I would do this every weekend:

1. Get on a bus (or any mode of transportation).
2. Spend the day somewhere I don’t usually go to, doing something fun,  and preferably with good company.

Last Saturday was one of the days I got to do that, and I enjoyed it immensely. We didn’t have any plans that went beyond the date and the place — August 15, Saturday; UPLB (University of the Philippines, Los Baños). And guess what, it was all we needed.

So we had a little bit of difficulty finding out how to get there. For me, the easiest option was to take a bus from Alabang. But I found out that the buses that you could take from the terminal in Alabang were all non-airconditioned. Normally there’s nothing wrong with that, but if the trip would take at least two hours, I think it doesn’t make me hoity toity if I say that I would rather take an airconditioned bus. I was told that I could take a bus that passes Edsa, but to be safe, we decided to take the bus from the official bus terminal at Taft Ave. We had to ask around to find out exactly where the buses were, that went to Los Baños, but as soon as we found it, it was pretty easy.

We took a Green Star bus that was going to Sta. Cruz. We paid Php99.00 each, and then we got off in front of Olivares Plaza. We took a jeepney with a label “UP College” from there. We got off just before the college’s entrance, but didn’t go in yet, because first, we needed to buy some cake.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: MerNel’s Chocolate Cake is the best choclate cake in the world. And yes, the main reason I wanted to go to Los Baños was to get to eat that cake. We just walked to where it was, it’s pretty near the campus, and after buying one, and having my friend’s name written on it, we went and bought more food from the establishments that were just outside the campus–Bugong Roasted Chicken and some drinks and chips from the Mini Stop convenient store. And after we were all set with our supplies, we went off in search of the park where we would be having our “picnic”*.

*And I put “picnic” in quotation marks because we didn’t exactly have picnic food with us.

None of us were familiar with the campus grounds. We didn’t go there for college, and weren’t close to anyone who did. We had been walking for quite some time when we decided to ask a random passerby directions. He was nice enough to give us correct ones, and pretty soon, we were placing our mat, yes, we actually brought a mat, under a pretty large tree. We sat down, played some music via my cellphone, and started eating.

That’s pretty much all there was to it. We didn’t go anywhere else inside the campus, nor around the town. But actually, just sitting there, we were already able to see a lot. Oh sure, nothing really dramatic happened; there were no fights that broke out or people making big scenes, but it was interesting to see what people did on a Saturday afternoon.

A lot of people were there walking their dogs. Some were playing games like tug-of-war. Some were jogging. And there were some people (mostly couples) who were out for a walk. We saw one man who sat underneath the same tree, on the other side, and he was sketching. It was such a great break from the usual boring malls with blaring music and big crowds. I mean, I love living in the city, but I really wouldn’t mind having a place like that to retreat to whenever things got too busy. And best of all, staying there was free. I mean, we only had to pay for transportation and the food. And that was great.

I really wish I could spend more days like that. Just hanging out with friends, feeling a cool breeze, chatting about non-important fun stuff, watching a nice view, listening to happy music… If only I had all the time and money in the world…

I don’t know about you but when I was a kid and we would go on a school trip, what I always looked forward to the most were the bus rides that field trips involved. Because seriously, when you’re 7 years old, I doubt that you’re genuinely interested to know how pencils are made, or how a girl falls in love with a nutcracker. When I was 7, I was more interested in eating snacks and talking about our favorite parts in the latest episode of Captain Planet. Hence, I was more excited about chattering with my friends in the bus than having to line up with everyone else and keeping quiet and not being allowed to touch anything in some museum.

Fast forward to several years later, and by this time, I’ve already developed a love for travel. Of course, I look forward to seeing all the destinations that my friends and I plan to go to. Someone told me that beaches look the same everywhere, but I’ve found that all the beaches I’ve been to in my life (and I’ve been to a lot, considering I live in an archipelago), always have something different about them, whether it’s the view of the sunset, or the color of the sand, or even the people that you’d meet while you’re there. Still, though I’ve also gotten interested in the destinations, the kid in me, has never lost interest in the bus rides, or any kind of transportation, really. Although I’m always in a car or a jeepney or a bus every day (going to the office and going back home), and even though I’ve ridden on an airplane several times, I still enjoy the part of the trip where you’re just on your way to get to where you want to go.

Just these past few days I experienced a couple of road trips as I went to several places, all by land (or, okay, I rode a raft and a boat, too), and with friends both old and new.

Lost in Laguna

I don’t blame my co-worker for getting the names of the lakes confused and asking for directions to the wrong lake. San Pablo Laguna is after all, “The City of Seven Lakes” and with seven lakes in just one city, it’s understandable to get the wrong directions, and end up in the wrong lake. Plus there’s something good about getting lost once in a while — you find out something people don’t normally know, and you experience something new and different.

Pandin Lake, San Pablo Laguna

We had to follow a tricycle just to get to Pandin Lake because no one would give us directions clear enough to follow. And we had to pay the tricycle too (Boo to people who want to make profit from the misfortune of others). But I guess it was better than going around in circles and not getting any nearer our destination. Eventually we found out that the reason that the lake was so hard to find was because it was within one of the smaller districts of the city, where only a few houses were around, and there were hardly any road signs.

This is probably a good time to write a rant about how the tourism industry of the Philippines is so poor in the sense that there are no signs to get to anywhere and even the roads are confusing as to whether they are actual roads or sidewalks or just paths made by people who frequently walked in that area. But I’m not going to do that because I want to keep this as positive as possible. Besides, when we got to the lake, it was all worth it. The raft ride around the lake was reminiscent of the Loboc River tour in Bohol (only with buko juice instead of buffet lunch), but also a bit different because it was more peaceful. We were the only ones there and the view was amazing.

Eventually we met someone who was from around the area and he said to us that getting lost was a part of the San Pablo Laguna experience. So it’s all good. That makes our journey complete.

Public Transport in the Province

Last Monday, I went to Morong in Bataan with some new friends. Actually, it was an old friend’s summer outing with officemates and I tagged along. Mostly because I’d never been to Morong before, and wanted to see what the beaches were like there. The sand was black, but I’m not very particular about sand color anyway. I’d rather have black sand on a clean beach than white sand on a polluted beach. The place we went to was, somewhere in between clean and polluted. But like I said, I’m not writing this to complain. And the beach isn’t even what I want to write about. I want to write about what happened when my friend and I left the beach and took the public transportation in the province to get to Olongapo.

My friend had to meet with someone in Olongapo, so we left the beach for a while and took a tricycle to the jeepney station, which wasn’t really a station because there was only one jeepney there, and guess what, it had a door. Right, so jeepneys usually made with doors. But you don’t find those in Manila. The only jeepneys with doors are the ones privately owned. So this one was different– it was a public jeepney, and it had a door. And here’s something else it had that Manila jeepneys don’t have– it had a conductor. Seriously, there was a man there, who wasn’t the driver, who collected payment from the passengers, and he folded bills and inserted them in between his fingers too the way a bus conductor does.

On our way to Olongapo, there were only a few of us. Maybe 4 or 5 people at a time, which was perfect, because no one was blocking the windows, and I could really enjoy the view. I’ve been to mountains before and have seen forests and cliffs and seashores from moving vehicles, but what I liked about it this time, was because I was on a jeepney, then the windows weren’t closed and there was no artificial airconditioning. I could smell the grass of the fields and feel the wind in my hair.

When we got off the jeepney, we walked to a local grocery to buy some more snacks. I think I mentioned it before, but I really love walking in provincial towns. It’s just because it’s so different from the towns in Metro Manila — there are less people, less garbage, and everything is just naturally slower. So sometimes it’s annoying because when you’re in a hurry it’s not helpful when the people around you are moving so slowly, but when you’re on vacation, and time doesn’t matter all that much, it feels really wonderful to just walk around town, taking in everything that you hear and see.

Going back to the beach, we had to take a jeepney again, and this time, it was at a real terminal, and the jeepney was full. It was actually even overloaded because there were some people (two) who had to sit on the floor (you’d think I’m kidding, but I’m really not). There was a conductor again and after giving him our payment, we were off. If only the jeepney wasn’t so crowded, I think I would’ve enjoyed the ride back even more. Why? Because it was 5:30 PM when we were on our way back, and just in time for sunset.

It took some effort for me to angle my head in such a way that I could look out the window and to the rice fields outside, but it was all worth it, despite the neck pain, and the awkward position of my legs. I got to watch the sun set over a rice field. I’ve seen many sunsets in my life, but most of them are when I’m on the beach, so this wasn’t a usual sight for me. I’d thought that the way the light would touch parts of the ocean was beautiful, but this was beautiful as well — the light would touch the water on the plants, making the entire field glow. And the nipa huts have more color, and the stars would slowly peek out from the purplish pink sky.

When we arrived back at the beach I realized that I wasn’t able to take pictures of our side trip. But I think that means that I was able to enjoy the moments to their fullest.

Road Between the Rice Fields

Farmer and Carabao in Nueva Ecija

Before going back to Manila, we took another side trip, this time to Nueva Ecija, where one of us would be spending the rest of the week. She invited the group over for lunch at her parent’s house, although when we got there it was already around 4PM so we I guess we had merienda instead. But the food was so good, I don’t think anyone minded that the trip took so long. And also, the road trip, again, was a really good experience, in my opinion.

Further and further from civilization we went as the van went off-road a couple of times and there was nothing around us but rice fields and farmers. Honestly, it felt like traveling inside a post card. There were mountains, there were carabaos, there were kids running around with mud on their feet. At one point I wanted to just leave the van and walk the rest of the way so the view, no the atmosphere, wouldn’t be fleeting by so quickly. But of course I couldn’t, given that we were already running late, and it was several hours more to get back to Manila.

Despite everything bad that’s being said about our country (and I know that we deserve some of those negative comments), I can’t help but still love it a lot. So maybe we have our problems and the economy sucks and the government is corrupt and whatever, but when I see places like the ones I just saw, it’s hard not to say that I think that I live in a beautiful country.

—

So maybe the places I went to — San Pablo, Laguna and Morong, Bataan, have their share of difficulties. But I can say that I enjoyed both trips immensely. If not for the destinations that have redeeming points like the delicious food and great views, then definitely for the fun and interesting road trips that they involved.

* The Pandin Lake Tour is Php180 per person. Includes raft ride and fresh buko. Arrangements are made through Mandy Mariño at this number: 0917-5016694

It’s inevitable. When you spend a few days in another country (or any other place that has a different language/dialect), you get used to hearing another language being spoken. At first it’s real annoying since you can’t understand anything everybody says, but after a while, you pick up a few words yourself, and at least in my case, I get interested enough to learn more and more words in that language. I am far from a language expert, I can only speak two languages fluently (and those are the very boring English and Filipino, which are both languages spoken in my country anyway), but I’d definitely learn another language if the opportunity arose.

My Mom and I spent a good 8 days in Egypt (or was it 9 days? I really can’t remember), and during that time, although the tour guides we spoke to and the friends we were with all spoke English (and Filipino), we still heard a lot of Egyptian Arabic being spoken around us. One such word that kept being said was “Y’alla”, which according to our tour guide meant “Let’s Go” in Egyptian. It’s usually said many times continuously, so as to make it sound more urgent, i.e. “Y’alla Y’alla!”.

A lot of people said it, tour guides mostly (and there were a LOT of tour guides scattered around), for obvious reasons. It’s probably one of the words that most tourists understand, and there’s even a travel agency there called “Y’alla Tours”. I saw that name painted on a van.

Anyway, while we were there, it was almost automatic for us to move whenever we heard it. It was quite fun, really. And it’s the only Egyptian word I really remembered. I got so used to it that the day after we got back to the Philippines and I took the bus to go to work, when it stopped at the station I was supposed to get off at, and the bus driver announced the station, I thought I heard it again.

“Y’alla! Y’alla!”

I turned my head sharply to look at the person who said it, expecting to see someone in a turban and a long-sleeved shirt, thinking for a moment that I was still in Egypt and the people around me were speaking Egyptian. But it turned out to be a very Filipino-looking bus driver in a white polo barong and black slacks. And I realized that what he said was not Egyptian, but in fact the name of the place we had stopped at:

“Ayala! Ayala!”

I laughed at myself as I got off the bus and was laughing the whole time (I know I probably looked crazy to the other people around) I walked to the next place that had another bus to take me to my workplace (yes, sadly, the Philippines is still full of buses and not enough trains). How funny language is.

It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment trip until my friend, with whom I shared planning duties with, said that he couldn’t go. Or actually, it was more like, “Our band has to practice for an upcoming gig so we can’t go.” And seeing as they’re a band, that meant that automatically, 5 from our group won’t be able to make it. And as there were only 8 of us who planned on going anyway, only 3 of us were left. Our trip was as good as cancelled, but then my friend Jazel said, “There’s still 3 of us, right? Why don’t we go on with it?”

That’s when it became an impromptu trip. And as with all pre-planned trips that suddenly become impromptu ones, there were bound to be some changes. For one thing, we had to take the bus.

The Alabang terminal has a number of buses that go to several destinations, one of them Batangas. There were some going to Lipa, some Batangas Pier, and others. As the one that went straight to Lipa wasn’t air-conditioned, we took the one en route to Batangas Pier. The barker told us that it would pass by Lipa anyway, and it was only a Php7.00 to Robinson’s Mall, which was our first destination.

It was Php82.50 for each of us. Lipa City, we were told, was an hour and a half away. True enough, we left the terminal at around 9:30 AM, and by 11:10, we were walking into the Robinson’s Mall.

It’s smaller than the usual malls in Manila, but it had a certain charm. Its size did not make it any less interesting, in fact it made it cozier. The interior was easy to follow, one path lined with shops and establishments as staple and familiar as Jollibee and National Bookstore. There was a fountain at the middle of the building, which was an ideal meeting place, and also a supermarket, where we were able to buy our food for the next 24 hours (1 loaf of bread, 1 can of tuna, corn chips, 2 liters of water). And just outside was a cue of tricycles. We got into one, told the driver “El Grande Resort”, and hoped that he’d take us to the right place.

It was a mere 5-minute ride. The resort was along one of the back streets behind the mall. Its entrance had a sign that read “El Grande Resort & Residences”. A phone number was at the bottom of the sign. There was a guardhouse too, and the guard in it asked us if we were there to swim. We told him we were, and he told the tricycle driver to bring us to the back building. We got off, paid the driver Php40 (which I found out later on was too much and that driver totally ripped us off), and went inside a cream-colored building, which looked like a function room as it had round tables set-up with light blue napkins and everything, but there was also a wooden counter at the corner, and a receptionist was behind it.

She told me that swimming for the day was Php100 per person, until 7:00PM. The minimum for night swimming was 20 persons. Room rental was only for 12 hours. The cheapest room was Php500 for 2, Php100 for each extra person/extra mattress. The next cheapest room was Php1,500 for 2. And no, she didn’t stop in between sentences. It took me a while to figure out what we could do–pay Php100 each to go swimming, leave the pool area just as it closes at 7PM, check-in to the cheapest room for Php600, and leave at 7:00AM sharp the next day, just in time for Sunday mass. She said that would be okay, and that she’ll make the reservation with the inn for us. I said thanks, and she had someone lead us to the pool area.

There were 3 pools–a round one for kids, a bean-shaped one whose depth went from 4 to 6 feet, and a big rectangle one, which I assumed was for “serious” swimmers. We didn’t go anywhere near it. Instead, we placed our stuff under a mushroom (or at least that’s what they said it was, it just looked like an umbrella-shaped mold of cement to me) beside the bean-shaped pool, and changed into our swimsuits in the restroom, which was a few meters away from the pool.

Beside the restroom was a big cottage with a big family in it. They’d apparently decided that the videoke machine was theirs for the day, and that everyone else’s ears were at their mercy. Even from the swimming pool, we could hear them, but didn’t complain about it. Living in the Philippines, you get used to things like that. Besides, there was plenty to distract us in the swimming pool.

There was a small, cement cave around the corner, which also served as a waterfall/shower. Water flowed from its ceiling, and into the pool, keeping the water noisy and moving. The same could be said for the water that flowed from one of the slides that led to the deepest part of the pool. We didn’t leave the area until 7:00PM sharp. By then it had begun raining, and only after running into the hotel lobby did we realize that we didn’t need to run as we were already wet from swimming anyway. Still dripping, we checked in, and then we were led to a room just on the first floor–16.

It wasn’t the best room in the world. A plastic green bench greeted us, along with an already on TV (1 vs 100 with Edu Manzano) and aircon. Ahead of the bench was the entrance to the room itself. It had one queen-sized bed, and one queen-sized mattress on the floor. Aside from the TV, there was a round table covered with a red tablecloth across the beds. There was an ashtray on it, and two monoblock chairs beside it. On the other corner of the room was a wooden cabinet, and on the other side was the door to the bathroom.

“At least they’ve got towels,” Jazel said, pointing to the 3 multi-colored towels on the bed. “And soap,” my other friend, AJ said, noticing the small squares on top of each towel.

“At least it’s clean,” I said. For Php600, I guess I really shouldn’t be asking for more.

****

“We don’t have the key to this room,” I suddenly announced, just as we were all about to fall asleep.

“I guess you can only do one thing at a time here,” Jazel said, and then reminded me of how we were told to check-in, only after we’ve finished swimming.

Content with the answer she gave me, I shrugged. And then I slept.

****

We checked out around 7:10AM. It was Php150 for every exceeding hour, but this being the Philippines, I expected them not to charge us for our 10-minute excess. They didn’t. It was a very short stop at the reception area, and then we walked out of the resort, right to the tricycle cue after the guard house.

The tricycle ride to the Lipa Cathedral was less than 10 minutes. It cost us Php30. That’s provincial rates for you. When we got there, mass had already begun. But there were still people coming into the church. It was a regular occurence apparently, that despite mass already going on, people still came in and out. Without meaning to, we followed suit. And stood at the back of the church, near the adoration chapel, which was still locked at the time.

I couldn’t see the altar from where I was standing, but I had a clear view of everything else — the pillars painted skyblue, the portraits of saints on the walls, the religious scenes on the ceiling. You could tell from its structure that it was an old church, but the bright colors used on the paintings made it seem newer than it probably was. It would’ve been serene if the people hadn’t been moving around so much. It would’ve been a really nice attraction.

When mass ended, we walked outside and looked for a place to eat. Having only eaten a tuna sandwich the night before, we were close to starving. But aside from McDonald’s (which I’m really sick of — don’t ask why), there wasn’t any other food establishment near the church. And so we walked.

What I like most about provincial cities like Lipa is how there’s only one main road, and walking along it, you could learn so much about the place, like how, tricycles seemed to be the main mode of transportation, and factories the main industry. And you notice, that the people around walked slowly. As if they weren’t scared that their bags might get snatched. As if they weren’t late for an appointment. Maybe they really weren’t. I realized that my friends and I were walking slowly, too. It was a nice change of pace. And then we saw a sign for Jollibee. Our walking got faster.

After breakfast, we took another tricycle. This time, we asked it to take us to the bus stop. Not terminal, bus stop (Actually, “bastap” if you want the real pronunciation ). It cost us another Php30. We got off at the public market, which was just beside the bus stop. The stores in front all sold food. Native food, I should say. Food products made from peanuts, pinipig, fruits, ube… They all pretty much sold the same thing. We didn’t bother looking for any difference. We stopped at the first one that we saw. I bought 3 panutya (sweetened peanuts), and 1 large package of pinipig (my favorite!). It cost me Php60.

The buses were just beside the market and they seemed to lead everywhere–Buendia, Lawton, Calamba, Alabang… Unfortunately, the one going to Alabang was again, non-air-conditioned (aka Ordinary), and so we took the one going to Buendia instead.

It was around 1:00PM. The sun was high, and it was the same way as we pulled out of the terminal, and entered the Express Way. There is something to be said about taking the bus, rather than a private car on road trips to the provinces. For one thing, you get to see more outside. The seats are higher, the windows bigger. I was able to see the trees, the creeks that the bridges crossed, the birds… For a moment, I’d wished we’d taken the ordinary bus so I could feel the wind on my face.

The moment ended as soon as we reached Alabang, and the tall buildings and traffic jams came in to view again. I got home at quarter to 3 and went straight to sleep. Maybe I was tired. Or maybe I figured, it was the only way I could drown out the sounds of Metro Manila, and extend my weekend vacation for at least a couple more hours.