Where's Ron?
Philippines, 28 December 2017 - 28 February 2018
Ron in Philippines, January 2018
Cebu, Mandaue, Mactan and Bohol
13 January 2018
Afton, Virginia, USADear family and friends,
While we in Virginia are either experiencing record cold (a week ago), weird 65F temperatures and rain (yesterday), or today's wind and plummeting temperatures as a prelude to our next cold spell, Ron is lolling on tropical beaches and attending debutante parties. Ron texted me some photos on the phone, but I have to get them off the phone so I can post them on our Web page. Here's the latest.
Love to all,
Ellen
12 January 2018
Cebu, Mandaue , Mactan and BoholHello, my dear,
In Cebu I felt safer than in Manila and loved my small AirBnB studio apartment on the 17th floor in a 25 floor high building. The view of the fireworks on New Year's Eve from the roof was spectacular, with major fireworks in every direction, some from miles away, along the mountain ridges and from Mactan Island on the other side of Mactan Channel.
My first night I stayed in a hotel on Fuente Osmena Circle near Mango Square. I can't resist anything Mango and this was supposed to be in the middle of the night life. The hotel tried to put me in an inside room with no windows and no WiFi, and even my phone could not pick up a signal. The pictures showed curtains with light behind and they said all rooms had WiFi. After some conversation I was placed in a much better room at the same rate. This has happened to me twice, 50% of my stays so far, where the room does not match the picture on the booking site (both Agota). In both cases it took conversation and negotiations to resolve to my satisfaction, but I don't enjoy the process - but have liked the improved accommodations.
Nearby I found an excellent seafood dinner of shrimp and mussels. Next day I ordered up a Uber with my phone app and moved to my airbnb apartment.
I was within walking distance of Ayala Mall, where I ate a few times and shopped in the two large grocery stores and gawked at the Christmas lights, multi-colored, hanging from everywhere. Lemon Grass was one of my favorite restaurants and one night I even organized a networking dinner party between friends to help get one a job. Later, after arriving at the Island of Malapascua, I read on the Internet about the large fire in Ayala Mall. I think it burned for a couple of days.
While our malls in American are dying as the result of Internet shopping, the malls of the Philippines are thriving as retail centers, cinemas, restaurants, hotels and social life.
Much of my social life revolved around what I call the family of nine sisters. Of course like any family it is more complex with uncles and aunts, husbands and wives, married children and grandkids. As the extended family was spread out over the area and lived in a range of circumstances, I was in various homes and neighborhoods of different situations. The kind of experiences which give understanding and perspectives to my travels.
Some of my day trips were long days with complicated transportation instructions to follow (land and water) such as day trips to Mactan Island, the Island of Bohol, a squat, a place called Little Amsterdam, a Debutante party, and of course my last day with a Grab car (competes with Uber) to the Northern Bus Station and then by Cesas bus to Maya Port at the northern tip of Cebu Island for the ferry to Malapascua Island.
Mactan Island included a school run by one of the sisters, which of course made me think about and compare to North Branch School and other schools I have visited in Vietnam, Peru, and other places around the world.
The trip to Bohol included the Chocolate Hills. The Chocolate Hills were green because of the rain but turn brown in the dryer season while the surrounding land remains green. It was an impressive view, well maintained and protected and there were lots of tourist there. I have no understanding of how they rose or if the land around them was washed away. Even green they were impressive and reminded me of Bagan, Burma, where all the temples were popping up across the landscape.
I traded off a trip to see the worlds smallest monkey to visit instead another part of the extended family in San Miguel, where one of the uncles took me on his motorcycle to see a hilltop piece of land. He wanted to sell me half for one million pesos, then he would develop and build his dream house with the proceeds on the other half. I think the total was two hectares. I must admit that the view was spectacular, to the waters of the NE and NW, mountains on the other side, and nice views in the other directions as well. High elevation at the end of long ridge which was developing. The area's community center was built right on top next to the property, so there would be a desire to develop the area properly. $20K for 2.2 acres. He of course had purchased the property several years ago for considerably less. At that time he was, as I understand it, Director of Development for the area of San Miguel. He was a smart man with a long range vision.
My visit to the squat reminded me of Brenda's and my talks about building a community. She wanted to squat on vacant government land and I wanted to buy a large enough site to build a community on. We were both successful in following our own different dreams. This squat was a community of sorts, with poor public services and with homemade wooden houses. It was built on land owned by someone else and no one knows when they could be evicted or made to purchase the land under their houses. But they built, bought and sold their houses anyway. There were piles of trash everywhere and I listened to the stories about the campaign to clean it up and to stop burning the plastic trash, which was not successful (as I could easily see and smell). Wires for electricity and the Internet appeared low tech and I understood that people with skills as carpenters, plumbers, masons, electricians, etc. lived and worked for the others in the squat. One of the sisters had had a store and an Internet cafe in the squat. A very different community from Shannon.
Little Amsterdam was located way outside of the city and at a higher elevation. Flowers were everywhere ,with the kind depending on the season, with lots of props for pictures such as bicycles (firmly attached in place), a windmill, a field of plastic tulips, little statues that looked like they came from Holland.
But perhaps the most unexpected of all was an invitation to attend a Debutante ball in Mandaue City for one of the sister's daughters who was turning 18. I was even given a minor role in the events The food was wonderful with a whole roasted pig being the typical Filipino food for celebrations. (Lechon it is called and I have seen it in many places from fancy hotel restaurants to the side of streets in poor residential areas.)
The Debutante Ball made up for the wedding I was invited to while I was in Manila. That turned out to be on a military base south of Manila and the time to get me a security clearance would take to long to allow me to attend. That would have been a great story also. But alas, it went on without me and only gets a mention as something I almost experienced.
For my style there were too many early morning trips but I made up for it on lazy days where I just hung out in my apartment (with a swimming pool) or just took walks around the various parts of the city.
I got pretty good at catching the jeepneys and tricycles as well as Uber and Grab and an occasional Habal-Habal to get around the city. (Transportation found only in the Philippines) Grab was more available and cheaper than Uber in Cebu and only slightly more than a taxi. Sometimes it was easier to get a Grab than a taxi, which might require a 5 minute walk to the main street and a wait while looking for a taxi. On the app I could pinpoint where I was and where I wanted to go, which made it a lot easier than trying to explain to the taxi driver. I can glimpse the future without drivers and everything is automated on the app.
The last day taking the Grab ride to the Northern Bus Terminal and then taking the Ceras Bus to Maya Port on the northern tip of Cebu to catch the ferry to Malapascua Island made me realize how large and populated Cebu is. The city went on for a long time before finally giving way to more nature, coconut palms and other natural vegetation.
I have generally followed my slow plan of travel but now after some experience I am ready to explore smaller and some larger islands without a fixed plan. Keeping my eyes on the weather but in a safer season now. So stay tuned to see where I go as I change my plans on a whim.
Love and miss you,
Ron
Forward to Ron's travel in Malapascua and Bantayan Islands
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Questions? Send email to Ellen, ebouton 
Last updated: 24 February 2017
