I didn’t know what to expect when going to the Philippines, I had heard great things but have been accustomed to travelling in Latin America. I also didn’t know a word of Tagalog or any of the other 100 plus dialects spoken there. My fiancé was fluent, plus it was too hard to choose which dialect to learn… not to mention the language programs I’m used to didn’t offer lessons on any of the dialects. It is against my tips of travelling (to learn basic language skills), but I figured I’d go with the flow and learn Japanese instead for our week trip that followed the Philippines since English is less common there. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of Filipinos knew some English anyways.
The trip got off to a rocky start when we got to the airport at 2 AM, only to find out our flight was delayed. Three hours of sleep… great. Shortly later we found out the flight to Vancouver was cancelled. After panicking, I saw that they rebooked us the worst possible flights ever. I panicked a bit more but then spoke to the agent and the best they could do was flights going the opposite way around the globe. The easiest way to Asia from Canada is across the pacific, but instead they booked us a flight to Toronto with a few hour layover, then a flight to Dubai with another few hours layover and finally we’d fly to Manila. After a total of 48 hours, from the time we entered the airport we arrived in Manila. We missed our flight to Roxas City, had to book a night stay in Manila and then another flight the following morning. All things considered, it wasn’t too bad because we got an extra night to explore Manila and the airline reimbursed us $1000 each. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t give $1000 for our baby daughter since she didn’t have her own seat. Luckily, she was a better sport than me and handled the flights like a champion, I was the one who was more restless. We should have kept our taxi and meal receipts because we could have claimed that at least. But, now that I’m back home I will be submitting the flight and one night hotel stay to Air Canada, with hopes to receive at least another $250.
After the night in Manila, we landed in Roxas City where I met my in-laws for the first time. It was also the first time they met their granddaughter so it was great for everyone. It was a bit of a culture shock, since I have a very small family, to see and meet so many people and such a large family from my fiancé’s side. But everyone was so welcoming, friendly and great people, despite some of the communication barriers.
We spent three and a half weeks in the Philippines and the rerouted flights weren’t the only road bumps we faced. After a few days there I got food poisoning for the first time in my life. No one believed it, and they thought I was hung over. But after some time, it became clear that a hangover doesn’t involve rushing to the toilet by the minute to expel waste out of two routes from my body. But hey, there’s always a first for everything.
The day the food poisoning hit me was on New Years Day. The night before I had a wild night drinking with the neighbors and locals while everyone was taking a nap before New Years. In the Philippines people don’t go out for New Years, instead they light off firecrackers and fireworks, have a party and a feast. It was a lot of fun and at one point the streets looked like something out of an apocalyptic movie. Smoke everywhere, explosions and motorcycles driving by. I explored down the street, met the neighbors, and almost blew off my hand trying their home-made fireworks. They lit a ton of firecrackers and then I experienced a monster fireworks show from our family. This was all followed by a massive feast. It was a great time, but something hit my stomach and affected me the next day.
In addition to food poisoning, despite frequent mask use, respiratory viruses spread like wildfire in the Philippines and we all got hit, on one or two occasions with some kind of cold. Our baby got sick and even had to get antibiotics. But babies are resilient and she was fine.
Blackouts of power are common in the Philippines and many other third world countries, but they usually last a few hours or maybe a day at most. We faced one that lasted three days. The generators weren’t turned on at our house so we decided to head to the main hotel in Pontevedra town, Villa Consorcia. The rooms were anything but fancy but the pool was amazing and the breakfast was spectacular. Despite the pain of having to change locations, it was a vacation away from a vacation and I enjoyed the evening swim in the pool and the morning swim in the scorching heat the next day. This is where I also discovered my favorite coffee shop, Dapog Native Classic Brewing. Coffee isn’t big in the Philippines, so it was refreshing to get a good freshly roasted cup while enjoying a view. I went back three other times and hung out with the owner each time. We had some good conversations, and it was a great time.
Asides from staying at Villa Consorcia in Pontevedra, the small town outside of Roxas City where the family lives, we also stayed two nights on the beach in Roxas City, when my sister-in law got married. It was another vacation away from a vacation, staying on the beach, eating some good barbeque and fresh sea food, swimming in the pool and the ocean. The only downfall was wearing a suit in 40 degree weather in a church with no air conditioning. Boy was it hot, but it was my first Filipino wedding I experienced, both the ceremony and the reception. It was big and it was grand, but it took a while to get some alcohol. After that heat, I could have used one sooner. Luckily a few times I managed to sneak off and get a beer.
What I was most looking forward to on the vacation though, was El Nido, Palawan. Before I met my fiancé, I always wanted to go to the Philippines because of Instagram posts I’d come across displaying the beauty of Palawan. I convinced her, two of her friends who were in the Philippines at the same time and her sister and husband to join us. Palawan was beautiful and El Nido was a town of epic proportions, the only problem was the trek to get there. We had to drive more than 2 hours to get to Iloilo, fly to Puerto Princessa, then take a 5 hour van ride to El Nido. We did an island hoping tour that involved beaches, snorkeling and kayaking in lagoons. We also visited Nacpan Beach the next day, what was once rated a top 10 beach in the world. The beaches and islands were great, but took some time to get to. The nightlife was good but i expected a bit better. On the way home we spent the night in Puerto Princessa but were too spent to explore. But at least the next day on our way home we explored Iloilo, another big city in the Philippines. My belt broke so we had to stop by the mall, it was very nice and there were a wide range of restaurants to choose from. Believe it or not, it was some of the best food I got in the Philippines and we ordered from 3-4 different places. We explored the market and I picked up a Pilipinas basketball jersey.
El Nido was for adventurers, the beaches were good, but it was best for the water activities and exploring by way of island hopping tours. I expected El Nido to be more spectacular, but Boracay had it beat. In Boracay we didn’t do as much but enjoyed relaxing on the white sand beach and the crystal clear blue water. The beach is right outside your hotel and was amazing and is on par with many of the pristine Caribbean beaches I’ve been to. The only problem was I hit another speed bump on our last night in Boracay. When rushing to catch a good sunset photo I was running across the beach and hit something. My adrenaline was going so it didn’t feel as bad as it was. On the walk back to our spot, the same guy who sold me beer asked if I was okay and pointed out my foot. It hurt but I didn’t know it was that bad. When I looked down my foot was a bloody mess and my toenail was hanging on by a thread. A number of locals on the beach administered some first aid and gave me a few shots to ease the pain. As I write this my toe feels better, but the nail is dead and will fall off any day and I had some painful days walking with a limp.
Aside from all of our adventures we relaxed at our home base in the family house in Pontevedra. I got to know the family, the neighbors and locals. It was a great experience but was even better getting to introduce our daughter to her other half of the family and getting to see my fiancé reunited with her family after many years. But there was down time where I’d get restless and went out to explore the town. I’d go to Dapog for a coffee, or ride a tricycle into town to explore the market, ride in the boats along the river, try the local gambling and even got a haircut. After a few days everyone seemed to know me in the town and it was a lot of fun interacting with the locals. That is my favorite part of travelling, not going to the tourist traps, or staying in the hotel but getting out there, meeting people and learning about the culture.
Then to finish off our stay in the Philippines, we went to Manila for two nights where we explored the walled city, Intramuros and tried the famous food in the massive Chinatown called Binondo. We were lucky to have tour guides who were Gerlie’s cousins and we saw a lot. Including being stuck behind a parade and trapped the wrong way down a one way in the ghetto of Manila. The second day, we checked out the Mall of Asia, one of the biggest malls in the world and explored the extremely developed area called BGC. BGC was super modern and was a major contrast from the majority of the Philippines I saw. It is super developed and no wonder economists are expecting the Philippines economy to skyrocket in the next fifteen years.
A few other notes, the Philippines is a third world country so it is cheap, but there many vendors who will aggressively try to sell to you, whether it is homemade bracelets, pearls, a drink in their restaurant or even Viagra. But this is no different than Latin America and the people in the Philippines are very welcoming, kind and friendly. They respect and are always happy to see tourists in their cities and towns. The food is okay, but i've definitely had better in many other travel destinations; but if you know where to go you can get some amazing pork barbeque, some good Siapao and a lot of options for extremely tasty fried chicken. Of course there is a lot of seafood too, but I'm not the biggest fan as it usually isn't breaded. And asides from Manila, there are very few stop signs and traffic lights and little way of road safety, so be careful when driving. What is interesting and makes for some cool photos too are the amount of motorcycles and tricycles; there were even more here than in Colombia. If you're coming from Canada or the USA it is a different world but is easy to travel around and navigate and the Filipinos will welcome you with open arms. The Philippines is safe too, even when walking down impoverished areas I never felt uneasy or worried.
There were many roadblocks along the way but we went right through them and it was an awesome experience. It was difficult with a baby, but boy is our girl Daniella a tough and resilient girl. We have a world traveler in the making. I think it was harder for us than her. Carrying mounds of luggage with all her outfits, formula, diapers and trying to find a way to wash and sterilize her bottles. It was a challenge, I couldn’t figure it out on my own, but luckily I have a fiancé who was able to plan and improvise when needed. We will be back to the Philippines in a few years, and in addition to reuniting with the family again, we will explore different places in the beautiful country of the Philippines.
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Awesome synopsis. If I was younger, I would consider booking a trip to the Philippines.