Anddddddddddd I'm Back

As you woke to your morning coffee last Saturday Carrie and I were strolling down the white sandy beach, full moon illuminating this crisp night in Puerta Galera. With our ever present swimsuits on underneath our clothing we decided to slip into the water for a little night swimming. As Michael Stipe of REM so eloquently states, “night swimming, deserves a quiet night”. And I don’t think it ever gets any quieter than a Sunday night in this relatively quaint beach community 2 hours (bus and boat) outside of Manila. I kid you not when I say the water was maybe a few degrees warmer than the pool at the Shangri-La hotel back in Manila. Maybe even more impressive to me was that it was nearly as clear. With the full moon I could easily make out the color of Carrie’s red swimsuit from ten feet away. Making it all the more breathtaking, an isolated thunder storm hovered patiently over a distant island. Horizontal and vertical lightning strikes so long they stretched the height and width of my vision.

Still glossy eyed from a few moonlit kisses we trudged from the ocean. Funny thing though, I no longer had any pants. While disappointing it was not so sad until I realized the pants also held my brand new camera as well as the only hotel key. Not something you want to encounter at 1 in the morning. While nice, this hotel was no Shangri-La, you couldn’t just approach the front desk for a new copy. In fact there was nothing remotely close to a front desk. The open air restaurant served as front desk, housekeeping, concierge, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Everyone had long been asleep. As I stood in sandy hotel courtyard facing the beach pondering my course of action, it began to rain. Hopefully the rain destroyed the camera now in the clenched fists of the Filipino thief. That was my first thought at least. Next thought was that it’s time to start knocking on doors. I had no idea where anyone of authority slept in these cabanas. So I knocked on the nearest door I could find. A young man answered. He had no idea as to Fred the managers whereabouts but was a long term guest with his phone #, so he graciously offered to text message him. During the text his lover, a young man of equal age, emerged from the bathroom once he realized it was an American and he was safe.

After an hour and a half I located the door of another long term guest in dredlocks. I figured that this would be my solution, and it was. He knew where the employee on hand would be sleeping and yelled to him from an open window. So at least we got back into the room from the rain. Gone are a collection of pictures that rank among the best I’ve yet to take. Gone, the picture of Laila and the rest of her transsexual bartenders performing with much pride their dance routine just for Carrie and I. Gone, the picture of the local 7-year old boy who climbed onto the side of the boat in his swimsuit and snorkel mask, staring at me as I stared at him through my camera lense. Gone, the pictures of Coco Beach, Sabaang, and White Beach taken from the boat surrounded by dark blue water, with a backdrop of lush green mountains. Now they only exist in the memories of myself, Carrie and the memory card headed to the black market.

It was this incident that has delayed my blogging. As previously mentioned these pics were the best yet, and I had even in my head elegantly scripted the first 2 paragraphs of the blog. The disappointment at being unable to share the adventure with you all sent me into hiding. I’m back and I now have an airtight grip on the new camera.

On Carrie’s second to last day we headed down to the University of Philippines to walk around. I had been there previously to play Ultimate Frisbee but didn’t get much of a view of the expansive campus. We walked around for several hours through this jungle campus and still didn’t come close to covering the entire grounds. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
On Carrie’s final day we finally got up the motivation for the San Miguel challenge. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the beer selection here in the Philippines. There is quite an array so prepare yourself, San Miguel Light, San Miguel Ice, San Miguel Pale, San Miguel Dry and San Miguel Red Horse. {Catching my breath}. Portland’s one hundred micro-brews pales in comparison to this massive beer list. So we bought four varieties which you can see lined up on the bar in my room. Beer was poured into each of four glasses, the contestant then tastes each of the beers, stating which variety they think it is. Contestants were allowed to try each type more than once. Sadly I must come clean that Carrie took me down in this competition. She correctly guessed two of the four and myself one of four. Our overall poor performance can be attributed to one of two things, either our poor beer tasting or minimal difference between the beers. Considering I could without hesitation taste and name all six of the McMennamins brewery beers back home I have my opinion. But I’ll let you decide that for yourself.

With my poor track record pertaining
to cameras Carrie and I decided it best we not take it out for her last night on the town. We had no crazy plans as her flight left in the morning.
But again given my track record and dwindling bank account we left it at home. It’s going to be strange not having a traveling and eating partner for the duration of my trip. On the bright side with nobody to talk to I’ll inevitably take out that frustration on my keyboard in the form of blogging. My new camera is bigger and badder than the rest. The Cannon Powershot A630, 8.0 Mega-Pixels (aka good). It also has a viewer screen that pops out and can turn around. So even without Carrie to take pictures of me while I travel I will be able to adeptly take them of myself. I leave you with a variety of pictures from the hotel pool and my room at Carrie’s request.

The Splendor of Boracay

From the moment I arrived in the Philippines I kept hearing over and over and over, "have you been to Boracay yet?" And now I know why they were so inquisitive. Boracay is even better than I could have imagined it. It was how I wish Hawaii was.

Rather than book something advance, essentially meaning it would have to be a resort big and corporate enough to have a web presence, I took my friend Trevor's advice and decided to wing it. Instead of a $100 over the top resort Carrie and I found an amazing bungalo right in the heart of the town. For $40/night we had A/C, hot water, a very nice room in the best of locations. One step out the door of the room and our feet were already being caressed by the warm white sand. A mere ten feet away sat the open air hotel bar, filled with interesting characters from all over the world.



From our seat at the bar we could hear the waves crashing. That's because they were only about another 15 feet away from us. As serene and relaxing as it gets. San Miguel beers were just shy of a $1/beer. But given the tropical locale I had no choice but to stick to my Mango Daquiri's. They cut the mangos fresh for each and every drink. And I'm not saying in the morning. I'm saying you order, they grab three whole mangos, then slice them right there before blending with ice and rum. Delish. The fish was of course fresh and fantastic. Sadly our time was short as I needed to get back to work the following day.



So the trip consisted mainly of relaxing, drinking mango daquiris and walking along the beach. I imagine anyone reading this will shed a tear, and believe me it's much appreciated.

Given that Boracay is just a 35 minute flight and $125 round trip, this will not be our last meeting. Which is good because I didn't get to snorkel and I dropped my camera in the ocean right before heading back to the airport. Doh!


Fetching a new camera has been much more difficult than I had expected. Unlike everything else here in the Philippines, electronics are the same price, if not more. Unless of course you locate some sort of black market. Which I intend to do and already have a few leads as to where I need to go.


In the meantime enjoy the only pictures I have left. And hopefully I'll have the means to share more with you very soon.

Erik versus the Volcano
I'm frantically writing this blog from the hotel lobby on my work laptop which is a PC. And for some reason it's giving me one heck of a time. But anyway yeah I've been to heaven and back this weekend. Carrie and I went to Lake Taal in Tagatay, just 1 1/2 - 2 hours from Manila.
Last week I made a positive connection with my cab driver on the way back from Ultimate Frisbee at the Univ of Philippines. His name was Bert, he wears long black gloves and has a lot of spunk. He said to call him if I ever wanted a ride out of town. So I did. For the equivalentof $40 each way we had our own personal driver. For just a bit more we could have setup a driver from the Shangri-La in a nice air conditioned sedan, but what's the fun in that? There's a lot more excitement in a beat up old taxi with a wiley cab driver who grew up just a short distance from Tagatay.
The one picture sans-people is the view from the Taal Vista Hotel. Obscenely gorgeous. The lake is actually a crater created the last time this highly active volcano bursted it's top. And the island is actually another volcano. In fact I'm told it is truly the smallest volcano on the planet. Carrie's horse guide informed her that it is teetering on a level so volatile that if it gets even slightly worse, they will be forced to evacuate the island.
Some other high points would be my first ever ride in a little motorcycle buggy. I've avoided them in Manila due to the insanity of traffic and the availability of cheap taxis. But in Tagatay there were no taxis and the traffic wasn't so bad. So we went for it. Then we went for it again, and again. That was it. Three times the charm.
The picture of the cabana is our table for dinner at Leslie's, it hangs out over the ledge to the lake. When we saw it earlier in the day I knew we needed to dine there, so we made the reservation. There are a few pictures of us sitting at the table. I can say all around the best dinner of my life. Garlic mushrooms, creamy scallops, local tawhili fish (which you can see Carrie eating live), prawns and tuna and an unparalleled view.
Finally before heading back to Manila on Monday we took a boat ride over to the island. Totally to our surprise they mounted us on a pair of trusty steeds shortly after we hit the shore. At the top we had a birds eye view of yet another lake within the main crater, viewable on this page. The water has an unmistakeable sulfuric odor. With a squint you can even make out some of the smoke in the picutres. If not check out the larger more detailed versions at http://picasaweb.google.com/sstarlinus/LakeTaalTheAngryVolcano

The Four Corners of Manila

Finally my first day of work. It was a relief to finally get that first all nighter over with. A few laps in the pool later and a some fruit and sushi at the breakfast buffet, time for bed…at 7:30am. Since the moment I got here eight hours of sleep finally seemed within reach. Until someone misdialed my room four hours later. Doh! There was no turning back at that point. Oh and for the record Owskey that stand right there is a Balut Eggspress stand. For the Balut lover on the Go!

As a consolation I had received an email from my main Philippine contact Mr. Trevor Browne. So I hailed a cabby and off I went. This was really the first time I had taken a lengthy cab ride in the caldron of workweek rush hour traffic. Not for the faint of heart.

There were about five dozen various close calls. Any one of which, had it occurred back in Portland, would have been something you would definite tell your friends about over a beer as some major event in your day. Here you breath deep, hold on tight and keep your mouth shut. For my mother’s sake I’ll note that I’m not referring to five dozen potential head on collisions. More like bonehead moves, clearing other cars by a hair and merging into vehicles on purpose.

After a 30 minute cab ride and some pleasant cabby conversation I had arrived. Dampa. A fish market/neighborhood. At 2:30pm I am the only foreigner in the market. Check that I’m the only shopper period. To say I attracted attention from the fish merchants would be an understatement. On the plus side I saw a lot of scrumptious fish. There were the ones I recognized like squid, oysters, ahi, lobsters and crab. And then those native to SE Asian waters.

The charm of Dampa is that you can buy then have any one of a dozen little restaurants cook it up for you to eat right then and there. A necessity for someone like myself living in a hotel. I had chosen five good sized prawns and a ½ kilo size local fish (pic attached). Being the only one in the restaurant I had the full attention of the two very pretty male servers. They took turns dropping off literally every utensil, dish, cup, drink, ice etc etc. By the time the prawns arrived each had visited my table six times. Now that’s service with a smile…and blush…and eyeliner. As for the food, exquisite. I was expecting it to be quite tasty but this was top notch.

As is my nature I’m going to try and fit too much in one day. I’m in another cab headed to the complete other side of town….in very rough traffic. The last cabby told me I was crazy to try and go Makati to Dampa to Univ of Philippines to Makati during the day. So be it! As mentioned my end destination is the Univ of Philippines. Particularly ‘Sunken Field’ a place of protest and a place of Ultimate Frisbee. It’s about damn time I found some Ultimate around here.

Sitting in this taxi surrounded by this mayhem I’ve thought of a better way to describe the traffic here. I don’t think it’s necessarily even as bad as say Los Angeles in terms of time and gridlock. It’s just crazy. At this moment of the five lanes on this massive freeway only maybe 50% of the cars could be considered anywhere near being fully in their lane. Ande I’m not just talking about lane changes. Right now my driver is straddling the hash marks at 40mph looking for any sign to go one way or the other. Wild.

Finally we arrive. The campus is quite extensive and dense with palm trees and other forestry. I’m definitely digging it. Somehow my driver weaves his way successfully to Sunken Field. Sure enough there is a large group of college students tossing the disc around for warm up. I approach and ask if I could join them this evening. “Of course” they say. A few who speak more fluent English ask if I am a professor at the University. When I tell them I am working in Makati I got the sense that they were impressed I was willing to travel so far just to play Ultimate. That’s what us Die-Hards do. ☺ The game was fantastic, I really needed the intense cardio that only Ultimate can offer. I must say I’ve never played in such humidity, I must have sweated out a gallon of water during that hour. When I took off several of them mentioned that I was welcome anytime. I assured them I would be back.

Another hour long cab ride back to Makati and I am rapidly trying to finish this before heading to work. For the record I wrote most of this in a journal as sort of an experiment. Writing on the go versus just summarizing at the end. And I kind of like where it went. Hope you enjoy the stories and the pictures. Take care.

Fight Night in Manila

Somehow these chumps got it in their head that they were the Thrillas in Manila. Fortunately for them they didn’t accept challengers from the crowd. My martial arts training from age 6-8 had me well prepared for these guys. Except maybe for the dude who trains NAVY Seals on his free time, or the active duty Philippine Special Forces fighter, maybe not the 6 ‘5 Iranian Kickboxer, or for that matter the guy who was an undefeated 50-0 in unsanctioned street fights.

These guys were fierce. And true to the ticket woman’s word all but two of the fights didn’t make it past the first 10 minute round. Maybe the strangest/best part was that each fight was clearly better than the previous.

The first real highlight was the Thai Kickboxing Iranian. He was one tall mean looking dude. And pitted up against a Filipino he was a marked man as far as the crowd was concerned. They cheered nationality first then for the favorite. But if the favorite took a beating from the underdog they certainly appreciated the effort. In this case as an unknown challenger from Iran he was the underdog. And early on it appeared he would be on a flight back to Tehran bruised and battered. Pinned down taking shots to the head he managed to toss his opponent aside, lurched up and gave him a crushing sidekick to the head. The guy was literally in tears. I thought he was about to get strung up when he circled the ring waving an Iranian flag.

Next up a legendary fighter out of Tokyo. Unlike the other fighters who chose invigorating rock and roll songs such as Chili Peppers or Rage Against the Machine to enter the ring, this guy chose a very feminine Japanese pop song. It didn’t stop there. He proceeded to dance around like a Spice Girl, who I hear are about to announce a reunion tour, singing and dancing around the entire arena. At some point just about anyone in the crowd was close enough to reach out and touch him. He then hopped into the ring at the exact moment the song went into the climatic crescendo and he joined in with his hands outstretched belting everything he had. Not too long after the only belting going on was to his head via the fist of the Filipino Special Forces fighter. If this particular fight couldn’t get any stranger, post-fight these two guys couldn’t stop hugging and bowing to one another. I’ve never seen anything like it. You’ll see a pic of the two of them bowing from their knees and holding each other’s hands.

The last fight, while it had no flashy showmanship or hated foreigners, was an epic. The favorite was a champion in Filipino mixed martial arts. Crowd response to his entrance was deafening. I thought it would be a rout but the challenger came strong. He was pummeling him time and again. At the end of the first round the champion was bloodied and the challenger exhausted, sprawled almost lifeless in the corner. Somehow they managed to make it through round 2 as well. Again the challenger pounded the champion but he refused to give up and I must admit seemed energetic given his face was stained red with blood. At this point they decided to change the rules mid-match and allow a 3rd five minute round. I was in the crowd going crazy “what are they doing? The guy is finished”. Only blank stares from my fellow fight patrons. The URCC founder came to his senses at the last moment. Literally as the bell was being rung he sent in the announcer to say that it was over. In a 2-1 decision, you’ve got to be kidding me, the challenger was awarded the upset. Corruption can be the only explanation for that lone vote.

A $2 cab ride across town later and I was at the local bar Absinthe near my hotel. One absinthe shot later I was having a discussion with Jeff and a few of his friends who took an hour bus ride from their village just to visit this bar. Over a round of beers I pumped them for information on traveling in the Philippines. My friend Carrie is coming to visit this Friday and I want to make sure we see the most beautiful sites, have the most fun and stay safe along the way. It’s much harder to get a straight answer from people in or around the hotel. All I usually get is a lot of nodding and yeses. People are very hesitant it seems to make recommendations or simply state ‘no’ that’s not a fun place to go. So it was nice get some honest feedback. I’m excited for her visit. It seems our destination next weekend will be the island of Boracay.