Amidships…
Back at ya. The heretofore ravaged laptop is limping on – the water damage mentioned in last week’s entry has created some odd behavior in the machine, though, and it took me all week to figure out what was going on. The power unit is nearly crippled – so when I power up without being plugged in, the laptop barely starts up. I also believe the fan is busted – the laptop really heats up and seems to shut down at a certain point. And some of the USB and other ports are blown too – but I can probably force the thing to soldier on for a few more weeks, making full use of Internet cafes and USB drives to jury-rig this slog. The folks at the computer shop in Dumaguete did their best and got the thing running – well done.
I told you that to tell you this: I updated last week’s entry and popped in quite a few photos, so go back and take another look if you haven’t already.
I gave the hotel a fairly hard time about the computer, knowing that the cost of replacing my laptop would be the equivalent of several months’ stay at the hotel. I got in touch with one of the owners, who eventually offered me US$500 – which sounded reasonable, so I said OK. Of course, this being the RP, I then had to wait two hours for the owner to go to the bank and show up at the hotel. When we met, she groveled and whined, and then only offered me US$200. I gave her holy hell – she mumbled something about her brother (the other owner) in Florida telling her that I should rely on my trip insurance. I told her that the insurance (which I do carry) would not pay anywhere near the replacement cost of the laptop, and that her hotel was responsible for the problem. She finally ponied up the US$500, but it was an aggravating process. Reminded me of cheap clients back in the day…
On the travel insurance – we’ll see what happens. I had sufficient documentation with me – along with a letter from the hotel where the laptop got trashed – so was able to quickly send that to the insurance company. And you can file the claim right online, so I expect reasonably decent progress to be made while I’m off diving. The claim should be settled within 1-2 months, by the time I get back to Boston, so hopefully there will be a sizeable check waiting for me there. Again, I doubt I’ll get the dollar amount I want, but I expect something meaningful. And, to look on the bright side, I would have wanted to upgrade laptops within a year anyway – mine is getting a bit clunky and there are already much better Sonys out there. So my hand has been forced, that’s all.
My final day in Dumaguete was thus frantic, as expected – but in a very different way. Only had time for a quick beer/lunch with Mike at the dive shop…had to take care of the laundry (all my clothes were wet from the accident)…and I had to go to the Immigration Office and renew my visa – that was thankfully a snap. At the end of all this, I went up to the pier, accompanied by 3 of the kids who hang around Mike’s dive shop, and boarded the ferry to Cebu. I didn’t know quite how to feel – ordinarily, I would have felt a sense of accomplishment and closure. I had spent a good month in Dumaguete, and another week riding around Negros. I had earned a couple diving licenses and made some new friends. I felt a small part of the community. And I had done some solid writing. But given the laptop issue, I felt like I was leaving with a chip on my shoulder and I was bothered at feeling that way. And on the ride to Cebu, I saw at least 3 other passengers using their laptops – that of course reminded me of my injured laptop and that pissed me off. There’s a great story by Ray Bradbury about an astronaut who promises his family that he’d retire after one more mission. But his final mission goes awry and he perishes. And his wife and son are told what took place – the craft fell into the sun. And for a long time after that, they keep the shades drawn and avoid going outside, so that they don’t have to see the sun. Well, I felt a little of that and continue to feel that way.
At the same time (do I sound like Barack Obama? Probably not.) I’m aware of my mood profile regarding the laptop accident, and feel I’ve handled it with equanimity. I was furious at first, but held my tongue and within 24 hours had accepted the reality. I think that 24 hours isn’t too bad – years ago it would have taken me far longer. And I absolutely realize that losing your shit over something you can’t control is deeply unhealthy, perhaps even removing years from your life.
Anyway, I left the hotel on good terms…and do want to return to Dumaguete some day. I’ll just be sure to bring plenty of heavy-duty garbage bags with me and encase all my stuff in plastic at all moments…
Got to Cebu. Wanted to blow off some steam – see above for justification. Checked into the Kiwi Lodge, a place I’ve come to enjoy. The card slot in my room was dodgy, though, and when I inserted the card/room key to turn on the lights and aircon, it kept popping out. Tried my Boston MBTA ‘Charlie Card’ and that worked fine. Knew that thing would come in handy someday…
A friend of mine tends bar at one of the go-go joints, so I went there to drink beer and ogle women. That’s blowing off steam…or working up a head of steam, depending on a) how much beer you drink, and b) how interested you are in the women in the bar. One of the dancers wore a pair of panties that had ‘Excellence’ written on the posterior. Not quite accurate, in my opinion. And that was the crux of the matter – there were certainly some cute GROs (Guest Relations Officers – I love it) there, but I wasn’t particularly into the scene…I suppose I’m getting old and/or I need more of an emotional attachment. Perhaps I’m becoming female spontaneously. I did hear about a female hammerhead shark reproducing asexually and one might infer that humans can change gender somehow as well…
It occurred to me while I was typing a few Slog notes at the bar that my Treo is a fantastic device for taking notes and a range of other tasks as well. Gone are the days of little bits of paper stuck in all of my pockets…
Woke up with a brutal hangover the next morning at 6:30. Wasn’t my idea to get up so early, but the hotel is putting up a new wing and the jackhammers were going that early on a Saturday. Unreal. Then I stumbled over to the bathroom, and found that I had somehow locked myself out. And I had to go – badly. Ran down the stairs, found a houseboy, and a couple minutes later he let me in. I was rather close to using an empty beer bottle in the hallway as a receptacle…
The hotel owner was apologetic about the noise and had in fact posted dozens of signs all round saying that the jackhammers would be done within the day. Still, it was pure torture and after eating breakfast I got the hell out of there to do a few things. At breakfast, sure enough, the same old gaunt gentlemen was sitting there, drinking San Miguel beer at 9 a.m. You wonder about the path that got him there…can’t have been pretty.
While in a cab heading uptown, noticed that the Amihan Hotel offers 1.5 hours stay for only 175 pesos. Hmmm. What do you think that’s all about?
Saw a few guys wearing Izod shirts. When exactly did those go out? 1981? I’d rather be caught wearing a shirt with a Star Trek logo (and I had one when I was 11 years old) than an alligator. Can you tell I’m still annoyed about the laptop?
Sent out a few emails to Manila-based friends about my upcoming 40th birthday. Decided to spend it in Manila, after exchanging emails with my HKG-based friend Yu Hin, who wants to visit me in the RP and is interested in checking out Manila. Yu Hin is pretty knowledgeable about many Asian cities, and is always adding to his list. So I decided to go with Manila, and emailed a few friends about this. To keep things simple, am just going to have an informal get-together at Ciboney Bar in Remedios Circle, Manila, on June 29th. Discerning readers will recall that Ciboney was my ‘Cheers’ in Manila and I like the owner and his staff. Should be good fun. It’s at 9 p.m., in case any of you want to fly in and surprise me.
Went back to the Wineshop that night, to have a few tapas and some of their quite drinkable house red. As I sat there savoring a rare glass of wine, I thought about Cebu and why I enjoy it so much. I think the answer is that there’s a lot going on here – but at the same time it’s very manageable. Not so much happening that it’s daunting – but I’m never bored in Cebu.
Read before sleeping, as I tend to do. In the local city magazine there was an article about popular college majors. Business/commerce was high on the popularity list…but so were others like Advanced Communications for International Business (preparing you to work in a call center – hallelujah), International Caregiving & Home Management (Nursing, Caregiving), Food & Beverage Service, Bartending, Housekeeping, Basic Culinary Prep, and Front Office Training. I doubt all of those are full four-year majors…but still, what a list of dreary offerings. But it reflects the jobs that are out there, and I suppose students are just being highly practical. I still find it depressing. Whatever happened to Classics?
Breakfast at Kiwi the next morning. On the boob tube: another Democratic Presidential debate, already. Sound was turned off and the Beatles White Album was on. Excellent. Read the ‘newsline’ crawling along at the bottom of the screen. There was a bit about the US bombing Somali Al-Qaeda positions from offshore. Random. I suppose that’s better than a reprise of Blackhawk Down, but it felt eerily disconnected from everything else going on. Maybe I overlooked this story recently. Reminded me of a J.G. Ballard story I read years ago, in which there’s a barely announced nuclear exchange between the US and the USSR; barely announced because US President Reagan, back for his third term, was ill and all the news stories were obsessed with the frequency of his bowel movements, heartbeat patterns, etc. Quite surreal, and not unrealistic. These obscure news stories can become almost non-news when set against seemingly trivial but popular competition.
Didn’t really follow the Dems debate – with the sound turned off couldn’t do much. The White Album was a good counterpoint to the candidates’ moving lips, though. And I have been struck lately by my emerging interest in what John Edwards has to say. He was the first candidate to put up a specific national healthcare plan; he rubbished the term ‘war on terror’ and called it a Bush Administration construct that allowed said Administration and its cronies to do whatever the hell it wanted to do. I agree with that. There are legions of vile terrorists out there, to be sure – but there were in the 1970s too, and we worked on dealing with them at a specific level. Now, we’ve lumped them all into a single category – thus obfuscating the unique nature of the different groups, and by consequence assisting them in joining hands if they so desire. And while I’m OK with broadening the sense of the term ‘war’, in my opinion a ‘war’ is something that offers defined enemies and a reasonable definition of victory. How the bejesus can anyone ever win a ‘war on terror?’ Certainly not with troops, anyway – perhaps with informants and by making sure that young men find jobs so they’re not hanging out waiting to be influenced by trouble-makers. But I acknowledge the cleverness of the Cheneys and Roves of the world – the ‘war on terror’ got them another four years in the White House. How depressing.
Back to John Edwards. I must admit to disliking the guy’s vanilla all-American qualities – compared with the other candidates, he’s not that interesting. But he gets specific and he doesn’t fall into line on shit like the ‘war on terror’ – whereas Hillary and Obama are still vague and lacking a spine. Edwards might lack gravitas – he’s relatively young and doesn’t have that much political experience. But experience didn’t do us any good in the past 7 years, so I’m willing to go with age and fresh thinking. And Edwards has had to grow up pretty fast, what with the accidental death of his son, and his wife’s recurring cancer, which seems terminal. I’m watching with interest to see if his campaign takes off and he breaks into the top tier. Wouldn’t mind seeing Hillary and Obama sweat a bit more…and I’ve definitely got a ‘Gore-watch’ in place. Now that would be stunningly interesting.
Did a few errands in Ayala Mall. Thought about visiting the chiropractor there. But my back feels wonderful and I’ll hold off for now. Don’t want to potentially wreck a good thing.
Saw a Japanese guy there with a Red Sox cap. We chatted a bit – he likes the Sox because we’ve got two new Japanese pitchers. I’ll take that. The Sox go global – watch out, Man U!
Fired up the laptop and downloaded the two-part season finale of 24. Laptop got through the download OK, and I was able to watch the two episodes. Decent conclusion to the season – and I’m happy not to have to download any more. I did seem to be devoting a significant amount of my time to sitting at the laptop in Internet cafes, waiting for the episodes to come in…
Have always wanted to head out to Mt. Busay, north of the city, to visit a place called Tops, where you can stand and get a great view of the city and environs. Carved out some time and got a cab, first to the Marco Polo Hotel, to have a look at that place, and then on to Tops. My cabbie was a guy from Bacolod, Negros, where I went the previous week. Chatted about Bacolod during the drive up to Tops. Nice hilly ‘hood – good hairpin turns. Got there, got out, and went to the viewing promontory. Superb views – Cebu is not a beautiful city, but there are a few landmarks/tall buildings, and those, coupled with the vastness of the ocean and some nearby islands, made for quite a panorama. Tops is a large flat area and you can walk around and take in the view from various angles. Take a peek:
After that, went to a well-known resto-bar called Mr. A for a beer. Nice view from there too. Would be good to go there at night and hang out for a couple hours.
Back to the hotel. Turned down the lights and practiced yoga in the dark, to the tunes of Eastern Sunrise, a very good ‘world music’ CD collection I got in HKG years ago. Had a great 45-minute practice and felt refreshed. Then showered and began to pack for my trip to Palawan Island the next morning.
Palawan is the westernmost island of the RP, and is known for its wreck diving and its diverse, other-worldly islands near El Nido. In some ways, Palawan is closer to Borneo and Malaysia in its biodiversity. Not that many tourists make it there, and I wanted to see it. Palawan was where, in 2001, Abu Sayyaf terrorists kidnapped several foreign tourists from a beach resort and held them hostage for a lengthy period, killing some in the process. The security has been boosted and I wasn’t particularly worried…although I no longer had my 9 peso knife from the Negros excursion.
Went to Our Place for dinner. It was mostly empty, but there was another American guy sitting at the bar. He asked me if I happened to know a Scottish fellow named Duncan Graham. Actually, I did, and have mentioned Duncan in some previous entries. The American was an old friend, back in town, and I gave him Duncan’s mobile #. They met later that night at Our Place, but I had taken off by then to bar-hop a bit.
Ended up at a karaoke place. You sit in a room with a handful (I’m not being literal here) of attractive lasses and sing songs, drink, eat, and tell jokes for an hour or two. Good fun…but I was aware that my song selections depressingly presage my looming 40th birthday. Just Once, by James Ingram; Somewhere Down the Road, by Barry Manilow. Get Here, by Brenda Russell. I did have Stairway to Heaven and Wonderwall in there, so all hope’s not list (or is it?). I need to get back into the Scorpions…
I had asked the Tops cabbie, Tudtud, to get me at 8 a.m. at Kiwi Lodge and take me to the airport. He seemed keen for the business…but didn’t show. So I took another cab. Annoying. At the airport, while standing in line for the X-ray, noticed that the paintings on the wall were for sale. I guess the airport authority needs a bit of cash and is getting creative…literally.
On the Cebu Pacific flight to Palawan I won a small prize. Cebu Pacific has a game during their flights – they name an article, whoever produces it first wins something…in this case, a cheap orange sun visor. They called out ‘sunglasses’…I took mine off my head and was the first to do so. Won the visor – wouldn’t be caught dead wearing it, but I was later able to give it away (took a couple tries, though).
Landed in Palawan’s capital, Puerto Princesa. Overgrown town, really, with just a long main street. The airport is about the size of Leh’s, in Ladakh, but with less of a scary military/border presence. Needed to transfer to another flight, to Busuanga Island to the north, with a different carrier, SEAir. Asked where I could find them. Turned out SEAir people are only at the airport when a flight’s coming or going – they were at their little shop in town right now. So I walked there – they were just returning from lunch. Sleepy town. Airport is completely closed when no flight is coming/going. Left my pack at the shop, went for a very nice lunch at Kalui, where I had a good piece of fresh tuna and some veggies. Wow – fish and veggies. Novel concept for the RP.
Then went to SEAir’s town office to get my pack, and finally returned to the airport. Waited outside for 15 minutes…airport was closed. Chatted with an American guy and a Filipina. He was going to El Nido (a subsequent destination for me), she to Manila. Nice people. Both very well-traveled. Traded some travel stories and tips – and gave them my blogsite. Have found that’s a good way to connect with people – and a shameless venue for self-promotion and ego-building, of course.
My trip to Busuanga/Coron first stopped in El Nido, which is probably the smallest ‘airport’ I’ve ever seen. The plane itself was a 20-seater (if that), and we flew over some spectacular land- and seascapes to get to El Nido. Descent appeared to be straight into a forest…but a gravel path opened up and we landed. Pulled up to nearly non-existent infrastructure, got out and stretched our legs. Here’s our plane, as well as El Nido’s strip and ‘terminal’:
Then back on the toy plane to Busuanga. Another 40-minutes or so. Busuanga Airport was a bit larger – in other words, an enclosed building as opposed to an open-air hut. Was met there by a representative of my hotel, Sangat Island Resort. We took a Jeep down to Coron, and then I got on a boat to Sangat Island. Busuanga was so green, even though it was the start of rainy season. The grass and trees were so vivid, no brown spots in sight.
Sangat Island is right in the midst of several Japanese WW2 wrecks, and I wanted to experience the secluded island life for a couple days. Then I planned to move over to Coron Town and get a bit more nightlife and ‘town living.’ Sangat Island is small, beautiful, and mountainous – 25 meters from the beach the rocks start and go right on up. Didn’t have time to get around the island, but that would be worthwhile, methinks. Here’s what the island and accoms look like:
One problem: it was now rainy season, as you may have realized from my recent entry. That brings mossies and sticky weather. In Cebu, I had a nice room with aircon and few mossies; in Sangat, no such luck. I’ve carried a tube of DEET 34% insect lotion with me for a year now, and have very rarely used it. When night fell in Sangat, I was breaking out the stuff and slathering it all over me. And it worked wonders – I smelled like a chemical dump but the bugs went elsewhere.
Met a few people that night. Andy, the owner, is a great guy. I think you need to be to run your own resort in the RP. Noticed the next day that he wrote a blurb in my guidebook about the Japanese wrecks of Coron Bay – he’s knowledgeable about ‘em, is an experienced diver, and has some cool photos of the Sept. 24, 1944 bombings in the resort bar. The Japanese fleet had moved just beforehand, from Manila Bay, to evade US bombings. But US intelligence tracked the movements, and Admiral Halsey’s fleet sent a squadron of planes to hit the ships in Coron Bay. All were sunk on Sept. 24, many right near Sangat Island. These now constitute some of the best wreck dive sites in the world.
Chatted with Thomas, a German dive guide, in the bar for a while that night. He’s lived in Coron for 6-7 years, has a girlfriend and a couple kids. We traded stories about mosquito hell – my story concerned a post-MBA trip I took with 4 friends to Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. We canoed and portaged around numerous lakes there – and got devoured by the mossies. One twilight we came to an island, wanting to camp there for the night – but the mossies were waiting for us and we fled back to the mainland, where the situation was somewhat less hellish. Later that same trip, my canoe went over a rock, ripping the bottom rather severely. We huddled, then broke out our jar of Jiffy Chunky Peanut Butter. We put duct tape over the rip on both sides of the canoe, then spread peanut butter in and around the tape to serve as a water-repellant. That required us to remove the chunks by hand, which took hours. It worked surprisingly well – the canoe lasted another 3 days without leaking. I wrote to the Jiffy Company after the trip, commending them on their fine product, but never heard back from them. Really wasn’t surprised…
The seclusion of Sangat Island did have me thinking of the 2001 Palawan kidnappings, which took place much further south, in Honda Bay. But it was just a passing thought – like, in fact, most of my thoughts these days…
Dove three wrecks over my two days in Sangat. They were:
- Irako, a 150 meter refrigeration ship lying between 28-40 meters. Massive ship, largely intact. Lots of schools of fish around it, agitated and changing directions. Not sure why. Ghosts? Saw two fish chasing each others’ tails. Odd.
- Tangat, a 150 meter cargo ship lying at 25-30 meters. We swam inside, as it was opened up by bombs and nature, and was reasonably well-lit inside. Scores of oil drums lay about – very eerie. Reminded me of the film Alien. Some dark spaces in the ship where we didn’t go.
- Akitsushima, a 150 meter (go figure) boat lying at 25-33 meters. Lying on its side, surprisingly intact given that it rolled. There are two 3-barrel machine guns still visible – while covered in marine life, they still looked battle-ready. We swam to the top side, which was really a side of the ship. The vertical length of the ship is like a coral wall – it’s probably 20 meters long. There are some massive holes – with the metal jags facing inward, indicating a bombing hit. I peered into the holes and saw mostly darkness. Could only imagine the terror felt by the young sailors as the ship exploded and went down. Two huge turtles were frolicking on the top side – one was getting some good love from a remora, which was rubbing its back against the turtle’s shell and reminded me of our little dog and how he used to love to have his furry belly rubbed by my mother.
The first day of diving was June 6 – the anniversary of D-Day in WW2. Seemed somehow fitting to dive WW2 wrecks on this day…despite the differing theaters of war. As Blutarsky famously said in Animal House, ‘When the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor…’
Sangat has a few dogs, and one just gave birth to 12 puppies, 11 of whom survived. Super-cute little grommets. Here they are sucking their mom’s teats and having some milk:
Evolution played out right before our eyes…
Coming back from one of the dives, I realized that Sangat was growing on me. I didn’t love the mossies, nor the lack of aircon – perhaps there are limits to my eco-tourist sensibilities. Still, I can imagine that in dry season the place is more temperate and less afflicted by bugs. And the setting is lovely. If you like to dive, and to get away from it all for a few days, this is a fine spot for that.
My second and final night there, sat at the bar with a few guys, including Andy the owner. I had a Time magazine with me, showing a computerized spread of the Singapore city skyline as it might look in a few years. Fairly cool. We then speculated on what the Coron Town planned redesign might yield. Decided to have Andy go to the town planning office with the Singapore spread, and try to get a permit for a 40-story hotel. Didn’t really believe it would work, but might get some laughs and cause some confusion. I think the Coron redesign will be decidedly more modest – a 5-story hotel might be all they can handle.
Next day went for a morning dive (#3 above), then checked out and took a speedboat to the mainland/Coron Town. Went to my little hotel, Darayonan Lodge, where I’m trying this right now. There’s aircon and far fewer mosquitos…so I’m feeling more my bourgeois self again.
Looks like I’ll be here for a while. Meant to spend 3-4 days, then bop down to El Nido – but flights are rare, fully booked, and boats are also rare during this season. So will spend close to a week here, then take a boat down to El Nido. I have a total of 16 days in Palawan, so I’ll be fine. And I’m already liking Coron Town. Was walking around town and taking care of diving planning (going tomorrow to 2 different wrecks), and heard my name yelled out. Looked up, a Hawaiian fellow I met in Sangat was sitting at the 2nd-story bar, having a cocktail. I went up to join him, and he and his friend the proprietor gave me a few tips on nightlife in Coron Town – there’s more than meets the eye. The place reminds me of Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea – I wonder when the movie will finally be released. Anyway, I won’t get bored here, and might even learn to relax a bit.
See you next week. Enjoy yourself, wherever you are – don’t let me have all the fun. Here’s a final shot, of Coron Bay…
Tags: Travel
mbsloney
MBS
Is Palawan close to Leyte Gulf? That’s where your lot finally destroyed the Japanese battle fleet, thus making Iwo Jima and Okinawa slightly less bloody. Apparently the US navy refers to that battle as the Great Mariana’s Turkey Shoot.
I’ve just bought Al Gore’s second book, Assault on Reason – I really like the premise of the book. Will let you know whether its worth reading.
You mention that you will be Stateside in July. Will you be going over the Pacific, or coming through London?
Happy birthday in advance. Hope the Manila party is fun. Say hello to Chan san for me.
Best
JDM