On the road to Manila...and then to Labo.

This post should have been at the beginning of the Philippines series, but I'm not very good at using my iPad to post.

Getting here was more fun than I expected. Thursday in St. Paul I got an email saying that my flight to Tokyo would be delayed and that I would miss my connecting flight to Manila. So, like a good traveller, I made an itinerary that would keep me in Japan overnight and get me to Manila by 1:30 pm Saturday. On the strength of this I wrote to Yuki O'Hara, my dancing anesthesiologist colleague from Cuenca last summer, to try to arrange a meeting. While waiting @ MSP I decided to invest in a bottle of Jameson Irish whisky.

We left MSP about 3:00 pm. The flight attendant said that we world be only ten minutes late arriving in Japan and that Delta would hold the Manila flight rather than house me overnight. She also said she might be interested in my whisky, since I wouldn't be able to take it through airport security in Japan. Interested, but not enough to pay full price! I decided to mitigate my loss by taking a couple of snorts prior to the exchange. This was going well, I had my cash in hand, but when she saw the evidence of my quality control she advised me that I was in violation of FAA regulations by drinking my own hootch while aboard. She also wanted her $15 back. Negotiations ensued. I came out of it with no whisky, no $15, and 5000 miles added to my account. I hope she disposed of the Jameson in a responsible manner (after hepatic metabolism and renal filtration).

My luck held and my bag arrived with me. I spent forty minutes looking for the pickup crew at Manila airport, worried because I thought they might not be expecting me. Thanks to the help of a man employed by the hotel and a lady from the tourist board I met my party, but had a couple of hours wait for a larger group arriving on a later flight. I don't know what time it was when I got to my room. Turns out Yuki couldn't see me due to work, so no harm done. Wrote a note to Rosanne and hit my rack.


A ten hour bus ride from Manila to Labo. Can't take pictures from the bus.


Melons stacked up in a pyramid along the side of the road. This doesn't work with coconuts. Open air shacks with color TV. A mama water buffalo and her calf. Iglesias ni Christo newer and more numerous than Catholic. Newly planted rice. Brilliant green young rice. I didn't know what green means until I saw young rice. Golden rice ready for harvest. A twelve year-old hoisting a sheaf of rice onto his shoulder. Naked little boy playing on his doorstep. Folks washing their hair in a pail on their doorstep. A teen-age boy getting a haircut on his doorstep. A four year-old boy with a killer mullet. A two year-old girl with a cranial synostosis and thin hair. Three kids walking down the side of the road, their arms around each other's shoulders. Sign says: Saraman High Performance Hog Food. Three pigs top hats and tails (of course) singing Putting on the Ritz. This last only in my head.