Mindoro + Panay....Philippines

  It was time to leave Luzon, the largest Philippine Island, and head for the island of Mindoro; we had gotten some good views from the Batangas area.

                        

   My wife and I loaded the fast ferry at Batangas and took the 3 plus hour trip to Calapan; the scenery was nice as the boat past a few small islands dotted in the Sibuyan Sea. We explored Calapan and Victoria which were polluted little cities, there were nice views of the High Rolling Mountains which contain Mt Halcon (2,587m) and Mt Baco (2,488m). We found a restaurant with friendly owners so we had dinner there and breakfast the next morning; they warned us of the NPA (National Peoples Army) problems on the island and an abduction of a foreigner a couple of weeks previous. In the morning we took a 2 hour jeepney ride to Puerto Galera and the White Sand Beach; I rode on the back of the jeepney, the scenery was excellent. We strolled the beach and swam for the day, it was an excellent location and very quiet at the far end of the beach, away from the bars and night life. The marina at Puerto Galera had some nice little sail boats.

                         

     The next morning we left our nice cottage and boarded a jeepney back to Calapan, I would never tire of that scenery, where we hit the bank and then loaded an old sweat bus headed south for Roxas. It was so hot and dusty in the old crate; the 120 kms seemed like it was 400 kms. There WERE nice views of Lake Naujan and the mountains, once the landscape flattened out the banana and coconut groves flourished. Once we got to Roxas we found a place to stay on Melco Beach,

                       

 and then took a tricycle ride into the "town proper", the people there were not very friendly; ones we came into contact with anyway. There is a lot of jealousy in the Philippines; in some ways who could blame the locals, who for the most part lead a very difficult life while the tourist has a comfortable existence.

  At 10:30 in the morning we left the dock on an outrigger boat and crossed the Tablas Straight to Tablas Island. Two young guys were standing on the extended bamboo floats to balance the boat, water kept splashing into the boat getting locals wet, I thought it was fun and a bit adventurous.

                          

 I did not have to use the facilities on the boat, squatting down in a plywood box where excrement just drops in the sea.

                           

We landed at Odiongan and boarded a jeepney for the 43 km trip to Santa Fe, I stood on the back the whole way and the views were awesome; many locals were waiving and yelling hello; what a sharp contrast from Roxas. The road was extremely dusty, my teeth were caked in dirt but a teeth brushing and a swim in the sea would solve that problem.........this was a great day.

  Our next day was very different, as is so common with the ups and downs of travel life. We boarded an outrigger boat for the 9:30 departure and it pulled away from the pier at 10:45...we were on "Philippine time". We passed close by Carabao Island so we got some good views; we then made 4 stops along the touristy White Beach on Borocay (we would return here soon). Once we landed at Caticlan, Panay the rush was on to get to Iloilo, which was 225 kms south. We boarded a bus to Kalibo which took one hour and then we took another bus, arriving in the big metropolis when it was dark. Our plan in this area was to meet friends who ended up to live 30 minutes north of Iloilo, they picked us up and we ate dinner.

  Next day, after a quick breakfast we headed out to the island of Guimaras. We went there for the christening of our friends son Joshua; after the christening we went to a large party where there was a roasted pig, we had a lot of fun. That night we stayed at a local resort which had 5 swimming pools and a very nice room for us to stay. In the morning we were picked up in a jeepney from our friends husband and taken to the ferry; on the other side we were picked up by our friends brother in a jeepney. We went to Zarraga to load some of his relatives, then proceeded north up the east coast highway to Conception; the scenery was very nice; there are many islands off the east coast of Panay. We stayed in a fishing village, which took a long time to get to since the jeepney had to crawl along for the last few kms; the people were very pleasant. That afternoon I swam out to Bananan which was a long swim; the skies were beautiful as the sun was setting.

                           

  While swimming back there was a rumble in the water like I had not experienced before; it turned out that there were some local fishermen using dynamite for killing fish, they then go along in their boat and pick the floating fish from the top of the water. This practice of using dynamite is supposed to be illegal since the explosives destroy reef and other fish habitat but people still do it. Many times in the Philippines the coast guards stand on land watching such infractions because there is no boat for them to use.

  After a night of listening to dog fights, cats meowing, roosters crowing, and snoring in the other room we headed out in a boat to tour around.

                           

The highlight of that day was stopping on a beach for lunch and a swim; the menu on this day was clams, jumbo shrimp, milk fish, and mango...tasted pretty good; there were so many shells on the beach.

                                          

   On the way back south to Zarraga we passed an overturned sweat bus, there were 2 ambulances there; the previous month an overloaded ferry sunk; it is dangerous traveling around this country. Our friends family was so nice to us on our visit, very hospitable. On the next day as my wife rested I went with our friends to do some business in Iloilo, the highlight for me in this city was visiting the Molo Church which was built in 1863.

                                      

                                      

       The following day we said goodbye to Zarraga and caught a sweat bus with our friend to Roxas, after Dao it was new territory for us. I had noticed 2 policemen get on the bus in a town but it wasn't until they got off that I noticed they had a prisoner in handcuff's with them; not something we would see in Canada. Once we got to Roxas our friend phoned a local friend who picked us up and took us to their place for lunch; this business owner has armed guards that travel with him for safety. These friends have 3 house keepers who made sure that we were treated like royalty. The next morning after having shrimp and crab for breakfast we were taken for a tour around Roxas; the highlight was the Santa Monica Church which was built in 1774. In the church was a bell that was known as the heaviest in Asia and 3rd heaviest in the world.

                                      


 We then went to the Capiz Bay Resort where we spent the day eating delicious food and swimming in the Jintotolo Channel off of Capiz Bay, that was just great. The next morning we caught the 6am bus to Kalibo and then transferred to a bus that took us to Caticlan; it was time to go to Boracay, probably the Philippines most famous beach island.

Egypt....The Last Days

  I had just arrived back in Cairo from the north; more specifically Mersa Matruh and it was time to make the most of every remaining minute I had left in this intriguing north-east African country. This Arab world experience was a tremendous opportunity for me to learn about one of the worlds most exotic and mystifying cultures. After covering about 4,500 kms by bus and visiting many historical sites; I got a good perspective of the Egyptian culture; including the history, geography, and behaviours of past and present citizens.

  I have many words written in my journals that are just my own thoughts, but there are also so many recollections of conversations with locals. At Rommel Beach (Mersa Matruh) there was an Egyptian guy who approached me with a basic command of English ; he asked me what country I was from, I said Canada and he said "Canada Dry"; he thought he was so funny. He asked if I was married and when I showed him a photo of my wife and daughter he asks me how many wives I had; before I could say one, he cuts in with a boast that him and his brother have two each. Before I could get away from him he offers me a cigarette; when I told him I do not smoke he tells me that smoking does no harm because he can climb up the side of a pyramid in under 10 minutes. I just told the guy that people are not allowed to climb on the pyramids and turned around to walk away...I had some negative interaction with many Egyptian men. Once I crossed the road I went into the little shop where I was buying my food supplies; I knew in that shop there was an incredibly nice guy and his two sons that ran the shop........they were awesome.

  Back in Cairo I found some security in knowing a city well enough to be self sufficient when you do not speak the local language.

                                  

                         


Getting back to Cairo was more comforting each time I returned because I not only knew my way around but as I walked the streets it was with confidence; this helped when I had to snub the cons who approach with lines like "hey man, where are you from?, or "hey, remember I saw you on the bus yesterday?". I won't be missing the calls for baksheesh (tip) from so many locals; even when a door is held open for you a person may ask for a tip.

   On this last full day I awoke at 1am because it was too hot in my room; I took to the streets and struck up conversations with locals who were out wandering around. I rented a taxi and driver about 6am and headed south; I would see a few deadly accidents on this day. The first horrific sight was an overturned bus with a squished van underneath it.

                          


About 100 kms south of Cairo we arrived at the Al-Fayoum Oasis and Lake Qarun, which is Egypts 3rd largest lake.

                         


At the end of the lake were ruins from the ancient town of Dionysus.

                       

When we finished there we drove into the city of Al-Fayoum to get something to eat and many police kept approaching the taxi so that they could try to get baksheesh for escorting us to sites. We got out of there quickly and proceeded to the Hawara Pyramid which was just okay.

                      


  We then moved on to the Medium Pyramid which has a unique shape because it had extensions over time and was never completely finished.

                      

                      

 An entrance, like the one shown in the photo above , can put the size of this pyramid into perspective. Going inside the pyramid corridor's, gallery's, and chambers is what gives a visitor some satisfaction.

                   

My last day was memorable because I was again out in the desert where I could approach different pyramids. I had to say goodbye to the sand twisters and the 50 degree temperatures. From this pyramid one can see the important green belt that runs west/east of the Nile.

                    

  Egypt is an intriguing country that entices tourists from all over the globe; there is so much to see. I hope that enough calm remains in the region to allow tourism to flourish.

 Alexandria and Mersa Matruh.....Egypt

     When I left Suez for the Sinai Peninsula I really had no plan but to explore; I did have thoughts of going to Israel from Taba but I feared that I would miss some other Egyptian sites. At 5:45 am I was out on the street in Katreen waiting for the bus to Cairo, it was very cool (10 degrees); the chant from the mosque was loud. On the way to Suez we experienced 2 police blockades when all passengers passports were checked; there were so many officers at these stations, many were sleeping in chairs or on the ground. The scenery on the 6 hour bus ride was nice; for some reason I was happy to get back to Cairo and use this capital as a base. I checked into the same 100 year old hotel as I had on my last stay and planned my next days itinerary.

  I arranged for a day taxi rental and met the driver in the morning; we were to discover some pyramids to the south of Cairo.

                         


 We got caught up in a traffic jam and yet again I was amazed as I watched women with their children risking life and limbs to cross the street. Our first stop was the Abu Sir site about 25 kms south of Cairo; I really liked the small town close by...the local citizens provided many opportunities for pleasure. There were 3 small children on a donkey,

                         

 ladies carrying an assortment of goods on their heads; small girls walked large bulls holding a rope, many donkey drawn carriages carried a variety of loads; I guess this was rural Egypt. At Abu Sir, 2 of the 14 original pyramids were evident, the others were either incomplete or dilapidated.

                         


  We then ventured to Saqqara which has the Step Pyramid of Djoser which was built during the Third Dynasty.

                           

This pyramid is believed to be the oldest stone building in existence, it was built about 4,660 years ago (2015). This step pyramid was the largest on site with 2 dilapidated structures close by; the limestone facing had long been removed as was the case for many Egyptian pyramids. Dahshur was the next stop on this venture, this site had 2 distinct pyramids; the Red Pyramid

                          



 and the Bent Pyramid;

                          


 although 11 pyramids were originally erected in this area. I felt that these sites were very satisfying since they give me a better insight into pyramids in general (you can find that info on-line). The experience of standing beside or entering these ancient structures is what going to Egypt is all about. I ended the day of touring by going to Memphis, which is one of the old capitals of Egypt. There is a museum at Memphis and some Ramses statues but not much else remains of this old capital.

                          


   That evening in Cairo I went on a boat cruise for dinner with an Iranian guy that I met. These lit up dining boats are all over the river; this particular one was quit fancy. I had a buffet dinner and watched belly dancers; I did not know a stomach could move the way these ladies were making theirs contort, also there were 2 male Egyptian dancers. The next morning I boarded a bus from Cairo to Alexandria; the second largest city of Egypt, and another past capital of this Arab Nation; it was very industrious.

                           



                                          

   We passed the large Cairo Air Force Base and arrived in Alexandria by 10:15; just in time for me to board a bus to Mersa Matruh at 10:30. The 300 km trip west followed the Mediterranean Sea; there were good views of the sea; a whole lot nicer than the garbage filled streets of Alexandria.

  There were no English speakers in this Egyptian tourist city of about 100,000 and it was a bit tough to get a hotel; the first 2 hotels had staff that could just manage to say "no foreigners", many hotels are for club members only. I found a hotel and looked out over the turquoise water, it was a beautiful sight.

                             


                             

     The beach across from the hotel was loaded with Egyptians on plastic chairs; their food rappers were strewn along the beach, some had blown into the water. I swam a bit in the sea and while bobbing around I watched as a lady in a full Arab dress with a hijab on, that had mesh covering the eyes, tried to play with her kids in the knee deep water. She kept trying to adjust her hijab so that she could see what rocks she was stumbling on and the wet full length dress was dragging her down......not exactly the most usual beach attire.

  In the afternoon I walked to Agiba Beach which was very nice; for the whole afternoon I only saw about 15 people.

                             

    The Mediterranean was a bit cool once I swam out from shore a distance; the water was more salty than I had experienced with any ocean. I went for a walk along the top of some cliffs at the end of Romell Beach and enjoyed the scenery.

                             

                             

    These days of serenity give a sole person plenty of time to reflect on what has been witnessed in the previous days travel. On this day I pondered the water quality for locals on the Nile when I viewed so many dead animals in the channels that feed the river; thrown in the water by the farmers. On the beach there were clumps of oil here and there; nobody could understand my questions of "when was there an oil spill."

  I found Mersa Matruh to be a lonely place because the people were generally not so friendly; the language barrier was obvious but the looks on peoples faces sort of reflected their mindset. At 5:45 am I was out on the street to catch a taxi to the bus station. I could see by the crowd that there were too many people for the one bus that left at 7am. Once the ticket window opened then 3 guys budded in front to get a ticket so I went up to the window and put my arm across telling others to get in line at the back. The people in front of me were just going to stand there and let guys reach in the window to buy their tickets. When I looked at the people behind me most of them had a cautionary smile of approval.....they just could not stand up for themselves. The bus driver was charging for bags; locals were 50 Piastres, for me he wanted 2 Pounds; I give him 50 Piastres.

  Once I arrived in Alexandria I found a taxi driver with a few words of English and hired him to tour this old capital. We first went to Pompey's Pillar which was uneventful; there are very few remnants of the Egyptian culture in Alexandria. We then went to the very satisfying Catacombs of Kom Ash-Shuqqafa (tombs). These tombs were very impressive and are the largest Roman burial site in Egypt. It was worth it for me to tour around this northern city on the Mediterranean.

  My stay in Egypt was close to ending......back to Cairo I went.

  Mt Sinai........Egypt

  It was time to leave Luxor, I would not miss the relentless buggers that constantly hound the tourists; many guide books warn of the conduct of some locals here. What I would miss was the historic sites that are strewn around the Luxor, Edfu, and Aswan area's. I was not sure exactly where I would go after Luxor, my first thoughts were to head to the Red Sea but I would make a decision when the time came.

  I boarded a bus destined for Hurghada, it was supposed to be an air-con coach but it ended up to be just a standard junker. Although it was 9am the temperature was already over 30 degrees. The bus first stopped 20 minutes after leaving the city so the driver could eat, free for bringing customers in, and then the bus stopped again at the  Upper Egypt Travel bus work yard where there were several scrap buses; it was getting hotter by the minute. We made it to Safaga on the sea where there was yet another police check point; we sat in our can (bus) just hunched over waiting for relief from the heat; 2 guys got taken off the bus and did not return, I guess their papers were not in order....we finally proceeded. The blue waters of the Red Sea were a welcome sight after traversing through an old mountain range.

                         

    We followed the coast up to Hurghada, there were many spots where rolls of barbed wire separated us from the highway and the garbage that had blown across the sand to collect up against it.

                                         

  Once the bus stopped at the station it was apparent quickly that I would have a very short stay in Hurghada. When I got off of the bus I was bombarded by taxi drivers trying to convince me to go with them to a resort; these beach resorts had stretched for kilometer after kilometer. Most of my friends know what I think about tourist area's and within minutes I was back on the sweat bus for the 300 km ride to Suez. To the west were the mountains and to the east was the desert and the Gulf of Suez; as we went further north there were many oil rigs in the gulf.

                          

 The closer we got to Suez the less appealing the scenery got; there were so many oil storage tanks; pipelines ran parallel to the highway, oil drums strewn the sand as far as my eyes could see, and scrub bushes caught all types of plastic garbage........I did see two wind farms, so that was encouraging. Thousands of unfinished condominiums lined the highway south of Suez; this told a story of developer failure.

  Suez City was very industrial, there were factories all over and thousands of boats were dry docked; many shanty shacks and 5 floor apartment buildings were packed together.

                         

 The Gulf was loaded with large ships waiting to enter, or were just leaving the Suez Canal.

                        

After about 700 kms traveled and many hours on the road I found a dumpy white hotel for 62 pounds ($12) and settled in to my dirty little room. In the morning I walked around the city and eventually went over to the canal for photo's and watch some of the monster ships waiting to go through the canal to get to the Mediterranean; every 15 minutes a ship went past. The temperature was noticeably cooler than down in Luxour so that was a releif. The amount of garbage on the streets was incredible; I worried about new immigrants bringing bad habits to Canada. My stay in Suez was short because I was to take a bus to Taba on the east side of the Sinai Peninsula that afternoon.

  Before the bus went through the Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel under the Suez Canal there was a security checkpoint,

                          


after the tunnel there was desert on both sides of the bus. There has been so much war in this area; as early as the 70's Egypt was at war with Israel. As I watched the sand drift across the highway like snow does in Canada I noticed so many guard towers occupied by soldiers. Going through a mountain range we passed two large military camps, on a barren side road there was a sign that read "warning, no foreigners allowed on this road. We stopped for the bus driver to eat, there were many men smoking on the bus so I took the chance to stand outside in a smoke free environment.

  The trip across the peninsula was most memorable; the desert has many faces, especially when there are mountains.

                          

                         


There were so many colours in the rocks that they were like mountain jewelry, I was taking so many photo's that I had to put the camera away.

                            

      As we rounded a tight corner there were 3 very old ladies tending to goats, sheep, and loaded donkeys, it was really a sight to behold; too bad I did not get a photo, there were several herds of camels though.

                            

My journey to Taba changed once the bus pulled into Nuweba; I decided to get off the bus and make my way to Katherine so I could climb Mt Sinai. There were no English speakers to be found but I managed to barter with a taxi driver to take me to my destination for 150 pounds ($27). Katherine was very touristy and accommodation is a little more pricey but there were still some reasonably priced rooms. I had an excellent day for scenery and felt fortunate that I took the route from Suez rather than the typical tourist trip from Sharm el-Shiekh.

  Next morning I headed out from the hotel on the 2km walk to the bottom of Mt Sinai (also known as Mt Horeb) which has an elevation of 2,285 metres (7,500 ft). It was very cool, as it often is in the desert, hard to believe that some days can get to 50 degrees when it is only about 10. This mountain, it is thought by Christians, Muslims, and Jews, is where Moses was given the Ten Commandments : some archaeologists and historians dispute this. I first passed the St Katherine's Monastery which has been a place of pilgrimage since the 4th century.

                        

 I walked up the mountain using the camel trail which ended up to have a human traffic jam at the halfway point since crowds were coming down the mountain after watching the sunrise. Near the top mount is the Greek Orthodox Chapel; I heard a loud scream, which came from a Russian tourist who was overcome by emotion after witnessing the historic site.

                        

There are many over the top believers that come to Mt Sinai from afar.

  The view from the top of the mountain was excellent; I made such good progress that I had plenty of time to sit, watch people, write in my journal, and take it all in.

   On the way down I took the 3,750 steps of repentance rather than the same camel trail. When I got to a group of people who I thought were going too slow down the steep steps I started to jump rocks instead. Not a great idea on a steep grade and I ended up injuring my ankle when it could not handle the stress of landing from too high an elevation. Running on adrenaline I made it down and back to the hotel by 10 am so I thought I would walk into a valley to rest, and write in my journal. I sat high on a boulder looking down at unsuspecting locals ; I thought it was amazing to be hanging out in a place where the main mode of transport is camel or donkey. By mid-afternoon the temperature was over 40 degrees and it was time to rest up.

  At 6am the next morning I would be sitting in a bus with my blue, swollen ankle and blisters heading to Cairo; this Egypt experience was not over.

 Big Island........Hawaii

   The second time I went to Hawaii I flew with my companion from Vancouver to Seattle and then boarded an air Canada flight to Honolulu; the view overlooking Seattle was very nice. Once we landed in Honolulu we bought a reduced return ticket for Hilo on the Big Island which stopped on Molokai and Maui; these stops were great for us because we got such excellent views from the window of the airplane.

                        

    It was dark by the time we got our luggage so we ended up walking with our heavy packs until we found a $45 a night room on a busy road, our idea originally was to stay in hostels. In the morning we took a 3 hr bus ride the 160 kms over to the Kona Coast on the west side of the island; the scenery was very nice.  We found a hostel which had campsites for $14 per night; our intention was to back-pack around and camp, but there were very few places on the island to camp. We found a place where we could rent a car for a few days; the beach was about 10 kms from the hostel; so we started to walk the supposed 4 kms to get the little Chevette. We had a near miss while walking when a woman was looking at us while the car in front of her was stopped waiting to turn; she slammed on her brakes and cut the wheels, eventually hitting the guardrail about 3 metres in front of us. After that near miss we asked a guy where the car rental place was and it turned out to be another 8 kms up the road, he give us a ride. I could not believe how many small children walk on the side of the busy highway.

  There were stories from people hanging around the hostel of robberies, beatings, and vandalism by Hawaii'n locals; we did notice that park entrances had many guys standing around drinking so we were careful. We drove down to Ka Lae (South Point) which is the most southern point in the US territory, it was nice down there. We then proceeded to Volcanoes National Park just to get familiar with that area before we headed to Black Sand Beach, Kailua, Kona.

                                       

This beach was extraordinary and a must see; since most all of the "Big Island" is lava (basalt), you can find this black sand. There were plenty of mongoose spotted on this day.

                           


  The next day we drove 40 kms to Hapuna Beach and it was beautiful there; the temperature was a bit high but I guess sitting on a beach in Hawaii one would expect for the temperature to be hot. There was some good snorkeling with many types of fish to be viewed; the waves got a little too big later on. The next few days we mixed the beaches up a bit and found some great places to hang out and snorkel. We took the rental car back and hitch-hiked to the beach the next couple of days.

  I was snorkeling around swarms of different fish when I got stung, I got out immediately. The stinging lasted about 30 minutes and then I started to feel dozy and my eyes became a little blurry. When I walked up the sand towards the road I got chest pains for about 10 minutes but that ended. I felt dozy for another hour and then the condition seemed to improve, thank goodness. Another day we walked and hitched to Honaunau Bay (City of Refuge) and the Napoopoo Beach on Kealakekua Bay; so much good snorkeling from these nice beaches.

                                      

 There are less people at Hapuna so we ended up going there several more days; the fish swim away from you rather than swarm you like at Napoopoo Beach.

  We rented another car and had an amazing day at the Halemaumau Crater in Volcanoes National Park. We drove around the crater rim road and walked a bit until the sulfur dioxide from the crater was too strong to handle. The sunsets are not as good as they could be

                         


because of the ash in the air; the volcano has been active for several years, every day spewing ash and lava. The crater was a great experience and walking around up there give us a different perspective of the Big Island.

                                          

     Without a car again we used our thumbs to get back and fourth to the beaches. Down at Napoopoo Beach I snorkeled around the coast further than usual and was rewarded with sights of larger fish, eel's and turtles, just an awesome experience. The next day we got picked up by an experienced guy who filled us with a lot of local information, AND the typical warnings about the locals, we heard that a lot.

  Next day we were in search of falls to view so we headed towards Waimea. The scenery was nice but we did make the foolish mistake of getting into the back of a truck where the young driver was reckless. After getting out alive we walked about 2 kms until we were picked up by Karen who was an incredibly kind lady.

She drove us to Akaka Falls which was very nice, we walked around there while she meditated.

                                                  

There were other nice falls like this Rainbow Falls

                           

  Karen offered her little cottage for us to stay in for the night and the next day she asked us if we would stay one more day so she could show us around on a tour.

We saw about 4 more waterfalls as well as some caves before taking Saddle Road which runs along the base of Mauna Kea, that trip was nice.

                                            

 We passed through some of the Parker Ranch which is the USA's largest single family owned ranch


                          

   We took a look at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, as much as we could see without being one of the patron's, it was so extravagant. Our 2 days with Karen were magnificent, she was an awesome lady. In the end the Big Island ended up to be a positive experience, there was so much nice scenery...one can only imagine being there when the volcano is dormant.