(Solo) Man (No) Plan Visits the Philippines – Week 3 (and a bit)
(Solo) Man (No) Van Visits the Philippines – Week 3 (and a bit)
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Thursday the 16th of February
I was confined to my room this morning with a touch of the dreaded Delhi Belly, but thankfully it didn’t persist beyond mid morning.
When I thought it was safe to leave the confines of my room I took a cab for a return visit to the Power Station Mall for a walkabout and a spot of lunch. Given I had the Delhi Belly overnight the choice of what to have for lunch was a big decision. It would be a big decision at the best of times as there must be fifty plus restaurants of every nationality imaginable in the Power Plant Mall. I decided to forego anything bland and ate at a Malaysian restaurant where the chicken curry with potato was superb. Not a curry as we know it, but pieces of chicken and potato in a mild creamy satay sauce. It was superb and I suffered no after effects thankfully!
The taxi fare to the Mall had only been 50 pesos but on checking Google Maps it was telling me it was only a fifteen minute walk back to the hotel so I did that, in 90 degree heat. Mad dogs and Scotsmen!
The rest of the afternoon / early evening was spent relaxing as I have to be up earlier than normal tomorrow and head to the the airport for an internal ninety-minute flight to the island of Negros Occidental for the final main adventure of this trip.
In the evening I did nip out for a walk about the Poblacion neighbourhood surrounding the U Hotel for what I thought would be a quick main course at somewhere I hadn’t tried before and found a Korean restaurant up a back street. I ordered a Katsu chicken curry which The Navigator makes from time to time and sat back with my Coke awaiting its arrival. Within a minute the waitress appeared with a tray of six dishes containing an assortment of starters.
I tried to explain I didn’t order them but she insisted I try them as they were included in the price of the main dish. Well that changed things, so I had a go, even though I had no idea what they were. Three of them were really good and I finished them off in no time. The waitress was loitering nearby and saw I had finished the three dishes and came over to take them away, only to reappear a few moments later with the dishes replenished again!
The meal was delicious, as they all have been to date in the Philippines, even the pizza that caused my Delhi Belly!.
Friday the 17th of February.
When we lived in the East Midlands I worked for a year at a call centre for EON and sitting at the next desk was Kevin, who although five years younger than me, was the nearest age wise in our team by what seemed like thirty years!
We would chat about all sorts but as we both had Mazda MX5s at the time that took up some of our conversations. Another topic of conversation was the house being built in the Philippines which was to be his retiral home when the time came. Emma, Kevin’s wife, was born in the Philippines and the house was being built not that far from her home village, so every week new pictures would arrive showing the progress being made.
After we moved back to Scotland I heard the news that unfortunately Kevin had a stroke, so after making a recovery, and as the house in the Philippines was complete, decided to sell up and retire there in 2019, just before the pandemic struck!
So, for the first time on this trip I set the alarm as I was checking out of the U Hotel (again) and heading for the airport to go and visit Kevin and Emma.
At Manila Airport when I checked my bag in, armed with my E Ticket and boarding card, the attendant could not find me on ‘the system.’ With a lengthening queue behind me and now four attendants huddled around the computer screen my name magically appeared on ‘the system’ after about ten minutes. This was a relief, as although I showed them the ticket on my phone screen and a printed boarding card, they said that if I wasn’t on the ‘system’ I couldn’t fly!
Negros Occidental is an island about ninety minutes flying time from Manila and is a world away from the hustle and bustle of Manila, so much so that the Cebu Airways flight was the only plane at what is called an “International Airport”. As the plane descends, it flies over green fields as far as the eye can see which I later found out were mostly sugar cane as this island grows 60% of the sugar cane grown in the Philippines.
The house is big and spacious inside and has to be as it hosts Emma’s relatives from time to time for family occasions. After a guided tour of the property and surroundings we had a siesta in preparation for going out in the evening for a meal at a restaurant which was owned by a Welshman!
My first experience of Red Horse lager, but not my last on this part of the trip!
Saturday the 18th of February.
It was warm, but overcast this morning and the plan was to visit a beach resort about a half hours drive north of here. The difference between this island, Negros Occidental, and what I had seen of the main island, Luzon, cannot be overstated.
The beach resort was not what we would call a beach resort, instead it was a collection of huts where families can come together to spend the day and have a picnic or barbecue. It is easier for extended families to meet at a place like this than at a house.
As you can see in the above picture it was blowing a bit of a hoolie coming in from the sea making it a bit airy, which ultimately cut our visit shorter than it might have been otherwise. After a fortnight being in the blistering heat of Manila I quite welcomed the breeze and anyway it was still warmer than the warmest Scottish summer’s day!
While Kevin and I were wandering about, Emma summoned two guys with a cart full of coconuts to buy some for a refreshing fresh drink. In the UK by the time coconuts are shipped half way round the world the white coconut insides are hard, but here, after drinking the juice, the coconut itself was soft and tasty.
I thoroughly enjoyed drinking the fresh coconut liquid through a straw, but in putting this blog post together and going through the tons of pictures I took, I have just noticed that the straws were kept down the back of the young guy’s shorts. The resort’s ‘Elf and Safety Policy’ could probably do with being updated!
The sand was quite a dark colour and not too appealing, although there were children happily playing on it. With our coconuts finished and a spot of rain now felt through the breeze it was time to move on.
Emma has a large family in this region and our next port of call was to visit her cousin who has the distinctive pink Overdoze Cafe on the water’s edge in the town of Manapla and we had a “snack” there while taking in the view of the local fishing fleet at anchor for the weekend.
I say ‘snack’ as that’s how it was described to me but the snack turned into a full scale lunch which was delicious. Most of the food I’ve eaten up to this point has been in proper themed restaurants but this was the first restaurant selling proper food native to the Philippines. When the first plate was put down in front of me I have to be honest and wondered what on earth this would taste like but I can assure you this was one of the very best things I ate in my three weeks in the Philippines.
By the time we finished lunch it was early afternoon so we headed for our final visitor attraction which was aptly called ‘The Ruins.’ The Ruins was the ancestral mansion of the family of wealthy sugar businessman Don Mariano Ledesma Lacson built on his 440 hectare sugar plantation on the outskirts of Talisay City, in the early 1900s. It was built in memory of his Portuguese wife, Maria Braga Lacson, who died during the birth of their 8th child. During the Second World War, Filipino guerrillas burned it down as a countermeasure to prevent the invading Japanese forces from using it as a military headquarters. It burned for three days and today it is just the shell of the building that remains.
Today, it is still owned by descendants of the Don and is a popular tourist destination. We managed have a walk round but as we sat and had a cooling drink (and another snack) in the visitor centre, the rain started to fall quite heavily, putting an end to any further exploration of the grounds.
Back at the house it was time for a quick siesta before heading out into the fairly major city of Bacolod for dinner at the Viking buffet restaurant in the SM Mall. It was a lovely meal of mostly Asian food, as you would expect, with a bit of Mongolian stir fry thrown in for good measure.
We were fortunate to get back to the house before the rain became torrential.
Sunday the 19th of February
This was to be my last full day with Kevin and Emma and after another muggy warm evening with heavy intermittent rain showers I woke to another warm humid overcast day. What the heat must be like here with no clouds and direct sunlight doesn’t bear thinking about! (Wishful thinking – it was like that the next day!)
After breakfast we drove to Bago City, a waterside resort to the south of Bacolod City, which is a proper major city, where Bago had more of the feel of a large town. I’m not sure if Kevin and Emma knew there was a festival on in the town but there were lots of people milling about and waiting for a parade later in the afternoon. There was a great atmosphere at the riverside location and of the thousands of people here, Kevin and I seemed to be the only Westerners!
What it did have was a well laid out and busy waterside are where a local festival was gearing up for later in the afternoon. We had a walkabout and soaked up the atmosphere but decided to cut our losses and move on as it was threatening to rain. The dark cloud you see in the following picture was an omen for what was to come – a torrential downpour, which was a pity as a lot of people had put in a fair amount of effort to prepare for the festival.
From Bago City we headed back in the direction of Bacolod before turning off the main road to a “floating” restaurant which specialised in seafood. Rojo’s was packed with families enjoying Sunday lunch and being together, which seems to be a real passion in the Philippines. It was noticeable that once again, Kevin and I were the only Westerners in this packed restaurant.
The food was delicious and the highlight for me was the fifteen scallops I ordered, cooked in a sauce which was hard to describe but lovely none the less. Although much smaller than we are used to back in Scotland, you could not beat the value of fifteen scallops for £ 3.00.
It was lashing down and from Rojo’s we headed to the impressive Ayala Mall in Bacolod. Ayala, SM and Robinsons Malls are to be found in most of the larger towns and cities and they are are all of a very impressive standard and would give most western Malls a run for their money.
To date I hadn’t bought anything much as the baggage allowance on Cebu Pacific is only 20kg and my plan was to use my final few days back in Manila to do a bit of shopping, that said, I managed to find a few presents for my granddaughters.
Back home for a siesta and shower before heading out to dinner at another waterside restaurant, which was very imposing and we were just in time to see the evenings entertainment, a fire dancing display, and to be fair it was pretty impressive.
Emma has taken responsibility for ordering the food when we’ve been out and about and has done a fantastic job of it, but as she orders it in Tagalog, the main language of the Philippines, Kevin and I are never quite sure what to expect!
At lunchtime my only request was to try the scallops and tonight my request was for a portion of ribs, but little did I know that a veritable meat feast had been ordered and my dreams had come true…
The fire dancers came back for another impressive performance to top off another memorable evening. A mention in dispatches for the local 6.9% lager, Red Horse which was a refreshing accompaniment to the food.
Monday the 20th of February.
My final day with Kevin and Emma dawned and yesterday’s heavy rain had cleared and there was not a cloud in the sky making the temperature rocket again.
I had a quick walk around the block as I wanted to check out a house we drive past near the entrance to the gated community as it had an impressive collection of noisy cockerels in the garden area. In the Philippines the three major sports are basketball, volleyball and cock fighting. If you switch a tv on at any time, day or night, there is either a basketball or volleyball game on, be they live or recorded. As Kevin pointed out this is somewhat curious as the Filipinos are not the tallest of athletes but it is probably more to do with the influence of American culture than anything else.
The above picture shows some of Emma’s brother in law’s birds and the one being held by our driver was his most expensive. These particular birds were bred to be sold on and others would enter them into the fighting competitions.
The following pictures show far more birds in the garden of another nearby house and these would probably be fighting birds. You might just be able to see that each bird is tethered by their leg to keep them from wandering off or fighting with each other!
After another of Emma’s delicious breakfast we had a relaxing morning before it was time to take me to the airport at lunchtime for my two o’clock flight back to Manila.
I am really glad that I flew to the island of Negros to see Kevin and Emma and see the life they have made for themselves back in the island where Emma was born. The island of Negros was such a contrast to the mega city of Manila and it gave an interesting glimpse of life in this island community. After our goodbyes I checked in and headed for the lounge to await the arrival if the inbound flight from Manila.
Once we were boarded the captain announced that there was a “technical issue” which is not really what you want to hear as you settle down for your flight!
It turned out that the issue was nothing to do with the mechanics of the plane but that the air conditioning wasn’t working and they would try and fix it before taking off. So there we were sitting in a metal tube in blistering hot conditions getting more and more frustrated as he had also said that once we were airborne the air conditioning should kick in. (It didn’t). We took off an hour late and sweated all the way to Manila. When we landed the captain held us onboard until a mobile air conditioning truck turned up to pump cool air into the plane when what everyone wanted was to get off this flying sauna and into the air conditioned terminal!
The delay in arriving in Manila meant that by the time I got into a taxi it was rush hour (4pm to 9pm) and the traffic was even more manic than usual. My grandaughters are 4 & 2 and it was an eye opener to see young girls of that age wandering about the four lanes of stationary traffic knocking on car windows for a few coins.
I am back in the IHotel on the outskirts of BGC, Bonifacio Global City, for the next four nights before my flight home on Friday.
It was drizzling when I went out to dinner and so headed for the nearest Korean restaurant for a quick, cheap and delicious meal there. The Koreans do love a flavoured coating on their chicken and this place was no exception.
Tuesday the 21st of February.
I had a relaxing morning in my room catching up on emails with a bit of work on Fyne Editions thrown in for good measure and a video call with The Navigator before heading out to explore areas of BGC I never saw the last time I was here.
I got as far as the Uptown Mall before the heel strap on my sandals gave way making walking very difficult. The Uptown Mall is a bit too ‘uptown’ to find a reasonably priced pair of sandals so I flagged down a taxi and headed the short distance to the nearby Market Market Mall where there was a far better chance of finding a replacement pair.
There were plenty of shoe shops but they did not really have what I was looking for as it seems the Filipinos prefer a flip flop or slider to the proper sandal I was looking for.
The Mall was much busier than the last time I was here due to a sale of assorted goods in the centre of the Mall. I have either lost or misplaced my sunglasses and managed to find a replacement pair at a reasonable price.
After about an hour of trudging around the five floors of shops and I found what I was looking for and walked off with my new sandals. It was late afternoon by this time so I revisited Dairy Queen and bought a carton of Rocky Road ice cream and sat outside and enjoyed some people watching as I enjoyed my treat.
It gets dark about six o’clock and the transformation in the buildings is something to behold as they are lit up for the evening. I decided to walk back to my hotel to both take in the sights and put my new sandals through their paces.
As I was passing Uptown Mall again I nipped back into Marugame Uton and had a cheap main course of Teriyaki Chicken and rice with a Coke for the princely sum of £4, my third meal there…
Wednesday the 22nd of February
I did not venture too far today as there is so much to see close by. I had seen on a YouTube video that there was another Mall nearby which I had actually walked past a few times but never noticed it as it was covered in scaffolding.
The Mitsukoshi Mall seems brand new and is not fully populated with shops yet, but it is quite fascinating. The Japanese sounding name, Mitsukoshi, gives a clue to the theme of the Mall as every shop and restaurant is Japanese and very different from the other shopping centres I’ve seen.
Japanese design for most products is fairly unique and some of the items on sale were tempting to buy but my baggage allowance for my upcoming flight home prevented me from indulging myself too much.
Later, back at the hotel I had a video call with The Navigator in Belfast who was blaming some Black Pudding for being laid low with a tummy bug. It would later transpire that everyone was laid low with it so it wasn’t the Black Pudding! The standard of food in the Philippines has been incredible and any apprehensions I might have had about getting a tummy bug have not come to anything.
Check out the NEW RANGE of Any Day Diaries from Fyne Editions HERE.
Next to the Mitsukoshi Mall was a very impressive supermarket called Landers and when I took a short cut through it earlier, their Italian themed restaurant had slices of amazing looking pizza on sale, but by 8pm when I went back to get a slice it was all gone so I had a lasagne, which was tasty but had collapsed to less than half the height it should have been!
On the way back to the hotel I passed the BGC local police station and outside it were 36 policemen lined up in six rows, six deep and they were being briefed by a rather imposing officer. I’ve said before how impressive the security is here, with almost every street and shop guarded by security personnel, many armed. I would find out the next day why there was this seemingly extra police presence tonight. At night the streets come alive with the street food vendors and all the guys on scooters and motorbikes who normally deliver food stop to eat.
Thursday the 23rd of February.
This is my last full day in Manila and I had thought of taking the Pasig river ferry back up to Metro Manila but decided against it in favour of a lazyish day before the long slog home, beginning tomorrow.
So, the new sandals were pressed into service and I had a 1.4km walk to the nearby Pasig river and over a bridge into the Guadeloupe District, not one of Makati’s most scenic areas, I’ll grant you, but ‘interesting’ all the same.
In the three and a bit weeks I’ve been in the Philippines the people have been incredibly friendly and I’ve felt totally safe wherever I’ve gone. Like any big city worldwide, there are areas that should be avoided and only five kilometres from where I am, in another part of Makati a man from New Zealand was shot dead last night by two armed robbers on a motorbike in what appears to be a robbery gone wrong. Apparently he and his Filipino girlfriend were going to a laundry in the early hours of the morning when it happened, but as I’m in bed by nine o’clock most nights, I was never at risk, and I’m certainly not brave enough to tackle armed gunmen, as he seems to have done!
Having said how friendly and welcoming everyone in the Philippines is, I passed the Makati City Jail within a few minutes of starting my walk so there must be a few bad boys about the place. What the conditions must be like in there in this extreme heat doesn’t bear thinking about.
After passing the jail, the bridge over the river comes into view and I stopped to watch one of the fast riverboats pass under on its way up to Metro Manila. The contrast between this side of the river and the gleaming high rise towers of Bonifacio Global City only a few minutes drive away on the other side of the river is really stark.
This is my final night and the big decision was where to have my last evening meal. Go back to somewhere where you know the food is good, or take a gamble and try somewhere new?
In the end, I actually made the main meal lunch as there were lots of recommendations for a local restaurant in Pasig City that specialised in ribs, and for a carnivore like me, that was enough to make my hike in the ninety odd degree heat worthwhile.
I wasn’t sure they were open as there were no customers when I looked through the window, but there were four blokes looking eagerly at me, so I made my way inside to see if the online hype lived up to expectations.
In a nutshell it did and the ribs were delicious and the meat fell off the bone as soon as the knife touched it. I should say at this point that knifes in restaurants in the Philippines are a very rare occurrence. They eat with a fork and spoon so if you eat at a KFC, Jollibee or McDonalds for example, you have to cut up your chicken with your spoon! It takes a bit of getting used to, but it does make eating the rice easier if nothing else.
Now mid afternoon, and with the heat off the scale, I hailed a taxi to take me back over the river to the Uptown Mall where I met the YouTube legend that is Mergim, a young Londoner who has settled in BGC and makes very good videos of his life in the Philippines and if you enjoy watching YouTube videos search for Mergim Vlogs.
After a long chat with Mergim, and my final walk around the Uptown Mall, I headed back to the hotel for my afternoon siesta, which I’m getting used to I must admit, although back home I would probably need the heating on rather than the air conditioning!
The Navigator has made enough of a recovery to fly back to Glasgow this afternoon, but she has caused havoc by passing the bug on to everyone else in Belfast! Apart from her passing illness, The Navigator enjoyed her stay in Belfast and the North Coast where she had a great time on the beach with Eilidh and Callie.
Friday the 24th of February
Time to go home, unfortunately. I have to vacate the room at the iHotel by 11.30 am, but my flight is not until 11.30 pm, so there will be a fair amount of time to kill this afternoon.
As I was packing up my things, a movement caught my eye, and it turns out I was sharing my bed last night, not with some nubile young Filipino beauty, but with a baby lizard. Hey Ho.
After checking out of the hotel I sat down in their air conditioned lobby to consider my options for the rest of the day and decided to get a taxi to the Market Market Mall as there were far more options for lunch there and it has a shaded outdoor area to sit out and kill time.
The Mall was busy as ever and the choice of restaurants is almost overwhelming but I decided on an Italian themed place that was as cheap as chips, or should that be pasta?
Classic lasagne, a garlic bread stick and a drink was 134 pesos, a few pence over £2, and it was exceptionally good, as every meal in my time in the Philippines has been. One of The Navigator’s signature dishes is lasagne so I am spoiled at home and this was great value and quality. I went to the Dairy Queen outlet for my final ice cream, mango flavour this time.
I’ve had quite a few visits to Dairy Queen in my time in Manila but never before registered what their unique proposition was. The ice cream has the consistency of a Mr Whippy, but thicker. When they hand it over to you the assistant always turns it upside down, and apparently, if the ice cream falls out your replacement is free!
It’s not much fun lugging a case around a busy Mall so decided to head outside to sit and pass the next few hours. If you sit anywhere all of human life passes in front of you and here was no exception.
I had noticed this before but there seemed to be more of them here today – nappies on dogs! Some had only one covering its rear end and others had two, the other being wrapped around in front of its hind legs which I assumed was for male dogs.
An hour or so into my people watching vigil, Mergin, the YouTube vlogger walked past, camera in hand, and came over to chat. He was at the Mall to buy some light bulbs of all things but I advised him that he would have to spice up this vlog as buying light bulbs was hardly riveting entertainment!
Around 5pm I decided to jump in a taxi and head for the airport, which did not best please the taxi driver as by now it was the height of the rush hour and the airport was one huge bottle neck.
I still had 6 hours before take off and check in was still a couple of hours away so I found a seat and settled down for more people watching.
Inexpensive Birthday Gift Ideas…
Titles for the four nations also include, Best Wife, Best Mum, Best Son, Best Dog & Best Cat! See the full range of titles HERE.
The packed flight eventually took off at midnight and took nine hours to reach Dubai where I gained back four hours time difference. The transfer process was fairly seamless and the only concern was that the baggage transfer was just as seamless.
The contrast between Dubai and the Philippines is quite stark. To keep hydrated in the Philippines you have to consume a lot of liquid and water is only 20 pesos a bottle and the likes of Coke, Sprite etc was 40 pesos (75p ish) where in Dubai airport a bottle of Coke and a Kit Kat was just over £ 6…
Just beside my last hotel was a sari-sari store which is defined as a neighbourhood sundry store and in Tagalog means ‘variety’. I used this shop at least once a day to buy soft drinks and water for the hotel and can confirm that it was incredibly cheap.
After a two hour layover in Dubai, the next flight to Glasgow was held on the runway for an hour with no announcements which was frustrating, but eventually took off and the seven and a half hour flight was another Emirates triumph, although getting a full meal after only an hour in the air was a bit odd, given it was one o’clock in the morning, Dubai time. The landing into Dubai was in darkness but it looked an incredible city. The take off was in daylight and the Emirates terminal was full of planes waiting to take off. These 777-300s were $150,000,000 a pop…
I has a window seat on the left side of the plane and over Scotland we broke through the clouds as we flew up the Ayrshire coast at Girvan and the view over to Arran and Argyll was spectacular. It looked a lovely morning with clear blue skies but this was Scotland in late February and it would turn out to be bitterly cold.
Once reunited with my case I opened it up to put on another couple of layers of clothing and caught the Campbeltown bound West Coast Motors bus for the two hour journey to Ardrishaig. I hadn’t slept on either flight and tried desperately to stay awake on the bus as I didn’t want to fall asleep and wake up in Campbeltown but I made it home in time to watch the France v Scotland Rugby International, in front of a roaring log fire, before a meal and an early night with the electric blanket on. What a difference a day makes…
So, in hindsight, was the trip worth the effort?
It certainly was, and the long flights aside, the Philippines was an amazing country to visit for all sorts of reasons. Manila, and especially the Makati area, is being transformed into one of the great cities of the Far East. The contrast between the poorer areas and the incredible wealth of Makati is stark. Leaving a freezing Scotland in early February to land into ninety degree heat took some time to get used to and the intense heat outside to the chilled air conditioning of inside did leave me with a cough which I had for a couple of weeks after my return.
Once I left the main island of Luzon and flew to the island of Negros to meet Kevin, Emma and her family I saw another more relaxed side of the Philippines which was in contrast to manic Manila. Kevin and Emma showed me wonderful hospitality and took me out and about for my all too short visit and I appreciated it greatly. In hindsight I should have spent more time out of Manila and if there is to be another ‘trip of a lifetime’ I will. The Navigator is now hooked on Mergim’s blogs so who knows…
I hope you have enjoyed these three blogs which has been very different from the usual ManVanNoPlan motorhome stories. That said, we will be back on the road in the next couple of months for another epic three month trip, so stay tuned for that epic adventure…
PS – The Navigator has been waiting for a cataract operation since June last year and there seems no immediate prospect of it happening any time soon. Depending on when it can be done will determine where we head off to as our first choice destination is weather dependant!
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COMING SOON ON THE NEXT BLOG...
After a longer than usual winter break Bessie has passed her MOT and we have had a couple of short trips away to charge batteries etc and see what needs to be done for the next big trip…
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