When I land
in Manila it is hot. Really hot and
humid, high nineties with humidity.
Summer is beginning I am told.
The hotel is okay but without any of the nice extras; spa with hot tub
and sauna or nice restaurants. I
discover that nearby is a nice shopping area with a lot of restaurants and this
is where I go after the sun goes down.
In the morning I eat breakfast in the hotel and notice two middle aged
white guys drinking beer for breakfast.
It looks like they have been out all night. As I eat breakfast I ponder
how & why they ended up here.
I am picked
up and head to the airport for the flight to Gacayan de Oro on Mindanao. I ask about the safety of traveling to this
region (a little late to do anything about it), but I am told that it is safer
than Manila. I am quite naïve about the
dangers of traveling and rely completely on the knowledge of the local people
guiding me – either I am lucky or my strategy works. Once again at the airport I see the middle
aged expats with a young Pilipino wife and a baby in the arms. The women are incredibly small, about the
size of a 12yr old kid.
At the
airport I am met by four expats and one local who are to join me on the
trip. It seems that the assignment is
either more important than I thought or they don’t have much work to do. Immediately starts the professional
assessment; where and who you have worked for in your career and who you know
in the industry. Once we confirm that we
know the same people and have worked in similar settings, we relax and tell
stories about the people we know.
Upon
landing we are taken to the plant about an hour away. The drive is along the
coast and traffic is surprisingly light.
The shoreline without a real beach and the water is calm. Just trees right down to the water.
Upon entering the plant site I notice that the
plant security company is called “double tap security”. I think that this a very aggressive name for
a security company and explain to the others that “double tap” is an expression
that can mean two shots to the head to ensure you have killed the person.
We are feed
well throughout our stay there, and each meal is accompanied with mangos for
dessert. So stuff myself with them,
eating one mango with every meal. I
asked the locals if they ever get sick of mangos and they just smiled and said
no. Do we get sick of chocolate?
After a day
at the plant we are taken to the guest house where we will all spend the
night. It is quite a nice one, with
swimming pool and tennis courts. The
rooms are very nice too.
While we
are waiting to leave for dinner, I watch an ad on TV showing a very fat Pilipino
little kid enjoying some food. I am
shocked to see that it’s an ad for candy.
It seems that being fat here is a sign of being healthy. This country is in for some high health care
costs in the future. And there could be
some good job prospects for some American kids – spread the word.
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The coast line |
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The plant jetty |
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For $7 a day you too could load 40kg cement bags by hand |
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The guest house pool |
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The guest house apartments |
On Sunday I
head to the airport alone as the others had taken earlier flights back to
Manila and I find out I have to pay a $5 departure tax, and they only accept
cash. Having no cash I try the ATM but
it rejects my card (the chance of success with foreign ATM’s is indirectly
proportional to your need for the money).
So I start asking around for other options, but the airport is quite
small. Fortunately the policeman at the
help desk is quite nice and lends me the money.
He said I looked honest and I promised to pay him back. I took his name and phone number, gave him my
business card and will try and get the money back to him (with interest). When you consider that a driver makes $20 a
day, $5 is quite a bit of money.