Getting back in the swing of things.

The Backpacker swing of things that is.

Oh the joy of finally being able to type a true travel story again. It’s only been a very short while but since I’ve got a lousy short term memory and a 9pm curfew in my hostel I thought I’d take the time to share some of my tales.

After a sort of hectic farewell to Bangkok I finally boarded that plane and was ready to start off again in a place where I knew no one. Don’t get me wrong I had an absolute blast the last days/weeks in Bangkok but it was slowly starting to kill me. As much as I was starting to love that city again it felt good to see it disappearing from my window as we ascended through the clouds.
Manila is only a short three and a half hours away and more surprising it was pretty much a straight line to get there (yeah yeah I know flying usually does that, but I meant it’s on the same latitude as Bangkok).
Being an eager beaver traveller I bought the lonely planet a full few days ahead of time to get prepared before getting there. Being me I was trying to read it on the trip over there but extended goodbyes the night before made sure I slept rather than read the damned guide book. Always nice to see that getting older doesn’t necessarily mean getting more grown up. Flight went without any issues and I even was lucky to have the entire row of 3 seats to my own. Manila international airport was a bit of a let-down since it took forever to get to customs. However not being in any sort of a rush I managed to stay cool and collected throughout the entire thing.

A chaotic drive through Manila made me appreciate Bangkok traffic but it still wasn’t nowhere near as bad as New Delhi traffic. My hostel was just fine and on top of that served free dinner and rum, needless to say my plans of doing anything productive went straight out of the window and the first cold beers were enjoyed with some of my fellow hostel guests. First night syndrome kicked in and plans for an early start got lost somewhere in a drunken hazed pub crawl. Met cool people though and the night was very enjoyable.

The supposed early start was slightly delayed but I tremendous effort was made to catch up on missed time. I set on Roxas blvd which was not quite as good as my trusty guide book would have me believe, nonetheless it felt nice to be out there seeing new stuff. Rizal park was the next stop which was a nice park but that’s really all it was. Quickly moving on to the surprisingly entertaining National Art Museum and the National Museum of Filipino People which failed to impress. Intramuros which was recommended by many was indeed a very nice place. It’s an old fortress build to hold of Chinese pirates and Dutch forces (cheeky bastards), apparently quite successful since it’s still there. The place has a nice historic feeling to it and it was a joy to walk around there. Even with the sun gone I still had some more sightseeing to do so I went to the city hall to gaze at the well-known clock tower. Upon seeing a mall I couldn’t resist going in there to see how they would compare to the ones in Bangkok and to see if they were just as much of a hang out place. Well it came down to the fact that it’s just another mall and they did seem very much like a hang out place because of the AC and the abundance of food places, more along the lines of fast-food joints that proper restaurants though.
Fully knackered it was finally time to head back to the hostel, to find out that I had missed wine and cheese night. Wine and fucking cheese night! Two things a had not indulged myself in for many months because of prices in Thailand and I had f’ing missed it, that’s what you get for oversleeping you twat.
On the upside of things the free rum was still available and I helped myself to that instead. Having vowed not to go out this night to regain some sort of normality in my life, I unfortunately met some great people who convinced me to just the opposite. Okay I might not have needed that much convincing but I put up a fair fight, but on the arrival of three new girls telling me I was a pussy, I was defenceless.
Thus the quiet night turned into a what soon would be a club filled bonanza (for anyone reading this who was present that night I am slightly exaggerating for the readers pleasure). Our first stop turned out to be a miss but the second one surely made up for it. It’s the kind of place you rock up to and think (as a backpacker) I have no business being there, which is exactly what the 3 girls thought and turned round again. Although I hate paying cover charges I hate walking away from a possible good night even more, so Damien (England), Mimi (Germany) and I braved on to pay the outrageous cover and went in. Yes, it was a nice club with a lot of potential but the clientele was downright wrong, or maybe just very right and I was in the wrong spot. But anyways I’d be hard pressed to find a more pretentious crowd than I saw there combined that night. People paying lots of money to be seen but refraining from having any real fun. Luckily we were saved by an acquaintance (sort of) of Damien in the form of a beautiful fun-loving Filipina. Tiffany took us next door and we were greeted with a much more pleasant atmosphere, people were enjoying themselves here and weren’t afraid to show it. To cut a long story short it turned into a fantastic night.

On Sunday was spent hanging out with Tiffany and some of her friends. They took us to China town and then forced us to eat Balút. Balút is an egg that contains a partially formed embryo, it’s something I have encountered many times on my travels but always backed out of actually eating it. With the necessary encouragements and your manhood put the test me and another unlucky German manned up and ate the “egg”. It tasted eggy alright but let’s face it, I’m not going to change my breakfast from scrambled eggs to half embryo eggs anytime soon.
Back at the hostel we re-grouped to have some free oysters (you gotta love this hostel) and some drinks to get ready for another drink or to at the same venue that had let us down the day before. Party was pretty lame but great times were had anyways, thanks to our fearless leader.

Mondays are never pleasant especially when you have to leave a place you’re not quite willing to leave. Undertakings to procure a bus ticket were futile and getting someone on the phone to make this easier was nigh impossible and turned out in a bit of a nightmare later on. Having said my goodbyes I left for the bus station which was nowhere to be found. The taxi driver was a true ambassador of his country and finally helped me out by getting me to another bus station that didn’t quite went where I had wanted to go but at least got me on a bus north so I could still leave that night.

Banaue turned out to be the next port of call where I saw the famous rice terraces with a great group of people. It was a nice place with a bit of a hike which was a pleasant change of pace, I hadn’t been active for too long and was loving the feel of sweat pouring down my face. I’m not sure if it was the sweaty face of the elevation or the fact that I simply had forgotten to put on some sun cream did make sure I burned my face neck and forearms, but a valuable lesson was relearned again. On the hike we saw a waterfall as well where familiar faces were seen. Another cool aspect of the trip was the journey in and out on top of a jeepney. A jeepney by the way is was the chickenbus is for Central America, the preferred local means of transportation. It’s pretty much just a jeep with an extended wheel base that fits many people inside and a few more on the back and on the roof. The ride was nice but the breakneck speed and steep drops on the side of the “road” did give you that extra bit excitement.

Next day on to Sagada on yet again a very nice drive to get there. In Sagada you go trekking, see hanging coffins and go caving. Yes, I said hanging coffins. These people believe that when you’re buried six feet under your soul/spirit won’t be able to go anywhere and they solved this buy “simply” hanging the coffin to the wall of a cliff, right.
So went trekking for a bit and saw some of those coffins what, while prepared, was a bit of an unusual sight. Enjoyed some time after that with nice local coffee and attempting to write some of these epic tales and then updating this blog.
Tomorrow I’ll go caving but now I need to go to bed to catch up on some much needed sleep and get ready for the all too familiar early starts of tours. Obviously I’m far too lazy to re-read this story for any errors so bear with me if they’re there.

Thank you for reading this, until next time

Martin