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This will probably be my last ‘Philippine post’. We leave early on Thursday morning, and it’s Tuesday night as I type this.

I wanted to write about Pagsanjan waterfalls. What a neat experience.

We got up early Sunday morning and went to find a cab. It’s about a 2 1/2 hour trip south in Laguna. We knew that a cab for the day should cost us about 2500 pesos, but the cab drivers still saw the word ‘SUCKERS’ on our foreheads. The first driver barely spoke English but nodded in excitement when we asked him if he could drive us for the day. Then he asked where Laguna was….

NEXT!

The next cabbie said that he could take us, and it would be 4500 pesos. Ron told him forget it. Said we didn’t just get here and that it shouldn’t be more then 2500 pesos. Cabbie agrees. His name is Danny

Danny’s cab is new. It uses not only LPG, but also gasoline. Danny is proud of this. Danny starts to show off his high powered mobile by flying at stupid speeds down the highway until Ron tells him to knock it off.

“My kid’s.. they have no seatbelts! We’re not in a hurry. Just drive safe!”

Danny, defeated, slows down.

I start to breathe again.

We stop at a Jollybee after about an hour of driving. We haven’t had breakfast yet and we’re all getting hungry. We buy Danny breakfast. Unlike Roger and Gerry, Danny refuses to sit with us. He sits a few tables away and then goes outside to smoke while we finish.

As we near Pagsanjan, we drive by a guy in a purple raincoat. Purple raincoat guy spies our white skin through the window and breaks into a mad run after us. Crap. I look out the back window as we stop at a red light and see he is closing in. He runs up to the drivers window and throws Danny 2 ID cards, yells something in Tagalog and takes off… now on a motorbike with his buddy.

Danny starts to follow.

“What was that?” Ron asks.

Danny informs us that he has a boat and is going to take us to the falls. We’re ticked. Danny doesn’t understand why we don’t want to go with him… seeing as he has a boat.

“Because he’s a jerk!” Ron answers, “He’s not honest, he just throws that in here and expects us to follow! You follow… we’ll give him back his cards!”

So we follow, and after about 5 minutes of passing signs that say, “Don’t pay illegal boatmen to take you to pagsanjan falls”, we arrive at his boat docking point. It ends up being legit. It has all the regulated pricing that it should have. We feel a bit better, and Ron informs the booking guy that we aren’t impressed with their actions to get us there. Then, they try to scam us on the cost of raincoats. Bad feeling arises again & we leave. Purple raincoat guy offers us his purple raincoat as one last attempt. Forget it.

We go to 7-11 to see about buying our own raincoats. A very quiet, kind man, approaches us there about their boats. We like him, and we follow.

Seeing as 7-11 didn’t have raincoats, we still have to buy some from the boatmen… but seeing as they’re honest and not so ‘in your face’, we’re okay with this.

We suit up… life jackets and raincoats and walk down to the ‘bancas’. These are kinda like canoes. Ron and Sydney get in one, and Karis and I take the second.

As soon as my foot sets down in the banca, I’m thinking we might tip. As soon as my ass sets down, I’m sure of it.

I clutch the camera in my hand and put our bag of dry clothing under my rain coat. Like that’ll do any good.

We have 4 ‘banca men’. 2 in Ron and Sydney’s boat, 2 in Karis and mine. We each have one in front and one in back.

Front boy in my boat is about 60 and weighs about 80 pounds. I wonder if I will need to save him if we flip.

Back boy in my boat only spoke Tagalog. He chatted away to me a few times and I would smile and nod. The only thing I understood was, “MONKEY’S!” when he would point them out in the jungle.

Don’t know what back boy in Ron’s boat was like… I was too mesmorized by his front boy. His front boy looked like Donnie Wahlberg!!! Well.. If Donnie was Philippino… Pretty boy he was!!! ♥

So the bancas all paddled towards the middle of the river and hooked on in a long chain to a banca with a motor. There were about 5 bancas on the way up. Feeling slightly more secure in the banca I risked taking some pictures. Until we were mobbed by other bancas…

“MA’AM! YOU BUY SOME WATER FOR YOUR BABY?”
“HERE IS SOME COKE MA’AM, FOR YOUR BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTER!”
“MA’AAM, YOU NEED TO BUY A COKE FOR YOUR BOATMEN”

Here we go again… I buy 8 drinks. All four of our boatmen and each of us. Mine was a beer.

Next Banca…

“MA’AM, YOU BUY SOME OF MY CARVINGS! GOOD DEAL MA’AM!”
“BEST PRICE MA’AM, YOU BUY FROM ME!”

this guy went on for awhile. I finally told him maybe on the way down I would look. I was trying to take pictures, and enjoy the surroundings… and he was being a pain in the ass. He finally left, yelling that he would see me on the way back down. Great.

The motor banca pulled us to the beginning of the rapids, then we were unhooked. This is where our boatmen came alive! They all bailed out and began pushing, pulling and even lifting our bancas up the rapids!! They did this in bare feet! They were soaked! At times, the water would be up to their armpits. I was concerned about our front boatman… but man… he was a toughy!!

When they would pass a rapid, they would jump back in and paddle. Soon though, there would be more rapids and they would jump out again.

The trip up took about an hour up to the falls. We had a break about half way where we were ‘strongly requested’ to buy our boatmen a ‘sausage and a coke’. We felt they sure deserved it, so we did.

The gorge that we travelled through, is undescribable. I just can’t. Something that seems to only be seen in movies. Absolutely, breathtakingly, beautiful. The sides of the gorge that we went through were about 300 feet high, covered in most places in tropical vegetation. Numerous waterfalls trickling down. And the sound… it was the sound of peace. Complete silence other then the paddles dipping into the water, and the odd waterfall entering the gorge. Amazing. Peaceful.

Once we reached the top, we were able to climb onto a bamboo raft and go THROUGH the waterfall and into Devil’s cave. This is the cave behind the falls. Can I just say that this was probably my favourite part of the whole trip here to the Philippines. Very Authentic, very real, and very, very, fun!

We were already soaked from our trip up the river, so we bailed on the bamboo raft. Our raftment pulled us through the falls by a rope. The pressure of the falls hitting the raft pushed us about 1-2 feet under the water. If we weren’t wet before – we sure were then! But – the water was WARM! When we entered Devil’s cave, we were allowed out to swim. All 4 of us swam to the back of the cave and climbed out to look out through the falls. Sydney was flipping ecstatic! She says it was the greatest experience ever… absolutely amazing. I have to agree!

When we got back from our bamboo raft experience, our boatmen were waiting for us. We were ready to go, so we bailed back in our bancas. Thankfully the ride down was easier on the boatmen. I had felt a little bad that they had to pack me all the way up!!

On the way down, we got to ‘shoot the rapids’. TOO COOL! This was a blast! Karis continually “WAHOO’d” all the way down. She even had the 80 pound 60 year old “Wahooing” with her! Too cute!

It was a fabulous day and I’m so glad we got to experience Pagsanjan falls. Definately worth checking out if you’re ever in the Philippines!! Loved, Loved it!!

Well, I’m going to spend a bit of time packing. Don’t want to do it all tomorrow!! Time to get back to reality. *sigh*

“ridin’ in the banca boat” Shannon

On Saturday we wanted to check out a big market. Not knowing which one to go to, we planned on heading to one called ‘Divisoria’. Ron called a Darryl from work and he and his wife, Alpha advised against it. Being foreign, it wouldn’t be safe, and we’d get taken advantage of even more. Not in the greatest area either. Right in Manila. So, they suggested Greenhills market. So glad they did!

Once we got there, I remembered that our landlady suggested going there for good deals on ‘brand name’ stuff. Fake brand name stuff… lol… but I’m okay with fake!

When we walked in it was a little overwhelming. It was PACKED! Greenhills market is in Greenhills mall and the market itself is actually called the ‘tiangge’. It takes up a large portion of the mall. They have clothing, shoes, toys, handmade Philippine products, and handbags… ooooh the handbags!! There were TONNES! So many in fact, that it was overwhelming. At any given moment in the handbag area, this is what I would hear…

“MA’AM! YOU BUY THIS BAG! GOOD DEAL!”
“MA’AM!! I HAVE A BAG FOR YOU! THIS FOR YOU MA’AM!!!!”
“MA’AM! HERE IS A GUCCI BAG FOR YOU! AUTHENTIC MA’AM!”
“MA’AM! GOOD PRICE FOR YOU! HANDBAG FOR YOU MA’AM! MA’AM!”
“OVER HERE MA’AM! I HAVE A GOOD DEAL BAG FOR YOU!”
“BEST PRICE HERE MA’AM! YOU BUY A BAG FROM ME!”
“PRADA BAG FOR YOU MA’AM! GOOD DEAL!!”

My head hurt….

We left the handbag area.

Ron held it together pretty well through the rest of the market. Impressive, because it was crowded and he doesn’t like crowds. We got some awesome souvenirs, and some good deals. Apparently we had the words, ‘GREAT BIG FOREIGN SUCKERS’ written all over our faces to begin with though… judging by the starting prices of some of the things we asked about. It’s well known here that if you’re foreign, the starting price of products can be 4 or 5 times more then if you’re local. Possibly even more. And it was obvious! But, we finished off with some great buys.

Then… back to the handbags.

I had planned to get a few. I’ve had a couple of you ask about picking one up and bringing it back. I had good intentions! Honest! But it was so overwhelming. Once ‘they’ all knew that I was back.. and planning to buy, I was a target. They would actually shove bags into my hands. Shout absurd prices.

They yell… “200 pesos off!!… okay 400 pesos!!… maybe 500 pesos… BEST OFFER!”

No.

Some of them are nice… some are ugly… I try to think of what friends would like… and I have no idea. Ron is clearly becoming stressed.

“MA’AM YOU BUY THIS BAG!”
“BUY FROM ME MA’AM! BEST DEAL”
“FIRST SALE TODAY MA’AM! i GIVE YOU GOOD DEAL”
“BEST DEAL HERE MA’AM, YOU BUY FROM ME!”

ugh.

I see one I like… at least I think I do… but she won’t stop yelling at me about it, and won’t stop shoving 5 others into my hands at the same time… I can’t think. She drops her price to 800 pesos.

“BEST DEAL MA’AM. FIRST SALE TODAY, SO I GIVE YOU BEST DEAL!”

It’s a ‘Prada’ bag. and it’s beautiful. It has a small scratch near the top though. She clearly doesn’t want me to see it. Every time I try to turn it to look, she spins it around talking about other features. How it is ‘authentic’. Right!

I tell her no… that I’ll think about it. I hand her back the pile of bags and she pouts obnoxiously and looks defeated at the 5 pounds of packing that she frantically ripped out of the handbags as she threw them at me. I feel a little bad….

We walk further down the isle, trying to look at the bags without making eye contact with the screaming sales people. I see the same ‘Prada’ bag. I ask how much.

“1500 pesos Ma’am! GOOD DEAL!”

Now Ron comes alive.

“What? It’s 800 pesos down there!” (he points)

“Okay, 900 pesos, LAST DEAL!”

Now I’m irritated. I know that if I was a Filippina, I could probably get the damn bag for 400 pesos. I tell her to follow me, I’m gonna show her where it was 800 pesos. She takes me up on my bluff, and follows. Shit.

As we walk towards the ‘other’ bag, I think… what am I gonna say to the other Lady? “I’m not buying yours, I’m buying from this chick, can you just verify the price you told me?” I’m uncomfortable.

Happily, I couldn’t remember what she looked like or where she was exactly. (EXTREMELY PACKED IN THERE) So we head back to the booth.

I look at Ron whose eyes have already glazed over with the thoughts of, ‘how much money my time is worth and how I should have just given her the 900 pesos…’ LOL… yes… this is how he thinks… (love ya sweetie… but you’re weird)

Anyway… I get the bag for 800 pesos… and it’s beautiful. Never had a ‘Prada’ bag. I’m so sorry to those of you who asked for a bag… I was selfish and only bought one for myself… my marriage would have been at stake had I have continued that process any more then I already did.

“Stylin’, Prada Girl” Shannon

First of all… we have uploaded some new photos! Enjoy!

Second… here’s another tip (for out of the country travelers)

Please make sure that when you use your credit card, that they accept ‘international credit cards’. This is very important! If they don’t… this is what could happen…

You may go to a restaurant.. lets say PIZZA HUT! When they charge you 1,600 pesos, it may appear on your card like you have spent 1,600 DOLLARS! Then if you go to pizza hut again the next day (because you gave away your leftovers to a homeless child and were still craving pizza hut pizza) and spend another 950 pesos, it may appear on your card as 950 DOLLARS.

So now your credit card company sees that you have spent over 2,500 DOLLARS at pizza hut. This is a concern. They think that either
a) you have become a majour freaking pig
or
b) there has been some kind of fraud on your account and they freeze it.

Let’s go with B…

Today was spent correcting this problem. It’s all working out, but not thanks to the extreme amount of STRESS. I don’t usually swear… but poor pizza hut manager lady got to hear me do just this today. not a happy camper…

Like I said… just a tip…

Off for a massage… “ahhhhhhh”…

Taal volcano is said to be (hopefully you catch this) “The world’s smallest volcano which is in a lake which is in another volcano which is in another lake which is on an island in the ocean…” Got that? Good! This is where we went yesterday….

So we were downstairs outside of our building by 7am waiting for Gerry (Roger’s cab partner). Roger and Gerry share a cab. They each take turns driving for 24 hours straight. I assume that Roger was at home sleeping, so Gerry was up! Gerry arrived late… at 7:50. Slightly irritated at first (and about to find another cabbie) we relaxed when we found out that he had just gotten the cab from Roger and had to drive about 1 1/2 hours before picking us up! Jeesh! Poor guy!

After a quick run into Starbucks for morning drinks (the kids are sure going to miss their morning Pomegranate, peach slushies when we get home!!) we started on the road to Tagaytay. I love these drives. We drove along a river which had squatters shacks side by side all along the edge of the water. You can’t help but imagine what it must be like for those people. I get a kick out of the differences that we see here. At one point, a motorbike pulled up beside our utaxi. On it – FIVE people. No sidecar on this one! a Child in the front, a Dad behind driving, and then 2 more Children, followed by the Mother. Mom & Dad both had helmets on. The children on the other hand…
Or what about the Dad riding a motorcycle with what looked to be a newborn infant in a sling on the front of his body. You could see the tiny legs dangling out as he drove! Just not something you see at home!

When we arrived in Tagaytay, we decided to stop and have a quick breakfast at jollybee. Jollybee is a fast food restaurant that is seen just as much as McDonald’s here. Jollybee is everywhere. Jollybee gives me the heeBEE jeeBEEs…
As we pulled into the parking lot, we were spotted by the locals through the cab windows. They went crazy. They banged on the windows with their binders holding pictures of Taal volcano and their boats that could take us there. “For you sir! I give you good deal! My own boat! I take you and your family! GOOD DEAL!!” We needed a boat anyway, and from reading online before we left, we knew that there would be many different people who could do this. We also knew about what we should be paying… he wasn’t counting on that…

“I take you to Taal on my boat! Good deal! Only 3800 pesos!!!”

Are you kidding me?
Too much.

“Okay, okay sir… I give you better deal! My own boat! I take you for 3500 pesos!”

No deal.
We walk into Jollybee as he follows us shouting better deals.

“3000 pesos Ma’am sir! Good deal! this my own boat!”

“Sir! Sir!! 2800 pesos for you!”

We go into Jollybee. We buy Gerry a burger and I manage to find a pasta salad that isn’t half bad. We leave…

Boat boys are waiting for us….

“SIR! SIR!! You come on my boat! I give you good deal sir! 2500 pesos sir!! SIR!!?? SIR!!!!”

Ron lets them know that we are not suckers and we’ll find a boat when we get to the lake for a better deal. As we pull out of jollybee boat boy runs beside us shouting, “2000 pesos sir!!! GOOD DEAL!”

We drive away. At a stop light, we are spied by 2 other ‘boat’ people. They see our white skin and run at the cab with their binders. “SIR! I Have a boa….” I look out the back window and feel bad watching the lady run after us as fast as she can. She has very large boobs and I worry that they’re going to smack her in the head an knock her out. I hope they didn’t….

As we drive along the road above Taal lake, we find a spot perfect for a picture. We pull over and Ron jumps out. Well wouldn’t you know it… 2 boat boys from way back at Jollybee had been following us! They pull their motorbike in front of us and one jumps off. “SIR!!! I give you better deal! 1800 pesos for you sir! you come on my boat!”

Are you kidding me?

Ron says no, and gets back into the cab. Boat boy gives what is his ‘final offer’

“1500 pesos sir! I take you for 1500 pesos in my boat!”

Ron agrees. Boat boy runs back to his motorcylce & I yell, “No!! too much!” to Ron. I tell him “no more them 1000 pesos!” (I have read the internet!!;) )

Ron calls him back and says, “No, only 1000 pesos.”

Boat boy humms and hawws, tries to get 1200 pesos, but we’re firm.

We have a boat for 1000 pesos.

So… the first offer was 3800 pesos and we went from there to 1000 pesos. Pays to do the research before hand! And pays for boat boy to chase us down the highway on a motorcylce. Win, win I guess.

So to ‘save money on gas’ one boat boy drivess down to the lake with us in our cab while the other one heads back to what I can only assume is jollybee to wait for another tourist. Good luck to them. Hope they read online before they came…

When we arrived at the bottom of the valley, we came to a T intersection. Many other boat boys were waiting there! They see the cab and start to charge us. Our Jollybee boat boy rolls down the window & gives them a ‘haha you suckers, point and laugh’ – proud that he got us first. The recognize our boat boy and return the point and laugh with their own waves and disappointed laughs. Poor boat boys.

While they may not make much money, and their jobs may suck when trying to secure sticky and firm tourists such as ourselves… the part of their job where they guide the boat to the volcano must give them some pleasure. It was GREAT! The boat was handmade and exactly like a boat I would picture riding on here in the Philippines. We got SOAKED and it felt great! We laughed the whole way there… that lake is beautiful. Beautiful, beautiful!

And then we arrived at Taal volcano…

No boat boys there… but ‘hat girls’, ‘water girls’, ‘juice girls’, ‘beer girls’, ‘bandana girls’…. oh my….

They see our boat come in and all stand and wait. I hear them yell, “TOURISTS!!” Grrreat…..

“Ma’am, you buy a hat… for your children….” “BANDANA MA’AM!! FOR YOUR GIRL’S!!” “Here is some juice… YOU BUY! For your children!” “A HAT MA’AM! YOU’RE CHILDREN NEED A HAT!” “Excuse me Sir! I have juice! I have water for you sir! Sir, I have beer…..”

My head hurts.

We smile, decline and start to walk towards the horse rental.

they follow.

“Ma’am! YOU BUY HAT!” “Ma’am! I HAVE JUICE for you!” “Sir! you need some beer!”

We finally ‘rent’ 2 hats for the girls. Big floppy, obnoxious hats. But, it’s about the experience. After another big haggle with the horse rental people, we sit our butts on 2 poor horses and we’re off. Ron and Karis on one and Sydney and I on another. Remember from my last post… I don’t like horses? It wasn’t too bad! I couldn’t see a darn thing at first because of Sydney’s massive hat, and had to constantly focus on hanging on because my butt wanted to begin a slow, sure slide off the horse to the left side. Crap. Horsey boy (our guide) finally realized my distress and showed my these nifty little things called ‘stirrups’ that you can put your feet into Still a rooky, he had to physically put my feet into them for me. Much better.

Our trip up the volcano started off through a small villiage at the base. This was so neat! I could have spent all day there alone. Little huts that families live in. Roosters, cows, chickens, horses, bulls, dogs, cats… lazing around in people ‘yards’. Mother’s nursing babies on their ‘porch’, babies sleeping in wicker hammocks, children playing with sticks and rocks, elderly women dressed in wraps walking with baskets on their heads… SO COOL! I loved that part a lot.

Horsey boy lead our horse up the mountain by a rope. When I say boy, I mean it! He looked to be about 10! And he wasn’t the youngest guide we saw. At one point I saw a little girl who couldn’t have been more then 7! Sad!

It took about 45 minutes to get to the top. Horesy boy was continually irritated at me for my lack of ‘horse riding skills’. He kept having to stop to ‘re-insert’ my feet into the stirrups. He also kept yelling, “BALANCE MA’AM! MA’AM! BALANCE!!” I wanted to yell back, “I AM! MY ASS IS STILL ON THE HORSE! I AM BALANCED!!” Then he would stop and bow his body forward to show me. We would bow forward so far that poor Sydney had that knobby thing that you hold on to digging into her stomach. This is where my butt would start to slide backwards. I must have been quite the sight. My butt on the back of the horses butt, chest & head smashing my child forward, and flailing feet not in the stirrups. I think horsey boy was happy to have a break from me at the top.

What was funnier… Ron and Karis’ horse. I don’t know what they fed that thing, but he (or she) had a majour gas issue. Each step that horse took would activate a “PFFFFT!” and Sydney and I would burst into giggles. Ahhh the mature Mother I am….

The view from the top was amazing. After buying horsey boy an overpriced drink at the top… and Ron’s horsey boy/girl… (not quite sure which he/she was) we gazed down at the lake in the center of the volcano. You could see puffts of steam rising from different points around (and in) the lake. The view was amazing (we’ll be posting pictures soon!!)

The decent down the mountain was stressful and hot… poor Erica (our horse) was uneasy on some of the steep parts. Horsey boy seemed to smarten her up with smacking her butt. I took this time to pat her side to let her know that he was just grumpy cause it was hot… not at her…

Once we arrived back at our cab, Gerry was all refreshed and ready to go. We started the drive back to Makati and stopped along the way for pizza (pizza hut) and a few markets for some satsuma oranges. (we eat a lot of these right now).

One of the most memorable moment of the drive back was getting pulled over by a police officer! Let me explain first….

Here in the Philippines, people don’t wear seatbelts. At least not in cabs. There isn’t any! We have seen ‘maybe’ 2 cabs that have seatbelts in them since we have been here… and we’ve taken a lot of cabs! Ron was in the front with Gerry and wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. Well, apparently if you are in the front you DO have to wear one. Ron never even thought about it because we don’t usually see them! (we always, always wear them at home!!;) )

So a police officer saw us as he was standing on the side of the road and pulled us over. He and Gerry yelled at each other in Tagalog for about a minute while we sat there stunned not knowing what was going on. Finally the police officer told us that he was going to write the Gerry a 300 peso ticket because Ron wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. This is what went down after…

Police man asks for Gerry’s registration book. Gerry gives it to him. Police man puts his ticket book away and asks Gerry for a cigarette. Gerry gives him one. Police man passed Gerry his insurance book and turns around to ‘light his cigarette’. Gerry puts 200 pesos inside his insurance book. Police man asks to see his insurance book one more time. Gerry passes it to him. Police man pockets the 200 pesos and gives Gerry back his book. Police man informs Gerry that he’ll let him off without a ticket.

:O

Good times!

So now that I finished my ‘book’, I am going to get off the computer for awhile! One last thing… LEAVE COMMENTS PEOPLE!
Yesterday there were 51 visits to our website and only 1 comment! I’m much more tempted to write if I get some feedback!

Thanks to those who have already left comments on other posts or those who have sent us comments through facebook or email.

“Sore butt from riding the horse” Shannon