just walking

...to have a gauge or feel of the city or town in pinasville province all you need do is go to its cathedral or church and you will have a sense of history of the place or a bit to that effect or maybe something clearer so my father tells me

...so on I walked through the streets of Naga late in the morning

Naga Metropolitan Cathedral
no blowing; priests included


San Lorenzo Ruiz


four pillars

inside AdeNU

hey! i'm watching here

I'm in Naga City, and I have been resting my bony butt inside my guesthouse for the past couple of days. I originally planned to go to Caramoan but had a change of lazy heart. I then changed my plan to go to Bagasbas, Camarines Norte and try out basic surfing, but still, the lazy ass disease got the best of me.

Instead I ended up watching a double feature inside an old local movie house. I watched "The Savages" (a dramedy) but did not care to see "X files". It was a drastic change compared to the past 2 days of binge drinking with old friends in this old City that I have somewhat learned to call home.

...and an interesting thing happened inside the theatre; a middle aged woman shouted at the top of her lungs in the middle of the film, trying to shut up a bunch of teeners (i think) doing a little chatter of their own. She couldn't have picked a perfect timing; I didn't hear the moment in the scene where Laura Linney was telling Hoffman (brother in the movie) about her book grant etc...

The woman was really furious and she shouted with perfect English "Shut up! Can't you see we're watching a movie". The chatter subsided for about 10 seconds but then continued.

I have noticed the small chatter in the beginning of the movie however I thought--this was how it was in the province and assumed that the kids don't even know what theyre watching and they probably think it's better to chat the hours away while waiting for the next feature movie, so I didn't pay them much attention but instead focused on the film.

I really didn't know what to think of the woman but I find it amusing that there was some kind of live entertainment inside the theatre hehehe.

The old "lady" was not finished she walked towards the wall where an usher was and asked whether he was the security guard and pointed to the area where she thought the noise was coming. Nothing came much of that and the woman went back to her seat to watch the movie. I wondered whether she thought those group were uneducated or whether her actions were civilized.

About 20 minutes after there was a scene in the film where the character was an old man with dementia watching a movie with his kids (Linney and Hoffman), and he was also shouting inside the room--not shushing a noisy group but trying to respond to the movie as if it were real. The people in that room was telling the old man to shut the hell up and sit down...

...hahaha, I wondered what the old woman was thinking at that point hehehe.
I'm going home tomorrow morning, and I promise I'll be back in CamSur again and maybe use my untouched tent then :D

the little mermaid in me

It was a long walk from the Ultra gate to the pool area. It was pouring rain; there’s a tropical convergence zonamajig brewing to a full force storm. If it weren’t for an invitation to try out a water sport activity, I wouldn’t be riding the jeep and walking the long and dingy road while I soak my brown-beaten tsinelas across the one kilo drip of rain pounding my ole red umbrella.



But of course, the usual me—always trying some new stuff… to fancy or just to plain try…. And try I did, the undertaking was strenuous but uber fun at the same time; I had several gulps of the chlorine filled water and in a weird way I must say that I liked it ;p. You deeply inhale, holding your breath lunging down to the bottom of the five/six feet pool trying to get to that big round orange looking hopia they call the puck and you shove it with a 12 inch stick towards the end of the wall where the goal was. Then hooray! the goal was yours for the taking.

It’s not that easy—hence the “strenuous” from the last paragraph. Again, for emphasis, it’s not easy!!! I can’t say that it’s for everyone although Connie told me that Tintin, the moray eel in the group who were swerving and scoring goals left and right was a non-swimmer when she started underwater hockey. I guess she really liked the sheer thrill of the sport aside from the super cardio that it offers or maybe she likes the big bruises you get from all the body mugging and the accidental fin-slapping in the heat of the melee while struggling to get a piece of that hopia action, hehehe.

I am a water person and I know that for a fact. You can put me on court with 3 minutes of basketball or running and you'll have me asking for an oxygen tank in no time but ask me to swim Kayangan Lake in Coron from end to end and I’ll do that without a pant until my final stretch (I did actually—yabaaang!). But man! This sport will literally leave you breathless. Underwater hockey is the shizeeeniiit na mainit!!!


pic from dallasunderwaterhockey.com

hit no run

I was off to my usual weekend bike from my house to my father’s, that is if my lazy legs would allow me… and so about two weeks ago, I began the journey and I can say that I wasn’t off to a good start.

Less than 10 minutes into the ride, passing a depressed street neighborhood where kids think (and parents apparently) that playing on the road was just as normal as sago on hot Soya. I’m always careful whenever I bike on public roads wearing safety gear to the teeth, and I am especially aware with jeepneys and crazy pedestrians that the danger is real.
The street was empty with vehicles and the jeep behind me was a good 3 or 4 blocks away. I was almost in the middle of the road just pedaling along when one of the kids about 5 years of age suddenly crossed the street as he was being chased by another kid a few years older than him. Instinctively, as I saw him headed at my direction, I squeezed on my breaks to avoid hitting the bone thinned boy, but he still managed to ram the side of my front wheel (thankfully I did not ran over him)… now this is when the action really began; and I’ll play it to you in slow motion if you will.

As I hit the breaks and the kid grazed the front wheel. My bike was half flying in mid-air with the front wheel still planted but the rear part of the bike was a good 4 or 5 feet from the ground and I was there looking at the hard concrete head on while gripping the handle bars with a clutch as good as a monkey’s. And with a “life flashing before my eyes” moment, I did a quick reflex action veering my whole weight to the left avoiding toppling over the kid and preventing a skull-plant straight in to the cement. I landed on the road with my left side of the body; arm first and bike second which fortunately dissipated the force of the landing but still did not leave me unscathed.
vintage vintaged ;p
As I recovered from the rollover I immediately saw a small cut on my left leg and my feet was stuck between the wheel and the fork (the rollover was semi-violent). I hurriedly disentangled my left foot while looking at the jeep from a good distance behind me. I managed to recover from the shock (in less than 7 seconds, would you believe) and safely bring the bike to the side of the road. Some guy was already clutching the kid while I was asking him if he was alright.

The boy was crying obviously from the shock, I think the big part of it was watching me being hurled in a circusly fashion up in the air and seeing things to be as surreal as it was for him. The kid was ok and a relative came hurriedly to console the boy, worried as hell. By this time a small crowd was already converging over the whole hoopla… and I can hear people jeering and making comments about how the elder let the boy play without supervision in the streets etc (heck! kids shouldn’t be playing there at all.)… Looking back now, I think it was a good thing that I really crashed (and I really mean crashed) trying to avoid hitting the boy. If not for that and the small gush of blood already running on my leg I think the small mob would have focused the blame on me.

I was still shaking and was looking at my hand and leg wound. I stood for about a minute and decided to proceed after seeing that everything was ok with the kid and his relative. The crowd was getting a bit huge and the moment I began pedaling, was the moment they minded their own biz again.

With gushing blood on my leg I pedaled through, I stopped a good 10 minutes after (my extended shock) to check my wound. By this time I noticed that my Ipod nano of 4 years that was strapped on my left arm had a broken LCD from the fall. Bummer Moran! It just keeps on getting better!
A good hour after the incident it started to rain hard, forcing me to take shelter in one of the waiting sheds near Katipunan Ave. I waited for another 15 minutes for the rain to stop, but it didn’t and I eagerly wore my jacket and decided to bike my way to my father’s with the rain pounding heavily on my back.

To cut it short, I arrived quasi-safely at my tatay’s, hanged my shoes to dry and rested my tired legs to sleep.
cloudy day
When I awoke, I can really feel the sting on my leg wound even after pouring alcohol beforehand and applying ointment of sorts. Nothing biggie really, I was able to make it for the bike home safely the following day and was able to take some pics along the way… I even saw a motorbike that got into an accident with an SUV. I was just thankful that it wasn’t me.

…gave me added reason to thoroughly consider my dream of biking SE Asia.

hehe we’ll see….

of Dancing Queens and Goto King

what big gun you have, grandma!

We went to the second most bombed island in the world, Corregidor (next to Malta)... at least we were at the number two list for a different reason; that was a welcome change from my country being in the most corrupt list…

It was beautiful, added to the fact that I was with 10+ buddies, which made the whole experience amazingly fun and crazy! ...the crazy part, I’ll get to later hehehe.

From our quick ferry ride from Manila Bay to the island (less than 2 hours) there were buses mimicked like trams that welcomed us. We boarded them and started hopping on and off from museums, lighthouse to monuments and ruins; I guess you just have to check other blogs for pics (if you still haven’t), my broke-ass 8mp poser for a digicam broke down, and I was left using my camera phone.

The tour was very “snap snap” kind of thing where everything was scheduled and in line. I have no complaints though, I think it’s much better that way; organized and the guide was on top of everything… although it made the whole trip more touristy (everyone took pictures automatically when we hopped off the bus) which is what they wanted to achieve in the first place anyways, I think ;p

The highlight of the tour for me was the guide’s mention of “Corregidor Massacre” back in the 70s during Marcos’ rule.

We went to the hospital ruins, destroyed by bombs during WWII�"which was actually a violation of the Geneva Convention by the Japanese. It was a big cross from a pilot’s aerial perspective; however the Kamikaze bombers still bombarded the facility filled with the injured and casualties of war.

(I still cannot figure out though why my fave cocktail is a Kamikaze up till now)…

The hospital ruins were where the Moro Soldiers from Mindanao trained to fight the then disputed island, Sabah, Borneo. But when they found out that they were fighting their Muslim brothers from Malaysia, they had a change of heart and decided to forego the mission. Apparently Marcos was not fond of the soldiers’ resolution and ordered them executed by batches of twelve (and this is according to our guide, Gak Abelgak who harrowingly told the story). A lone survivor escaped the island by jumping off a cliff right before execution and swam to the nearby Caballo island where he met a fisherman on his way to Cavite (now talk about luck!).

scribed moro soldiers on the wall

After doing the rounds on the hospital ruins and seeing the names of the soldiers written on the wall by our own eyes and by their own hands, there was no doubt in our minds that the story was true, and the hairs on my arms slowly rose to a stiff while walking past these walls… of course, I pretended that it didn’t bother me while beside me Foyan was gripping with fear and trepidation hehehe.

We then went to another Battery place where we watched the sunset. What can I say, it was simply amazing!

…and now for the crazy part; even if the closest to “travel” that we did in our Karaoke session is from one mic traveling from one table to the next and San Migs and Tanduays from our mouth then to our tummies, I would still say that this is the highlight of my trip and so is too for the other droonken asses I guess.

lighthouse

The sing and dance portion was the most fun. I think the alcohol was just an added bonus hehe. I believe we’d still dance and partied like crazy even without beer�"at least I would’ve hahaha! Everyone was so merry and was in the moment, and mind you we were still in the “getting to know you” stage ;p…

The most wasted of us all was the one who vomited the most hahaha… well I know she asked not to talk about the droonken ass mishap anymore since she feels that it was too humiliating for her… so for her benefit we’ll give her a fake name since its too crazy of an event to pass up not mentioning, let’s call her Steb or Annie or Honey but never her known name, ok guys :-D

The following morning, Foyan confessed to puking discreetly on one of the garden plants, well, let’s just say that it will bear fruit next season.

josh: gusto mo tulong Jear?

And JeAr letting a rip on his bed sheets, poor cleaning lady!… but Steb, Man! She was really at it the night of the Videoke. She was so smoshed that all you hear from her was “I’m sooo droonk” like a million times. I told her to just sit down, chill and drink water, the moment I thought she was about to drink from her bottled water. I then experienced a scene from the “Exorcist” where Linda Blair gushed out fertilizers from a 90 degree projectile, hitting a part of my arm where it almost fell on my rum coke, funnier thing is that she tried to avoid unloading it all on me so she made a quick right face! Hitting I think Josh or Foyan in the process hahahahahaha.

I swore from that moment on that I will never eat Goto for the rest of my life, lugaw maybe but not goto, nyahahaha!!!.

We all sobered up the following morning of course and were already laughing our butts off from the colorful event the night before over breakfast.

It was too bad all of us except Dennie missed the sunset tour, for obvious reasons hehe…

Most of us then proceeded to the “good enough” beach on the island and chillaxed all the way before preparing for our ferry trip back to Manila. Nickie can’t believe how clear the water was on the beach… uhmmm, Nickie you haven’t been to Palawan yet, well all the more reason for you to go back :-).

In toto, we had a very nice and informative tour of the island and definitely one heck of a party! I will recommend this to friends and family and one day be def back for another tour.

Thank you Josh for a trip well done!

rasa singapura

I arrived technically on the 27th, 45 minutes before midnight from a bus from KL that I boarded at exactly 5:30 PM (for 30Ringgit the bus fare was indeed cheap--compared to the experience i'll be having in Singapore). Singapore is a very expensive city esp. from someone who comes from a not so very expensive one... it's just a good thing that I have a cousin who lives in Singapore with an expensive job too hahaha...
From all the cities I've been to in my SEA journey; Singapore is the most clean and efficient city that I have seen thus far, they're almost the same as HK only the climate varies.

I think there is no city in SEA that is not humid, toasting hot or downright melts you as if you were in an oven. It's a good thing there's an alternative artificial beach which is Sentosa that the city created for the tourist.

I thought at first; you won't get me caught going to Sentosa, I mean it would be an insult for someone who's been to the real Palawan and go there knowing that you will be in an artificial Palawan, but then again who am I to be an arrogant bastardo and snob the beach city near the ports... i actually salute Singapore for creating something as vibrant as sentosa from an actual nothing. I really thought that going to the beaches there would be such a bore, but I actually enjoyed it together with my cuz, some chicken wings and a pitcher of Tiger draught... You will just be amazed how Singapore did this. The fact that they actually grew from a small port town to a big tiger economy in Asia--again out of nothing...

While doing this solo tour I never miss to compare the cities I have visited to the city I live in which is Manila.

.. I compare Siem Reap, Bangkok, KL, Saigon, Penang... everytime! and I always am sad knowing that my beautiful country could be as orderly as Singapore one day or just even KL, maybe even Bangkok where it amazes me that people from my race actually goes to an actual bus stop to wait for a bus (if you've been to Edsa, you'll know what I mean). Each city has its differnet flavour of course, a different crazy and a different discipline in all of them...

Anyhoo, i was hurrying up to get a cab before midnight since i knew that they'd charge 50% more if I got a cab past 12... I got one and proceeded to my cuz's place on Meyer Rd. I had a pleasant chat with the old Singaporean taxi driver where I told him how nice and clean his country was.. and we somehow ended up talking 'bout politics... I remember him saying that back in the 70s, the Philippines was second to Japan and people from SEA including Singapore flock our advanced country for greener pastures... that was some 30 plus years ago, now he says that it's the other way around... he blurted a question that he never really asked for an answer, he said "What happened?". After paying him $6 or so for the short ride from Lavender to Meyer... it got me thinking ...what really happened?

Badpong

Sigh sigh sigh!!! What can I say…you have to love ‘em and you have to hate ‘em haha… My Patpong experience was a hellish one. I vowed not to go back there again except maybe to just be out on the street looking in haha, but to go inside another bar where they do ping-pong shows and other ultra electro magical pop … well… that’s like ‘nunca mas cabron’ but then again I’m not the type that keeps my options close, I like to keep them open at all times lol.

But anyhoo, there we were--I was with an Asian-American dude I met earlier in the day; he was my camera buddy when we met in Grand Palace, we were being wheeled in by a bunch of pimps hawking their bars, convincing us that the show was just for B100, all you have to do was order beer and you’d see a ping-pong, banana, nails and the magic that you can only see in Bangkok… and they kept on insisting that they do not have any cover charge.

I came there knowing that the ping-pong show was already an established tourist attraction. So I felt that it was an easy deal; you go in, you watch and then go out. I was about to find out that it was not… the hard way. The pimps kept on repeating “just see, just look, no pay” for like a hundred times, so we went up a bar named Showgirls and aside from us two pure asian looking dudes, there was also a group of about 4 Japanese with a local I think drinking their shit and enjoying the lame show.

We finally sat and this chubby woman of about 49 years of age naked from her bra down was already lying flat on her back with a naked banana on her right hand. She inserted the fruit that will no longer be worthy of being called a smoothie after 2 or 3 attempts, and when the banana was already inside; from the stage she was pointing her artillery towards me and calculating the targeted projectile.

I thought naaah that mangled banana won’t reach me from where I am (i was a good 10 or 15 feet away from the wretched tora-tora)… again, or so I thought�"it almost hit me, I did an awkward evasive maneuver and almost gave out a girly shriek hahaha… eeewww, imagine being hit by a wet, juicy fruit that came from an overage sex trade worker’s insides trying to please an overly tired tourist.

We watched two more magical moments; where they showed several nails on a string coming out of an again overage nasty entertainer and a super old woman with stretch marks matching the banyan trees I saw in Angkor Wat blowing out birthday candles from a long champola tube inserted somewhere inside her, I don’t know where she got the air to blow out the candles, I don’t think that she was even farting the whole time because that would only ignite the candles more if that were the case hahahaha.

In between the watching and the chatting (we were there for about 15 minutes) the fugly ladies (I kid you not they were really nasty man!) and one lady boy kept on putting drinks that they drank on our table and we kept putting them away, placing it on an empty table that were not ours. I already knew this was their ploy so they could have us pay extra for like ladies drink and other stuff, so I kept telling them no, no and No. So after awhile I motioned to my friend that we split since the show is becoming uber lame anyway and I thought it would be better for me to imagine the contortions than to watch it in their bar hehe.

As we were about to prepare our B100 we asked for the bill... lo and behold they were charging us B2900 for almost everything.

No wonder some of the girls kept putting their empty glasses on our table, which in return I put on another empty table that was not ours... I believe I said NO more than a couple of times...

...so we headed to the bar where the lady manager was; and as we tried to explain that the original agreement was just a B100 each for the magnipiceynt show... the manager started shouting and yelling that that was her show and she will do anything that she wants; hence the rip-off price, which is really an understatement. My new friend kept on telling her that its what the pimp said and that what she was doing was absurd and an outright extortion... the argument was reallyy getting heated up... and since she was arguing with an American, my friend would just not want to concede debate while I was thinkin' "Holy paksyet! how can we get out of this fuckin' situation these rip-offs are trying pull off" In my zen-asian sor t of wisdom I tried to reason with the manager.

.. I told her that it was really unfair and insisted politely that we only have B100 with us and the most (while crossing my fingers) and at this point all eyes were on us since we were the only customers left in that 10pm of a Patpong (the Jap group already left, however I think they paid much much more)... the most that we can give her was B200 each. But NO! this lady just kept on shouting saying the same phrase over and over... NO! this is my bar and you have to pay B2900 bhat... It went on and on and the headache was just going around in circles. I even said my catch phrase in a very assertive tone in the middle of the veryyyy heated argument "CHAN JA BOK TUMRUAD!!!" (I WILL CALL THE POLICE!!!)it didn't work... hahaha... the lady got even worse; she said that she pays the police too and to keep up and stay afloat with her bussines we had to pay her the full amount, or something to that effect.

showgirls; a very bad bad bad badpong!!!!

..

Then the manager finally said "Ok, you pay B1000 and then you go" I was able to calm my friend down and still insisted that we only had B200 at best; with a few haggling and a lot of stalemates I pulled out my wallet and gave her B400 for the whole bill and started to head out the exit which was guarded by a fat lady bouncer and several pimps and lady boys and girls... good thing they made way since apparently the manager took the B400 and finally agreed after a very very very insane and intense situation... I really thought that either we would end up in jail, hospital or worse :-( boohoo...

Sheezkebab! we then went out towards the main road from Patpong while still getting a quick peek inside the girly go-go bars--one minute after the fiasco... we just never learn hahahaha....

On the main road we just had drinks instead, some ice cold san mig and a cocktail. We laughed off the whole situation, nodded and scratched our heads in disbelief and my newfound friend paid me the B200 said Kampai, and laughed our asses out snorting, while talking and replaing the whole scene over and over.

We were better off drinking on that street bar outside Patpong; we met a nice Spain and Italian couple whom we just chatted the night away... the Italian guy said they never watched the ping-pong show "Why watch girls playing ping-pong it's just boring" hahaha that's a good one.

Going home i thought to myself "Man that was some kickass experience... next time i'll keep the Patpong out of my Kangkong" ;-p

from the land of mines to the city of smiles

View Larger Video

streets of bangkok

Whew! I'm finally in Bangkok after several rip-offs from a motobike rider in Cambodia, a crappy canteen stop over right after the vietnam border, some crazy elephant riding, taking lunch alone (bread omelette) in one of the Ankor Thom temples, offers from the Saigon street of a "Massah" (massage) and BoomBoom or BamBam (depends on what city), from having beers w/ a brit guy I met in Saigon who knew a considerable amount on my country and then leaving earlier than usual because of stomachaches and hyper-acidity haha, and the ever so many, abundant, several, super duper cases of mistaken identity... errr, nationality (i've been called japanese, korean, malaysian, singaporean, and even american, maybe all of SEA nationalities but not a filipino not even a kababayan I was with in a bus to cambo thought I was a flip... well, i have yet to write my cambodian not-so-so adventure after this...

Anyhoo, I got here last night from the second taxi we took (the first one didn't want to take us to Phra artit Rd and almost dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, and as with most of the cabs in asia--another nose bleed!)
...but What can i say; I still LOVE Bangkok inspite and despite of Khao San Rd. and the rip-off taxis that they have. I have to give it to that Rd though it is noisy and packed but it reveals so much of something about bangkok; it's like you love hating it and hate loving it! The Fil-Canadian mom and son tandem that I met in the Vietnam-Cambo border was estatic in seeing Khao San so alive and noisy. I guess that's because of the inevitable comparisson from the previous cities they've been to. BKK has definitely a lot more going than what Siem Reap or Saigon has to offer; party-wise.

I'm glad I took the train from Arayanphratet to Bangkok. It was 3 or more hours compared to riding the bus but the view of the countryside was well worth the little inconvenience including the butt-sore you get after 7 hours of uncomfy sleeping and waking while you fell the chug-chug of the old metal box. The friends I met along the way was an added bonus accompanying me on the train ride, I even call the mom tita now hehe, yeah we're close (waving the cross-finger sign :-o).

I stayed at the same Baang Sabai guesthouse I stayed in my last March visit... this is where Tita and her son also booked their room, she was thankful for the info and assistance I gave because she really found the cab drivers rude (I felt bad that she sort of experienced that since I was really telling her lots of beautiful stuff about BKK and how I was really looking forward to seeing Bangkok again); the first one was about to drop us off in the middle of nowhere after picking us up saying that "Khao San traffic and raining no good" so I really modulated my voice (i have a deep one by the way) and insisted that he take us back to the train station which he did--the nerve of that guy to just leave us out in the rain, and it was 8pm and again it was raining (this guy was asking B300 coz he knows that it would be difficult for us to get even a tuktuk because of the rain)... We went back to station and the taxis were all asking for 200B for that short ride. I somehow negotiated $6 (nosebleed again) since we still don't have Bahts yet and the exchange in the station was already closed. We were able to finally make it inspite of the pouring rain last night and was able to book a room right away...

I booked a solo fan room since I'm travelling alone this time, to which I found out last night that they charge you extra for blankets, towel and toilet paper. I just got the blanket since I already have two t. papers and 2 towelettes, so all is good.
...and I found this internet shop near my place on Rambuttri for 20 baht an hour (i think the timer's broken that's why; the sign outside says 30B for an hour haha)
...i'm, just keeping this blog updated, coz i know that with old age comes memory loss--and i get that all the time where i forget little things, so this morning i'm clicking my imaginary camera and crossing my fingers that I remember to write my reviews after my travels.

added info:

Train from Arayanphratet to Bankok (B48)

Taxi from Siem Reap to Poipet border ($10) shared with 3 other peeps; I heard there's a $30 taxi you can book too.

Elephant ride in Ankor Tom ($10)

...watching an elephant go No. 1 while riding it and using its tail as tissue paper... priceless.

*the video is my motorbike ride from Siam Paragon to Pantip Plaza in BKK

tsong raider

ooohh la la

The 14 hour bus ride from Saigon to Siem Reap was a real long one, though it wasn't that triring compared to an 8 hour bus ride here in the Philippines and I think the main contributing factor is that Cambodia really has a flat landscape; you can barely see trees or mountains and the road starting from the Viet-Cambo border is mainly a straight one--no sharp turns nor zig-zags like the one we have in our Bicol route (bituka ng manok). So if you fall asleep in the bus you can basically have a 2 hour or more of unperterbed sleep unless if the bus instantly brakes and screeches to a halt or stops over for some wee-wee break.

We stopped over at Pnom Penh to change buses, and one of the bus employees there asked the names of those who doesn't have a pick-up in Siem Reap.

with Fil-Canadians Tita and Son

The person said it was free that the bus provides so I gladly signed my name there and boarded the next bus... so tra-lala another long straight bus ride, and I managed to eat fried locusts for the very first time in between stop-overs.

The bus arrived at around 9pm in an empty lot somewhere in Siem Reap (def not near the city centre), I remember leaving Saigon fresh and very early in the morning; so after 14 hours of land travel I was just so enthused seeing my name written on a piece of paper; there was my tuktuk driver picking me up. Hurrah! there indeed is a miracle. Now knowing who to trust and not to trust made me all aware of the dangers; so I asked Mr. Tuktuk Man and verified if the ride to my guesthouse is free (I already had a reservation at Jasmine Lodge), Mr.

View Larger Video

at 6am; this is wat greeted me in the morning...

tuktukman said yes enthusiastically, and so again I happily hopped on his nice and shiny tuktuk with a big smile on my face...

*Before going to Siem Reap, my mind was set to riding a bicycle from my guesthouse to the temples of Angkor Wat. It's cheap; about $1 or $2 for a whole days rent and for the white bikes the proceeds actually go to charity (i think to a foundation that helps children traumatized by land mines). So I would have saved a few dollars, have a good excercise and a bonus of giving to charity.

So I thanked Mr. tuktukman for the ride... and just when I was about to carry my bags and walk to my lodging, Mr. tuktukman told me that he can pick me up tomorrow for my Angkor Wat visit and he added it's only $15 for the whole day ($12! that's like worth more than my 3 day stay at Jasmine's lodge).

View Larger Video

biking on the streets of Siem Reap

I told him not to bother since I will go biking tomorrow to the temples. This aparrently wasn't good news to him, and to which he said that the ride was only free if I get his service for the temple tour tomorrow. Ha! fat chance.

He was asking $3 for the ride which I again compared to my $4 a night lodging... bummer! I managed to bring it down to $2 though and walked out of the now not-so-honest tuktukman... I take back my miracle statement from a couple of paragraphs ago and wished I'd tuktuk the tutukman some couple of minutes back... haha...
...so I think the real lesson here is to really examine the word free whenever its thrown at you. lol.

I did ride a bicycle but not to tour the temples (that's another story)...
The temples were amazing, I had a 3 day pass for $40 but decided to take off on the third day. I figured there's nothing much to do in Siem Reap but visit those wonderful temples... and maybe have a dinner and couple of drink or two on Pub street downtown.


...on my second night, I booked a $10 taxi the following day to Poipet, Thai-Cambo border and dreamt of Bangkok, woot!

Cu Chi Tunnel, Vietnam

A highly recommended tour that you need to take when you're in saigon...
This trip will take you to the wartorn era of Vietnam, and the guide will give you information on how the Vietcongs lived and fought the war back in the days... after which you'd realize why the Vietcongs won over the Americans; jungle guerilla fighting was the way to go then.
They showed us booby traps and airholes for their underground tunnel, they also let you buy a maximum of 5 bullets so you can shoot any weapon of choice (that is if you want to) I opt not too since I did that back in high school when we had our bivouac, and also when I went to the firing range the shots were just horribly deafening (i guess that's what you get with o*d age :o), the most expensive one is the AK47 and the bullet ranges from $1 to $1.5 each.

The highlight of the tour was going inside the actual tunnel, some of us had flashlights but the guide said to refrain from using them so we could get the real feel inside. It was soooooo dark and narrow you could just almost fit inside. There was a lot of screaming and panicked voices specially from the group of young Singaporeans that were like shouting expletives in English and Chinese, it was like we were in a real war haha-- they were nervous in a good way...

While traversing the tunnel, claustrophobia comes to mind. There were two brits ahead of me leading the pack, the second one; a chubby bloke decided to take the detour on the first sign of light. The other one went back when he thought that there was a dead end, he told me "go ahead be my guest if you find a way through i'll follow suit". He didn't see the hole on top of the "dead end wall", I did (may flashlight kasi ako hahaha) so I carried on, there were moments were I thought of taking the detour which is the easy way out, but good thing i continued coz it was really rewarding and the Chilean woman behind me was giving me some sort of boost to keep on moving forward by chatting with me like we're not inside a deep dark hole, i was filming the whole tunnel crawl w/ my camera phone the whole time and it was like the blair witch project, vietcong style--"I'm sowee, i'm sowee i'm wesponsible".

We didn't really crawl, but more like walking on squat (duck walk). When I finally got out at the end there was a big sigh of relief, there was an adrenalin rush and an urge that you had to get out of the tunnel as fast as you can else the whole structure collapses on top of you. I was breathing hard outside but at the same time I can feel my heartbeat go into normal mode again =).

It was tiring and I was really sure I was going to have cramps right after, thank god i'm not good at predictions.

If you're a genuine claustrophobic I would insist that you go inside the tunnel and give a go at it, I can almost assure you that this would make your phobia disappear... if it doesn't ummmm, well... you're screwed! soweee!

After the tunnel we were treated to a Viet cup of tea and tapioca (i didn't know that it's cassava hehe, i'm still not sure upto now, i'll google it later).

There was also this Chilean couple in the group that first sounded turkish when they spoke to each other but had Spanish words that I understood... so I put my un pocito Spanish to use, and amazingly I understood the woman and answered in a sometimes barok español, I found out that their spanish is diferente from the general south american speaking countries. I spoke several sentences until my vocabulary just gave up hehe...

Even though I was the only soloista in the group; overall I had a great time; knowing my spanish would almost survive in the real world, and I also enjoy talking to some of the Singaporean kids fresh from their graduation (college I think), and they're doing some travels a a gift for themselves; I wish I had a gift like that too when I was a student--the only travel I got back then was a trip to the nearest sari-sari store to buy Datu Puti.

I was glad I actually tried my poquitito spanish. It goes to show that travel does make your world smaller and your experience richer.

p.s.
-bus and guide $4 at any tour agency
-entrance ticket to Cuc hi 80.000 dong
-Datu Puti P12.00 isang plastik

-inside the tunnel

inside Cuchi with shouting young Singaporeans shouting expletives

mister saigon?

I had 3 different beers already; Tiger, Saigon and La Rue in respective order (one at arrival in Pham Ngu lao, breakfast then late lunch), no wonder i'm feeling a bit woozy while typing this blog.

From the airport I thought i would be able to take bus 512 (i think) to Pham Ngu Lao but that would be nowhere near possible since my flight from Cebu Pacific arrived 1 am this morning. No buses and no motorcycles, the only other transport available is... you guessed it; those gotdarn friggin' taxicabs. Their original asking price was $15 dollars to District 1, the backpacker area--the nerve!!! fortunately I found a group of Filipinos willing to share a cab with me, and we haggled down the driver to just use the meter (after several nosebleeds of course).

ok payn!

The group I went with was met by their friend, Sheri, a Filipina working in Saigon headed to District 3. So in many ways she added to our haggling power hehe... just when we thought everything was ok (I agreed to drop them off first since District 3 is nearer the airport) the driver still managed to do a sneak attack from behind. In short we went in circles and he dropped me off first at District 1 with 100,000 dong already on the meter,(70,000 would be enough for the whole trip) ,, why that sneaky little bastardo! I wanted to pay for the whole 100.000 dong since I felt that I was partly at fault but sweet Sheri said "hindi na, fifty na lang bayaran mo, marami naman kami eh" [just pay fifty...]) aww aren't you just glad you have kababayans around :-) I took my bag thanked them and the taxi sped off leaving me alone at around 2:00 am in the heart of Pham Ngu Lao on De Tham st.

There were still bars open with several drunken tourists and locals alike wobbling the streets. I was just glad there were no after party rumbles i witnessed or else I wouldn't be able to run fast enough with my uber large bag on my back hahaha. I tried searching a cheap hostel since i'd only sleep there for a few hours, after several dark alley crossing and walking while locals calling me on the side with their drunken banter... which I survived eventually. I ended up in Hong Kong Hotel for $12 on Bu vien. I thought, I guess it's ok for the night and i'm dead beat anyways so I placed my bag in my room and then still went out to eat, the only dinner I had was a small sandwich at the airport.
...again walked on a dark alley w/ drunk locals and survived whew!

Just before going to sleep I saw this small jar near the sink that says "OK free" I opened it and saw 2 condoms inside.

View Larger Video

crazy motobikes

I then looked at the hotel's buss. card and saw that they also rent the place on an hourly basis; 100.000 for the first two hours hehe (motel ampucha!) no wonder there were old stains on the sheets that chlorox can't remove... yummmmyyy!!!
I wouldn't recommend that "hotel" obviously hehe, but the guy at the front desk was nice and very informative with the buses and other stuff like Cu Chi tunnel tours etc...

I wouldn't recommend taking a super late evening flight with Cebu Pac either unless you're into the unknown and prepared to gut it out with those lame excuse for a taxi driver.
Regardless, I loved my first "night" in Saigon and would take Cebu Pac again unless there was a cheaper airline available, the experience was priceless; to know that you're all alone in the middle of the night in a place where swindlers abound... and survived :-)

Col. Sanders

Nov 2005

Window of the World (I translated that)

Here’s another one in Shenzhen, China.

I was careful using the right words when asking questions this time.

Our group just landed in Shenzhen and got booked over a small hotel right across a mall. After settling down we decided to head out to the mall to grab a bite, more like dinner. The group, there were about five of us decided to eat fast food; we saw a KFC poster in front of the mall so we were in unison that we eat at KFC. The tour guide from HK warned us to take care of our belongings since as she claims that people from mainland China were no good, I think in a nutshell she wanted to give us the impression that they were all a bunch of thieves and she added that mainland people barely know how to speak English whereas if in HK you won’t have any problem asking around.

Eiffel tower in China

In turn our tour guide from the mainland did the same bad mouthing to HK residents, calling them arrogant Chinese who doesn’t know how to look back where they came from, citing that most “Hongkonese” came from Shenzhen by swimming to the border. I don’t really know if there was an actual truth to it but I guess you get my drift…

Being that this is my first trip outside my country I felt I was boundaries beyond my safe zone, I took it to heart and watched every single move I made and vice-versa, from that point on every Chinese looking at me, I look at them back with doubt. I always thought that they’d take my passport, money, clothes, cut my hair too and then run. Looking back I now know that it was all BS, although the English part was true, which leads me to what I originally wanted to share…

Back inside this big mall we were looking for KFC. I asked a cleaning lady holding a mop if she could tell me where KFC was.

kfc

All I got was “ching-chong-wing-wang” which of course I did not understand. I even held my hand up as if signaling her to talk slowly. Yeah right, like that would have mattered “ching (pause) chong (pause) wing (pause) wang (pause)” duh I still wouldn’t get it! I would know “wing (pause)” but I doubt if that has the same meaning in Chinese as it would in English. So I just thought she wouldn’t understand me even if I tell her KFC KFC KFC a million times. Poor me, poor us rather, jabbering with words and yet clueless of each others jabber.

I figured to just ask another person and maybe I’d get lucky this time. Sigh! I went to a perfume stall and thought maybe this girl would have a better comprehension compared to the cleaning lady I asked before.

how do you say Eiffel in Chinese?

So I was really careful; I didn’t even dare tried completing a sentence. I just went K? (pause) F? (pause) C? (pause). But the same thing happened “ching-chong-wing-wang” this time it was faster than the first time. I even did a chicken dance just to show that I was looking for KFC, but still to no avail. I then saw a tarpaulin ad of KFC with Colonel Sanders on it. I pointed to it telling the perfume girl that that was the fast food store I was looking for even doing hand gestures, mimicking Col. Sanders wearing his glasses.

The girl looked at me shaking her head as if to tell me “why didn’t you say so?”.

She went Aaaaaahhhh! KEN(pause) TU(pause) CKY(pause)! Kentucky!!!

Hahaha(pause) hehehe (pause) Stupid me, I should’ve known. She then gave me directions in Chinese “ching-chong-wing-wang” complete with hand signals to the left and to the right, go forward and go this way and that.

In toto I still didn’t understand where she was leading me. I just pretended I did and headed to look for Ken.tu.cky. on our own.

We eventually found Kentucky, which was another nose bleed when it came to ordering food. We just pointed the meals that were on the menu and somehow we got our orders, I just don’t know if we paid the right amount since we paid in HK dollars and not RMB hehe.

Moral of the story: don’t go to another country just to eat fast food.

Intamitah!!!

view at the peak

Nov 2005

I asked a man over a ticketing station where we could find the bus going to the Peak.

Knowing that Hong Kong people has a lot to work with regarding their people skills, It was not a surprise to me when he seemed like he doesn’t wanted to answer my question, but he did. Although not in a very nicest of way, with a cold stare and a look that seemed to tell me that he is busy doing something, he firmly said “intamitah!” hmmm…. I wondered what that meant. So I asked again, very politely since I thought that he just didn’t understand my English, but this time I just went slow “Bus (pause) to the Peak?” and that is without exaggeration of any kind. He then again answered “intamitah!” but a bit louder this time. I think I asked two more times after that, and every time he snapped the same reply, and as if to tell me that I should brush up on my English since I really can’t understand him.

Intamitah, Intamitah, Intamitah kept rolling over my head thinking what it could mean. Is it Chinese; Mandarin, Fukien or Cantonese, English, hell, Tagalog maybe? Then it occurred to me, a sudden light bulb appeared right on top of my head “ting”. Oh! Intamitah, indamidah, indamidah, in da midah, in da midah, in the middle, in the middle!!! Eureka! The bus going to the Peak is in the middle!!!

I walked away thanking the guy, and I think he was like telling me by the look on his face “Man! Why can’t you get it? I enunciated that for like how many times for you!!!” but I think it’s more like “Maah! Wa kenchu gedet? Ayenonsiyated daht foh like hah many tchimes foh yu!!!”

beautiful Coron, Palawan

jump

Aaaah… where do I begin?

Should I describe Coron as an Island Paradise waiting to be discovered [more], or do I say it's one of the finest beach islands there are in the region, or better yet the best beach weekend for me this year perhaps? I guess I already started and I would definitely say that it’s all of the above.

I started my journey by booking an online ticket for Super Ferry last May 9 "from Manila to Coron and back (4pm Friday) and Coron-Manila (11pm Sunday) for about $70 all in inclusive of meals inside the ferry (taking a plane from Manila would cost about $100 one way).

The whole trip took about 10-12 hours; It was a pleasant ride, although I wasn’t booked in a cabin, we were in an a/c (tourist) accommodation with decent bed bunk, bed sheets and a pillow. I still had a goodnight’s sleep even if it was my first time catching zzzs on a moving biiiig boat.

We arrived 4 am the following day and met with the tour group at the pier, we then took a tricycle to Sea Dive Resort where we were booked for the duration of our stay.
*I found an e-group on the web that organizes tours for Coron; the purpose is to have as many people in a group so we can save by sharing the payment for the boat and the food while island hopping. They charged us about $80 per person for the 2 day trip inclusive of island entrances, a hearty lunch (big fish, pork, bananas and mangoes) and the boat ride… We had to pay another $15 for a 1 and a half days stay in a fan room at Sea Dive (which was clean, I personally liked the simple room).

beach and beer

Overall, the island hopping was an amazing experience. We went to several beaches and lagoons where we snorkeled most of the time. One island where we ate lunch had a Japanese shipwreck near the shore, do couple of wading, look down and you could clearly see the wreck. It was just surreal with all the pristine water that surrounds you and the vast rock formation in between the hops and the bumps. All of the islands have beautiful corals and a rich variety of fish even in shallow waters. We went to Kayangan Lake located inside an island, and the water was so clear you can see rock-bottom 50-100 ft. deep--and it was fresh water... fresh water! in an island surrounded by salt water--again, simply amazing!

I’m planning to go back there again, but this time I want to do my own organizing and I plan to do an overnight stay in one of the islands�"Malcapuya; where the white sand is as fine as flour (i have one shot where I hold the powdery sand of Malcapuya)… hmmm hopefully this July or October after my SEA tour, and you are all invited :-D

...just give me a holler!!! (said in a shrill screachy voice)