Philippine Travel Notes

Many of you probably know what it is. If you don’t, I wouldn’t be sure which corner on earth you have been hibernating the past years. Yes, it is the ship that carries books of a myriad kinds (plus toys and other thingys) circling the globe to reach the unreachable stars – that’s all of us hehe! And yes, part of its crews are always a scattering of people from many nationalities. It was many years ago when this ship came to my consciousness and oh how I wanted to see it and check out what it had. For whatever reason or reasons, I hadn’t got a chance the 6 times that it docked in Manila. Yesterday, I accidentally peeped on a news-daily that a woman was reading beside me on the LRT. I saw an article with a picture of that ship. Aw, as the woman flipped the page too soon, I wasn’t able to read at least a phrase at what might have been the topic. I just surmised, if that ship was not anywhere in one of the Philippine ports again, it could probably have burned or sank or whatever else. In a...

"Ay kalabaw may 'gerapee' sa taas", so shrieked a panicky jolly lady when she tried to reach for her bag from the adjacent overhead bin. And passengers laughed at her boisterously loud surprise. Remember the white bear in Butuan ? Maybe I spoke too soon! I mused then, what else would I encounter next. And here I was, in barely 3 months, encountering another animal on a flight to Mindanao! That when we landed at General Santos City! But this one, a "tiger" and not a "gerapee"(giraffe) has a lovelier story than the bear. It stole everybody's smiling attention as it silently sat up there. I learned that the owner was seated somewhere in the last rows. But there was no more available space in the area so the crews took the tiger to a vacant bin just about above row 7 as passengers boarded. I was row 11 (emergency exit) and did not see the animal earlier hehe. Maybe they boarded way ahead. The little big dear occupies a whole bin, so the stewradess ...

Like many, I silently wondered why they were selected, picked, singled-out, elected, voted, whateveer... to be the handsome and beautiful pair for this float... scroll down for the next pic Ah okay, try reading the company name written on the truck's door. Click it to enlarge if you still can't see the name. Uhuh, your guess will always be just as good as mine... This was at the Dinagyang's Float Parade. Ever heard of the expression "Model Ng Funeraria"? Well there you have it. Literally. And without a doubt! Oh well, the 'eternal' signs of our times... hehehe!

Now still on the Iloilo Dinagyang. See the notes that the drummers must play! Ingenious memory enhancer hehe! Talagang isinulat sa face ng drum nya! Well, bakit, masama ba? Cool pa nga eh, di ba?! Oh well, to play festival music in these our times...

This is one of the reasons I am not too crazy about Western Visayas Festivals. This was at the Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City. Yes, tribes usually paint their bodies black or dark brown for the “native” effect. But painting the brands of the sponsoring companies on their bodies not only seem so far out to me, its making the “rituals” tasteless. Anyway, if you look closely, that back of one participant seems to say “Cup Needles” instead of “Cup Noodles”. Ha?! Subukan nyo humigop ng isang cup ng "needles". Sige! What will these sponsors think of next? Make the tribes dance to their commercial jingles? In Iloilo, it probably won’t be long until that happens. Bet? But don’t get me wrong, am still a fan of Dinagyang. What with all the acrobatics that children are asked to perform by their choreographers even just during street dancing?! Gosh, some tribes even push real and big “stage on wheels” just to complete the props of their dance groups! Then again, I do not go t...

Very common to see those rolling carts selling fishball, kikiam, french fries, siomai, siopao and just about anything, right? How about this? Yep, it’s a cart, in the middle of the street, selling fruit shakes in various flavors. See the osterizers? They have four, no less! Eh, did I say “in the middle of the street”? Yes palangga, in the middle gid! This was Dinagyang day and the streets were closed to vehicular traffic so it became a fun place to roam around with many folks selling just about everything. Those fruit shakes were a hit. How did that husband-and-wife team make their blenders churn when they were in the middle of the street? Scroll down to see… Its actually a trike! And the ingenious manong loaded his genset along to provide the needed electricity for his wife to make those blenders whirr! No wonder, as I approached, I could hear that as if some ‘lancha’ was in the middle of the street. It was manong’s genset at work. ...

I kept glancing at this decorative wood carving. I just knew there was something that caught me, though I could not make out what it was. Finally stood in front of it and took this photo. The lady asked “you like the spelling sir?”. Then I said “aw ah, amo na gali, kaina pa ko gapaminsar ano may-ara sini nga carving man”. With a light whack on my arm the lady said “ahahay Pilipino ka gali, sir?” She then confided that the piece I was looking at was the 4th of such. Previous 3 pieces were purchased by 3 separate visitors because of the spelling. ‘Te man! This is at that the Roxas City Display Center. Yep, near the capitol, just before you go up the bridge.

“EconoLight” fares as we all know is Philippine Airlines' attempt to compete head-on with the Zero or Low or whatever fares that Cebu Pacific has pioneered via internet bookings. Sadly, “EconoLight” does not only fail but even puts its reputation in a bad light. “EconoLight” looks like a product of old (no, make that aged) and backward thinking folks who probably have not heard about market research and market behaviours. Thus, I can boldly predict that this facility will fizzle any time soon or they’ll be forced to change it into something else. Hey, you might be surprised to find that at times, your “Econolight” from PAL is way cheaper than Cebu Pacific’s “GO Fare” even with “GO Lite”. But that is talking about money matters – only. And for those of you who think your flight isn't all about the money, then you might want to consider the rest of this article. A first hand experience! When I heard about this “EconoLight” thing – which is not really that widespread a news – I bo...