Intramuros

Today we go early by Grab knowing the others will sleep-in. 

Intramuros is a district of old Spanish-era landmarks including Fort Santiago. It is about 14 kms away but takes 40 mins despite the traffic being quiet. It is also relatively quiet when we arrive at 9 am. 

The area has a huge complex called Fort Santiago. We spend a couple of hours here. The fort was the site of the original settlement of what was known as ‘Maynila’ then turned into a fort by the Spanish in 1571. It has been subsequently destroyed/damaged in turn by the Chinese, an earthquake, and then the Japanese in the dreadful Battle of Manila in 1945.

There were various points of interest including the ruins of the American Barracks when the US held the fort (so to speak) in 1946 after General MacArthur’s defeat of the Japanese; the Fort Santiago gate and moat; the spacious Plaza de Armas; various balconies from which we had views over the complex or out to the river alongside; the dungeons (which we had to stoop to go in and out of) and in which hundreds of people were incarcerated during the Battle of Manila - no-one survived; and the interesting Rizal Museo: these are the 16th century brick barracks where José Rizal was tried and executed in 1896 (aged 35) for allegedly inciting the revolution against Spain; today he is revered as a national hero.

By the time we exit, it is hot and the place is packed with people. So grateful to have been there early!

After leaving the fort complex, we walked on down past the Cathedral of Manila and then to the baroque San Agustin Church which was the only building left intact after the destruction of Intramuros in WWII. It is said to be the oldest stone church in Asia.

Enroute we passed a memorial to the Battle of Manila - 2025 is the 80th Anniversary! 

Manila was the scene of one of the worst urban battles in the Pacific War. Over a period of just 29 days, more than 100,000 innocent, non-combatant civilians were killed by the Japanese. Just appalling.

In fact, the commemoration of the liberation of Manila was yesterday in Plaza de Santa Isabel!!

We enjoyed some delicious pork buns from a street stall (4 for 155 pesos(=$A4.

We order a Grab. And the traffic is insane. We passed the big hotels, the huge American Embassy, the Philippine Navy HQ; and did the criss-cross through Manila that seems to be the meandering pattern on the roads no matter where you go here.

We pass kids sleeping on cardboard at a busy intersection, resting possibly between taking it in turns to offer to wash the windscreens of vehicles that have stopped to await the change of the traffic lights.

One young thing, she would have been no older than 8 or 9 years old I would have thought, was rebuffed by our driver and then another older girl turned up looking more sophisticated but the younger one chased her off, totally enraged, her little face contorted in fury at the other girl trespassing on her patch. They were so young. Very sad.

This is what the street wiring is like! We have seen worse as we are driven along.

We have a cold drink at our local Starbucks, then visit the nearby mall to get some groceries (mainly beer and wine …).

Kathryn departs this afternoon for Thailand for a few days for a workshop. 

Anna - their ‘yaya’ - continues to have personal issues and Kathryn attempts to find replacements for the interim. Another yaya, Elizabeth, has been doing 2 days a week since we arrived but is already committed to another family the remainder of the week. 

The Park in the Sky

MF and I went for a walk early whilst the rest of the family were asleep.

We had breakfast in one of the restaurants in the gated community we were staying at.

After checking out, we headed off to the Park in the Sky. 

This is an unfinished mansion from the Marcos era, discarded when Ronald Reagan cancelled his Presidential trip to the Philippines in the wake of the assassination of Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Marcos’ opposition leader. Reagan cited the demands of a busy legislative week in Washington but actually his advisors urged him to cancel the visit to the Philippines because of what was perceived as an inadequate investigation by Marcos of Aquinos’ death.

One way to reach the top. These are called ‘jeepneys’: usually stuffed full of people, with some even standing on the back bumper-bar.

We walked. There were throngs of people. 360 degree views of Tagaytay.

Then: the drive back to Manila in the incessant traffic.

Home, unpack, and go to the local park (finally! After urging the kids to go for hours as they are clearly stir-crazy!).

Amazingly we have walked 8 kms today.

Tagaytay

By the time we wake in the morning, plans have been made for an overnight trip to Tagaytay up in the highlands.

We leave late morning and endure a tortuous exit out of the city. We visit a kids animal park enroute - AND buy a pineapple pie!

Tagaytay is also congested on the roads but at dinner that night we have lovely views out over the lake with the Taal volcano in it; this is an active volcano). It is misty today so quite ethereal.

Lovely to be cool (that is, in nature as opposed to air conditioning).  We are at about 500 m.

Back to Manila

Having discovered the power of Grab we decide to take one to the airport rather than book one through the accommodation: half the price, very good cars and drivers, prompt and polite.

We have our muesli, fruit and yoghurt on our balcony and enjoy a nutritious breakfast.

We have plenty of time and so we book our Grab at leisure; it arrives 10 minutes later (or less!) and off we go to the airport which is close by Alona Beach which we visited yesterday.

It is a long wait at the airport - two lots of security; we enjoy a coffee; plane arrives late; the airline attempts to restore some order to the take-on luggage rules by announcing people with over 7 kg will be charged excess which prompts a long queue of people handing over their suitcases at the gate.

There are a group of musicians at the gate looking to earn some money.

Plane leaves 40 mins late. It’s a dog’s breakfast the pick-up at the airport in Manila (organised through Kathryn’s office). Grab might have been a better way to go as we are directed (via messages from Kathryn that were meant to go to MF!) to Wendy’s then it was Burger King (did I say a dog’s breakfast???)  … and the security into our village of Bel-Air was somewhat over-exuberant - we are directed from one gate to another, then they want a contact number to call Kathryn or Regis. 

Anyway, we are finally in - girls are not home from school yet but are apparently due soon.

Another day in Paradise

I walked up our little side road to the main road - twice. Walked 2 kms.

It was heating up gradually - by breakfast it was 27 deg C. Forecast rain but there is barely a cloud in sight at this stage.

At the water’s edge, the boats were unloading their catch and the nets were being folded. Quite a bit of activity.  On the second loop of my walk, almost everyone had gone. At one of the houses along the road, fish were being scaled. People were now getting onto motorbikes or taking a V-hire van (=  tuk-tuks) heading off - to work probably. Chickens scuttled along garden paths. 

After fluffing about, we grab a Grab to go to Alona Beach - Tourist Central. It is over a half hour drive to the southern tip of the island.

In a round-about way we ended up at Kslipayan Beach after a saunter down the main drag  - which is where I was aiming for anyway. 

Very short stroll to Alona Beach. Lovely beach, bars, dive shops, restaurants. We had a drink under an umbrella on the beach as the clouds rolled in and it tried to rain. Very relaxing.

Food prices are high like we would expect - but cheap by our standards!!

The next batch of cloud is rolling in. Wow, it rains hard now! We had already moved up to the bar under shelter and are having our lunch there. Phew! Negroni, 2 beers, hamburger and chips - $A30.

The rain eased off and we enjoyed walking along the remainder of the smallish beach which is book-ended by luxury resorts. In between are all manner of establishments with throngs of people. It is not yet the high season so I think this would be somewhat over-crowded then …

We walked into town back to where we had got out of our Grab this morning. Had the most delicious ice-cream from the Bohol Bee Farm which I read is an organic farm and uses only natural ingredients.

Did some walking about to (finally!) find a supermarket that sells our sort of food - cereal, yoghurt and milk - for  brekkie tomorrow as we are ‘over’ the breakfasts at the place we are staying.

We had an early ‘dinner’ if you could call it that as the heavens opened and we grabbed a Grab which drove through roads awash with water. 40 mins for 20 kms. Traffic everywhere!

No sunset tonight but still pretty with the cloud formations.

Excursion on Bohol

It has rained during the night but this morning is beautiful and fresh. Cooler outside than in. 

Rain predicted. But idyllic at the moment as we have breakfast out on the terrace.

I have a private tour booked which is great as we can tweak the itinerary to suit which I do: no Python & Butterfly Garden for us and I ask for the visit to the tarsiers to be at the sanctuary at Corella.

So off to Corella we head with our driver Bernie. We leave early at 8 am as I’m keen to fit in what we can before it rains. We arrive at Corella just as it opens at 8:30 and there are already 2 or 3 cars there. By the time we leave, the carpark is more full.

Tarsiers are endemic to the Philippines and are TINY! They look like a monkey but aren’t; they are a carnivorous, nocturnal primate and are endangered. They are very shy and get highly stressed even with the sound of a camera click. At the Philippine Tarsier Sanctuary we are guided to the tarsiers - there are only 3 to be looked at as this sanctuary is very ethical about how to manage them - and the in-house guides assist with photography to minimise disturbance. They are very cute with their bulging eyes and bat-like ears.

So, to the much-hyped Chocolate Hills, a series of grassy hillocks that toast off to a chocolate brown colour in the hottest months. At this time of the year they have a lawn-like cover. Attractive. Lots of steps up to the viewpoint. 

Increasingly as the morning passed, more and more people arrived in cars, buses, motorbikes, tuk-tuks. Very glad we chose to start early today!

Next stop is a boat cruise on the Loboc River. We drive past rice paddies and through forested mountains in winding roads, which I have to say, for the most part are very good. 

We stop for a photo at a large mahogany forest between Bihar and Loboc areas. This is actually a government reforestation project.

We pass the OTHER tarsier conservation park enroute. Here, they bring the tarsiers to you to hold for photos. This is totally not in the spirit of the tarsier conservation efforts and of course the car park is PACKED.

This is one way to get around - if you dare!

Then to the river. We have elected to pass on the cruise that includes lunch and are pleased with our decision when we see these large boats blaring out loud music. We take a quiet, more traditional outrigger-style vessel - a private cruise along a section of the river. Very pleasant with the breeze in our faces, although we wonder several times if we’ll be swimming back when the driver has difficulty re-starting the motor each time he stops …

Second last stop: the Baclayon Church (1727), founded by the first Spanish missionaries and badly damaged in the 2013 earthquake, it has been repaired with the assistance of the Vatican, although not re-opened. 

Last stop was the Blood Compact Monument. In 1565, the Spanish conquistador and the Boholano chieftain shared a cup of each other’s blood as a peace treaty. Ugh. 

We finished up in the main city of Bohol: Tagbilaran. We needed an ATM and so it worked well for us as I’m not sure we’d have got to see the place otherwise. Nothing exciting: shops, businesses, banks, malls. Busy.

In any event, we can tick it off. It doesn’t interest us and we were pleased to call it a day. It had been a very good tour and it was 6 hours out-&-about so plenty enough; AND we beat the predicted rain!!

We enjoyed a late ‘lunch’ of spring rolls and what was left from our brown paper bag of goodies from the Bake Shop we had asked Bernie to stop at (less than a dollar for donuts and a bunch of cakes!!) - plus a cold drink, sitting on the terrace as fishing vessels come and go and ferries ply their trade between neighbouring islands.

We cool off with a swim in one of the two lovely pools - and relax! And another lovely sunset. 

Off to Bohol

Bohol is an island province in the Central Visayas region.

It was only 15 minutes to the airport - we left our casa at 7 am -  earlyish still and so traffic not yet too busy. Driver contracted via Kathryn’s office prompt and efficient. In fact we have longer to wait in the queue for the bag drop (45 mins)!!

And the boarding process was like a dog’s breakfast. Only good thing is that Seniors get some level of preference. The boarding gate wasn’t even announced until boarding time. No way do we depart on time. Like at least half an hour late. 

Just looked at weather forecast for Bohol. Rain! Argh! So much for being the best time to travel there.

A tad over 1 hour flight to Bohol. 

Thankfully I had organised with our accommodation for a pick-up so it was a reasonably seamless transfer: interesting drive starting very rural then urban. 

Not long after we arrived it started bucketing down.  The gorgeous view out over the bay turned quickly to Zip. 

We are having lunch at the restaurant at our accommodation as by now it is close to 2 pm and we had breakfast about 6 am.  Sitting looking out at the thunderous storm and remarking on the presence still of a few intrepid fishing vessels out there. Madness.

Hmmm. Hamburger, beer and chips. I suspect we’ll be eating here for the most part as it is a bit of a trek into the last little town we passed - Booy Barangay: no Europeans in sight and looking somewhat seedy …

When the rain stopped, we did indeed venture into Booy Barangay. Ghastly road. No footpaths. Full of traffic going every-which-way. Potholes. Mud. Puddles with water spraying everywhere when the traffic went through it.  So we have seen local life up close and have no intention of repeating the exercise.

A brisk walk back - as brisk as it can be on such terrain - and we made it just in time for a lovely sunset. Enjoying a drink now. Very peaceful. You really don’t want to venture out from here (not on foot anyway).

Walked about 7 kms which is good considering we hung around airports and were on a flight for a large part of the day.