The Little Black Fish Off to See the World

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Goodbye Philippines, Hello USA

11 May, 2009, 03:17 am in "Philippines"

Houses built along the water in Manila

The non-US part of our RTW trip ended with a tortuous day in the Manila International Terminal because they do not have a place to store luggage. They don't really have much of a place for anything. Rowshan had to go into town to pick up our computer which he'd left at a repair shop. Kelleen and I eventually scored some chairs and sat watching the bags and the exciting (by comparison) flip of the flights, times, and destinations on the departures board.

When Rowshan returned, the security people wouldn't allow him back in the terminal because he didn't have a ticket. He had me paged and I brought the iPod which had a jpg of our e-ticket number, itinerary, etc. and they grudgingly allowed him inside.

When we got past the second security checkpoint into the gate area, we spent our last pesos on some drinks only to find there was another security checkpoint for our flight. We chugged our drinks, noticing they had already managed to acquire quite a collection of unopened food and drinks.

While consuming our drinks, we took a last look at the souvenirs and I seriously considered the frog bags because they are so cute yet so disgusting. I'd love to see the face of the grocery store checkout person when I pulled out my frog change purse and made it regurgitate some money. However, in the end, I decided to spare a frog's life.

Frog bags, the souvenir we didn't buy

My mother met us at the Kona airport in Hawaii. I was surprised to see she did not greet us with flower leis as is the custom in Hawaii. She was quick to inform us, as my dad pulled up in the truck, that they had brought us pizza instead.

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Moalboal: Last Days of the Journey

7 May, 2009, 03:56 am in "Philippines"

Moalboal sunset panorama

The bus ride to Moalboal took us along white beaches with turquoise crystaline waters, up over the rainy green inland mountains, and back down to the coast.

We are in a nice resort with a fancy cottage with flat screen TV, DVD player, fridge, coffee maker. Kelleen's been diving every day. Rowshan also went once. The water has been beautifully smooth the past couple days so we've done a bit of snorkeling. Its an easy swim to the reef where a little below us are gardens of corals, blue, green, peach and yellow with schools of tiny fish in the brances like honeybees.

Rowshan checking out some shelf coral

Kelleen striking a seal pose

Fish around coral

Beautiful coral gardens

Lots of fish

Fish swimming around some coral

More fish and coral

I haven't been able to do much because I still tire easily. The first day Rowshan and I went snorkeling, I had to return early because it was a little rough and I was getting tired. To make matters worse, I ran into an angry nesting fish (triggerfish maybe), who bit my finger, making a little gash. This is the second time in my life I have been bitten by a fish.

As we get closer to the day of our flight I am more confused about what my future holds and what I should do. Of course, now I'm tired so it is hard to plan.

Rowshan and I found a cafe which has good coffee from Negros (the island across from Visayas). There we were approached by 3 little girls selling necklaces. They said they spent 8 hours a day walking up and down the beach selling jewelry. One wanted to be a nurse, one a teacher, one a dentist.

Tamia and some jewelry sellers

The other night Rowshan was walking on the beach and stopped to talk to a group of guys bar-b-cueing fresh sealife on a fire made from coconut husks. He sampled sea urchin and their coconut wine and had a nice talk with them. They were happy he talked to them and mentioned how they want to talk to tourists but the tourists don't ever talk to them. Rowshan has also managed to take some good lightning photos of storms in the distance.

Beach bar-b-cue

Rowshan joins some locals at their bar-b-cue

Lightning storm

Kelleen, was talking to a tourist who complained about how the locals seemed to look down on the tourists. It is interesting how much misunderstanding goes on between tourist and local, and perhaps a lot is because they don't talk to each other (except for conducting business). One of the great things about the Philippines is how many people speak English so it is easy for foreigners to have conversations that go beyond "How much is this?" On the other hand, I have to admit, if I was a local and saw the sex tourists wandering around, it would be easy for me to hate all tourists because of the few disgusting men with their underage Filipino girls.

The town of Moalboal is small, just a few buildings and a market lining the highway. Rowshan and I go into town to avoid paying resort prices for food. On the way we pass a yard where it seems there is always a group practicing marching dances for a parade. The beach area is fairly quiet, where we are, even though there are some rooster farms not very far off.

A loaded tricycle

Practicing for a parade

Rooster garden

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Sick in Cebu

2 May, 2009, 04:44 am in "Philippines"

Palm tree forests from above

It was a short flight from Legazpi to Cebu. We had some pretty views of clear turquoise water and reefs surrounding little islands. On Luzon island I thought how beautiful palm forests look from the air. Maybe palms were meant to grow in forests instead of anorexic rows lining streets.

Lush islands from the air

Cebu is a big crowded city but it is better than Manila. We are staying in uptown. There are still annoying viagra sellers on the streets but not as many as in Manila. It is humid and polluted. We are close to the hospital. This ended up being quite a good thing because both Kelleen and I got sick with something that seemed to have the same symptoms as swine flu but turned out to be bacterial. I was very impressed by the service and facility of the Chong Hua Hospital.

Jeepney driver

Jeepney interior decor

Rolex? Viagra?

Puppies for sale

In the afternoon of our first day (before I got sick) Rowshan and I went downtown and visited Magellan's cross which is enclosed in another cross housed in a stone gazebo with paintings of Magellan and company planting the cross. We visited the Fort which was the oldest and smallest in the Philippines. It was a pleasant stone walled enclosure and building with gardens, green grassy areas and trees. There was a small museum with pottery shards and an exhibiton underwater archaeology with artifacts from a ship, the San Diego.

Magellan's cross

The entrance to San Pedro Fort

Inside San Pedro Fort

We also visited the cathedral. I guess it had been restored recently but it looked more like a new version of a Spanish building. A mass was in progress and the choir was singing a hymn. It was in Latin but the harmony was reminiscent of Hawaiian music.

We ended up staying longer in Cebu City than expected because Kelleen and I had to recover from our illness. While Kelleen and I were sick, Rowshan took a trip to the Taoist Temple. It occupied a spot in the hills and had a great view of the city and the surrounding mountains.

Taoist temple

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