I went to the Philippines
I didn't write about my trip during my trip. I was distracted. So I'm going to write about it now, about a month later, so at least to some extent the details will be preserved for posterity; at least those which are not permanently emblazoned in my mind.
The whole trip was 3 weeks. I flew from New York (Newark actually) to Hong Kong. It was just about 16 hours non-stop I think, which is I think my longest flight ever. My last few trips to or from Asia have hovered in the 12-15 hour range. Over a certain number of hours, I personally feel it doesn't matter anymore. It's just long and boring. My technique now has been to bring a book that is engaging so I can read the whole thing. That keeps me occupied for some good portion of the trip. In this case, it was the Crocodile and the Crane by Arthur Rosenfeld. It was good, look it up on Amazon.
I spent a few nights in Hong Kong to recover from jetlag before the trip began in earnest, though this was let's say marginally successful. It is a 13 hour time difference, it takes more than two days, but I think I adjusted admirably. After a few days of vegetarian food and visiting with my friend Lilian in Hong Kong, I took the ferry to Macau and checked in for one night at the Venetian Casino. It was gigantic and over-the-top and opulent and all of those things one might expect from a giant casino styled after Venice, Italy. It was at the hotel in Macau that I met up with Carrie, my close friend from Guangzhou whom I met about 1.5 years ago at the beginning of my first trip around China.
We spend a night in Macau largely exploring the casino due to crappy weather, then boarded a plane in the morning for Clark, Philippines. Lots of budget flights apparently dump you in Clark, the former site of a large American air force base and now a hotbed of sex tourism and seedy nightlife. Despite our fearing the worst, we stayed at a lovely hotel called the Oasis which was comfortable. Our arrival in the tropical climate was most welcome after the cloudy and chilly weather I'd found upon arrival in Hong Kong. The entire time we were in the Philippines, it was warm and sunny. I can't really recall anytime that the weather was not great. The evenings tended to be a bit cooler but never so much so that it was uncomfortable in a t-shirt really.
So we stayed in Clark the first night and immediately arranged to be picked up at 5am by a ridiculous 4x4 to drive us 2.5 hours or so to Mount Pinatubo, a giant volcano which last erupted in 1991 killing and hurting a lot of people, but has since become a place where people go to hike, ride motorbikes, and spend time at the beautiful clear lake now found in what I'm prety sure is called the caldera. The latter portion of our ride in the aforementioned 4x4 led us up and down this more or less dry river bed with an awful lot of rocks and bumpy terrain. It was like some of the avenues in New York though slightly moreso. We hiked through this same landscape for the next few hours, eventually inclining upwards towards the caldera. The landscape was not unlike what Frodo and Sam trekking through Mordor in the last Lord of the Rings film. We'd set out so early to avoid the heat, so for most of our hike that was not a problem. Having stepped in the river in my sneakers very early, my wet shoes helped me keep cool much as sticking your leg out of the bottom of the blanket helps regulate one's body temperature at night. So we hiked up, checked out the lake, hiked down, rode all the way back enjoying the scenic countryside and small villages. People are really poor in the Philippines most of the time, it's somewhat distressing, though like most of these third-world locations I've visited, they are amazingly friendly and seemingly pretty darned happy. We spent the rest of the day pretty much ensconced at the hotel, napping, enjoying the pool, and planning our next move. I believe that night we ventured out to Fields Ave, the main stretch of bars in Clark which is filled with absurdly young and aggressive prostitutes, women lined up soliciting men to come into the night clubs, various other bars, creepy old men, and a few restaurants. Much to my delight we found an Arabian restaurant where I managed to get a good meal. My review of Filipino cuisine will wait til later.
So that was pretty much Clark, an incredibly seedy stretch of bars which we managed to almost completely avoid in favor of a beautiful trek up the side of an active volcano and generally enjoying the warm climate and relaxing atmosphere. Next stop is our long busride up to the north to the former Spanish colonial city called Vigan, which I will write about later before I burn out.
The whole trip was 3 weeks. I flew from New York (Newark actually) to Hong Kong. It was just about 16 hours non-stop I think, which is I think my longest flight ever. My last few trips to or from Asia have hovered in the 12-15 hour range. Over a certain number of hours, I personally feel it doesn't matter anymore. It's just long and boring. My technique now has been to bring a book that is engaging so I can read the whole thing. That keeps me occupied for some good portion of the trip. In this case, it was the Crocodile and the Crane by Arthur Rosenfeld. It was good, look it up on Amazon.
I spent a few nights in Hong Kong to recover from jetlag before the trip began in earnest, though this was let's say marginally successful. It is a 13 hour time difference, it takes more than two days, but I think I adjusted admirably. After a few days of vegetarian food and visiting with my friend Lilian in Hong Kong, I took the ferry to Macau and checked in for one night at the Venetian Casino. It was gigantic and over-the-top and opulent and all of those things one might expect from a giant casino styled after Venice, Italy. It was at the hotel in Macau that I met up with Carrie, my close friend from Guangzhou whom I met about 1.5 years ago at the beginning of my first trip around China.
We spend a night in Macau largely exploring the casino due to crappy weather, then boarded a plane in the morning for Clark, Philippines. Lots of budget flights apparently dump you in Clark, the former site of a large American air force base and now a hotbed of sex tourism and seedy nightlife. Despite our fearing the worst, we stayed at a lovely hotel called the Oasis which was comfortable. Our arrival in the tropical climate was most welcome after the cloudy and chilly weather I'd found upon arrival in Hong Kong. The entire time we were in the Philippines, it was warm and sunny. I can't really recall anytime that the weather was not great. The evenings tended to be a bit cooler but never so much so that it was uncomfortable in a t-shirt really.
So we stayed in Clark the first night and immediately arranged to be picked up at 5am by a ridiculous 4x4 to drive us 2.5 hours or so to Mount Pinatubo, a giant volcano which last erupted in 1991 killing and hurting a lot of people, but has since become a place where people go to hike, ride motorbikes, and spend time at the beautiful clear lake now found in what I'm prety sure is called the caldera. The latter portion of our ride in the aforementioned 4x4 led us up and down this more or less dry river bed with an awful lot of rocks and bumpy terrain. It was like some of the avenues in New York though slightly moreso. We hiked through this same landscape for the next few hours, eventually inclining upwards towards the caldera. The landscape was not unlike what Frodo and Sam trekking through Mordor in the last Lord of the Rings film. We'd set out so early to avoid the heat, so for most of our hike that was not a problem. Having stepped in the river in my sneakers very early, my wet shoes helped me keep cool much as sticking your leg out of the bottom of the blanket helps regulate one's body temperature at night. So we hiked up, checked out the lake, hiked down, rode all the way back enjoying the scenic countryside and small villages. People are really poor in the Philippines most of the time, it's somewhat distressing, though like most of these third-world locations I've visited, they are amazingly friendly and seemingly pretty darned happy. We spent the rest of the day pretty much ensconced at the hotel, napping, enjoying the pool, and planning our next move. I believe that night we ventured out to Fields Ave, the main stretch of bars in Clark which is filled with absurdly young and aggressive prostitutes, women lined up soliciting men to come into the night clubs, various other bars, creepy old men, and a few restaurants. Much to my delight we found an Arabian restaurant where I managed to get a good meal. My review of Filipino cuisine will wait til later.
So that was pretty much Clark, an incredibly seedy stretch of bars which we managed to almost completely avoid in favor of a beautiful trek up the side of an active volcano and generally enjoying the warm climate and relaxing atmosphere. Next stop is our long busride up to the north to the former Spanish colonial city called Vigan, which I will write about later before I burn out.
posted by Dan at 7:31 PM
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