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We have been home from Asia now for over a month, and I’ve been extremely remiss in updating the blog about our travels.
Here’s a short rundown of how the trip went:
- From Hua Hin, we returned to Bangkok for a few days and then headed to Cebu, in the Philippines.
- Cebu was also hot and humid. But we did have one of the most beautiful days island-hopping and snorkeling. We booked with a SCUBA outfit for a snorkel trip, and because they don’t do a lot of snorkel trips, we ended up with the entire boat to ourselves. Definitely a great day.
- On almost the last day in Cebu, I slipped on wet asphalt (and mud– I hope it was mud) and banged up my right knee and generally felt crummy.
- Our next stop was Bagiao, which is up in the mountains. It’s definitely cooler there than the rest of the Philippines. It’s also on a very narrow windy mountain road, not unlike Highway 9 in Santa Cruz, but narrower and more fraught with danger. More on Bagiao in a minute.
- After Bagiao, we headed to Manila, where we stayed in the super-modern Bonifacio Global City (BGC). BGC is essentially a very controlled planned community that sits on the former location of the Bonifacio US military base. It’s small– about a mile across– and has greenways and trees and is about 10-15 degrees cooler than the rest of Manila.
- After BGC, we went home. Which has also been an adjustment, because we spent how much on healthcare and dinner?!?
On Bagiao
Bagiao is an interesting place. Every day, a couple of times a day, the community-wide alarm (think air raid sirens) goes off. I’m a little bit used to this growing up in Evanston, where we had the air raid siren test every Tuesday at 10:30 AM. But every day? We looked it up.
Turns out, at least one of the sirens is the “stop and be mindful” siren. I kid you not. You’re supposed to pause and think about your community and your life and be grateful that you live in a wonderful place like Bagiao. This wonderful event is only less than perfect because:
- There is another siren that goes off an hour earlier (I never figured out why).
- The siren is loud and annoying.
- The siren, like everything else in Bagiao, sets off all the dogs barking (so you are contemplating the wonderful harmony of your life, to a cacophony of feral and non-feral dogs).
- It’s every day, so if you live there, you tune it out. When I was growing up, I stopped being able to hear the wind-up clock ticking in my living room.
The day after we arrived, John and I walked down to the local park and post office. The park in Bagiao is beautiful, with a small lake and paddle boats, lots of little green spaces and things to do. It also has the “smoking police,” enforcing Bagiao’s public non-smoking laws in the park, which was pretty awesome for us non-smokers!
Also while in Bagiao, I sent my last postcards. Unfortunately, I sent these on August 15, and the Philippines stopped shipping all mail to the US on August 18, so I doubt my little post cards (even the hand-painted ones) will arrive!
However, as if the fall in Cebu wasn’t enough, I came down with the flu shortly after arriving in Bagiao. I basically had a day to explore the town before I was holed up in a room, semi-isolating and coughing and miserable. I did hand-sew a shirt while I was isolating on my birthday, but it was a pretty crappy way to celebrate my birthday, since I couldn’t go out, felt awful, and didn’t want to get anyone else sick.
Manila and BGC
Manila was a great visit, and I was super happy to hang out with my friend Tobie and his partner, Rocky a couple of times. We did tour the historic sites in Manila in a night tour, which was fascinating, not least because our guide was a trained architect who pointed out many of the architectural features of the sights.
BGC was a seriously great place to be for a short period of time, but it is mostly shopping and dining out. I think I’d get bored after a while, because I’m not a “go out to the live band every night” kind of person, and the board game cafe was a “bring your own friend” kind of place (no organized meetup.)
That said, it was a model of a walkable urban area. Everything was within walking distance, on well paved and maintained sidewalks. While you could take a car to get from one side to the other, it was faster to walk than drive. Large spans of grass and trees keeps the temperature much better moderated, and it’s a real testament to the impact of asphalt and concrete on local climate that outside of the BGC “bubble,” temperatures were much higher.
However, I don’t think most of the people who work there can afford to live there, so it fails the economic test of whether it’s a community– if the person making your coffee can’t afford to live in the area, then you aren’t in a community, you’re in an amusement park.
Towards the end of our stay, I had a minor surgery at St. Luke’s hospital, which is one of the best hospitals in Southeast Asia, and is adjacent to (walking distance) the rest of BGC. Top notch medical care, and while I was fine flying home, I am still dealing with some of the after-effects (mostly a nerve that is now very angry at me; not something that would have been avoided if I’d had the surgery elsewhere). It was a relief to go from “Doctor, I have this lump” to “it’s out and you can go home” in less than 2 weeks and for under $3K (USD), including overnight hospital stay in a nice, private room with a kitchen. (The lump was completely benign, in case you’re wondering– I am fine.)
Also while I was traveling, I wrote a couple of games, which are now up on Itch, including my first video game, Gideon’s Island. It plays in the browser and is a really dumb little game that made me laugh while I was writing it.
Photo dump incoming!
