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Published: August 25th 2009
So how to describe the PI?
AMAZING? BEAUTIFUL? MIND BLOWING?
I started off my trip in Cebu City where I was really surprised to find out that the 2nd largest city in the Philippines is a big slum with a few huge shopping malls - a place to seek refuge from the ghetto, nothing more. I met up with a friend of a friend who showed me around town and then the next day we headed out to the west coast of Cebu Island to a place called MoalBoal. Not a bad spot - Went snorkeling, tanning, and just relaxing! I met another friend there and then the following morning headed to Dumaguete in Negros Oriental which is also in the Visayas but one island over.
I think that I would only recommend Dumeguete as a beautiful and relaxing small city to stay at. I woke up every morning, headed for the market and bought fresh avocadoes and the best pineapple I have ever had! SO CHEAP!!! Right next to the market there was a fish market where I ended up talking to the fishmongers about the catch of the day - 100k"g Tuna fish - check the
pix!
I think the highlight of my trip was heading to a small island called Apo off the coast of Negros for a couple of nights - no running water, intermittent electricity in the morning and evening, and just a small village. I was invited one evening by a family to have dinner and we had Lapu Lapu which is the national fish? (It is quite fatty but tastes amazing) - they live in straw and bamboo houses - quite spartan but common all over the PI unless they have upgraded (or is it a downgrade?) to tin shacks.
I spent my days reading, and snorkeling, tanning, and laying in a hammock. I spotted some turtles off the coast while snorkeling and was continuesly harrassed by small yellow fish who kept biting my nipples. One side of Apo has a protected reef which was absolutely stunning! I spent hours floating around in the water staring at the abundance of marine life and coral.
However, one can only endure so much of no internet or electricity of water so after 3 days I headed back to the mainland and got on a bus that looked like a hippies
1960's bus with lots of blue, red, orange, and yellow. I sat down at the back. AS the bus was riding along I was startled by loud noises from under my seat and feathers spreading all around - realizing that there were live chickens under my seat, not to mention a bucket of tuna fish besides me.
Nonetheless - I made it back into Dumaguette. This town is really low key compared to Manila or Cebu City - no taxis - only motorized rickshaws. And getting out of the town was a bit tricky since the main road running up and down the coast was under construction. NO A/C just open buses. I also rode several times on multicabs which are like jeepneeys - a small truck with benches in the back - crammed with people! we were over 20 people in it - with dust everywhere! Thank God I had some masks with me and sunglasses to protect my eyes.
I met up with my friend Stephanie who I used to work with in China in Manila and we spent another 3 nights there. There is only one word to describe Manila - DUMP! If you have
been to Bangkok just imagine something poorer, with less attractions, and a bigger slum! I did not imagine that the capital would look as it did. We tried 2 days in a row to do some sight seeing but we got frustrated and dissapointed by the blandness of the city. We nonetheless resorted to the malls! I have never in my life seen such shopping complexes that by all means in comparison to the American ones dwarf them tenfold! A refuge from the poverty and beggars, humidity and heat - the pretend land of riches and AC - Robbinsons Mall.
From here we headed to East Malaysia - Sabah on the island of Borneo (my favorite travel destination on earth!)
To be continued!
Much love,
me
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alex
non-member comment
too bad!
well, too bad you did not have a good time in metro manila-don't expect it to be "exotic" like some asian cities, but i just hoped you "tried" harder to seek what the city has to offer. You could have visited san agustin church and museum, met museum, american cemetery and world war 2 memorial (yup, my country used to be a colony-turned-commonwealth of U.S.A. just before WW2)...and what do you expect about the temperature?- manila is just beside the sea, a few degrees above the equator, and with thousands of vehicles plying the streets each day...the thermometer won't register below 25 degrees celsius for sure. anyways, hope you have a more enlightened visit next time...