Philippine Travel Notes

Another lovely experience!. I took the ' slow boat ' (in the past this was called ' barko ', nowadays it's called ' RORO ') from Cebu City to Catbalogan City - if only for another feel of "how it was" traveling inter-island, in the good old days of our forebears. Aba oy, malapit nang mawala ito! Mawawala? Ah eh, I'm just predicting, due to the advent of the "fastcrafts"! Why Ride A Ship? Actually, I was carrying a lot of "baggage" - books, references, handouts and printed materials of many kinds - too delicate if I checked them in on a plane to TAC or CYP. Also too heavy and cumbersome to handle, if I took them on a fastcraft, connecting to a series of UV Express rides with no luggage space . Thus, a ship was my best bet. Buti nalang, at salamat naman, meron pang ganito these days! How Long Is This Trip? I was told this was going to be an 11 to 12 hour night ride, departing at 7PM, where I supposedly ...

Weird, even eerie title, right? Well, at least for me. There are just many things around us that we take for granted. And I'm proud to say, I owe it to my travels that I learned (and keep learning) new things about our country. Take the case of our catholic ceremony or ritual (howsoever it is really called), before burying the dead. *Update A friend educated me: it's called "mass celebration". Whatever! Yep, whatever it's called, I don't like associating the word "celebration" with the dead! I don't think calling it a "ceremony" or "ritual" is offensive anyway. Basta yes, I mean that church activity just before the “kabaong” is delivered to the “huling hantungan”. I thought all along those are done individually . I mean an 'exclusive' mass service for an individual patay before the next. That's what I've known in the decades of my life. Teka, disclaimer: it's not as if I witness many o...

On a jeep from Lacion (Consolacion, Cebu) to the city center (Cebu City) , we stopped (due to the usual traffic) at this corner under the Maguikay flyover. And I saw this... What initially drew my curiosity was that this Manang was selling jewelry & trinkets where her wares were laid out in what looked like a barbecue grill (barbekyuhan ba). Syempre pa, I immediately thought: "ingenious duality" ! Yep, some folks (her family?) grill/sell barbecue at that very same corner in the evenings, but none during the day. I imagined, the uling would probably be now under her alahas . Yan ang abilidad! I stole a shot w/ my camera (dapat phone) . At ayan tuloy, OMG she saw me do that ! I thought she would get mad, protest & reprimand me for doing that. So, I was ready to honestly delete the photo and sincerely apologize the moment she said anything. But... she instead said something for that cute little dude to face the camera, as she waved to me some of her pr...

Mauwaw man ta ani, oi! Sori na, I didn't know. Ang edad hehe. Past noon, on my way to the city for some errands, I stumbled upon a parade about to pass along the national road. Let us say that again, "along" not "across" the hiway! Paktaylo! My initial reaction was ' o sh** nabuang na ', for that meant a long delay. On second thought, my little alert brain said 'hmm, who knows, it could be nice to watch'! But the practical side of my royal highness said "nice or not nice, wala jud ta mahimo ani, the national road is technically closed both ways, therefore watch nalang"! So, I did! Na! A very important day for Consolacion and I forgot all about it? Bad citizen haha! Maybe those things do not sink in my head yet because I'm still a 'dual citizen' - taga Mandaue, at the same time taga Lacion - but frequently in Tacloban due to Yolanda. Haruy, not only dual citizen, triple pa! Anyway.., trapped na, wala na'...