Photos et lettres des Philippines, de France et d'ailleurs

On Sunday, March 6, 2011 after three and a half months in France, it was time for me to go back to the South-East Asia. The early winter was snowy and since living in the country I spent most of my time at home in front of my PC and dreaming of all the things I will do once back in the Philippines although I knew in my heart that once there I would achieve only few because of the climate, distances, money and just tiredness.
In this off-season I chose to travel again with Singapore Airlines with a Paris-Singapore aboard an Airbus A 380 and Singapore-Manila on a Boeing 777.
I may repeat it but even if other airlines are far from unworthy, Singapore Airlines, in my opinion, is the best in terms of quality of service. Furthermore, after twelve hours of flight, the two-hours and a half wait for the plane bound for Manila  in Singapore seems very short as Changi is one of the most comfortable and beautiful airport in the world.

(The Singapore Changi airport)

My sister in law was waiting for me at the Manila airport with a van to go to Bacoor around twenty kilometers to the south of Manila for seeing and taking some pictures of the family house now almost entirely renovated. A good way to reconnect with the Manila traffic jams.

(The renovated family house and the Pastor Leng, my sister-in-law)

Later on we had to drive back this time to get to my hotel in the tourist district of Ermita as I had for the next two days a few errands to run in Manila and Antipolo about twenty kilometers to the east.
Again I remained faithful to the Rothman hotel on Adriatico Street which for 30 € a night offers good value for money.
http://www.rothmanhotel.com/
In the evening I took my dinner at the excellent Chinese restaurant which name I forgot but which is on the second floor of the Robinson Place mall, 5 minutes walk from the hotel.
After a good night's sleep and a big American breakfast, I undertook a task that is always very important and sensitive, namely to change my Euros into Philippine pesos, although most of my money had already been transferred to my local bank account.
So to do this I always put in competition two Adriatico Street trusted money changers and a travel agency on Pedro Gil Street. I still have a slight preference for the agency for the greater privacy it provides, but this time they could not match the best bid of one of the money changers.
I must warn here that there's great danger for foreign visitors to change their money anywhere. We cannot count the countless scams, pinching of bills and handed counterfeit money which I myself experimented years ago. Fortunately I had changed little in spite of their insistence and had lost the equivalent of 50 € stolen from the wad of notes.
Here in this case on March 8, the exchange rate ranged from 59.50 to 60 pesos per Euro. Some cons touts roaming the surrounding streets were offering 62 pesos or more per Euro which was impossible without a coming scam. 
So my pesos in my pocket, I took a taxi to deposit them immediately to my Bank of Commerce account. After that I was carrying little cash and I was sure I hadn’t been given forged currency as verified by the bank cashier.
Even if the cost of living is twice higher in Manila than in province what seems a small amount of money for westerners is a fortune here for bad guys.
This being settled now I was on my way to Antipolo, once will not hurt, to visit a Philippine company which exports its products to USA and Europe. To avoid traffic jams and taxis drivers in Manila more thieves than ever, I first took the LRT which is a kind of elevated railway with unfortunately only 3 lines. What a nice surprise! For a small fee, this means of transport is fast and comfortable. There is a guard on every train and is also very clean with not even a paper on the floor. I keep writing that this is the country of contrasts.
Following the advice of Jenny-Lyn, the commercial officer who was my Internet contact, I then took a collective taxi to reach my destination.
It is while waiting for the departure of the van that once again I noticed these street children rummaging through garbage cans at the foot of skyscrapers under construction, I have always a hard time to bear this image while here the opponents of birth control are still so numerous.
At Antipolo I had to wait an hour in the lobby of the company Innovatronix because it was lunch break.
This is not new to me but it's still amazing to see all employees wearing the uniform’s company and seeing on the notice boards alongside other memos, the ranking of employees most deserving of the month and that of those who won a day off because of their regularity.
I was finally received by Jenny-Lyn who introduced me to his manager to whom I asked a few questions before we finally did a deal. The battery that I had bought would be delivered to my house and the bag to carry it offered because the model would be replaced shortly. It mattered little because I wanted to get into portrait photography with deported flashes and I was an absolute beginner in this field. I just wanted to free myself from electrical outlets for outdoor photos on the beach or mountains.
It should be noted that I paid my article three times cheaper than in France.
http://www.innovatronix.com/
For lunch I contented myself with a hamburger, but once arrived in Manila, it was already too late to visit my flashes store with which I had also made contact via the Internet while being still in France.
In the evening I went again to my new favorite Chinese restaurant and then for a beer before going to bed in the bar-restaurant owned by Freddie Aguilar, famous Filipino singer whose song 'Anak (child) is one of my favorites. Too bad that my leg’s tendinitis that I had already in France worsened here.

(The bar stage with the silhouette of Freddie Aguilar)

(Joanna with her husband she was a bars's customer, she asked me to take her portrait and to send it later by mail)

The next day I had to go in the Binondo area, another Chinatown I guess, to buy my coveted flash lights. I first took a collective taxi for the first part of my ride and then I wanted to take a normal taxi for the second part. Too bad! I had to wait for the third car that finally agreed to put his meter on. It's been over thirty years I'm getting robbed by taxi drivers in Manila and it's always the same refrain.
Finally I arrived at Tay Hua Trading Corporation store importing studio equipment from China. The lighting kit I wanted and that was still in stock a week earlier was now sold out, the young boss after evaluating my skill level close to zero, offered me a beginner package at half the price of what I had envisioned. He even took the time to call Jenny-Lyn who sold me the battery the previous day to ensure compatibility. Again everything would be shipped to Dumaguete.
http://www.tayhua.com/index.html
That evening I took it upon myself to go for a little walk along the Manila Bay as I began to have difficulty walking.

(Along Roxas Boulevard, the Manila bay)

The next day, March 10, I was leaving to Dumaguete and still had a hard time to find an honest taxi driver. I arrived at noon at the airport for the 2:40 pm Cebu Pacific flight which was one hour delayed. As passengers are only allowed 15kg of luggage on domestic flights, I had already paid an extra 15 kg when purchasing my ticket on the Internet but I still had to add for 2 extra kilos. No gifts here! 150 pesos per kilo now (2.50 Euros)
As visitors are often worried regarding the exotic flights, just a small digression on the two major airlines that serve local destinations here, Cebu Pacific and Philippine Airlines, both are equipped with new aircraft Airbus A319/320 and ATR propeller and they are very cheap.
My friend Charly as usual was waiting for me at the Dumaguete airport and one hour later I was happy to see my house again, Nora and Dodong my house keepers  and Zarah Zoey and my two dogs.
The next day while I was shopping to restock my home, I received 2 text messages to inform me that my battery and my lighting kit had arrived in Dumaguete and that I could pick them up. This was really fast.