I know i know. posts these days aren't as detailed as they once where. But, i got no time. Time only for the really good stories. This should make up for it.
It seems I live on busses and jeeps these days, with the occasional trike thrown in. So where did i leave off... ok yea. Mountain province of Luzon. Great trip, but my group was planning on traveling next to Banaue city and spending time there. As you may remember I had crawled all over that place several months ago, and have no time to be doing things twice. So i left them. On my own now, two days journey worth of various transportation from home. I had to rent my own jeep to get to the bus station in time to catch the last departure.
Fortunately, the village of Bontoc runs on Filipino time and I had lots to spare.
My plan was to get a bus from Bontoc to manila to make it back in time to catch some friends who where going sailing the next day. When your traveling, things don't aways go exactly as planned. Thats when you gotta roll with it, and enjoy the adventure. With no buses at all leaving from Bontoc to manila that day, i hopped on another one bound for Bagio. Never been there before. 6hours of sketchy mountain roads, and one break down later, I was there. it was after nine. Bagio was much bigger than I had imagined. The summer capital of the Philippines this was no small city i had landed myself in after dark. A couple of broken english conversations later i was in a taxi headed for another bus terminal. A mere 15 minutes after arriving in Bagio i was on another bus headed for manila. Another restless night of bus sleep landed my in town around 2:30am. I had to pay almost $10 to get a taxi to take me all the was back home. But i had made it. four hours after getting home. I had left for sailing.
Good day. super fun. 7 friends on a sailboat=good times. would have taken pictures but... i was sailing.
I was restless. I'd only been back a day. but -
all you see, is where else you could be when your at home, and out on the street, are so many possibilities -BG
The next day I packed my bag and left for the bus station. The fabulous part about this country is that even getting from home to the bus station is an adventure. Anyways, 8 hours later(and after dark) I was stepping off the bus in San Fernando, La Union. Late as it was I found a place to stay for the night and chilled out in front of a fan. hmm... only 10:00pm.. In a new city.. I can't just sit around.
-camera
-tripod
lets go.
Several pictures later I ran into a gang of skateboarders. good place to start. I walked over, introduced myself and spent the next couple hours hanging out and skating with them. They were really cool guys, and the way I figured it was: Find the guys that Are most likely to rob you, make friends with them, and your set, protection and friends.
Forgive the guy who is giving you the finger. I'm sure if he met you he would feel differently.
Right. morning. time to surf. did i mention thats was I came here for? a short trike ride out of town and I was riding waves infront of the famous San Juan(san-wan) beach surf camp.
The next week went by pretty quick. Though I didn't do all that much. Made friends with the locals, and did what they did. wait for waves, ride them, go shoot some pool.
I stayed the rest of the week at surf camp. About 12 bucks a nite for my room.
The whole camp is sponsored by Billabong.
ITs a good place to be.
The two most laid back kind of people in the world are.. pro surfers and filipinos. Combining the two is rediculous. These guys where super cool. The resort wasn't busy, cuz the best surf season is nov-feb. so it was just me and the locals. The best way to have it.
This was the crew. All pro surfers. They all worked for the resort as instructors. THey surfed/hung out all day, and at night, retired to the pool hall and regailed me with storys of surf comps. and barrel waves.
This is where the action happens, notice the sunset over the water in the back ground. The local hang out spot. Just down the beach from the resort, this is where I spent alot of time. Meals where a dollar, pool was 12cents a game, but only for the ones you lost. At night the place heated up, I sat back and watched the sharks do their thing. After 9:00 there was a constant layer of money, cards, cigarrets, beer, and chalk dust over everything.
the trip home was un-eventful. The bus i caught was the roughest I had been on so far. Since I didn't know the bus company I was worried about what part of manila it would drop me off in.
It was worse than I feared, an untimely half hour after dark I was let out somewhere on the outskirts of Manila city. Something told me that this was not a place I wanted to hang around in. Towering blocks of dirty low budget appartment buildings hemmed in the narrow streets. The kind of architechture made up of tiny living quarters and mazes of dark passageways. Garbage, and street people were wedged in every corner. Prostitutes, both male, female and a couple that could only be catogorized as somewhere inbetween whistled at me from both sides. I found a trike driver who looked small enough to be handled and got him to take me to the nearest LRT(subway) station. It was good to be out of that place and back on more well lit streets. As I walked from the Cubao stop to the jeepeny bay I heard a white voice. JIM! What are you doing here?! haha. a minute later I was riding in the back of an air conditioned van. My friends Elissa and Candice
had been on their way downtown to a basketball game. long and short, they had an extra ticket, I had nothing else to do. So.. thats how I ended up at a PBA game and then out to eastwood, eventually getting a ride all the way home.
Now here is the question. When you are getting randomly picked up of the street by beautiful girls, is that a sign that you've been here too long? or.. just long enough.
ps. can you tell i've been reading alot lately? this post was like a freaking novel.
