Hello blog-readers! I am back for the nonce in the blogosphere after a length of time without wifi, without a computer, and often without electricity. I have a lot of experiences to relate, and a lot of stories to tell, a lot of pictures to share, etc. but, all in good time.
This post's title is "Travel in the Philippines", a subject which, out of all of the many frustrations that have marked my time here, is perhaps the biggest pain in the-well, you know.
Travel, for most people, is great: few people are sad to go on vacation, business trips, etc. because the real offer of travel is a new experience, something different, places, people, and things you have never seen, a break from the ordinary.
Part of that break is the actual journey. Many say "The journey is half the adventure", or it's the whole adventure, etc., etc., perhaps imagining a Kerouacian series of events or a Chaucerian series of people with stories to keep you entertained. I myself am quite fond of the journey, to a point. As long as I have a good book, or some way to watch a good film or TV series, I am happy as a clam on the journey. Seldom in real life does one get the chance to sit down, stop worrying about time-wasting, and just enjoy relaxing free time with a good story youve been meaning to read.
There are copious others, of course, who hate the journey. And I mean hate. Airports, planes, long car rides, trains, boat trips-these are only so many boring wastes of time, or a stressful period when the plane may crash, the boat may sink, the car may break down. These periods cost lots of time and money, and if certain vehicles are late (such as our double delay in Chicago on our family's way to London this summer that almost cost us our cross-Atlantic flight), people get irritated, annoyed, yelling ensues, etc.
As I said above, Im usually the guy that finds a quiet corner, grabs a good book or my laptop, and sits back and relaxes, hopefully getting a chance to see the scenery going by. However, travel in the Philippines is far from a no-worry time, and, from walking to driving to boating to flying, delays, headaches, and discomfort are bound to hound the unsuspecting and usually the suspecting traveler.
Walking/Hiking/Treking
This has, unsurprisingly, been by far the most used way of getting around for me. Whether Im on the busy streets of Manila, the oceanic hills of Bohol, or the green ways of Southern Leyte, more often than not, I am exploring my surroundings on foot. Often, I am accompanied by music, or by the many audiobooks I have downloaded, giving my brain something to focus on as I take in the scenery. Walking has been probably my favorite and most fruitful form of travel here so far. I can take in whatever scenes i like without them whizzing by, interact with people (most of whom say "hey joe!", "hey, what's up dogg", or "what's your name?" in halting and accented English), get some exercise, work on my on-again off-again tan, stop and get snacks and drinks, listen to a new book which keeps me preoccupied, take pictures, and basically mentally record places I enjoy and would like to go back to. As an aesthetic whose Manila apartment is in a fairly boring and unattractive area, looking for cool, green, and beautiful vistas is important to me, and I log them as places to return to when the smog and the grimy streets around me are becoming stifling. In the countryside of Tagbilaran in Bohol and Maasin in Southern Leyte, I would see beautiful mountains, the shimmering ocean, lush forests and rice paddies, nice old Spanish architecture, and again log them as beautiful places I have visited and wish to see again.
But walking may be the largest headache of all the forms of transportation. First of all, it's slow. Sometimes, that's my fault: I elect to walk somewhere because I don't really know where Im going. I stick to my map, sometimes make a few wrong turns, but I get there. I can't tell a taxi driver exactly where Im going or how to get there, and Im never sure where the more public transportation will take me, and mistakes usually end up costing me, money-wise and time-wise. Since everything, especially in Manila, is far away, SO far away, and it takes a while to get there in vehicles, walking to certain places usually takes a lot of my daylight time, which is already scarce because it gets dark between 5:30 and 6 in PH year round.
Part of it is not my fault, however, and I would say the lion's share of fault for my slowness belongs to me surroundings. Much of Manila is not really what I would call "pedestrian friendly". I mean, Louisville's not really pedestrian friendly either, in a lot of places, but this is different. Louisville has a lot of sidewalks, but very few people use them, and some roads dont have sidewalks. Manila has plenty of sidewalks, but they are only wide enough for one or two people. If it's wide enough for one, count on an incredibly slow person shuffling by, on his phone or eating something; also count on him/her stopping at exactly the wrong place, where no one can get past, and then looking at you like youre crazy as you attempt to go around this person without shoving them into the street. If it's two people wide, count on a loiterer about every 5 feet, smoking a cigarette or standing there yelling across the street in his boxers with no shirt on (clothes are far from a necessity in PH, just ask the countless guys I see at 2 PM walking to the store with just boxers and slippers on like it's a walk to the fridge). If you're lucky, there's only one group of people who have decided to stroll four or five abreast, some in the street, to talk to each other. You have to inevitably squeeze through the line Red Rover style just to get past to the next group.
In short, walking in the city is a nightmare. If there's no people, then it's garbage, or occasionally puddles of grime, or someone's just relieved themselves (which often explains why there are no people). Manila and really most cities are so crowded that walking quickly becomes a chore. Often there are motorbikes, regular bikes, rickshaws, or even taxis who just decide to drive on the sidewalk. Cars are constantly honking at you to get out of the way, even if you arent in their way, almost as if to say "hey, im right here, just fyi, honk honk honk honk honk". People I don't know are always staring at me as the one American on the street, yelling "what's your name?" at me, looking at me askance as they walk through their own molasses and I try to scurry around them, wanting to get home or get to the gym or get to the grocery or whatever, sticking hands out and following me to ask for money, anything, please, sir, sir, please, followed by grumbling in Tagalog or Cebuano about how they hate you.
But, even though I would not be surprised to see a level of hell dedicated to fast-walking people who are completely encircled by slower, more oblivious people, the sights I've seen, people I've met, things I've heard have all made up for any problems. Ive seen the sun go down and reflect off the ocean, the rays touching the town of Maasin as I look down from a mountain to see the roofs of the building glinting in the sunlight and the Mother Mary statue beside me throwing shadows to people praying and kissing the statue. I've seen a church, 500 years old, in Bohol, with colors from the stained glass windows swirling around in the half of the sanctuary that was left after the earthquake destroyed the ancient stones and belltower the Spanish built. I've seen an old park where PH hero Jose Rizal (seriously, there are streets, barangays, cities, buildings, and countless, countless, countless statues of him, even in the smallest town) was buried that could have been pulled out of Rome and put in the heart of Manila, where the sounds of traffic and crowds are eliminated and you can lay in the grass under the acacia trees next to the group that's taking wedding pictures and read as the sunlight dies and love music plays over the speaker system.
And my biggest regret from being in Mindanao, during a magical Christmas in which I have no other regrets, is not being able to walk around and discover the heart and soul of that island. Walking in the Philippines means a lot to me, and though nothing is perfect, but it's perfect for me.
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