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Preface
The following are my thoughts, observations and feeling on the events I was seeing in the Philippines at the time. These are unedited, and I make some assumptions based upon my particular experiences. I may make some incorrect observations, express some non-political ideas, and may make incorrect assumptions. Again, because this is unedited, I hope no one takes offence.
Quick Jump:
9/30/03 – 5:45 PM
9/30/03 – 9:00 PM
9/30/03 – 9:50 PM
10/2/03 – 5:50 AM
10/2/03 – 6:50 AM
10/4/03 – 11:00 AM
10/6/03 – 9:04 AM
10/15/03 – 10:46 AM
10/15/03 – 4:03 PM
10/16/03 – 11:45 AM
10/17/03 - 6:45 PM
10/18/03 – 6:30 AM
10/22/03 – 11:30 AM
9/30/03 – 5:45 PM
Checked in. Didn’t check trough boarding pass to Cebu. Realized it, went out. Nice lady did magic – First one she got to go through today. It made my heart jump when she didn’t find me or my seat in the system. The first lady checking in had never heard of Cebu. We talked about me seeing Niña and how we met. I showed off Niña’s engagement ring.
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9/30/03 – 9:00 PM
Bit the bullet and upgraded to business class. Benefits are that American Airlines gives miles for business class on a One World partner, and I had access to the VIP lounge. The lunge is comfy, has a TV that you can actually hear, nuts, snacks, real food, and all the alcohol you can drink (along with other drinks of course). Sitting in the comfy lounge, waiting to be called to board, I ate cookies and watched a special on the life of Jerry Seinfeld. The flight from DFW to LA was uneventful. No one sat right nest to me, so I had plenty of room. I read a book part of the time and the rest of the time I dozed and though of Niña and our impending reunion.
The international terminal was actually bearable this time. Crowded, but not like the circus it was last time.
I wait impatiently for the flight.
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9/30/03 – 9:50 PM
Funny observation – most of the lunge is now full, but it seems that 80% of its occupants are Caucasian.
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10/2/03 – 5:50 AM
Hong Kong airport. Unlike last trip, my gate for Cebu was all of the way on the other side of the airport. Fortunately, because my travel agent booked the flight out of LA earlier this time, I have three hours in the Hong Kong airport instead of just one. It took me thirty minutes to walk from the arrival gate to the departure gate. Thirty minutes, and that was with no other passengers to get in my way. Strange feeling walking through this huge airport with only seeing perhaps 20 people, 95% them being security.
I didn’t have to wait in line to get a temperature check this time. They had thermal imaging equipment set up and you could see your image as you went through the gate. Cool. They had health inspectors there to pull you aside if you came up with a temperature reading out of range. This is a MUCH faster and far more superior method than a few months ago when I came through here during the SARS outbreak of 2003.
Business class rocks. The movies on demand (controlled like TIVO) were Bruce Almighty, Matrix Reloaded, Pirates of the Caribbean, X-Men 2, Charlie’s Angel’s 2, and a few others that escape me. A pretty good selection. TV’s in business class were better, each seat has noise canceling headphones and the seats can recline into a flat bed or a Z shape. Great for sleeping. I slept as much as I could, watched Bruce Almighty.. some TV (like Friends). A Caucasian family with 3 kids, two under the age of two, were in the cabin with me. The kids made noise almost the entire time. Why parents would bring three kids on a 15+ hour flight is beyond me – unless they are moving to the country.
The food was good enough, but I got served the vegetarian meal I requested from coach – which was fine with me. They had other snacks available the whole flight, but I had eaten more in the last 24 hours than I had previously done in the last several days (being on a diet).
I had strange dreams on the flight that my friend and co-worker Paul was traveling with me. For some reason, the trip (in my dream was happening over Easter and he just realized that fact in the air. I was asking him if his wife Angie would be mad (or as Niña would put it, “Quarrel with him”). Strange dream.
As I wait at the gate, still two hours before scheduled departure, there are five Filipinos here and one other Caucasian. The Caucasian is bald, in his 40’s and alone. I wonder if he is going to meet someone special or to meet multiple women, or going for some other reason. His looks lead me to believe he is German although I haven’t heard him speak. I am sure that Niña’s sister Sol would wonder why I don’t just go say “Hi” considering he is a Caucasian – but he looks as warn as I must look from traveling so long at this point.
Oh, in business class they give you a nice travel bag with toothpaste, a toothbrush, hand sanitizer, a washcloth, and some lotion. Very nice. I got to brush my teeth twice while on the plane. Unfortunately, although I kept reminding myself to take it with me, I left it on the plant in the water bottle holder where I was keeping it out of my way. Sucks – shows I am tired.
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10/2/03 – 6:50 AM
The sun has risen and you can begin to see the morning fog burning off the surrounding mountains and off of down town Hong Kong.
It is funny, before I left, Niña told me that I couldn’t talk to any women on the flight unless they were 40 or older. I had no one sitting next to me in business class – so no problem. I just wonder if she thinks about the fact that I am 35 – so 40 may seem old to her, but it is only five years older than me. But as I told her, not to worry – young or old, I only have eyes for her.
It doesn’t seem real that in 4 and a half hours I will be in Cebu and that I will see Niña somewhere between four and a half and five and a half hours (last time it took an hour to get through customs and health inspection).
I hope Niña remembered to bring some pesos. I didn’t exchange money this time and I need to have some money to tip at the hotel when we arrive.
I just noticed the bald guy is walking around the airport without shoes and I see that the T-shirt he is wearing has a huge hole in the back (about the size of a silver dollar) and the design on the front is a frog in a tree. I take it back, I think he is an American. Two Filipinos have now sat in the row between us with their backs to him. One looks like she is her 40’s and the other her early 20’s. I would guess mom and daughter. He is now checking them both out hungrily, and is making a fairly conspicuous walk in a circle around them/us to see their faces. Sad, really.
I would like to pull out my camera and take a few shots, but I don’t have the energy and I am a bet self-conscious about looking like your average tourist. After all, I am seasoned – this is my second trip. ;)
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10/4/03 – 11:00 AM
Haven’t written for obvious reasons.
When I arrived at the Cebu Airport, no long lines to take your temperature this time. This time you just waited to hand your self-questionnaire (health) to a health inspector, then went to immigration. Turn an hour and a half ordeal into just one half hour.
Waiting outside the airport this time was just my Niña. She was alone this time (uncle Jimmy had just come home from the hospital) – she had a big smile and a hug and kiss for me when I arrived. We were accosted about 20 times for a taxi as we stood there for the driver to pull around and take us to the Marriott. We didn’t care – it was like I had never left. Once we were in the van, Niña showered me with kisses and we slowly proceeded though the Cebu streets on the way to Marriott. Nothing has really changed since my last visit, except one restaurant we never ate at but I always noticed, had closed.
Checking in at the Marriott was fine. They had my reservation. One non-smoking king sized be for 20 days at 2,000 pesos per night. At the current exchange rate of 54.7, that comes to around $30 per night. Much cheaper than the $150 per night private villa at Plantation Bay, but there certainly are reasons why.
The room was an acceptable size and it was comfortable enough. Hard to regulate the right temperature though. If the air conditioning wasn’t on the whole time, it smelled a little musty in the room. If it was on too much it made it too cold for me which meant that Niña was an icicle.
Note to travelers – don’t exchange money at the hotel. They were exchanging US $$ at 51 pesos per dollar. For a five minute walk to the mall, you could go to a money changer booth and get 54.7 pesos per dollar. At changing $200, it is an approximate difference of 740 pesos.
Niña has been really wonderful about my need to sleep adjust, although it must be boring as hell for her. Got here, went to hotel, unpacked some, spend some quality time, sleep to 10:30 pm, order room service (salmon with spinach sauce, not too bad), take a sleeping pill – sleep to 7:30 am, lounge in bed until 1:30 pm, go to the mall – walk, change money, go to back (for her), ate at Don Henrico’s – she got the crab pasta, I got a veggie calzone (it was pretty good). We then headed back here to the hotel and lounged and fell asleep around 7 pm only to wake to a bunch of very loud Chinese. These were a bunch of rather rude Chinese guests who were very drunk, in the hallway waking everyone up. We both woke up, snuggled until 2 am, and then I took another sleeping pill. We woke again at 7:30 am, snuggled and then headed out at 11:15 am to get some pancakes. We are planning on going out to Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Lita’s tonight.
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10/6/03 – 9:04 AM
Went to see Aunt Lita and Uncle Jimmy on Saturday evening. I feel really bad for Uncle Jimmy. He was trying his best to entertain us, but it was so clear that he was so tired and still felt very bad. He is recovering from Dengue fever. See here from the WHO for more info. I told him the good news is that he won’t ever get that exact strain of Dengue fever again – the bad news is that there are three strains. The doctors had not told him that he would be immune from one strain now. I think he thought I was full of shit – since the doctors hadn’t told him that.
We didn’t stay for very long at Uncle Jim and Aunt Lita’s house. We had fish, rice, and shrimp for dinner. We discussed the Xbox versus PS2 and Gamecube as well as nutrient supplements.
I have found out that Niña loves Russell Stover chocolate covered cherries. I brought some to her friend Grace last time, and Grace didn’t share any with Niña, so she asked me to bring her a box this time. I asked Niña is she even liked cherries and she said “No”, but I brought them to her anyhow. In the last few days, Niña has eaten almost the entire box of 24 cherries – so much so that her throat hurts. She says that her throat always hurt if she eats too much chocolate. It seems to me she may be allergic. This morning it is obvious that her throat is killing her. I made her some hot tea – and gave her two Tylenol. She had never taken Tylenol before, and she seems to hesitate at taking any meds. It hurt her enough she tried a throat lozenge I brought with me just in case I got sick. She really didn’t like the taste, but she did suck on it until it was gone.
I have been reading the local paper. The local celebrity and daughter of the former president has been in the news quite a bit. She is making headlines because she had an STD. She was also living with a man who hasn’t gotten an annulment yet. Big news in their culture for a respectable woman. It is the same kind of crap that we do to our celebrities here. Expect the world from them and then tear at them when they show they are human.
Seems to be a lot of violence in the papers. People beating each other to death with stones while drunk. A helper of Niña’s brother got shot in front of Niña’s father’s farm last night. It is so strange, it just doesn’t seem to fit. It seems like such a polite society, but no one blinks an eye if violence breaks out, yet it is shameful to even cause a scene over something in public.
So far, this trip has been cheap. I figured the hotel for 20 days will run me about $731 where plantation bay ran me $1800 last time for just 12 days. Admittedly, Plantation Bay had its advantages though!
My body is still having a hard time adjusting to the time and climate differences. I just want to sleep, and my digestive system (including hunger) just isn’t working right.
I called Al last night to check on things back at home. All is well. I haven’t been able to check email yet though.
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10/15/03 – 10:46 AM
It has been quite a while since I took the time to write. Niña and I have fallen into a comfortable routine – and now we feel the pressure of my leaving a week from today. We have decided to take a ferry overnight from Cebu to Cagayan De Oro City (CDO) where Niña lives. Her brother is graduating from a two year nursing degree on Friday, so we are planning on leaving Thursday night and taking the ferry overnight to CDO. This trip will give me a chance to see Niña’s house, as well as visit with her sisters and brother. For the longest time, Niña was teasing me saying that there were no taxis in CDO and that we would have to take a tricycle and that none of the hotels in CDO would have air conditioning. I was 98% sure she was just pulling my leg. I tried to confirm that Niña was joking by txt’ing to her aunt, but I don’t think she understood the question and just deferred to Niña’s knowledge of CDO. Niña admitted she was just messing with my head to see how I would react. I am looking forward to making the trip for the photo opportunities, but not looking forward to sweating all of the time. I went to leave my two large suitcases at Uncle Jim and Aunt Lita’s house so that I can just take everything I need for a few days in my backpack.
Niña and I ate at the seafood buffet here at the Marriott – it was good enough but not great. It was also “expensive” in comparison to the other meals we have had. Same with room service. The food here in the Marriott just isn’t that great. I think part of the problem is that almost all restaurants are falling prey to the “eat all you can” (all you can eat) mentality. All of the restaurants are starting this – even if the food isn’t as good. Cubano’s expect a lot for their money.
“Eat all you can” and “Buy one, take one” are funny to me. It seems to imply that you are getting away with something. We say “All you can eat”, implying that all laid out before you is for you’re enjoyment and you can stop eating when you feel satisfied. “Eat all you can” implies that you must eat as much as you are physically capable to get your moneys worth, and it implies you are getting away with it. Same with “Buy one, take one”. We say “Buy one , get one free”, implying that you are given one at no cost in exchange for purchasing one. “Buy one, take one” seems to imply if you buy one you can just take one with you. Again to me, it implies that you are getting away with something by “just taking one”.
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10/15/03 – 4:03 PM
Trying to buy a ferry ticket with the accommodations we wanted on the dates we wanted was a fiasco. We wanted to leave on October 16th (Thursday) for arrival on October 17th (Friday). Turns out everything but tourist class was booked. Tourists class is where you share a large room with bunk beds accommodating up to 100 or so people. In the states, this doesn’t sound like a good option to me – much as well here with me being the odd man out in any crowd. The next choice is a cabin. With a cabin, you reduce your number of bunk mates down to eight. Still, not the best accommodations where privacy is concerned, but if I have to I would. But, since I don’t have to, we were trying to book a state room. A state room is a private two person cabin. I like the sound of that. Unfortunately this meant a change in the travel dates – the state room going out on the 16th wasn’t available on either of the ferries, and the first ferry with an outbound state room arrives a day after Niña brothers graduation. We also have to stay until Monday, arriving on the 21st because no in-bound state rooms were available. This makes me a bit nervous considering I leave on the 22nd, but it was the best we could do. We had to take a taxi to the other mall to get our tickets – the issuing agency at our mall was “out of tickets”. The cost was PHP 2000 for the outbound fare and PHP 1800 for the in-bound fare. The discount was because of the round trip fare. Niña is not excited about the particular ferry that we have tickets on for some reason, even though she has never tried it. She just revealed that she rode a ferry from the same parent company 15 years ago and it was “pan-git”.
Clothes – they are cheap here in the Philippines. The labor to make the clothes is really inexpensive. With that factor alone, you would think it is a good idea to pick up some great bargains here. This would be true if they made the clothing with quality materials. Not so. Imagine quality materials using inexpensive labor – this equals a good value. Here, they need things really inexpensive, so the quality of the materials is poor combined with inexpensive labor. I am sure there are some good quality clothes made here, but I am just talking in general.
Again, the most important thing to know about dining here is the symbol for “please bring the check” which is < >. Without it, you would sit for hours waiting for your check. Don’t expect much in the napkin department when you go out to eat. Their napkins are thinner than most single ply tissues in the U.S., and they may give you one tiny square when you get your food (assuming you are not at a place with fine dining where they give you cloth napkins).
One thing to note for travelers, no public restrooms have toilet paper. The paid comfort rooms (10 pesos) which are few and far between, boast one of their services is that toilet tissue is provided.
TV is interesting here. Commercials consist of the usual – hair care products, toothpaste, etc. Then, you will see an advertisement for hog feed to make your hogs bigger, just thrown in. Items which are not heavily marketed in the U.S. have heavy air time in the Philippines like 555 Sardines, corned beef, and tuna. There also seems to not be any “truth in advertising” laws in the Philippines. They have milk that will “develop both the right and left brain of your child”, in another commercial they brush a seashell with crest and another shell with the toothpaste of a competitors paste and then they slam them together – the crest shell stays strong while the competitor shell shatters.
Then there are the really bizarre ads:
Cali – a carbonated juice drink – a bike delivery boy gets stuck in traffic, seems to go into a dream state where he runs down the street and falls into a manhole. At the bottom of the manhole is a female vampire nest where they bite him and he turns into a vampire. He then starts running down the street after a “sexy” jogger who outruns him and obliviously makes it to a door – which she opens – letting in vampire killing sunlight. At that point, the bike messger wakes and drinks a Cali. When he is done drinking, he is now alone on the street, no longer in a traffic jam.
Ok, explain to me how this commercial sells Cali or the Cali image. Crazy!
News and variety shows like “The Morning Girls” are interesting to watch and annoying at the same time. They speak about 20% English so you can sometimes understand the gist of the show but most of the time – if not in context, you can’t tell what is going on. The local celebrity, Kris, hosts and evening game show and a morning news/talk show. This it the same celebrity I mentioned earlier who was in the news for having an STD and living with a man who was still married. The morning show she hosts is “The morning girls” where she and a prominent newscaster go over the news headlines and give their opinions on the items. Beyond that, they have local celebrity guest on the show to discuss things like “how to survive loosing someone close to you” or young guests on to speak on “sex and kissing on the first date”. The game show, Game Ka Na Ba, is an odd mix. Kris also hosts this show. You start out with eight contestants who get narrowed down to two contestants pretty much by pure luck. “Will this guy hit one of the billiard balls into a pocket on the break?” Yes or No. Then four contestants get to go onto the next level. Each level consists of a question or a physical challenge. This goes on until there are just two contestants and those last two contestants are subjected to questions and physical challenges until one wins. The winner is subjected to things like getting his legs waxed to move onto the next level.
Season numbers are also a big deal. “Morning Girls Season 2”, “The Meteor Garden Season 3” (soap opera). Imagine here in the U.S. “Friends season 11”. Just saw a commercial for iridology clinics. A guy walks in holding his chest, walks out shaking everyone’s hands – thanks to the science of health diagnosis through examining the iris of your eye!
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10/16/03 – 11:45 AM
Niña and I decided to sleep in today. We had bought doughnuts from KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) yesterday to curb our appetite until dinner tonight. It is strange to go into KFC and buy doughnuts. We will need to pack tonight for our trip to CDO and I still need to take care of the hotel arrangements at the front desk for when we return. I don’t think that we have a hotel set up yet for CDO. Jan-Jan (Niña’s cousin) was going to check into her corporate discount on a hotel in CDO like she did for the Marriott here in Cebu. Niña’s sisters and brother were a bit disappointed that they aren’t coming to Cebu, and that we aren’t making JR’s graduation ceremony. I guess we should have made the travel plans earlier.
We must have eaten something questionable on Tuesday. Niña had one bout of diarrhea yesterday and I had it all day yesterday and today as well. I didn’t follow one of the traveler tips I often give out to others having to do with Pepto Bismol, because the food has been generally safe and an unfortunate side effect of Pepto Bismol is constipation. Anyhow – for you travelers who may be about to eat somewhere questionable – take Pepto Bismol BEFORE you have your meal. Try to take it 15 minutes or so before you eat. Pepto Bismol coats the lining of your stomach, and the Bismol actually can kill the bacteria in the food you eat before it gets a chance to multiply and make you sick. Now – this isn’t the cure all to prevent all illnesses from food borne bacteria, but it is a good plan when you are potentially eating somewhere that is even mildly questionable. Again, this can cause constipation in some, so I wouldn’t recommend doing this before every meal on a 20 day visit.
In unrelated eating notes, I hate the famous Filipino shrimp paste (Bago-ong) along with a fish paste. I really like it – very salty. I ate it on fish. Niña likes to eat it on raw mango – a taste sensation I can’t imagine. Niña was amazed I tried it, and even more amazed that I liked it.
Some TV channels like “Now” seem to be lacking sponsorship – the channel self advertises quite a bit and has obnoxiously long program intros – these two things scream “we have no advertisers”.
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10/17/03 - 6:45 PM
After spending the afternoon at Uncle Jim and Aunt Lita’s house, we have made it to the ferry to depart for CDO. Niña’s misgivings about the boat were unfounded. It was nice enough, and it turns out that the tourists class is better on this boat than on the boat Niña normally takes. For tourists on this ferry, instead of one big room that everyone shares, you are down long hallways in small wall compartments with clusters of 4 beds with a curtain. Much better than the one large room. Our cabin is nice though and set apart from the other areas of the boat. The bathroom is deep enough, with a shower, toilet and sink – but not tall enough (for me). I have to bend my head to stand in the bathroom (I am 5 ft 11 inches tall). At least the room is private. We also have our own little balcony. A TV and DVD player also adorns the room. Two single beds. Niña says they can’t be pushed together because of the radio between them. So – we spend the night in a single bed.
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10/18/03 – 6:30 AM
The ship is arriving. The night was OK but the cabin got cold, even for me. Good thing we were smashed in the single bed. The boat has some SERIOUS wave action going on last night. Niña said it was the most rocky that she had experienced in all of the traveling she had done on the ferries. As I drifted in and out of sleep, being woken by the rocking, I was concerned that I might get motion sickness. Fortunately, I didn’t – but I was paranoid. As we arrive, beggars in boats pull up next to the ship and are begging for you to throw money. They then dive out of their boats after the coins. I see families with naked infants on the boats. The morning air is cold – I feel bad for them. Niña and I waited in our cabin for the departure announcement. It never comes. We leave our cabin when we hear the ship staff meeting called (which was announced before arrival to happen 15 minutes after docking) and we exit the empty ship, slightly embarrassed.
As we walk to get a taxi, I can’t help but notice the stares at me are longer, more intense, more frequent, and less friendly than the stares I got in Cebu. I had experienced this on the boat last night when I ran out to get a San Miguel.
Niña and I look for a taxi. All of the taxi’s at the entrance of the port are all “crooked” and trying to rip us off. They all wanted to “meter up” 100 pesos to start the meter to go to the hotel. Niña wasn’t putting up for this so we walked further out of the port entrance until we found an honest taxi. The cost for the taxi was 35 pesos from the port to the hotel. Had we gone with one of the taxi’s at the port, it would have been 135 pesos. I paid the taxi driver 70 peso’s even though the fare was only 35, because he was honest. How sad that JUST because I, a Caucasian, was with Niña they immediately wanted to cheat us. Niña saw that earlier in Cebu at a hair salon, as soon as they saw I was there they wanted to charge more than double the normal rate. Fortunately, in Cebu, this was a rare occasion.
We are staying at the Dynasty Court Hotel in downtown CDO (room 403). The front staff was friendly enough. 2000 pesos a night. The room is a bit lacking. Two twin beds (no King or Queen available – Queen to this hotel is taking two twins and pushing them together), a room air conditioner that doesn’t dehumidify well. No towels in the bathroom, and we had to call to get some – even then, only two towels and no wash cloths. Thin walls. Mosquitoes in the room. I guess I am getting “artie”.
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10/22/03 – 11:30 AM
Been too busy to take notes. Took a nap in the hotel in CDO when we arrived, then took a taxi to Niña’s house. Cute little house – too small for as many people living there, but cute. Met her dog Chubby, who was not chubby at all – as well as two suitors of Chubby who weren’t getting the hint that Chubby was not in heat. It was strange to be in Niña’s house – one small part of it looked familiar from seeing it so many times on her web cam. We stayed there all afternoon. Her friend Grace showed up, and eventually we had dinner.
That reminds me – on the way to Niña’s house we went to a mall – if you can even call it that. It was under heavy renovation, to the point where the roof and the walls were missing at many points. In the states, there is NO way that the place would be open to the public – way too dangerous – a potential lawsuit just waiting to happen. But here it was open and plenty of people were there. We ate at the now very familiar Chowking and I had my last halo-halo for the trip. Walking here in this mall made me feel even more conspicuous. The Caucasian ratio was even lower here and the stares were stronger and more obvious here. After a meal at Chowking, we went to buy groceries to take home to Niña’s house.
Nothing out of the ordinary at the grocery store except the butchers section was wide open while they worked and they were surrounded by bins of chicken, beef, etc. – unpackaged. You just grab yourself some meat and put it into bags. Same procedure with fish. Oh – and somehow they have the most maneuverable shopping carts I have ever seen. You can be pushing straight then easily and instantly push the card 90 degrees against a wall. It made it a bit hard to drive the cart at first, but it was really maneuverable. I wish we had those kinds of carts here.
Getting back to the dinner at Niña’s house, when food was on the table Niña asked if I wanted to eat or if we should wait for JR. I wasn’t super hungry, so I said lets wait. JR and Win Win went to buy an internet card, pick up some VCD’s, as well as a cooked chicken. Being vegetarian, I wasn’t interested in waiting for the chicken but I was happy he went to get an internet card so I could check email. When he finally showed up, Niña scolded him because he forgot to get the chicken (which was her main reason to send him out). Therefore, JR and Win Win hid for a little bit while we ate. As we were going to sit down, I asked Niña where the CR (Comfort Room) was – she said to go into the kitchen and Jing would show me the right door. I didn’t know it at the time, but as I left the room everyone looked to Niña and asked her if she “warned” me about their CR and she said “no”. In the kitchen, I asked Jing which door was the CR and she opened the second door and turned on the light. I told her thanks and entered.
The real reason I wanted to go to the CR before dinner was to wash my hands and throw some water on my face. It was hot and humid in Niña’s house – and even though she had a fan on me pretty much the whole time, I was still hot and sweating. So, I wanted a sink to wash up in. As I closed the door to the CR and turned around, I was surprised to find four things in the room. The first thing was a slightly angled, bare, toilet bowl. No seat or lit, just a bowl designed to have neither. The next thing was a bucket half filled with water. In the bucket was a big plastic thing that looked like a ladle and over the bucket was a small faucet sticking out of the wall with a twist on/off valve. The last object in the room was a toilet plunger. No toilet paper – no sink – no soap – no mirror. I stood there for a minute, a bit surprised, then I urinated and exited the CR, using some of the hand sanitizer I carry with me. In the kitchen was a sink – and I thought of using that, but it was full of dishes they just used to make dinner and I thought it could be construed as rude (I didn’t know). So – I went back and joined them for dinner. I shared this story with Niña later in the evening when she asked me my thoughts on the CR, and she laughed so hard she was crying. She shared the story with her family the next day, and they all had the same reaction. After dinner we sat around talking with the Shrek VCD playing on the TV.
Niña and I went back for a partially restful sleep in the air-conditioning of the hotel. The beds pushed together to make a queen were far from comfortable for sleeping or snuggling. Looking back, we should have just shared a single like we did on the shop. I bet it would have been more comfortable.
Niña’s brother and sisters wanted to go to the beach the next day (Sunday) but I hadn’t brought any bathing suits to CDO – just enough clothing to get by since all I had brought was a backpack. Instead, we slept in, went to Niña’s house, then to a big mall farther from Niña’s house. This mall was more like the SM mall in Cebu, and was nice and fully equipped with all walls and a roof. We went here to see a movie (at my suggestion). I let them pick the movie, and someone chose American Pie The Wedding. While this was an “old” movie to me by the time it came out here in the Philippines, I hadn’t seen it so it was fine with me. During the movie, everyone munched on the snacks bought at the grocery store in the mall that we bought earlier. Niña isn’t a big fan of movies – American movies or other. I knew this before, and it was obvious during the movie that she was completely uninterested. She and her friend Lovely (who came in to town just to meet me) talked, loudly, through 60% of the movie. It was very distracting and people around us were getting annoyed – I tried to give Niña hints but she was oblivious to my hints and to the surrounding people. I didn’t want to argue about it or make her feel bad, so I didn’t say anything at the time. Several days later I asked her if it was a cultural thing – talking in movies – and she was unaware that they were loud or distracting. I think she just goes to the movies so infrequently that she didn’t know or think about it.
After the movie, and rounding everyone up, we went to an outdoor restaurant for dinner. Dinner was good – I ordered shrimp cocktail, and a BBQ seafood plate. San Miguel to drink. As usual, everything was family style except no one seemed to touch my shrimp cocktail but me. Niña was sweet and prepares some of the seafood from my dish for me – removed the crab and shrimp from their shells. I thought it was such a sweet gesture. I think she does it for me like I open a bottle for her before handing it to her – or putting some food on her plate for her. I also think they all feel sorry for me when I eat – using only a fork – a spoon only when I have soup. If they see me struggling enough, they get me a knife. I never really think of it – it is how I eat at home. The only thing different is at home I don’t have rice with every meal. After dinner, back to Niña’s house to talk more.
The next day, in the morning, we packed and checked out. Niña had made arrangements with the taxi driver the night before to pick us up at noon and to continue to return to get us at each destination for the whole day. From the hotel, he took us to yet another mall, so we could eat lunch with Niña’s sister Tata, and buy a ferry ticket for Balot to go back to Cebu with us. We were going to be taking Balot back with us because Niña (understandably) wanted some company for the return trip from Cebu to CDO. I also wanted to pick up a cake to take to the house as a treat for everyone. Red Ribbon, in my opinion, has the best cakes so I wanted to go there. We got a large Rocky Road cake and a smaller Ubi cake.
We spent the afternoon at Niña’s. AS it turns out, Niña and her sister Balot got into an argument – she didn’t want to come to Cebu with us – she wanted to go to an island with friends (we learned later, with a boyfriend). Because of the argument, her brother JR came with us to Cebu and Balot wasn’t allowed to go with her friends (she actually ran off with them anyhow and got herself into some trouble). An hour or so before we were to leave for the pier Niña’s friend, Liberty, showed up to meet me. At 5:45 we headed for the port. Fifteen minutes into the ride, JR realized that he had left some important documents at the house so he bailed from the taxi to go back to the house and he said he would just meet us on the ship.
Pulling away from the dock I was worried that JR didn’t make it on the ship in time. About the time I mentioned my worries, he knocked on the door of our cabin. He stayed for a while, and then said he wanted to explore the ship. Eventually, Niña and I had to go looking for him because we were ready to go to sleep. Niña got a little motion sick – the ship was really rocking back and forth the first several hours out of CDO. I gave her a few Pepto Bismol tablets and eventually she fell asleep. I woke up several times during the night thinking I wanted to get my leftover SARS surgical mask to try to block out the diesel fumes – but was too lazy to actually get up. The ship arrived early – 5:30 am and it wasn’t hard to find a taxi – there were perhaps 100 lined up and all of them were “metered” – too much competition so no one was trying to rip us off. We took a taxi to Uncle Jim and Aunt Lita’s house to drop off JR and to get our luggage. Then we headed off to the Marriott to check in.
The room wouldn’t be ready for an hour and a half, so Niña wanted to try the breakfast buffet. It was actually the best meal we had at the Marriott. It was strange to be around other Caucasian/Filipino couples again – but it felt familiar to be at the Marriott again. We took a nap and then met JR at the mall.
Interesting, they were having a fencing tournament at the mall. It gave me an opportunity to show Niña what I was talking about when I told her that I fenced. We at a familiar café – good food and I left a large tip to the waiter who had waited on us almost every time we ate there. The rest of the evening was just filled with Niña and I saying goodbye and looking forward to her visa approval. The whole trip I had been saying that we shouldn’t be sad when I leave – the next time we would see each other would be in Texas.
Niña was particularly quiet when we got up and ready in the morning. I kept checking with her and she said she was OK. I know she was just dreading my leaving and going back to just waiting for our life to begin together. JR met us at the hotel, and we headed out to the airport.
I checked in, and tried to get an upgrade from Hong Kong to LA. They had not idea how to even check for this and suggested that I try in Hong Kong. If I had more than just one hour in Hong Kong, I would have tried that before asking there in Cebu. I wasn’t getting anywhere with the staff at the Cebu airport so I went back out to Niña and we sat for a while. 11:15 rolled around and I had to go. I have Niña a hug and a kiss goodbye. She wouldn’t let go for a while – and it broke my heart. Eventually, I got her to let go, and headed into the secure part of the airport. I looked back and she was standing there so I waved goodbye.
For some reason, the exit fee at the airport was P550 rather than P1500 this time. I don’t know why the fee went down, but I was happy.
As I sat there I was surrounded by Filipinos and a large amount of Caucasians – while sitting there, that is when I started to write some of this journal.
On the flight to Hong Kong, I mostly wrote and ate my vegetarian lunch. No one sat next to me and I was comfortable.
I got to the Hong Kong airport and rushed to my connecting gate. I actually made pretty good time to the gate, so I tried getting an upgrade from Hong Kong to LA. Unfortunately, nothing was available – so I spent the next 14 hours crammed in a small seat trying to get some sleep. All in all, nothing really happened that was noteworthy – so I won’t bore you with the details as I have been the rest of the story. I made it back home, was picked up by my friends Brendan and Jen – and went home to begin my second round of waiting for Niña.
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