class buses which were a roomier version of a Greyhound, deluxe buses which has lazy-boy like seats and sleeper buses with reclining chaise longue bunks.  Brilliant!  And nevermind that, they had a system of running the buses that was actually efficient that included things like actually posting the destination(s) of the buses and time of departure on the front of the bus.  Seems basic, yes, but sadly Greyhound Canada hasn't worked this one out yet.

Anyway, enough about that.  The only bus option I had for my 8 hour trip up to Banaue was a regular bus, so it was less than comfortable.  The one perk was that the bus was air conditioned.  And air conditioned it was.  I'm pretty sure the only setting on that thing was Ice Age.  Luckily, the vendors at the bathroom break stops have caught on to this and I was able to buy a cheap blanket part way through the trip.  Otherwise, I probably would have reached my destination with no feeling in my toes.

We got into Banaue around 5am.  I was a little concerned about what the heck I was supposed to do with myself at that hour, but myself and the few other tourists were quickly herded into a nearby restaurant to have coffee and wait until the hotel opened and sent someone to come pick us up.  This is where I met my new German friends Inken and Katrin.

Not only were Inken and Katrin lovely to spend time with, but they also came in kind of handy over our next few days of traveling together as it saved us all a lot of money to do tours together.  After a bit of a snooze, the three of us headed out for a day tour of the surrounding rice terraces.

View from hotel balcony - morning #1

View from hotel balcony - morning #2 (glad we did the tour the day before the fog came in!)

What was meant to be a 4-5 hour tour ended up being more like 7-8 because of all the crazy rain.  We kept getting caught in these torrential downpours and would have to wait them out under the awning of someone's hut.  Not that I'm complaining.  In the least.  It turns out that I missed what the tour guide claimed to be the worst typhoon the Phillippines has ever seen (or maybe just ever in his lifetime) by about two weeks.  This meant that the roads were really bad due to all the recent landslides which added to the trip time as well.

So the tour itself took us to the lookout points of the rice terraces in Banaue and for a "trek" through the terraces of neighbouring Hungduan with a stop at the hot springs and at a hut owned by the guide's family for lunch.  The trip was beautiful despite the fact the rice had already been harvested (usually the flats of the terraces would be vivid green with rice shoots) and it was interesting to learn all about rice (really).

Enjoying the company of some of the local headhunter tribal elders.

Our jeepney for the day.  The first jeepneys were modified army jeeps left by the Americans after WWII.  Jeepneys are still used as a mode of public transit and are available for hire all over the Philippines.  The new builds stay true to the original design.

These red plants are used to indicate the boundary of a family's rice terraces.  Pretty much all families in the area grow their own rice for personal consumption.

Filipino chicken coop.

Soaked and starving.  Ready for a delicious lunch of red rice (I had no idea such a thing existed) and stir fry!

After lunch we got ready to head back to the hotel, which was a bit dodgy.  When someone asks "So will we be able to make it back?" you never really want the response to be "I'm not sure."  If the answer is yes, great.  If the answer is no, it sucks but you find somewhere else to sleep for the night and figure it out in the morning.  "I'm not sure" could mean getting stuck and stranded on some remote road with no way out.  Not so cool.  We did end up making it home that night after a very slow drive and having to stop and wait for the road to be cleared in one spot from the landslide that happened just that afternoon from all the rain.  We were very glad to make it home in one piece!

More Manila

Okay, so I've finally got some time and the inspiration for more blogging!

I spent the next few days in Manila and once I got over my initial shock and ignorance, it started to grow on me.  The people are lovely and many of them say hello to me on the street and I always get a huge grin back when I return the greeting.  They seem to find me a bit odd and I had a lot people ask if I was traveling alone and a few ask, a little skeptically, whether I like it.  Everyone calls me ma'am, which took some getting used to.

One day I checked out the historical Spanish fort area called Intramuros and nearby Rizal Park (had my first pedicab ride to get out there!).  It wasn't nearly as beautiful as the historical buildings you'd see in Europe, but still interesting.  Just to add to the feeling of being a bit of a spectacle, this is where I had my first encounter with people wanting to take my photo.  A group of Filipino kids approached me and I thought they were asking me to take a group photo of them.  Before I knew it I was surrounded by Filipino teenagers having my own picture taken!

Bird house for the park pigeons

The ceiling and much of the walls are actually painted in 3D relief rather than using carved stone.  Very sneaky!

Entrance to Fort Santiago in Intramuros

This little walk made it pretty clear that the Filipinos are very into Christmas.  This was the beginning of November and they were already putting up Christmas decorations in the park and playing Christmas music everywhere.  Just to hit the point home, when I went out for a Filipino dinner that night, there was a live band playing...you guessed it, Christmas music.  Although it was at least a jazzed up tropical twist on the classics.  Not that I don't LOVE Christmas.  I do, very much.  I just wasn't quite prepared for it.  And there's something a little frustrating in getting into the Christmas spirit and not being able to do anything about it (can't decorate, wrap gifts, bake cookies).

The next day I joined forces with this Spanish girl staying in my room to do some more of Manila.  At first I was glad to have company, but she unfortunately turned out to be quite the sourpuss.  She hated Manila, got grouchy when she couldn't understand her guidebook and was quite curt and bossy with the cab drivers.  We ended up checking out the National Filipino Museum which was quite good and heading over to The Fort which was not.  The Fort is an area in Manila that from what I saw has been completely Westernized.  The main strip (High Street) was full of shops from Europe and North America, and restaurants serving Western food.  Not sure why you would even bother coming to the Philippines if you were going to stay in that area as you could be anywhere in the world.  But it seemed busy, so what do I know?

My last day in Manila was a bit of a pampered one.  I treated myself to a foot massage (only $6) and went to see Social Network at the movie theatre in the mall before grabbing the overnight bus up to Banaue.

Despite a bit of a rough start, I did end up enjoying Manila and kind of wished I had a bit more time there.  I was just getting used to things by the time I had to leave.  But I definitely wasn't going to miss the karaoke music blaring into my room from the street every night until the wee hours! :P

Checking in

I know, I know, I've been promising updates for awhile.  But I haven't had much internet access lately and at the present moment I'm very tired.  I will write all about the Philippines as soon as I can.  In the meantime, hi, I'm still alive.  Bangkok tomorrow!

Shan

Onto the Philippines!

While it was sad to leave Australia, particularly Jon, Kieran and Emma (I had gotten quite used to my simple little life in Brisbane), the prospect of the Philippines was enough to keep me moving onward.  My flight to Manila was a bit of a long haul - 16 hour trip with the layover in Kuala Lumpur.  Luckily I didn't have anyone in the seat next to me for either flight, so I was able to get comfy and sleep for most of it.

I flew with Malaysia Airlines, which is about ten years behind the times in terms of the flight travel experience.  No personal tvs, but they actually feed you a meal on a 4 hour flight, which was much more important to me on this flight.  We were served a traditional Malaysian breakfast on the first flight - rendang chicken!  Probably not the best rendang chicken out there, but definitely better than most airplane food options.  Of course, I suspect a truly traditional Malaysian breakfast of rendang chicken probably doesn't come with OJ, a croissant, a yogurt cup and a mini Muesli bar, but I'll take what I can get.  Lunch was some other delicious Malaysian chicken dish.

Immigration and customs at the Manila airport was easy as pie.  The immigration officer didn't question me at all.  In fact, she didn't speak a single word to me.  Neither did the customs officer.  Certainly made it easy for me.  Most of the people off my flight were in the "visitor" lineups and not the "Philippine passport" lineups, but the vast majority of even the visitors were Asian.  It was quite clear from the get go that I would stick out like a sore thumb.  A sore thumb wearing a red wig.

Outside, the humidity hit me like a tonne of bricks.  It's not that it's all that hot, just really, really sticky.  I had my first experience with having a driver waiting for me with my name written on a sign.  Kind of cool, I'm not going to lie.  Having a driver from the hostel/hotel pick me up at the airport was definitely more money than I needed to spend, but it made my arrival nice and relaxed and easy.  Totally worth the whopping $11.

Having never been to Asia or any third world country, the was definitely a fair bit of culture shock.  Especially given that Manila is not the prettiest of cities.  The areas that we drove through looked pretty poor, dirty and rundown.  Even the area I'm staying in, from the street view, is pretty rundown though the business interiors are nice and it gets a bit cleaner and more prosperous looking just a few blocks up.  On my street there aren't even usable sidewalks consistently.  There is a very strong police presence and security at the front doors of some restaurants.  All the taxis honk at me as they drive past.  At first I thought I was in the way, not walking close enough to the side of the road or something.  Turns out that's just how they get your attention to see if you want a ride.  I was pretty overwhelmed the first night, and as much as I hate to admit it, I only saw the inside of my hotel, the Starbucks attached to my hotel and the internet cafe across the street for my first evening.

Despite all that, I managed to remain optimistic about venturing out the next day simply because everyone is so friendly here.  I felt very welcome and knew I could get help if I needed it.

That's it for now.  Adventures in Manila to come!

Brisbane Part 6: Tidbits

• Checked out the museum and art galleries.  Generally all free in Australia, which I think is great.  Did pay to see a special exhibit, the Valentino Retrospective, which was interesting.
• Some crazy dude took over one of the CityCat (river ferry) docks threatening to blow up his boat if the city didn't help him with his family problems.  No idea what sort of family problems the city can fix, but apprently that was the issue.  He claimed he would hold out for up to 2 weeks before he blew up his boat (apparently he truly believed he could stay awake that long), but lasted less than 24 hours before setting his boat on fire, stabbing himself in the gut a couple times and jumping in the water.  From which he was quickly retrieved by the police as the fire was put out by the firefighters on standby.  Not the most successful standoff for him.
• Brisbane can have some crazy downpours.  One afternoon it was so bad that I almost couldn't see the buildings just across the river from Jon and Kieran's and the satellite cut out.  Luckily I had only been about a block away from the apartment when it started so I didn't get too wet.
• Jon and Kieran took me to my first BYO restaurant.  Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but some restaurants in Australia let you bring your own booze.  This seems to typically apply to wine, but some places you can take other booze too.  So strange.
• Southbank has a beautiful pathway along the river covered by vines and flowers:

Brisbane Part 5: Koala Cuddling

One of the biggest things for tourists to do in Australia is hold a koala.  In fact, it's practically a requirement.  And one of the best places to do that (as far as I can tell) is Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane.  Not only do you get your koala cuddle in, but they have over a hundred koalas so you can get in more than your fill of cute koala ogling.



Cuddle, cuddle!

 Okay, so it's not really like cuddling at all.  In order to avoid having the koala freak out and dig its claws into you, you have to "be its tree" as they put it.  So you have to stay as still as possible and then give it back pretty quickly.  I did get to pet him though.  They are as soft as they look.

Other cute koala

There were lots of other animals to see there too: wombats, kangaroos, a platypus, dingos, loads of birds...

Wombats - so cute!





We learned that Kieran is taller than an Eastern grey kangaroo.  I, on the other hand, am not even as tall as the common wallaroo.

We also saw a sheep herding and shearing demonstration.  Sheep dogs are actually quite remarkable.

Sheep dog standing on top of merino sheep

Afterwards we drove up to the top of Mt. Coot-tha.  The view was pretty, if a bit hazy.