Philippines Adventure (Special Edition Post)

I know this is a little late. But this one is pretty good. This is a special edition of my life in China. I found out that over Chinese New Year, it is traditional for most folks to go and visit their family at home. Thus Shenzhen, being very much a young migrant town, almost emptied to vacancy. Tumbleweeds inhabited the roads, saloon doors slammed open and shut in the wind and I was able to take a vacation to the Philippines. And what a journey it was.

Long, my coworker and friend, accompanied myself on this journey. We flew Philippine’s Cebu Air the 2 hours over to Manila, from Hong Kong. Cebu doesn’t worry about in-flight movies or giving out headphones. They simply have their flight attendants stand at the front of the plane and play games with the passengers. I am now the proud owner of a neon green change purse because I was the fastest to put three things with the word “Cebu” into the air. Yeah.

Anyway, we landed in Manila and took a cab to our luxurious El Rico suites. I’m using luxurious sarcastically because it smelled of thick lacquer but I was later to find out this would be one of the nicest hotels we’d booked!

It’s worth it to mention that the warm Philippine air was a wonderful change from the uncharacteristically cold winter that China was having. It melted the hoodies away and did much to raise our spirits.

On the ride to the hotel we’d made friends with our cab driver, Gabriel, and he told us he would take us to Taal Mountain. Taal Mountain and the subsequent lake created are a sight to behold. Why? Because it’s one of the smallest active volcanoes in the world. We drive about 2 hours to lake Taal, and then hired a boat to take us across the lake to the island.

Once to the island we took horses up to the top of the volcano. Except I didn’t seem to have a horse. I think it was a mule, and quite frankly I don’t know if this was some kind of Philippino joke, but it wasn’t funny. My horse was definitely significantly smaller than the other.

So we took a ride to the top, lead by our two 12 year old guides. They sat on the hoarse right behind us. Can horses seat two? I guess so. That was a little strange.

The horses went 90 percent up the hill and we climbed the steepest part on foot. When we crested the top we saw why this was such an exciting place to go. We were met with the mouth of a giant, gaping up at the sky and filled with water. There it was, the crater, that could spew fire and set the city below ablaze. It was only about 20 some years ago that it did just that. They were still rebuilding from the eruption. It was curiosity that had brought us to the lip of this crater and it was awe of the power and beauty that kept us looking.

We could still see sulfuric gas pluming up from the ground on the near corner of the crater. We soaked in the last of the waning sun and decided it was time to trot on home. So we made our way back to our gallant steeds, and back down the mountain.

The next day we made flew Asian Spirit airlines to Boracay. Boracay is in the top 5 or 10 beaches of the world apparently. I wasn’t ready to believe some online review until I saw it for myself.

We took boat after the flight and the water was noticeably bluer. We soaked it in and arrived to find the “white beach” that was promised was much like we expected. It truly was white, and the sand barely got hot, as it reflected most of the light.

The beach was set up with bars right on the sand on one side, and clear blue water about 100 feet away. It was great. Everything was at our fingertips. During the day we ate traditional Philippine Chicken Adobo like it was our job and at night the restaurants turn to bars to provide an enjoyable nightlife. I would definitely put this beach in my top 5. Ok, I don’t have a top 5. Let’s just say it was excellent.

Our first day in Boracay we arranged with a dive shop to get certified for Scuba. It’s a course that requires studying, underwater testing and written testing. Once we got our feet wet I don’t think we could ever be the same. Scuba diving was an amazing experience. Long and I are now PADI Open Water Certified.

Begrudgingly we couldn’t stay in Borcay forever. The days did have to come to an end at some point. We made our way back to Manila, the capital city and did some more touristy stuff. We checked out Fort Santiago in the city of Intramuros. It has a long and sad history, being destroyed and rebuilt from earthquakes, and WWII. It was occupied by the British, Americans, and the Japanese, basically everyone but the Philippinos until about 50 years ago.

We could see the Manila skyline, from the top of the fort, although it leaves a little to be desired.

We then walked down the street and witnessed the end of a wedding at famed Manila Cathedral.

Overall it was an eye-opening view of yet another Asian country. Boracay was amazing, but Manila left a little to be desired and we could have done without it. Taal was great. We ate tons of delicious food and experienced the hospitality that Philippinos are famous for. We rode in tricycles that were constructed of bmx bikes with welded on sidecars. We also saw the Philippine Jeepneys, a mode of transportation that was a little to complicated to figure out. The high point of the trip was definitely the Scuba diving. It’s something I’ll never forget and something I intend to do many more times in the future. (Keep watching for the next posts. Don’t worry it will be soon, and I’ll give you a glimpse of what’s under the water in another Asian country. Which one? Wait and see.)