6 Week Gap Year

What do you mean, "Have we any strawberry jam?"





Friday 8th June 2007
Well you can probably guess by the way I left yesterday’s blog a 6am wake was wildly optimistic. In our mitigation Ludy succumbed to a mild case of Filipino tummy and spent some time in the toilet. As an aside the toilet or loo here is referred to as the rest or comfort room. We are awoken by Ate (pronounced Attay) Bever at 7.30 as they woke late too! Just after breakfast I succumb to Filipino tummy as well. We make it to the market and it is in full swing with hundreds of kiosks all selling similar items. Some specialise in kitchen or household stuff, some in fresh vegetables and others in tins and jars of food. There are also solo vendors who squat on a patch in the main thoroughfare of this hot covered market and sell a variety of fresh vegetables for peso 100 for 5 items. There are also fresh fruit, fish, hotdog and sausage stalls too but my camera battery ran out and I forget to take my spare with me. (well I was distracted when I got tummy aches and the world dropped out of my bottom!) We returned to the hotel and checked out and then drove off to see the Presidents summer Mansion which is just on the outskirts off Baguio city. This mansion was built by the Americans during their “occupation” of the Philippines in the early 1900’s and was used by the Governor as his home. After their independence it become the president’s summer home, a retreat from the stifling heat of Manila. From here we then drove up hill to a view point called Mines View. From here you look across and down from the mountains and valleys around Baguio where until only recently gold was mined. Hence Mines View. The view is pretty spectacular and would have been even better on a clearer day. Appositely, I’m told an equally spectacular view is seen when the clouds are very low and hang over the mountain tops and into the valleys where it looks as if the sky is on your head. As with all tourist sites a shanty town market has grown where you can buy all sorts if souvenirs, gold & silver jewellery, clothes food local strawberry jam (very tasty) and as is so often the case many of the stalls duplicate the goods they sell of other stalls. The only place in the Northern parts of PI that you can grow strawberries is here in the Baguio region as the temperature is more moderate than elsewhere. The jam available to buy is in 2 styles, one which has added sugar and lemon or the other just natural. I have bought some natural. Time is once again pressing on us and we must leave in order that we can reach the dentist in Manila in good time for Ludy. Our journey time will be around 4 hours plus a few steps for diesel and lunch. Our descent from Baguio takes in some spectacular mountain and valley views with one piece of the road which spans between 2 hills on what I assume must be a manmade earth built strip. The drop on either side was almost sheer and must have been hundreds of feet to the bottom. Keep driving Dodie, eyes ahead and don’t look down. We stop around 3.30 at Jollibee’s in Tarlac, Pampanga. Jollibee’s is the PI equivalent McDonalds with a range of beef burgers, chicken drumsticks and burgers, nachos, hotdogs and a number of Filipino dishes. Drinks are pretty much the same but with the addition of Nestea (Nescafe tea granules mixed with water) which is drunk with ice. I had Jollibee’s Champ, 1/3 pound pure beef burger with salad and fries. Peso 127, £1.40. The beef burger was a little greasy but quite tasty. As we near Manila we pass Mount Arayat an active volcano at Mabalacat, Pampanga which is on the outskirts of Manila.
Mt Pinatubo is only a little further away and is also active, and the last eruption in 1990 covered hundreds of square miles including Manila with volcanic ash. There is a toll road back into Manila which will help us avoid most of the Friday afternoon/evening traffic and we make the dentist in good time. Reynaldo and Rhodora Chanliecco are private orthodontic and orthopaedic dentists and have spent a lot of time and care with Ludy for which we both thank them. We are starting to read about the British taking up foreign hospital and dental treatment due to the cost and waiting lists at home. I am told that most Filipinos wait until their next trip back to PI for dental treatment as it is very much cheaper there. For example a filling is about Peso100, root canal work is Peso250 and a complete porcelain cap is peso18000 or £200. I paid £350 for one in May last year. We know also that the price Lu paid here in PI for her dental work is about half of that she would pay in England.