Iloilo, Philippines - January 26, 2006
This weekend is the Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo. I'm here now a couple days earlier to guarantee we have hotel rooms for the event. I'm not entirely sure what to expect. I heard lots of dancing and drumming. But beyond that, I'm clueless. There are a lot of t-shirts and advertisements for it everywhere though.
Last night we arrived in Iloilo. On the bus from Boracay going across Panay Island, we met a German woman traveller. She'd been all over the world working on cruise ships, diving, and just having fun in general. Very cool conversation. Quite a contrast just from talking to my girlfriend all the time. I miss travelling with travelers. Once we got to Iloilo, she immediately ordered a beer as well. I wish I could have got one as well. My girlfriend wouldn't mind of course, but feels different when thinking for two people, and trying to get a good spot. We moved on to another hotel though, as the original one was only for one night (reservations had already taken all the rooms for the weekend). So we moved on elsewhere. On the plus side, the place we got was very nice for around $10/night (550 pesos). We had cable tv, air conditioning, hot water, and a restaurant downstairs with food around $1-2 a plate (60-80 pesos)! Very nice. Quite a change from Boracay where our room was cold water, no tv, no aircon for 800 pesos, and food everywhere ranged from 150-300 pesos a plate.
Iloilo itself is a nice place. In the evening we saw something called a KTV Disco across the street from hotel. Turned it out it was a strip bar covered with local police everywhere enjoying the girls. My girlfriend and I walked in, and then walked right back out again. Nothing else was around us. Later the next day (today), we walked around a bit more, and found where we could have walked instead. But honestly there doesn't seem to be that much of anything interesting near our hotel. But on the plus side, the price and quality are quite good for the hotel.
As to Iloilo, its a quite agreeable small city. Around 350,000 people or so. I like it, its not bad. I don't see that many foreigners around, but thats okay too. For some reason this city reminds me a bit of Baguio. The climates are vastly different, but I guess because there are overpasses for crossing the busier downtown streets, which were similar in both cities. This city is also interesting because they speak the Ilonggo language here. Its suppose to be a softer, quieter, more romantic language than Visayan or Tagalog. Honestly, I can't really tell the difference though.
Last night I also started some seriously reading. Finished a book called 'the tattoo' by chris mckinley. A great book about a Japanese-American guy and how he ended up in a Hawaiian prison. Its all fictional by a local Hawaiian author, and very interesting to read. I like his writing style.
While browsing around Iloilo, I also picked up a book about Donald Trump entitled 'The Art of the Deal'. I also read a few chapters of that book as well. Fascinating guy. Makes me think of what other life options and choices there are out there that people make. All interesting.
More on the Philippines..
January 27, 2006
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Wintermoon2@yahoo.com