Henry Tapia

Under Personal, Travel

Day 16 – 23, Philippines

We left Boracay and headed back to Bongabong where we were had a farewell party and then got caught in another typhoon. We eventually made it back to Manila, wrapping up our stay in The Philippines.

Bongabong Despedida

After Boracay we were picked up from the pier by relatives that were again happy to see us. The folks in Bongabong had organised a farewell party, or “despedida”. My uncle hired a Videoke machine and decided to kill a pig for us. There was no chance of changing his mind on that one.

Videoke machine arrives. Photo courtesy of Meg

It was a pretty good BBQ and we ate pork for the next few days. Megan photo-documented some of it. Sorry to vegetarians and animal lovers, we felt that we should pay tribute to this little guy whose life was taken and fed many people for several days. If you eat pork then this is mandatory viewing:

He’s still alive, but he’s tied up and stressed. Photo courtesy of Meg

Fast forward… pig is slaughtered. Hot water is poured over it and it is shaved of hair with a razor. Photo courtesy of Meg

All parts are used for different dishes, nothing is wasted. Photo courtesy of Meg

Fast forward again… BBQ pork skewers. Photo courtesy of Meg

Passes the taste test. As Borat would say: “It is a beautiful pig… Mmmm, are there any more eyes?”. Photo courtesy of Meg

More photos of the BBQ pork story at Meg’s flickr.

We were caught in a second typhoon, Typhoon Seniang (international name: Typhoon Utor). Just as well we weren’t in Boracay at the time, that place got hit quite hard, taking a fair bit of damage from what I heard. As many roads were flooded and no ferries from Mindoro to Batangas were able to run, we had to postpone our flights for a few days as we couldn’t get a boat from Mindoro to Batangas to get back to Manila. We had no electricity for most of that time and I was certainly starting to get a bit of cabin fever but we got there in the end.

Ginebra San Miguel, 80 proof Filipino sugar cane whiskey, one of the things we occupied ourselves with whilst waiting for the weather to improve.

Leaving Philippines

On the morning of December 12, we hit the road to get the boat and drive back to Manila. We dropped by my cousin’s place in Batangas again briefly, then did the 8 hour or so drive through traffic back to Manila.

One thing I noticed again on the road trip that I’ve forgotten to mention so far was the odd sight of seeing guys at petrol stations filling up with their engines running and motorbike riders filling their tanks with one hand and holding a lit cigarette with the other (holding it away from the tank mind you). And they tell us to turn off our mobile phones at servos in Australia… pfff!

We stayed overnight in Quezon City before an early rise for a morning flight to Bangkok via Hong Kong.

The Philippines was definitely a funny and interesting place worthy of further exploration.

Next, Bangkok and then off to Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Tao…

Related posts

• Bongabong, Philippines
• Travel plans