Island Hopping - Tour A

All was not well at our new abode. After killing 4 mosquitoes, more appeared. Where the heck were they coming from?! We checked the doors, the windows, the walls. Then we looked at the ceiling. It was bamboo thatched and there were holes. Matthew guessed that the space between the first and second floors was infested with mosquito larvae, hence the mosquito army attack. AHHHH! That night, we smeared on Deet, wrapped ourselves in thin sheet blanket and directed the air-con and fan (set on high) at our faces. I barely slept. At 6am, the fan and air-con went dead and we got up.

By now we had stayed at 5 different places for the past 5 nights. Counting backwards - this place, the 1500 peso place, Century Park Hotel in Malate, Isabelle Royal in Makati, George's in Sagada. We told the hotel guy about mosquitoes and he offered us a 2nd floor room. I didn't want to look for yet another hostel so we said okay.

Once again we were on time and no one else was. Ben said he'd gotten up early but the restaurant was taking forever with his breakfast. Matthew went to find Nico and Graeme at their hostel. He pounded on their door and shouted their names. Then he opened the door and saw them passed out on their beds. Nico roused for a bit and said, "no, it tiz imposibol" went back to sleep. Another night of hard partying.

Matthew and I got on the boat while we waited for Ben to finish his breakfast 200 meters away. We said hi to Steve who was joining us on the tour. He had thin calves and very pretty eyes. San Diego dude, concluding 6 months of solo backpacking. In the distance I saw Ben run along the shore toward us. He stopped halfway and ran back to the restaurant. Later he told us that when he saw us get on the boat, he thought that we were going to leave him behind, so he ran out. When he saw that we were just waiting, he ran back to finish his pancake.

Tour A (Big Lagoon, Small Lagoon, Secret Lagoon, Simesu Island and 7 Commandos Beach) was even more beautiful than Tour C. Also, we had switched boat operators and our boat guide was leagues better than the Jezebel guys. He spoke good English and told us what to expect. He shook his head in disapproval when we told him we lost money yesterday.

COOKING

Lunch was largely the same fare as the day before. I walked over to look at how the fish was grilled. Just put a bunch of rocks in a circular formation, add charcoal in the middle, put a web on top, and put whole fish on it. Tada. Then I watched our boat chef make the sauce for the fish and salad dressing. Pre-slice cucumbers, cabbage, and tomatoes. Dice onions and garlic. Slice 5-10 calamansi in half and squeeze juice onto onion and garlic. Add 2 parts soy sauce and 1 part chili vinegar. Add one spoonful of sugar. Spinkle freshly ground pepper. Mix together and ladle onto fish and rice. YUM. Might I add that the ground pepper was super fresh. For salad dressing, just forgo the onion and garlic, and sprinkle pepper directly on vegetables.

There were two whole fish left, which our boat crew packed and ate later.

SNAKE

A snake appeared and people scurried around. Our guide said it was not poisonous. Still, scary. I don't like how fast they move.

EVENING

At the end of our tour, I was island-hopped out. I had gotten nauseous snorkeling in a moderate current that bobbed me up and down. Still, we saw some cool stuff. My favorite was the puffer fish.

Ben needed to charge his iPod and blackberry but didn't have the right adaptors, so Matthew lent him his. We agreed to meet at 7pm to get our adaptors back. However, Matthew and I broke our promise. We went to eat at Balay Tubay at 6:45pm, thinking that Ben would probably stand us up again.

Balay Tubay was the Els Quatre Gats of El Nido back in the day. Now it is known for live music at 8pm every night. I had bad pasta and Matthew found weird metal bits in his mango smoothie. They made him a new one. The owner was watching a taped boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez. They gave each other really deep cuts above the eye and their coaches stuffed wax into the wounds. Manny took the featherweight champion title from Marquez in a controversial draw. I was amazed at how fast the jabbed each other and thought about my friend Justin who said he used to weigh 30 pounds less when he did wrestling. Impressive.

At 8pm, the live music began with an energetic bongo and djembe ensemble that pumped my blood so I decided to stay while Matthew went to the internet cafe to figure out how we could get out of El Nido tomorrow. There were only 3 of us in the audience and I felt a little exposed making eye contact with the musicians. After drums, they alternated between reggae and Filipino ballads.

MEETING BEN

Walking back, we saw Ben, Graeme and Nico at the same beach-front restaurant again with a big group of people. Ben had our adaptors with him. He said he didn't want to stand us up again so he was on time and waited for us but we didn't show. We said sorry. Graeme came over and apologized for ditching us. Nico didn't come over to say anything. We bid our farewells.

Island Hopping - Tour C

Electricity cut off at 6am, so Matthew and I got up. While he packed, I walked to Balay Tubay II, a brother restaurant of the famous Balay Tubay further down the street, to order breakfast. By now we know that breakfasts take at least 30 minutes to make, even if you order only eggs and longanisa sausage. I told the lady that I would be back and she looked confused.

Back at our original hotel, we slapped down our 1500 pesos, looked at the hotel owner, said thank you, and left. We walked to another hotel that Matthew had seen the day before for 800 pesos. The young guy looking after the property was happy to see us. He took off his shoes to enter the room to show us, but we walked in with our hiking shoes on.

At Balay Tubay, Matthew had the American Breakfast (eggs, bread, jam, tea, juice) and I had Filipino Breakfast (eggs, rice, corned beef, coffee, juice). He got some really nice soft bread which surprised both of us. We ate till I was really full and satisfied. 10 bucks total. Not the cheapest but still damn good considering in the Bay Area a pancake costs $8.99 if not more!

Thanks to our foresight on breakfast timing, we got to our meeting place in time for our 8am departure. The boatmen said that the guys (Ben, Nico, Graeme) were over in another restaurant. We walked over and they had just ordered their food. Ben said sorry, and Nico said it's just as well since most boats leave at 9am anyway. Whatever Nico. Nico, Ben, and Graeme had been out partying. They first went to a dance club, then around 2am they met this rich Australian party guy who rolled out a huge ensemble of liquor on a beach mat and invited everyone to join him. After some drunken 3am swimming and climbing into bangkas parked by the shore, most people went home except Nico who stayed out on the beach till 5am.

We departed at around 9am for "Tour C" (Secret Beach, Hidden Beach, Helicopter Island, Mantiloc Island, Tapiutan) and saw very beautiful islands and lagoons with nice snorkeling. I was a little scared snorkeling because there were sea urchins and jelly fish. I also really didn't want to see snakes of any kind. I think it is healthy to fear for your life once in a while. It makes you realize your everyday social fears of other people are silly.

While snorkeling, Nico would go off on his own and do his lone wolf thing. Graeme would yell to us if he saw anything cool. Graeme also taught me and Matthew how to duck dive which is holding your breath and diving a few meters below to see the fish up close. Ben kind of hovered in between.

For lunch our boatmen cooked a delicious meal of grilled tuna, rice, and fresh cucumber, lettuce, and tomato salad. We ate close to a Norwegian-Filipino family. Norwegian father, Filipino mother (nurse in Norway), hapa adolescent/teenage daughter (pretty) and son, and daughter's Norwegian boyfriend (very blond, minor PDA with his girlfriend). Ben said that he would never take his daughter's boyfriend on a family trip, but I thought it was very open of the parents.

For one of the lagoons we needed to swim into a small tunnel to enter the lagoon. When we came out, a boatman from another party had speared a blue fish and was jumping up and down in glee. I lost my hair tie and watched it float away as our boat departed.

At Mantiloc Island, we all (including boatmen) got off to see a Virgin Mary sculpture. When we got back to the boat, Ben noticed that his bag had been opened. He showed us how he would always leave his bag (buckles fastened in a particular way) and it wasn't that way now. (Side note: Ben also takes 3 showers a day and is very particular about washing his hands before eating.) He checked his wallet and 1000 pesos were missing. He suspected it was one of the boatmen. We all checked our wallets too and Matthew was missing a US twenty dollar bill. We looked at each other and didn't know what to do. Ben was really bummed and when the boat got to shore he wanted to grab a beer.

We made plans to meet at 7pm for dinner, but they were no show again, so Matthew and I went to The Alternative to eat dinner. The tide was super high and the ocean lapped at its doorstep, so we had to enter from the back. They have nice "nests" that jut out of the building on the second floor facing the ocean. The nest has nice cushions and you sit cross legged to eat your food. I ordered spicy banana heart curry and Matthew got a pork dish. Service was very good. I had read on a blog that all the workers there used to work at an island resort before it got shut down, so they have good comraderie. In the nest next to us was a gorgeous, tall and blond couple, probably on a honey moon. We saw a string of lights in the distance on the ocean and asked the wait staff what it was. A few moments later, the blond girl asked the same question to her waitress. How come I can hear her but she couldn't hear me? Anyhow, they were boats fishing for squid, which only occurs after dark.

After dinner, we passed by the beach front restaurant and Ben called out to us. They had napped and overslept, and they are now getting dinner with several other backpackers. We made plans to do "Tour A" tomorrow.

El Nido

BOAT TRIP TO EL NIDO

This was the most beautiful boat ride of my life. We caught a break between typhoons so the sky was clear. I saw tons of sparkling flying fish. The rocking movement of the boat and the white noise from the engine put me in a meditative state. I wore my farmer's hat (ugly but so useful) and $12 polarized shades that I bought in Alaska. Polarized shades are totally worth it. At one point the clouds looked orange!

We shared the ride with Ben and two other solo travelers who've paired up for the time being - Nico and Graeme. I was in my reverie and didn't feel like talking to anyone so I let Matthew do the socializing.

ARRIVING IN EL NIDO

We arrived at 2pm and left our bags with our boat vendor, Jezzebel, to look for housing. There was a monkey tied at his waist to the ceiling.

Ben suggested that we all stay at one place and negotiate as a group, but soon it was clear that we had different indifference points. I was willing to the pay the most for an air-con room - 1500 pesos ($30). Ben preferred the same hotel but was content with a fan - 700 pesos. Both our rooms are on the 2nd floor (fewer mosquitoes). Graeme and Nico stayed at a crappy looking place, ground floor, for 300 pesos each.

Graeme and Nico have been traveling for almost a year. Ben is on vacation from work for 6 weeks, 2 of which he spent in Australia with his girlfriend's family. Then he moved on alone to Indonesia and now the Philippines. He does restructuring work at PwC in London.

Graeme is from Ireland and used to work in the music technology industry. He plans to find work in Manila. Nico is French and used to work at Adobe before moving to Africa. They both have plans to become divemasters and throw their cubicle lives to the winds.

DINNER TOGETHER

We met at 6pm as previously agreed for a drink. I told them that I was hungry and would prefer to eat instead. Ben and Graeme were very agreeable, and Nico came along. I had chili squid with rice and Matthew got adobo chicken. We sat right on the beach with fire torches around us.

Nico was surprised that I couldn't tell his accent was French because it was very prominent. He said that when he speaks English, people would not correct him when he's wrong. French people don't do that. If you speak French, they will tell you if you say something wrong. During dinner he smoked one cigarette after another. I wish I'd sat further away from him.

I said, "So are we going to do an island tour tomorrow?" Yes, but we didn't know which operator to go with. So Nico walked off and came back and said we're going to do it with Jezzebel for 650 pesos each. The group said great. Nico is the biggest "value" guy out of all of us - Graeme said that he sometimes gets embarrassed by him - so if Nico's happy with the price, we're happy.

By the time we finished eating, the men were on their third San Miguel and intended to keep going. I said, "I think I shall retire back to our room, I'm pretty tired," and looked at Matthew. He got up too. I guess I should've asked if he'd wanted to stay with the boys. In any case, he seemed content.

MEDIOCRITY

Back in the hotel, the toilet didn't flush and there was no water pressure in our shower head. I went downstairs to tell the owner. He and his wife used to run a cashew business in Manila. He was fat. He was sitting on the couch watching TV when I approached him, and he held up his hand, still watching TV, and said, "for a while." WHAT?! I'm a customer and you tell me to talk to the hand? 20 seconds later he turned around and I told him the problem. They got fixed but we still checked out the next day and moved to a cheaper hostel.

My boss once said, "I hate mediocrity." I DO TOO. Can we not expect a decent level of service anymore?

CORON, PALAWAN

FLIGHT TO PALAWAN

We boarded a small plane with a lot of locals. Palawan is a large island Southwest of Luzon. We read that if you want unspoiled nature, go to Palawan.

While we waited for our luggages, a man called out "Kim, Matthew?" and asked if we had lost money. I realized that 850 pesos had fallen out of my pockets, so I told them the amount and they gave me the money. I was very impressed that the Philippine Air employee did not pocket the money. Man, my standards are low.

SHUTTLE TO SEA DIVE RESORT

For 150 pesos each we rode an air-conditioned minivan with other local tourists to Coron town center, about 45 minutes. A Filipino couple in front of us took a lot of pictures. I was curious about the local tourists. Are they rich? Where do they work? Growing up, I mostly encountered the upper class, and I wondered if there was a middle class.

There was nothing but mountains and land on either side of the road, which made me happy. We saw posters every few hundred meters of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in a construction worker's hat.

SEA DIVE RESORT

The workers here are very nonchalant, even dismissive. American-owned. It sits right on the dock, so one can hop on a boat directly from the open-air restaurant. The air con in our room barely cools the room down. Great.

At the restaurant I order a burrito. Bad idea. Never order non-local food. I eat it anyway. I spy a Lonely Planet book on the table next to us, where two Caucasian girls are talking. One of them approaches a European couple at another table and proposes something. A few minutes later, the European girl comes over to tell her that they're going to just relax that day.

Just as I am thinking about whether I should be more social with other backpackers, I hear "excuse me" and the same girl who'd approached the European couple is behind me. Karen is from London and asks if we wanted to do a boat tour together to share the cost. Ok.

BOAT TOUR

We ask Karen how long she's traveling for, and she said she left London in May of 2007. What? She's been backpacking for over 2 years! And by herself! She met the other girl, Kelly, on the plane to Palawan. Kelly is from New Jersey and a first-grade teacher at the Hsin Chu International School in Taiwan. She is on a 3-month summer holiday. Before this, she taught in the UAE and backpacked around the Middle East. She really recommends Oman. I was very impressed with these 2 female solo travelers. I'm too scared to backpack by myself.

LAKE KAYANGAN ON CORON ISLAND

Even though we are in a town called Coron, we are actually on Busuanga island. Our boat takes us to Coron Island. We climb over a hill and descend to Lake Kayangan. We put on sunblock by the lake. On the water surface, a dense group of thin long fish swarmed about. The water is super clear and I see tiny snails on the rocks in the water. I don't want to go in. I've never swam in a fresh water lake! This is probably as clear as it gets, but I still don't want to go in. My skin tingles at the thought. But, this trip is about doing new things, so I put on my snorkel mask (way too tight), and hop in.

There isn't much to see beneath the water, so I pop my head out. Gray limestone cliffs with patches of green plants. Pristine lake. Clear blue sky with accents of white clouds. I feel humbled. I become present to the idea - fact - that earth is worse off with humans around. We've done nothing good for earth. And we call ourselves stewards of this planet? We should be ashamed.

Karen and Kelly lounged on a rock near the front of the lake, talked, then swam to another rock further out and sat there. Matthew and I swam around and eventually rested on a rock. Karen took a picture of us. You can see our bodies beneath the water because it is so clear. The best part is that we were the only ones there most of the time.

FARE COLLECTION

When we climbed back out, our boat guy said we should pay the island guys the fare, even though the island guy had told us no need. We paid him anyway since that's what the sign said.

SMITH BEACH

From our bangka (wooden boat with small motor), we spotted a tiny little beach that was completely deserted, set in a cove of a small island. Our boat guys said it would be hard to go there because the tide is low and there is a lot of coral, but said he had a way. We parked on the side of the beach and snorkeled. I saw colorful fish and corals for the first time. I was amazed.

We sat in a small hut to rest and two men rowed up in a small canoe. The canoe was very narrow and would barely fit my butt, but somehow the men were able to fit, one in front of the other. They asked us for the entrance fare. Karen asked him for a receipt, and she was surprised when he produced an official one.

SIETE PECADOS

Our last stop. Lonely Planet says, "the coral here is a wonderland of colours and shapes." And so they were, but the sky clouded over so the colors weren't as nice. Our boat guys threw pieces of bread near us and all the fish would try to eat in a frenzy. Somehow they never bumped into each other and never into us.

By now my head was hurting from the tight snorkels. Matthew and I had deep red marks on our faces. Our masks also fogged up easily which was annoying.

That said, it was still a marvelous island tour.

SCUBA DIVING?

Coron is known for wreck diving to see sunken Japanese WWII ships. Karen said we may want to get scuba certified somewhere cheaper and more known for coral and fish. Both she and Kelly are divers and they both love it. I hadn't been super committed to getting scuba certified, but maybe we'd give it a go afterall.

Matthew and I considered leaving the next day for El Nido, but I did not feel the usual urge to commit. From the moment I popped my head out of the lake, my mind started to go blank. Nothing is urgent, and everything, no matter how they turn out, will be fine. Being in limbo is not so intolerable now.

MEETING BEN

After a shower, a slim English guy approached us while we walked down the stairs. Ben was looking to pool 6 people together for El Nido. The bangka is over there, 6 hours away, and would only come back if we have 6 people. We said okay, count us in.

A little while later, we saw Ben talking to a lady at the counter. He said he thinks he should give the ferry fare to a lady at another resort, since he'd talked to her about the ferry first. Does he really need to pay Sea Dive? He was pleading. The woman said yes; since he's staying at Sea Dive, he pays them. They were joking, negotiating, and flirting at the same time. Honestly Ben could have just done whatever he wanted, but somehow he felt strong-armed into paying Sea Dive, which he would later gripe about.

DINNER AT VILLAGE LODGE

I was starving so bad I could eat my elbow. After some wifi research on Matthew's iTouch, we walked to Village Lodge and ordered bulalo (house speciality beef shank soup) and pinakbet (mixed vegetable stew). I had a particular craving for bulalo and was totally satisfied. The beef was so tender.

ATM

After dinner, we looked for an ATM. Matthew had gotten directions from a Sea Dive lady but they were useless. We were led into dark streets that made me very nervous. Finally we found the ATM and waited for two men to be done. While Matthew got money, I looked in the eye at everyone passing by. One man rode his bicycle slowly and we made eye contact and held it. He turned his head as he passed, and I thought I saw him consider turning the bike around. Scary! I wondered if making eye contact deters or encourages a potential criminal. I hope I intimidated them with my stare-down.

Money in hand, we quickly walk back to Sea Dive. The streets were all poorly lit so I was glad to be back at the resort. I passed out at around 9pm in our warm room with the useless AC.

False start to Palawan

AIRPORT DISASTER

Pam came to see our hotel room in the red light district. We then left in a taxi, taking Pam home first. She said, "do you know which terminal you're departing on?" We didn't know, and she asked if we wanted to use her internet to find out. If we get the wrong terminal, it would take us another 20 minutes to get to the other one. Matthew said, "I'm confident we'll make it" and off we go to Terminal 3. Wrong terminal. 20 minutes later, we get to Terminal 2. We didn't have our boarding passes so we go to the Philippine Air office to get them. There was a line. We are 30 minutes from departure.

The lady gives Matthew the ticket but says the plane departs in the other terminal. What? We were just told to come here! So we go out and try to flag a taxi, but none of them wants to take us. We ask the security guards for help and they flag down a private shuttle that cost less than a taxi. Very nice of them to do that.

In the shuttle, I ask Matthew if he'd gotten a ticket for me too. He didn't. By this time I'm pretty sure we would miss our flight.

PHILIPPINE AIR ROCKS

At the counter, we find out that our flight had been canceled, but they had been unable to notify us since we did not have a local number. So, they put us up in a hotel in Malate (close to airport, near Makati), gave us free transport there and back, as well as 3 meals - lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next day. I couldn't believe they were giving us all of that. GO PHILIPPINE AIR (NOT Air Philippines). We had the option of Century Park Hotel or Trader Hotel. I asked which one they recommend and the guy hesitated a little and said Century Park. Later we would realize he really had no idea since Century was literally a century old and Trader is a recently renovated Shangri-la arm.

CENTURY PARK HOTEL

Well, this means we lose another day but what it also means is - TRANSFORMERS! The caps and exclamation marks are for Matthew. We taxi to the Century Park hotel and the lady who checked us in looked Chinese and quite young. I probably saw her the way many people see me. Maybe it's her ponytail. She put us in a smoking floor so we came back down and requested a non-smoking floor, but all the rooms were taken.

We used our lunch buffet voucher. It was nearly 2pm and lunch was petering out. The food was gross. The veggies were limp, over-buttered or salted, the meats tough, and the baked goods dull. The only redeeming aspect was the fresh mango crepe that they make on the spot. And the salmon sashimi.

We over-ate nonetheless and decided to walk around and check out the gym. It looked like an old basement gym and the attendent jumped up when we walked in. We said we were just looking. The scattered weights and 2 treadmills were pretty sorry-looking under the fluorescent lights. It was nothing like the Mandarin Oriental gym.

MALL OF ASIA MARCHING BAND

This is Matthew's chance to watch Transformers on IMAX. We take a cab to Mall of Asia, one of the newest mall complexes in greater Manila. It was packed. There is a Mall of Asia Marching Band that walks around the outdoor complex playing jubilant tunes. Awesome! I love impractical but novel ideas like this. It must be really hot to be in full marching suits.

TRANSFORMERS

This is my first IMAX and the screen was way too big. The theater at 4pm on a weekday was packed! The movie was pretty bad, but Matthew liked it. There were scenes of an East Coast college with ivy on the brick building walls and I felt a pang of nostalgia and anticipation. I really enjoyed living amongst the neo-gothic architecture and breathtaking landscapes of Wellesley. One should not underestimate the ability of a beautiful setting to uplift the bodies and minds of human beings. Why, then, do I choose to live in a crappy old apartment and sleep on a mattress on the ground? I do not know. I always think, ah, well I'm going to leave in a year or two anyway, it's not worth spending time decorating. But that is how my dad was when we grew up. "We're only going to be here a few years, no need to do up the house." Hence, no framed pictures on the walls. No vases, decorations, or aesthetic effort of any kind. I grew up living in transition, and I've carried that perpetual temporary state with me into adulthood.

Towel Lady

I forgot to mention the towel lady encounter on the morning that we left Sagada. While Matthew and I waited at the bus stop, a lady approached us and said we took the towels from our hostel. She had followed us all the way up the hill.

Matthew and me: We didn't take the towels
Lady: because...the girl said she put towels in your room
Matthew: we're 100% sure there were no towels in the room. also, we have our own towels
Lady: because...maybe we call the police if you don't give the towels
Me: fine, you can call the police. Go ahead, call the police!

Repeat the same conversation, with me saying, "go call the police" again. Matthew then unzips his bag and takes out his own towel to show her that we have our own towels. Then she says, "ok, if you don't have the towels, please don't mind nah." And walked off.

Later Matthew asked me why I kept saying "go call the police!" I guess I thought it would scare her off because it showed we have nothing to hide. Matthew however thought that it would only encourage her to get the police (a block away) and delay our departure. Ultimately what did the trick was Matthew showing her his towel. I had fun being belligerent with my reverse threat though. How dare she accuse us?! Go ahead, lady, GO AHEAD.

2009-07 South East Asia (Part 4)

LONG DAY BACK TO MANILA

Prior to boarding the 7am GL Lizardo bus, I popped into a local eatery and got rice, eggs, and longanisa sausages for 70 pesos. Matthew stayed on the bus. He deals better with low blood sugar than I.

BALUT

Ria and co were on the bus and we talked about balut, a fertilized chicken egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell. There are 4 parts to the balut - the liquid part, the yolk, the feathers (chick), and whites (which are usually too tough to eat). The rest stop sold them but I was too chicken to try. I bought a bao instead and ate only the bread part for lunch.

BANDANA

Ria had lent me a bandana to breath into but we got separated in Baguio, where we had to transfer to the Victory Liner via taxi. Matthew and I bought tickets for 2:30pm, and I waited by the entrance to give Ria her bandana. I really wanted to give it back to her because she was so kind to lend it to me. Finally they arrived and got on the same bus.

LIGHTNING AND THUNDER

The bus dropped us off at the Ayala stop. We stepped onto a slim island in the middle of the road with buses roaring by on both sides. I went into concentration mode to deal with the exhaust, noise, chaos, and rain. Then we saw a big bolt of lightning and immediately a loud crack of thunder. Matthew couldn't believe how close the lightning was to us, based on how quickly the sound traveled. I thought how sucky it would be to die by lightning right then.

TAXI RIP OFFS

We were near a mall with long lines for taxis. The ones we flagged down would not negotiate down given the rain and demand. After 5 minutes, I caved.

DINNER AT ZIGGURAT

We checked into a mid-range hotel, Isabella Royal, in the heart of the red light district. 1500 pesos (30 dollars). The dude sprayed the entire room with air freshener before letting us in and I wanted to gag. I really don't like air fresheners.

We headed back to Ziggurat (stone's throw away from Isabella) for dinner and ordered the same thing as last time - Afghan rice, Kashmiri chicken curry, some grilled veggies, and Ziggurat iced tea which is slushy arnold palmer. It was 10pm and the only other patrons in the air-conditioned room were a middle aged Caucasian with a pot belly and his Filipino "girlfriend" in knee high boots. I felt vaguely uncomfortable to be in the presence of paid companionship. He ordered another glass of wine and said to her, "Ask me why" and she said, "why?" I couldn't hear the rest. At one point she called him an idiot. When they got ready to leave, I noticed that my sneakers were in her way (we took off our shoes to dine) and she kicked them aside.

BREAKFAST AT COFFEE BEAN WITH PAM

The next morning, we met my high school friend, Pam, for breakfast and she sold us brand new snorkels and masks at wholesale. Her dad owns an import/export company in Manila. Matthew and Pam debated the merits of a libertarian vs. socialist society. Then Pam explained why she wanted a tiger tattooed on her biceps, clawing her shoulder and leaving scratch marks. Tigers, unlike lions, tend to operate better alone. If you pit a pack of lions against a pack of tigers, the lions will win. But put one lion against one tiger, the tiger will win. The attributes that make a tiger strong are also the source of its limitations - they are proud, arrogant, and isolated. I was totally memerized by Pam's explanation.

2009-06 South East Asia (Part 3)

OUR KOREAN BUDDIES

After a lazy morning, I realized that I'd miscalculated the time we had in Sagada. I thought we had 3 nights but we really only have 2. So, we had to go caving that day. Matthew went to the Tourism Office to put our names down for a guide. I collected our clothes from the balcony in case it rains while we're gone. When Matthew came back, he was with a guide and 2 Koreans. They had apparently chased him down the street, shouting in Korean until he turned around and said, "I don't speak Korean!" Judy is a tour guide based in Manila. Jeff (maybe - I don't remember) is an archaeologist at the National Museum in Seoul. He's visiting and she is showing him around on a super tight schedule. They had hiked out of Batad that morning, jeepneyed to Sagada, plan to go caving and then somehow find their way back to Manila in time for her to resume work the next day. Manila is at least 13 hours away by bus so I don't know how they were going to swing that.

SUMAGING CAVE (aka BIG CAVE)

2 minutes into our walk to the cave, the sky started pouring. We hired a jeepney to take us to the cave entrace. While waiting, Judy asked how old I was. She was surprised, but even more shocked by Matthew. Then Jeff said, "guess how old I am" and I said "40!" and he said, "35."

At the cave, I was wary of slipping on the steps and landing in guano (bat dung). We paused and our guide lit a kerosene lamp. Soon I was using my hands to climb down. There was just no way around the guano. The interior of the cave was an orange, bulbous and jaggy world. We took off our shoes and hopped, spelunked, waded in chest-high water, and squeezed through holes. Matthew was impressed by how nice it was. I hit my head a couple of times. Judy lost her glasses in a pool of water. Jeff left his backpack in a nook thinking that we would go back the same way and the guide detoured to retrieve it. We were completely soaked. Matthew and I were prepared, wearing swim suits and quick-dry clothing. Judy was wearing capri jeans. When we said goodbye, I wondered if she was going to be able to shower before heading back to Manila. Unlikely.

SAGADA WEAVING AND BAKERY

After a much needed shower, I went to several weaving stores to look at souvenirs. We pass by a bakery sign next to a big warehouse and walked on. Then we smelled fresh baked bread and turned back. I bought a bag of cheese bread which were actually quite sweet and they were hot off the oven. It started to rain again so we sought shelter at the local hospital which was very run down.

FRENCH COUPLE REDUX

We bump into Natalia and Benjamin at the bus station. They'd met Philip, an Italian solo backpacker, on the way. We all ate dinner at Yoghurt House (our 4th consecutive meal). Philip ordered a big plate of fried rice, baked chicken with pasta, and a plate of tempura. We laughed as each plate arrived and he stared at them thinking they were going to be tiny portions. He got very passionate talking about El Nido, a town in Palawan. He said it was the most beautiful place he has ever seen. He showed us pictures and videos that looked just okay, but I was sufficiently moved by his endorsement that we decided to spend extra money to fit El Nido in.

Ria and her family were also at Yoghurt House and we took a group picture. Everyone was delightful. We would later meet some very different characters in El Nido.

BIG SPIDER

After dinner, Matthew and Philip head to an internet cafe. Earlier, before dinner, they had spotted a huge spider the size of my palm on the door. I head back to the hostel and fall asleep. I was roused by my phone ring and went down to open the door for them. Sagada has a town-wide curfew and our hostel apparently enforced it.

2009-06 South East Asia (Part 2)

BATAD MORNING

The roosters woke me up and I quickly took a picture of the sunrise before I put on my eye mask and went back to sleep. An hour later it got too hot so we got up. I saw the bumps on my legs and felt half disgusted and half proud that I am enduring the test of mother nature.

BREAKFAST AT RITA'S

Food at Simon's (our hostel) was really bad so we ate at Rita's, another shacky hostel nearby. I guess Rita's dead because her daughter is running the place now. She has a young daughter of maybe 3 or 4 years old. I was alarmed to hear the girl call "pa" to a really old man (over 60?). Rita and her old husband both eat betel nut and have red teeth. The old man sharpened a spear while we ate. I had chapati bread with jam and a veggie omelet. Matthew had barely edible chocolate pancake. We said bye to the French couple who were leaving before us for the hike back to Batad Junction.

FRENCH COUPLE

Benjamin is French and Natalia is Columbian. They speak in mostly French and some Spanish to each other, and English to us. Natalia is working at a French NGO in Cebu and Benjamin is an IT consultant on 4 weeks vacation (out of the 7 weeks he gets each year). He'd worked in Korea for 6 months and thinks Koreans are overworked. I was just very impressed with their linguistic abilities.

"MINIVAN" TO SAGADA

We decided to leave Banaue rather than stay another night. People told us to wait for a minivan at the bus station. The ground on the station was stained red from people spitting betel nut juice. The "minivan" arrives and it is a very old bus with Korean lettering on the door. No AC of course. It was crowded so Matthew and I sat separately. I had learned my lesson from my "jungle fever" day before so I wore shorts today. I sat next to a middle aged, skinny Filipino guy with aviator shades. His leg kept leaning over to my side while he slept. I also didn't like my hamstring skin touching the seat but something's gotta give. We rode on a single lane so that when there's a vehicle coming the other way, one would have to back up until there's enough space to let them pass. We wound higher and higher up the mountains until we reached a mud slide that had created a mini-hill that was too steep for the bus to climb.

SHOULD I HELP?

The bus helpers deboarded, as did 10 other locals from the bus. The two helpers and some nearby construction workers started digging the hill with their hands. I thought about helping them, but ultimately just sat on the bus and took a picture instead.

SOUNDTRACK

I am a ballad junkie from my Filipino adolescence, and I love all the oldie ballads the bus driver played! They also played Christian songs. Matthew identified "Sailing on the Ship to Heaven." Which reminds me, I really liked Danny's rendition of Carrie Underwood's "Jesus Take the Wheel" on American Idol. Many of the songs I like would be scoffed at by the folks at pitchfork, which I read sporadically. I keep wishing someone would play Beyonce's Halo. So now I'm listening to it on Youtube.

BONTOC

After 3 hours, we arrive in Bontoc, a major town 1 hour away from Sagada. Matthew bought a donut from Mister Donut. I asked a girl where the jeepneys to Sagada are and she led us. I wasn't sure if she wanted to be paid. She seemed shy and very curious about us. Turns out that she's just a nice person.

JEEPNEY TO SAGADA

Jeepneys depart when full. The driver says no problem, we can fit. Matthew takes one look at the jeepney and says that we should go on the next one. It was pretty full. Promptly, 5 more people board the same jeepney and I look at Matthew. We wait 30 minutes for the next jeepney to fill. On our way to Sagada, the exhaust was bad and many locals breathed into handkerchiefs. A lady nursed her baby and I wondered if the exhaust bothered the baby.

SAGADA EVENING

When we got to Sagada, our butts were numb because the seat was metal. It had also rained but luckily the jeepney has plastic cloths that cover the windows. George's Guesthouse was 200 pesos per person or $4. It had 2 beds, a TV, and a private bath.

For dinner we headed to the famous Yoghurt House. It was awesome. Probably the best food we've had yet. They make their own yoghurt. Always a good sign! I ordered baked chicken over hashbrowns and Matthew got stir fried beef. I also got calamansi juice without ice. It was a one-guy operation that evening. He was young - probably early 20's. He took our orders and made our meals.

We bump into Ria, her husband, and her daughter Risa. They were on the night bus with us to Banaue. They're Filipino Americans living in Houston. They were attending a wedding in Manila and decided to escape the heat for a few days in Sagada. Ria really humbled me because when the night bus had broken down and turned into a sauna, she was in such good spirits and even helped pass water to the helpers fixing the fan belt. Meanwhile, I was a grumpy grandma about the heat, stench, and unworkability. Anyways, that had put Ria in my good book and we had a nice chat exchanging travel notes before retiring after a long day.

2009-06 South East Asia (Part 1)

PHILIPPINES - THE CUSHY LIFE

We spent the first 3 days in the Philippines in luxury. I checked into the Mandarin Oriental, one of the four 5-star hotels (but most dilapidated) in Manila on a great deal that Matthew found. We hit the gym the next morning and the treadmills had 14 different languages and can play your iPod video on a big screen. The 2 attendants clean and replace the headphone cushions after each use. Then we ate at the biggest brunch spread I've ever seen, spanning 4 cuisines - American, Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese. I had egg, yogurt, fresh fruit, salad, porridge, longanisa sausage, chicken soup, cereal, and fruit shake. My friend Angelo took us to the Tagaytay Highlands, a country club where you have to pay membership fees to be eligible to buy property there. We ate at the club, played badminton, relaxed at Angelo's late grandmother's cliff-side apartment with amazing views of Lake Taal, and got the best massage of my life over the next 36 hours.

PHILIPPINES - THE BACKPACKING BEGINS

I've never backpacked in my life and don't know what a backpacking narrative entails, but the next few days were definitely "rustic." We booked a 9 hour overnight bus (note: not sleeper bus) to Banaue, about 500km north of Manila in the mountains. Our plan is to see the UNESCO awarded rice terraces in Batad (next to Banaue), then go caving in Sagada, a mountain town that is supposed to be coolest in temperature in all of Luzon (island that Manila is on). We arrive at the bus station which is really just a gauged out street corner. There is no central terminal; each bus line has their own "station." Even though it is 9pm, it feels like 100 degrees with the exhaust from 6 buses and all the people. I was sweaty and wished for a shower. The bus was old and half filled with Caucasian backpackers. 15 minutes in, the bus stopped. The bus drivers and his helpers deboarded and started tinkering in the back. 2 minutes later, several locals also deboarded and hung out outside. 5 minutes later, I finally couldn't stand not knowing what's going on so I got off too. The fan belts had fallen off and the bus had overheated. It was cooler standing outside than in the now stuffy bus since the air-con stopped running. But it was still damn hot.

BANAUE TO BATAD SADDLE

We arrive at Banaue at 7:30am, left our big backpacks at a hostel and took a day pack with us to Batad, where we were going to stay 1 night. Several tricycle drivers approached us to quote us for our tricycle trip to Batad Junction, where we have to hike 2 hours to Batad Saddle, then 1 hour down into Batad itself. Matthew thought the tricycles were interesting - essentially a metal box attached to a motorbike, with the 3rd wheel on the outside of the box. The road was very rocky and bumpy. Many times we came to a full stop to negotiate potholes. We breathed exhaust. At Batad Junction, our tricycle driver, Hayden, said it's better that he pick us up at 9am the next day which means we need to start hiking at 7am. I thought that was too early because I wanted to sleep in, so I said noon. 10 minutes into our hike to Batad Saddle in the 11:30am heat though, I realized it was a mistake. We reach the top (Saddle) and called our hostel to somehow get a hold of Hayden to say that we want to meet at 10am instead of noon. I had no idea if the message would get to him because he's not affiliated with the hostel in any way.

BATAD SADDLE DOWN TO BATAD - ALTERED STATE OF MIND

We begin our descent into the valley of Batad. The air was very still because we are heading into a valley and it was super hot and humid even though plants blocked out the sun for us. Matthew had changed into shorts but I was wearing my cotton hiking pants. I started to feel not like myself. I thought about Heart of Darkness and Lord of the Flies and The Beach. I thought that the heat could change me so much that I could turn into a monster. Or I was just super uncomfortable and physically irritated. 5 years in the Bay Area has thoroughly spoilt me.

TREK TO BIG WATERFALL

We were truly hard core today. We had already hiked over 4 hours just to get to Batad after a night bus. Now we are going to hike to the waterfall which required us to navigate the rice terrace maze. After several wrong turns that dead ended, we hired a 5 year old boy to be our guide. He was accompanied by an even smaller girl who came out of nowhere. They were both wearing flip flops and zoomed across the rice terraces. I was nervous. Each step in the terrace was 10 feet high and falling the wrong way would mean sinking deep into mud 10 feet below. We reach a rest stop and the boy stopped to play with his friend who had a toy. The older kids at the rest stop spoke to him in Filipino and he reluctantly resumed guiding us, now descending to the waterfall. 3 minutes down, we meet an old lady carrying a metal pipe. He talked to her and the old lady told us he doesn't want to lead us anymore and that the waterfall is just straight down. We pay the boy and he leaves. 40 minutes of steep descent later, we get to the waterfall, and I don't think I can go back up. I ate a cliff bar and Matthew tried to build a dam with rocks.

NIGHT IN BATAD

Rustic the the key word for this $4 accomodation. No fans, no air con, just a room with a bed. Shared toilet requires hand flushing (use a pail to scoop water to flush) and shower is using gravity to drip water down from tanks above the ceiling. I worried a little about bed bugs and mosquitos (no screens on the window) and woke up the next day with either a heat rash or 50 little bites on my leg. Later on I would determine that it was the beginning of a heat rash that I still have 2 weeks later.