Part 1: The Philippines Travelogue
My Arrival in the Motherland
Greetings from the Philippines!
We made it to my Motherland, and during the past few days, I have experienced a mix of exhaustion and sleeplessness. My current location on Earth has me 14 hours ahead of Tennessee time.
I traveled with my Mom and her husband Jim, and our journey began as we boarded a Delta Airlines flight from Nashville to Atlanta. This was followed by the longest leg of the trip on Korean Air, which flew us northwest through the U.S., western Canada, across Alaska, and then down the Pacific rim along the coastlines of Russia, Mongolia, across Japan, and over eastern North Korea. We finally landed in Seoul, South Korea, after roughly sixteen hours of being cramped in an airline seat.
Despite being uncomfortably seated, I made the best of it. I watched three movies on the screen at my seat, did some reading, and embroidered a section of a craft project.
I was quite impressed with Korean Air more than anything. Their flight attendants were extremely polite, and the two full meals they served were warm and delicious samples of Korean cuisine. After experiencing domestic U.S. flights for decades and being fed only light dry snacks even on long flights, I was pleased to find out how much better the experience can be. (To be fair, I have never flown “First Class” on U.S. carriers either.) Apparently, Koreans do not mess around.
Here's a photo of the first meal we had.
Other meals included a tasty salad with raw salmon and a cup of strawberry ice cream. (I opted out of the free wine and beer selections because I’m Asian.)
The final 3.5–hour leg of the flight, which included one full dinner, by the way, took us from Seoul, South Korea, to Manila. (The Incheon International Airport in Seoul is a sprawling and spacious architectural marvel. That stop was chaotic for various reasons, and I was not able to take any photos. Sigh. I’ll try on the flight back.)
After arriving at our final destination, I had to deal with an immigration snafoo that took an hour to resolve on a clunky, poorly designed website on my cell phone, and then we had a three hour drive north (at 1 AM by that point) to the town of Zaragoza which will be our home base for the trip. Yeah, it was all a bit exhausting.
The weather forecast for this first week has been warm calling for 70– to 80–degree temperatures. The current currency exchange rate is around fifty-eight pesos for every dollar, which is highly favorable for American travelers.
The town’s local market, called a “palenke,” is a short five-minute walk from our family house. As early as 5:30 AM, we can get all kinds of fruits and vegetables, as well as fresh pork, chicken, and fish, every day from local and regional growers and farmers. This is such a gift. (Back in America, corporations mainly hold the keys to these kinds of castles.) This last couple of days, we bought bananas, avocados, eggplants, apples, lemons, fish, shrimp, pork, and honey at ridiculously affordable prices.
For context, the Philippines is located in southeast Asia east of Taiwan and just north of Borneo. As an archipelago comprised of 7,200 islands, there are over 170 completely different languages spoken in several regions across the country. This island nation was colonized by Spain for three hundred years. Another century of colonization by the United States followed until it gained independence in 1946. Due to the lengthy Spanish occupation, the Philippines is the only predominantly Roman Catholic country in Asia.
Just 30 years ago, the town of Zaragoza was a sleepy residential afterthought along a country road. Now, it is a bustling commercial hub that is loud and dusty along a road that has become a national thoroughfare connecting several cities. Adorable tricycles, which are basically motorcycles with small passenger cabs attached to them, are the most common and affordable means of transportation.
On my schedule for this week is to settle into our stay in Zaragoza. I have some dental work to start on and will visit some relatives.
The final image I wanted to leave you with in this installment is featured below:
Virtually every street in all metro areas of the Philippines has electricity poles that look like this. Now, I am not an electrician, but it looks a bit chaotic to me despite seemingly working just fine. In a way, this image exemplifies what I have experienced during my stay here thus far. There is a frenetic energy to this place that is pulsing with movement and commerce growing from the collective effort of thousands of individual street vendors and entrepreneurs.
If such a thing as a better form of capitalism exists, this may be it—one in which many people are empowered to have their own businesses and steer their own course with little to no pressure or competition from powerful, monopolizing multinational corporations. The sheer volume and force of this collective effort can feel and look overwhelming, but somehow, it all still works and flows fine in its own way.
If nothing else, it feels quite alive here and brimming with life, chaos be damned.
The more scenic part of this trip begins during our second week when we visit volcanoes, mountaintops, and the historic northern regions of the main island of Luzon.
See you again soon from the Pearl of the Orient Seas!
—Roqué
Excited to read along as you journey