First days in the Philippines

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Friday June 23rd

I woke up relatively early in the morning and headed to the shower,
which are outside the building on a sort of balcony. We then went
outside to buy water as we were both really thirsty. It took a while
to find a place open and on the way back we found a nice fruit stand.
I bought an orange (2MOP, or 0.25$) and Richard bought bananas and
mango from a cool little old lady who pointed at our bottle of water,
then her cold drink refrigiratore and said: tomorrow tomorrow! Too bad
I'm not staying in Macau because I like sympathetic store (or fruit
stand) owner and I would have definately gone back. We ate our fruit
in the room and then Richard departed for the border and then
Guangzhou. He is going in similar places as I am in China and he will
email me tips and place to go or avoid which is always good.

I decided to go to the bathroom but on the way there, in the very
poorly lit hallway I saw my first cockroach in a place I stay. Ahh
well, you get what you pay for. I paid 45MOP for the room (7CDN).
Instead of meeting the rest of John's family (that's the name I gave
to the cockroach), I decided to head straight for the airport where
there are clean and modern toilets. I walked to the nearest stop of
the bus that would lead me directly to the airport but there was
construction work and it was somewhere else so I walked around a
little bit before I found it. The bus ride was uneventful and I got a
nice visit of the island before going to the airport. I was fairly
early so I read my guidebook (after using the toilets, of course). At
check-in there was a problem, apparently my credit card was refused so
I had to go to the reservation counter and deal with the guy there.
It's very bizarre before I left I called my bank to tell them the
country I'd be visiting so that they wouldn't turn down a transaction
in Asia as "suspicious" like they did... My own guess is that I
advised the bank I'd be visiting those countries after I bought the
plane tickets so at the time the transaction was refused.

In any case, I paid at the airport and there was no problem. The
immigration/custom was routine (I'm getting used to it by now) and I
waited some more at the departure gate. I was flying with Tiger
Airways which is a discount airline (Singapore-Manila or Macau-Manila
for about 50$). In line I met a Malay woman whose name I can't
remember who was really nice. She was visiting some family in the
Philippines and she gave me a great tip for flights on Airbus 320
flights: the seats by the emergency exit have almost double the leg
space. Needless to say I followed her advice and got some extremely
comfortable seat, with more leg room than I could use.

The flight was short and eventless. I talked a little bit with an Ozie
couple working in Guangzhou and who were going on a 7 day holiday in
the Philippines named Todd and I can't remember (I'll call her Jude
from now on). At that point I realized that the airport we were going
to was not Manila International Airport but Clark Airport, 2 hours
north of Manila. I was a bit pissed but given the price of my plane
ticket I can't really complain (Clark has less taxes than the other
airport). At immigration I again demonstrated my extremely poor line
picking skill and ended up one of the last person of the flight to be
stamped since the guy stamping the passport was too busy chatting up
the ladies to do his job. I picked my backpack and bought a ticket to
Manila and the lady said I was to stop at the last stop for the place
I wanted to go in Manila. In the overly air-conditioned bus I met the
Ozies again who were stopping at the same place as me.

Now I'll stop the story to give a little introduction to the history
of the Philippines as not too many people know about it. Magellan
landed in the Philippines in 1521 and claimed the Island for Spain.
Over the next century Spain pressed its claim to the island and took
control of it. The island had been visited for centuries by merchants
from China, Siam, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, India and Java but it was the
first time a foreign power took control. For nearly 400 years Spain
controlled the archipelago, except 2 years in the 18th century when
British took over very briefly. In the process they managed to
catholicize the vast majority of the population and mostly drive out
islam which appeared in the country about a century before
christianity. Now muslims are confined to the southern Islands. In
1898 Spain and US went at war over Cuba and the Philippines were
involved since they were a Spanish possession. The famous admiral
Dewey took control of Manila and the war was a total victory for the
US. The US took power for around 50 years until the Japanese invaded
in 1941 and General MacArthur fled to Australia (but not before making
his famous promise to return and letting all the soldiers on the
islands as POW to the japaneses). US took over a few years after and
gave independance to the Philippines. The country didnt develop as
fast as the rest of the Asian Tiger and to this day remain fairly
poor. It went through the famous Marcos dictatorship which was toppled
by the first of the People's Revolution in 1986. It has been in a
relatively stable democracy since then but the country is still marred
by corruption and it is not developing as fast as it could.

End of the historical lesson. In the bus my first impression of the
country was that it looked to have been much more influenced by the US
than by Spain. There are fast food places everywhere, people dress like
in the US (basketball clothes seems to be really cool) and almost
every publicity is in english. We could spot Manila on the horizon by
looking at the gray spot in the sky and when we got close we definately could
feel the smog. I don't usually noticed smog in Canada even when people
tell me there's heavy smog that day and I was not bothered in Hong
Kong. But I could definately feel it in Manila, my eyes were irritated
for the first hour or so then I sorta got used to it I guess.

Most people describe Manila as a big, sprawling, ugly and polluted
city and after that bus ride it was hard for me to tell them they were
wrong. The bus stopped once in Makati, the business district, but the
lady at the airport told me to get off at Pasay a bit farther. Well
now I learned something about Manila, paper distances don't mean
much... Even though Pasay is fairly close it took about an hour to get
there from Makati and by that time it was 20:00 and it was pitch black. I was
alone with the Ozies in the bus by now and we were going to different
but close places to sleep so we decided to share a taxi once we got
there.

Arriving at the bus station we were harassed by several taxi
drivers who wanted to drive us (and kids who wanted to sell mango
juice) so we picked one and Jude agreed on a price (even though the
guidebooks says to ask for the meter as agreed price are almost always
more expensive) and we left.

I didn't like the taxi driver we got and my suspicions proved right
when after 2 minutes of driving he took us aside in a dark gas station
and asked for 80% of the price we had agreed for gas since we were his
first customers of the night. I really didn't like that but Todd gave
it to him and he put the gas and we went away. I was getting really
uncomfortable by now because we were with that untrustworthy taxi
driver who seemed keen on scamming people.

I got even more uncomfortable when he did a U-turn from where we were
driving to just drive in the opposite direction, especially when I saw
the signs of "Domestic Airport ahead" which I knew was not the
direction we were supposed to go. I mentioned that to him but he said
it was the right direction. I was getting pretty worried by now
because I had read of all the various scams that taxi drivers do and I
was fairly certain that he was trying to do something of the sort. Me
and Judd sorta figured out where we were and we asked him nicely to
turn right on Roxas blvd which he did.

Now in retrospect I'm fairly sure he wasn't trying to scam us because
I know my way a bit more around Manila and the way he took was indeed
the fastest one even though it doesn't appear logical at all but in
the taxi I was really skeptical.

Anyway we talked a little bit with the driver and he mentioned that he
worked on a
ship and has been in Scotland, Ireland, Morroco, Senegal, South
Africa, Mozambique and several other countries. He was nice but that
worried me even more because I know that scammers like to be nice and talk so
they can distract you of what they're doing. Twice during the ride he
stopped the car and opened the trunk to look at the engine, did some
things and we restarted. Eventually he got the ozies at their hotel
and we said goodbye and he drove for 1min to mine, I paid him and went
to my hostel.

Thankfully they had available beds so I got one. It was a 3-dorm room
and I met a guy from Belgium who sound like Boomhauer in King of the
Hill (the incomprehensible guy). He was a nice fella but he just kept
on talking and I had to read my guidebook for things to do in Manila
so I went in the lobby to read. There were several filipinos in the
lobby and the first thing I noticed is how much they seem to text each
other. I swear they spend half their evening texting.

Anyway there were several seemingly interesting backpackers but I was
not in a mood to talk. There were also a few 50 years old balding man
and 20 something cute filipina couples. At 23:00 I decided to head
back to the dorm and when I opened the door I had a surprise. The
first thing I saw on the bed next to me, which I had been told was
occupied by an American, was a naked old man spreading in all his
glory. Now, I'm a fairly open minded man but that bed was seriously
close to mine and I was sorta uncomfortable. He started talking to me
like if we were in a tea party and at some point asked me if I was
bothered by him sleeping naked which I forced myself to say no. It was
really hot in the room but I don't believe putting boxers on would
raise someone's body temperature that much but I didn't discuss that
point with him I just wanted to sleep after what seemed to me like a
very long day.

Saturday June 24th

I woke up the next day and took a shower and went down to eat
something. The breakfast at the hostel was way overpriced so I went in
the street to find a place to eat. I got a coffee and a brownie (I
like sugary stuff for breakfast in that trip since I never eat any
after since I eat mostly local food) in a local cafe. I then walked
around to find another hostel for the next night since I didn't like
the dorm I was in (too hot and I didn't like the american). I found
Pension Natividad which was the recommended one in the guidebook and I
should have went there in the first place. The place is a bit away
from the street so it's less noisy and there's a great lobby and shady
area outside to meet other people and the dorms are clean. I
transfered my stuff there and then went to an internet cafe nearby and
updated my previous blog. Blogging takes some time but I like to do
it. In front of the internet cafe is Manila Casino and I saw my first
security guard with a shotgun. Let's just say I won't be tempted to
commit robbery there.

At the internet cafe, as well as a few other places I've been, the
girls just smile too much at me. Seriously it seems any
girl who is not accompanied I interact with smile at me like if she
was really interested in
me or something. If a girl did that to me back in Montreal I'd think
for sure she was interested and I'm still wondering if they do that to
every guy. And I'm not going to sleazy places like "Cozy foot massage"
that I saw nearby. In any case it's way better than no smile.

I finished by around 13:00 and decided to spend the rest of the day
visiting Intramuros. I went to eat to a rice place nearby and on the
way there a guy came and said: "Hey how it's going, I'm Manuel from
the hotel, I just removed my employee's clothes and I'm heading home.
How is it going?". Of course I never met the guy and he was definately
not from the hostel. I said I was going to eat and he said: "Don't go
there, it's closed, go this way I know a good place". This was
obviously a guy trying to bring me to his restaurant or something so I
just said nah it looks open and went in the restaurant and said
goodbye. At this point he followed me and was still trying to get me
to come to his place but I ignored him and placed an order and he went
away. The food was good but they didn't speak much english so the girl
giggled at me so I asked her to teach me some Tagalog (the national
language). I tried to pay with a 500 Peso bill (it costed 82) and
when I asked for change he said: later. Needless to say i took back my
bill and managed to get enough small bills and coins to pay the 82P.

I walked back to the hostel to drop some of my stuff but once I got
there it started raining so I sat in the lobby reading my guidebook
planning my following day for about 2 hours at which point the raining
ceased. I then decided to walk to Intramuros to see the old Spanish
City. It took me about 15 minutes to get to Rizal Park, a large Park
close to Intramuros named in the honor of Jose Rizal, the national
hero of the Philippines. Just before entering the park, a guy in a
carriage with a horse asked if I needed a ride. I said no because I
like to walk but he wouldn't have any of it and just kept running
after me bargaining the price. This lasted for about 5 minutes and he
even went through a 6 lanes street with cars honking after him because
he was blocking traffic. It's a rainy day in the rainy season (low
season) so I guess he didn't have too many customers but it was still
really annoying especially since he was really aggressive, he'd drive
his horse ride in front of me blocking my way so I'd have to change
direction and check for him all the time so that he wouldn't run into me.

In Rizal Park I had planned to take pictures of some of the monuments
but everyone was starring at me like if I had 3 legs or something so I
didn't take pictures. By the time I got to Intramuros it was raining
again and I was in a bad mood. Intramuros was the walled city the
Spanish built to defend their colonies against Islamist pirates,
tribal chiefs, China or other european powers. The walls are massive
and they survived the centuries up until the japanese and american
bombardment destroyed it in WW2. The rain stopped pretty fast and I
walked around looking at the building. Several other men with horses
asked me if I wanted a ride but they didn't insist so it wasn't too
bad. I walked all the way to Fort Santiago, the Fort within the Fort,
that was the headquarter of the Spanish military close to the Pasig
River. I took some interesting pictures of the destroyed Fort and
visited the shrine of Rizal, who was kept in a cell there by the
Spanish before his execution in 1896 at the age of 35. I had read
about him a bit before and I was really impressed by his quotes. I'd
be definately interested in reading a biography.
The guy could speak more than 10 languages, was a poet, an architect,
painter, sculptor and physician. I saw some of his art work and they
are of very high quality. He was one of first Third World nationalist
intellectual and was one of the main role model for the ones that came
after. Back when US politicians still believed their own rhetoric (in
1890), he predicted that the US would want a piece of the Philippines
and that this would only make them more hungry for power. History
proved him right, 8 years after the US invaded and after that they
definately became an imperalist power.

Anyway, after visiting the Fort and the Shrine I made my way back
through Intramuros, taking picture of Manila Cathedral before leaving
and walked back to my hostel in Malate. I stopped at a charming
Shawarma place on teh way and ate a very good shish taouk, which I
hadnt had since montreal. On the way back a guy tried to sell me his
very old shirt he was wearing for 200P. I told him I'd think about it.

At the hostel I sat on a chair outside reading. A while after I
started talking with a Korean guy named DJ and his friend Mike. We
joined an Ozie named Christ and went to the corner to buy some beer.
One thing is nice about the Philippines and it's definately the 20P
San Miguel beer (0.40CDN$). We talked around a table for a few hours
about travel. DJ asked us our opinion of Korean people in general and
that was a very hard question but we did agree that they had very
beautiful women and that they were generally conservative (especially
the women). DJ and Mike live in Baguio for a little while and they
invited me to stay at their place there in a week. Unfortunately I'm
leaving for Baguio Sunday so I'll be too early but if I pass by again
I'll contact them. I really enjoyed my evening and we went to bed at
23:00 as we were all pretty tired.

I don't really like Manila, it's too hot, big, noisy and polluted. I'm takign the first bus I can tomorrow morning for Baguio, known as the
summer capital of the Philippines since it is much colder due to
altitude. I still have some things I wanna see in Manila but I'm sure
I'll have to go back there because it is the central hub for anywhere
you want to go in the Philippines. I'll spend the next week or so
visiting the mountain
district trying to do some trekking. Filipinos in general are very
nice, it's just the sellers and touts that insist too much or try to scam you that annoys
me

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Photos

Intramuros
On the walls

Intramuros ruins
Rizal Shrine in the background

Entrance to the dungeons
Couldn't get in unfortunately

Chris, DJ and Mike
At Pension Natividad

Me DJ and Chris
At Pension Natividad

Comments

[Pepijn]

Great to read
Hi, Thanks for your wonderfull stories, it is really fun to read! There are some good tips in it as well as I go to the Philippines in August.

[Mark]

Great stories
This sure gives me a good idea as to what to expect when I get there this Sept. I'll check out that PensionNatividad. I am booked at Friendlys Guesthouse......but Im open to other hostels/hotels....