This entry comes to you from under a tropical sky full of stars and we can hear the crickets sing near us. There’s a fly crawling on the screen and we’ve just finished our dinner consisting of rice, fish, egg and plenty of fresh bananas, mangos and watermelon.
It’s Chinese New Year in February, and in China that means loads of time off. This also means that the Education Town where we live is completely deserted and all over China people are on the move, so we decided to leave work a bit early and get out of China all together for some warmth and a suntan. We chose to go to the Philippines after one of our colleagues – a Philippine named Rudy – told us how wonderful is it there, and we just had to see for ourselves. We jumped on a plane yesterday and Rudy met us at in the airport in Manila. We took a taxi two and a half hours out of Manila to a volcanic mountain region and stayed the night at the top of the mountain overlooking a beautiful lake which had a volcano poking out of the water. Rudy invited us out to a wonderful seafood dinner at a terrace restaurant with the beautiful views overlooking the “volcano-lake”. A live band sang songs of our choice right next to our table while we enjoyed a true Pilipino feast of tuna belly, crab, grilled fish, chicken, pork, and various vegatables and of course rice. And while the sun set behind the mountains, we enjoyed halo-halo – an exotic fruit salad made with milk, shaved ice and custard.
This morning we jumped on a bus and then another bus, followed by a Jeepney and finally a “tricycle” (what we would call a motorbike with sidecar), and we arrived a little seaside village called Anilao near Batangas. It took us nearly 5 hours to get here, but the beauty of this place made it all worth it. We looked at various places to stay before we found this little secluded and very romantic beach resort, where we are currently the sole occupants, so we have the beach, palm trees and bamboo-huts all to ourselves. While in Anilao we intend to try out some scuba diving. Anilao is world famous for its coral reefs and diversity of tropical fish, and this is why we chose here to visit first.
The Philippines is (are?) truly an experience. The larger population is very poor, which was clear to us even before we landed in Manila, as we flew over many shantytowns, and when we were leaving Manila, beggars were pleading up against the car window motioning to an empty cup and their mouths. It was very hard to see. One of them was a disabled young man, who could hardly walk, and he was moving around from car to car in the busy Manila traffic. Rudy told us not to give them anything, as they are part of an organized crime syndicate, but it was so hard to see all of them. Anette did some fundraising when she was a child for the streetkids in Manila, so she was and still is very interested in seeing this for herself. We both found it very hard, though. Manila’s traffic was chaotic, but we were so busy taking in all the impressions to notice how long it took to get out of the city. The hustle and bustle was incredible. The roads were teaming with tricycles and jeepneys. Now, Jeepneys are basically what we would know as a city bus or local bus. They are oversized long jeeps that have two rows of seats facing each other, and people jump on and off as they please. The Jeepneys are a symbol of the Pilipino mentality to take life with a wink and a smile, which seems appropriate based on their long history of revolutions, poverty and chaos. The drivers of the Jeepneys have gone to great lengths to personalize their jeep with all kinds of bling and shiny metal with banners proclaiming the glory of God and reminding people to “keep your eyes on the road, not on the legs!” that you can see at the rear end of the Jeepney, as the jeep is open at the back (so hold on tight)! Most Jeepneys are crammed full most of the time, and are an experience to ride in. When you think no more people could possibly fit in, three more passengers jump in the back and everyone shuffles along to make room. Paying your fare is a simple matter of giving some change to the person sat next to you, who passes your money along and so on until it reaches the driver, who manages to find the correct change and pass it back the same way, all the while weaving through the frantic traffic on bumpy roads at full throttle. Very trusting – doubtful that a similar system would work in the West! Underneath all the shiny metal and colourful exterior, the Jeepneys are little more than scrap metal and feel as though held together with duct tape and super glue. Most other cars on the road are pretty old fashioned as well but with the odd newer one interspersed amongst them. Manila, Tagaytay (where we stayed last night) and here have a paradoxical blend of old Asian tribal culture, and a somewhat more western lifestyle. Influences from Spain (who colonized the islands from the 1500s) and 20th Century American trademarks are strong in the urban landscape. All this in an inherently Asian tropical country, a jumble of inconsistencies that combine to offer a culturally rich experience that has to be seen and felt to be believed. This remote place we stayed at last night was fully “up to date” with a Starbucks (something Denmark still only has one of, and that’s inside Copenhagen’s Airport, so that doesn’t really count) Dukin’ Donuts and of course a McDonalds, and at the same time we saw people carrying barrels of water on their shoulders using a thick shoot of bamboo and the whole place was very relaxed and earthy. Everywhere you looked you could see signs and adverts and names in English, which again confused us somewhat. Here we are in the far, Far East of Asia, and everyone speaks English, and uses a lot of English in their native language. Although the de facto language is Tagalog, the official language here is English, hence the signs, and 95% of the population are Christian. They are mainly Catholics, due to the Spanish influence, and you see churches everywhere. Again this is strange to us as the rest of Asia is largely Hindi, Buddhist, Shinto, or other more or less Asia specific religions. Life here seems so simple and people seem to be completely enveloped by their faith in God. Cars, houses, people and of course the Jeepneys all carry religious symbols or statements, and feels kind of nice, actually! It’s certainly very different from China, that’s for sure!
It’s really warm here too. February is the dry season, so the sun is high in the sky ripening the coconuts, pineapples, bananas and mangos up in the many, many palm trees that are just everywhere. We bought loads of fresh fruit today for next to nothing, and it’s a joy knowing that the fruit is local and so mouthwateringly juicy and fresh.
The resort we are staying at is really simple but absolutely wonderful. As previously mentioned we are the only ones staying here apart from the owner. Anette says that it reminds her of the film Mamma Mia, where Merryl Streep runs a small hotel in Greece. This place is right on the waterfront, with a stretch of sandy-ish beach and crystal clear blue sea. Fish are jumping out of the water, and the waves are making just the right amount of noise. We are staying in a little bamboo cottage, where Anette hopes that she won’t find any lizards or other creepy-crawlies. The lady-owner made us dinner (75 pence for the two of us) and she’ll prepare breakfast for us in the morning. This is such a relaxing and wonderful place for us to unwind after a busy first semester, and the romance of this place in indescribable! We intend to stay here for 3 nights. We want to try out diving and then we might move on to somewhere else, before we meet up with Rudy again a few days before we leave to see his family’s farm, and some sights he wants us to experience before leaving. We feel so blessed here, and we are just going to enjoy it to the full. We came here with nothing planned or booked, and this is an exercise in spontaneity for Anette, who loves to plan stuff, and so far it’s going really well! Tomorrow we are going to swim in the sea and enquire about the diving. We want to find Nemo and experience breathing underwater! Now we will go for a full-moon lit walk down the beach and enjoy the stars that we can’t see in China! Good night.
No comments:
Post a Comment