Wanderlust Heaven!

This is my 100^th post – welcome to it and to my odd world. I suppose I should be deeply reflective at this milestone…but I’m not really in the mood, and I’ve just had a great week that I’d rather describe in some detail. That will be much more interesting – and even profound, but don’t hold your breath – than my dimestore philosophy.

I left India under the cover of darkness. My feet were covered with the dust of the land…my sweaty handkerchief jammed in my shorts pocket…a feeling of some relief mixed with a touch of sadness at departing this wild place, potentially for quite some time. I transited through Kuala Lumpur – not the most exciting waystation, but the fine airport has a Burger King and a Starbucks. Any sense of homeboy shame was dispelled when the Whopper’s grease dripped into the Coke and onto the fries…clearly any notion that I had outgrown my DNA and origins was incorrect. And then I got on my flight to Manila.

Back to the RP – not part of my original overall itinerary, but given the overheated nature of the Indian economy no frequent flyer flights could be had out of that country, and I was able to get one to the States out of Cebu. The prospect of returning to the Philippines and spending 10 or so days there had me licking my lips – the RP is in many ways the perfect antidote to India. And my expectations were met immediately. Manila’s Ninoy Aquino Airport, an old unimpressive facility, was absolutely spotless compared with Delhi’s dreary offering. I could have eaten off the floor at Aquino. And at Immigration, the agents smiled at us – perhaps it was due to some charm offensive that seems to have been instituted lately, but it didn’t seem to be a huge stretch for these folks. Good luck trying that in India…

The RP looked better than ever after my stint in India. I do think the country is gradually getting its act together, but the contrast was what got me. I’d never considered the RP particularly clean or calm, but it sure was now. Satisfaction equals performance minus expectations, and I came in with medium expectations which were easily exceeded. Is this why I travel – to gain insight and power from the contrasts??

Filipino English – the phrasings and the lilt – were wonderful to hear again. And during the cab ride into town, we were surrounded by old jeepneys packed to the gills with passengers. Old 70s tunes were playing on the radio – ‘You Belong to Me’ was one I hadn’t heard in ages. If you’re into classic rock (or nearly anything popular, for that matter) don’t waste your time downloading the songs on the web…go to the Philippines and live the music all over the place.

Hit a few of the Makati City bars that night. Went to my old fave, Mogambo, and played jenga with the bargirls there. Lost 3 straight games…old friend/colleague Eric from Manila would have been deeply disappointed with me. Years ago, we sat there (with his wife, a person of supreme forbearance/patience) and I won 7 straight games. The girls were chattering in Tagalog and Eric told me they were getting pissed off at me. My jenga skills have deteriorated and the girls have little to worry about any more.

Tourism is supposed to be the world’s #1 industry…but that gets me wondering how they define the categories. I imagine ‘tourism’ includes transport, lodging, food & drink on the road, etc. Sounds like a composite category to me. If you break it down to more streamlined areas, I would hazard a guess that bars are one of the top industries. At least that was from my field research that evening…

Spent the next couple days seeing friends and doing errands. Had dinner with Bettina at People’s Palace, a superb Thai place in Greenbelt Mall – the kind of place nearly impossible to find in India. Bettina’s managing a team training for an upcoming triathlon in Bali – nice one, Bettina. She’s been going up to Subic Bay regularly to hang out with the team. She invited me to participate, but given my weird movements (travel, not bodily – actually, both) I regretfully declined. Dinner was good fun – she brought along some other folks, and it felt like a real feast.

Went over to Ermita to walk around the Robinson’s Mall there. One of my favorite clothiers, British India, is there – or was there. The storefront was gone and replaced with some sporting goods store. Torture. I was in need of a shirt or two. Got on my Treo’s web feature and found that the larger, newer SM Mall of Asia (also in Manila) had a British India store. So did Glorieta 3 Mall. Manila has no end of malls. Went to both of those over the next couple days, and bought some cool shirts. Cost me a bit of dosh but well worth it – I am a bit fussy about my clothes, believe it or not.

While at SM Mall, also picked up my preferred cologne/aftershave, not always easy to find out here. And I saw the movie ‘Semi-Pro’ with Will Ferrell. Pretty funny – deliberately campy and over the top, but a decent take on 70s pop and sports culture. Ferrell seems to have carved out a real niche there – hoops, ice skating, and car racing. He’s probably painting himself into a corner…but given the mentality of American culture these days, it’s quite possibly a smart move. At least he can milk it for a long, long time and make a bundle…

Watched part of the movie ‘Munich’ in my hotel room that night. Geoffrey Rush has a great role in the movie, he’s an Israeli spymaster who’s very concerned with having all his agents give him ‘full receipts for everything’. Rush can really act – he’s not Jewish (at least I think he’s not), but came across flawlessly.

Got an SMS from friend Steve in Dumaguete, an upcoming destination. Apparently our mutual friend Mike’s boat sank. Mike owns a diveshop in Dumaguete and we planned to dive with him on Apo Island. I felt badly for Mike, but he’s an operator and I figured he’d get things together sufficiently by the time I turned up in a few days.

The only real sight-seeing I did in Manila was a short trip to the American Military Cemetery in Fort Bonifacio/Global City. En route I noticed that my camera battery was completely shot – ugh. Still, I wanted to see the place, I’d meant to go last year but never got around to it. Quite impressive – they keep the place up well and it’s sobering and dignified. There are some 17,000 bodies buried there, and partial/unidentified remains of perhaps 30,000 others. Right in the middle of a burgeoning part of Manila – a real history lesson set amongst the malls and subdivisions. I mean to return there at some point to spend more time. I looked at the names inscribed on the walls; one thing I often do in these places, probably to make it seem more real, is to look for deceased with my last name, or close to it. No ‘Slone’ on these walls, but I did find a ‘Harry Sloan,’ a ‘Max Sloan,’ and a ‘Sloat.’ As I said, a sobering place.

My next destination was Cebu, a city I’ve come to love over the many years. It’s hard to say precisely why – it’s not a beautiful city, there aren’t that many sights, the restaurants are only OK – but there’s a feeling in Cebu which is laid-back and friendly. And I now know the place so well that it feels like a second skin. My flight was late, of course – Cebu Pacific is a decent discount carrier but is rarely on time. Anyway, what was my hurry?

Touched down at the airport – negotiated a decent fare into town. My cabbie was a dimwitted young fellow who was nevertheless a huge Boston Celtics basketball fan and was well aware of Kevin Garnett’s latest statistics. The Celts seem to have a serious following in the RP – even more so than the Lakers. That’s the source of some satisfaction for me – in the States the Lakers, whom I detest, seem more popular, because of LA’s size/spread and because they’ve usually had a showtime style of hoops that is more appealing to the boobosie of America than the more cerebral style of the Celts. At least that’s how I see it…

Cebu is looking a bit better each visit. This time they finally got rid of an abandoned second-floor building near Fuente Osmena that used to house a Grand Majestic Chinese restaurant, and turned it into a new hotel. There are live music houses up and down Maxilom Avenue, and the streets seem cleaner than ever. Of course, street urchins still chase you down for change, but that’s OK. It’s a far lighter touch than you find in India.

Saw some old friends that night…ate at Larsian, a field strewn with barbecue/grill joints. You just walk around and point at what you want – there are fillets of blue marlin that are just succulent, along with the usual manok (chicken) and baboy (pork) skewers. You can eat and drink your fill and get out for US$5 or less.

Read the Cebu Daily News the next morning. Saw an editorial about the Kerouac book ‘On the Road,’ one of my formative tomes. The editorial extolled the virtues of travel while also counseling against expecting to find travel the antidote to all earthly ills. Balanced and sensible.

Bought a ferry ticket to Dumaguete, where I’d soon see some friends and go diving. Then had dinner with my friend Lyte and her sister (of course). Had a good chat – she’s a funny one, even if everything’s going well in life she can find something to harp on. I suppose I used to be that way – then I stopped thinking so much and started going with my internal groove.

Went back to Larsian that night, late night, after having a few drinks around town. Met a very cool young lass named Maria in one of the bars. Had a great time chatting with her for a couple hours. Maria was fairly quick to mention that she’s a virgin. A real badge of honor here in the RP – but I’m never too sure what to make of that information. I usually just smile and nod my head. Our cocktail waitress was named Annabelle, that was the name of my maternal grandmother. I told the waitress that and she seemed happy to stand in as my Filipina grandmother (although she’s probably 45 years old, at most). Quite a random night – I’d missed this kind of nighttime fun.

At the risk of sounding like a dirty (40 year) old man, I was delighted by the presence of so many lovely women simply walking around the malls, the streets, and hanging out in bars, coffee joints, and restaurants. You just don’t get that in India. And they’re so friendly and unafraid – perhaps a bit timid, but there just aren’t many places in the world where you can drop into a department store to buy a singlet or t-shirt and walk out with the mobilephone # of a cute 23-year-old saleswoman. I recall the very first time I visited Manila, for work, and checked into the plush Shangri-La Hotel in Makati. Even at that paragon of luxury, there was a feeling as I stood in the lobby that nearly anything could happen immediately – a coup attempt, a fight, an assignation. And the country as a whole has that feeling of possibility – even when you’re buying a coffee, you may be getting more than you bargained for. I suppose being a foreigner heightens that sense and reality – we are somewhat exotic and in demand, at least those of us not sporting a huge gut – but even the locals seem to have lives full of random events and trysts (and pregnancies). Pacific Catholicism, indeed.

I’d had a red patch on my leg for a few days, and it didn’t seem to be going away. Finally went to the nearby clinic and the derma there told me it was a minor fungal condition, brought on by the heat and sweat. She prescribed a couple meds that I went and got at the pharmacy. I was surprised how expensive the products were – no cheaper than you’d get in the States. I thought back to the small effort my friend and I made in 2007 to investigating ways to lower medicine prices in the country – and how valuable that would be. I’m keeping that in my pocket and might pull it out again one of these days…

Met Maria for lunch – I’d enjoyed hanging out with her the previous night, and wanted to keep that iron in the fire. We went over to Gaisano Country Mall and had some Pinoy food at Lighthouse. Then we walked around Ayala Centre Mall for a couple hours – nice to get out of the heat. I don’t love sweating to death in front of cute young women.
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Checked my email after forgoing the pleasure for a couple days. Saw some random ones in there – one from my old girlfriend Mayuko, and a handful from friend Virginia’s mother. Apparently Virginia, mom and perhaps another person are soon to visit India and had read my postings on said country…but also wanted a bit more info. Hadn’t been in touch with Virginia’s mom in ages – many years ago we’d all spent a Thanksgiving together in Maryland and I remember walking around a telling jokes all day. Nice to have that old memory brought up for air…to me, that’s the best aspect of the Internet and all of these social networking sites.

Also heard from old colleague Vicky, who’s had some medical challenges over the past few years. Had sent her an email months ago, and she was just now getting back to me. She’s fine and I was relieved to hear it – was about to use a back channel to check on her. All of these emails from out of the blue – it’s odd how our various timings don’t match up, I might want to check on you right now, and you don’t reply for months, whether you’re busy, or lazy, or whatever. Then all of the ‘hanging emails’ seem to come back at ya at the same time – and it’s hard to reply quickly, not that you really owe it to the sender to do that.

Finished up my 3 days in Cebu, and headed to the port to take a ferry to Dumaguete, on Negros Island, perhaps my favorite RP island. I’d spent a month in Dumaguete in ’07, and had visited a couple times before. Last year, after my month in town, I rode around Negros on a motorbike, dodging storms and crazed truckers, and reveling in the proximity to everyday life that riding a (motor)bike affords. That was one of the best weeks of travel I’ve had yet – although it was punctuated by a return to Dumaguete in which I found that my laptop had gotten wet at the hotel and nearly destroyed. Oh well – minor disaster.

Was very pleased to find that there’s a second company plying the Cebu-Duma route – Weesam Express. OceanJet had a monopoly (or was the only company who bothered), and it showed – crowded ships, not on time, etc. And their ferry left at 6 a.m. Not my style. Weesam left at 7 – somewhat more palatable. And their boat was neat, uncrowded, and orderly. Hopefully one of the two won’t drop the route and bring us back to the dark ages…

Was met at the Dumaguete port by Steve, a Bostonian now living in Dauin, just south of Duma. Steve and I met in ’07 through Mike, the diveshop owner/friend, and Steve and I had hit it off well. Well enough for him to come get me at the port, and bring along a couple young ladies who he’d recently met. These two were interested in meeting me – talk about an embarrassment of riches…and a nice pimping job by Steve. We rode his Toyota van down to Dauin, where he has a nice spread right on the beach, with a great dive reef just out in the bay.

As I wrote earlier, my entire RP trip was opportunistic, driven by the desire to travel cheaply from India to the States. And the Duma part of the trip was even more opportunistic – I could have gone anywhere else in the country. But I’ve come to love Duma and always have fun there – I have a bit of a network in town. And the next three days were nearly perfect. I already mentioned the female companionship – that got better and better. As soon as I got to Steve’s, we had a huge lunch of Filipino food – fish, rice, vegetables, fruit, a couple San Miguel beers. Then we went diving on what I affectionately call ‘Steve’s House Reef.’ Then we came back and got massages from Gemma, a local who gave me a massage last year and who has the hands of a magician.

After that, a quick nap, then a round of karaoke on Steve and Tina’s videoke machine upstairs. A few neighbors came over, and the room was full of people clowning on the mic. A couple hours of that, then we had a fantastic dinner, including some tasty chicken meatballs. If there’s any bird flu on Negros these days, well, I’m at risk.

The girls (the ones Steve brought to the port, as well as his wife’s sisters, cousins, and various helpers) were keen to go out that night. I think my presence shook things up a bit – Tina is very pregnant, and Steve doesn’t drink, so they’ve been homebodies lately. I wasn’t about to stay home and watch TV, and didn’t need to work too hard to get everyone into the van to head into town. We went to Hayahay, an outdoors music joint, where we met friend Mike and his family. Had a couple drinks there, then moved on over to the Why Not Disco, where Steve and I watched the girls (I think we had 6 in tow) go wild on the dance floor. Apparently some/most of them don’t get out that much, so this was their time to shine. I went out and danced for a few minutes, but the disco’s aircon was very weak and I was soon plastered in sweat and retreating to the table where Steve awaited. Great night.

The next day we again dove Steve’s house reef. After submerging I realized it was my 100^th dive – perhaps fitting that I write about in this, my 100^th post. There you have it – all things converging for me. There’s my analysis for the week. A pretty straightforward dive – saw a huge grouper and a few big turtles. At one point noticed Steve lying on the ocean floor, at about 18 meters. Watched him there for a while – he wasn’t moving, and not many bubbles coming from his mouth. Started to descend to check on him – I was quite worried that he’d narc’ed out or had some other mishap. Just as I was about to tap his arm, he started moving and breathing again. Whew. Every diver’s nightmare, having a friend (or yourself) face disaster on a basic, everyday type of dive.

Went back to Hayahay that night – it was the Wednesday Reggae Night bash at Hayahay, probably Dumaguete’s biggest weekly get-together. Steve was beat and didn’t come, but Tina did, along with all the usual (female) suspects and I. Met Mike again at the bar…stayed for a couple hours and enjoyed the music. Sent in a request to the band – for The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ‘The Impresson That I Get’ – and it got played, much to my surprise. The band had a small horn section and they gave me ‘the impression’ they could do the Bosstones tune, but it was still pretty random when they started it up. They did a decent job of it, too.

We then piled into the van again, and went to the Why Not Disco for a recap. You can probably sense that Duma is a small place and there aren’t that many places to go – still, you can have a great time if you’re with the right crowd. And Steve had set me up nicely, I was surrounded by fun women.

Late night – got back to Steve’s around 3 a.m., and had to get up next day at 7 or so to go diving with Mike at the sensational Apo Island. Got a couple hours sleep – had some company so didn’t get more than that. Woke up very groggy and had to get all our gear together for the ride to the boat. Somehow managed to get to the dock on time. Steve and I were joined by a couple of the lasses – we nicknamed them Steve’s Angels.

I finally broke out my waterproof camera case, which I’d bought last August but hadn’t yet used. Apo would be a good place to take some underwater shots and I was annoyed with myself for not using the damn thing earlier…not that I’d gone diving that often, but there had been 2-3 opportunities. Anyway, it was about time to take the plunge, literally.

The camera case did the trick – no leaks, and all the controls are on the outside so you can do nearly anything you want underwater. Took some good shots – not yet great, am still learning how to take good shots underwater. Anyway, the camera stayed dry – a key consideration – and I’ve added a new facet to my photography portfolio. Here’s a few of the better/more interesting shots I took that day and the next, at Steve’s reef in Daiun. Note the shot of Mike (Feeney, not Slone), sans mask.

With this move into underwater photography, I hope to silence the periodic importunings from friend Johann to get going on this.  He bugged me for ages to get an underwater casing – and then I got one and carried it around, unused, for half a year.  One more task addressed… 

Checked my email, saw a note from old friend Lisa. We’d met and hung out in Sunapee, New Hampshire when we were teenagers. Lisa moved to Chicago a while back, and we’ve been only in sporadic contact. Apparently out mutual Sunapee friend Kathy went to Chicago recently, caught up with Lisa, and told her about my slog. Lisa started reading it, wasted a few hours at work the other day slogging through it, and is a new fan. Again, the power of email and the Internet to reconnect – I love it.

Did my final Dumaguete/Dauin dive this morning, with Steve and a few other guys. Had lunch with Steve and one of Steve’s Angels at Mike’s diveshop/café, then hopped on the ferry back to Cebu, where I’ll spend a couple days before flying first to Hong Kong, then onward to New York. A fine, fine week spent here in the Philippines – I hit all the high notes, and a few low ones too. And as it turns out, my frequent flyer ticket takes me back to Cebu (via Hong Kong, where I could stop and get off if I so desire), so I may well do another 2-3-week stint around Cebu/Dumaguete after my US trip. I have some time to think that over, but given how much fun this past week was, it’s likely I’ll want another dose. Stay tuned…and get your Philippines travel plans in order, friends. Over and out.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 6:31 am and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.