In 1985 Roger Cowland and Barry McKnight discovered the Friendly Philippines
Manila Trip1985
Roger’s letter, with additional material from Barry…
Our holiday, if you can call it a holiday, was great. The trouble is we needed another holiday to recover. We were lucky to have four friends in Manila at the same time as us. They were a great help as they showed us around and introduced us to many of their Filipino friends. Graham Lovell, our friend from Epping who I've mentioned before, was up there on a month’s holiday. Also there was Rick Hawthorne from Colorfilm who has been working at the film lab in Manila that Colorfilm installed a couple of years ago. Rick is on a management consultant contract with the Philippines Government. (The Lab is Government owned). This is his third six months posting but he is due back at Colorfilm, Sydney soon. Another foreign friend was Dennis Hartley who we met in Sydney a couple of years ago. He is Graham’s friend and is a resident of Manila and is a pommy, ex British Airways officer, now retired, but still gets all the benefits? (including free flights around the world). We're sure in the wrong business. A free roll of film is all we get. Also in Manila was Rudy Vegara, a Filipino that works with me in the Optical Dept at Colorfilm. He was up there visiting his family. We had intended meeting but time just flew by and although we talked on the phone we were unable to find a time that would suit both of us. It seems incredible but in Manila one has such a hectic time, there isn't enough hours in the day - or night come to that. In Manila we stayed at the Tropicana Apartment Hotel. It was equipped with a kitchen so Barry could cook up a few meals that we were used to. Graham’s hotel the San Carlos was about 15 mins from ours (Dennis also lives in Graham’s hotel) so we went over there quite often for parties, meeting many really nice people. Filipinos are very happy friendly people and love dancing. One guy, Jun (Junior) Cabasa became our guide during our stay in Manila, showing us some of the more interesting places around the city, but keeping us away from the Tondo district. Most Filipinos are ashamed of this area because of the extreme poverty there. From what we understand it is built near a rubbish dump with the poverty stricken people building their homes from all the garbage and rubbish that they have managed to scavenge. Manila has a population of around eight million people. The average wage is 50 peso's a day (about 3 Aus dollars). A frozen chicken breast at the supermarket costs 28 pesos.... Minced Beef was 55 pesos a kilo. Needless to say these items were not very often on the table of the average wage earner. Rice is the main item in their diet. Fortunately fruit and vegetables are relatively cheap at the markets. Everything to us seemed cheap anyway, but then we earn 80 dollars a day. There we are regarded as very wealthy people. One of the very interesting places Jun took us to was Intramuros, the old walled city. It could be called a city within a city and was built by the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century and guarded by Fort Santiago at the mouth of the Pasig River. It was largely destroyed during World War 2 but rebuilt in the years after. Amazingly one of the few buildings to survive intact during the war was the ancient San Augustin Church. A fact duly noted by the very religious Filipinos - who, by the way, all seem to be able to speak English. The native language is Tagalog and they speak English with an American accent. At the entrance to Intramuros is Rizal Park which is dedicated to the nation’s hero Dr Jose Rizal, a revered poet, executed in 1896 for inciting revolution against the Spanish occupiers. The Spanish gave way to the Americans in 1898, then the Japanese brutally occupied the Philippines from 1941 to 1945. The battle for Manila eventually freed the people but cost over 100,000 lives, and the destruction of their city. True independence finally came in July 4th 1946... Another place we went to was Paco Park which is actually an old cemetery established during the Spanish colonial period where the dead were placed in niches in the circular hollow wall. There was a lovely old church there with a circular pool in front of it. Jun also took us around and showed as where the big Department Stores were at Cabao, Quiapo and Santa Cruz where we both stocked up on shirts. Shirts that cost 30 to 40 dollars in Sydney were 4 to 8 dollars in Manila. The Kinta markets are the place for fresh veg and if you so desire, meat and fish etc.. This looked a bit suspect and was a bit on the nose with all the fish, meat and chickens on display without any refrigeration. Restaurants were really very cheap also. One night the five of us went to the Aristocrat, a huge restaurant open 24 hours a day. The meal, and it was quite substantial, with drinks came to 2 Aus dollars a head. In Sydney that lot would cost in excess of 30 dollars a head...Plus drinks. Our friend Rick took us out to visit the Film Lab at Quezon City (the Qu is pronounced K, so it becomes Kazon City)... I was really impressed with the layout of the lab. It’s what Colorfilm Sydney should be. Of course this lab was planned from the start. Not like Colorfilm which grew from a tin shed many years ago and has just bought out the surrounding houses and converted them....After the lab tour Rick took us back to his very plush residence at White Plains (supplied by Colorfilm). He has servants who cook, clean, do his washing and anything else that he wants done. It’s a hard life for some! We were able to swim in his pool before enjoying a big beaut meal, served by his two very nice female cooks. The meal, a midday lunch, was enormous. There were five of us there. Lunch consisted of Pancit Canton (Noodles and Veg). Chicken and Pork Adobe, Green Beans, Carrot Strips, Ground Beef, mixed with veg and heaps of boiled rice. Pork Adobe is one of the national dishes of the Philippines and is very tasty. The house has four bedrooms, with the servants living in, and Rick has the use of two chauffer driven cars also. He’s really spoilt and will miss all of that when he returns to Sydney. Graham was really good to us too. He picked us up at the airport with two of his Filipino friends, Mia, and Ernie, who put garlands of flowers around our necks as we came through customs. They drove us back to our hotel, saving us the hassle of bargaining with the taxi drivers. On entering our rather large apartment we were greeted by a beautiful arrangement of tropical fruit on the dining room table, again by courtesy of Graham and friends. The arrangement included Pineapple, Paw-Paw, Mangoes and Bananas. This welcome was typical of the overwhelming hospitality we encountered everywhere we went in the Philippines. Graham and Jun, our guide, were also responsible for our hotel bookings. The Tropicana was a nine story plus penthouse apartment block in a fairly central part of downtown Manila. Our first night was spent in an enormous apartment for four. We were then moved to a twin and later on our return from Kalibo, we were put in an even bigger apartment which would have slept a whole family. They left us in this one for the remainder of our stay. All this was at the same price as the twin we had originally booked. Mind you it was quite expensive at 35 dollars a night. Jeepneys are the most popular form of transport around Manila and are very cheap with fares starting at 7 cents (Aus) and the highest for city travel being around 50 cents (Aus). The Jeepney is an enlarged version of the American war time Jeep, converted to carry about 20 passengers and heavily decorated. However at times that “20 passengers” almost doubles with people sitting on the roof or hanging from the sides!!. Other forms of transport are buses, tricycles (they're an experience not to be missed) and there is a newly completed Metro Rail that runs above the roadway. It is really very good but at the moment is limited to the inner city. Also very cheap, one fare 14 cents (Aus), anywhere. One of our trips on this train was to visit a friend of Graham’s, called Colin, at Makati.. Makati is the commercial centre of Manila. Graham was given incorrect directions and we got lost and wandered around all the back streets asking the locals. Eventually we got a cab, though one without a meter... Usually, if the meter isn't working you get out, otherwise the taxi driver will rip you off on the fare .We asked how much and he said 40 pesos which was too much but we went with it as there were no other cabs about. Another night we got a cab but were told to get out because the journey was too short and he didn't feel like driving to that area. Anyway we eventually got to Makati where we were met by Orlan, one of Colin’s houseboys.. Here we experienced our first hair-raising tri-cycle ride to Colin’s Apartment... These tricycle contraptions consist of a motorbike that seats driver and two passengers and a side car that seats three passengers. (We did see one with twelve passengers out in the provinces) Colin is a retired Aussie who operates an export service to an Australian importer.. He makes sure the goods that are exported are in good condition and get out on time ... He has two house boys who look after him, cook and keep the place clean. He in turn looks after them, feeding, clothing and schooling. They both come from poor families. While at Colin’s we met the boy’s parents who were on a visit from the provinces. Colin had recently bought them a horse which they called "FRED". However it later gave birth to a foal which confused everyone. The boys served up a very tasty dinner and afterwards they got out their guitars and sang Filipino folk songs.. A most enjoyable afternoon. We spent one week in Manila before flying down to Kalibo for the ATI-ATI-HAN Festival...
Next day we were up early to catch a jeepney to Caticlan, two hours away. Caticlan is the coastal village that is the jumping off point for Borocay, a beautiful tropical island.(so we are told!).. There seemed to be an awful lot of people waiting to get on the jeepney, so Graham declared, very loudly, “I am not sitting on the roof!”, which made Barry burst out laughing. He said it was the picture of Gray-ham (that is what the Filipinos call him) sitting on the roof of the jeepney as it bounced along the road. When our jeepney was fully loaded with five passengers on the roof and about 20 squeezed together inside, plus a few hanging on the back, we set forth. The journey was very rough as the road was mostly dirt and full of pot holes. It was then Gra-ham’s turn to laugh when, after a vicious pot hole which tossed every one about, Barry said “It looks like they’re repairing the road!” (something that rarely happens here!!) . At Caticlan we got a "Banca", a sort of outrigger boat which took us across to Boracay. Again the boat was overloaded and sat very low in the water, which sometimes threatened to spill over the sides into the boat. As we ventured forth precariously someone said quite loudly “You know these waters are shark infested!”.. This time nobody laughed!!.. Anyway we made it across without sinking and got ourselves some accommodation in the thatched huts that line the pure white beach. The huts, and the island had no electricity, so that meant no hot water. Each hut has two beds and a balcony and is raised off the ground by four feet. This was either for cooling or keeping out the creepy crawlies - or maybe both. For 5 dollars your hut has toilet and shower attached or for 4 dollars you can use the communal facilities... We had one of each but shared the shower of the “luxury” suite with Graham and Gilbert. As for the island itself, it was truly a picture book paradise island with white sands, clear pale blue water, tall swaying palm trees and a warm, comfortable climate. .. We only had two days there (one night) due to a foul up with the airline bookings. It would have been very easy to spend a week or two there without any problem. In fact we are already planning a return visit sometime in the very near future. One of the strange things about the Philippines is that they don’t promote tourism. It’s very difficult to find out about places to visit, nobody has any information. The island has a few little shops and a few restaurants tucked away in the palm trees. It even has a disco restaurant for night entertainment. The restaurant we went to was quite incredible, and could only be in this part of the world. The floor was all sand as it was right on the beach and chooks would run around under the tables picking up the scraps. Saves hiring a cleaner I guess. The manageress was a funny old lady who seemed to be under the influence of something or other when we arrived and got more pissed as the evening wore on. After ordering our meal Graham decided to help out in the kitchen - which was a worry as he can’t cook. The kitchen was pretty primitive with a portable gas burner and hot coals. Despite Graham’s assistance, the food was edible and quite okay. We even got a few extra platefuls more than we ordered. I don’t think that they could count too well, which became apparent when paying the bill.. The (by now) very tipsy manageress actually asked us what we ate as she had no idea, and it wasn't a busy night either as we were the only guests. All the meals were on a blackboard with prices for one. We ordered more than one of some dishes and that was a big problem when it came to charging us. They were totally confused. One item was, say 10 pesos, but for them to work out what two would cost was quite an effort. We did our best to help them work out the bill as we did not want to rob them. However we think they missed out a few things! Anyway every one had a good time including the kitchen staff. Because of all the coconut palms there we signs everywhere saying “Be careful of falling nuts” which gave us much amusement...It was with great reluctance that we left Borocay the next morning. The boat trip back took about twenty minutes and was smoother than the journey out. More than can be said for the jeepney ride back to Kalibo.. 41 people and a couple of dozen live chickens were packed in for the two hour trip. ..As we bounced along the mountain roads the chooks on the roof slid down the windscreen while those under the seats just squawked...There were a few stops to retrieve the empty water bottles and passengers that fell off the roof!!!… Graham was a bit upset with the overcrowding but Gilbert slept through the whole trip and we found it all quite fascinating.
The final night in Kalibo was spent at Gilberts home. The relatives had all left so we were able to sleep there. We were thankful that we didn't have to spend another night at "The Lodge". As I mentioned earlier our flight bookings got a bit mixed up.. Originally we were all (Graham, Barry & I) booked on the Kalibo - Manila flight but somehow the only booking was for Graham. We were booked on a different flight from another airport at Roxas (pronounced Rohas). To make our connections we had to get up at 4am.. Before I go on to that I must mention the fantastic hospitality of the people of Kalibo. Everyone made us so welcome. Only problem was that if you were invited in for coffee you got a full meal. One day we ended up eating about four main meals. Gilbert’s family are one of the rare "middle class" families. Rare, because, the Filipino society consists of a rich upper class and a poor lower class which make up the huge majority. Their house impressed us greatly with its marble floors and split level design, even if it didn't have a ceiling. (they were still working on it). The house also had a noisy gecko which was considered lucky. The reason for this above average home is that the husband works on a ship earning American dollars which means of course that he is away from home for long periods. The family, which are agents for the local beer, had their own group in the festival and Gilbert, who is a bit of a radical, had his own group as well. We took photos of it all to back up Graham’s video footage. Now back to our departure. Nobody seemed to know when the buses left or how long the trip took... Typical!. Nobody here seems to consider how long it takes to do anything or to go anywhere, or what time buses leave.. You get there when you get there. Which is not very good if you have a flight to catch. Well, not to confuse things too much, the 4am bus left at five and the 6 am didn't arrive till 6:30. Buses in this part of the world only leave when they're full no matter what the timetables say! It was an interesting trip to Roxas to say the least. It’s not every day one travels with chooks and baskets of fish. Travelling through the countryside as the day gradually dawned was quite fascinating. We were able to observe the people awakening in their thatched huts and going about their daily chores as the bus travelled through the mainly rural countryside. Our bus journey took us to Sigma where we had to take a jeepney, a less crowded one this time, to Roxas city markets which took us about an hour over a very washed out road ... At the markets we had to bargain for a tri-cycle to the airport. We just got to the airport and it poured with rain, the first we had had of any consequence. There was more drama at the airport as our plane was found to be over-loaded - how unusual!. The flight crew moved all the heavy people, mostly fat women, to the front, and the smaller men and children to the back. The big worry here seemed to be whether we would be able to take off, and clear the palm trees at the end of the runway. Fortunately however, we just made it without damaging the palm trees. What a relief! I wonder if they had chooks on the roof! The flight back to Manila only took 50 mins but a lot of time was spent at the airport bargaining for a taxi back to our hotel. Dennis was acting in a production of “Guys and Dolls” that night that we were supposed to go to, but we had to give it a miss as we were too exhausted from all our travelling and lack of sleep. We had a couple of days in Manila then we went to Pagsanjan (Paksanhan) Falls for the weekend with Rick ... The river leading up to these huge falls was used for the filming of the movie "Apocalypse Now" a few years ago. A few of the movie sets are still there, or at least the remains of them are. They were blown up in the movie. Pagsanjan is one of the few touristy resorts in Philippines where the popular attraction is the falls and shooting the rapids on the Pagsanjan river. The river’s real name is the Bumbungan River, but for some reason they changed its name!.. We were fortunate to meet a couple of boatmen at a party in Manila who offered to take us up the river early one morning before all the tourists arrived. Each boat, basically a dugout, has two boatmen, one at the front and one at back. The idea was that we do the river trip early in the morning before it got crowded with the tourist hordes. Apparently the publicity about the movie and where it was filmed has made Pagsanjan a very popular tourist destination. Our boatmen, Piping and Ross, called for us at 7am, took us down to the river just below and plonked us in their dugout. With very little fuss we were soon travelling on the wide river that took us between deep gorges and lush vegetation. The village of Pagsanjan quickly disappeared and there were no further signs of habitation for the entire trip. It became quite eerie as a fine mist drifted about the river and long fingers of it rolled down the valleys in the gorges above as if to seize anybody who dared to trespass on this river. The thick jungle clinging to the canyon sides seemed to grow darker and more silent as we drifted past. It soon became apparent why Coppola chose this as a location for his movie about the darkness in a man’s soul. As if sensing the strangeness of the silent river the boys burst into song and we too joined in the singing of “Row, Row, your boat gently down the stream…..” Although we were the only ones on the river, the trip up took about an hour and was really hard work for the boys. They had to drag the boat, with us in it, up the 16 sets of rapids, hopping from rock to rock guiding the little boat between huge sharp boulders. Fortunately these guys were very fit and skilful, as a misplaced foot could result in serious injury...The falls were very impressive and dropped from a great height. If one wishes you can ride on a raft and travel under the falls, but the force of the falling water or debris in it could break your neck we were told, so we decided against that... Barry however had a swim though, as there's no keeping him out of water. The trip back was the exciting part. Shooting the rapids was all good fun for us, but involved more tricky work for the boys. Back at The Lodge we were joined by Rick for a late breakfast and together we watched all the other tourists in a long queue of dugouts making their way up the river. They would have to time their return trip down the rapids carefully to avoid crashing into each other. Graham was to have come down with us but he changed his mind, so Rick Hawthorne accompanied us which was really good as he knew a lot of the locals and arranged our accommodation for us. We stayed at another place called “The Lodge" but this was better as it overlooked the river and had a nice restaurant. However the night we arrived there was a “Brown Out”, (we call it a Black Out) and is a very common thing in these parts. So again we were without electricity and water (no showers and no flush toilet)...One good thing it did have though was a fantastic warm spring water swimming pool where we spent hours. The power didn't come on again until just before we left the next day. It was a lovely place though. Definitely on the re-visit list!…
A Postscript:
In 2013, before uploading this I was curious about the status of the island of Borocay. I was dismayed at what I found. It is now more like Honolulu than the magic island of Borocay with wall to wall five star hotels gracing its white sandy beaches. All feature swimming pools that enable the holiday maker to avoid the thrill of swimming in the warm clear blue sea. However the road trip from Kalibo can now be avoided as Caticlan has an airport of its own. Instead of dodging the palm trees at the end of the runway, the aircraft must now avoid the traffic at the end of the runway. I guess the jeepneys and tricycles will just have to learn that a big jet aeroplane thundering towards them definitely has right of way!!(and any people sitting on the roof will have to learn to duck their heads!!)…
