My Trip to the Philippines
January 21, 2010
Leave it to good ol’ Jerry to be nine months late in posting a blog entry about his trip to the Philippines in April 2009. I’ve been really meaning to make the switch from Flickr to a self-hosted photo gallery and that has really made me reluctant to post any pictures. Since I didn’t want to post pictures, blogging about my trips was more difficult because now you would have to rely on my mediocre writing ability instead of viewing my mediocre photographs. I have photographs on my Facebook profile so please check them out there for now.
I don’t foresee any change to my photo gallery in the upcoming while with all that’s going on so I’ll just go ahead and put this really really long write-up about my trip. One warning though – I haven’t really proofread this so there are most likely dozens and dozens of errors. Here we go:
April 7-14, 2009
My latest trip lasted for just seven days and six nights but it proved to be one of the best trips I’ve ever taken. I don’t remember who said it but I absolutely agree that it’s the people and the company that make the trip, not the places, the food, the weather, or anything cultural that you can see. Luckily for me, I experienced wonderful company and excellent places, food, weather, and culture. I am hoping that I’ll be back soon and continue exploring the Philippines.
Manila
The only blotch on my trip was visiting the city of Manila. It was unavoidable since we had to land there. Manila is a big giant city filled with the usual nuisances of noise, traffic, and pollution. The people here were similar to other big cities: a bit standoffish, somewhat rude, and very skilled at blatantly staring at the foreigners walking by. This is something my more visually foreign friends face all the time in Japan but as an Asian person (and you know how all Asians look alike), I fit right in Japan and forget about that feeling of “looking different”. I totally forgot about that feeling until we landed in Manila.
My general impression of Manila is that it’s like Bangkok without the cool temples. I think most people aren’t fans of Bangkok to begin with. I am not looking forward to landing in Manila again next time.
Here are a couple of places we visited in Manila:
Chinatown
We didn’t spend much time in Manila thankfully, except for the second day when we toured Chinatown and then Fort Santiago. Chinatown is scary. I’ve been to my share of Chinatowns (thanks to my very Chinese parents – I personally don’t care about Chinatowns), and I can say without exaggeration this was the most dangerous-feeling Chinatown I’ve ever been to. People just seemed shady. Sifus Bennie and Steve also fueled the fear by telling us to hold on to our bags and keep our heads up. I got the feeling we were being sized up constantly. We stood out in many different ways: we were clearly foreign, we were wearing Kung Fu shirts, we were a lot taller than the locals, and towards the end, we were carrying rattan poles about 6 feet long through the streets.
The one thing I will give credit for is the food. We stopped and had lunch at some random restaurant and the food reminded me very much of fine Chinese restaurants in Vancouver and Mom’s cooking. I was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of Chinese cooking styles that I love can be found in Filipino cuisines. I would be having some good eating this trip.
As one can expect in Chinatowns around the world, most stores sold the same cheap crap that only tourists buy. I saw mahjong tiles with English written on them, Buddhist statues alongside Catholic statues, all sorts of kitchenware that will probably break in a week or get you sick first. I’ve always wondered how so many stores in Chinatowns over the world compete over the same cheap slippers that sell for what, twenty pairs for a dollar?
Fort Santiago
I have to admit that I didn’t pay much attention to any of the history lessons given by Sifu Bennie’s intelligent wife. My thinking is, if I were truly interested in the history, I would pick up a good history book before or after the trip. I won’t ache my limited cognitive abilities by stuffing random historical facts while I’m already overloading the senses with the sights and sounds of a new environment. Half the time I’m not even that interested in local history but as far as I can tell, this fort was built hundreds of years ago by foreigners and then taken over by other foreigners. This was also a place where Japanese soldiers used to torture and kill Filipinos during WW2. It was quite disturbing to see the many bullet holes along the walls – a shadow of the executions, and the dungeons that flooded when the tide came in, drowning prisoners inside.
The thing that brought the cheerfulness back was the cardboard figures with the faces cut out. We all took turns sticking our faces in and taking silly pictures. That helped me put a smile back after walking through the very negative mood in the area.
Nagcarlan and Liliw, Laguna
Once we left Manila, we spent most of our time in the area around Nagarlan and Liliw, two small areas in the province of Laguna. I’m not really sure if these areas can be classified as towns or cities because they don’t seem very large and there is no clear divide between them. They’re both in the mountains and as such, much cooler than the humid and stinky Manila. Our accommodations were in Nagcarlan and Sifu Bennie resides in Liliw. We made our way to Liliw through the use of jeepnies and “tricycles” every morning at the cost of about 9 peso ~ less than 20 cents one-way.
People in the area are much friendlier and just more laid back than the city folk. I could easily see myself spending extended amounts of time working on my garden or backyard in this area. There were no malls, no McDonalds, no fancy restaurants but instead, there were many small stalls, shops, and family-run businesses instead. It’s definitely not for those who like shopping.
What you get in return for the lack of “amenities” is the lovely weather. While it does get pretty hot during the day, it cools down a lot in the evening and the mountain breeze is a blessing. The fresh air and the starlit sky at night was sorely missed in Osaka. Waking up to the call of many roosters can be annoying at first but I got really used to it by the third day or so. In general, everyone got up pretty early to start their days.
Accommodations
When I think of the word, “hotel”, I immediately get images of nice places like the Hilton, or the Marriot, the Sheraton, and to a lesser extent Holiday Inns and other places. I see breakfast buffets, nicely made beds, a snazzy bar and maybe even a casino or shopping mall. These are the shortcomings of a western traveler I suppose.
We stayed at a place called the Hotel Villa Gregoria and all things considered, it was a very nice place. It cannot compare to the aforementioned establishments in terms of sheer comfort and facilities. It was very cheap though – each of us paid about 5000 yen ($50) for the whole week!
Given what we paid, we got a great deal. The three students: Hamish, Ian, and I shared a room while Sifu Steve got his own private room. It’s good to be the sifu. Our room could easily be a summer camp cabin with a cheap bunk bed, a couple of chairs, and a bathroom. It was painted a lovely lime green color for some reason and it really matched Ian’s shirt on the day we arrived.
The resort itself has several swimming pools. They spared no expense in making a half-sized Olympic pool and a few kiddy pools complete with water slides. The resort was protected by a 12 foot tall tyrannosaur as well. Also, guards stood next to a fake Hummer and the gates were always manned by someone. There was a very small convenience store that provided us with nightly cold drinks and chocolates and chips. I always got the impression that the lady who ran the store didn’t really want our money… she seemed grouchy whenever we came knocking.
Lastly, the “videoke” machines were used once or twice during our stay. “Videoke” is your typical karaoke except they were built into video arcade game boxes and much like the arcades, you put in a couple of coins before you choose your song. During our stay, we heard a lot of videoke and a lot of very off-key singers too. From the very small sample of Filipino singers I heard at various places with these videoke machines, I’ve concluded that very few Filipinos can sing in tune. I heard some pretty awful singing. I’ll give kudos to the people who had to sit through the singing and smile and clap after the songs.
Marketplace
Visiting the marketplace in Nagcarlan was great fun. It reminded me in a way of a very gritty Granville Island Market in Vancouver. The marketplace itself was poorly lit but the morning sun helped a lot. There were just mountains of fruit for sale at incredibly low prices. I remember picking up about 3Kg of mangos for I think less than $5. Compare this with the roughly $4 per mango that I sometimes see in cheap fruit stands in Osaka. There were a few people working with coconuts that I found interesting. The coconut plant is such a useful and versatile plant and the people working with them all did different things. One man was just taking off the husk to be used for other purposes. Another only sold young coconut.
The meat section was just as interesting. Compared to Canada and Japan, the meat here was very fresh – the pork was probably slaughtered that very morning. You can imagine the amount of blood and the smell that was in the air. I’m used to that “butcher shop” smell and honestly, I rather like it. We didn’t pick up any meat so I’m not sure how the prices were.
Aside from meat and produce, there were many different stands and stores that sold daily items. We met and took pictures with a young fellow who worked at a tools stand. He was quite well-built and showed us different blades and swords used for farming but could very well be used in combat. The people here were very friendly and several asked for their picture to be taken!
We had breakfast here a couple of times at a small café on a corner of the market. The coffee was nothing more than instant coffee but the food… forgot the name, but it was basically congee was great. Just like mom used to make. If I had more time I would have visited more cafes and restaurants in the area to sample more of the local specialties.
The School
I was glad to finally see the kung fu school at last and I was very jealous too! The Philippines school is at least twice as big as the Japan school and better equipped with a workout machine, a very solid wooden dummy, and shelves! We would love shelves in our school but probably lack the room for them. Soon enough we’ll be moving across the hall to the big room I hope.
The school was painted black with yellow strategically placed. I have to give credit to the sifus for making the school look great. Even the Chinese characters painted on the walls were done well. The full length mirrors on one of the walls made the school look even bigger.
The school is situated above a grocery store and a small internet café is also in the same building. I think I paid… 20 peso an hour, or maybe 10, whichever the case, it equaled to 40 or 20 cents an hour to use internet there. Ridiculous! It costs me that much to visit a webpage on my stupid Docomo mobile I’m sure.
Training
This was the main purpose of coming here with Sifu Steve. Of the seven days we stayed in the Philippines, we trained for about 5 days. I helped teach Sensei Fidel, a Tae Kwan Do teacher with a fantastic attitude and impressive physical performance to boot. I also got a chance to train with Hamish and Ian on a more detailed level – while we have trained together for a very long time; we have never really focused on the minute aspects. Because of this week of continuous training, I felt the three of us improved vastly. I was able to identify a lot of my own weak areas during my stay in the P.I. It’s amazing what you can pick up by watching others and then taking a look at yourself.
The three of us made a solemn vow to continue our training and when the time comes when we’ll all meet up again, we will be a lot stronger and faster. I know we’ve already made a few solid steps there.
What did suck was I injured my pinky finger around the last day or so of the trip. It’s been well over a month now and it still hurts. I keep spraining it over and over again. I haven’t punched with my right hand in over six weeks. I have though, focused on the left and further refining my techniques.
The Casas Family
I usually avoid speaking about specific people because most of the time, people don’t really interest me and maybe also because I like to keep things private. I will break my own rule this time because I must talk about our host family to the Philippines, the Casas family.
I don’t envy very much in my life but I do envy this family. The Casas family is the model family. Two parents with strong morals, infinite wisdom and patience, and a love for life that shines, and four kids, each by their own right is an amazing story on their own – this family makes every other family I know look dysfunctional.
I’ve never met kids who do chores so routinely and without complaint before but these kids go beyond this and volunteer to do things. As guests, we got to eat first while everyone else talked or watched TV and waited for us to finish. I felt pretty bad eating before the kids. They vehemently refused when I offered them first dibs too.
We were treated like family from day one. All our meals were prepared for us – literally: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had some fantastic food too – we were shown a great sample of Filipino cuisine. My personal favorite was a barbecued pork – it was tender and had just the right amount of seasoning so that the pork flavor still remained strong. I was really surprised by how similar the soups were to Chinese soups that Mom made back home.
I would love nothing more than to repay the Casas for their hospitality and friendship. Having met them and just knowing that there are people as kind as they are in the world makes up for all the crappy people I have met. All it takes is just one person and I had the honor of meeting a whole family of such wonderful people.
Food
Most of the Filipino food I sampled had a striking resemblance to Chinese food! The tastes and textures were very similar as was most of the seasoning used. Meals mostly included rice, a meat dish, a vegetable dish, and soup, all served on a dinner plate with a fork and spoon. Most meals were fairly simple but very nutritious and tasty.
I had the opportunity to sample some homemade desserts – I don’t remember the Tagalog name for it but the Japanese equivalent would be “pudding”. It’s a rich, creamy pudding with a caramel sauce. The difference was that duck eggs are used instead of chicken eggs. This gave it a slightly different smell but a much thicker, creamier consistency. It was great.
We also had some very nice buko pie – coconut pie. Surprisingly, it was very much like apple pie. It was not too sweet but hits the spot perfectly. Even McDonald’s had something different to offer. Instead of apple pies, they have pineapple pies! I tried some and it is much better than the apple pie. I wish they sold these in Japan.
The food adventure for us (the students Hamish, Ian, and I) was attempting to eat balut – duck eggs. I think many people have seen balut – once you crack the egg open you see a tiny little duck fetus. We were all wary of trying this – my friends of the white persuasion more so than me. I have eaten my share of strange food so I figured balut wouldn’t be that bad. It certainly wasn’t! We all managed to eat the balut without hurling.
Sifus Steve and Bennie made it easy on us though, they got us 3-day old balut. It only contains a very undeveloped fetus. For me, I tasted three separate textures: a hardboiled egg yolk, a small piece of duck meat, and something that reminded me of snail. There’s also a piece of very hard, stone-like thing left over as well. The ultimate challenge would be a 15-day old balut. This would contain a very well-developed fetus, with feathers, tiny duck head, eyes and all. We would “chicken” out of this challenge this time around.
It is my duty to mention how good the produce was. I already had a good inkling that most produce would be very fresh since we were smack in the middle of some farms. The selection at the marketplace in Nagcarlan was great and the prices were just jaw-dropping compared to what I would pay in Osaka. A kilo of mangos (roughly 6 mangos) cost about 200 yen. I would be hard pressed to find a single mango for sale at 200 yen in Japan. The bananas were a lot smaller than the ones sold in Japan and the weird thing was the bananas were sweet. I mean, literally, they were tangy and sweet. I’d never eaten a banana with so much taste before! I swallowed probably a half dozen and could eat a few dozen more. There were also many fruits and things that were practically free because they grew everywhere.
In Liliw, there weren’t many restaurants and they certainly won’t be winning any prestigious awards for their culinary art either. The one “fine” restaurant was called Arabela’s and it was probably the nicest looking restaurant in town. It was built in an old Spanish building and the ceiling was about 5 or 6 inches too short for me. Ian, the resident giant, and even I, at a modest 5’10”, had to stoop inside or have our heads and shoulders go crashing through to the second floor. I had a steak there and it wasn’t the best steak ever but it was good to have something more meaty and substantial.
I forgot which day it was but we had lunch at the Filipino answer to McDonalds: Jollibee. I would say it was as good as McDonalds. We all had “Champ” burgers: a 1/3lb patty similar to a quarter pounder. They were something like 120 peso, about 1/5th of the price of a quarter pounder combo.
Children’s Feeding Program
We were invited to a children’s feeding program run by the church on Easter Weekend. I’ve seen pictures of this event in Osaka but I didn’t really have much idea on what happens here. I’m really glad I went and I was quite touched by the love people shared with these children.
As far as I could tell and from the information I was told, most of the children live around the mountain and belong to very poor families. It seemed there were quite a number of single mothers too. Some kids looked quite malnourished. Children are children however and each one had that bright gleam in his or her eye and several had huge smiles! One group in particular was not shy at all and posed for our cameras at every chance.
The morning started with some warm-up exercise – the exact routine that we do in Wing Chun class. I think we have Steve to thank for that. Then the volunteers run Sunday School (hold Sunday School? I don’t know the proper verb to go with Sunday School). The kids listened to a bible story and did some quick activities coloring things in, answering questions, etc.
Sifu Bennie and several other people prepared food and watching these kids eat was definitely my highlight of this program. It doesn’t cost very much to feed these kids but you can imagine that funding is limited. We did the best we could and donated some money and I was surprised that what little I did donate would help extend the program way more than I could imagine. I will definitely be giving more to help these wee ones in the future.
Trial by Water and The Baptism
We were also invited to attend a baptism in a mountain resort by the same church. I can’t say I’m a religious person so this wasn’t exactly my cup of tea. We all went anyway and while the baptism itself was interesting, we had an unexpected side trek that proved this day’s worth.
First, we got to the mountain on jeepnies, only this time, we climbed onto the roof and hung on for our lives! It was quite exciting. There were no straps or seats, just the metal bars on the top to hang on to. Trees and power lines became deadly obstacles for us to duck and weave around. At times the jeepney must have been going pretty fast but the notion of speed was a bit lost to me since I was too busy not letting go and falling to my death. In a word: FUN!
On the way to Lucban, we were pelted with water balloons by groups of people waiting on the side of the road. Many people were waiting… this was no coincidence. In fact, we were in the midst of some kind of water festival that this town holds. We snuck out of the baptism event and walked around the town.
Waiting for us were crowds of people with buckets and pools of water (literally). They dowsed us, cheered, laughed, clapped, and then offered shots of lambanut (coconut wine). I turned down the drinks but Ian had one. We all got drenched pretty good but in the heat, we dried up quickly. It was, buckets, of fun!
Annoyances
It was at first interesting but after the second or third time, it just became plain annoying. When entering most larger stores, you have to submit your backpack to a ridiculous search for bombs or other terrorist materials. The worst part is that no one really takes the search seriously anyway so it was just a big hassle to take off my heavy backpack, open it up and hope that the contents don’t spill out, and have the person just wave their fingers around and tell me to go through.
You also don’t have to drive around very long near the bigger towns before you spot army “crime watch” teams. How can I describe this? Take half a dozen to a dozen soldiers in full camo outfits, have half of them sitting on plastic lawn chairs looking half asleep, and have the other half walking around toting automatic rifles pretending to be protecting the peace
At some check points, you have to stop your car and let the “inspector” open the driver’s door and have a quick look around the driver’s feet for bombs. Steve, sitting in the back, joked, “The bomb’s in the back.” Once again, another inspection based on appearances. Supposedly this is just some stupid ploy by the government to make the people think they’re protecting the country.
