Back to my Homeland: The Philippines

My mom, visiting from Oklahoma, met us in Manila. We were welcomed by my mom Estrella, my aunt Eugene and the steaming heat of the tropics. The Philippines is a beautiful island nation of 7,109 islands. Manila is a mega city with 12 million people on the biggest island in the Philippines.


Parker was quiet during the cab ride as he soaked in the surroundings (quiet is unusual for Parker). I had forgotten that this was his first time in Southeast Asia and a developing nation. Manila is a collection of many small towns with a mix of high rises and modernism next to slums and poverty. The city is hot, crowded and noisy but the very mild mannered Filipinos manage to make it work. Tagalog is the national language and English is the second language making it was easy to get around.

Parker, of course, is a head taller than everyone and very American so he attracts a lot of attention. Everyone calls him Joe. Every white man is referred to as Joe from the G.I.s who were once stationed here in Subic bay.He was especially a big hit with the kids and they chanted Joe!, Joe!, Joe!. Everywhere we go, people yell:

"Hey Joe!",
"How are you Joe"?,
"Where are you from Joe"?,
"Where are you going Joe"?,
"Do you want a ride Joe"?

It took Parker a few days to adjust to the Joe greetings. He likes to blend in, especially when traveling, so he is still adjusting to being the center of attention all the time. A couple of days later our friend Erik, a hiking buddy from the Appalachian Trail and now Joe #2, arrived for his two week vacation. My mom and Erik are our first visitors on our trip. After six months on the road, it's so good to see familiar faces.

We were in chaotic and smoggy Manila for five days where we stayed with my cousins Odessa, Theresa, Karen, Shiela and Aunt Mercedes. The most popular mode of transportation in Manila is the jeepney. In the Philippines, traffic rules, lights, lanes and signs are merely suggestions. And with no emission control, the exhaust of the taxis and jeepneys fills the air. There is an intricate transport system where point A to point B is maybe two jeepney rides, a hop on the light rail, a short taxi ride and then maybe a pedal side car to your final destination.

We spent a few days wandering around the city and eating foods on sticks. We did a little souvenir shopping and tried our hand at haggling. The prices of course shot up once the shop owners saw the Joes. So we did the whole browsing thing and my cousin Odessa went back and asked for prices. We started to learn the local price of the basics. The exchange rate is 46 Pesos to the Dollar. One jeepney ride is 7 pesos(15 cents), a fried banana on a stick is 5 pesos (11 cents), a liter of coke is 26 pesos (56 cents) and a good meal for two is under 200 pesos (four dollars).

After five days, we were more than ready to leave Manila. All eleven of us (my mom, two aunts, two Joes, four cousins and myself) flew south to the island of Mindanao to be reunited with the rest of the family.

What day is it?

Australia and New Zealand have a love and hate relationship. Both are under British rule and are similar in many ways but they are also very different. Several Aussies said, OK - all kidding aside, which is better Oz or NZ? But comparing the two would be like comparing Alaska to Hawaii.

We didn't see much of Australia other than the east coast but we noticed three differences between Oz and New Zealand: 1)size 2)weather and 3) expense.

Australia is a huge country, almost as big as the continental U.S. but with only 20 million people. The majority of the population lives by the coast. Sydney, the capital, has more people that the whole country of New Zealand with only 4 million people. From what we saw, Australia has the beaches, surf and diving. New Zealand's mountains and outdoor adventures can't be beat.

The southern hemisphere is going into their winter but we hit Sydney at the perfect time. As we headed north we managed to stay in the warmer weather. But even with winter right around the corner, Australia was still so much warmer than New Zealand.

Both countries were very friendly and easy to get around in. New Zealand had a much more laid back lifestyle where Australia was faster paced. We found New Zealand relatively cheaper for travel where Australia was comparable to the prices in the States. Which means expensive for budget travelers like us.

We were fortunate to meet a very generous Aussie who left us a key to his vacation home. We stayed in Airlie beach for another 10 days after Whitsundays. Thanks Perry, you are one of a kind. We did absolutely nothing while we were there. Just lounged around the house and relaxed by the water. Out of our four weeks in Australia, we spent over two and a half weeks in Airlie.

We enjoyed our five months in the South Pacific. I am addicted fish and chips and we are now tea drinkers. A few words have sneaked into our vocabulary: heaps, good on you, cheers and keen.

Our one month road trip from Sydney to Cairns, which was 2639 kms (1640 miles), was nice and lazy. This was the first time that Parker and I wandered around for weeks without knowing the day of the week or the date. All we knew was that we had to be in Cairns on June 5th to catch our flight to the Philippines.