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I'd wanted to go for some while, just because it was close (just over an hour by plane) - and it was big - could do lots of exploring - and the people were supposed to be nice/friendly.
I'd told Janet that I wanted to go to Manila, hire a car - then drive around for a few days - she said.... you cannot!!
Was this a sort of ultimatum?? Sort of - if you go - I'll divorce you?? Or was there more to it...?? I played it cool - and winkled it out of her over the next few weeks....
 | There are no maps |
| Signs are either non-existent or wrong/defaced/changed |
| Driving is chaotic - rules of the road are regarded as mere suggestions |
| I'd get mugged - when stopping to ask for directions |
Hold on - I was the bloke who had "The Plan" - small problems like these couldn't delay me!! We talked and discussed and got third-party views - and (as I'd never been) - I took good advice. Rene Limson, a good friend and ex-work colleague of Janet's was press-ganged into getting me around - many thanks Rene.
I think I stayed at the Philippine Plaza Hotel on Manila Bay, and cannot be entirely sure of where we went - when. also - apologies for the pictures - but we had to work with the models we were provided....
Probably 16th June, 1995 - south out of Manila (first big problem - getting out of Manila - chaotic traffic, 5 lanes crowding into 3, pedestrians and Jeepneys (belching smoke) everywhere, lots of standing stationary in traffic jams), then onto the South Expressway and the second problem - lane discipline and general rules of the road - did not apply... my best memory was of 3 lanes of traffic moving nicely at perhaps 50 mph and I became aware of cars undertaking on the hard-shoulder..... then there were cars beyond them - in the grass/foliage..... then there were cars overtaking us on the central reservation - what had been just 3 lanes of traffic had swollen to 7 or more - and just as I was about to ask Rene what was going on..... 10 to 15 lanes of toll-booths appeared - but why wait for that!!..??
We bombed on to Tagaytay and then Ta'al Lake and volcano...
This I reckon was taken at
Ta'al Vista Hotel looking down into the lake - which has an island in the middle
- and on the island is an active volcano - just above my right elbow). The big
hill/mountain that is just to the left of my head (can you see it in the mist??)
is Mount Makulot - 1,145 metres high. The worrying thing is that we have since
bought a plot of land at Canyon Woods just 12Kms from here and from where I'm
sitting to my left and right - well out beyond the lake is a crater wall - that
goes all around the lake to Mount Makulot - everything you can see - and much,
much more that you cannot - is one, big, old crater - 28 to 30 Kms in
diameter!!! That must have been a very big - BADG!! The locals say - that whilst
the little volcano down there in the lake is smouldering and grumbling there
should be nothing to worry about.... I know that... and they know that.... but
does Ta'al Volcano - know that??
From here we continued south towards Batangas town and then to a resort situated on the banks of a reservoir...
- but I don't know where it
was...
I think we must have headed back to Manila then and a day or so later...
18th June, 1995
One of my main reasons for visiting was that I'd told Janet one of my great likes was/is - wooden/log houses - particularly when built out of complete logs/round trees. She said - "we have those in Baguio" - so I just had to check it out!!
Rene picked me up and we headed North - expressway part of the way - then country roads - and we started climbing - like Tagaytay - Baguio is much cooler than Manila - because of the elevation (1,500 metres). We even had clouds/mist on our way up.
We checked in to the Country Club - near which was Camp John Hay (old US Forces camp) - and within there I could see big wooden houses - not really my ideal log-chalet-style - but wooden houses nonetheless - so that was "log-hoses" checked out.
19th June, 1995
Leaving the Country Club.
Snooped around Baguio - not much to see - and then headed back towards Manila, but on the way back Rene went slightly West towards Angeles. Now I didn't know what was happening - had heard of the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 - but didn't know we were close by..... well... we were on a cement/tarmac road - one lane in each direction... when it went straight - and we pulled off (to the right) of it and headed into some scrubby bush foliage, and started kicking up lots of dust. Cars/trucks coming in the opposite direction did the same - making driving very difficult - at times it got like the old Pee-Soupers we used to get in London - visibility less than 10 feet!! We stumbled/ambled on for about half a mile occasionally seeing people standing by the "roadside" covered in shawls - but also dust (it was grey/white - very fine - like talcum powder) - begging - they spent all their time in that mess!!
And then the foliage had disappeared and we were out on what at first seemed like a plain and about a quarter of a mile later we were back into foliage and started to see what appeared to be the tops of pyramids/triangles - wood - just the top foot or so - sticking up out of the dusty earth.... they were houses... maybe 20 or more feet high - but buried, and only the topmost points of their roofs were visible - what had happened here...??
Mount Pinatubo was about 30 Kms away to the west and its eruption was apparently 8 to 10 times the magnitude of St Helens in the USA. Lots of dust/ash went skyward and then of days it settled back to earth - lots of it just sitting up on the mountains.
Then came the rain - typhoons - and washed all this stuff - they call it lahar - down the mountains...
The road we'd been traveling on, about 200 yards further on from where we pulled off - used to go on a big bridge over a wide river, and the bridge was about a quarter of a mile long.
The lahar came 30Kms... a quarter of a mile wide.... and 20+ feet deep obliterating, drowning and submerging - everything.
We saw churches half buried in this now rock-hard stuff. We also saw people building new houses on stilts on top of the lahar - and apparently - there is much, much more of the stuff up there on the mountains - so each Typhoon season (and the Philippines often get more than 25 typhoons per year) they can expect more deluges of the stuff.
Update!! Update!! May 24th, 2006 - just received an email from Dave Fishwick (old 1900 Programming mate) d.fishwick@tiscali.co.uk - who remembers Manila and Pinatubo - well.... or not so....
Hi MC I read some of your various illustrated adventures the other day, and your recollection of the Phillipines just struck a chord with me. I have worked in Manila, Quezon & Cebu many times but in particular I was in Manila on the Saturday afternoon when Pinatubo exploded in 1991. I have never experienced anything quite like it as everything went black. I could hear lots of wailing, and what I then guessed as praying whilst people literally dropped to their knees and prayed. It was frightening and somewhat disturbing, but luckily I had a 4 wheel drive and a driver who got me back to my hotel fairly quickly. I was actually stuck in the hotel then for a further week because obviously all the ash covered the airport runways and nothing was allowed in or out. I can't recall the hotel but it was 5* in Makati and was very comfortable but I'd far rather have been at home! I managed to pull a lot of strings via a pal in Lufthansa (Lufthansa actually had a brand new 747/400 in Manila) and they were going to have one attempt at getting it out. I, needless to say, managed to get on it and after three attempts we headed skywards almost vertically to get above the crap in the air. I got home drunk but happy via an engine check in Tokyo. Bloody hell this has started something - I also got shot at in Surabaya (Indonesia) but that's for another time!! Hope u r well? Cheers Dave
Thanks Dave!!
We drove on to Mount Samat where there's a big cross devoted to World War 2 something or other - its so big we could see it later across the bay from Manila.
View from Mount Samat
Rene's buggy - we're leaving
Samat and heading back to Manila.
It was certainly true - that maps and signs were (still are) just about non-existent - so driving may have been difficult - especially in cities/towns - thanks again to Rene for devoting so much time and effort.