Korea and the Philippines

My parents had been planning to spend their Christmas and New Years in the Philippines with some of the extended family. Being in Japan and only one time zone away, flying down to meet with them for the holidays seemed like a great escape from the Tottori winter. Direct flights from Japan to Manila are only available departing from Tokyo. While those were the “cheapest” options, getting to Tokyo complicates things and given the additional transit costs and time involved it was a better option to leave from Yonago airport, only 100km away. From Yonago, we would have to grab a connecting flight in Seoul so we decided to extend our stay there for four nights and have a look around Korea.

We stayed at the Golden Pond Guesthouse. A great little hostel, it was very cozy, the staff friendly, and the other guests young and interesting giving the Guesthouse a quintessential hostel experience in the most positive of ways. We spent our time in Seoul wandering various palaces and markets as well as the War Memorial, all easily accessible by subway or by foot. We also took advantage of the Seoul City Tour Bus which was a great way to get a quick overview of the city’s major tourist sites. We even stumbled into the middle of some huge K-Pop concert going on in the street. The one thing we regret not being able to do was take a tour of the demilitarized zone on the border of North Korea. That involves some planning as reservations need to be made ahead of time. Bronwyn and I both really loved the city. It was certainly dirtier than pretty much any city in Japan perhaps short of Tokyo, but we liked that. It was dirty in a way that had character. Prices were cheap – the hostel we stayed at was about $12 a night – which was a relief from costly Japan where a cup of drip coffee will run you $4-$5. And best of all, there was a very cosmopolitan, international atmosphere. For us, this translated into the availability of foods we can’t get in Tottori and we took full advantage. While we did enjoy quite a bit of Korean fare, we also went giddy over honest-to-goodness REAL Mexican and Greek food, Krispy Kreme donuts, bacon-wrapped hot dogs, and decent beer. I drool to think about it.

We left Korea just in time, I think, as the night before our departure it started snowing. A quick three-hour flight later and we arrived in Manila where temperatures were in the 80′s and stayed that way. We were met at the airport by one of my aunts. My parents had arrived a few days earlier and were returning from Borocay, a very popular beach resort in the south, with friends that night. After grabbing lunch we headed out to the friends’ house which became an ordeal as we got lost. What should have been an hour-and-a-half in the car turned into four looking for a “Civic” street that wasn’t readily visible, which then turned into looking for a “Sibik” street because who knows with Filipino accents sometimes. Eventually it got sorted out and we met up with my parents and started the nine-hour-long drive up to Santa Cruz, Ilocos Sur, where my family lives.

While all that traveling was certainly stressful, we were able to relax the rest of the vacation. My folks bought some beach-front property a few years back and have been slowly developing it. At the moment there’s a little bamboo hut, an outdoor kitchen, and heated showers. This translated to many long and lazy days at the beach. By my accounts, Christmas Eve day, Christmas day, the day after that, New Years Eve day, New Years day, and the day after that. The general pattern is wake up, grab some breakfast, head to the beach with family and food in tow, swim a bit, eat and drink, nap, and swim until sunset. It’s certainly a pace one could get used to. Of course, we also varied things up a bit. The day after Christmas, before heading to the beach, a large group of us descended upon a day spa for facials, manicures and pedicures, massages, and even haircuts. Myself, I grabbed a facial, foot spa, and a haircut. While I may have called Korea cheap, the Philippines was a whole different league. My haircut was a dollar, and the facial and foot spa maybe about $4 a piece. While I’m not one that frequents spas, at those prices why not indulge a bit? The day after the day after Christmas, we and a bunch of my cousins headed up to the beach resort of Pagudpud, which some call “the Boracay of the North”, stopping along the way in Vigan City, the capital of Ilocos Sur famous for its Spanish influence. Pagudpud was underwhelming to my parents who had just been to Boracay proper. I thought it was beautiful, but not really worth the nine hours of travel to get there, especially since we had a perfectly good beach back in Santa Cruz.

The other multi-day excursion we took was to head east into the mountainous province of Ifugao to see its famous rice terraces. We headed to the town of Banaue where one of my uncle’s cousins, Leo, owned a hotel, the Las Vegas resort. The climate in the mountains was a comfortable 70′s and often misty. My Seattlite parents felt right at home, while the Ilocano family shivered. The rice terraces were gorgeous and I loved this trip. Bronwyn, my cousin Julieanne, and I spent a day heading out to the small village of Batad which has the most beautiful, amphitheater-style terraces. Getting there was an adventure in itself and involved an hour riding a tricycle (a motorcycle with enclosed sidecar) on twisting dirt roads followed by a difficult two-hour hike. Totally worth it. Another hour of hiking brought us to a nearby waterfall where I celebrated by stripping down to my briefs and taking a swim in the crisp, cold water. It was one of those perfect moments where you really and truly feel alive. After the waterfall, we returned to Batad and enjoyed a hard-earned lunch in a restaurant overlooking the terraces. A rainbow appeared, accentuating the divineness of the moment. As if not to be outdone, as we hiked back we even saw a double rainbow, then later a triple rainbow, though my photos didn’t come out for that. Upon returning to Banaue, we celebrated with a hearty dinner care of Leo and an evening of bar-hopping with Leo and my folks. It honestly doesn’t get much better than that.

Seeing the sites aside, it was also great to spend time with my family. I don’t get to see my family in the Philippines all that often. Prior to the trip I took two years ago, I hadn’t been to the Philippines since 1997. Singing karaoke (or videoke as it’s called there) to ring in the New Year, and then spending my last evening in Ilocos Sur drinking with my cousins in what we’ve come to call the Cudiamat Drinking Club (Cudiamat being my mother’s maiden name) make for great memories, at least to the extent to which I can remember them. While that evening may have lead to me being horrendously ill the next day while driving the nine hours back to Manila to catch our return flight (the consequence of being the oldest cousin present at that meeting of the C.D.C. where I was encouraged to drink, drink, drink) it was, again, totally worth it.