There's No Place Like (Bruce's) Home

Contrary to popular belief, I was not born in Asia. I totally feel that my spirit was. I like Asia. I am going to be sad next week when it is time to say goodbye to the largest continent on earth. I was comfortable in China, Thailand and Hong Kong. I loved being in the Maldives but I SWEAR no where is more like home than the Philippines! For those of you who didn't know, this is Bruce's birthplace. We had heard some really good things about the Philippines. Specifically the low cost of nice travel. Also, we had heard that White Beach in Boracay was one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We also researched and found that it has some very good dive sites.  All of those things prompted us to head farther down the "less trodden" path.

We arrived in the Philippines and planned on staying in Manila for a couple of days. The city is big and populous (like most B. A. A. C-Big Ass Asian Cities). Lots of people, lots of traffic, lots of people racing around 2-4 people deep on mopeds....Anyway, we land and find a ride to our hotel which is in the central business district of Makati. I was excited to be in Manila. We planned on doing some sightseeing, eating, drinking and relaxing. On our way to the hotel, i got the opportunity to see the main way of transport around the city, the Jeepney. The Jeepney is pretty much like a minibus/go cart which is pimped out beyond belief in wild colors with serious hubcaps, etc. People will pack themselves into these rides, hanging out of the back, holding on for dear life.  The way it works is if you get close to your stop, you yell, they will slow down to a respectable 5-10 miles per hour and you jump out.  Talk about bus "stop"!!! Some are "regular" but most look like something out of a rap video. I wondered if they had hydraulics? Here are a couple of Jeepney's in rush hour traffic:

My first idea that something could be wrong was the security at the entrance to the hotel. Now, I've seen armed soldiers before (checkpoints in Thailand, Sri Lanka). No big deal. As long as the AK-47 is not pointed towards me, we have no problem. We arrived at our hotel which was smack in the downtown area. The first check point involved two armed guards, a trunk search and a bomb sniffing dog...WTF? Ok, i'm intrigued. Why, pray tell do we need a bomb sniffing canine in the front of my hotel?  The next layer of security was the front door of our hotel. Everything seemed normal as the cabbie helped us out with our bags, however, at the door of our hotel was a security line complete with a bag check and metal detectors!!! WTF? To check in?! Once in the lobby we notice several more security guards with the little CIA/MI-5 ear buds in watching the elevators and checking people coming in....Bruce and I looked at each other and decided "Guess we're not going out sight-seeing"....

Ok, enough of that. By day two, I was stir crazy. I wanted to take my chances of being a byline in the newspaper. "American woman from Phoenix killed in tragic shooting/bombing outside a Manila hotel"
We decided to venture out to the mall. That was interesting. The mall was this strange juxtaposition of super nice and bootleg/local stuff. We entered on one side (after clearing more security and bag checks) and saw the usual high end mall shops (Prada, Coach, blah, blah). We walked around, found a bar (which had $1 beers...waayy more expensive then normal) and walked some more. Nothing interesting. Thank God we asked a local where was the closest drug store. They directed us to a nearby shop. We start walking in the oppressive heat (Jeez, it felt like 1000 degrees!) and all of a sudden, got swept up in a huge crowd of locals. Eveyone was headed to this "drug store". We walk in the doors (after another security/bag check) and end up in a huge, tri level departement store which was a cross between Big Lots/Sam's Club/Wal Mart/Sear's..ALL on steroids. There were hundreds of people, pushing, shoving, shopping, talking, standing, etc. We could barely make it down certain aisles. We had to do a search and rescue type of shopping method.  "Bruce, you head due south, get the lotion, I'll double back, head west and find toothpaste"
I found everything we needed despite having to criss cross a huge store the size of a small country. All of our finds came to a grand total of $3 (I Love it here!!).
Everything seemed back to normal until we decided that we need to stop by the bank to cash a couple of travelers checques...We ride up to the bank and we see this:

Guess we'll be using the credit cards....

After an uneventful stay in Manila, we were headed off to Boracay. Boracay is a very small island in the region of Caticlan, about 200 miles south of Manila. For anyone who doesn't know, the Philippines is a huge chain of islands. Most people use a combination of planes, ferries, buses to get around. We started our day at the domestic terminal in Manila. I knew that we had to fly a crop duster to Boracay and I knew that our big bags were going to go over the weight requirements (which is only 20lbs) and we were mentally prepared to pay. We had to check two bags, plus pay for overweight fees which came to a grand total of $20!! ( I love this place!) Our crop duster (i.e. super small prop plane) only had 20 seats.

Our "airplane" to Boracay

View of Boracay from the air

I watched nervously as the propellers choked to life (is the left turning slower than the right?) and then we were up in the air for our short 30 min flight to Boracay. One thing I had heard is that if the weather/wind is bad then flights could be re-routed to the next closes "airport" in Kalibo. Now that is NOT what you want to happen because that will put you a 2 hour bus ride plus a 45 minute ferry ride away from Boracay. We lucked out and ended up landing on a little "strip" of land in Boracay. Now, I have landed in crop dusters before. They make me nervous. I'm not scared of flying but I really hate tiny turbo props...Our airport was nothing more than a strip of road with a big hut next to it with an "airport" sign over it. What made it more fun was the baggage claim area:

After the scary flight we were driven 5 minutes down the street to the dock where we were put on a speed boat, taken to another part of the island, put on another bus to our final destination. We decided to save money not to stay on the beach. We figured that we were close enough to walk and it would be more quiet.
Our hotel did not disappoint! It was small (only 20 rooms) and very homey feel. We had a clean, quiet room with air conditioning!!! whoo-hoo!!! We were a short 1-2minute walk to the famous White Beach where all the shops/restauraunts are...

The other thing is Boracay is so very laid back! It is very primitive. Flip flops and shorts are part of everyone's daily uniform. People ride 3-4 deep on mopeds or on moped "taxi's". Life is like it was 50 years ago.

Regular rush hour traffic

Scenes from the city of Boracay

Here are pics of our little hotel:

White Beach is a huge, long stretch of sugar white sand and crystal clear water on the south side of the island of Boracay. The water was just as clear, if not clearer than in the Maldives! I've never seen water that clear!!! You could walk in  4-6 feet deep and still see the tips of your toes!!! (Complete with the fishies swimming around them!!!) It also had tons of massage shops, bootleg peddlers, bars, dive shops, etc.

Now these are the reasons why the Philippines reminds me so much of my home:

1) These people love some pork!!!-Oink-oink baby!!!. Any decent person from the south knows that there are five basic food groups: 1) Sweet tea 2) Coke 3) Corn products (corn bread, fried corn, corn on the cob, corn fritters, etc) 4) BBQ and Fried Foods 5) Pork. Now, if you can appreciate at least 3 outta 5, you can consider yourself a semi-southerner. Only a person prepared to accept and welcome all into their lives can be considered "real". Now, I won't eat everything off the pig (unless my mom cooks it or if it looks good or if you don't tell me what it is ahead of time) but I appreciate PORK! So do Filipinos!!! LOVE IT!! My first Filipino breakfast was the BEST EVER!!! I had 3 different kinds of meat with eggs and rice! Chorizo (spicy pork sausage), fried fish and pork tocino. Pork tocino is basically BBQ pork (I have no idea what part of the pig, nor do I care...Its GOOD!!!)   I can easily love and embrace people who love food like I do!!!!

My new favorite dish, Pork tocino (think, sweet and sour pork!)

2) They have my favorite food: Sio Pao.. Different cultures call it different things...Manapua (Hawaii), Steamed bao buns (Hong Kong), Xiao Pao (China)...They are ALL GOOD! All it is a sweet BBQ pulled pork meat in a steamed, slightly sweet bun!!! MMM, MMM!!!! Its like an Asian Hot Pocket! Anyway, I love them so much and I got hooked in Hawaii. They have Sio Pao on every corner in the Philippines. I can't starve here

3) It cheap and I'm cheap!!! Anytime you can go somewhere an get a whole, fresh fried snapper for $5 or shrimp the size of a dinner plate for $3 you can go ahead and count me IN!!!! We walked around and saw tons of seafood restauraunts offering shrimp, crab and fish for $1 to $5!!! We even saw lobster that were about $10-15 dollars for a POUND!!! OMG! (My sister is gonna want to move here!!)

These are the fresh grilled prawns (big as some small lobster) and fish. Total cost for dinner on the beach for two? $20!!!!

4) People are laid back and friendly. There is serious hospitality here. The people smile and speak. People say hello if they make eye contact, no one rushes (in Boracay...at all!!!). Folks just seem to want to sit back and watch the world go by....

We of course had to do some diving while we were here. I will let Bruce tell you all the fun details about that. We had some good fun and saw some amazing life. One of my favorite dives, called Friday's Rock was so fun because I didn't notice how weird the fish were until we were in the middle of the dive. We had the task of identifying different fish and I was busy looking at my underwater slate to find a fish I had just seen.  All of a sudden, I realized that something kept getting in my eyes. As a habit, I waved my hands in front of me like it was a mosquito or something. It was actually a huge school of different fish literally up in my face!!! The fish had unfortunately been hand fed by other divers in the past and were really used to being around divers. They were in my hair, under my arms, everywhere!! So close that my eyes were crossed trying to see what was in front of me!!
My other scary dive was when I got bitten by a fish!!!

Ok, i didn't get bit by him, we ate this one!!!

Actually, I was swimming along, minding my own business and all of a sudden a cute little fish swam up and bit me on the finger!! It didn't hurt and I was totally amused because the fish was NEMO!! (ask your kids if you don't know who Nemo is...). Anyway, I guess I had gotten too close to his little hideout and he wanted to show me who was boss!!! I was laughing and trying to catch Bruce's attention when the little shit came at me again and nipped me a second time!!! That time, it wasn't as funny. He came at me again and I had to clunk his little ass with my dive computer to make him stop. He didn't!!! This time, Bruce saw me struggling and came over to see what was up. As I pointed at little Nemo, he attacked Bruce!!! At this point, I did what any self respecting wife would do: I left my husband behind to fight for me!!!! Luckily, neither one of us were seriously injured by the 3 inch fish! :)

Overall, we had an awesome time in the Philippines. It is a country of complete contradictions. In the face of abject poverty, you will find beauty. The culture is rich and alive and the people are warm, welcoming and friendly.  Like all places (but perhaps a bit more), I will miss the Philippines.

We'll Be Back!!!!!

Check out all of our pics from the Philippines by clicking here