Typed up: on ship to Long Beach
Posted from: Andy and Juliette’s home in Newbury Park

Our flight to Seoul was as good as we’ve gotten used to. We ended up at the end of the immigration line, and this is the first time that our bags made it to the luggage carousel before we did. The airport was clean and organized. We had little trouble with the payphone calling our CouchSurfing host Paul.

After a comfortable bus ride through downtown Seoul we met up with him at a metro station. A short train ride later we were at his studio apartment. It was small but had everything including a laundry machine which we made good use of. Washing clothes in the sink gets a lot of dirt out, but our white (whitish at this point) sure get a lot whiter in a machine than when we wash them by hand.

Paul took us out for some great Korean barbecue. They brought us raw meat, which we cooked ourselves on a small hot plate in the center of the table. The meat was accompanied by a small bottle of Soju, the national Korean alcohol which is at least 40 proof. Afterward we visited a bar where we wrapped up with an OK beer. Meanwhile we were still impressed with cleanliness and the neon lights everywhere.

The next morning was spent learning how little English is spoken in Korea. To start off, as we were having some cereal for breakfast, Paul’s landlady showed up wanting to show the apartment. Luckily the prospective tenant spoke enough English to indicate they just wanted to see the place for a few minutes. At lunch we walked into a small restaurant where I eventually just said OK to something the waitress told us in Korean. We got a very tasty kimchi and beef stew.

Fortunately many signs are in English as well as in Korean. Especially in the metro this made it quite easy to get around. In the afternoon we visited Inwangsan temple complex. The architecture looked Chinese with a twist. The brightly colored paint on the buildings were especially neat. I really enjoyed hiking up a bit to a quiet view of the city.

When Paul got home in the evening, he’d had a bit much to drink. In Korea, you drink when your elders or superiors drink. In fact, they will pour for you (you never pour for yourself) and not drinking is not even something that’s considered. This must at least in part explain why South Korea consumes more alcohol per capita than any other country. Paul may be a western English teacher, but when his principal invites him for drinks, he goes. So we had an easy dinner whose main feature was some kind of savory pancake. 3 out of 3 South Korean meals so far had been excellent.

The following morning we got up early for a tour of the demilitarized zone. A lot of time was spent getting there. Bus from Seoul, transfer to an army bus, safety briefing where they repeated what they’d already told us on the bus, drove some more. Then we marched, in line 2 wide, into the small building that is on the border between North and South Korea. We were there maybe 20 minutes, taking pictures of the stoic South Korean soldiers, and enjoying the novelty of being “in” North Korea even though both sides of the room are identical.

Next we marched to a small observation tower, which was originally built by the South as a nice place to have meetings. It’s built in the South though, and no North Koreans ever came. We couldn’t see very much from there either. The most interesting thing were a group of businessmen from Singapore who wanted their pictures taken with the 2 Americans (us) on the tour.

We drove around a bit more through the DMZ, getting out of the bus once for a view of the building the 1953 peace was signed in, about a mile away. We also got out at the gift shop. The whole experience was kind of strange. There wasn’t anything worth seeing there. The best sight was of some wild pheasants, which we’d never seen before. The reason for going on the tour was to be at a place where politics has utterly failed. But it was just a place, and we couldn’t see the politics. We could feel them a little bit in the rules we were supposed to follow: no pointing, no carrying anything besides a camera out of its case, wear conservative clothing, and so on.

Just outside the DMZ was a different story. This is where most of South Korea’s military might is massed, carefully hidden of course. All we saw were some anti-tank fortifications, which included some giant concrete blocks that could be dropped onto the road at the push of a button. No pictures were allowed at all, here.

In the afternoon we went on an extra tour of the 3rd tunnel. North Korea has dug up to 20 tunnels under the border, presumably to be used in case they want to invade the South. 4 of these tunnels have been found, and the 3rd one is open for visiting (but not photographing). We walked down, and to the end, and back up. There wasn’t much to look at here either, although it was neat being in an underground tunnel dug through solid granite.

The rest of the afternoon we visited a few other places, but I was ready to go back. The most interesting was the train station. South Korea has built a large train station by the border which is virtually unused, but shows that they’re ready when the border opens up again. Similarly, close by are some huge customs buildings to handle cargo going between the two countries. No cargo has even gone into or out of those buildings. When South Koreans talk about reunification it’s not “if” but “when.” Kind of the way we’d talk about warmer weather coming in summer.

Going on the DMZ tour was expensive, and I’m not overall convinced it was worth the money. But if we hadn’t gone then we would have wondered what it would have been like, so overall I’m not unhappy that we went. Back in Seoul, we wandered a bit around downtown. We stopped at a coffee bar which had more emphasis on “bar” than on “coffee.” Overall the emphasis was on high prices, and a dark slightly dingy atmosphere. On the menu was a USD 5 Budweiser, as well as several 3-bottle alcohol sets.

The next day we moved from Paul’s small apartment to a motel around the corner. Motels started out as places where Koreans could come for “privacy” for a few hours. They still serve that function, but they’re also used as cheap accommodation. For less than USD 40 we got a room with AC, a nice bed, refrigerator, TV, and a proper hot shower. Best of all, we didn’t have to do any silly sign-in dance where they need passport photos, blood samples, and whatever else. Just hand over the money and take the key.

We stayed there for a few more nights while we explored the city a bit more. We visited a palace whose name I forget. It was almost entirely reconstructed so everything looked very new. The style was interesting, and the changing of the guard ceremony was fun as well. I prefer my castles made out of stone, though. We had late lunch at an Outback Steakhouse, which is huge here. We’ve seen more of them than of any western fast food chain.

We also visited a giant market area, which really meant a huge shopping district. To me a market means there are stalls, but here there were all buildings. It was big, but did not sell the kind of things I’m interested in. I did walk through a large electronics parts area but for whatever reason most of the stores were closed. Still, it was fun to watch a store full of heat sinks, and a store full of LEDs, etc.

This was not the consumer electronics market which was somewhere else and we did not visit. These gadgets are very common in Korea. On the metro, about 10% of the people are watching video or TV on a little hand-held device, and another 20% are listening to music. Internet cafes were everywhere, and their main purpose seemed to be for people to come and play video games. Video gaming is so popular that there was a separate TV channel dedicated to it, where I was reminded about college while watching some Starcraft battles.

Typed up: on ship to Long Beach
Posted from: Andy and Juliette’s house in Newbury Park

Just having a few days to kill before our flight to Seoul we stayed in Solano to dry out and relax. It still rained regularly, but not non-stop like it had been. Solano was a small town with no sights, so we used the Internet, read, ate ice cream, and spent a lot of time in our room. We stayed at the Governor’s Garden Hotel which was quite nice. Being in a small town it was also very cheap.

We both got haircuts. My hairdresser was even more flamingly gay than Danielle’s, wearing lipstick and hot pink glasses. He also flirted with me non-stop. It was an excellent haircut though, and at 50 pesos (1 USD) each we did not complain. I also had the zippers in my day bag fixed again at a shoe repair shop (20 pesos). This time the repairs lasted.

The food in Solano was typical Filipino fare, insert my usual complaints etc. here. The chicken-on-a-stick at various stands was excellent though. We did continue to stay away from what was obviously intestine. A first for us, we also saw chicken heads on a skewer. They remained untasted as well.

On Mother’s Day we failed to use Skype but we did get on the bus to Manila. It wasn’t raining, and we stood in hot shade next to McDonald’s waiting for the right bus to go by and stop. After a little lack of assertiveness we finally got on the 3rd one. There even were seats for us. We spent all day in that bus, getting off about every 3 hours when there was a 15 minute break.

After dark we once again went to Adriatico Pensionne who had lost our reservation. We want to like this place, but it just wasn’t happening. Instead of the AC room we had booked we stayed in a room without AC and that hadn’t been aired out in quite a while either. But we only had to sleep there. In the morning we stocked up on cheap used books in preparation for our sea voyage. Then we took a taxi to the airport, and did the usual airport things. Our plane left on time.

The Philippines has a lot going for it. I kept wondering why people would come to Hawaii if they could fly just a little further and spend less money on just about everything. The only downside is the food. Other than that the Philippines are beautiful with plenty of beaches, snorkeling, hiking, and resorts of every kind. Culturally it’s the most American place that we’ve been to and English is widely spoken.

Typed up: on bus to Busan, on ship to Long Beach
Posted from: Andy and Juliette’s house in Newbury Park

As we got off the bus in Banaue, a friendly local wanted to know where we were going. She took us to our hotel, the Banaue View Inn, in a tricycle. We checked in. She wanted to talk tours but we just wanted to sleep for a few hours, which we did. Banaue is built on a valley with a steep side and a steeper side. The steep side was terraced so people could grow rice. Our hotel was halfway up the steeper side, which gave us a great view of rice terraces all around.

It turned out the guide’s name was Lolita, and in the afternoon we took a tricycle up to the viewpoint and walked back to the village with her and her husband. It was a great walk, although at times steep and slippery. We went up a muddy slope that I would not have considered going up without a guide, and most of the time we walked on the edge of one irrigation channel or another. Sometimes we just walked on the wall of a rice terrace. The weather was cool, the scenery beautiful, and our guides helpful.

Afterward we had a local lunch with the worst tasting vegetables I’ve ever eaten (with the possible exception of Brussels’ sprouts, as a kid). On top of that Danielle had gotten some blisters. But we took it easy all afternoon and that was nice. The next day it rained. Between the rain and Danielle’s blisters we decided to do nothing. The day after that it also rained. But rain or not, we were going to see a sight.

Our goal was to see the rice terraces at Batad, which have stone walls instead of mud ones. Lolita was our guide again, and we set out early on a tricycle. We’d heard that there was a mudslide on the road, but it had grown enough over night that there was no way for the tricycle to make it past. So we started walking on the mostly dirt road. The walk was pleasant enough, crossing the occasional stream and enjoying glimpses of rice terraces through the fog. And it rained.

About an hour on we had arrived to where the tricycle would have dropped us off. It was time to leave the main road and hike up a side road for another hour. We crossed another mudslide but made it to the pass without any real problem. Going down from the pass we were on a narrow trail, with quite a few creek crossings. The trail was on a steep mountain side so more often than not the creek would flow across the trail and then drop down a few meters in a nice waterfall. And it rained.

The fun of walking on a little trail, wading through creeks, in the rain, was starting to wear off for me. Danielle was getting tired also, and we were aware that here blisters could come back any minute. So when we reached the village of Batad and Lolita brought us to one of the many tourist restaurants there we were grateful to sit down for a while. The restaurant had a brilliant view of the fog, which was occasionally replaced by mountains covered in rice terraces. And it rained.

Having rested a bit and placed our lunch orders we hiked a bit further down to get under the fog and really got a good view of the rice terraces here. They looked remarkably like the mud-walled once, except that the were in fact stone-walled. Lolita told us that people are still building new rice terraces because the people here cannot grow enough rice to live on. And it rained.

After a good lunch we started our walk back. The first mudslide we hit had gotten quite a lot bigger. As we watched, more mud flowed down the hill accompanied by the occasional melon-sized rock bouncing down. The workers who had been working on the road helped us cross safely. I did not realize quite how deep and sticky the mud was. When I didn’t step exactly where I was told to step my leg disappeared up to my knee. When I pulled it up my sandal stayed behind and I had to stick my arm down there to grab it. And it rained.

We made it down to the main road with no further incident, but the poor road workers apparently lived at their work site. We watched them move their camp a bit downhill, away from where the mudslide was. By the looks of it everything was wet and they were in for a miserable night. We, on the other hand, got in our tricycle. The mudslide that had blocked it earlier had been cleared so we had to walk an hour less than we feared we might have to. On the way back we passed several new, small mudslides but none too big to pose a problem. And it rained.

At night the power went out. First in our hotel, and then a bit later we saw the street lights in the village disappear as well. We had a candle-lit dinner at a newly opened fast-food franchise in town. The next day the power was still out and we decided to leave because relaxing with no power (meaning no laptop) is no fun. Unfortunately word was that there were 21 mudslides between us and the main road to Manila which were not passable by vehicles. Some people had tried to leave early in the morning and had turned back. It did not rain all day, though. It only poured at night.

We awoke to another day without power and decided to try to leave and see how far we’d get. We rode a jeepney following a “bulldozer” which cleaned up small mud slides as it got to them. It was slow going, and after a few hours we got to a mudslide that was too big to be quickly cleared. We all got out and walked across where more transportation was available. That was the pattern until about 2pm when we arrived in Solano. Altogether we did jeepney, slide, tricycle, slide, tricycle, jeepney, slide, jeepney, slide, jeepney.

Some of the mudslides were huge. The deepest was in a village where a church and a few other buildings were completely destroyed. The mud must have been at least 2 meters deep. Next to the road, where heavy equipment was moving a lot of mud, people were digging out their home with shovels. There were also some long slides, where there must have been a river of mud on the road for several hundred meters. Large trees were downed, which people attacked with chainsaws. A few limbs had already been cut down into firewood by the time that we passed by. Lucky for us, it only drizzled in the early morning and the rest of the day the weather was fine to be slogging through the mud.

While our mudslides experience was adventurous, not everybody was so lucky. About 40 people died in mudslides in the area where we were, including almost 10 who were in the church we passed. This is not even that uncommon. It happens every few years.

I should also mention that whenever it was raining we wore emergency ponchos that Jessica gave us as part of her wedding gift. We’d mostly tossed them into our bags when packing because we had them. They took up almost no space and weighed very little. Most importantly they did a pretty good job keeping us dry when we needed them. Thanks!

I know I’m way behind on my blogging. I will finish it up, I promise. Anyway, tomorrow or the day after that we’ll be boarding MV Hanjin Pretoria. It’s a giant container ship that will arrive in Long Beach on Jne 3 (we hope). If the Internet works well, you can check up on where we are at this site. A different port-based view is here.

Typed up at: Internet cafe in Solana
Posted from: Internet cafe in Solana

After our week relaxing on the beach, we felt ready to relax a little bit in a place with AC, TV, and Internet. We just spent one night in Tabaco and then took an AC bus to Naga. Naga is a college town, a bit bigger, and has all the comforts that rich Filipinos and tourists enjoy. We had a little trouble finding our hotel. Despite a store-owner downstairs telling us the hotel was “upstairs,” the lady upstairs told us the hotel had closed.

No problem though, because we found a pleasant place just a few doors down. AC, TV, and a nice bed. For Internet we had to walk to one of the 20 cafes withing a block of our hotel. The only downside to that was that it rained virtually non-stop while we were in Naga. So we didn’t explore the city very much, but mostly stayed within a few blocks of our hotel. We had plenty of mediocre food, decent Internet, and rain.

We did suck it up twice and wandered anyway. One day we went to the hip part of town so Danielle could have real brewed coffee. On the way there I bought some bananaque, which is bananas coated in syrup roasted on a grill. It’s good stuff. In general, everything that we saw being roasted over a grill on the street tasted good. Everything else was not so good.

The other day we went to visit the opening of the SM mall that weekend. The security line was long, and loudspeakers blasted the SM mall song way too loud. The men’s line was a lot shorter than the women’s line otherwise I probably would not have gone in at all. We didn’t do anything inside. Mostly we observed that half the town must be there for the opening, and that it looks like any other Filipino mall.

We stayed in Naga 2 nights, I think. Then we decided we wanted to get out of the rain and took an overnight bus to Manila. The overnight bus was a lot better than I thought it would be. I managed to doze and the 8 or whatever hours went by pretty quickly. In Manila, after being ripped off by a taxi, our hotel this time (Adriatico Inn) wanted to charge us 90% of a night’s cost to check in 6 hours early. Not wanting to get ripped off twice in a row, we left and sat outside the mall until it opened, and then sat in the mall and at Internet cafes until, promptly at noon, we checked in and went to bed.

At least it wasn’t raining in Manila. Not being very happy with where we were staying, spending money like water because it’s so easy here, and wanting to see at least one more thing before leaving the country, on the very next day we took a bus to Banaue. This was also an overnight bus, and the experience was much the same as before. Note that overnight buses in the Philippines are freezing cold. The same AC that’s capable of keeping the bus cool when it’s hot and sunny during the day runs at full power during the night. We were prepared with Masai blankets but it wasn’t quite enough.

Typed up: on the ferry from San Andres to Tabaco, at Banaue View Inn in Banaue
Posted from: Internet cafe in Banaue

In Tabaco we woke up early to make it onto the 7am ferry (which left at 7:30 or so). The ferry brought us to San Andres on the island of Catanduanes. We took a jeepney to Virac. At one point I would’ve described that jeepney as bursting full. But with all my worldly experience it just felt cozy. About 11am we arrived in Virac where we were picked up by Alan from the resort. We rode in a minivan over a bumpy (maybe half of it paved) road through green forest with views of rice fields, ox-pulled plows, and the ocean.

Right about noon we arrived at Elena’s Majestics Resort. We got a simple private cottage, all made of bamboo and a bit of wood. We had a private bathroom consisting of a non-flush, no-seat potty, a tap, and a bucket. There was a bed, a mosquito net, a hammock on the porch, and not a whole lot else. Out front there was some grass, the restaurant, a small stream, the beach and then the ocean.

The restaurant varied between OK and good. There was no menu, just whatever was cooking today. Everything from fish to lobster to vegetable curry to chicken. It was pretty much all tasty even though a few of the dishes were over cooked or too salty. With plenty of drinks in the fridge common meals were a great opportunity to talk with the other guests. Some of them were western like ourselves, others Filipino on vacation, and a Japanese man who comes here regularly.

Most people came for the surfing. We mostly snorkeled. From the beach there was a shallow sandy stretch for about 100 meters. Then over the next 10 meters there was increasingly more coral followed by a steep dropoff 20 meters or so straight down. There were lots of different types and colors of coral giving the whole a patchwork appearance. This area was the most beautiful, looking down steep canyons on the edge of the dropoff. It felt like floating over the edge of the Grand Canyon.

Despite the amazing feel, we didn’t go out to the dropoff very often. At low tide we’d have to cross an area full of coral and just a few feet deep through the surf. That wasn’t very appealing so we spent a lot of time in the shallow area, sometimes snorkeling in just a foot of water. This gave us a great chance to spot all the little life living amongst the rocks and sandy bottom. We saw several nudibranchs, worms, a sea hare, gobis, translucent shrimp, lizard fish, and quite a few species of small fish.

There were not many fish, though. The locals were out fishing the same areas every day using nets and spear guns. Among the food we ate were the smallest lobsters I ever saw. They definitely would not have been legal at home. I couldn’t help but feel like they’d be better off declaring some areas a no-fishing zone so that baby fish would have a chance to grow up and reproduce.

I took the opportunity of borrowing a surf board on 3 afternoons. I never got to stand up, but I sure got a lot of paddling practice. On my last day I even caught a few waves all by myself, which was fun but overall not worth the paddling. I did not make it to the point where I was all excited about surfing. I’d like the equivalent of a ski lift. Still, surfing is a lot cheaper.

Most afternoons we hiked up the hill a little bit to Angie’s place where we used expensive cell-modem Internet. The seating area had an amazing view over the bay and we talked quite a bit with Lacy, the owner. If staying in primitive huts isn’t your thing, you can experience the same beauty with some luxury at his hotel. We kept using the expensive Internet so I could organize for us to take a freighter home. It took some e-mailing back and forth but everything actually went pretty smoothly. Our new itinerary is to go to South Korea after all, and then take a giant boat to Long Beach where we should arrive on June 4.

The rest of the time mostly we read, taking turns in the hammock and drinking sodas and beer. The resort had quite a few books available, and we left some more. The only thing that would have improved our stay here would’ve been a slackline. The grass and palm trees in front our cottage would have been perfect. After 8 days we decided it was time to move on.

During the last few days it would rain more often. Starting with only at night, and then to the point where it might rain hard in the afternoon. Our cottage was dry, though, so not to worry. True to form it started raining after we’d gotten in the tricycle to Baras. It was dry while we transferred to a bus that took us to Virac but started pouring while we were underway. The bus had no windows, but instead had wooden boards that people pulled up to keep the rain out. Then we took a jeepney to a ferry to a tricycle back to Gardenia Hotel in Tabaco. It rained most of the way.

Typed up at: Elena’s Majestics Resort on Catanduanes
Posted from: 3GX Solutions in Naga

After spending a lot of money and having a busy time in Donsol, we took it easy for a few days in Legaspi. We stayed at the Legaspi Tourist Inn which gave us a spacious room at a good price. We spent most of our days watching TV, and leeching wifi off one of the businesses in the same building.

The hotel restaurant was bad, and we didn’t find any restaurant in town that we really liked. Fresh mango and pineapple were dirt-cheap, however, as were baked goods at a corner bakery not far away. We found a second-hand book store in the mall and bought some reading material. We explored the town just a little, enjoying the simultaneous bustling feel and laid back atmosphere.

Some zippers in my day bag (Rick Steve’s) gave out. I tried to have one repaired. It was very cheap, and for about 5 hours I was thrilled with the new slidy thing they put in the zipper but then it stopped working. We were unable to find a suitable replacement bag, and we did try a bit.

Danielle had been figuring out where to go next and we decided on the island of Catanduanes. Because the ferry there leaves really early, we just took the bus to Tabaco and stayed there overnight as well. It was another nice town, with a similar feel to Legaspi although definitely smaller. Early in the morning before we had to leave, I was going for an ATM when I passed an amazing fish market. Rows and rows of vendors selling their fresh catch of the day. We didn’t really have time to explore it, though.

Typed up at: Elena’s Majestics Resort on Catanduanes
Posted from: 3GX Solutions in Naga

We spent a nice night at Nature’s Pensionne in Cagayan de Oro, enjoying the “big city” feel as well as AC, TV, and not having to worry about mosquitoes. But early in the morning we got up to fly to Manila. We flew Cebu Pacific Air and they have a rather unique entertainment portion of the flight. On one flight the crew ran a small trivia quiz (with prizes, of course). On another one the flight attendants took turns singing a song, with prizes awarded to the person to first identify the song.

From Manila we flew to Legaspi, which had yet another charming little airport where we walked from the airplane to the baggage carousel (which was broken). We were picked up by a van which dropped us off at Casa Bianca (Blanca?) in Donsol. We had a decent enough duplex with excellent AC which we used a lot. The food was decent as well although a bit pricey.

At the hotel we were met by Takz, who I’d SMS’d regularly and who organized everything about our stay here. As you’ll see he was a great host. You can reach him by calling 0921-743-5677, e-mailing takz78@yahoo.com or visiting http://joelbutandingdonsoltours.com. We rode on the back of his motorcycle to the tourist information where we paid our fees and watched the movie.

The next morning we got up early, drove to the beach, got on a boat, and started looking for whale sharks. Whale sharks (or butandings as they are called here) are the reason people come to Donsol. As the name implies they’re a large shark that can grow up to 40 feet. Luckily they eat nothing but krill so are not at all dangerous to people. Every year a lot of them come to Donsol to eat and a large eco-tourism program has been set up to help protect them.

We didn’t quite know what to expect so we sat on the boat, our snorkeling gear all laid out. Suddenly we were told to get ready. In the excitement I knocked my sun glasses over board. Lucky for me I wasn’t wearing my regular glasses at the time. We put on our gear, sat with our feet over the side for a minute, and jumped when we were told to. I followed our Butanding Interaction Officer and before I knew it a 20′ fish appeared out of the krilly water. We followed it but soon it dove down so deep that we could no longer see it.

We did that for several hours. In all we jumped 7 times, and saw a whale shark every time. One shark never dove down very deep, so we were able to follow and swim with it for over 15 minutes. Sometimes we caught up with the fish from behind. Other times the boat and crew were so on top of it that almost immediately after we jumped in the water a whale shark would be heading straight for us, its wide mouth open, with eyes on either side of it.

A whale shark’s back is dark gray, covered in light gray spots and faint gray streaks. Its belly is white but we didn’t get to see that too often because it required diving down below the shark. Around the pectoral fins and the head there were always a few remoras. Swimming where the whale shark’s chin would be we sometimes spotted some jacks: good size, silvery, tasty-looking fish. And then there was us. Just one more species following this massive animal.

Afterwards Takz took us to a fiesta held in honor of the village’s patron saint. We never figured out who that was but we enjoyed sitting around a table watching Filipino family life about us. Like everywhere there were orchids in the garden and tons of small children. The food was good, accompanied by warm beer with ice in it. The women did all the cooking, and even served us at our small table. We spent the afternoon relaxing out our hotel.

Late in the afternoon Takz picked us up for a boat ride on the river. We went up a wide shallow river, both banks covered in bright green vegetation. We stopped at some land belonging to Takz’s family where they allow another family to live. They sent somebody up the trees to get us some coconuts. All coconut trees here have footholds carved into them, allowing people to climb up them barefoot without any special equipment. I climbed a few steps up one tree, but slipped in my sandals.

Dinner was a fighting cock, roasted with some tasty sauce. The bird (which was killed about 6 feet away from us) tasted very gamy, not like chicken at all. It was good. By then it had been dark for a while, and we took the boat back to watch fireflies. There were a few trees on our route which were filled with hundreds of fireflies. Their blinking caused patterns of light to ripple around, with “sparks” going off in every direction. From a distance it was like seeing a space ship hovering. From close up you could make out each individual point of light, illuminating just a very small area. It was magical and totally unreal.

In the morning we went to see whale sharks again. The previous day we’d had a boat to ourselves. Today we were joined by 3 Filipinos. It made swimming with the whale sharks a little more tricky because we also had to be aware of where everybody else was. The other guests were not as confident snorkeling as we were, which had a nice benefit. As we were following about the largest shark we’d seen (30 feet?) everybody else fell behind and got back on the boat while we followed it for a long time. Twice everybody else jumped off the boat to take another look and boarded again while we were with the shark all along. For almost 20 minutes we enjoyed swam alongside it. The enormous fish gliding through the water seemingly without doing anything at all, while we kicked continuously to keep up. On occasion it came as close as 3 feet to the surface, giving us a really good look.

In the afternoon we braved the heat to wander around Donsol itself and find a nice lunch. The town was still a small fishing village because tourists have only been coming here for about 15 years. Many children greeted us with a loud “Hello!” They grinned and smiled as we responded likewise. We enjoyed a tasty lunch of noodles while chatting with a gay make-up artist.

In the evening Takz took us to BARacuda which sounds immensely cheesy but was actually a very nice place to eat great fish. We had the biggest prawn I’ve ever seen, about 10 inches in size. Unfortunately the service was terrible. The next day we took a van back to Legaspi.

Typed up at: Legaspi Tourist Inn in Legaspi, Gardenia Hotel in Tabaco, Elena’s Majestics Resort on Catanduanes
Posted from: Internet cafe in Naga

We’d flown to Butuan as a night stop on the way to Camiguin. Early in the morning we took a tricycle to the bus station where the bus to Balingoan was just leaving. Lucky for is, this is not the US and things tend to be a bit more flexible. The bus stopped and allowed us to get on. In Balingoan we took a tricycle ride to the ferry. We could have easily walked, but we didn’t know that when we arrived. We walked onto the ferry which left 15 minutes later.

On the ferry we continued a conversation with a couple who had joined the bus after us. They gave us the first indication that finding a place to sleep might be difficult. I had thought that the island did not had telephone service because every call I tried to make there didn’t go through. Told that this is not the case, I suspect it’s just something about our cell phone provider (Sun) that prevents the call from going through. From the boat Danielle tried to make more calls with the same result as before.

The island we were sailing to was a stereotypical tropical island: one giant volcano covered with green, surrounded by occasional beaches. When we got there it was hot, but luckily the next leg was in an air-conditioned van. It took us to the rotunda in Mambajao, where we jumped in a tricycle to the tourist information center. The walk from the tricycle to the office was enough to make us sweat. In the tourist office they confirmed that almost everywhere was booked full this week. Luckily they found us the last cottage at Cuba’an Beach Cottages, open for just the 1 night.

We moved around quite a bit. After that first night we met Rosie, the cousin of the owner. She is starting a resort and had space for us for 1 night. Then Rosie’s cousin had a cottage further out of town that was available for 2 nights. Finally we spent 3 nights at Secret Cove which is where we would have gone initially, if they had had space available. We felt very lucky to have found lodging every night.

Nowhere we stayed was more than 100 feet from the water. We would snorkel twice a day, and spend the rest of our time reading and eating. None of the spots were perfect for snorkeling. Most of the coral was badly damaged due to dynamite fishing and rock anchors being dropped. On top of that most of these spots are still fished (with nets) today. Even with all that there was plenty of stuff for us to see and make us happy. We did not see large schools of fish, but we saw plenty of different species.

There were clownfish in anemones, trigger fish, butterfly fish, rock fish, lizard fish, and weird and interesting sea cucumbers. The starfish we saw were some of the prettiest I’ve seen. Two species stood out: a brilliant blue one, and a tan starfish with wine red spikes growing on it. We saw the gobe/shrimp combination in a sandy hole. We encountered about 5 nudibranchs of different sizes, all with brilliant colors.

For two days we snorkeled close to a river mouth. This created an inversion layer which was a strange experience indeed. The ocean water was nice and warm, but on top of that was a layer of much colder fresh water. (Fresh water is less dense than salt water, and does not readily mix with salt water.) Where the layers met everything was very blurry. This gave the strange effect that you couldn’t see the bottom until you stuck your head a foot or two underwater. As soon as you dove down you were warm and could see.

The underwater camera case I’d bought in Hong Kong has been working quite well. It’s a DiCaPac which is not much more than a heavy-duty zip-lock bag with a piece of glass where the lens goes. Unfortunately the rubber lens barrel ended up in quite a few of my underwater pictures because the camera doesn’t fit snugly. The case was only USD 35 or so though, and for that money it was well worth it. I really enjoyed being able to take some pictures of some of the amazing things we’ve seen under the sea. Time and time again I’ve been amazed how basically boring the water looks when you’re on top of it while it’s so amazing below.

One day we went through the trouble to go to the sunken cemetery. In a volcanic eruption some of the land, including the cemetery, sunk into the ocean. Now there is a big cross on the island. We were looking forward to seeing coral on tombstones but unfortunately snorkeling was not allowed in that area. We went in the water anyway because we were there after all. We saw some fun things, like a big box fish hanging out in a tree that had fallen in the water. But the main thing we saw were a lot of jellyfish.

Whatever caused it, there were a lot of jellyfish in the water that day. I saw all kinds of different small jellyfish, and noticed several small stings throughout my body. A few of the larger jellies made me afraid of being stung and I tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to avoid them. Danielle was actually stung by a larger jelly than I’d even seen. Its bell was fist-sized and over a foot of tentacles wrapped itself around Danielle’s wrist. We had snorkeled for less than 15 minutes and we got out because of the pain. Back at our hotel we consulted our first aid book and treated the sting with vinegar and alcohol-based disinfectant. We haven’t seen any jellyfish since then.

For the first time on this trip we went diving. We did a brief skills review in 3 meters of water before continuing to two boat dives. The first one ended up being a drift dive because of a very strong current. I felt overwhelmed, and a lot of my energy went to keeping my buoyancy under control, and avoiding chunks of coral. It was very beautiful, but it felt like watching a movie in fast forward. When we were doing our paranoia decompression stop a sea snake swam below us. It was a ways away but the water was clear enough that we could see it quite well.

The second dive was completely peaceful. We took it easy going along the bottom, with plenty of time to look at all the beauty. We saw a few nudibranchs, but mostly lots of coral and fish. The highlights were a medium-sized turtle hiding in a shallow cave and a moray eel. We also admired a porcelain crab in an anemone and sizable schools of fish in the distance.

The diving and flying was costing a relatively large amount of money, which prompted me to take a look at our budget. It was not in good shape. After a few days of thinking about it we decided not to go to South Korea, and just stay in the Philippines until our visas expired. Also, we started counting our money every day to make sure we wouldn’t spend too much of it. We had done this a while in East Africa as well, but resume our carefree ways when we got to Egypt.

On Good Friday there was a procession in town. Many of the large island families keep a statue of a saint around for the occasion, and they are all paraded around town. Instead of watching the parade, almost all the locals joined the parade, walking behind the saint/family of their preference. The parade was virtually silent as well. It was quite a sight.

Also in town we tried our first real street food: grilled chicken. It tasted great and was cheap so we had several meals of chicken and rice, sometimes followed by “the best halo-halo on the island” (look for the sign at the traffic circle). Halo-halo is a somewhat strange dessert of shaved ice, milk, jam, corn, beans, and something which is a little like jello but isn’t. It’s sweet and cold though, so you really can’t go wrong.

Leaving Camiguin did not go as smoothly as we hoped. From Mambajao we took an AC van to the ferries in Binoni. However, the 12pm ferry was canceled and the next one wouldn’t go until 2:30pm. We took a chance locking our bags at the waiting area, and walked to a restaurant about 1km away. The restaurant had its own fish farm right there, and it tasted great.

Back at the ferry we discovered we had to buy a ticket in advance, and that they were sold out. At the advice of the tourist information representative we tried to get on the boat anyway, which consisted of walking on board and nobody asked us anything. From then on everything was fine again. Ferry, tricycle, bus to Cagayan de Oro, tricycle to Nature’s Pensionne.

Typed up at: Legaspi Tourist Inn in Legaspi
Posted from: Internet cafe in Naga

For our second visit to Manila we stayed at Malate Pensionne, a simple but gorgeous accommodation with lacquered wood everywhere. The rooms were basic, but we had AC and plenty of restaurants and Internet in the neighborhood. We didn’t really want to come back to Manila, which was just a big sprawling city. So we spent a lot of time at Internet cafes which were large, cheap, and air conditioned. A sizable chunk of this time went to working on my resume because it looks like I’m going to need it when we come back.

But we also spent quite a bit of time with Bill and Faith. One afternoon we had a tasty lunch together, followed by a lightning tour of Intramuros, Manila’s historic center. The other time we saw them was for Faith’s aunt wedding anniversary. It was a big event at a fancy hotel with great food, and an excellent band. We had a good time. The main thing that struck me was how western it all was. The exact same event could have taken place in a hotel in Los Angeles.

We wandered the Mall of Asia a bit, the biggest mall (and presumably air-conditioned space) in all of the Philippines. We had some truly terrible lunch at an otherwise good-looking restaurant. Afterwards we ate popcorn watching Monsters vs. Aliens in IMAX 3D. The 3D was quite well done, and the movie was OK. All in all an enjoyable air-conditioned afternoon.

A particular frustrating morning was when I went to the Philippines Airlines office to get a refund for the onward ticket we had to buy in Hong Kong. I now had another onward ticket (to South Korea) in hand so what could possibly go wrong? After taking a number and sitting around for 20 minutes, the friendly representative told me that I had to have an authorization. After some initial confusion it came out that I couldn’t get a refund on Danielle’s ticket without her explicit permission, despite the fact that I paid for it with my credit card. So I fetched Danielle (15 minutes walk each way) who was researching what else to see in the Philippines.

Another 10 minute delay and we were helped again, now with everything we needed in hand. It took an astonishing 25 minutes to fill out paperwork, make copies of our passports, and whatever else was going on. Then we were told that in 2 weeks I had to call some phone number, and that maybe in a month I would have my money back. Considerably annoyed at this point, I made some comments about how when I buy a ticket I make the payment right away. But I guess that’s just the way the game is played at Philippines Airlines.

We spent quite some time trying to decide where to go next. Holy Week (the week before Easter) was coming up and wherever we called to make reservations we found places already booked up. We were unable to reach any phones on Camiguin Island and the guidebook made it sound like a bit off the beaten path. We decided to go there and stay wherever had some space. The trip took 2 days. The first day we flew to Butuan, a town with a small airport much like the Santa Barbara airport. We stayed in a hotel downtown, eating more disappointing food and using the ATM.