Philippine Travel Notes

This place is an inevitable headache that one must endure on the way to Calapan, Puerto Galera or the western Mindoro destinations. Expect these: Upon getting off the bus or whatever kind of land transportation you come in, you’ll be accosted by a crowd of hawkers who will pester you with their wares – generally foodstuffs that they themselves advertise as “pasalubong”. How the hell can you be looking for pasalubong when you are just on your way to your vacation? Bad trip! And mind you, they do not just yell at you for their various kakanin but they will thrust those, right to about a few centimeters of your nose or eyes. And they will follow you wherever you go – even into the comfort rooms – literally! One would think it a relief that the Batangas government or whoever is in charge in that place have fenced off their newly built building that will soon serve as a “grand” port. So, those noisy vendors will drop from your ears when you enter the fenced off area going towards the check-...

Readers should all be aware of this when going to Puerto Galera or any of the destinations en route to Batangas City! There is an anomaly that the bus company (or probably just their employees and without the management’s knowledge) has been perpetrating. Last February 25, 2005, being a holiday, I, together with three of my friends decided to go to Puerto Galera for a much needed weekend break. We decided to take a JAM/Tritran bus by reason of its station being conveniently located at EDSA near Kamuning which happens to be nearest our residences. This decision to take Tritran ruined our weekend! We were at the bus station as early as 5:30AM so we can take the 6AM trip. We happily rode on bus number 727, a yellow JAM liner. The aircon was great – even too cold and the bus was clean. It got readily full to capacity so we left by just about 5 minutes past 6AM. Upon departure, the “conduktor” distributed tickets without asking for our money yet. After he has given tickets to everyone, he c...

Yes darling, the travel industry has a queer way of writing our names and let us attempt to dissect why this is so! You will discover they have good reason to do so and the whole thing is really at times funny! Unlike in a movie house or a bus, an airline passenger ticket (or computerized reservation for ticketless airliners) must bear the name of a passenger. Why so, that is another topic we should discuss in another article! Anyway, the ticket declares whom it belongs to. The name printed in the ticket should and must be the only person using this ticket for travel. It is (so far still) non-transferrable. Any other person cannot use it (unless that other person bears exactly the same name - which actually happens!). Note that henceforth, that name on your ticket will be your name as far as the airline is concerned, whether you are at the airport or inside the aircraft. By international convention, airlines and travel agencies around the world follow a strict rule when writing names o...

This is dedicated to the entire crew of Shangri La Mactan Resort. Please don’t “reconfigure” your security procedures after reading this, okay? You will find a reason to agree to this request at the last paragraph of this topic! Having checked-in many times at this fabulous resort (on official company-sponsored junkets), I had the mistake of bragging about how truly beautiful this resort is, how great every detail of the structure and facilities are, how professional and likeable the staff are and how expensive it is to stay there! Naturally, when I and my friends jetted in for a budget-saver “own-tour” of Cebu and Bohol, they all demanded that I take them there for a peek at the place. So we did! I already knew that no “day-tourists” are usually allowed inside this resort – beyond the lobby, that is. That means you have to be billeted in this expensive resort, or at least be attending a party or function to be free to roam around. But to show my friends just the expansive landscaped f...

Of art, stone, colors, tourism and ignorance, sometimes come forth funny caricatures from what used to be a monument of heroism and valor! Take the great monument erected for the great Lapu-lapu right on the spot where he valiantly led a fight and victoriously killed Megallan. As a monument, it is a proud mark of our history. As a work of art, it is more than great! It is more than life-size as it stands tall probably 9 to 12 feet from foot to head and it stands on a high mount in itself already about 8 or 10 feet. The muscles of this man are so pronounced, the face, the eyes and every bit of it are almost real. But of course it is made of stone or cement or whatever material it is (probably even brass or copper). Now the disgrace! The authorities (whoever they are), probably in an effort to make what is beautiful even more grand, did something that they should have not bothered to do. In fact, the effort must have been expensive. Oh what did they do? They just painted the whole statue...

SUTUKIL is a contraction of three cooking terms, SU gba, TU wa and KIL aw. Each term is in verb form so it does not refer to the cooked food (or dish) but rather to the way the food is cooked. All three terms are in the Cebuano dialect. I am not great at kitchen or dining terminologies but let us give this a try! Sugba means grill and if your fish is sinugba it is grilled! That’s easy! Tuwa is ah.. well… Stew! Sometimes Cebuanos themselves spell this as Towa or even the Tagalog term Tola . Further, the term refers only to fish and/or chicken. And the soup is always clear. So if your fish or chicken is Tinuwa / Tinowa , that is stewed. Now Kilaw is hmm… even harder! It is raw fish(usually), cooked in just vinegar with a lot of other ingredients like ginger, onions, pepper, peppercorn, garlic, etc., and usually for people in the visayas, coconut milk! More like of a salad really. No heat or fire. In fact, it’s even more delectable if served chilled. So if your food is kinilaw … well...

If you have been to Cebu, you will not have missed the famous Magellan’s Marker and the equally well-known Sto. Niño Church. Let us do some qualifiers first. I say, Magellan’s Marker because of so many names so many people use to call it. Many call the place Magellan’s Cross. Some call it Magellan’s Monument, Magellan Shrine, Magellan Memorial – ahhh whatever. Just remember, it is a little “building” that enshrines the cross purportedly brought by Magellan in the 1520‘s. The Church right beside it is not spared! It also has many names that the lowly traveler like me gets confused! Sometimes it is called a shrine, a basilica, a cathedral, a chapel, a museum – sometimes even a combination of two words like “The Sto. Niño Cathedral and Museum”. Let us talk about the marker and the church AND candle-making instead, okay? These two “edifices” – if we can call them that, are probably the most famous tourist landmarks in Cebu and located right smack in the busiest of its districts. Or we can ...

This log is dedicated to a friend who hails from the great city of Pasay! While we were in our hotel about 9AM trying to catch some rest, this friend suddenly found out that he needed toiletries and other things. Since there was no nearby store, I told him to go to Ayala Center or Fuente Osmeña and buy his needs from any of the supermarkets. Hesitating to go alone, he asked me: “ ano sasabihin ko sa taxi? ” As I was busy watching a live tennis tournament on ESPN, my answer was: “ pucha naman, e di magsalita ka in the manner and language that you know! You are still in the Philippines and people here talk the same Pilipino and English that you know. Okay, medyo pagtatawanan ka lang if they hear you pronounce tabe instead of tabi or lalake instead of lalaki or hende instead of hindi , but just the same they will understand you and you won’t get lost because of language barriers ”! My litany did not end there and I capped it with this: “ buti pa, go take a jeep dyan sa baba, sabihin ...