Some Sunny Day: The Philippines (Part 2)

Baler was much less intense.

I didn't sleep the night before my bus, mostly because 4:00am does not exist as a wake-up time for me. In fact it's a full hour earlier than I normally go to sleep. But I made it to the station on time and, because I'm an idiot, forgot to buy coffee or something to eat on the way. The bus from Manila to Baler took over six hours, which was fine by me because it was quality time I got to spend looking out the window at stuff. I'm not even being facetious; Luzon is a beautiful island and we passed some really cool scenery.

The landscape is dotted with the odd volcano rising out of an otherwise flat area, and for a long time out of Manila it was mostly fields and farms. Eventually though the landscape began to ascend and we drove up a very long, winding mountain road past some amazing landscapes. The mountains are covered with thick green forests with large, crystal blue lakes lying between them. The view was stunning to the point where I didn't even mind the incredibly slow pace with which we drove up the mountain. In fact I missed that speed very much when we started down the other side at a pace which made me wonder if the driver didn't just shift the bus into neutral and leap out the door.

I took a tricycle from the bus station to my cabin in Dela Torre beach; a simple, rustic shack on the shore of a beach dominated by large black volcanic rock formations and shallow tide pools teeming with aquatic life. I actually spent most of the first day sleeping because I was god damn tired exploring around the beach itself, trying to find different sea creatures. There were crabs, star fish, sea urchins and small fish which would periodically leap from one tide pool, bounce off a couple rocks and land in another pool several feet away. Between that and the rock formations it was probably the most interesting beach I have ever visited. White sand beaches are fun and relaxing and all, but if you want to spend a whole day saying, "Oooh! What the hell is that?!" you might be missing out. I'll post a link to their AirBNB page right here. No wait, here.

God damn I already want to go back

The people in Baler were incredibly friendly. The family running my resort helped me get settled in and the owner, Eric, drove me into town several times to help me buy supplies (beer) and show me some good restaurants (that sold beer). There was a group of Filipino 20-somethings a cabin down from mine who invited me over the first night to drink some brandy and hang out for a while, which was a lot of fun. Everywhere I went people just wanted to chat; children and adults alike would stop to say hello, ask where I was from, if I was enjoying my trip and everything. I'm also featured in the photographs of about a dozen strangers who were visiting the same things as me. I don't think I've ever met people so openly and effortlessly friendly as in that town.

A lot of my time was spent relaxing by the water and reading, or otherwise taking trips into town and exploring the area. On Thursday however I managed to get out and really see the area. I climbed a gorgeous trail up the side of a mountain to Mother Falls, which was an exhausting but very worthwhile hike. I then went to the Millennium Tree, which is the largest Balete tree in Asia at 60 meters tall. I crossed Baler's hanging bridge which was only a little bit terrifying and ended it with a swim at Sabang beach, the main beach and surfer hangout in Baler. I was going to try surfing lessons as it was remarkably cheap there (350 pesos for board rental and one hour with an instructor) but decided that spending the last day in Baler humiliating myself in front of everyone was a less than ideal finale.

The final Friday and Saturday were spent largely in transit - another six hour bus back to Manila on Friday and the flight back the next day. And that was my trip! It was fun, fascinating and relaxing at the same time. I loved it there and would love to go back, despite the risk I run of bursting into flames the second I step off the plane.


Today's title (I like this cover):

Some Sunny Day: The Philippines (Part 1)

I'm back from the Philippines with tales of adventure and only a few sunburns! And some blisters. And a bunch of sand all over my stuff.

I'm going to condense my time in Manila into just this post since I wasn't there very long. To start, Manila is...well let's call it an intense city. The heat was oppressive and I began sweating profusely before I even made it out of the airport. Also I will never again complain about the traffic in Korea now that I have seen what can only be described as every action sequence from Fury Road all happening at once at every god damn moment of the day. Traffic lanes don't even rise to the level of a suggestion; they're more like a weird modern artifact that no one really pays attention to anymore. Weaving through traffic in a taxi without wearing a seat belt (not by choice - none of the cabs I took even had them), dodging tricycles, jeepneys, buses and other cars with chaotic abandon while "Staying Alive" by the Bee Gees plays on the radio was exactly my first experience in Manila. 

I suppose this does have a benefit for the locals though: there were at least a dozen times when the thought, "Dude if you just get me there alive I'll pay you whatever the hell you want, I don't even care anymore," popped into my head. People spent so much time warning me about pick-pockets in the city that they failed to mention, "Oh but don't worry, you'll be killed in a fiery explosion on the highway long before anyone gets the chance to rob you."

The warnings about pick-pockets are actually why I have very few pictures of Manila. Petty crime there is quite high so I opted to leave my phone locked in my room. It's a shame though; I saw some pretty cool stuff while I was there. During the first day I spent a lot of time exploring the neighborhood around my apartment, trying some of the local food and, well, sleeping. I barely slept the night before getting on the plane, and I'm pretty sure the pilot was drunk based on the fact that it felt like we kept jumping the curb the whole flight down. Point is it was a long day.

The next day though I visited the Mall of Asia, which is one of the largest malls in the world (the 11th, I think) and has a fantastic boardwalk along Manila Bay. It was on the boardwalk that I tried balut for the first time. If you don't know what balut is, Google it! Film your reaction and send it to me in a video. It was delicious so I don't give a crap. I explored around the mall for a while and had some drinks on the boardwalk as the sun started going down on the bay. 

After the mall I took a taxi ("Ahhhh! AHHHHHH!!!") up to Fort Santiago, and it was here that I really started to regret not having my camera. The fort is over 400 years old and has some amazing remaining architecture. I explored around here for a while, walking along the old battlements along the river and reading a lot of really cool stuff about the history of the fort, most of which I don't remember because I don't have any damn photos of it. The fort also houses a museum in honour of Jose Rizal, a national hero and key figure in the rebellion against the Spanish. I had never heard of Jose Rizal before, but his story is truly captivating. The museum itself was amazingly thorough - clothes Rizal wore; letters he wrote; a huge timeline of his life; even a piece of his vertebrae recovered after his execution was featured.

No I did not make that last one up. There was a piece of his goddamn spine in the museum.

So that was Manila! Pretty cool overall. I had a great time there and managed to get out without anyone stabbing me in the face or taking my stuff (well, mostly; a tricycle driver did "accidentally" take me to the wrong part of the city, and then "forgot" how to get to Sampaloc, and then demanded I pay him full price, and being that it was dark and a bunch of his friends were around and what he was essentially scamming me out of amounted about about five bucks I just let him have it, that son of a bitch). Tune in next time I remember to update this thing for part 2!

Today's title: