One Small Step for Iranian-Canadian Diplomacy

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Heading north from Vigan, we went to the bus station to catch a bus to Laoag. The first bus was full. The next bus standing room only. This is high season.

We got on the second bus and stood, but not for long. Someone who was getting off in 5km gave up his seats to us. There are some very nice people. Actually, everybody is really nice. I'm confident saying that Filipinos are the nicest people in the world. I've not been everywhere and met everybody, but I will be hard pressed to find nicer people. Our experiences in the Philippines so far will be the measuring stick for nice people, and the rest of the world doesn't stand much of a chance...

The bus slowly emptied as we moved north and soon everyone had a seat. The bus had to take a detour on a one lane dirt road to get around a town whose main street was closed off (for a parade or festival, I think).

Then it died. It took fifteen minutes to get it going again. Then we hit grid lock. Ah the Philippines. I hope you have nowhere you need to go quickly.

Eventually we arrived in Laoag and took a tricycle to the town square to catch a bus to Pagudpud.

While we were sitting on the bus waiting for it to leave, a tricycle driver names Jose came up and chatted with us through the window. He told us it was raining in Pagudpud. This is kind of a bummer, since Pagudpud is known for it's white sand beaches, and the beach is best enjoyed when it's not raining... But he arranged for his cousin, who they call “Big Boy” to meet us in Pagudpud. He's a tricycle driver there.

And that's one of the differences here too. People will try to get your business (or help a family member or a friend get you business), but they're not pushy at all. They're just friendly and chatty, for the most part. Again, these are the nicest people in the world.

And it was a good thing that Jose made these arrangements for us, because it was raining pretty good when we got to Pagudpud. And Big Boy was waiting for us, and he must have a sense of humour, because he's pretty short. But his tricycle was dry and had rain covers, so he was able to get us to the hotel.

It stopped raining long enough for us to walk down the damp beach for dinner, but we were hoping for better weather the next day. Big Boy (who is one of only a handful of people we've met that don't speak English) had showed us pictures of a tour of the area he could take us on, with some nice views and quiet beaches. It's something that all of the tricycle drivers advertise actually, so it's kind of one of the main things to do here, and it looks like there are lots of worthwhile places to visit nearby.

But it was still raining the next day, so we declined the tour. We got breakfast during a break, and then it rained again. So we had a nap.

We got up and went for a walk down the beach. The beach is white, like I mentioned, but there was no sun to really experience it. Still, there were people out making the most of it. But the waves were very strong, so there weren't very many people in the water, and those that were weren't going more than a few meters out.

There were a few older boys that went out a bit further, and the current started to pull them away. A couple of other guys grabbed a boat off the beach and paddled out to go get them. So everyone was ok, but that was some current.

That evening after dinner we decided to go on a beach crawl, and visit the many beach patios and enjoy a beer. That was our plan, but after about one stop we met Mohammed on the beach.

He had seen us walking and run down to greet us. Him and his friends were having a barbecue and invited us to join. With no reason not to, we did.

Him and his friends Amin, Zizi, and Shan (I probably did not spell those correctly) are from Iran and are studying dentistry in Manila and had taken advantage of the school break to head to the beach. They fed us the chicken they were cooking up on charcoals and shared there beer. We ran back to our hotel to grab our rum and some snacks to share. It was a lot of fun, and pretty amazing luck to meet such firendly and open people.

So maybe Iran will be some competition for the Phillipines for the title of nicest people in the world. But I won't be able to say for sure until I go there. But so far, so good!

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Photos

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