Philippines Plus

It has been quite awhile since I’ve felt the urge to write.  Things have been mad at work, completely insane, and I typically get home ready to relax and do nothing else.  Since I’m on Spring Break, well, Songkran Break, I am beginning to feel rested and refreshed in a new and interesting way. 

He's writing my name. 

Since I last wrote in December, I’ve been to a few places.  I went to Hong Kong in January, chaperoning a trip for the Harvard Model Congress, a fancy Model UN run by Harvard University students.  Hong Kong had the best dumplings and noodles I’ve ever encountered.  It was a delightful trip, getting to know some of the students that I see in Model UN.

In February, I was blessed to host my guy from Pittsburgh.  Aaron came for our Chinese New Year break, and spent a week and change with me in my little place in Sammakorn.  We travelled around Bangkok, seeing the sights and enjoying the Chinese New Year festivities, which seemed to consist of mountains of incense burning and the biggest candles I’ve ever seen.  He and I even had a small burning ceremony in my house… which almost resulted in me burning something down.  The ancestors smiled upon me; nothing was destroyed but a small plant in my garden.

The effect is actually my camera suffering some water.

In March, I went to Singapore for another training from the school.  I went with the PE teacher, Faye, and the math guy, Leonard, and the science guy, Gabe.  We were in a neat neighborhood there, a much cooler place than the hotels I’ve stayed in previously.  We were a stone’s throw from Little India, Chinatown, and the Arab neighborhood, which put us in prime location for all the best food we could eat.  Sing Sing is an interesting place, and I feel a love/hate relationship with it.  It is the cleanest city in Asia, the best organized, the most sterile, and yet, there is culture there.  I enjoy the food.  I was able to go this time to the botanical gardens, and I adored it there. 

And now, it’s April, so I’m spending my Thai New Year in the Philippines (away from the Thais with their water guns and baby powder).  There isn’t a ton to see in Manila, as far as landmarks and places to visit, but I’ve met some fantastic humans here. 

Sidebar: I’m sitting here writing and flying to Davao, a place in the south.  This airline has a trivia competition mid flight for small gifts and prizes.  Cebu Airlines, the hilarious almost Air Asia of the Philippines.

My hosts, Yvette and Joey

I came to the Philippines with Yvette, my counselor coworker from Bangkok, and we met up with her guy, Joey, who is a DJ and photographer in the city.  My experience here so far is that he knows everyone in the city.  During the day, Yvette and I hit the city, visiting the old city of Intramurous, an old fortress with historical roots.  There’s a museum there for this guy Rizal, who is like the father of the Philippines, an all around awesome dude.  He was an educated man, a writer, an eye doctor, a traveller, and he wrote books and letters that criticized the corrupt church and the Spanish that were in power.  His writing coincided with the revolution that gained the Filipinos their independence, and he was executed for his words.  What I find amazing about this man is that he never lost his words.   His final farewell is translated into several languages at the museum, and he was a writer to the end.  He is the personification of the “pen is mightier,” with his words reaching throughout the Philippines, and still being respected to this day. 

Rizal is the man.

This hero shows to me the value that the Pinoys place on education.  He is a true hero, and people follow his example, placing value in curiosity and learning, something I’ve been missing in the country in which I live.  So many of the people I’ve met here are multilingual in English, and Tagalog, and other local dialects.  They are reading; they are aware of history and current events.  Of course, I’ve met some pretty amazing people here.

I met a woman who loves her pug, who has something of a relationship with an old and well-known family.  She is strong willed, and it was refreshing to spend time with her and her brutal honesty.

I met a man who owns a bar (or two or three) in Manila and seems to be the ringleader of the social scene.  He couldn’t stay in his chair for more than a minute without seeing someone he wanted to greet.

I met a Filipino born in Cali, whose accent was a curious mix of Cali English, Pinoy, and a few others thrown in.  He’s a chef, and he was lamenting the lack of authentic Filipino food in the city.  He also had a strong distaste for the word “foreigner,” which I found interesting.  I hold a similar opinion, because falang and barang often have connotations that aren’t positive.

In a "Tricycle"

It’s been a great trip, and I’m thankful that I’ve had someone to show me around so effortlessly.  I would never have had this experience in Manila otherwise.  Meeting people and finding the parties that we did would never have occurred.  Plus, one of Yvette and Joey’s friends from Brooklyn happened by as well.  She’s a midwife, and she was working at a birth clinic in the province for a few months.

I think my favorite place in the Philippines, though, was Davao.  Davao is a large city in the south, and it is spread out in as much space as possible.  From what I hear, it is a city full of these tough Pinoys, and they have the best check in the form of their mayor.  He sounds like one of the coolest politicians in the world.  He spent a few days riding around in taxis to double check that the men and the passengers were honest.  He reminds me of the old sheriffs in the western movies, keeping law and order in whatever way possible. 

While in Davao, I think I had one of the best days of recent memory… involving Breakfast, Birds, and Beach.

We met up with Yvette’s folks at this five star hotel on the beach, and enjoyed their buffet breakfast.  Anyone who knows me realizes that this is my favorite meal of any day.  Then, we got in a taxi and drove about an hour out of the city to the Davao Eagle Sanctuary.  Wow. What an impressive place.  Word is that our PE teacher here in Bangkok used to live and work there, so we were excited to find the guys he recommended to see if we could help feed the eagles.

This dude.

Sad day, though… they had both retired.  They tried to call them for us.  We politely declined.  Instead we walked about and enjoyed the nature that they had built into the sanctuary for these birds.  It was spacious and clean, well-cared for, and the birds were a joy.  They had one sitting out in public, just hanging out.  He had been shot at some point (because people like to hunt rare things for sport) and his right wing was destroyed. 

The trainer that we saw cared so deeply about the creatures and the education of the people coming to visit.  We saw him petting the birds, walking them out to meet people, and of course he took our picture with this cool dude.  When it was feeding time, he walked around with a small entourage of followers who were asking him questions and seeing the birds eat their morning snack.  He explained why they fed the sea eagles fish and not mice (sea being the operative word there).  He explained that old meat makes the birds sick, so they’re careful to feed them fresh food. 

I’m not often impressed with animal places in Asia, but this place is one to see.

Beach en route.

Then beach. We got back from the birds, suited up, and headed a hop over to the beach.  It looks like you’re never that far from the water while in the Philippines.  A quick ferry ride, and we were over at the beach resort.  My very pale skin was happy that the majority of the beach was in this shade of the rooftop overhang.  We had some food, swam, drank, swam, rinse, repeat.  I’m not typically a beach-goer.  I love sailing, enjoy snorkeling, but often find myself bored without something to explore.   This day I enjoyed; it helped that there was just an afternoon to spend, no more than a few hours to get the beach on.

We packed up when our time was up… then ended up waiting for the boat while a huge rainstorm blew in.  Getting caught in the rain was quite the experience, though; I was soaked for quite a while, and the taxi almost didn’t let us in for fear of his seats.

I highly recommend hanging out in the Philippines if you’re looking for some easy travel with a lot of beach and sunshine.  Bear in mind, though, the lesson that I learned: get to the airport with time to spare. The queues are stacked with huge families transporting what seems to be their entire life.