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Published: January 3rd 2011
For both of us this was to be our first Christmas outside of Europe and, from the moment this trip was conceived, we have been incredibly excited by the prospect of spending it on a beautiful white-sand beach in the Philippines under a perfectly blue, tropical sky. Unfortunately, the weather and the Lonely Planet conspired to somewhat ruin those romantic plans of ours. We chose to spend our Christmas at San Pedro beach on the island of Romblon, due entirely to the glowing testimony it received in the Lonely Planet that described the beach as "a beautiful little white-sand beach". After spending two days travelling from Pandan island by assorted jeepneys, trikes, buses, ferries and bangkas, the last of which was a two hour crossing in some very heavy seas which, due to the small size of our craft, ended up soaking us through to our inner organs, we finally arrived at the San Pedro Beach Resort only to find the expected white sand beach to be instead a mottled brown shingle. Oh, and it was raining. Which is pretty much all it has done since then.
I have been debating with myself as to whether or not this
blog should dwell too heavily on the inclement weather, after all, the temperature is still in the high twenties, the scenery is suitably tropical, we are still in the exciting discovery stage of a new country and, most importantly, we are in a place that, though not quite possessed of the beach and weather of our dreams, is still a long way from the drudgery and cold of an English working winter. I guess it is only human nature to feel disappointment when your dreams turn out to be less magical than expected. Or perhaps the problem lies with the dreams themselves. By imbuing a place or a time with unrealistic expectations one is immediately setting oneself up for disappointment. Better I think to go against the standard western dogma of "always setting the bar high", and to instead aspire to, or dream about, more manageable goals. If I had only dreamed about spending my Christmas in a tropical country, then my happiness at achieving that goal would have been far greater than the happiness that we actually felt, which was tempered by our disappointment in the weather and location. Next year, I wish only to be exceedingly drunk!
Of course, we did manage to find some Christmas cheer, though this small dream was almost smashed, literally; not by imperfection but by a snake. Before completing the final leg of our journey to San Pedro beach we had stopped off in Romblon town to do a little shopping, one item of which was a bottle of rum. After arriving at the resort we were shown to our delightfully appointed nipa hut that sat amongst the jungle, a little way back from the edge of a small cliff. I entered the room and placed my assorted bags on the floor, the last of which, the one containing the rum, made the transition from hand to floor much faster than intended. As I was about to place it down a snake slithered between my legs and, more from fright than fear, I let the bag slip from my fingers to smash on the tiled floor where it formed a small lake of booze. The snake seemed fairly unperturbed by the commotion and, after tasting the air a few times with its tongue and clearly finding the vapours of the rum not to its taste, slipped quietly from the room. I mopped
up the remainder of our Christmas spirits and slipped quietly into bed.
The following day was Christmas day itself which we mostly spent eating food and drinking rum with Roel and Anka who are Hollandish, and Nattalia from the Ukraine. On Boxing day we headed into Romblon town to explore this provincial capital. Being the capital of a province with the same name, it is, like New York, a place so good they named it twice. Romblon, Romblon is much smaller and far less developed than the big apple but it has a small town charm all of its own. It seemed to me to be equal parts lazy Spanish provincial backwater, vibrant Brazilian favella and standard Asian concrete mess. The three main streets of Romblon radiate out from the small port before ending somewhere in the foothills of the hulking mountain that sits protectively behind the town. There are a few pretty churches that rise high above the two story town houses that predominate, many of which are constructed entirely from wood. The edge of town rises steeply into the surrounding hills and here the streets get progressively narrower until they become steep stone staircases that wind upwards
between basic shacks. Here the life seemed more vibrant and had a south American tinge to it. Children prowled the streets with cap guns, youths lazed nonchalantly in groups on the steps, tricked out in baggy basketball tops and long shorts, whilst older men tended to their fighting cocks and the women beat clothes to death on the pavement.
After a truly special English breakfast at the superb Italian Delhi owned by David, an expat Englishman who is an excellent source of information on the surrounding area, we were lucky enough to find ourselves in the middle of a fiesta. Romblon's main fiesta which is, apparently, one of the larger ones in the area, and is scheduled to be held on the second week in January seemed to be staging a major dress rehearsal. For the three days we spent on Romblon the sound of drumming was an ever present counterpoint to the sound of the rain. Sometimes starting up as early as three in the morning. But on the 26th all the separate factions came together in almost full costume to parade through the streets of town. Everybody came out of their houses to cheer the dancers and
their accompanying drummers along, even the sun felt suitably energised to put in a much welcomed but sadly brief appearance.
The following day we caught a ferry from Romblon to Magdiwang in Sibuyan. It was another very rough crossing but as we were on a fairly large RORO ferry we did not get nearly so wet. We had chosen to spend a couple of days in Sibuyan as we had wanted to explore the forest that covers most of the island. Unfortunately the rain, which by that stage was an almost constant presence, precluded much more than a couple of short hikes, one of which passed through some very beautiful scenery on the way to a moderately pretty waterfall. We explored the small town during the occasional breaks in the weather and found it interesting rather than beautiful. It is very much a working town with all the activity, work or trade, taking place either out at sea or behind the town in the fields. We enjoyed Magdiwang, especially the conversations we had with some of the locals who helped us understand a little more about their town and island. One house in which we were invited into was
populated not only by the family who lived there, but also by hundreds of painted concrete sculptures of people and animals. A very surreal house indeed but lived in by an outwardly very sober family.
From Sibuyan we travelled to Boracay, the hedonist's island of choice, to see in the new year. It was a long day of travelling. From Magdiwang in the north of Sibuyan we caught a jeepney that rattled us the four hours to San Fernando in the south. From there we were expecting to catch a ferry to sail us the six hours to Roxas on the island of Panay. Unfortunately, our expectations were again to be let down by reality. The boat that awaited us was a wooden bangka not much larger than the one which had ferried us so disastrously from San Agustin to Romblon, this one however had to navigate a very substantial section of open ocean in conditions that I imagined would have been challenging for the larger ferry that we had all expected. To make matters worse, the boat left two hours later than planned which only added to the apprehension. When its engine broke down an hour out of
San Fernando, leaving us adrift in a very serious swell, I began to wonder if we'd actually manage to reach Boracay at all, let alone that day. After an hour the engine was restarted and the remainder of the journey passed without incident. We eventually arrived in Boracay, after two more trikes, a mini van and a further boat, at nine in the evening, seventeen hours after we left Magdiwang.
We were on Boracay for one thing and one thing only, and that was to party. Normally, our meagre budget, my advancing years and our general dislike for any place with a propensity towards neon, would have kept us away from there but, as I said, it was new years eve, we were a long way from home and feeling frivolous and we had planned this a long while ago. Rather than as a couple, we had travelled to Boracay as a group of eight, and this number was to grow further once on the island. The main night was obviously the 31st, but Anny and I put our usual frugality to one side and made like tourists for the two days preceding new year. We indulged in cheap
cocktails, tasty food and cable TV. The weather was absolutely rotten still with almost constant heavy rain. On the 31st the clouds did miraculously part to allow four hours of sunshine. This bought people streaming out of their hotels and onto the beach like the ants in our room to a piece of mango. The white beach in Boracay has a big reputation, and seeing it bathed in the last sun of 2010, I could see why so many people rate it as one of the worlds best. For my tastes it is a little too long and far too developed, but if one seeks a little action with ones beauty then Boracay could just be your perfect spot.
As new years eve is notorious for being a big disappointment for many people, we were acutely aware of the potential to be left feeling cheated, especially since, like with Christmas, we had been looking forward to it for so long. It didn't help that the weather was still awful, but it was less a spoiler for our dreams here than it was on Romblon. As for the night itself? Well, it was an absolute cracker actually. My biggest fear
was that I'd fail to see the new year in. All this trip, due to the paucity of evening entertainment, a late night has meant going to sleep past nine O'clock, so the prospect of staying up till the wee hours was one I faced with some trepidation. As it was I managed fairly well, but was still tucked up in bed well before the rest of our party. Before my ignominious early crash we danced in nightclubs, we drank delicious cocktails in booming beach bars and we all watched the fireworks that spectacularly ushered in the new year with our toes in the sand, drinks in our hands and big smiles on our faces. It was a memorable night which, if I'm honest, I've not been able to say about a new years eve in a while. I shall be dreaming about it for ages.
Some of you may have detected an undercurrent of dissatisfaction in this blog. For that I apologise, it must seem very galling to be sat at home reading about a blogger gallivanting around a foreign country with not a care in the world, and for them to then pronounce themselves disappointed or, worse,
bored. We have had some excellent adventures in the last month but, since leaving India at the end of November, we have been exceptionally unlucky with the weather and this has really put a damper on our plans. This part of the trip was supposed to have been Anny's beach time, a break in the middle of the trip where Anny (and I) could recharge our batteries for the more exciting and demanding travelling to come. But, in the six weeks since then, we have had only ten days of sun, the rest of the time it has been, as it is today, absolutely pissing it down. Normally the weather would not be such a factor in our enjoyment of a country, but as this part of the trip has been planned solely for beach time it has been nothing short of a huge disappointment, especially as we picked this time of year as it was supposed to guarantee the best weather!
As sunbathing has been somewhat ruined by the weather, we have instead indulged ourselves in other ways, notably in ruining our livers. In the Philippines a bottle of Gin is cheaper than a can of tonic water
and a bottle of the very drinkable Tanduay Rum is actually cheaper than an equivalent sized bottle of mineral water. This we have enjoyed, this we prefer to Thailand. We still far prefer Thailand's food to that of the Philippines which is, without wishing to again seem too ungrateful, pretty damn disgusting! Most dishes contain large amounts of pig fat served in a nondescript gravy and accompanied by unadorned rice. You could also eat chicken, beef or dog, but should you ask for a vegetable then you will be looked upon as dangerously stupid. Considering that the national dish is a partially developed chicken foetus, then you get a pretty fair understanding as to the deliciousness of the cuisine. Still, the Rum here is pretty calorific, and sometimes I even add some lime in an attempt to eat some fruit and to make sure I don't catch scurvy. We have been doing a great deal of reading here, but the choices in the book exchanges in places like Boracay certainly reflects the visiting demographics tastes; never before have I seen so much Clive Cussler, Patricia Cornwell and bloody Dan Brown. I have really struggled for a good read.
But,
in a renewed attempt to finally find some sun, we are tomorrow taking a 24 hour "cruise" to Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan. We are hoping that west will prove to be best and that the stunning seascapes that we hope to visit there will not be tainted by the grey clouds that have been our ever present companions this last month. We are giving ourselves more time there than originally planned, but after speaking to other travellers and checking the weather, it seems that the Visayas have all been suffering the same poor weather and that there seems to be no hope for a change anytime soon and that the only chance for better weather, slim though it is, is to head to Palawan. I hope for our sakes, but particularly for yours, that the situation improves so that we can better enjoy this otherwise lovely country and you can all read a more positive blog. The trouble is, we are both dreaming so hard of clear blue skies and gorgeous beaches that we are again setting ourselves up for disappointment.
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Aries and Rinka
Aristeo Rinka Lucea
I was laughing a lot reading your blog, specially the part about veggies. As it really is quite a challenge for me to find my wife a decent serving of veggies every time we vacation in my country. We even have to go to the supermarket ourselves to force my mother to add more veggies whenever she cook. Hoping you get more sun in the days to come.