Day 43 - 45: Beyond the culture shock

Ok ok, I was a bit harsh on the food...

The lunch included on the day trip in El Nido was actually pretty good - ok, delicious. And had another tasty burito and fajita at the local Mexican place - What can I say, I am a sucker for Mexican - too bad they do not have an Indian place over there. There is actually an  Indian guy (currently running an internet shop) who wants to open one of my favorite cuisine eateries...but he is looking for investors - sorry bud, euros are dwindling very fast here (and I am a bit splurging). Back to the local stuff: I guess you just need to find the right place... they are not by default all great as was the case in the previous country.

After El Nido decided to go to Port Barton, this place was actually a bit of a disappointment...The place is much much quieter than El Nido (maybe just a bit too much) but it could not satisfy my temporary shift to beaching. The beach over there looked very similar to the previous one...littered with boats to do a day tour... I was hoping that the beach at the city would be the thing itself...The road to PB was far more interesting (Largest Asian potholes for me so far) than Port Barton itself so only stayed one night. I heard from others that the one at Sabang should be much nicer but I guess I am a bit out-beached. And apparently there are a lot of sand flies over there (a French girl showed me her legs...that looked like... ouch). After territorial fish at the small lagoon, jellyfish and bedbugs at La Banane my body is already a mine field... and some of this nasty stuff on my feet has been torn open by flip flop walking so sand flies is not the thing I am looking for right now.

So I am back to Puerto Princesa where there is electricity all day (the shutdown as of 6am to 6pm is not only limited to the major tourist attraction in the North of Palawan). It is amazing how easy it is to take power for granted...it was really annoying for me as I was desperately searching for a PC at Port Barton to book a flight. The 'one' (yes just one was connected to the world) at the 'internet' cafe was occupied every time I checked it. Obviously there was WiFi but I am still walking around with pen and paper. It is not a disaster as I managed to book a flight to Cebu in PP, but since the booking is now only one day in advance it costs me 12 euros more... If you really plan your trip here - ie booking everything upfront - it will save you a significant amount of money but I do like my flexibility (especially after the loss of it in Vietnam). So, the 'current' plan is:
plane from PP to Cebu: 1 night, just enough to know the city as I will have to be there again for my flight to Borneo anyway
ferry from Cebu to Bohol for the melocakes and some small primates
ferry from Bohol to I-forgot-the-name but the biggest city is Mambajao (just North of Mindanao) - Volcanos, waterfalls and such
ferry to Mindanao to get a plane back direction Cebu or something...probably everything will be different tomorrow anyway

Day 37- 42: Something... completely different

The mandatory stuff

Day 37: Arrival Manila
Day 38: Booked a plane 5 hours in advance to Puerto Princesa, Palawan
Day 39+40: Total Crash in PP, as no sleep for 40 hours, result: a cold as I would have in Belgium but at 30C+, needless to say, some water input required
Day 41: Left PP for El Nido, North Palawan
Day 42: Now

First, what is not different: Tricycles, yet another form of short distance transport ripoff, also known as tuktuks in other parts of the world (but with a sidecar instead); extremely annoying and always 300-500% overcharging because you are white. As I will later state, $1 here is absolutely nothing but if a tricycle overcharges me for $0.5 I will walk, don't care if I pay $0.5 too much for water...they will never be my buddies...especially not after Siem Reap, where e v e r y tricycle dude thinks I am a pervert and wants to sell me little girls and boys (I really really hated Siem Reap, Angkor or no Angkor... what I hear from others it has gone completely berserk in the pedo-sexindustry the last 2 years...anyway, differences)

-- The food is bleh here. I know I have been spoiled in Vietnam but the Filipino cuisine is really poor (some of the locals actually admit it...)... seems it is all about BBQ chicken (which is a personal favorite but they are not very good at it) and tomato sauce (also a favorite but very bland here)... I'll give them some credit as I am only here for a few days but it does not look promising
-- People come in all shapes and widths here...not all skinnies as before...  I guess that has a lot to do with the previous point as the best food I have had here so far is Turkish (Kebab) and Mexican (Burrito) - have to say though, one of the best burritos I have ever had...except the ones from Maricella (for the insiders). On the people: not sure how to classify them...I guess a blend of Asian/Spanish/Mexican with a big USA influence... The locals are very nice though and so far communication has been the easiest  of all countries visited in the region... Most of them speak very good English and the others still enough to communicate the bare necessities with.
-- (Back to the food:) That was actually a shock upon arrival in Manila, when visiting the Robinsons mall (which is...kinda an attraction I guess...it is definitely big and the locals will queue up 30' before opening time): Persian, Middle Eastern, Turkish, Italian, whateveryouwant food but almost no local stuff...Obviously you can also buy stuff in this mall but I went there for food (as all the nearby locations where a bit pricey) and internet.
-- Everything is much, MUCH more expensive...especially accommodation... took a dorm in Manila and here in El Nido for my first night. Mind you, I will splurge occasionally but you have to get value for your money and that is a bit the problem with a 'standard' room of $25 here....while you might have all the luxury in Vietnam (or anywhere else in SE Asia besides Bangkok) for that money, no such thing in the Philippines (so far)... I did switch to a $35 (shivver) room here in El Nido as the 'highly recommended' 9-bed dorm for $8.5/night also included: 0 hours sleep (and I kinda only just recovered from my Vietnam-cold) and most of all: bedbugs (my feet and legs have very nice red spots as a result of it). Mind you, do not expect too much for $35...(it was the cheapest I could find after looking around for several hours - high season here)...no TV (do not need that but you would expect it for $35), no hot water (do not need that either here but still), a shower that does not work properly so it is bucket and scoop again (Sumatra all over again but a similar room there was $2.5 in 2009), no lobby computer (well, there is free wifi but since it seems I am the only foreigner without Ipod/phone/pad/mat/junk/whatever that is kinda annoying), no breakfast included, no electricity between 6am and 2pm: this is apparently an El Nido thing...although it is very touristy here, infrastructure is still behind (wait a few more years when the airport accepts commercial flights and not only private jets for the happy few who stay in the super resorts here - most likely those places have generators to cover for all consumer needs, not only for some lights - and this place will be overbooming). Very weid here...also NO working ATM's so you better visit one a couple of times in Puerto Princesa before making the trip to the North (or anywhere else on Palawan)...You can pay with creditcard at some places but they will charge you an additional whopping 6% if you do. BTW, it seems that all ATM's charge you $4.5 for any withdrawal...my rip-off banks adds another $5 for a $100 withdrawal (+a shitty exchange rate) so that is...paying $110 to get $100 (these computers must work so hard you know).
-- So much quieter here... when I said that to people on my first day in Manila they thought I have been drinking too many Red Horses (not too bad, bit stronger than the standard Asian Lagers but obviously nowhere close of being Duvel-grade). Obviously Manila is very busy but it is all so much more Western....almost no honking and not the completely chaotic spider rag weaving traffic as on the continent (Recall, I spent 7 days in Hanoi before going to the Philippines). Similarly, passengers were nicely queuing up in one line for boarding the plane to Palawan... I have never seen anything close on the continent.

Anyway, there was much more...but all I can say for now is: It feels like a holiday within a holiday (which is nice) but 20 days for the Philippines is absolutely not enough (the money thing is obviously a bit annoying...did not expect such a big difference)... I probably end up just doing Palawan and perhaps Coron and Bohol to leave in Cebu for Borneo..I am happy I skipped North Luzon (for the rice terraces)... although it should be very nice, I heard in Manila the weather over there was kinda bad (not as bad as in Sapa but still) and the viruses won the battle on the plane towards here...better here than in the cold...guess rice terraces, whether in Vietnam or here will be for another time.

Day 27 - 36: The Hanoi Marathon with a pinch of Sapa

So after Cat Ba, back to the capitol...question was: what to do next?
Sapa? - People warned me about the bad weather over there and the weather forecast did not look very appealing
Ha Giang? Recommended by the Cat Ba Hostel girl
A lot of indecisiveness led to 3 nights in Hanoi...well did not really see the city yet so that was fine but 3 nights are in general more than enough for one place so I took my chance and booked a night train to Sapa
Well...it was exactly how people (35% of them returned sick) described it to me: cold / wet / mud / damp / fog
Short story short. I left the same day and returned to Hanoi via the night bus (which is 1/2 price of the comfy sleeper train). And I was not the only one... Guess I could have stayed and tried for a few days for the weather to clear up a little but the body said no.
The result was: 5 more nights in Hanoi so filled those with
- walking the entire area drawn on my map (they really do not understand you want to walk for more than 5') - I actually had probably the only good winter day here...nice sun and ideal for strolling...even the Xe om guys realized they had little chance to pick up rides that day
- catch a movie: Same gigantic complex as back home (but significantly cheaper) similar brainwash before the movie starts: "this toothpaste will make your teeth whiter than white", "this cleaning poision will make your clothes smell forever - not necessarily clean but it smells and that is what clean & fresh is all about", "drink this obesitas liquid and transform into the Santa Coca-ehm Claus man" (I prefer beer for the same effect) but also Scooter commercials...guess that was the only difference...Yamaha & Suzuki commercials vs BMW & Mercedes
- go to the place where THE man is displayed: they are dead serious about it/him...Almost felt like an airport...X- Ray Scanners, leave the water bottle outside, obviously show the greatest respect (no hats and such), definitely no picture taking of the man, every 3 meters a guy in gala uniform to ensure you would respect the rules...The whole setup was a bit surreal and for me a bigger attraction than the dead man himself...Very weird though: Entrance was free
- And since I had time to spare: go for the perfume pagoda tour...I have seen too many (and bigger and nicer) temples already so did not want to do it initially but too much time...and $20 for an entire day-tour is still ok-ish. Not really worth it though...Nice scenery and all (but not the first time for me) and the temple is kinda bleh compared to the super nice golden one in Yangon..but then again, almost all are except perhaps Borobudur and the jungle one at Angkor.
Anyway, tonight: up to karaokeland and hopefully some summer... I am 3 days ahead of my initial schedule so Indonesia (Flores) might become a reality if I feel 23 days is too much for Malaysia; for sure it is going to be 20 days in the Philippenes as my ticket is booked.

Day 22-26: Cat Ba

By far the best of this trip.
I had my first 'freedom' experience, driving for hours on my rented Yamaha Nuevo (or something) on empty roads surrounded by non-stop amazing scenery (and on my motorbike day had the best weather of the 4 days I have spent there: no rain and about 17C).
Main activity of the day (besides contributing to the global CO2 content): drive to Cat Ba national park and climb to the viewpoint (ehm, 225m is still enough to transform me into a walking shower). Great, felt it was just me, myself and I hiking in the forest, excellent... Obviously I had no maps nor directions on how to get there so let's follow the nose when the first trail junction pops up, and then once more at the 2nd, 3rd... Needless to say, hopelessly lost after 1 hour...Well, finding my way back down to the entrance of the park was not the issue but my mind was set on this viewpoint. And then, out of nowhere a flock of 30 tour-tourists + guide coming from Halong Bay appear out of nowhere. Great, tag along to the 'summit', wait until they are gone and the 'mountain' is again mine and mine alone. So after enjoying 15' of private viewpointness I went back as well, to see the flock sitting at the most expensive joint (just at the start of the trail)... Nope, I am free so I will go for coffee at the entrance of the park where my bike is parked. Could not help myself, I waited until most of the flock was back in the tourbus to roar my Yamaha and speed off, just in front of them.
Anyway, the park is in the middle of the island so might as well go all the way to the other side...Not much to see there but on the way back an old guy walking on the side of the road made some gestures to stop. And before I realized it he jumped on the back wanting a lift to the nearby village. I was a real Xe om for 10 minutes.
The day after did the 'mandatory' boat tour for the karst landscape (similar scenery as on the island but the 'mountains' appear as thousands of little islands) to Lan Ha bay. This is basically the same thing the flock was doing, they just leave from Halong Bay. The nice thing is there were only 6 (including me) tourists on the boat, not 30+ as the ones booked via a tour in Hanoi or something. And of these 6, 2 Canadians I have met before in Hoi An and Dong Hoi... the world is small
And besides a great motorbike day + ok-tour-day I enjoyed genuine home cooking for the first time in Vietnam..made by the people of my hostel. Home cooking is not the same as the standard food served on street stalls and restaurants (and this is especially true for Cat Ba where food in general is way too tourist oriented). The guy of my hostel was so thrilled I helped him with a computer problem the night before he invited me for lunch (mind you, they have a menu for their guests)...best fish I have ever had, so much better than the $6 tuna I had the day before in a restaurant. I actually stayed one day more than anticipated, just because the people of this place were so sweet.

Day 9 - 21: Banlung -> Cat Ba

So, it has been a while... due to
- slow internet connections
- no internet connections
- just no motivation

Anyhow, Banlung it was... to give Cambodia one more chance as Siem Reap was just bleh and Phnom Penh was not much better. Judging the country on these two alone is a bit cheap so maybe the countryside might change my opinion as so far I associated Cambodia with a country gone wild in scams and deceit. It is in the little things I guess, the people you meet and such as I can imagine the majority of the people is really nice.

For some reason, could not find a real motivation to do much in Banlung. It was so hard to get a motorbike so I just gave up. I could have joined a tour but the prices of these were just ridiculous ($75? hmm, no) and it all felt a bit like SR and PP again... Go on an ecological tour? Why not...and at the same time have the chance to kill an animal with a 'native' crossbow...nah...  And some people told me that a lot of the forest was already destroyed to feed the 1.7? billion rubber consuming monster. In addition, the AK47 thing in Phnom Penh (which I was not interested in, but got talked into...anyway, did it...move on, once is enough) was decadent enough and that was just shredding some paper. But I digress, Cambodia was just not for me this time...it could have been different but let's move on.

So via the small border crossing I went to Pleiku, Vietnam joining 2 Canadians (In total I socialized with 8! of them already in Red star country...seems they like the place). Pleiku? It is not in the shoestring as, well, there are no touristy things to do there. But it is a city where you can take an onward bus to Hoi An (and other tourist bombs) so booked a bus ticket, departure time: 8pm. So there we were, the three of us in a city where almost nobody speaks English. But it was all good, nobody there had heard of tourist prices yet, smiles everywhere and we got our picture taken...maybe 50 times in a small coffeeshop where the staff was just thrilled to have us. Who knows we might be on the wall next year as real celebrities. Anyway, as far as first contacts go in a new country, I don't think it could have been much better (the little things you know) so immediately Vietnam was in my good book. And the sleeper bus seemed to be extremely comfortable and luxurous. The beds are not made for white people though...

Hoi An was, although a major tourist bomb, still a nice little town (THE place to get a custom tailored suit but in the end I did not go for it...did not want to carry it for 2 more months and I am too cheap for shipping). An ideal place for some scootering and just strolling around (there is not that much to see - besides tourists... meaning it is impossible to outrun the Coca Cola man and bleh X-mas songs)

After Hoi An: Hue...again with the open ticket bus but got a better bed (at the side, the ones in the back are to be avoided). The city felt a bit like a diluted Hoi An...bigger with the same amount of tourists. Again, not that much to see besides some more temples, gardens and 'very' old (150 years is not that impressive) buildings but a similar relaxed atmosphere with less souvenir shops and "just one dollar pushing" (they still smile though even if you do not buy anything). And of course: FOOD! It did not take long to fall in love with the Vietnamese cuisine.

Next: Dong Hoi...this time with the train. As it takes only 3.5 hours I opted for the hard seat lowest class ($2)...3.5 hours can be a loooong time...after a while the left cheek parallizes so switch to the right one...it does hurt. It also hurts when (just at the point I was going to shake into sleep) a little kid pulls arm hairs - to much joy of  the locals.
 I thought: after the 16 hours hard bench seat (Thailand - 2 years ago) how hard can it be? Still glad it was over...guess I am getting old.
Dong Hoi, that means only one (well... 2) thing(s): Phong Nha Cave and Paradise Cave. According the lonely planet the first one feels a bit touristy while the second one (open to public since 2010 or something) should be a real untouched treat. Both of them about 50km from the weirdest city I have ever visited in SE Asia. An empty city with an overload of hotels but almost no restaurants (fancy or local blue&red plastic seat ones). In addition, all the hotels are deserted except for tripadvisor's #1 Nam Long (which is more expensive than the others). But the empty hotels do not seem to be interested in having you...very weird...
Anyway, rent a motorbike to do the caves yourself or go with the rather expensive $45 tour?... In the end I chose the tour as:
--the weather in Central Vietnam in Dec/Jan sucks big time (every day rain so far...and not always just drizzle)
--A fellow Nam Longer (yes, chose the place where some social contact was possible) trashed a part of the rented bike and had to cough up $150 for repairs. The crash was mainly the result of the sucky weather.
--You still need to pay for a boat (to do Phong Nha cave)...if you cannot find anybody else that one is already $15
Well, the touristy cave was deserted (well, besides the 12 of us...so if I would have done it on my own I probably would not have found anybody else to 'share' a boat with) so that was kinda nice. The paradise one...although much nicer...was ready to become Disneyland...electronic entrance gates...electric buggies for lazy white people (we had one, part of the $45), wooden staircases and platforms in the cave (this was rather disappointing as I hoped it was real cave walking)...Anyway, very nice cave with very nice lighting and..local tourists (at that time we were the only foreigners).
Local tourists...with local guides, guiding with...microphones and speakers...in a cave...and local kids. At least you could outrun them so you had 5' for your own.
All in all, as far as tours go this one was ok-ish, the food was good and I was happy that I did not get soaked on a motorbike ride that would have taken me 3?4? hours.

Then motorbike-mecca: Hanoi, with a sleeper (soft bed) train this time...no need for a 10-12 hours hard seat. Very, very comfy but no sleep as it stopped 7? times to arrive around 4.30 am on December 31st in Hanoi. Way too early to find accommodation so let's have a coffee, and .. another one. $2 ??? Really. I thought, ok.. this is railway station rip off but it did not take long to realize Hanoi is going to cost more $$$ vs central Vietnam. Anyhow, not much to say about the Vietnamese capitol as the day after (crashed around 6pm so no Sylvester) left for Cat Ba. Perhaps these: Although there are  plenty of motorbikes, it is definitely doable to walk around...much easier than Phnom Penh. An old lady helped me (well, she basically just grabbed my arm and of we go..in the wrong direction) to cross the street and a small shop guy was very surprised I wanted change for my bottle of water..although he made it very clear the price was 12000VND (gave him a 20000 note) he was just looking at me, and I at him for 3 minutes...so I said again: "Change?" "12000?" and then he just mumbled something and gave me 8000.

 Although I am done with Cat Ba - tonight will be my 4th night (longest stay so far) the Cat Ba blabla will be for the next time...as my motivation to type is gone.