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Published: March 17th 2009
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Naga jeepneys The Philippines, from the tiny part we saw, a great place with the friendliest and most polite people we have met. People address you as "sir", "mam" and everybody greets you from the security guy on the door to the cleaner. It's actually quite unusual at first but then you just get used to it and in turn always have a smile and a greeting ready too. As I was told by my make-up guy( for the wedding), the Filipino people are very resilient; they've had so many knocks and hard times but they will always smile and keep going.
"Heh Joe!", "What's up man?" "Are you American?"
We were told by one young guy that Filipinos are obsessed by America and long to go there-they speak American english,play American sports and have lots of huge shopping malls. In the city of Naga, we caused quite a stir-rather felt like celebs-everybody waving, giggling, laughing, staring-we really were "the only whites in the village"
We had had great intentions when planning for the Philippines of island hopping, going "off the beaten track" etc but it proved quite difficult. The main island "Luzon" is quite large so flying is the best
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Karaoke........ way to get around there and to the other islands.(which isn't always the cheapest when backpacking) It does not seem to be a well travelled tourist destination as of yet. When we tried to make our way from Naga to the Caramoan peninsula (it's paradise I believe) we ended up back in Naga again as there were no more boats that day to the islands and nobody really had any english so we just gave up.
Our trip started in Manila, the capital. We had heard "Manila has no soul" Our first impressions tended to agree with this - crazy traffic, prostitutes (Heh Mister, I like you!"), girlie bars, ugly skyscrapers, fast food outlets, huge shopping malls. We were staying in the business district of Makati-full of hotels, offices etc. Due to warnings, we decided not to venture into the old Spanish area of Intramuros. We just hung out in our hotel and caught up with Pearse's old college mates who were over for the wedding. The jeepneys here are the main form of transport and they're class-based on the old American army jeeps and decorated to the last. The whole concept started when the Americans left army jeeps
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Martin & Liala here after the war.
We flew to Naga city. Such a busy city-jeepneys, tricycles, mini-vans and all the usual traffic that you encounter. The majority here appear to have a very strong Catholic faith( At mass on Tuesday at 5 30pm, the church was packed). We "flash-packed" for a few days, staying in a 4 star luxury hotel with the other wedding guests. It was such a treat! Liala took us all out to her village, Ragay (about 2 hours from Naga city)on the first night to meet her family and show us her place. What a wonderful family-so friendly and welcoming. They had a huge feast for us of wonderful food and showed us around their family chapel, the church and the village. The villagers didn't know "what hit them" with a bus load of us arriving.
The night before the wedding, we were invited to a traditional Filipino buffet with the other guests and later that night we all indulged in a bit of kareoke(a big favourite over here) at a local bar. Some indulging more than others, not naming anyone in particular, Michael! The wedding was such a great day. Wow! Martin and Laila did
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The boys are back...P, Sean, Martin & Mick it in style. The bride looked stunning (and the groom of course!) We danced the night away and retired to the local nightclub, a tad overdressed (especially the groomsmen!) for some more "refreshments". The next day was a non-runner!!!!!!
Most of the bridal party headed off to Cebu for a few days, while Pearse and myself stayed on in Naga for 2 nights-moving down into the heart of the city. It was buzzing all day and night-(nght markets). We visited the Basilica, the Shrine to our Lady of Penefrancia and the university and sampled some more local food and listened to the "musical" tunes coming from the countless roosters everywhere (for cock-fighting). Following our failed attempt to get to Caramoan, we flew back to Manila in order to get a proper insight into the city.
Here, we hooked up with Paul and Sean and headed out to climb Taal volcano for a day trip. We were very proud of ourselves for actually getting there and back without signing up for an expensive organised tour. It did take a lot of research, a variety of transport, some patience and some bargaining but it was a great adventure. For anybody
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Our boat to Taal reading this that may want to know-We took a taxi to Star Mall in Pasay city, a mini-van from there to Tagaysay, a tricycle and then a jeepney to Talisay and a boat from there to Taal volcano. All the touts, tricycle drivers were all over us when we got out in Tagaytay ( We just had to keep walking off, but were followed and followed until eventually we met a lovely lady who pointed us in the right direction) Then, coming back, the boat, a jeepney to the bus terminal in Tagaytay and a v cheap bus back to Pasay.(We could have done it cheaper by just going there the way we got back) The jeepney drivers do not leave until they are full but they kept asking us(v nicely, not rudely!) to pay extra so that we would cover the unoccupied seats and we could leave straight away. We stood our ground though and waited till it was full and paid the same as everyone else. A lovely guy told us he was impressed with us as usually tourists just pay up -giving us all a bad name as having too much money. It only took about 30
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Paul, me, P & Sean climbing Mt Taal mins to climb the volcano (the smallest in the world). At the top lies a huge crater with a sulphuric lake-smells like rotten eggs. The view is pretty nice! The last time it erupted was in 1911 so were safe enough. The boat ride back was seriously "bumpy" and great craic -just like we were in a waterpark-we all cooled off nicely (especially Paul who got the brunt of it)!
The following day, Pearse and I signed up for the infamous "Carlos Celdron walk this way" tour around Intramos. It was well worth it-he basically put on a show-had all the props, treats for us and told us the history of Manila in great detail. His aim, he said, is to change to way we see Manila-If it is a city with no soul, it's because of its history. Having first of all been colonised by Spain, Spain sold it to America as part of the Treaty of Paris. The spanish language was never enforced on the Philippines as the King never ordered it (unlike Sth America) so therfore there was no huge links forced with Spain. Under the rule of Spain 7 Catholic cathedrals were built in Manila
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The infamous Carlos Celdron and the city was beautiful-could have been mistaken for an old historic European city. With the Americans, came the whole American way of life, malls, coca-cola, Hollywood movies. At the end of WW2, the Japanses attacked Manila, slaughtering 120,000 civilians starting with children and babies in the nurseries. To retaliate the American, General McArthur bombed Manila to get the Japs back, destroying with them the "soul" of Manila-the beautiful cathedrals and other buildings of Intramuros. Manila got caught up in a war between two other countries and that is why Manila is as it is today. It was actually quite moving! Carlos definitely made us "change the way we look at Manila" and I will be leaving with a much more positive feeling about the city.
That's about it then, history lesson over!-tonight, Sunday 15th March we fly to Bangkok. Paddys Day with a difference, I do think!Enjoy St Patrick's Day!!!xx
Exxx
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