flip'n travels

With the RMB coins from heaven, I immediately dialed the Philippine Consulate Office. That’s when I realized that it was a Saturday and there was no office. I called a hostel instead and finally got someone who can speak English. What a relief! But her guess was as good as mine, that a tourist information center here is like most elected local government politicians: USELESS.

So I sat, lit a stick and tried drawing resolution from the nicotine rushing through my brain. Until I spotted a group of young policemen a few meters away from me. I tried my luck and asked them the same single question I’ve been asking in the last two hours. But still, all I got are blank faces. I tried simplifying my English up to a point that we appeared like playing charades.

I noticed an old raggedy lady looking at us like a tennis audience as her head followed whoever was talking. I pointed at the counter, when I was flabbergasted by a strong slap on my arm. The raggedy lady grabbed me and literally dragged me towards the left side of the building. I got scared by the fact that I was being hauled by an old shabby Chinese wearing a deconstructed layer of self sown jacket. I looked dumbstrucked and freaked-out as the scenes from film “Drag me to Hell” were flashing in my head. Until she uttered a word..

“tsk, youngsters!” I froze.

ME: WAIT! Do you speak English? Can you understand what I’m saying?
LADY: No! No English… Tourist… window… there!

My jaw dropped with amazement as she rudely shooed me away. It felt like a scene in a Kung-fu Hustle-ish movie, or a character from a Chinese Sunday theater jumped out of the screen to help me. True enough, there’s a  building across the street that has counter inside for foreign tourists. I was able to book a return ticket. In a state of shock, I confabulatedly grabbed the ticket and walked away, I still can’t get over with what just happened.

I was still on my first day and the series of events were asphyxiating. I was drowning in whims.

It dawned on me that the price of the seat I just purchased was cheap, way too cheap. I was expecting something between RMB 300 to RMB 370 but RMB 88? Something must be seriously wrong.

I can’t wait for my first train ride. I ran and had a quick stop at a convenient store to buy a bottle of water, cookies and bread. I went straight to my train via gate 2, entered the cabin then a horrible sight welcomed me…

I booked a hard seat.

The hard seat is the lowest form of train in China, they got the fast bullet train but you really have to book days or weeks ahead of time to get a seat or a sleeper cabin.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON TRAINS FROM SHANGHAI TO BEIJING

I was seated beside an old lady, when I arrived she immediately gave me a sweet smile and she was saying something in Mandarin. I told her that I don’t understand Chinese, I attempted : “Wo de Zhangwén jiang de bú tài hao.” Then I get the WTF?!-look once again. Maybe I mispronounced the words or whatev.

We started conversing:

ME: Hi, I’m Ron, what’s your name?
LADY: chor-chor-chor-chor-chor (don’t really understand what she’s saying so I will just substitute).
ME: Okay, I’m traveling alone… Im… going… to… Beijing…
LADY: Ooh PAI-JING. chor-chor-chor-chor-chor—CHOR?!
ME: Wait, I know you’re asking me something but I’m sorry, I can’t understand you.
LADY: HAHAHAHA
ME: HAHAHAHA, huh?
LADY: chor-chor-chor-chor-chor
ME: DO—YOU—SPEAK—ENGLISH? (with hand signs this time)
LADY: HAHAHAHA
ME: HAHAHA (oh Crap!)

After the next station, someone sat in front of me.  A woman  in her 30’s who got a bag-full of snacks. She opened the bag and shared it to us. I swear I was eating like it’s mine. Who cares right? They started talking, it seemed like the Old lady was trying to tell her that I was this dummy backpacker who was traveling alone without a phrasebook.

Even though I didn’t understand what they were saying, I got the groove of listening to them as if I’m getting what they were talking about. It lasted for 3 hours, amazingly without me getting bored.

Then an old man from the other seat transferred to our table and brought some sunflower seeds to nibble. He started talking to me. I was trying to explain that I don’t speak Chinese. He pulled a paper out and started drawing, and that became our form of communication–PICTIONARY!

We talked about love, life, work and family, They shared their stories, I shared mine. And after 5 hours, my energy started dwindling. While watching them talk, I realized that that scenario looked so familiar and I feel strangely at home. I stood up to walk to the end of the cabin where everyone had been going to smoke. Standing from the aisle, that’s when I saw the picture and figured out why it felt so familiar. That’s because it’s an effigy of a family–My family. It’s like us: my sister, mom and my dad on a dinner table 20 years from now.

The younger lady is feisty and opinionated, just like my sister. The old Man is my dad, comforting and composed. The old lady, like my mom who is sweet and funny.

It made me contemplate and smile. Maybe that was God’s way of reminding me that I still have a family back home. I sat and fell asleep. The old lady folded her blanket on the table in front of me and offered it as pillow. I did not hesitate.

I woke up an hour before midnight. We had been traveling for twelve hours and we were still running fast across a vast hilly land somewhere in the middle of China. The train cabin drew significantly peaceful that time. I pulled out my ticket from my pocket and it said 12:10 so I thought we will be arriving in an hour. Time to start prepping up my stuff. But 12:10 passed, and the train was not showing signs of slowing down, no one is preparing to alight.

Chilly air creeped through my spine “Good Lord, please don’t tell me, that it’s 12:10 PM tomorrow…”

To cut the story short, my first train ride lasted for almost 24 hours… on a hard seat.

We arrived in Beijing mid-day. I asked them for their names but they were writing it in Chinese. We alighted and gave each other a hug. Who knows when I’m gonna see these three nameless souls again? Possibly not anymore. These three strangers gave me comfort far beyond the softest cabin bed. I experienced hard core cultural lessons and whoever they are, no matter how short our encounter had been, I will always remember them as my family on that slow train ride in the middle of China. They made the most uncomfortable journey my most memorable one.

Now I’m in Beijing, and I can’t find that effing shuttle I’m supposed to take… Here we go again.

I will be dedicating all my posts about my trip to China to the people I met on the road, people who helped me along the way, strangers who transformed my lonesome trip to a very meaningful journey.

I never tried doing lone backpacking before. It was three days before our flight to Shanghai when I found out that Monette ran short of time for her visa and I will definitely be flying out alone, I thought of canceling the trip.

Few hours before my scheduled flight, I was still contemplating of scrapping the whole China trip, my tummy is flipping upside down and I never had this situation where I had to decide after a time bomb. I lost my credit card few days before and traveling with limited cash at hand can be very dangerous. Should I take this serious risk?

But then an idiopathic surge of adrenalin jolted me to start packing my bag, flag a cab to the airport and jumped off the cliff, head first! Like a Russian roulette–BAHALA NA! (What will be, will be!)

As the aircraft took off, the thought of an empty seat beside me is making me wish I got pills to pop for my nerves. At 3000 m I realized that nearest passenger is a Filipina, a teacher from Bicol. Cookie is going back to work in Wuxi after her summer vacation in her hometown in Albay. We were the only Pinoys in that flight and her presence gave me a certain degree of comfort. She asked me if I was traveling with someone; if I speak mandarin; if I know anyone in Shanghai; if I had a booked train ticket to Beijing… I answered with a worried grin.

We touched down Pudong International Airport half past midnight. She told me that there’s a shuttle in the airport specially for Filipino OFW’s arriving in Shanghai from a red eye flight, a cheaper alternative to RMB200 cab ride to the city. But it wasn’t there that night. I told Cookie that I don’t mind sleeping at the airport and I did not book a Hotel so I might as well save the cab fare and bed rent and take the first bus to the city center in the morning. That was an instant RMB300 savings.

She decided to accompany me at the airport that night, she even offered to show me the train station to Beijing the following morning. Perfect! Whew! I was safe, at least for day 1 in China.

After two hours of sleep, a mix of anxiety and excitement made me want to start moving. I walked inside the airport to look for a tourist center, and try to grab a map or some useful brochures. Well, guess what. The Tourism desk personnel can barely comprehend English. DAMN! Not a good sign, I walked away empty handed. I decided to walk outside to light a stick, doors slid open and a freezing wave of breeze knocked me like an invisible hard wall, I froze to the bone. I underestimated the weather. I’ve never been to any country 31 deg N up in terms of GPS. I was wearing a thin shirt, warmer and a jacket. Not enough. Even though it’s the start of spring, at 3AM, Shanghai’s temperature can drop to 4 degrees centigrade. I quickly went back inside like a cat who pulled himself out of a freezing water.

Morning came, Cookie and I ran to catch the first bus to the South Railway Station. We took bus #5, paid RMB22 and arrived at the station after about an hour.

I originally planned an over night stay in Shanghai before taking the train to Beijing. But the crowded train station was an indication that I might just have to pull a plan B off my a**. Cookie told me that it is better to reserve a week ahead of time if you want a good seat. True enough, all sleeper trains were fully booked. I just got lucky to book the last seat (not a bed) of a train that was leaving in… err… two hours! WTF!

Cookie had to leave to catch her train to Wuxi. She gave me her contact details in case of emergency. I gave her a hug and bid her farewell.

But I still don’t have a return ticket! My flight back to Manila will be departing from Shanghai, and if I don’t get a return ticket, I will be stuck in Beijing for god knows how long. Again I don’t have my credit cards with me. I don’t have enough cash at hand to book a new flight and I definitely don’t want to miss Beijing. I was morbidly worried and almost froth in the mouth.

I lost the phrasebook I printed back home, but I still tried asking people and policemen as to where I can get a return ticket or at least a tourist information center. But no one can even utter a single english word. I kept on trying for an hour and I ended up sitting hopeless on a corner. Then I saw the red phone booth. A light bulb moment! Maybe I can call the Philippine Consulate Office! I ran towards it, lifted the hand set then I realized I didn’t have loose coins. Out of frustration I slammed the phone as the world around me seemed to melt slowly… Well guess what? RMB4 coins magically came out of the change slot. I swear my knees went wobbly and I wanted to kneel down the ground, look up the sky and scream “thank you po!”

… to be continued

Pudong Airport to Shanghai City Center

By Bus
There are ten airport bus lines handle transfers from Pudong International Airport to the city center. Take Bus #5 From Pudong International Airport to Shanghai Railway Station, Operating Hours 7:20~23:00.

By Maglev
Shanghai Maglev Train (Magnetic Levitation Train, fastest in the world) operates between Pudong International Airport and Longyang Rd. There is a train depart from Pudong Airport Subway Station every day from 6:45 to 21:40 at intervals of 15 to 20 minutes. The whole journey takes only eight minutes. The charge is CNY 50 for an ordinary single trip and CNY 100 for VIP, CNY 80 for an ordinary round trip and CNY 160 for VIP. You can buy an ordinary single ticket at a preferential price of CNY 40 if you have an intraday air ticket. When you get off at Longyang Rd. Station, you can transfer to Subway Line 2 running westward and passing many of Shanghai’ s prosperous areas such as Century Park, Lujiazui, East Nanjing Road and People’s Square.

By Subway Line 2
Shanghai Subway Line 2 is a long and busy line connecting Pudong and Puxi. After extentions, now, it has stretched to Pudong Airport, led to Hongqiao Airport. Passengers have to get off the 4-car metro train at Guanglan Road Station (between Longyang Road Station and Pudong Airport) and then change another  8-car metro train. Vice versa, passengers get off at the same subway station from a 8-car train and get on a 4-car train to enter Pudong Airport. It costs CNY9 for the whole trip and CNY8 from Pudong to Hongqiao airport. It needs more than one hour between the two airports.

By Taxi
A taxi costs approximately CNY 150-200 from Pudong International Airport to People’s Square, the center of Shanghai, and it takes about 50 minutes.

After two years of traveling, people would think that we have learned to cover our bases. After numerous “planned” spontaneous trips, we are proud of how detailed our researches are from getting to one destination to another, the place we are going to stay in, the food we will try out, and the places we are going to see. So what the hell happened?

We crammed…

We had to take the flight from Clark and the schedule that was supposed to be at 6pm was moved to 4pm. The Philtranco bus going to Clark Airport behind Megamall building A left exactly at 11am. Ron came from China embassy and was nowhere near the place and I came from the office. I decided to meet him in Cubao to catch a bus going to Dau instead. We arrived at Five Star bus terminal to catch the trip going to the North which cost us 125Php.

Note: Almost all northbound provincial buses make a stopover in Dau except for Tuguegarao and Cagayan trips.

Renting a jeep is cheaper than taking a cab from Dau

It took us an hour to get to Pampanga where we took a trike ride (70Php) to get to Clark gate then hired a private jeep (200Php) to take us to the airport. The dreadful news came after we checked in. Yes, the flight was delayed and we had to sit our butts for two hours with no chance to smoke because Clark airport doesn’t have a smoking area and the airport personel whom we thought were never breastfed when they were babies, did not allow us to go out to get our fix. We literally went cold turkey and decided tocompensate with overpriced airport food. Ron saw a slit on the wall and we had to restrain ourselves from lighting a ciggy.

Clark Airport is still under construction so we forgive them, and NO that’s not Ryan Cayabyab in the background.

The flight to Kota Kinabalu took 2 hours and the line to get pass the immigration was infinite hell. We even had to fight for the information sheet we had to fill out. Now let me just make a comment… Old people… Age is not an excuse for rudeness… There, I’ve made my peace.

So after getting passed by people from a later flight we were able to move on with our lives. The only way to get out of the airport is by cab. We got our ticket (30MYR) from the information booth, grabbed maps of the city and asked the driver to take us to our home for the next 4days.

Now who says we were not prepared?

The Khmer empire constructed buildings, irrigation system, city structures that were far advanced during it’s time, superior to its neighboring counterparts. The fact that they were able to weave such magnificent framework of technology that world has never seen, not just impeccably made but intricately adorned. Ironic that now, at the height of technological advancement, they can’t even put up a passable road leading in and out of the country.

The explanation lies behind political conspiracies. And I leave you with that.

Bottom line, if you going out of Cambodia the cheapest way is via land travel, but be ready for a long bumpy bus ride. 12 hour-long bumpy bus ride. Or you can fly in and out and burn your wallet.

The most affordable and easiest way is through a bus, there are lots of liners that run to and from Bangkok and Phnom Penh. If you’re lucky, you may just have to brave four hours of bus ride from Siem Reap to Poipet-Aranyaprathet border then another six from the border to Bangkok.

We scouted for the best bus line, and we originally booked a de luxe one, they even mentioned “first class” complete with hot towel and a bottle of water. Meang (our host) warned us, apparently he never heard of such thing as “first class”  bus going to the border. But thinking of a long bumpy trip, we thought a more comfortable seat will kind of compensate with the road condition. So I still booked it, a punch in the dark.

In time for the departure, Meang brought us to the pick-up point near the old market. But the first class bus is nowhere to be seen… the only bus in the area is a not-so-old shabby looking air-conditioned bus, more of like those that you’ll find running along EDSA. You bet, there goes our bus!

We hopped-on and realized that even the promised hot towel and bottle of water wouldn’t happen. Oh well, another “I TOLD ‘YA SO” moment in the book of Ron and Monette’s adventures.

Other than Peso bills, We only have US1 and few thousand riels on or pocket and money changer is nowhere to be found. That means we have to brave the entire day with that cash at hand, a bottle of half consumed water and a bag of chips.

First things first, there’s no airport in Vigan. The nearest airport is in Laoag, about 2 hours bus ride away. Cebu Pacific Air flies twice daily (to and from).  Vigan is a very small town, you can actually cover a complete itinerary in one day, so it’s a good idea to also check out other towns like Sta. Maria, Narvacan and probably some nearby beaches in La Union province.

For someone like me and Monette, this town is perfect to unleash the creative animals within us. She can just sit along the curb side, set on trans mode and start writing. As for me, I can walk around and be the clicker happy that I am.

It’s a town where everything moves slowly, so hurrying up to catch the pre-plotted itinerary isn’t exactly the fun way to enjoy the place.

WHERE TO STAY

Hotels and hostels within the blocks around the town center are mostly old houses. They decorate the house with all sorts of antique items ranging from flat iron converted to an ash tray to a make shift corner table out of an old sewing machine, and the list goes on. The interiors are basically colonial, they just put rooms and beds and a signage outside and voila! An antique thrift shop cum hostel. To some lone travelers who got wild imagination, you may want to look for a companion. Rooms resemble those that we see on classic horror films where you can expect to see Lilia Cuntapay materialize in the dark corner of your cold brick walled suite. Room rates are ranging form 700-1500 inclusive of Filipino breakfast. Grandpa’s Inn is where we stayed.

WHERE TO EAT

There are three ways to have a blast with your Vigan food trip.

Fine Dine at Cafe Leona where the perfect time to sit down and order would be at night where they have al fresco dining right at the end of Crisologo street. I never got the chance of eating out here during my recent trip, but a decade ago, the chokolate-E was 0h-so-wicked. I believe they also serve the good old Vigan faves like the bagnet (deep fried pork meat) and longanisa (Filipino garlic sausage).

Street Food trip is also popular among tourists and locals alike. Grab your bag of chichacorn (fried corn kernels) of a small box of cheesy royal bibingka (rice cake). This is a perfect snack while walking around the old town or riding a Kalesa.

Eat Vigan empanada at the park. Shredded lettuce, longanisa and whole egg wrapped with a hand rolled soft dough, then deep fried to perfection.

WHAT TO DO

Get a private kalesa, it’s the horse drawn carriage and a very eco-friendly means of transportation which started during the colonial era. I always wanted to just chill and ride one. Manila still got these iconic road runners, but it’s definitely not a good idea. The very essence of riding a kalesa is to enjoy the picturesque town and fresh air is an important element.

Kalesa ride costs around PhP 150/hour. There is a city ordinance that sets the fare so even if you want to haggle, you can’t. One thing is for sure, the kutcheros (drivers) are friendly and they are not as adamant as those from tourist traps elsewhere. They will tour you around the city. They will take you to several spots like Bantay church and bell  tower, Baluarte and Burnayan.

Bantay Bell Tower

Old bell of Bantay Belfry

pottery of burnayan

WHAT TO BUY

Or what NOT? In the past, Vigan is the spot for antique collectors. They hold the biggest collection of colonial artifacts. Like their houses, the household knickknacks were perfectly preserved. But in recent decades, residents decided to just sell them to antique shops, foreign tourists and collectors. I’m not sure if I am fully against this trade, but it would be cool to leave these items in Vigan where they belong. I heard the number of antique items in this town is dwindling down.

Ilocos Sur skyline, view from the Bantay bell tower

From Manila, land transportation is one of the most economical, PhP 500-600 (one way). Travel time may vary depending on the traffic, it may take around 8 hours on a night trip and 10 hours on a day trip. Several bus companies are operating daily from Manila to Vigan:

Partas Transportation Co. (Cubao QC/Sampaloc Manila) – They can cut the travel time from 10 hours to 7. Drivers got a death wish.

Fariñas Transit Company (Lacson Sampaloc Manila) – Owned by a political family in Ilocos Norte, so people throwing stones is pretty normal, no worries, there’s no recorded casualties or injuries so far. The buses are pretty clean and brand new.

Florida Bus Line (Espana Manila) – Newest addition to the competing bus lines to the north. Known as the “Pink Bus”, obviously not owned by Bayani Fernando but the buses are pretty decent pretty girly decent.

Maria de Leon Bus (Dapitan Manila) – probably one of the oldest in the bunch. They got the friendliest staff but circulating rumors says: the drivers are as senile as the buses, they are really pros, however, the 10-hour trip may become 15 hours. The drivers tend to stop every 30 minutes to take a leak.

In a nutshell, Vigan is the place to visit if your life is moving faster than it should be, and you are dying to have a break. The place will help you recalibrate your pace with the universe, as you take your slow steps around this town of classic beauty and elegance, you will also get the chance to go back in time and enjoy the simple pleasures in life.

Ron