Exiting Baguio and Entering Vigan

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  Vigan, Luzon, Philippines
Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Well I finally left Baguio.  I kind of overstayed my welcome there.  Baguio turned out to be an alright place but it had one big problem: serious pollution from traffic.  Between that and excessive smoking (a pack of Marlboros is a little less than $1 CAD), it left my lungs feeling rather cakey.  I didn't have much energy to move around so ended up staying 4 nights there which is rightfully at least 1 or 2 nights more than was strictly necessary, but that's how it turned out.  The pollution is largely created by a traffic problem, and specifically by the hordes of jeepneys that congregate in the center of town around Burnham Park.  By the way, a jeepney is a local mode of transport, much like a city bus, but they are actually decommissioned little army jeeps that the US left behind after their military contract finished.  The Filipinos have turned them into a bus system and they are painted in funky colours and done up wildly with hilarious pictures and ridiculous quotes on the side.  They remind me of the Diablo Rojos (Red Devils) in Panama City but are much smaller and cuter.  I will post some pictures of jeepneys soon enough.  The center of Baguio sits in the low part of a valley, so all the traffic exhaust just sits there, stewing up in the middle of town.  This was by far and away the worst aspect of Baguio.  Otherwise, it was an OK place and the saving grace was that Baguio has lots of great quality, cheap dining options.  For instance I had dinner at a fantastic Mongolian Grill place with a king's portion of fresh meat and veg options for a whopping $4 CAD.  I also had what was one of the best curries I've had in years: a fresh mango curry with shrimp, chutney and papadam for less than $5 CAD.  And each of these meals was in what were really kind of fancy restaurants - you can pay much, much less than that for food around here.  Also, I managed to find a really cheap hotel for 250 pisos per night (about $5.75 CAD).  To be sure, it was nothing fancy (that may be an understatement) but it let me catch a break while I caught some extra rest.  I did manage to have an entertaining night out on the town.  I first stopped by a popular local joint called the Red Lion Inn and quaffed down a couple of beers while watching a cute trio of local girls doing their karaokee show thing.  They were all smiles and poses, looking so cute while singing Billie Jean and the ever-present Careless Whispers.  Yes my friends, Careless Whispers by Wham is played here like it just reached #1 on the billboards only yesterday.  In one form or anther, I am subjected to this song no less than 3-5 times per day.  In any case, I headed off to the City Tavern where audience participation karaokee was in full swing.  An overly friendly waitress (who I'm sure was actually a man) insisted that I sing a song so what else could I do but of course, you guessed it - Careless Whispers.  It amused them very much to see me doing the karaokee thing and I was the only foreigner in the bar.  A couple of nice girls who sitting at the bar struck up a conversation with me.  Mae and Cherri - they had just graduated from Uni and were looking for work.  May's English was flawless, so we chatted for a while and I mentioned to them that I was interested in seeing some live music.  They were very sweet and they offered to escort me to a live music venue down the street.  When we got there, it turned out it was a country bar and I was surprised to find that country music is very, very popular in Baguio City.  I asked them why and they couldn't really say, but it was quite evident from the size of the bar and the huge crowd that the country thing was going over quite well.  The bar was set in what was clearly an old movie theater.  The band that was playing when we walked in were pretty good, and they rattled off some country favourites from years gone by.  Mae's eyes rolled heavily when the 2nd band came on.  It was a band of all girls, every last one of them drop dead gorgeous and quite scantily clad.  But they couldn't play the songs to save their lives, so while it was pleasant on the eyes and all that, it was quite painful to the ears.  The crowd seemed to love it just the same.  I made jokes with the girls about how they must be so poor that they can't even afford proper clothing and that's why they have to work so hard at the music.  We all had a laugh at their expense.  The girls stayed for a beer or two and I packed it in very shortly after they left.  Baguio turned out to be fine but glad to be out of there and glad to be here in Vigan. 

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