Calapan

I still shiver if I think about Calapan. It was not that bad when we arrived and stayed in hotel, ate some pizza in the center etc. But the next morning we wanted to go to take a ferry to Luzon (Manilas island). The harbour was full of people and apparently standing in only one line, because only one company was selling tickets. I already hear 2 weeks earlier that two ferries sunk on that route. But it was not capacity issue - the problem was that smart people bought their ticket in advance and that's why almost no tickets were sold anymore. I stood in line with the Burmese girl and the English guy I met the day before. Philippines were cheating all the time and have an unconventional queueing culture. So slowly I moved forward. My friends decided to leave because they were not in a rush. So their I was alone in this stupid queue with my backpack etc. Then things got worse - heavy rain started. Many Philippinos went to the front of the queue for shelter. I didn't want to give up my spot so I stayed in the rain. But when the rain stopped the Philippinos didn't come back - they just stayed close to the counter. People were constantly coming in from the side. I was soaked and miserable. After 8 hours and absolutely no perspective for a ticket I gave my 4 USD to the guy in front of me and told him to buy a ticket for me. I would give him another 2 USD if he gives it to me. (knowing that I cant trust any Philippino) I finally ate something, drank something smoked and went to the bathroom. 12 hours after I arrived they were selling new tickets. But the guy had also been tyred and gave his and my money to a friend of his. But the girl apparently ran of with the money and the spot in the queue was gone. I stood in line once again because I had to get on the ferry. The guy felt really bad and went all the way to the front and pushed into the chaos. He found another guy at the front gave him his money and they achieved to buy the tickets. But when were in the back. the other guy said that he never received any money. So my guy got really angry and got a police man into play. He then forced the bad guy to give my guy the ticket, which he sold to e afterwards. 15 hours after I arrived at this messy, stinky port I was on the ferry. I arrived in Manila at 3 AM and went straight to the beer til morning.

Boracay

The rush up to Manila continued to the northern end of Panay. The town called Boracay is the Philippines main tourist draw. It still has some style on the sides of the main beach. But the center is overbuild and out of touch with the village inland where the locals live. The beach itself is nice and offers perfect sunsets. I crashed in 4 USD dorm and woke up early the next day to go to Mindoro Island.

Bacolod

With a headache after New Year Eve I headed up north and couldn't get further than 5 hours. Bacolod is a strange city. Maybe also because everybody was in bed for the 1st day of 2010. Streets were almost empty. And instead of building sometimes there was just a little grass field in the city center. But I couldn't have bothered less. I just slept most of the day. The next morning it was tricycle to the port and of to the Island of Panay.

Sipalay

Sugar Beach is 5 km north of Sipalay town. It is cornered between to hills on each side. There are about 4 low key resorts there. I choose the Driftwood Village because it had traditional huts and is the cheapest. It is also Swiss owned which normally is a downside, but the guy in charge was quite cool. Sadly I had some fever when I arrived and it took me 3 days to recover. Only to get an ugly cough just afterwards, which lasted for an unbelievable 10 days. After the Christmas seafood buffet diarrhea joined the cough. I didn't move more than 100m from the place, mostly just because I needed a long awaited rest. When I finally made a little hike to the next bay I bend my toe badly and was pretty much limited to my 100m. Nevertheless I got to know a lot of people at that place and had some nice hammock time. The girls in charge of running the place were a lot of fun and were always extremely good humored. Some tourists have been there for a long time and were pretty much into the beer all day. Of course there were also sex tourists which you can find anywhere in the Philippines. The food was good even though a bid expensive. Chess, Boccia and Black Gammon were the most sophisticated things I did during these days - and I read about 4 books. In the second half of my stay 25 German volunteers showed up, to spend there New Year holidays. Hm mm. Well I got a long with this vast group by avoiding them. Most of them were travelling the first time outside of Europe. For New Years Eve we lit 4 huge piles of dry palm leaves which burned 15 meters high. The next day I had to leave to rush up to Manila to catch my flight

Dumaguete

Dumaguete was part of the broader goal to get to Sipalay to spend Christmas and New Year at a nice place. But Dumaguete is actually pretty nice and pretty calm. The seafront is full of trees decorated with lit up with Christmas lights. In the market I went to a barber shop where the guy couldn't get over the fact how thick my hair apparently are compared with Asian hair. The next day I had to take 3 buses to Sipalay, which were as full as inhumanly possible. But after 5 hours I arrived in Sipalay city from where I took a tricycle to a river. A boat for 15 cents and a last walk to the Driftwood Village where I wanted to spent the next 10 days. A spa after Cebu City.

Cebu City

After taking a bus from Legazbi back to Manila and a flight to Cebu Island I found myself in this chaotic city at midnight looking for a cheap room, which eventually didn't find. This was especially annoying because I couldn't get money from the ATM. Apparently a bank in Legazbi charged my credit card up to the limit. I only had a bout 80 USD left and didn't know what happened. After calling my bank about 10 times in total I still wasn't able to get cash. Then finally they increased my cash advance limit. But the banks were already closed. So the next day I tryed again - but it didn't work. Then i found out that over night my bank cancelled the credit card. So there I was - in ugly Cebu City eating at the bakery for 1.5 USD a day and drinking water out of a 6 liter water bottle. After days of struggling I phoned my dear mother to send me some money with Western Union. And suddenly my wallet changed from 20 USD to a 1000 USD/ Money rules this world. Without money the shit easily hits the fan. Of course the whole experience was awful, but there are some interesting side effects. For instance you get a much better understanding about the situation of the kids asking you for money all the time. You look at tourists with different eyes if you see them eat a 7 USD pizza and getting drunk. You understand why all young Philippine girls are drawn into prostitution. And much more. After one week I was able to leave this ugly city and went to Dumaguete on the Island of Negros.

Legazbi

Close by of Legazpi I settled at a beach resort that must have been build some 50 years ago. Not a nice place and the water not suitable for swimming. But ate seafood with locals and hit the karaoke machines once again. "Lemon tree" is the one I can sing the best. Apparently karaoke in the Philippines is not that innocent as people may think. There are constantly news about shootings because the previous singer had a lower score than the next one who picked the exact same song to annoy the first singer. Combined with serious alcohol abuse and you have an unpredictable outcome. But since my singing is pretty bad I was never at risk. Lagazbi is also close to the biggest volcano of the Philippines, which erupted 2 days after I left.

Taal Volcano

A short ride south of Manila is a volcano in a lake with another lake in the middle with another volcano inside. A rainy didn't invite to much to go to the top, but since I was there I decided to do it. After a boat ride I had to get rid of the locals who where trying to sell me a horse. They even followed me almost all the way to the top and constantly told me a far I still have to go. Finally they retreated and I reached the hilltop. It didn't quite offer the view LP and friends promised but still a nice spot. Afterwards I left the island and checked in to a hotel with a great overview over the lake. A nice spot, where I sang karaoke with some locals.

Manila

After spending the night in Kuala Lumpur airport I had a nice flight to Clark Airport, the former American Air Force Base. Then I took a bus to Melate, a district in Manila. Manila is as bad as you think - but only in the outskirts. Melate and Ermita are not that bad and have a lot of high rises. Karaoke bars and sleazy bars dominate the scenery. The Intramuros is a district just north of Melate and is surrounded by an old fort. Old mansions inside still tell something about the history of the capitol. But if you take a wrong side road you instantly know you are in the Philippines.
Beer at about 60 cent is cheap and pretty good. Transport, accommodation and food are surprisingly expensive. Jeepneys dominate the streets. A jeepney is what the Superconstellations is in air traveling. A fancy designed vehicle that is all about the looks. A ride costs 20 cents and takes you for up to 30 minutes. It can get really packed in the pack and sometime people are on top of it or above the engine in the front.

Kuala Lumpur

KL was a little tin town 150 years ago and now is home yo 1.5 million people. KL is among the club of nice cities in east Asia. It has skyscrapers, colonial houses, Metropolitan parks modern public transport and a buzz ling nightlife which is centered in China Town. That's where I stayed at in a huge gym like hall with about 30 beds among the walls. It's the kind a place you expect if your home gets destroyed and a government agency brings you to a emergency relief shelter. But I liked it a lot and it was cheap. I wanted to go on top of the Petronas Towers but you have to stand in line for hours and then you are only allowed to go the skybridge in the middle of the amazing twin towers. So I enjoyed them from the ground. Then I walked through the city in the suburbs which is not suited for pedestrians. Only foreign tourists were walking a.k.a. waiting to get to the other side. But I found a nice little park with apes and from there I got to Little India. Which I liked once again.
The omnipresent mosques are not as load and aggressive as the ones I witnessed in Indonesia. They are more focused on low key. Maybe there is no need for PR if 90 percent is Muslim. The next day I went to the airport to fly to the Philippines.

Pulau Penang

A surprisingly easy ride over the Straight of Melakka brought me to Pulau Penang. It has more tourists than Indonesia, but still doesn't give an impression of being overrun. I settled in China Town. In Malaysia the economy is run by Chinese people and the government by Malay people. Indians, Korean, Westerners add to the diverse culture that makes up Malaysia. If you expect social unrest or cultural clashes you wont find any. It's one of these countries that live among each other. The tiger economy probably helps to keep it that way. Dutch and British influence remains arcitectually which is well restored. Little India was my favoured place with all the Bollywood music blasting out of small loudspeaker and food everywhere. I now look forward to India more than ever before.
As a day trip I went to Penang National Park which offered a nice hike over a hill to the other side of the island to come out to the beach. A soon as I was on the furthest point from the entrance it started to rain heavily - a thunderstorm. So I hiked back through the RAIN forest and got completely soaked. But it was fun to yell "is that all you can throw at me. really that's it?" and similar stuff to the nature.
The next day I was of to Kuala Lumpur.

Medan

The ride to Medan was pretty straight forward. I was with an experienced American traveler who has been all over the world. He still didn't want to eat the fruits he just bought, which were full of ants. He wanted to give it back to the lady he bought it from, but she insisted that these ants are extra proteins. I actually never wanted to go to Medan but I couldn't be asked for another 5 hours to Bukit Lawang, which is famous for orang utans (which means "men of the forest"). So I stayed in central Medan just next to the main mosque. At 430AM, 12AM, 3PM, 6PM and 7PM the muezzin is yelling all over town a making a conversations in close proximity virtually impossible and of course sleeping. One other attraction is the Istana Maimoon which is a palace which was build by the sultan of Dehli in 1888. The family still lives there but is stripped of all there power.
I never fell in love with Medan so I was a bit annoyed that there was no boat until later this week to get to Pulau Penang in Malaysia.

Lake Toba

After an exhausting night in the bus I arrived in Parabat at 4 AM. Stumbling through the dark I finally found the port next to the awakening market to make the trip to Tuk Tuk. A resort type hotel was my base and for the next few days - I wouldn't move a lot. There were only few guests and they were outnumbered by the young staff. Beers, billiard, a bit of swimming and TV made up a big chunk of my time. The village was a major tourist draw before Indonesia became famous for transport insecurity, Muslim extremism and natural disasters. So the christian Tuk Tuk tries to hang on and wait for better days to come. Sadly they are changing the traditional roofs to corrugated iron. But I had a nice stay, while doing few or nothing - of course I still had to give a lot of interviews to really shy people who came out of close by villages.