Derek’s Diary

I just returned home from the Philippines. I’m exhausted from my long trip, so I’ll write more later today after I get some sleep.

Tody we leave Baguio City by bus for Manila. Of all the cities that I visited in the Philippines (Boracay excepted), Baguio City is easily my favourite. The city is much cooler than Cebu and Manila, is cleaner, has less air pollution (though still very bad by Canadian standards), has fewer obvious signs of poverty, more pine tree-filled parks, and offers breathtaking mountain views.

Baguio has many tourist attractions. While here we visited Burnham Park, Mines View Park, Wright Park, Botanical Gardens, and Camp John Hay. In Burnham Park, we walked around a man-made lagoon, ate oranges, and just relaxed. In Wright Park, we went horseback riding around a city trail for an hour. At the Botanical Gardens, we saw exotic plants, flowers, and pine trees from all over the world, and took photos with two elderly Igorot, a tribe that lives in the Cordillero region on the northern island of Luzon.

Though most Baguio parks have no entrance fee, each usually has at least one “comfort room” that charge various rates, from five to 20 pesos, for using the bathroom facilities.

Another common appearance at most sites that we visited were the vendors with their little shops where they sold t-shirts, sweaters, hats, wood carvings, keychains, coin purses, knives, bags, and hand-woven wall hangings.

After taking a short, but delayed flight from Caticlan to Manila, we took a five hour bus ride to Baguio in northern Luzon. When we arrived, the first thing that we noticed was that it was much colder than Manila (or any other city thaty we visited in the Philippines) and that the locals were all wearing long clothing while we were still in shorts. Feeling tired and chilled, we immediately took a short cab ride to overpriced Villa Rosal Hotel (1700 pesos per night), the first hotel that the tourist information guide presented to us. The next morning, we transferred to a plain, but very clean and comfortable room (1000 pesos per night) at Brea Inn on Session Road.

Yesterday, we left Boracay for Manila. Though we enjoyed a relaxing week by the beach, we found that the island is crowded with tourists and very commercialized. Vendors and commissioners are everywhere and constantly ask to sell you sunglasses, hats, pearls, jewelry, massages, island hopping tours, and banana boat rides. Talipapa shops sell shorts, t-shirts, slippers, and sarongs. Restaurants are numerous and serve a mix of Filipino and international cuisine. Restaurant staff standing outside repeatedly say, “Sir, ma’am,” and invite you to try their meal. As a result of all of this solicitation, one of my favourite Filipino expressions was, “Hindi po, salamat,” which means, “No, thank you.” In short, Boracay is a paradise that mixes pleasure and business.

For our last dinner in Boracay, we decided to try something a little different. Instead of ordering a meal or buffet in one of the many beach front restaurants, we went to Talipapa and bought fresh Lapu Lapu, prawns, and eggplant (390 pesos). We then took our fish and vegetables to a nearby carinderia (restaurant) who cooked our meal for just 100 pesos. It was a very delicious dinner!