Faded Seaside Glamour

'twas a good day at the beach indeed.

A Feast Of Strangers

I was cleaning up my files to free up some space on my hard drive and found some pictures I took of people I met along the way.

Such friendly strangers. 

I love how the world is full of them. And how the power of a smile make people into friends.

I met Rebeca in Kalinga-Apayao. She was so very gracious and so beautiful. The tribes in the Cordilleras are wary of strangers but she let me take a picture of her to remember her by. The necklace she is wearing in this photo belonged to her ancestors. Each bead would make it priceless beyond imagination.

This little girl I met in Vigan in a burnay-making factory. She took my hand and showed me around her family's estate where up till now the centuries-old tradition of burnay is kept alive. 

I met Karolina on jeep stop in Sagada going to Bontoc. She  and I had the same route and we ganged up till Banaue. While there, she found out her Chinese VISA got cancelled and she had to spend an extra day in Manila. So we ended up trekking back to the city and this is a picture of her on her send-off in Malate. 

During the Holy Week, residents of the older part of Makati celebrate the Holy Week by parading different statues of saints and Jesus. These men who carried this statue of Jesus crowned with thorns for at least 2 miles barefoot gamely posed for me for a respite. 

Girl from Krispy Kreme

Oh how perceptive. I asked this tour guide in Ha Long to pose next to the sign. Funny thing was, I don't think he got my joke. 

Maria and Andy were some random people I met up with on a Valentine night in Siem Reap. Along with other Couchsurfers, I still kept in touch with them, each of us promising a couch and a friend if anyone visits one another's countries.

How To Be An Idiot and Survive Being One in Saigon

I landed into Saigon by accident. Well, not really. My less-than-24-hour adventure was a by-product of my lapse in good judgment (this happens to people who don't read their e-tickets properly).

I flew in from Phnom Penh to Saigon with an unhurried and almost lackadaisical mood. I wasn't ready to go home yet and I was still nursing a major vacation hangover. I had thought that I had an immediate connecting flight back to Manila but when I approached the transfers desk, the lady told me my flight was not until the afternoon of the next day.

What?!

Immediately my brain kicked itself into this mode. This mental neuron-charged firework display of my self grasping the idea of a quasi-strandedness. I was giddy, excited, buzzed, and nearly broke.

Not the nearly-broke-like-in-college kind that you can skip the extra cost for another bucket of beer. This is the nearly-broke-scrounge-around-my-pocket-and-backpack-finding-nothing-but-loose-change kind of nearly-broke.

I had less than $40 all in very loose change. As soon as I got out of immigration, I looked for a tourist information desk and a nice lady helped me find a cheap room I could crash in and even helped me get a coupon for a taxi to take me there and fetch me when I leave the next day. I can only imagine how humorous it was for her to help out a dumb tourist, practically on her knees looking for money in her bag and paying for everything in loose US dollars, a smattering of HK Dollars, and even in Pesos.

When all was taken cared of, I zipped through Saigon with a friendly cab driver who did not speak a drop of English but was kind enough to point out places of interest I could go to.

I was astounded at how busy and mobile the whole city was. I've never seen so much motorbikes in my entire life. My cab felt like a lumbering piece of metal against the endless stream of bikes.

In the morning, I explored the city on foot. It was terrifying at first to try and cross the streets. I don't think these motorbikes would even stop for you. Getting from one pavement to another is a gamble. I soon got the hang of it -- quickly cross when a bike is approximately 10 meters away. Stop in the middle of the road. And do the same thing. Don't forget to look left and right constantly. I could almost feel the electricity when bikes whizzed by me on opposite directions while standing in the middle of the road.

A Canadian living in Phnom Penh told me that the state of traffic in Saigon is way better than in Cambodia. He'd rather drive his moto here than there. Vietnamese traffic had a more organized chaotic flow. One can at least be reassured that motorbikes here come in only two very sure directions.

Saigon was very interesting and its people friendly. I'm sorry I only saw pockets of it. I didn't even have a map with me while I was wandering. I'd like to come and visit and get to know more about it. Soon, I hope.