Table of Contents
- The People
- Divine Display
- The Place
- Nights into Pain
- The Food
- Touring Tulunan
- The Flair
- Peanut Pickup
- The Retrospective
- The Road Ahead
Venturing deeper into the Philippines, I have now made my way into...
Still om Mindanao, the province of Cotabato (from the Malay words Kota Batu = "Stone Fort") is one of the few landlocked provinces of the Philippines. It is about as large as Puerto Rico, and home to about 1.3 million people, making the entire province roughly as populous as my home city of Munich. Put together, that results in a population density of about 140/km², making it pretty much the equal of Thailand.
Within that, I am now located in the Municipality of Tulunan, which is located at the very south of Cotabato, just to the north of the province of Sultan Kudarat.
Within the Municipality of Tulunan, I am located within the Barangay of Lampangang, which is home to a little over a thousand people...
...and within there, I am currently situated in a humble little home along the main road, which is actually something that holds true for roughly half the houses in this place, seeing as how it is not very large.
The climate in these parts is more or less the same as in Davao: Still tropical, but with a stronger daily fluctuation on account of the sea being further away. That means that the days are even more unbearably hot. During the day, temperatures routinely climb up above 30°C, and standing in the sun it always feels another 10°C hotter.
Whats also the same is the daily downpours, which can get quite torrential. Fortunately, since that is normal for this region, there's also plenty of places for people and pets to take shelter at when the rain strikes.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
Now, there's much to tell about my stay here, so let me start with...
The People
In this place, pretty much anyone is a relative of Elgen's, which makes it a bit confusing when she talks about "my auntie", "my uncle", "my cousin", "my nephew" or "my niece", since that pretty much covers everyone in the entire Barangay. I am not going to be talking about all of the dozens of people that Elgen introduces me to in the few days of our stay here. Instead, let me focus on the ones that I should spend the most time with.
First, there's Elgen's father, who goes by the name of Juan. He's a farmer and makes a living off of several plantations around the Barangay. He does not speak English, so we can't really communicate, but he does play the guitar and sometimes keeps me company while the kids are over in the living room watching TV.
Speaking of kids, there's quite a lot of them in the Barangay, but only two whom I should get closer acquainted to. One is John, one of Elgen's many nephews. He's an energetic little boy who should often keep us company on our strays through the Barangay, but also at home. As usual, there's the language barrier, which doesn't stop him from talking at me in Filipino and me responding in English.
John also takes a real shine to Emilious, which on the one hand is cute, but on the other hand also makes me worry that my vulpine plush companion might go mysteriously missing. My worries turn out to be unfounded, however, as John takes good care of Emilious.
Next, there's Elgen's older sister Valentina and her daughter (and thus Elgen's niece) Tiffany, who is not really in the talking-age yet. Valentina meanwhile can speak English, and better so than Elgen, I'd say.
As for the mother of the family... much like my own, she's already deceased, her grave hidden in the plantation behind the cottage, surrounded by gum trees. Elgen should take me there soon after our arrival.
Apart from humans, the family also features a number of pets, such as the loyal dog Chaochao, who much like John often ends up following us around on our strays.
John and Chaochao do also get along great, by the way, and by great I mean that Chaochao lets John do all sorts of things to him, and more often than not I have to step in and distract John with something in order to let poor Chaochao have some peace.
And then there's the time when John also invites Emilious to play along with Chaochao, all of them forming a happy threesome.
By contrast, there's also Spike, who has a mind of his own, and is quite spirited. Unlike placid and compliant Chaochao, Spike makes it quite clear when any form of handling is not to his liking.
Cats are also around, with a tiny black cat being the home's most regular customer. Less of a pet and more of a guest, this adorable bright-eyed feline ends up coming around often enough that I give her the name Celine. Interestingly, she gets along just fine with both of the dogs.
And then, there's also a big orange tomcat by the name of Cardo. He's a bit of an oddity around here, in that he's about the size of normal house cats that I'm used to. Here in the Philippines, that makes him a giant among cats. He doesn't show up quite as often as Celine though.
And that's the main cast of people I should be surrounded here, with an extended cast ranging in the dozens. Also, this inconspicuous little town features a notable landmark that is on...
Divine Display
27-Jul-2022Distance: 2.5km
Ascents: 40m
Duration: 3h
Right after our arrival in Lampangang, Elgen takes me around on a stray around the Barangay, and a little beyond. While in the Barangay, and especially while still close to Elgen's home, we should frequently stop at one of her many aunties' houses, where she introduces me to everyone. I do end up feeling a little bit like a dog on display, telling the same story of who I am over and over again, followed by Elgen and her auntie chatting away in Filipino, with me completely unable to follow. Eventually, however, we clear the "introduction gauntlet", and are en-route to a special place to the east of the Barangay, and then a little bit beyond that to Juan's plantations.
After clearing the introduction gauntlet, we are still only halfway through Lampangang, and thus we keep walking through the spectacularly undeveloped roads of the Barangay for a while. It might look idyllic, but what these pictures fail to capture is the ever-present all-oppressive humid heat that permeates this place.
Us, that is Elgen, John and me, with little John being quite excited about accompanying the two of us. Eventually, the houses of the Barangay give way to plantations that have such a primal look to them that I would take them for jungle if I didn't know better.
However, on an aerial picture, the hexagonally planted trees make it immediately apparent that this is, in fact, a plantation.
Eventually, we get back on the main road, and walking along it we soon spy our destination in the distance.
It's the Divine Mercy Shrine, which was erected by Elgen's extended family, and is a bit of a local attraction... or at least that's what people here like to tell themselves, because there isn't exactly many people around here, neither now, nor at any other day that Elgen should take me here over the duration of my stay. It is also a relatively recent development, with construction having started in October 2015 and completed in October 2017, so at this time, the shrine is barely 5 years old.
Something of an open-air church, the most notable element of this place is clearly they great Jesus statue modeled after the visions that Sister Faustina Kowalska of Poland had roughly a hundred years ago. In that vision, Jesus told sister Faustina: "Paint an image according to the pattern you see, with the signature: 'Jesus, I trust in You'. I desire that this image be venerated, first in your chapel, and then throughout the world. I promise that the soul that will venerate this image will not perish." Regardless of whether you believe in that or not, you have to hand it to her that she managed to get that image venerated all over the world in just a century, so that certainly is impressive. The white and red rays shining from Jesus' wound are meant to represent blood and water, by the way.
We can actually go all the way up to the feet of the statue, which is roughly 20m tall. The "rays" are actually water slides, and Elgen tells me that water used to run down them until an earthquake damaged the mechanism.
Apart from that, there's these neat hand chairs which provide seating for roughly four dozen people...
...as well as a number of alcoves in which what I surmise must be local saints are venerated. At the very least I haven't heard of Birhen Sa Regla, Birhen sa Barangay, San Lorenzo Ruiz or San Pedro Calungso before.
Since the Shrine is located on a hilltop and has most trees cleared away on one side, this is also pretty much the only place in the entire area where one can get a view of the surrounding landscape. It might look to be mostly forest to the untrained eye, but really, it is all plantations.
One curiosity is the dog tracks irregularly embedded into the pavement at certain points in the shrine. I really wonder how they got there. Since the paw prints often span over several stones, merging them together, they clearly must have gotten there after the pavement was laid out, but how? Could it really get so hot here that stone starts to melt?
Meanwhile, we make or way down along a dirt path at the side of the hill, which would be more enjoyable if we had not respectfully left our shoes at the entrance of the shrine, and if I could not clearly see broken glass on the ground here and there. Thus, I try to step carefully.
After paying our respects at the shrine, Elgen takes me further down the road a little bit further. This time around we pass a plantation that is more easily recognizable as such...
...though for the most part, the way really does look more akin to a road through the jungle.
It is a little bit further down the road that we meet Juan on his plantation. He is presently accompanied by a pair of water buffalo. These bovines are about as closely related to cattle as humans are to bonobos, and yet they appear and behave so similar that without additional knowledge I would have identified them as "strange cows".
Juan spends some time showing us around the plantation, fixing the odd water pipe on the occasion, and as he does, the water buffalo faithfully follow us around, traversing the hilly and slippery terrain with practiced ease, and jumping up hills faster than their bulky bodies would lead to believe.
Afterwards, we return back to Lampangang, which makes for a perfect transition for me to tell you about...
The Place
The place I'm staying at is the home of Juan, Elgen, Valentina and Tiffany. It is pretty much a little shack without many amenities. It is by no means airtight, with the windows being either slanted panes of glass or simply holes in the latticework of the walls, which makes AC pretty pointless.
The first room behind the front door is the living room, which features rustic though regrettably unpadded bamboo furniture, as well as a TV, which seems oddly out of place in a home as humble in this. I'd say it is the most high-tech device in this house, but then again everyone carries around smartphones, and the TV is clearly several decades old, so...
At any rate, this means that the kids get to do what I am now more convinced than ever they do everywhere around the world at night: Sit in front of the TV (at least until they're old enough to be handed down a smartphone).
Adjunct to the living room, there's the "room" where Elgen and I will stay. I'd call it a bedroom, but it really is just a ledge with something like a thin mattress on top of it, and very limited floor space, akin to some of the Japanese capsule hotels I've stayed in (see Book II ~ Chapter 15 ~ Shipping Southwards), but with even less comfort.
One such point is that the room doesn't have a roof. Or a door. In place of a door, it has a curtain, and in place of a roof, it has nothing, the room just opening up to the same open space above the living room, with only the roof of the house above us. Naturally, that means that if anyone switches lights on in the living room, they also flood our room, and our privacy is only marginally above zero.
Eventually, it gets a little bit of an upgrade though, in the form of an insect net. This should increase the comfort level at night, but only barely so, due to circumstances on which I have yet to elaborate.
The other big room in the house is the dining room, which features a table with plastic chairs, as well as a sink. All the windows here are just holes in the latticework. It is also here that I should set up my workspace for the duration of my stay.
The dining room is already part of what clearly is a later addition to the initial cottage, which only consisted of the living room and three adjunct bed"rooms". This becomes even more apparent by the existence of something like a Japanese Genkan, a porch where you have to take off your shoes before entering the living room, for whatever reason. It's not like the flooring in the living room is any harder to sweep than the one of the dining room, and there's bedrooms adjunct to the dining room as well.
And then, there's the kitchen, if you want to call it that, because "fireplace" would probably a more adequate description, as the people here cook over an open wood fire with pots. As such, my hopes of preparing pizza for everyone instantly go down the drain and out into the backyard where the waste water flows.
Finally, there's the CR, which is where we come to the worst path. You may have noticed that I did not mention a bathroom yet, which is simply due to the fact that this place does not have one... and neither does any house in the whole Barangay, as far as I'm informed. Instead, you have a CR (pronounced "ceear", and it does take me a while to realize that this is an English acronym rather than the Filipino word for "toilet"), which stands for "Comfort Room", though "Complication Room" would clearly be more adequate. What it features is a single toilet bowl that is much too small, without a seat or a lid. Or a flush. Instead, there's barrels with water and a dipper. There's also no shower or anything. Did I mention the barrels of water and the dipper? Toilet paper, too, is a lavish luxury around here, and this place only has some because Elgen thought of bringing some for me. As a result of this, I should end up peeing outside more often than in, and pooping turns out to be a particular problem, especially with the Diarrhea medication that I've been taking hardening my stool. So, despite the name, this room should not end up being comfortable at all for me.
Now that I've introduced all the places in the house, let me take you on a brief tour through it that I took while it was raining. Valentina and John are in the kitchen, with Chaochao at the door, and Elgen walking into the living room. And yes, it really is that loud when it's raining. With tropical rainfall and no solid windows to filter out the sound, plus a metal sheet roof above our heads, you can't really understand a thing inside while it's raining.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
Moving on to the great outdoors, the Barangay of Lampangang consists mostly of cottages and sheds not unlike the one that we dwell in. The main road running through it is made of concrete plates, while all other roads are dirt roads of varying quality.
Throughout the village, small kiosks like the one next to our place can be found. Those represent all the shopping options one gets here without going all the way back to Tulunan. One common sight on those are baked, pretzel-like snacks sold in clear plastic bags.
Garbage cans do not exist though, and so any rubbish eventually just ends up lying around on the ground, with no one feeling responsible for picking it up. It's a sorry sight, and one that is regrettably omnipresent here in the Philippines.
Lampangang also has a small community, which comes with a roofed basketball court. Unfortunately, that one, too, is in rather bad shape.
Something that can be found all across the Barangay are these WiFi boxes. Basically, you put coins into them and they provide a limited supply of WiFi for the surrounding area, though I know neither the rates nor whether the limit is time or bandwidth. This is also the only WiFi available out here, so if it runs out someone has to go out of the house and put some coins into the nearest WiFi box.
Apart from humans, there's also all sorts of pets and livestock living in the Barangay. The most common ones are chickens, which can be found running around all over the place.
Of course that means that you'll never want for an alarm clock come morning. Just leave it to the roosters to get everyone wide awake by daybreak.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
After chickens, there's also a surprisingly large population of ducks roaming the streets.
And then, there's also lots of dogs. These daring canines have no fear whatsoever of the motorcycles coming up and down the road, often walking, playing or even sleeping on the concrete. Occasionally they also help with keeping the chicken and duck population in check. All of them fall within the size category of Spike or Chaochao though, with no particularly big or small dogs.
Cats also exist, but they are tiny, and not quite as numerous.
Coming back to fowl, on one occasion I spot a bird that I think has to be some kind of turkey...
...and then there's also a number of people keeping goats. Unlike the birds, those are typically kept on a leash, though.
By the way, many of the plantations around here are, in fact, rubber plantations, which is easily noticeable by the taps on the trees from which the white, liquid latex drips.
As we head past the Divine Mercy shrine on one occasion, Elgen notifies me of the military camp on the next hill over. It is really little more than a small and well-concealed camp, and would not be distinguishable as such at all were it not for the sign in front broadcasting as much.
One day I get taken out towards the spring, from which the Barangay gets its water. There, the people proceed to bathe and also wash their laundry in the spring with detergent from the nearest store, and as I watch the foam float downriver I am starting to get a better idea about why the water gives me diarrhea. Incidentally, the clean water we fetch straight from the spring here is the only water in the entire country that does not give me this ghastly condition. Elgen also asks me if I want to wash myself here since I don't like to do it in the CR, but I decline. There's just something about washing myself in the ankle-deep water of a spring littered with plastic garbage that makes me prefer waiting until I can have a proper shower again back in Davao.
And that's all for the place. All things put together, this is the
closest thing to a culture shock that I did ever get on my travels, and
yet that's not the worst part of my stay here. That should only come when
an unfortunate constellation of circumstances should turn...
Nights into Pain
28-Jul-2022
You may recall that I left for the Philippines not long after recovering from a summer flu. Well, I've been coughing ever since, and I don't think the weather here made it any better. That, or maybe it was the AC next to the bed that was always running out of sheer necessity back in our place in Davao. Regardless of the cause, I've been coughing a lot, and that led to me having a bit of a cramp in my left side from all the coughing. I'd say that was painful, but...
...it really wasn't, not compared with what is yet to come.
The triggering factor should turn out to be the bed... or rather, the mattress lying on the wooden ledge, which is what counts for a bed here. Anyone who has ever slept on suboptimal bedding will know that your muscles tend to stiffen up. Now, I sincerely hope that not many people know what happens when you suddenly get a coughing fit with an already cramping-up side and stiff muscles from such a bed.
The short answer is pain.
The long answer is that it feels like your side is being split open with a white-hot blade that stays wedged in your flesh, flooding your entire side with unbearable agony. My screams tear through the night, and within seconds everyone in the house and all neighbors are alerted of my anguish.
There's nothing they can do to alleviate my suffering, though. The damage is done, and every time I cough the blade of pain strikes my side anew. So I try with all my willpower to suppress the coughing. I know my body think it needs to cough, but that is a lie. It's a trap. Coughing does not help. Coughing brings pain. Coughing is death.
Elgen brings me lots and lots of water to drink, and eventually I manage to make it to the point where I am standing next to our now empty "bed", my side hurting badly, afraid of going back to bed despite it being 2:00 in the morning.
Instead, I head outside, watching the starry sky with Elgen for a long time. The night air is nice and pleasant, and there's a lot of stars visible out here. We do see a number of shooting stars, and eventually, we even see the international space station go past almost directly overhead.
It is not before 4:00 that I dare going back to bed again. This night, and all subsequent nights of my stay should bring only more pain, and the pain should also stay with me during the entire remaining time of my stay here, and even beyond that. I even consider leaving right away again, but even with all the pain, and with the lacking amenities out here, that is not something I want. What I really want is to stay and experience this place just a little bit longer, even if my body is acting up like this. I've come this far, I want to see it through to the end. As such, I make do with what I have, such as using a pillow to pad up my chair when I'm working. It's not ideal, and the wood smoke coming from the kitchen doesn't make it any better. But then again, nowhere is ideal around here. I can't lie down to sleep, and with the humid heat and searing sun I can't comfortably go outside either.
The next day, Elgen takes me to see the local witch doctor sheriff, who is naturally also one of her uncles. At Elgen's insistence I pay him the slight fee of 50₱ for what I am going to call "traditional alternative medical treatment". I suppose that's one more entry on my list of life achievements.
Basically, he puts some stinky substance the ingredients of which are of no interest to me whatsoever on my hurting side while chanting mystical words of power and healing. Finally, he gives me a ginger root which Elgen tells me I have to carry around with me at all times. I humor her, even though I remain spectacularly unconvinced of this approach.
In the end, time is the only cure to my ailments, which is good in that it gets better on its own, and bad in that there's nothing I can do to stop the pain that I'm going through now. The best I can do is distract myself with pleasurable things that don't put a strain on my sore side, and one such thing is definitely...
The Food
No matter how uncomfortable my overall stay here is, the one thing that I definitely can't complain about here is the food, which is hearty and plentiful. In fact, seeing how tasty and abundant the food is around here makes me seriously question why Elgen is so thin and never eats much. Up until now I was mentally prepared to survive on a meager diet of rice with nothing else for a couple of days, based on what I've seen Elgen eat thus far.
Instead, I am treated with tasty Filipino dishes such as Adobo, Chicken Curry and Apritada with Rice, and while there aren't exactly mountains of the stuff, there's still enough for the entire family to eat their fill and still have leftovers for the next day. I'd say you could put them in the fridge, but there is no fridge, only a cupboard that fulfills a similar function. I wonder how they keep it cool. There's also bananas to go along with the food, and only the glass of Pepsi they serve me ruins the traditional vibe.
A much more authentic drink is dragonfruit juice, which not only impresses with its bright magenta color, but also with its sweet, rich taste. I seriously don't understand why anyone would end up drinking Pepsi while this is a viable alternative.
Breakfast is, as usual, a mix of literally everything, including the ever-present rice with lemon-soy-sauce, chicken, fruit, and leftovers from dinner.
Some meals are less lavish, yet nonetheless tasty, such as bihon (rice noodles) and cup noodles...
...rice and sausages...
...or even simple spaghetti in a tasty tomato sauce.
And then, there's the Durian. Or as I like to call it, the Omega Death Fruit. This fruit the size of a small melon clearly communicates "Do not attempt to eat me, I will make you pain!". The spiky shell alone is already a clear visual determent, and the spikes do not only look painful, they are really tough and hurt. Holding one of these in one's bare hands is already a challenge, which is why they are typically sold with plastic straps or strings to carry them around by, and if one of these falls on your foot, there will be blood. And not just "Oh it's only a scratch" blood but "Shit, shit, get the bandages and possibly call a doctor" blood, since the Durian is quite heavy too.
It doesn't get better as you prepare it either. Cut open a Durian (which requires some skill) and you will be greeted by a smell akin to that of rotten fruit. Despite all that I still dare to try a piece, and am rewarded with a taste experience that can best be described as ingesting undistilled sewage. Some people apparently find that taste enjoyable, but I for my part prefer to stick to fermented soy beans. Fortunately, there's still other things on the menu tonight.
Other more enjoyable dining experiences include chicken adobo and chicken tenola with rice...
...as well as that exquisite breakfast with fish soup, tomato, rice, apritada, cucumber and dragonfruit.
Oh, and by the way, it's not only the humans who get to enjoy these meals. The dogs also get their share of leftovers after everyone has eaten. Usually, there ends up being a lot of rice in what they get. They don't seem to mind though, happily gobbling everything up.
Finally, on the last night of our stay here, we all get together and take a family picture with me in it over dinner.
That's it for the food. No let me tell you about our time...
Touring Tulunan
28-Jul-2022
On my first full day in Lampangang, Elgen and her family decide to take me around to see the nearby town of Tulunan. Fortunately, instead of going by motorbike, we are going by trike this time around, which is significantly less panic-attack-inducing. Many families here have a trike, and since trikes are most commonly used as cheap taxis all over the Philippines, these private trikes usually have a sign saying "not for rent" somewhere to set them apart.
They still need fuel, though, and there aren't any gas stations out here. So how do people go about refilling those? I witness that firsthand prior to our ride as one of Elgen's brothers pours a Pepsi bottle filled with gasoline into the tank.
Those are sold at small stations around the village, at a price of 75₱ per liter, which is only a little bit more expensive than what you'd pay at a gas station here.
This trip should take us west past New Culasi and Sibsib, where the van dropped of us, and then about 2km further into the town of Tulunan, where we should visit a few locations before heading back. On the way back we also get a bit of shopping done in Sibsib, which is pretty much a market village on account of being the tangentially closest point to Tulunan which is located on the main trade route that is the M'lan-Tulunan National Highway (which we also used on our way to get here in the first place).
The ride to Tulunan takes us through the plantations, fields and towns
typical to this area. You will note that cars are a rare sight in these
parts, with most people owning either motorcycles or trikes. Bikes are
also rare, possibly owing to the fact that for some strange reason there
are places here selling motorbikes for less than bicycles. There's also
quite a bunch of animals on the road, as well as a number of people. The
ride is quite bumpy, too. And now imagine what this felt like to me riding
as passenger on a motorcycle with heavy luggage and another two people.
Also take note of the makeshift speed bumps on the road fashioned from old
tires. As you can imagine, they don't make the ride much smoother either.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
First, they take me to a house where an old man lives together with someone to help me. Elgen and Valentina tell me that they apparently stayed with him when they went to school here in Tulunan. It's a bit weird, though, because there's this friendly dog who obviously wants for company joining us, and the old man always tries to shoo him away - albeit with only limited success. Elgen then tells me she's afraid of unfamiliar dogs because they might have rabies.
After that, we stop by the Tulunan municipal hall, where one of the people in our group (one of Elgen's many cousins, I think) takes a picture of the rest of us. And yes, counting little Tiffany, there's six people altogether riding in that little trike, three in the front and three in the back (and there's probably be room for at least two more adults and several small kids by Filipino measures).
There's also a nice little Koi pond just across from the community centre, filled with plenty of brightly-colored energetic fish.
Apart from that, there's not really much to see here, not even Geocaches. The Philippines have a startlingly low density, with barely a hundred caches in the whole country. As it is, the closest Geocache from Tulunan is actually on the peak of Mt. Apo! And even all of Davao has only about a dozen caches!
And so, after our aforementioned Sibsib shopping stopover, we return back to Lampangang, taking the same road the other way. One difference is that there seems to be way more motorbikes on the road right now, and their driving styles are quite daring at times too. We also pass the obligatory number of animals and people on the road, as well as some apparently controlled fires. In addition, there's also a few places where farmers lay out their produce on the road to dry, so we have to navigate around those as well. Towards the end, the trike's speed also significantly drops as it clearly struggles to carry this many people plus shopped goods back up the slope to Lampangang, which is a good 100m above Tulunan. But it somehow manages that heavy task, and as we arrive, Spike is already waiting for us, happily wagging his tail as he sees us return.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
So much for this short trip. Now, let's continue with...
The Flair
Since we've just been talking about motorcycles, let me briefly go on about them. Out here in the boonies, kids get up on motorcycles as soon as they're physically large enough to ride them. Also, it is not at all uncommon to find people riding on a single motorcycle in what I can only begin to describe as "rather reckless numbers", and/or with loads of luggage, usually while not wearing helmets.
The people here are nothing if not efficient, though, and worn-out motorbike tires find good use, if not as makeshift speed bumps then as popular kids' toys.
I do my part too and install a tire swing on the tree in front of the house for John and Tiffany to play with. Unfortunately we soon find out that motorbike tires deform too readily to make for good swings, but we still come up with some fun games, mostly involving having the tire swing around and trying to catch it and then push it towards the other person.
One thing that seems bizarrely out of place on a number of levels here are the wintry "Merry Christmas" signs that can be found on several doors all through the Barangay. When I ask Elgen about it she simply tells me that the people thought it looked nice. Meanwhile, I for myself am instantly reminded of my Christmas in Christchurch, which also featured summery temperatures (see Book I ~ Chapter 11 ~ Christmas in Christchurch).
Also surprising is the size of the geckos here, which occasionally venture into the houses, clinging to the walls and ceilings. This one is about the size of my hand.
Normally, I am only used to insects displaying this kind of intrusiveness. Oh, and speaking of those, some of them are rather big here too. I sure hope they're not venomous.
Now, since we've officially crossed into the domain of nightmares with that, here's some samples of wiring that would leave any electrician screaming. Instances of that are ever-present here, and generally come in two flavors: Improvised indoor wiring with hanging cables draped across the room and extensions that do not look at all professional, as well as outlets that have clearly been on fire on at least one occasion...
...and outdoor nightmare wiring which in addition to the typical draped cables also features outlets crudely affixed to wooden poles beneath a sheet metal roof to protect them from the regular torrential rainfalls here. Seriously, I think the only reason why places don't burn down around here more often is because the high humidity makes things too wet to burn.
Finally, there's this guy - another one of Elgen's uncles - who insists on me taking a picture of him weeding the front yard. Not sure what that is supposed to achieve, but here you go. It would have been more impressive if he was picking up some of the garbage lying around everywhere though.
And that's it for the flair. Next, Elgen and I should head out on a walk
resulting in unexpected...
Peanut Pickup
29-Jul-2022
Distance: 3km
Ascents: 35m
Duration: 2.75h
On my second full day in Lampangang I end up getting up at 4:00 in the morning, the pain in my side too much to bear, and the thought of falling asleep again a nightmare like no other. So I spend the better part of an hour studying Japanese while it's still dark outside, and then, around 5:15, I head out with Elgen on a walk into the breaking dawn. At this time, it's about as "not hot" as it gets around these parts. I'd call it cool, but that'd be just plain wrong.
As usual, we are going to see one of Elgen's many, many aunties. This one lives a good distance out of town, though, so we end up walking past the Divine Mercy Shrine, and then roughly the same distance again.
Climbing further up into the hills again, we eventually pass by a sot where we catch a glimpse of the nearby lowlands, and the morning mists carpeting them like a thick, fluffy blanket.
The sun has yet to rise by the time we pass by the Divine Mercy Shrine...
...but the chickens are already up and about, roaming the roads in little family groups, looking for food.
By the way, Chaochao is also happily accompanying us, eagerly running ahead as we leave the concrete road behind and venture out onto a more muddy track.
And yet, that's still a proper road as opposed to the last piece of way we have to cover, for Elgen's auntie simply lives in the middle of a plantation, so plantation path it is. Not that I mind, though it is a bit slippery at times.
Soon enough, we arrive at the shack of Elgen's auntie, who promptly invites us in. However, since the whole place is full of wood smoke and I still have that "coughing means horrible, horrible pain" problem, I prefer to stay outside.
This place is also home to quite a number of chicken, who soon end up besieging us on the little clearing in front of the house...
...and rightly so, because they fully well know it's feeding time for them now. Unlike in New Zealand, where feeding time for chickens usually consisted of preparing a special food mixture in bowls and leaving them out for the chickens to eat from (see Book I ~ Chapter 5 ~ Ferreting around Marton), the people here just take a more traditional "throw out handfuls of grain" approach, and let the chickens wildly run after them, which results in some hearty competition among the chickens. Naturally, Elgen and her auntie are merrily chatting away in Filipino while doing so, so I can't understand a word they're saying. Also note how a number of chickens are marked with a piece of green plastics string on their wings. I wonder if that denotes the roosters.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
A short time thereafter, a man comes by from deeper within the plantation, and at this point I am simply going to assume that he's one of Elgen's many uncles. He hands her auntie a big basket of peanuts, and Elgen and her auntie decide to spend some time peeling them while Chaochao and a dog who lives with Elgen's auntie watch.
Having nothing better to do, I am happy to join them, learning that contrary to the two-seeded variant sold in stores where I come from, there's also lots of peanuts containing one, three or even four seeds within their hard shells (though the two-seeded variant is clearly the most common one).
We are still far from finished by the time the suns starts rising, and since I did not anticipate us being out for this long, I did neither apply nor bring any sunscreen. As such, I am eager to get back home soon, or at least into the shade of the trees. As we depart, Elgen's auntie hands us all the peanuts, both the ones we already peeled and the ones we have yet to peel, and Elgen tells me we should carry them home, so that is what we do, departing just as the sun breaks through the trees.
Safely back in the shade of the trees, my adventurous spirit breaks through for the first time since coming here, and I ask Elgen if we can't make a full tour of the circular road surrounding the plantation where Elgen's auntie lives, and checking out the eastern village. However, Elgen says we can't go there, and so we end up heading back the same way we came, leaving the mysterious unnamed village at the end of the path behind.
By the time we arrive back on the junction where the loop road closes, the sun is already well out...
...but fortunately, it is still low enough in the sky that the trees provide ample shade.
Back in Lampangang, we make our way home by means of what according to G-Maps is the main road of the Barangay. I think they might have it just a teeny-tiny bit wrong though.
Later that same day, with little to do but to sit out the tremendous heat inside the house with a fan blowing air at me, I make myself useful and continue peeling the peanuts for several more hours. Interestingly, I soon find myself getting a little assistance from John and Valentina, and while some of their more creative approaches at peeling the peanuts are probably not very efficient, it's still fun to watch them go at it.
Thus, after putting in quite some time and effort, we eventually end up with a large bag of peeled peanuts. Imagine my surprise when Elgen tells me they're for me to take home to my family! And here I was hoping to give back a little bid for all the hospitality they've shown me. Instead, that's how I ended up with a big bag of all-natural souvenirs to go around in the weeks following my eventual return to Germany. Now, it's time for...
The Retrospective
My stay at Elgen's home ended up being... very mixed. The accommodation was not very good, with us sharing a tiny door- and roof-less room giving us only very limited privacy. The food, meanwhile, was great. Ample authentic Filipino food, which, while not lavish or luxurious, was still very enjoyable and everything I could ask for. The bed meanwhile was an absolute catastrophe, giving me the worst pain I have felt in over ten years, so the less said about those the better. The atmosphere meanwhile was mostly nice, and while I could not understand what most people were saying, they did strike me as very friendly. At night, however, the boisterous animal noises coming from the forest (mostly from insects) did rival the noise of the nightly construction work I suffered in Davao, however. I guess the Philippines are just not a "quiet nights" place. Next, the facilities were... well... I'd say "existing", but that would kinda be a lie. No shower, no washing machine or drier, and even the toilets barely qualified as such. Which is to be expected, if you're going out camping in the wilderness, but definitely not what you'd expect when visiting someone's home. The location, meanwhile, would have been nice, if not for all the garbage lying around. Also, since I always take into account accessibility by public transport and local shopping options, I suppose I have to mark it down there too. The WiFi didn't work most of the time, and it was way too hot and humid for comfort. Normally, I'm not such a big fan of AC, but in these climates that's pretty much the only way to go if you didn't grow up with such temperatures. The price-value ratio again was through the roof, on account of me being a guest for the entire duration. All those goods and bads add up to a surprisingly average final score, though compared with the other places I've been to this definitely resides in the lower end of the spectrum.
In the end, with all the stuff I've been going through in the three days, I didn't even get around to draw a piece of gift artwork. And truth to be told, I don't think I connected with the people here strongly enough to know what to draw either. So let's just leave all that behind, an look forward to the...
The Road Ahead
30-Jul-2022
Eventually, it is time for us to return back to Davao. We've only been here for three days, but with all that I've gone through, it feels much longer. My side still hurts horribly, and I am no more comfortable in the heat than when I first arrived. As such, I am not very sad as I pack my backpacks and prepare to depart.
Another empty room is left behind, though this time around I only say good riddance, as that room was predominately occupied by the bed that gave me this ghastly condition in the first place.
Naturally, we say goodbye to everyone before we leave, including Elgen's late mother.
Fortunately, this time around we don't have to ride to Sibsib by motorbike. Instead, we get to take the trike with Elgen's brother again. Imagine my relief.
My Backpack of Flames turns out to be a bit of trouble, however, since it does not fit in the front and the back of the trike has an open end.As such, we end up securing it with a piece of rope, and throughout the bumpy ride I always look back to check if it's still there.
The ride to Sibsib is pretty much identical to when we went to Tulunan, so let me just skip ahead there until the point where Elgen's brother (note: apparently personal names are less important than relative family relations in the Philippines), parks and unloads us in front of a sign saying "No Loading Unloading No Parking". That little blue shack next to it is the bus stop, by the way.
There, we watch a particularly scrawny cat stake out the nearby food stall while we wait. This one is clearly a fighter, its movements having nothing of the carefree stride of a house cat, but rather the fierce determination of a predator.
We also see one of a very peculiar type of... uhh... vehicle... go past. You know how you typically use a car to pull a trailer? Well, forget about the car! Just whip what looks like a lawnmower on steroids up front and you're good to go even with a whole load of Durians!
After waiting for the better part of an hour, the bus finally arrives, and once again I am positively surprised to see that this one will take us directly all the way to Davao. Makes me wonder why we didn't take a direct bus to get here in the first place.
The interior of the bus is the first place that I've been to in three days that's air conditioned, and as such reasonably cool, so I gladly welcome it...
...even if it does turn out to be just a bit leaky again. Fortunately, the condensing water only drips down near the window, and not on my seat.
As last time, I pay the fare for both of us during the ride, purchasing our tickets off the bus attendant. And as last time, the tickets are equally cryptic, though of a distinctly different design than the ones we got coming here. The fare is only 600₱ (roughly 10€) for the two of us, which is also 100₱ cheaper than our more indirect route on our way here from Davao.
The route back to Davao is almost identical to the one we took to come here, only without the slight detour over Kidapawan. Instead, the bus follows the Kidapawan-Allah Junction Road (also known as the Digos-Sultan Kuderat Road) all the way to Makilala, where it turns right and proceeds along the Davao-Cotabato Road. Taking that one past Bansalan and all the way to Digos, it then turns left and follows the coast all the way to Davao.
Ride Duration: 4h
Approximate Distance: 135km
Average Speed: 33km/h
Since the bus ride takes us along primary roads all the way, most of what we see is houses, villages, towns and cities that seam the roads with little interruption. However, on occasions the roads also pass through fields, forests and plantations. Shortly after our departure, we also run into the daily rain shower, but that one passes quickly. Afterwards, it's up into the more mountainous segment, where the speed of the bus varies heavily based on the gradient of the road, with uphill climbs being long and strenuous, and downhill segments being quick and pleasant, almost like on a bike ride. Finally, despite this ride having quite a long coastal segment, and me facing towards the water this time, I should see preciously little ocean along the way due to the fact that most of the time either houses or trees bar the view to the water.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
Along the ride, we come across a rare sight in these parts: A bunch of bicyclists, boldly braving the busy boulevard's bank, most of them wearing helmets, some even on their heads.
Again, salespeople come into the bus at the bigger stations, offering their wares, most of which are some kind of baked goods or another, as well as water. Sometimes they also do that from outside the window, waiting for people to wave them to come in.
Now, I've noticed that there's an abundance of pharmacies and drug stores in the Philippines - which I always figure means that there might be a problem - but a storefront we pass by in Bansalan really drives home that point, featuring a total of 4 pharmacies over maybe 20m, two of them belonging to the same chain.
On the other hand, they also have this funny marketing agency here.
We also pass by this truck that allows for absolutely no riders...
...just as our bus has to stop for some unscheduled tire maintenance right outside of a conveniently located tire shop. Coincidence?
It is about halfway between Santa Cruz and Inawayan that we run into a massive traffic jam that seems to stretch on for kilometres.
Naturally, some crafty peddlers take that opportunity to sell their wares to the waiting drivers, walking the busy street without a care as the cars can barely move faster than a crawl.
And then, we reach the cause of the traffic jam: Our one and only security checkpoint for today, where they scan my medium-sized backpack. Not the Backpack of Flames though. I put that one in the cargo hold of the bus, and they don't check the luggage that's in there, because clearly it could not contain bombs or ammo. Did I yet mention that the security concept here could use some work?
Entering the city of Davao, we pass a road in an embarrassing state of disrepair...
...and then, we arrive at the Davao Ecolandia Bus Terminal, or more specifically, outside of it at the drop-off zone. If we wanted to take another bus from here, we'd have to go through security again.
Fortunately, we don't have to do that. Instead, we promptly get captured by one of the many taxi drivers around here and before we know it are already on our way back to the Avida Towers Davao again. Talk about people being proactive! The route is partly the same as the one we took to get here in the first place, and only differs near the end, when the one-way roads come into play.
This time around, the roads are not quite as busy, and yet I'm still glad that I'm not the person behind the wheel. Especially the motorcycles liberally weaving through the cars can make things a bit unpredictable, and the fact that a lack of functional traffic lights means you have to be on the constant lookout for pedestrians crossing the road doesn't make things better either. On the plus side, that means that cars usually drive relatively slowly around here. By now its also already getting late, the sun just setting and the city gradually adopting the colors of twilight as our journey back to Davao is coming to a close.
(Click here to view the video if the website fails to load it)
Come 18:00 in the evening, we are finally back in our room in the Avida Towers, which I now see in a completely different light. We've got a comfortable bed, we've got AC, we've got WiFi...
...and we've got a proper toilet again! With a seat! And a flush! How great is that? Okay, so the size is still a bit small, it's still a massive improvement on all ends!
With that, our visit to Lampangang is coming to a reasonably happy end. We've only been there for three days, and yet it feels like I'm taking home a lifetime's worth of experiences, many - but not all - rather uncomfortable ones. For Elgen, that place might be a home that she's happy to return to. As for my part, I hope I'll never have to go back there again.
Now, my time in the Philippines is yet far from over, and we should have many more mirthful moments here in Davao. So if you want to read about them, stay tuned for the next chapter of the Travelling Fox Blog!
