Clown Fish and Karaoke

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Trip Start Sep 05, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Oct 06, 2007

  Panglao Island, Philippines
Saturday, September 29, 2007

After a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to the Philippines, we spent a few days with Kelly's good friend from college who has been teaching Spanish for six years at an international school in Manila.  The charms of Manila are few and far between, and I admit it took a few days for the Philippines to work its magic on us.  However, now that we've been here for a week, I think it's safe to say that the Philippines is probably our second favorite country after Vietnam. 

After a couple of days in Manila, we took a bus to Batangas City, a port city about 2 hours south of Manila.  From there, we piled our selves and our two backpacks into the sidecar of a tiny Kawasaki motorbike for an hour and a half ride to our dive resort.  Sidenote to our mothers: we are safe, the motorbike went very slowly, and we promise never to do it again.  It was the ride from hell, though.  We tied handkerchiefs over our faces to cut the exhaust fumes we were breathing in, and I think the poor driver was ready to leave us on the side of the road after half an hour.  The bike wouldn't go uphill with all of us on it, so Kelly had to get out and walk uphill every time we got stuck. 

The first resort we chose was closed for the season, it was getting dark, the motorbike was seconds away from exploding, and we felt a little desperate.  We ended up staying at a very nice, though way overpriced resort with a private beach and very nice beachfront cottages.  We were the only guests of the resort and had a staff of about 12 at our service.  Every time we emerged from the room, a little signal would travel from staff member to staff member that we were coming.  It was kind of crazy. 

At that resort, we did two dives--both times just the two of us and the divemaster.  These were only my 5th and 6th dives and the first real ones outside my certification dives.  The visibility was incredible and the variety of corals and fish amazing.  However, I am in dire need of learning fish species and can't tell you what we saw. 

From the resort, we went back to Manila for the night and then caught an early flight to the island of Bohol.  Here, we rented an apartment with a kitchen, which has been wonderful.  Yesterday we did two wall dives--both amazing dives.  Scorpionfish, parrotfish, clown fish, hard and soft corals, elephant ear corals, etc. 

Last night after the dives, we went to the mall.  Yes, the mall.  Our taxi driver was named Ginger, and he asked if we had been to the Chocolate Hills yet.  We said no, but we were interested.  He said his brother Jimmy has a minivan and could drive us there for the day.  Great.  So this morning, Ginger and Jimmy showed up at the apartment, and we piled into Jimmy's van for a daytrip.  Turns out Jimmy was a truly terrific tour guide.

We started out at the Chocolate Hills, the most famous site in Bohol.  They look like a series of huge Hershey's Kisses that stretch into the horizon as far as you can see.  Dark brown in the summer, they were pretty green when we saw them.  From there, we made a series of stops with Jimmy telling us the history of the island, Magellan's exploration and conquering of the Philippines by the Spanish, the cultivation and farming techniques for rice, the history of the Catholic Church in Bohol, etc.  He was a fount of knowledge and a wonderfully friendly fellow.  He took us to the oldest church in Bohol (1596), a butterfly farm, a tarsier sanctuary (the smallest primate in the world--SO cute), a suspension bridge made of bamboo, and a really beautiful beach.

For lunch, Jimmy suggested we take a river cruise along the Loboc River.  It looked like a total tourist trap, but we were game.  Jimmy did not come with us.  We boarded a boat with a buffet lunch set up.  It was full of tourists, but our best guess is that almost all of them were Filippino tourists with perhaps some Koreans on board as well.  The buffet lunch was a feeding frenzy with everyone descending on the table, grabbing food from the dishes, eating as they went, no line, no order.  It was scary. 

I think we must have looked completely overwhelmed because Jimmy saw us from shore, boarded the boat, procured plates and forks and Sprites for us from somewhere, sat us down, and told us to wait for the frenzy to clear and they would restock the food.  Now, an all-you-can-eat Filoppino buffet is just not an appealing thing.  The food here is remarkably bad.  However, we got some rice and meat on a stick and bananas, and we were set. 

The boat traveled about 15 minutes downstream to a waterfall, turned around and came back.  Along the way, we stopped at a floating platform where about 30 children were playing ukeleles and singing their hearts out.  We stopped for pictures, including an obligatory shot of Kelly and me sitting with the kids, pretending to play our very own ukeleles.  Great shot!

On the way back, a guy with a guitar started singing and playing.  Pretty soon the entire boat was singing, banging on tables, and dancing.  We rocked out to several Filippino songs as well as Rock Around the Clock and La Bamba.  However, the guy truly brought the house down with Leavin' on a Jet Plane.  Imagine, if you will, the two of us on a river in the middle of an island in the Philippines, surrounded by Filippino tourists, singing Leavin' on a Jet Plane at the top of our lungs.  Ah, John Denver, uniting the world one soulful ballad at a time. 

The boat docked, and we formed a conga line, dancing our way off to a rousing version of Day-O!  Yes, it was the most cheezy tourist thing we've done, and we loved every second of it. 
 
Right now, we're in the tail end of a typhoon that is hitting Manila.  I imagine we'll head to the beach for some fish and rice for dinner.  Tomorrow, we have two more dives scheduled.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.  Hope everyone is well.  Let us know how you are.  And we are looking forward to coming home in one week!      

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