2 weeks in The Philippines

Well we've been going for about two weeks now, and finally we have found some time to sit and use the internet. We are currently in Bali, Indonesia...we arrived around 12am yesterday and luckily found a room at "Un's" (www.unshotel.com) with AC for the night. Our Taxi driver from the airport tried to scam us and get us to pay $70US for a 10 min ride...so I played dumb and we got away with paying about $7.50US. Un's had no rooms available for the week, which is unfortunate because it was such a cute little surfer hotel. We got a room at the Hotel Lusa, (www.hotellusa.net) which was half the price, for 3 nights. We spent today writing in our journals by the pool, walked Kuta Beach, and just relaxed. We've had a pretty packed trip so far so it was nice to take an easy day.

Day 1 of our Trip:
October 7th, 2008

We depart from SFO international around 1pm, and fly United to Hong Kong. It was a 14 hour flight and we literally had the WORST seats on the plane. Cameron had the window, I had the middle...and they stuck us next to the food/drink cart station. It was noisy and bright the entire time so it was difficult to sleep, plus they played terrible movies. Needless to say we were both happy to land in Hong Kong. We had a couple hours to kill at the airport, so we went to the food court and ordered some dim sum, and pearl milk tea. I was shoked to see that they have "smoking lounges" at the airport, which is basically a small room where people pack in and light up. Our flight from Hong Kong to Manila was pretty painless. We flew Cathay Pacific which had much better service, more leg room and better food. I think we were both a little anxious when we Landed around 11:30pm.

Alain’s Auntie Davina was picking us up, so when we saw her holding a sign with my name it was a huge sigh of relief. Auntie Davina is such a sweetheart…she took us right to our hotel and gave us a few tips (basically don’t drink the water and don’t leave your hotel because it’s a bad part of town). We stayed at the hotel Copacabana, but neither of us could really sleep because we were so excited to be in The Philippines.

Day 2:
October 9th, 2008

We get up early and go get breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Cameron orders Longanisa with rice and a fried egg, and I got the pancakes. Longanisa is a local sausage which is on the sweet side…and he loved it. After we eat we pack up our things and get a taxi to the airport, where we catch a plane to Tacloban where Alain and Joe are meeting us with an “entourage”. Alain Uy was born in The Philippines, and moved to Chicago when he was 10. Alain and Joe worked together at a restaurant called Moto in Chicago, and have been close friends for about 5 years now. Alain’s cousin was getting married in Tacloban…so he extended the invitation to Cameron and me when he learned we were going to be traveling in the area.

So we land in Tacloban, and are met by Joe, Alain, Jun Jun, Ton Ton, and Arvin. Joe and Alain had got into town a day earlier, and they were telling us stories about Sherwin’s “bachelor party” they had had the night before. They told us about what had happened to Joe the day before. Apparently all the local kids call white guys they see "Joe", because they associate them with G.I. Joe. Whenever we walked down the street we'd have kids yell out, "HEY JOE! give me your money!!". Joe didn't realize it was common for kids to call white guys "joe". So Joe and Alain are at the mall, and a group of school girls run up to Joe, and then run behind a counter and all say, "What's Up Joe?!" Now Joe thinks he has been mugged by this group of 10 year olds, and starts searching for his wallet. He thinks they mugged him and read his name on his drivers lisence, and were messing with him. "Hey Joe" became one of our little jokes throughout the trip. They drove us to Uncle Pequito’s house where a lot of the family members were staying. We met a whole lot of the family, and their servant had a buffet of local food layed out. His house is huge! They have servants and drivers, and a huge courtyard with a fountain. After we ate, we got a ride to our hotel that was located downtown. It’s owned by Alain’s Uncle Jack. We got changed and then went over to another cousin’s house and had dinner. At this point I’m going on very little sleep, jet lag, and some culture shock. We all sat at a table with Uncle Pequito, and drank Tuba (fermented coconut sap) from plastic bottles, which we watered down with coke, and listened to Uncle tell dirty jokes. It was such a surreal experience. After dinner we drove to a Karaoke Bar with 2 MC’s that looked like hookers. It was such a good night. I got up and danced with Uncle Pequito, and after a few beers Cameron got up and sang Grease Lightning. We were there until about 3am…and then finally called it a night.

Day 3:
October 10th, 2008

Cameron, Joe, Alain, Ton Ton and I hired a driver and crossed the San Holico Bridge into Samar. It was such a beautiful drive, it kind of reminded me of the road to Hana in Maui…we saw water buffalo, rock formations in the water and a lot of schools. It’s crazy to see the extreme poverty, and to see how these people live off of so little. We got to this beach resort and rented a bamboo raft with a covered picnic table in the middle. They pulled us out off shore, and we swam in the emerald green water and ate lechon (roast pig) and rice. It was such a gorgeous day, and it was nice to get away from the busy city.

We get back to Tacloban, and Cameron Joe and I crash at the Hotel while Alain has to go to the rehersal dinner for the wedding. Jun Jun comes to pick us up and take us to the house for dinner. It’s a huge family party, and we all kind of feel like outsiders because we don’t really know anybody. After dinner Cameron and I talk to this guy who told us his name was Bob (and we later find out it’s something else) who had been living in Texas for a year or so. He was super funny, and later on that night sang great karaoke. I ended up passing out with Alain upstairs, and when I woke up around 1am I find that most of the family is gone and it’s only Jun Jun, Bob, Cameron and Joe sitting around the table singing and drinking. Cameron grabs the remote and says, “I love this song!” as he starts to sing Roxanne by the Police. It was such a fun night…we really got to know the family a little bit better.

Day 4:
October 11, 2008

It was a pretty lazy day. We sat around and played texas hold-um at the house for about 5 hours. Ton Ton, who had never played before, ended up winning almost every game. We rode a jeepney into town, and Cameron and Joe hung off the back and got a lot of stares from the locals. Tacloban isn’t a tourist destination at all. The only other white people we saw where creepy middle aged men buying prostitutes. I didn’t a white woman until we got into Cebu. We took another Jeepney later on that night, and I rode on the back and got even more confused looks. I learned later that women don’t ride hanging off the back.

Day 5:
October 12, 2008

Today was Rizza and Sherwin’s wedding day. Joe Cameron and I got a ride to the Church from Uncle Jack. We got there pretty early, and spent some time talking to Jack about business and politics. He’s a really amazing guy, and told us later that we were part of the family. It was a beautiful Catholic wedding. Rizza and Sherwin’s sons, Ryan and Rafael, were the ring bearers and they were super cute. Ryan is 5 and Raffy is 3…those kids absolutely love Joe. After the ceremony we went back to the hotel, and Joe wasn’t feeling very well. He took a long nap and decided to come to the reception even though he wasn’t feeling so great. We sat with Jun Jun's girlfriend Meme and her friend Elise. The reception was absolutely beautiful. The cake was spectacular, and the mayor and his wife were there. Two different girls who had won the Philippino version of American Idol got up and performed for Rizza and Sherwin. When it came time to throw the bouquet, they did things a little differently because Rizza wanted to keep the bouquet. They had the guys sit in chairs in a circle, and the girls stood in front of them with a blind fold on. I partners up with Joe, but they made all of us take 4 steps to the right. My new partner, Chris, sat there with a beer in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other. They gave us ladies a plate with a peice of wedding cake, and we had to feed the men. Chris refused to eat the cake, so after everyone else had finished...we were "The winners". We had to sit up front with Rizza and Sherwin, and Chris put Rizza's garter on my leg with his teeth. We then had to cut a peice of cake and feed it to each other. Joe and cameron yelled out, "Shove it in his face!"...But I didn't want to offend the family (we were the only Americans in the entire room). After we fed eachother the cake, we linked arms and drank a glass of Strawberry wine. Lastly they told us to kiss for 12 seconds...you should have seen the look on Joe's face. I put my hand over his mouth and kissed the back of my hand. There was multiple video cameras filming this, so I'm sure the family will be laughing at my expense for a long time. It was a lot of fun though...and Rizza and Sherwin were happy that I played along. Cameron basically stole the show though. Everyone started dancing, and this girl wanted to dance with Cameron. They were killing it out there on the dance floor, and little Ryan even jumped in and did a power slide on the floor beside them. It was such a good night....

Day 6:
October 13th, 2008

We went and saw the statue at McArthur park. We also went to the old Governers house that had been turned into a museum. Her house is spectacular, and it's kind of controversial because the country is so poor. Alain took us to his old school, but none of his teachers were working there anymore. As we left his school a group of girls asked if they could take our picture. It's funny how the locals are just as amused by us as we are of them. We ate at this awesome restaurant called Ocho that night. They have a counter of fresh seafood, and you pick what you want to eat and how you want it cooked, and they make it for you. This guy in front of us grabbed a crab, and then screamed when the thing pinched him. Alain ordered us a nice bottle of Pino Grisio...it was really tasty and nice change from all the filipino beer we had been drinking. After dinner we headed over to the Colloseum and met up with all the cousins at a bar. We all lined up and played tippy cup (a college drinking game), ate appetizers, and then Alain ordered a bottle of Tequilla and we did shots. We danced to loud hip hop music, and even the waiters and bar tender were taking shots with us and dancing. It was nice seeing Rizza and Sherwin loosen up as well. She had been so tense from all the wedding details, and now that it was all over she finally let loose. I feel like we made some life long friends that night...Sharon and Norm invited us all to their wedding next September in Chicago. I'm hoping we all end up meeting again next year.

Day 7:
October 14th, 2008

Cameron, Joe, Alain, Meme, Jun Jun and I hop a plane over to Cebu for the night. Tupei (Alain's cousin) picks us up from the airport and drives us to our hotel located downtown. It was about an hour to get there, and along the way we saw some extreme poverty. Cebu is the second largest city in The Philippines (Manila is the biggest), and it's almost overwhelming how some of these people live. I saw a group of street kids that reminded me of the characters from the movie "city of god". Whenever you're stopped in traffic the kids come up to the car and bang on the window asking for food. I saw so many dirty hotels that charged by the hour. The first white woman I saw was in Cebu...but I only saw one. All the white people visiting the country are middle aged men buying prostitutes. It's so sad, and none of us wanted to be associated with that kind of behavior. I really didn't like Cebu. That night we drove around the city, went to a casino where Cameron won $100P. We went to a couple different bars, and the highlight of Cebu was when Tupei took us to have street BBQ after the bars. We ate chicken skin, and chicken intestin, and little sausages. It was super tasty...and maybe not the most santitary but definetly an experience.

Day 8:
October 15th, 2008

We check out of our hotel, and Tupei gives us a ride to the ferry station. We take a boat over to Bohol, and meet up with Alain's auntie Meyin.

I’m going to go and get some dinner with Cameron…I’ve been on the internet for a couple hours now. I’ll finish this entry later