Posts by Country

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

The Filipino Road Trip





On Saturday, the 18th of January, Chu Sum and I had made it - we finally had our own wheels and were ready to go explore the Philippines on our own! But, it was getting late which, as I learned, would make the ride from Angeles to Subic Bay a bit uncomfortable as the air was thick with insects. After about an hour or so, we arrived in Olongapo covered in tiny little dots... or at least I did - Chu Sum was a bit scheltered there on the back of the bike. We settled into our "pods" at Subic Bay Hostel & Dormitory then went out and got our first taste of restaurant quality Filipino food at a place called Coco Lime.



The food was a bit pricey, as would be the case with most places during the trip (at least compared to Vietnam), but that's what we get for getting recommendations from the hostel. Actually, even if we had managed to find a local-friendly place, they would probably have charged us more because we were tourists. In any case, the food was excellent.

On our way back to the hostel, we stopped by a live music event where a group was performing what were probably local hits based on the reaction of the audience. I suppose this was my first time being exposed to Filipino entertainment, which I would say is rather unique in that they regularly pepper their lines with English words. In fact, I eventually realized that everything is that way in the Philippines: commercials, recorded announcements, TV shows, etc. The English words sound so out of place, though, that you'd be forgiven for thinking that they'd simply forgotten the word in their own language.



On day one of our motorcycle journey we both had our first scuba diving experience. We got there in the morning for an hour of so of instruction before heading to a pool to do some training exercises. Then, that afternoon, we took a boat out and did the real thing! Scuba diving really is a lot of fun. I get it now why so many people are so passionate about it it. The feeling of breathing underwater alone is pretty awesome but, of course, the real treat is being able to navigate the depths without needing to resurface. I have to say, I'm really relieved that I didn't have any problems equalizing the pressure in my ears. I've had trouble with that before, but it turns out that you just have to go up a bit again if you feel pain and then, when you go to descend again, just equalize a bit more often. I also learned that you can adjust your boyancy by just controlling your breathing. Chu Sum had a bit of trouble with this because he relied too heavily on the boyancy control unit. As I discovered (and later confirmed with the pros), you just have to let the air out of your lungs and you sink like a rock!



On day two, we had problems. The bike was making weird noises, so we stopped by a local mechanic and he told us that the engine was going to seize. We called the owner, Alex, and he told us to ride it back to Angeles City. This actually worked out really well! It was slow going getting back to Angeles with the bike protesting anything over 60 kph but, upon our arrival, we were given a free upgrade! We actually would have gotten such a bike at the start, but we had arrived on the weekend. Now it was a weekday, so we got something that could take us to a much more interesting destination.



Alex didn't just upgrade our bike, but he gave us some good tips as well. He told us about some interesting routes we could take to get to a little-known place in the mountains with a free hot spring! So, we took the bike over to the local mall, grabbed a tent and some food, and drove off into the countryside. Our first obstacle was navigating a small neighborhood (or "barangay" aka "barrio" in Spanish) that gradually became more and more rural until the roads were no longer paved. Soon we exited the neighborhood onto sandy pathways that were rather difficult to ride on. Luckily we found a local to follow who rode much faster which, as I had expected, made the bike much more stable.



Eventually we came to the river, which we had to cross several times on the way to the pools. At one point we came to a fork that Alex had told us about. He had told us to go left, but our wannabe guide was insisting that we follow him to the right. So, we paid him (money is always expected even if you didn't actually ask for help) and, despite his objections, we continued to the left. Alex had explained that there are indeed hot pools to the right, but that they would charge us there. Sure enough, as we continued to the left, we came upon a bunch of very well-made hot pools with nobody charging entry. We set up camp, did a little BBQ and then went for a midnight dip in one of the best hot pools I've every been in.



On day three we decided to head back to where the first bike had broken down. There we had another go at our original destinations - Balanga City and Mariveles. We hit a couple snags along the way, though... not the least of which being that we got trapped in quicksand. Alex had warned us about riding in the river where the big construction machines were working. I just figured he meant to start looking for the exit, but no - he meant to get out of the water! Anyway, after a few minutes of panicking and beeping SOS with the horn, I managed to get some locals to come help pull the bike out. Not a moment too soon, though!



A few hours later we arrived in Balanga City and found our hostel. Balanga City is a center of tourism with historical buildings, a public market with interesting drinks and snacks, and really weird traffic issues. We got there and I wasn't sure if my GPS was working properly as the traffic was actually directed along a circular route that, unless you cut back through the middle of it, you ended up being coraled along an unending loop that just kept going around and around.



We spent the evening walking around getting food (Sissig!) and looking for a good message. A lot of the places we just couldn't find - one place was just a gas station - but, in the end, we found a pretty good one.

The next day was Chu Sum's last, so we headed down to Mariveles to check out the famous "Five Fingers" - a bunch of peninsulas with caves and beaches. Unfortunately, the road was blocked and, though we found a trail, we soon started running out of time and became demotivated. The views were nice, though.



Still, we did manage to find a cool little coastal barangay on the way back where we finally got to see some beaches. We even met some nice locals and a little kid who had a pet crab! We got back on the road, returned the bike in Angeles and took a trike to the bus station so Chu Sum could go back to Manila to catch his flight.

That night I went to a new hostel where I made some new friends from Russia named Janko and Nikita. Janko was riding around on a little scooter that he had rented in Manila (not an easy way to get around!) and Nikita had found a place that rented out full-sized motorcycles for half the price of the ones Chu Sum and I had rented. We talked a bit and agreed that he would take me there the next morning so that I could rent one as well and we could explore the Philippines together for the coming weeks! The real adventure was about to begin...

Saturday, January 18, 2020

The Filipino Adventure



I've been on a lot of great adventures - and I'm not just referring to the fact that I've been to about 25 countries - but I'd have to say my experience in the Philippines was probably the wildest yet. Still, for the sake of comparison, here's a chronological list of my most notable adventures (note: some of them are perhaps a bit poorly written...):

In 2009, I had my first experience abroad in Greece (we sailed around a bunch of the islands). In 2010, I went to Ireland (where I almost got hit by a terrorist rocket), slept in a closet in Paris in order to save money, made a visa run to the Rock of Gibraltar, and hopped a train in order to catch a flight out of Frankfurt, Germany. In 2011, I went on a trip across America during which border patrol stopped us because they found seven pounds of marijuana under the bus. In 2012, I caught a ride with a truckie down the coast of Australia, worked as a door-to-door salesman, smashed up my friend's car driving through the outback, worked with a bunch of carnies to make money to repair the car, and also worked as a driving instructor for a girl that didn't know how to turn or brake... we went over the roundabout, took out a sign post (as well as her front bumper) and ended up in someone's yard. In 2013, I became a bushman trapping possum and living in the Tararua Ranges of New Zealand, almost froze to death riding through the mountains on the way to Christchurch, worked as a mountain lodge manager at a club field called Cheeseman, almost got stranded doing a 3-day hike in one day, and got a really cool job working in the middle of the wilderness just by rolling up on a motorbike - I later replaced that bike with a super dodgy one, which I then used for a two-day 1000 km trip through a storm. In 2014, I traveled around China (and saw the Great Wall), was locked out of my friend's place during one of the biggest protests in Hong Kong history, went off the beaten path in Malaysia, found a place for cliff diving in the jungles of HK... and almost got caught in a flood there two years later. In 2016, I did a huge scooter trip around Spain with a friend on a beat-up bike, traveled around Morocco in a Swiss friend's old van... we didn't actually even know if they'd let us into the country with it. In 2017, I rafted the Puyallup River (the second time there a friend almost drowned), ate some weird stuff in Vietnam, and rode my old junky Spanish scooter from Switzerland to Duesseldorf.



So yeah, I've been around a bit. Nevertheless, I think my trip around the Philippines might have actually topped them all... The story begins on Thursday, the 16th of January. I woke up to cars honking, as I would for the next couple of days... welcome to Manila - no alarm clock needed. The first day was just that way. I later got ripped off by a trike guy (gotta negotiate the price beforehand!) and spent the rest of the day testing my patience with the public transportation system. After hours of busses, Grab taxis and Jeepneys (ubiquitous WW2 jeeps repurposed and used nationwide as a cheap A to B), I had managed to visit the mall and return to my hostel. At least the day ended well seeing as I met some new friends on the rooftop of the hostel. We shared our stories and ate tasty Filipino BBQ chicken and pork - a major item on any tourist to-do list.



The next day I just took it easy - spent time hanging out with new friends and did some planning. That night Chu Sum arrived from Hong Kong and, the next day, we started our journey. We took a train, waited at a bus station for over an hour, then took a bus the rest of the way to Angeles City. There we rented a motorcycle from one of the only places in all of the islands (AKA the Philippines) where you can get something big enough to take on the motorway. The Filipino road trip had begun!

Thursday, January 16, 2020

Back in Vietnam



So far 2020 has been pretty interesting - and I'm not referring to COVID-19 (though I suppose we have quarantine to thank for my latest posts). I had my first game of glow-in-the-dark minigolf, made a daytrip to Bonn and, yeah, traveled Southeast Asia for a month, as one does.



On Thursday, the 9th of January, I flew over to Berlin for the night. I stayed with Raul (met in Anaheim) and some other brothers from the church. It was late, so we didn't really get to see anything, but it was a good visit nonetheless. The next day I flew to Singapore and, thanks to the time difference, I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on the 11th.



The first thing I noticed was one of these guys sleeping on his bike. Though, the one I saw was doing this in the middle of traffic!.. Basically, just slightly off to the side. At the hostel I immediately made new friends with whom I spent the afternoon eating pizza and planning the next day. I also had a $15 message - the first of many to come.



The following day, after a two-hour bus ride, we all arrived at the Chu Chi Tunnels. During our visit we learned about the many extreme survival techniques used by the Việt Cộng. First of all, they lived underground in tunnels and ate Tapioca root all day long as their only food source. We tried some, which was actually pretty good, but one can imagine getting tired of it in about a day.



Due to the resulting malnourishment, the Việt Cộng were quite small, which helped them to live in tunnels that, as I discovered, are quite confining... Of course, I'd rather be malnourished than experience the horrible conditions that some of the US troops had to face. Not only did the Việt Cộng find devestating ways to use the weapons of the attacking forces against them, but they were also quite effective in coming up with gruesome traps that would shred and impale the flesh of their victims.

 

Yeah... I'm pretty glad I wasn't around for that conflict. After visiting the shooting range (overpriced and crowded), we took the bus back to Ho Chi Minh City.



The next couple of days we enjoyed the fantastic free breakfast on the hostel terrace (most hostels offer really good breakfast free of charge), and ate at lots of nice restaurants. Although, most notable was the street food, in particular Banh Mi (very cheap and filling sandwich bursting with spicy flavor!). I spent most of my time with two hostel buddies - a German and a Canadian.



In the last two days, before I left for the Philippines, we checked out the Indepenence Palace, the Central Post Office, and the markets. I bought a good backpack for about 500 thousand dong (about $20) at the Ben Thanh Market (more touristy than the Chợ Bình Tây market, but good luck navigating that mess!) and tried the famous Coconut Iced Coffee at Cong - not bad!