For Every Band, There's a Better Filipino Cover Band

After spending almost the whole day in the Tokyo airport, wewere relieved to spend the night in Manila before leaving early the nextmorning to our island destination of Boracay, Philippines. We were supposed tostay in a hostel called Happy Coconuts in Manila, and as we departed theairport in our taxi cab it still seemed that this would be our fate. Then, thetaxi driver stopped in the middle of the street and jumped out of the cabwithout a word to talk to a pedestrian. To our relief, he returned a fewminutes later, but after he repeated this process several time it becameobvious that he had no idea where the hostel was. He drove deeper into theslums and began talking to every vagabond we passed. We were now in the part oftown where the taxi’s main obstacles in traffic were bicycles, children playinghopscotch, and small farm animals. As it was 11pm we began to worry a little,but the alarms really started to go off when the cab driver handed Brian hisphone. On the other line was his manager saying, “The cab driver does not knowwhere you are. Don’t worry, your safety is our number one concern.” The news ofour impending mugging and abduction nearly brought on a panic attack. Ourworries were not abated as the cab driver insisted on talking to every grimyinhabitant of this sketchy area, making us a clear target.

Finally, it was discovered that the first address we gavehim was not correct and so we got the “correct” address and sped out of theManila slums.

When we arrived at the new address we searched and searched forthe hostel. We were in the correct place and it was right in front of our nosesbut we just couldn’t see it. That’s when we saw the sign “Happy CoconutsInsurance.” It was now midnight and our cab driver informed us that the tilefloor of the airport was a very cool, comfortable place to sleep, so that’swhere we spent our first night in the Philippines.

We made it to Boracay early the next morning and after tworides on a motorized tricycle and a ferry we found ourselves at a small beachresort on Whitebeach, Boracay. Whitebeach was a unique area unlike any eitherof us have visited. There was no traditional boardwalk, but rather the hotels,restaurants, bars, vendors and dive shops were located right on the white,flour-like sand beach. The best part of the day on Whitebeach was right aroundsunset. At the end of each day we found ourselves at Charlh’s Bar enjoying $1 beers and watching the sun go down in a fantastic display ofvibrant reds, oranges and yellows.

To add to the atmosphere there was alwayslive music – as there was at most all of the beach bars – and they only playedpopular western classics. I am not really into the new techno thing so forthese bands to play U2, Third Eye Blind and Tracy Chapman it was as if I hadswitched my iPod into Filipino mode. The live bands were very talented and attimes we found ourselves looking very closely to make sure the singers weren’tlip-syncing. Indeed they were not and they played on through the night usuallywith their guitars in one hand and a beer in the other. After enjoying livemusic we typically walked until we found a suitable place to eat right on thebeach. This was a lifestyle I could get used to.

Now to shed some light on specific events. Our first nightat Charlh’s Bar our waitress approached us saying that another table wanted totake pictures with us. We had realized earlier in the day that we were the onlywhite people around but did not think it would be a big deal until a Filipinoman started to take pictures of us eating breakfast. This time, though, it wasdifferent, specifically for Brian. When we approached the other table it becameclear that one girl had the hots for him. When we posed for our picture I assumeda fairly normal pose with one girl while the other girl cozied right up intoBrian’s personal space. At that moment I thought Brian had found his future wife but alas we returned to our table and resumed watching the sunsetand taking more pictures with Filipino strangers. We’re hoping for morecelebrity status at upcoming destinations.

Another noteworthy event was our boat trip that we took witha man named Rudy who approached us on the beach. He told us that he would takeus out for 4 hours, we would do some fishing, go to another beach, and we woulddo some snorkeling. This sounded like a great deal so after some bargaining wetook him up on his offer. Rudy decided to bring his wife along on the trip aswell, saying that he had 8 children and he and his wife never get any time tothemselves. “How nice,” we thought. So we started out fishing off of Rudy’ssmall boat with hand-lines and while the first mate pulled up fish after fish,we came up with bare hooks every time. After catching about 10 fish, Rudydecided he had enough for dinner and we moved on to the beach. Puka Beach, itwas called.

It was a perfect beach and we enjoyed a nice swim and some sunbathing. Rudy and his wife also enjoyed the beach with us. It was around thistime that we got the feeling Rudy was using us to go on a little honeymoon.This became evident when we went snorkeling in some rough water and Rudydecided it was OK to throw out his hand-line into the schools of fish we weresnorkeling amongst. This became even more evident when, instead of describingthe parts of the island we were passing, Rudy insisted on making out with histoothless wife. Despite our inattentive tour guide, it was hard to complainwhen boating around one of the most beautiful islands in the world. Boracay wasa sight to see, whether it was lush palm trees, beautiful beaches, or the coralreefs that were teeming with life.

On our last night in Boracay we went all out on an elaboratedinner buffet that we had starved all day for so that we could afford it.

Afterour ritual sunset beer at Charlh’s we walked down to the buffet (which wecalled the Warren Buffet) and loaded up on rice, sweet and sour pork, steak,potatoes, green things, red things, things that looked like vegetables, and thingsthat might not have even been food. Totally replete, with our stomachs about toburst, we retired for a good night’s sleep.

We are now en route to Thailand and fortunately some idiotat the check-in counter accidentally put us in business class.