First Philippine Vacation

People often ask why I chose the Philippines. 

Many years ago, when I was a 20-year-old sailor, I visited the Philippines and was struck by how amazingly generous and friendly Filipinos were.  More recently I was playing golf with a Filipino-American acquaintance and he was very enthusiastic about my going there for a golf vacation.  He said he goes home for two months in December and January every year because the weather is generally cooler and less rainy.  He also mentioned that golf in the Philippines is very affordable and that almost everyone there speaks at least a little English.

In December 2007 and January 2008 I had a fantastic, off-the-map adventure, mainly because I went without knowing anyone, without any firm travel plans, and without even a Lonely Planet guide (though I bought one my first day in Manila and used it extensively to plan while I was there).  The only pre-planning I did in the USA was with the help of  Craigslist -- booking a condo and finding a High School English teacher who was willing to be my tour guide as long as I let her bring along another English teacher as a chaperone.

I was exceedingly fortunate -- my guides taught me how to get around Manila without getting price gouged.  They showed me their favorite parts of the city and of the surrounding countryside.  I even managed to play a couple of rounds of golf, although that quickly became secondary to touring and seeing the country. 

Together we flew to the southern Island of Palawan where neither of them had been before.  We took in the typical tourist sights around Puerto Princesa (Butterfly Garden, Crocodile Farm, Underground River, Honda Bay, Baker's Square), but largely due to the attention my attractive travel companions brought, we met an Iranian tanker ship captain who invited us (them) to a New Year's party and to lunch on his stranded oil tanker, which turned out to be the most amazing adventures of the trip.

New Years in Puerto Princesa was like being in a war zone with rockets and explosions everywhere simultaneously for about 3 or 4 hours, (occasional fireworks still going on the next morning as I drank my coffee at 9am).  I shot video during the fireworks, check it out here, but the video only captures a small portion of the fireworks that went on for hours.  Trust me it was amazing. 

I will tell you more about the visit to the Captain's stranded oil tanker later on.

Transportation in the Philippines

By the way, you may notice a lot of my photography has transportation themes -- the Philippines was a hugely interesting place for a guy studying Transportation Management.  Traffic regulations, and even lane demarcation are exceedingly flexible concepts in the Philippines -- taxis will zip across five lanes of traffic to pick up or drop off a fare, but it seems to me that Filipinos are masters of a concept I've been studying in grad school called "capacity management" or "capitalizing on underused capacity," which is what we do on the Caldecott Tunnel when we flip the direction of the center lane depending on traffic flow, and what anyone here might do if they see an opening in the oncoming traffic lane or on the dirt shoulder, or for that matter on the dirt shoulder on the opposite side of the road (I've got video!). 

I think the Philippines represents the future of transportation -- it is incredibly efficient and with minimal investment in infrastructure, it actually moves a lot of people pretty effectively.

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Last modified: 03/18/09