Buhay Bangkok

The whole family went home for a visit. Arrived in Manila December 20, left January 3. Too short yet definitely better than our visit in 2007.

After spending the night in my parents’ place in San Pedro, we went to Lizl’s home province of Sorsogon. It was a long bus trip, 14 hours, but made bearable by the Philtranco bus’ small toilet cubicle, the day trip which afforded us views of the countryside, and most important, the company of Lizl’s older sister, Ate Nette, her husband and their teenage kids.

Lizl hasn’t been back in her hometown since we got married; her father is also sick, so I understand how significant the trip was for her. Gubat, Sorsogon used to be a robust town in the 50s and 60s, Ate Nette’s husband, Kuya Daniel told me, because it was Samar’s main link with Luzon. It was a crossroads town. One reason why Lizl’s parents had to leave Batangas and join their cousins in doing business in Sorsogon. The construction of a better port in the nearby town of Bulan spelled the decline of Gubat, however. In our walks around the poblacion, one thing that struck me were the grand houses most probably built during the town’s heyday. I see no such grand houses of recent vintage, except for those of families who have members working abroad.

The same thing with the hot spring resort we went to. It must have been the province’s main tourist attractions during the time of Lizl’s parents, but now, the owner has not bothered to invest in some renovation work. The water’s fine, it was really hot, and the springs were gushing everywhere, but the place could have used an improvement or two.

On our way back, we detoured to see Lake Bulusan, halfway up the dormant volcano of the same name. It’s an old caldera that later got filled with water, the sheer sides now overgrown with trees, with only a cleft on one side the sole means of access. The lake looked placid. There are no inhabitants, considering it’s high up in the mountains and the trail going there have dangerous turns. A couple of fishermen later sold us a half a dozen small tilapia for a hundred pesos. The topic for the rest of the ride home was how regretful the government hasn’t been doing anything to improve this national park and turn it into a tourist attraction, hence generate income for the province.

On our way back to Manila, we decided to take the Philtranco again. Ate Nette and her family would be staying a bit longer, Lizl, the three kids and I will travel all by our lonesome this time. Took a jeepney ride from Gubat to Sorsogon town where the Philtranco terminal was. Glad to learn there were only a dozen passengers (it was December 26, hardly a good time to go back to Manila), with some more Manila-bound passengers to join us in the stopover in Legazpi.

I was glad to note that we made it to Legazpi in two hours. Yes! By early evening, we’ll be home in Laguna. I said to myself. I was wrong. We ended up riding that bus (except for a couple more of stopovers) for a good 17 hours. You read it right. Seventeen hours. December 26. No heavy traffic. Well, we had to stop for some repairs for an hour in Camarines Sur, but that’s it. I remember telling Mick from IFEX Toronto that our trip to Bicol will be something like 12 hours. When he learned that the distance is more or less 500 kilometers, he was aghast. Same thing with my colleague here in SEAPA, Nu. Such a distance could have been covered in a shorter time here in Thailand. But while I sat there in the bus seething at the slowness of it all, I had an idea or two why it was taking too long. Foremost of which is that the provincial highways linking the Philippines only have a lane for each side. Which would mean a frequent need to overtake slower vehicles in front of you, unless of course, there’s another bus barrelling from the other direction. So much for Philippine infrastructure. I have been on several trips to Aranyaphrathet, a Thai town bordering Cambodia, some 300 kilometers east of Bangkok. The bus covers the distance in three hours or so.

‘Nuff said.