Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Monday 11th June 2007 Short and sweet
Feeling a bit peckish, time for a Filipine mango
Monday 11th June 2007
We spent a day doing a little shopping for ourselves, t-shirts, shorts and the like and then treated ourselves to Shrek the Third which was very funny. Went home and packed as we are going on holiday within our holiday tomorrow to the island Palawan. I was really looking forward to a few days rest away from the hustle and bustle of Manila and to be able to catch up on a lot of blogging and photo uploads. Having just checked our itinerary I have realised we are on 2 tours whilst there! One, a half day tour on our first afternoon around the capital Puerto De Princesa and the second a whole day, 7.30am to 5pm to the underground caves and river of Sabang. Oh well one day to ourselves is better than none. Checked the weather forecast. Rain. Great. See you tomorrow with umbrella and wellies.
Monday 11th June 2007
We spent a day doing a little shopping for ourselves, t-shirts, shorts and the like and then treated ourselves to Shrek the Third which was very funny. Went home and packed as we are going on holiday within our holiday tomorrow to the island Palawan. I was really looking forward to a few days rest away from the hustle and bustle of Manila and to be able to catch up on a lot of blogging and photo uploads. Having just checked our itinerary I have realised we are on 2 tours whilst there! One, a half day tour on our first afternoon around the capital Puerto De Princesa and the second a whole day, 7.30am to 5pm to the underground caves and river of Sabang. Oh well one day to ourselves is better than none. Checked the weather forecast. Rain. Great. See you tomorrow with umbrella and wellies.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Sunday 10th June 2007 - Managing motorised movement in Manila
Jeepney at Mines View Baguio Jeepney and Tricycle
Sunday 10th June 2007
Did very little this morning but we are all going to a Mega Mall in Mandaluyong for bowling this afternoon, Yaaaay! It is an upmarket mall with many designer name outlets including Rolex, Armani, and Body Shop (just kidding). We go to the bowl and pay Peso 140 per game £1.55. Lu had 129, 142 and I had 168, 202. We were joined by Ate Bever, Ate Roma, her foster daughter Daniella, Sheila and Rain who all didn’t bowl. Had a long shop and then ended up having pizza dinner at an oulet called Shakeys. Went back to Hotel Encarnacion via Greenhills accidentally and we watched video of A night at the Museum.
Daniella is a small 7yr old girl whom Roma has fostered from an extremely poor family they met whilst holidaying in one of the provinces. Her family including 7 other siblings were existing by eating rice, chillies and salt and not much else. Daniella, had not been to school for some time as her parents did not have the money to pay for her educational uniform and equiment and she spent most her time helping to look after her brothers and sisters. Her family agreed to her being fostered to enable her to receive a good education which in turn would increase her chances of finding well paid employment in years to come. This would then benefit the family as, in common with most educated and well earning Filipinos from poor families, they send most of their earnings back to help them survive. Daniella was badly undernourished and small and short for age. She is 2 years older than Rain at 7 but is lighter and shorter. She is bright as a button, very caring of her Tita (aunty) Roma and learning to speak English quickly, as Roma and the extended family generally only speak to her in English. Here’s a funny thing. Both Daniella and Rain, quite independently of each other, would not talk directly to me for the first few meetings we had. I found out later it was because I spoke English “in a funny way”! Their English teachers are Filipinos whose first language is Tagalog and therefore speak with their native accent. To hear pure spoken English (well in the context of never having heard an Englishman directly) was confusing and in their eyes not right. But they overcame their shyness eventually and I am now Tito (uncle) Derek. Roma has a son PJ who is 24 and training to be a doctor and I think she has high hopes for her little foster daughter too. I’ve been looking around at Manila during our stay and I have to say it is not a city that would appeal to everybody. Mini facts on PI say there is approximately 84 million inhabitants on the 1701 islands that make up The Philippines. 30 million of those live in the capital Manila. It is a vast sprawl of houses, industry, commerce, shanty towns and shopping. Shopping comes in 2 basic sizes. Small, that is very small, one man or more accurately, family businesses selling anything from fresh veg, fish or meat to junk. Then there is large as in mega large which is the super malls. These are built by large investment companies and fitted out just like our bigger shopping centres. But these super malls have food halls unlike a lot of ours. The food halls usually take up one floor similar to say Meadowhall or Thurrock if you’ve visited them, only much larger and with almost infinite choice. Rice booths, noodle bars, sea food, kiosks specialising in Chinese style, or Filipino or Malay or Thai or, well you name it and many you can’t name will be there. How about Kenny Rogers‘ (yes the C & W singer) Roasters which is a carvery style restaurant or The French Bakery which specialises in French pastries and crepes. Or how about Balut, which is chicken eggs boiled and served as an appetiser or accompaniment to beer. Sounds good huh, a nice firm boiled egg with maybe a dash of pepper, a little salt and yum. Well not quite. You will find yourself eating the egg yes but the embryo has begun to grow and form, so you still have the white or albumen, and the yolk but also a partly formed and growing chick in the middle. Enjoy your dinner!
Anyway back to the malls. They also have huge cinemas, usually on the top floor with many screens and showing all the latest Western and Asian films. Some malls have tenpin bowling centres (bowling is very popular in PI) and supermarkets, many the size of a Tesco Extra or Asda. We talked to some of the shop assistants on our wanderings and they said that they earn the daily minimum wage of Peso350 and work a 6 day week. Nonetheless, they are helpful, polite and almost always beautifully dressed and made up. We braved a tricycle which originally was a pedal bike and rickshaw style assembly but they have modernised slightly and are now 100cc motorbikes with a covered sidecar 2 passenger seat attached. Quite a bumpy and uncomfortable ride but cooler than walking and with prices in the 20 or 30 Peso region you can’t go wrong. They do not travel too far so sometimes the taxis are better. However you can often do better than a taxi by taking an MPV taxi with up to 11 or 12 other passengers but be sure to make sure you stop the right one. They tend to only do specific routes and destinations so always check. They tend to have to and from routes printed on the body work. Alternative to that is the Jeepney. A frequently highly individually decorated form of transport similar to nothing else on the road. Made in PI and I’m led to believe pretty reliable mode of transport. Looking at the condition of many of them I am sceptical. Finally buses. Every one tells me that they should be avoided totally. That goes, not just for travelling on them but for sharing the road with them. The drivers are regarded by everyone else as illiterate as far as road signs go and illegitimate as far as road craft and courtesy goes. Seriously though do not use them! You have to see them to believe me. There is also an MRT or Metro Rail transport which we did not use. It doesn’t have a great city coverage but is efficient and cheap. Well that’s what Kuya Guy said but he’s biased. They pay his pension as he worked for them for 35 years.
Did very little this morning but we are all going to a Mega Mall in Mandaluyong for bowling this afternoon, Yaaaay! It is an upmarket mall with many designer name outlets including Rolex, Armani, and Body Shop (just kidding). We go to the bowl and pay Peso 140 per game £1.55. Lu had 129, 142 and I had 168, 202. We were joined by Ate Bever, Ate Roma, her foster daughter Daniella, Sheila and Rain who all didn’t bowl. Had a long shop and then ended up having pizza dinner at an oulet called Shakeys. Went back to Hotel Encarnacion via Greenhills accidentally and we watched video of A night at the Museum.
Daniella is a small 7yr old girl whom Roma has fostered from an extremely poor family they met whilst holidaying in one of the provinces. Her family including 7 other siblings were existing by eating rice, chillies and salt and not much else. Daniella, had not been to school for some time as her parents did not have the money to pay for her educational uniform and equiment and she spent most her time helping to look after her brothers and sisters. Her family agreed to her being fostered to enable her to receive a good education which in turn would increase her chances of finding well paid employment in years to come. This would then benefit the family as, in common with most educated and well earning Filipinos from poor families, they send most of their earnings back to help them survive. Daniella was badly undernourished and small and short for age. She is 2 years older than Rain at 7 but is lighter and shorter. She is bright as a button, very caring of her Tita (aunty) Roma and learning to speak English quickly, as Roma and the extended family generally only speak to her in English. Here’s a funny thing. Both Daniella and Rain, quite independently of each other, would not talk directly to me for the first few meetings we had. I found out later it was because I spoke English “in a funny way”! Their English teachers are Filipinos whose first language is Tagalog and therefore speak with their native accent. To hear pure spoken English (well in the context of never having heard an Englishman directly) was confusing and in their eyes not right. But they overcame their shyness eventually and I am now Tito (uncle) Derek. Roma has a son PJ who is 24 and training to be a doctor and I think she has high hopes for her little foster daughter too. I’ve been looking around at Manila during our stay and I have to say it is not a city that would appeal to everybody. Mini facts on PI say there is approximately 84 million inhabitants on the 1701 islands that make up The Philippines. 30 million of those live in the capital Manila. It is a vast sprawl of houses, industry, commerce, shanty towns and shopping. Shopping comes in 2 basic sizes. Small, that is very small, one man or more accurately, family businesses selling anything from fresh veg, fish or meat to junk. Then there is large as in mega large which is the super malls. These are built by large investment companies and fitted out just like our bigger shopping centres. But these super malls have food halls unlike a lot of ours. The food halls usually take up one floor similar to say Meadowhall or Thurrock if you’ve visited them, only much larger and with almost infinite choice. Rice booths, noodle bars, sea food, kiosks specialising in Chinese style, or Filipino or Malay or Thai or, well you name it and many you can’t name will be there. How about Kenny Rogers‘ (yes the C & W singer) Roasters which is a carvery style restaurant or The French Bakery which specialises in French pastries and crepes. Or how about Balut, which is chicken eggs boiled and served as an appetiser or accompaniment to beer. Sounds good huh, a nice firm boiled egg with maybe a dash of pepper, a little salt and yum. Well not quite. You will find yourself eating the egg yes but the embryo has begun to grow and form, so you still have the white or albumen, and the yolk but also a partly formed and growing chick in the middle. Enjoy your dinner!
Anyway back to the malls. They also have huge cinemas, usually on the top floor with many screens and showing all the latest Western and Asian films. Some malls have tenpin bowling centres (bowling is very popular in PI) and supermarkets, many the size of a Tesco Extra or Asda. We talked to some of the shop assistants on our wanderings and they said that they earn the daily minimum wage of Peso350 and work a 6 day week. Nonetheless, they are helpful, polite and almost always beautifully dressed and made up. We braved a tricycle which originally was a pedal bike and rickshaw style assembly but they have modernised slightly and are now 100cc motorbikes with a covered sidecar 2 passenger seat attached. Quite a bumpy and uncomfortable ride but cooler than walking and with prices in the 20 or 30 Peso region you can’t go wrong. They do not travel too far so sometimes the taxis are better. However you can often do better than a taxi by taking an MPV taxi with up to 11 or 12 other passengers but be sure to make sure you stop the right one. They tend to only do specific routes and destinations so always check. They tend to have to and from routes printed on the body work. Alternative to that is the Jeepney. A frequently highly individually decorated form of transport similar to nothing else on the road. Made in PI and I’m led to believe pretty reliable mode of transport. Looking at the condition of many of them I am sceptical. Finally buses. Every one tells me that they should be avoided totally. That goes, not just for travelling on them but for sharing the road with them. The drivers are regarded by everyone else as illiterate as far as road signs go and illegitimate as far as road craft and courtesy goes. Seriously though do not use them! You have to see them to believe me. There is also an MRT or Metro Rail transport which we did not use. It doesn’t have a great city coverage but is efficient and cheap. Well that’s what Kuya Guy said but he’s biased. They pay his pension as he worked for them for 35 years.
Saturday 9th June 2007 - Here's a shilling, go to the pictures!
Saturday 9th June 2007
Took Lu to the dentist again hopefully the penultimate time and then we went to the SM shopping mall at EDSA North to meet Lu’s old neighbours, Rik and Mel from Mandaluyong. We have lunch in the mall’s ground floor food court, (there are 2, the other on the top floor. The Filipinos love their food.) Did a little window shopping in this huge mall and then decided to indulge ourselves and watch Pirates of the Caribbean, The end of the world. Also the cinemas have better air con than the malls so you cool down better. I gave Lu a P1000 note (£11) to get tickets while I visited the restroom. I expected a little change bearing in mind that when we visit the cinema in UK there is usually very little change from £15. She handed back P720 so 2 tickets cost about £3.10! And that was for the Premier, top notch not cheap old deluxe seats.
Back at Hotel Encarnacion we learn a little more about our hosts, Sheila, Gerald (or Jing Jing or, Aga, as he closely resembles a good looking Filipino actor) their 5 yr old daughter Rain Danielle, Sheila’s mum, Del and their maid Annabelle. Gerald is the son of Ludy’s ‘adopted sister’ Bever and he husband Guy and they live in the house that Ate Bever had built for them. Gerald works for the largest TV company in PI, ABS-CBN as a news editor. Sheila works for a PR & Marketing Media company handling major businesses who advertise in the television media as an advertising ideas consultant. Daughter Rain has not yet made a career choice but whatever it is she will probably break hearts!
Took Lu to the dentist again hopefully the penultimate time and then we went to the SM shopping mall at EDSA North to meet Lu’s old neighbours, Rik and Mel from Mandaluyong. We have lunch in the mall’s ground floor food court, (there are 2, the other on the top floor. The Filipinos love their food.) Did a little window shopping in this huge mall and then decided to indulge ourselves and watch Pirates of the Caribbean, The end of the world. Also the cinemas have better air con than the malls so you cool down better. I gave Lu a P1000 note (£11) to get tickets while I visited the restroom. I expected a little change bearing in mind that when we visit the cinema in UK there is usually very little change from £15. She handed back P720 so 2 tickets cost about £3.10! And that was for the Premier, top notch not cheap old deluxe seats.
Back at Hotel Encarnacion we learn a little more about our hosts, Sheila, Gerald (or Jing Jing or, Aga, as he closely resembles a good looking Filipino actor) their 5 yr old daughter Rain Danielle, Sheila’s mum, Del and their maid Annabelle. Gerald is the son of Ludy’s ‘adopted sister’ Bever and he husband Guy and they live in the house that Ate Bever had built for them. Gerald works for the largest TV company in PI, ABS-CBN as a news editor. Sheila works for a PR & Marketing Media company handling major businesses who advertise in the television media as an advertising ideas consultant. Daughter Rain has not yet made a career choice but whatever it is she will probably break hearts!
Friday 8th June 2007 - Strawberry jam and other foody pleasures!
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.
Thursday 7th June - Warm bath, Hot bath at last
The South China Sea at Pagudpud
Thursday 7th June 2007
We all wake early and take a stroll down to the beach which is almost white and lapped gently by a calm and greeny blue sea. So, t-shirts off and we run into the South China Sea which is as warm as a bath. I look around me and as I’m facing out to sea I see I am in a wide bay reaching further out and round to the right of me. But when looking out to sea the cloud line way over to the horizon is almost touching the sea giving the effect of the sky meeting the sea. Check the photo and you will see what I mean. Also, the under the tall cloud, if you look closely you can see it is raining. After messing about and having a sand and seawater skin exfoliation we head off to the hotel pool and swim around in water as hot as a bath. We have breakfast and another swim in the pool followed by a short sunbathe then we check out and head for Baguio. Baguio is in the mountain province of North Luzon and known as the Summer Capital of the North. We drive back part of the way we came to Pagudpud and then head up the mountain road known as Marcos Highway to Baguio. During the journey up the mountain we witness a spectacular lightning storm which circle the hills around us for some hours. We can’t make out if it actually brings any rain or not. There is a little concern at the moment in Philippines that the true monsoon rains have not yet arrived. Usually they start beginning of May and essential day wear is shorts, t-shirt and umbrella. This is borne out by the fact we pass many rice fields that are bone dry and the rice seedling plants are dead. It takes us 9 hours with only 2 short breaks to get there. It was actually only 81/2 but a car got stuck in the road works trying to drive (unsuccessfully the first time) up a ramp of stones as we reached the outskirts of the city. He was rescued by other drivers and passers by and we carried on to Baguio town centre. As we ascended the mountains the air got cooler and cleaner and the humidity reduced. We found a hotel that was fully booked but one next to it, Hotel 45 was able to accommodate us. We booked a family room consisting of a lounge/dining area with sofa bed, small kitchen and 2 bedrooms both with ensuite. The showers are powered and have hot water as the Filipinos who visit find Baguio cold! We paid the princely sum of Peso 2700 to include breakfast. £30. Air con is not really necessary here as the evening temperatures are very comfortable at around 20C. After checking in we walked down to the town past a roundabout with a pine tree decorated for Christmas and decide to eat in a Japanese and Korean restaurant called Hodori. I’m trying to experience as many different eating pleasures as I can. I have Tempura prawns, fried rice and mido soup and all 5 of us eat for peso 1700. When we get back to the hotel we arrange to wake up at 6 so we can go to a traditional Filipino market early and see it at it’s best.
Wednesday 6th June 2007 -
Sunset over rice fields and the South China Sea Lu & me in the Bell Tower, Vigan
Wednesday 6th June 2007
We got up early packed and went down to find the others had already gone into the town. They returned very quickly and we arranged to have a breakfast later. Ludy explained her nightmares to Ate B and we asked the receptionist without mentioning the reason, if the hotel was haunted. She replied that she has seen and felt the presence of 2 ghosts, a male and a female in the hotel many times before and was not surprised that we had been disturbed. I wasn’t sure if we should’ve asked for a discount for having a haunting but every body said I would’ve been charged more for having extra guests in the room. We toured some of the fine old streets of Vigan with beautiful Spanish colonial houses and warehouses and bodegas. The streets were cobbled with the original stones and Unesco has now decreed the town as a world heritage site. We make our way back to the town square and take a horse and carriage (Calesa) tour of some of the town. Our first stop is the bell tower of Santa Maria? which is what it says but dates back to the 15 Century. The original bells are still there but no longer are they rung. We are allowed to enter the tower and climb to the top where we get a great view of the town. There is a large bell in the centre and 5 (I think) smaller bells arranged around the outside walls facing the town. They all still move on their brackets but the bells themselves are badly cracked and in poor condition. There is also a large amount of graffiti on the wood and brickwork of the tower. Ludy, who has a fear of heights was very brave and climbed to the top and with a little cajoling sat near the edge for a photo opportunity. I also got a picture of her clinging to the wall for dear life! From here our pony and trap trots us to the Ilocano museum housed in Padre Burgos’s house. He was a local martyr who refused to bow to the new administration by the Spanish and fought for the rights of the local native Ilocano. He was hanged and beheaded for his trouble as a warning to other rebels. From here we are taken to the local pottery and market which is very disappointing and we do not stay long. Back to the town centre and we disembark our trap. Our “Jockey”, who by the looks of him must be at least 100yrs old, tells us the ponies are fed on corn leaf and rice seed and watered 3 times a day to prevent them having water sickness. To be fair I thought the ponies were in reasonable condition, it was our jockey I think we should have worried about. We checked out of the hotel for which we paid peso2000 for 2 rooms. About £22. (ghost - Govt Haunting Optional Sur Tax included foc)! We have early lunch at Grandpa’s Inn with usual Filipino style food at incredibly low prices and then make our way around 2ish to a beach resort up north called Pagudpud, where we will stay overnight and have a little r and r time until midday Thursday. We drive for many hours past small villages and miles of rice fields, many of which are being planted or tilled by locals and their long horned cattle. Our next destination is Bakat where past and much revered President Marcos’s body is preserved and on display. His mausoleum is an unpresupposing building set between his 2 old family homes. A curator unlocks the door and we enter a dimly lit entrance area and are ushered to the right and into the final resting place of the ex President himself. The body is in what looks like a hermetically sealed glass coffin resting on a silk mattress and pillow. He is dressed in presidential dress and sash and medals. I am assured it is his preserved body but the face; well I suppose they have to do some wax and make up work for appearance but I have some doubts about what I see. But hey, no doubt I’m wrong. Leaving the presence of the most loved president in comparison to other past presidents we make or way upwards and skirt some of the mountains in the north. Around 6 the sun begins to set and we luckily happen to pass a ridge which looks down on rice fields aand out to sea and the sunset. PI is called the Land of the Setting Sun and is reflected in their national flag and the scene we witnessed as the sun went down. Whilst not perhaps the most spectacular sunset it was still pretty good. Within half an hour we had reached the resort of Pagudpud and checked into the hotel Villa del Mar. We have early dinner and retire early as I think we are tired from the travelling. No ghosts tonight but we do have cockroaches wider and longer than your thumb! I don’t think we get charged for them. We are all looking forward to tomorrow morning for a walk on the beach, a swim in the sea and then breakfast.
Tuesday 5th June 2007 - Road trip to the North
Tuesday 5th June 2007
Today we start our long journey north to the more rural countryside of Luzon, the northern island of the Philippines. We are making the trip with Ate Bever and Kuya Guy, and our driver, Dodie. Our first overnight stop after some 400 or more kms will be Vigan, Ilocos Sur. This town has significant historical interest to PI as it was one of the first places the Spanish landed in their conquest of the islands. The Spanish influence, architecture, language and culture permeates the islands equally if not more so than the native culture in some areas. The drive is long and uncomfortable due to the condition of the roads. After we leave the tollway the roads become concrete and in many districts maintenance is not so good. We make a few comfort stops and have lunch at Max’s which is a little like a cross between Pizza Hut, KFC and Chiquito’s. We ate well with a whole small chicken, Soup, various beef, fish and pork dishes accompanied by rice, noodles and drinks. Peso1666 for 5. £18! We meet some road works at one town where the traffic is controlled by red and green stop go lights which have an opened umbrella attached above them! We weren’t sure if they were to protect them from the sun or the rain! We finally arrive at Vigan at 9pm after leaving Manila at 11am. The hotel we are to stay at is owned by Kuya Guy’s cousin and we book in gratefully at the end of a long journey. We take a quick walk back to the town square and eat at quaint restaurant called Leonas. Again we have a full and varied menu of Bagnet, (deep fried pork) rice, barbecued fish, Pinakbet, (local vegetable stew), garlic mushrooms, sizzling pork again to a spicy local recipe and drinks, all freshly cooked on a barbecue and gas cooker outside at the front of the building and as always it’s very good. Another marvellous value for money meal at Peso1187 or £13. We walk our weary way back to Hotel Fernandino and take room 1. It is an old 16 century wealthy Spanish businessman’s residence converted to a hotel and bears all the hallmark designs of old colonial style. Large high ceilinged rooms with oak floors, large windows in a waffle design, glazed not with glass but the translucent insides of shells. The plumbing as usual leaves a lot to be desired, no toilet seat, normal for most parts of rural PI, a shower with only cold water, (why do want hot in these temperatures?) and all this in a very basic wet room. To bed and fortunately the air con is working, as the night temps only drop a few degrees and the humidity remains the same. About 3 am I wake to the most blood curdling ear splitting scream I have ever heard at this time in the morning. Ludy is clinging to me sobbing that “they are trying to hold her down by her arms and legs and hurt her” “who” I ask. “the ghosts” I calm her down and assure her it is just nightmare and all is ok. 30 mins later she does the same but before she did and whilst I was still awake I had a really strange feeling and all my body became covered in goosebumps. No it wasn’t the air con because it wasn’t actually that efficient. I mollified her again after she explained that the ghosts had this time been trying to take me away, but this was now becoming odd. Ludy woke again twice more with very similar dreams of ghosts and I had strange sensations of goosebumps once more. By now it was getting light and I think she felt safer and went back to sleep until 8.
Today we start our long journey north to the more rural countryside of Luzon, the northern island of the Philippines. We are making the trip with Ate Bever and Kuya Guy, and our driver, Dodie. Our first overnight stop after some 400 or more kms will be Vigan, Ilocos Sur. This town has significant historical interest to PI as it was one of the first places the Spanish landed in their conquest of the islands. The Spanish influence, architecture, language and culture permeates the islands equally if not more so than the native culture in some areas. The drive is long and uncomfortable due to the condition of the roads. After we leave the tollway the roads become concrete and in many districts maintenance is not so good. We make a few comfort stops and have lunch at Max’s which is a little like a cross between Pizza Hut, KFC and Chiquito’s. We ate well with a whole small chicken, Soup, various beef, fish and pork dishes accompanied by rice, noodles and drinks. Peso1666 for 5. £18! We meet some road works at one town where the traffic is controlled by red and green stop go lights which have an opened umbrella attached above them! We weren’t sure if they were to protect them from the sun or the rain! We finally arrive at Vigan at 9pm after leaving Manila at 11am. The hotel we are to stay at is owned by Kuya Guy’s cousin and we book in gratefully at the end of a long journey. We take a quick walk back to the town square and eat at quaint restaurant called Leonas. Again we have a full and varied menu of Bagnet, (deep fried pork) rice, barbecued fish, Pinakbet, (local vegetable stew), garlic mushrooms, sizzling pork again to a spicy local recipe and drinks, all freshly cooked on a barbecue and gas cooker outside at the front of the building and as always it’s very good. Another marvellous value for money meal at Peso1187 or £13. We walk our weary way back to Hotel Fernandino and take room 1. It is an old 16 century wealthy Spanish businessman’s residence converted to a hotel and bears all the hallmark designs of old colonial style. Large high ceilinged rooms with oak floors, large windows in a waffle design, glazed not with glass but the translucent insides of shells. The plumbing as usual leaves a lot to be desired, no toilet seat, normal for most parts of rural PI, a shower with only cold water, (why do want hot in these temperatures?) and all this in a very basic wet room. To bed and fortunately the air con is working, as the night temps only drop a few degrees and the humidity remains the same. About 3 am I wake to the most blood curdling ear splitting scream I have ever heard at this time in the morning. Ludy is clinging to me sobbing that “they are trying to hold her down by her arms and legs and hurt her” “who” I ask. “the ghosts” I calm her down and assure her it is just nightmare and all is ok. 30 mins later she does the same but before she did and whilst I was still awake I had a really strange feeling and all my body became covered in goosebumps. No it wasn’t the air con because it wasn’t actually that efficient. I mollified her again after she explained that the ghosts had this time been trying to take me away, but this was now becoming odd. Ludy woke again twice more with very similar dreams of ghosts and I had strange sensations of goosebumps once more. By now it was getting light and I think she felt safer and went back to sleep until 8.
