Getting out of the big smoke

Last weekend we headed out of Manila on our first proper ‘holiday’ – a few days at a beach ‘resort’ on the Zambales coast north of Manila. (Nigel typing by the way). We all needed a break from the daily grind as our efforts to get established in Manila had left us pretty worn out. The trip went pretty well in general, although missing the right offramp from the expressway and then a subsequent poor decision (mine) to take the more direct (on the map) back road to retrace our steps meant we were on the road for a couple of hours longer than intended.

When we arrived it became clear that the meaning of the word ‘resort’ is different here. While there was a swimming pool and a restaurant (with great food, as we found out), the place was a bit run down and we would have been better equipped had we brought a few of our camping bits and pieces with us. But all that notwithstanding, the next day was as promised – an empty beach, safe swimming, a siesta and a quiet afternoon by the pool.

The second day proper began with a 6:30am power cut as the local authorities turned the power off for safety reasons – a typhoon was headed our way! It was a rainy and windy day – actually the typhoon was much bigger than the recent Milenyo that destroyed so much of Central Luzon – but it hit the northern part of the country which is more used to typhoons and is thus better prepared.

We had a nice time another morning at a wildlife park run by an expat Swiss zoologist and his wife, but then decided to leave a bit early and check out another area on our way back to Manila. So we stayed a night in Subic Bay – where the US Navy used to be based. Being the last night of the Halloween festival and with a US aircraft carrier in port, the evening was a colourful expose of Filipino entertainment, gangs of US sailors with Filipino girls in tow, and live bands, ranging from quite impressive to loud and bad. It was a very lively experience – I’m glad we had had a few days of chill out to prepare ourselves – WOW…

We also visited a marine park with a very entertaining dolphin/sealion show and managed all of 25 minutes on a walk in the tropical rainforest nearby. Then back to Manila – in such a carefree mood from a nice few days that we forgot our car’s licence plates forbid us driving on Thursdays in Makati city. First cop was impressed by my Tagalog, the second accepted my offer to ‘pay the fine here’…… I didn’t want to have to go to the central police office to get my licence back on Monday….

And now I am in McDs in Singapore! – Flew out the day after we got back from holiday – happened to sit next to some old acquaintances from NZ who were on the same flight and am ensconced in the pinnacle of First World Asia, where you can’t chew gum, spit, litter, cross the street other than at traffic lights…. Quite a different experience. The conference I’m at seemed very interesting so far – exploring the Theory of Knowledge course I teach – some great thinkers and interesting discussion so far. And Singapore is an exciting colourful mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian and British influences all mixed together…

Till next time! – some pics to come…