Philippine Dreaming

Ah, the Philippines. Pinoy Land; the first stop on my much anticipated trip through SE Asia, by virtue of being the closest and cheapest place to fly to from Palau. This being my third time here (being so close it's where I have taken my last two vacations), I'm familiar with the country's geography, people, customs, and language, just enough to feel comfortable strolling from place to place and at ease hopping from island to island. I'm coming from Palau, a country and small archipelago of around 500 islands, to P.I., comprised of more than 7,000. So many islands and such a bewildering array of possibilities can be a bit intimidating at first, but sometimes your choices seem to be made for you; by a chance encounter wth a local or fellow traveler, by the logistics of getting from point A to point B, or by intuition. In a way that is the idea behind my trip, and my hope is to see what happens when I loosen my grip on the steering wheel and let my path open up before me as it may.

So, I took a one way flight from Koror to Davao, which is the biggest city on the huge southern island of Mindanao, and one of the bigger cities in the Philippines. After staying up all night to catch my 5 o"clock flight, I was happy to be allowed into the country, and asked a cab driver to take me to a cheap hotel. As we drove into the city and cruised around seemingly in circles looking for a cash machine, I realized both with mild amusement and depression that most cities in the Philippines are so similar that it's easy to forget where you are. I ended up being dropped pretty much in the middle of the city, about a block from the wharf, and in the heart of the hardware district. After a few days of walking around the streets nearby, I realized that there were at least 50 hardware or automotive parts stores within about 4 blocks. I was told later that this was because the whole area belonged to a few chinese families, who liked to give little businesses to everyone in the family, so that there's always a kind of insurance that if one of the sons fucks up and blows all of his money on women, gambling and drink, the family business will go on. Anyhow I made it to my hotel, checked into my closet of a room, and passed out.

Waking up in a tiny room, wondering where I am, dreaming or dream-waking, waking-dreaming? Walking out of the door and down the hall and flights of stairs, realizing from the view of ocean and distant mountains, that I've switched countries, to a different reality all over again.It's afternoon. I'm dying of hunge and thirst, so I wander around the street looking for good food to eat, water. There's so much noise, brightly painted jeepneys and tricycles, buses and trucks motoring up and down, around the corner. People are everywhere, walking, crossing the street, dodging traffic, sitting against buildings, laughing, talking, staring, smiling, pointing. I realize I'm the only foreigner in sight, probably for blocks. People turn their heads to look at me, tell their friends I'm walking by, say "Hello" and "Hey Joe!" I smile, keep walking, try to avoid tripping on motorbikes and scooters parked seemingly everywhere, bins of cheap clothes, fruit, vegetables, dried fish, cell phone accessories, DVD's. Somehow it's mostly hardware though, every other store is hardware, sometimes there's three or four in a row, and they all have the same merchandise.

Finally I find a mini shopping mall, there's at least 50 choices of food to eat. I go to the cafeteria, eat alone amidst wide-eyed stares and double takes, shy smiles. Yep, back in the Philippines. I'm tall, white and handsome, Amerian looking (foreigners are all called Amerikano or kano, anyway) so everyone wants to be my friend, or at least ask me where I'm going. It's good to be back, and yet, strange. It's easy to forget Palau and home, for the moment, anyway. Normally I hate being the center of attention, and yet somehow I like the feeling of being different, unique, special. It never lasts though...and anyway there's plenty of special places here which I've come to see. But that'll have to wait, maybe until tomorrow or at least until I get used to this dream....