Niels
19-03-06, 22:15
Hej igen
Jeg må jo holde hvad jeg lover og lægger derfor min noget utraditionelle rejserapport frem. Da jeg læste den igen tænkte jeg sikke noget 'biip', men den er dog forsøgt holdt i en lidt underholdende tone.
Der er ret beset ikke meget information at hente, så spild ikke din tid. Den er også skrevet på engelsk, da den mest er skrevet for min og venners fornøjelse. Altså min form for engelsk :-) Lige lidt læsevejledning :
GF = girlfriend = kæreste.
'This is far from a trip report and I am sorry to bother you. I guess this is written for my amusement only, so please read no further. If you do, don't flame me and it's going to be long :-)
This was an awkward holiday before it began. I was going with my 74 y.o. mother and a friend to meet my GF and a mutual good american friend. We would all stay near Dumaguete in Negros.
I would have spared you the flying details if it had not been for my mother. She is a lovely lady, but a bit of an original with her very own ideas. So on our way from Copenhagen to Amsterdam I smelled something strange. I asked her if she could smell 'household alcohol ??'. She became very small in the seat and admitted she had a plastic bottle of this in her pocket and now it was
leaking :-(
You only have one mother, but I went balistic and she got the lecture of her life. I was furious. After I got my breath back she said. Dear son, I use it on my feet !
A bit against her will she washed this stuff out in a toilet in Shiphol airport and the rest of the flying was without further incidents :-)
Later I wondered how the h... she could board a plane with 25 cl. of highly flamable material in her pocket !
Anyway we made it to Manila and later at the day to Dumaguete and to the resort. It was friday and I met my beloved GF and my very good friend and his lovely girlfriend and they met my mother. Everything was good and everybody was happy. My mother even liked my GF :-)
Saturday passed without major accidents apart from me and my friends getting drunk as skunks in rhum-Coke. That was no surprice for anybody !
Sunday after breakfast my GF's cellphone rang and I saw shock, disbelieve, horror in her eyes and face. Her mother had suffered a heart attack !!
I have to pause a bit, as the whole idea with this trip was to meet my GF's family in Cebu and them to meet me and my mother and friends. My GF had arranged a 'family day' at a resort in Cebu, where we all could spend the day together and have a nice time and spend the night in case somebody had a rhum-Coke or Tuba wine too much ;) And yes that did happen :-)
This was set to be on tuesday.
Back to GF's mother.
Basically not much to discuss, but to get your ass in gear and go to Cebu with GF. So we did and left the rest of the crew.
I think we left at about 11 am and arrived in Cebu City at 7 pm, but much happend during this
day :-)
After the crossing to Cebu we took the local none aircon bus towards Argao. That was both fun and highly efficient. Jesus Christ they drive fast !
I was amazed by the good road and the friendliness of the local people. Smiling, wawing allways helpfull and friendly. God bless them.
There was a small problem and that was that GF's mother had been admitted to the local hospital, but rumour ! said that she had been transferred to Cebu City. Nothing was for sure ??
So we stopped at her home and I got the shock of my life. I have seen powerty but this house was beyond my imagination. Dirt floor, no toilet, no running water, no nothing. Suroundings where very beautiful and I kind of enjoyed, but I got the lesson of the day.
Rumour was true. Gf's mother was transfered to Cebu City. Off we go and it took ages. Sunday afternoon is a bad time to travel but we did find the hospital and we did get in. Only to learn that the dear lady had left the hospital one and a half hour ago and had taken the bus home :-)
We stayed the night in Cebu City in an overpriced hotel, but we where very very happy :-) It became a very special day for us together and as a couple. For the first time we had a serious problem we had to face together. We did that and no questions asked between us. We knew both what should be done and we just did it, all the way.
The next day we took the reverse trip, but of course had to go in and say hello to Mama. We did and what a great lady. Very small in size but a giant in mind and soul. She raised four children in rural Cebu on her own as her husbond died when my GF was about two years old. She has my utmost respect and love.
She had no medical problems and was and is very healthy. The general opinion seemed to be that she was nervous for my visit to their house !
GF and I made it the whole way back to Negros safe and sound late afternoon. But it was now monday and we had to go back to family day tuesday !
We where all up early and once again went over to Cebu. It was 25 minuttes crossing in a big banca, a very short trike drive and then about 1 hour bus drive. Everything went very smooth. We arrived at the resort Ocean Bay where GF’s family allready was. I had had some difficulties finding out how many people would attend, but we arrived 6 persons and my GF had told that her family would be about the same. Wrong. They were about 15 people :-) No problem, but it is hard to plan in PI :-) My GF had made a deal for rooms, but somewhere the deal about food was forgotten. Nothing a few beers and some rhum-cokes cant’t cure, so we did exactly that.
Anyway it was a very funny day. Communication was a bit basic, but smile and laughter will bring you a very long way. A good day was had by all and the resort even managed to find some food, but that was a mistake. It was crap. Very very bad food. I did not eat any of it, but my mother did.
Later the extended family left for home and only the closest family stayed at the resort in a big family room. We had brought some gifts from Denmark, but when you plan for 7 people and 15 turn up we had to use a bit of imagination in the distribution, but everybody was happy.
At about 4 am my mother woke up and had a very serious diarria. We all woke up early and said our heartfelt goodbye to GF’s family and the we took the reverse trip back to Negros and my mother got worse and worse. I have never seen anybody getting ’peeled’ of so quick. I was worried.. Really worried. We made it Negros and the resort and my mother relaxed and felt a bit better.
The next day she was still very weak, so we decided to get a doctor. I asked in the reception and they called a doctor. The doctor was not in, but the secretary promised he would call a bit later. His secretary called half an hour later, but something was wrong. It was a dentist :-) Then they told us there was a small medical unit close by and off we went in a trike. It was close by, but no doctor, but a nurse explained that we should take to the medical center at Suliman Univercity. So we did. At this time my mother was not amused to say the least but we where on the way to the hospital in the same bloddy trike. It took ages but we arrived at the hospital.
I must say that service there was highly efficient and very professional. The doctors explained everything to me and my mother and to GF in tagalog. Test taken imidiately and processed and results within an hour. That is not possible in Denmark. It is a private hospital but 220 php for the consultation and 178 php for two different test is cheap. But 400 php is a lot of money if you don’t have them. Medicine was btw about 1800 php !! It was btw an Amoeba infection. Happily my mother recovered quickly and it was late thursday afternoon when we came back to the resort.
No accidents friday and I started to relax.
I can’t remember what day we went to Apo Island but probally monday. We crossed in a small banca of older date, but it did do the job. Happily the sea was relatively calm. Apo Island is a pearl. There is two maybe even more Apo Islands. This one near Negros and the one near Mindoro are both great diving and snokeling sites. If you ever get a chance please visit. Corals were great and we just had a lovely relaxing day. If we just had that bloddy papaya stay at home. I can’t remember when my girlfriend bought it but it had been some days ago and this Papaya had made a good deal of this trip with us. At that time I thought it was time to eat it, but would consult GF. She was in the water on some stones and in her eager she jump from one slippery stone to another, fell down and got her toe scraped very nasty on a coral. It was bleeding and she had pain. We got her patched up and back to Negros. We are going to hospital, but girlfriend would hear nothing about it. Ok we go tomorrow and she recovered quickly without a visit to a doctor.
Apart from my danish friend got a nasty throat infection and I in the end of this holiday caught a cold whish later developed into a nasty pneumonia is minor details but we where not completely safe yet :-)
The whole crew where going to manila and spend one night there before splitting all over the world.
It was my GF’s first time flying. She was a bit nervous, but seemed confident. We boarded the plane and everything was fine. GF had a window seat in the last row in the plane. She was excited but ok. In the second the plane took of she just passes out. Fainted !! The staff was very professional and was with her in seconds. Took her pulse and checked her respiration. It was fine. Put some medicin under her nose and she woke up. She was a bit confused and had no idea what happend. I did not tell her before we landed in Manila. She was relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the flight. A good deal tired however.
I guess this is about it.
I will rest my case but all this said, I had the holiday of a lifetime. Met the nicest people I can imagine. Reunion with great friends. My GF's lovely family. Beautiful scenary, great beaches, lovely corals, but mostly great friendliness from Philippine people. My lovely GF and all her help to us. I just love her. Plain and simple.
I shall be back !
Best wishes and thanks if you stood the whole story.
Niels
Jeg må jo holde hvad jeg lover og lægger derfor min noget utraditionelle rejserapport frem. Da jeg læste den igen tænkte jeg sikke noget 'biip', men den er dog forsøgt holdt i en lidt underholdende tone.
Der er ret beset ikke meget information at hente, så spild ikke din tid. Den er også skrevet på engelsk, da den mest er skrevet for min og venners fornøjelse. Altså min form for engelsk :-) Lige lidt læsevejledning :
GF = girlfriend = kæreste.
'This is far from a trip report and I am sorry to bother you. I guess this is written for my amusement only, so please read no further. If you do, don't flame me and it's going to be long :-)
This was an awkward holiday before it began. I was going with my 74 y.o. mother and a friend to meet my GF and a mutual good american friend. We would all stay near Dumaguete in Negros.
I would have spared you the flying details if it had not been for my mother. She is a lovely lady, but a bit of an original with her very own ideas. So on our way from Copenhagen to Amsterdam I smelled something strange. I asked her if she could smell 'household alcohol ??'. She became very small in the seat and admitted she had a plastic bottle of this in her pocket and now it was
leaking :-(
You only have one mother, but I went balistic and she got the lecture of her life. I was furious. After I got my breath back she said. Dear son, I use it on my feet !
A bit against her will she washed this stuff out in a toilet in Shiphol airport and the rest of the flying was without further incidents :-)
Later I wondered how the h... she could board a plane with 25 cl. of highly flamable material in her pocket !
Anyway we made it to Manila and later at the day to Dumaguete and to the resort. It was friday and I met my beloved GF and my very good friend and his lovely girlfriend and they met my mother. Everything was good and everybody was happy. My mother even liked my GF :-)
Saturday passed without major accidents apart from me and my friends getting drunk as skunks in rhum-Coke. That was no surprice for anybody !
Sunday after breakfast my GF's cellphone rang and I saw shock, disbelieve, horror in her eyes and face. Her mother had suffered a heart attack !!
I have to pause a bit, as the whole idea with this trip was to meet my GF's family in Cebu and them to meet me and my mother and friends. My GF had arranged a 'family day' at a resort in Cebu, where we all could spend the day together and have a nice time and spend the night in case somebody had a rhum-Coke or Tuba wine too much ;) And yes that did happen :-)
This was set to be on tuesday.
Back to GF's mother.
Basically not much to discuss, but to get your ass in gear and go to Cebu with GF. So we did and left the rest of the crew.
I think we left at about 11 am and arrived in Cebu City at 7 pm, but much happend during this
day :-)
After the crossing to Cebu we took the local none aircon bus towards Argao. That was both fun and highly efficient. Jesus Christ they drive fast !
I was amazed by the good road and the friendliness of the local people. Smiling, wawing allways helpfull and friendly. God bless them.
There was a small problem and that was that GF's mother had been admitted to the local hospital, but rumour ! said that she had been transferred to Cebu City. Nothing was for sure ??
So we stopped at her home and I got the shock of my life. I have seen powerty but this house was beyond my imagination. Dirt floor, no toilet, no running water, no nothing. Suroundings where very beautiful and I kind of enjoyed, but I got the lesson of the day.
Rumour was true. Gf's mother was transfered to Cebu City. Off we go and it took ages. Sunday afternoon is a bad time to travel but we did find the hospital and we did get in. Only to learn that the dear lady had left the hospital one and a half hour ago and had taken the bus home :-)
We stayed the night in Cebu City in an overpriced hotel, but we where very very happy :-) It became a very special day for us together and as a couple. For the first time we had a serious problem we had to face together. We did that and no questions asked between us. We knew both what should be done and we just did it, all the way.
The next day we took the reverse trip, but of course had to go in and say hello to Mama. We did and what a great lady. Very small in size but a giant in mind and soul. She raised four children in rural Cebu on her own as her husbond died when my GF was about two years old. She has my utmost respect and love.
She had no medical problems and was and is very healthy. The general opinion seemed to be that she was nervous for my visit to their house !
GF and I made it the whole way back to Negros safe and sound late afternoon. But it was now monday and we had to go back to family day tuesday !
We where all up early and once again went over to Cebu. It was 25 minuttes crossing in a big banca, a very short trike drive and then about 1 hour bus drive. Everything went very smooth. We arrived at the resort Ocean Bay where GF’s family allready was. I had had some difficulties finding out how many people would attend, but we arrived 6 persons and my GF had told that her family would be about the same. Wrong. They were about 15 people :-) No problem, but it is hard to plan in PI :-) My GF had made a deal for rooms, but somewhere the deal about food was forgotten. Nothing a few beers and some rhum-cokes cant’t cure, so we did exactly that.
Anyway it was a very funny day. Communication was a bit basic, but smile and laughter will bring you a very long way. A good day was had by all and the resort even managed to find some food, but that was a mistake. It was crap. Very very bad food. I did not eat any of it, but my mother did.
Later the extended family left for home and only the closest family stayed at the resort in a big family room. We had brought some gifts from Denmark, but when you plan for 7 people and 15 turn up we had to use a bit of imagination in the distribution, but everybody was happy.
At about 4 am my mother woke up and had a very serious diarria. We all woke up early and said our heartfelt goodbye to GF’s family and the we took the reverse trip back to Negros and my mother got worse and worse. I have never seen anybody getting ’peeled’ of so quick. I was worried.. Really worried. We made it Negros and the resort and my mother relaxed and felt a bit better.
The next day she was still very weak, so we decided to get a doctor. I asked in the reception and they called a doctor. The doctor was not in, but the secretary promised he would call a bit later. His secretary called half an hour later, but something was wrong. It was a dentist :-) Then they told us there was a small medical unit close by and off we went in a trike. It was close by, but no doctor, but a nurse explained that we should take to the medical center at Suliman Univercity. So we did. At this time my mother was not amused to say the least but we where on the way to the hospital in the same bloddy trike. It took ages but we arrived at the hospital.
I must say that service there was highly efficient and very professional. The doctors explained everything to me and my mother and to GF in tagalog. Test taken imidiately and processed and results within an hour. That is not possible in Denmark. It is a private hospital but 220 php for the consultation and 178 php for two different test is cheap. But 400 php is a lot of money if you don’t have them. Medicine was btw about 1800 php !! It was btw an Amoeba infection. Happily my mother recovered quickly and it was late thursday afternoon when we came back to the resort.
No accidents friday and I started to relax.
I can’t remember what day we went to Apo Island but probally monday. We crossed in a small banca of older date, but it did do the job. Happily the sea was relatively calm. Apo Island is a pearl. There is two maybe even more Apo Islands. This one near Negros and the one near Mindoro are both great diving and snokeling sites. If you ever get a chance please visit. Corals were great and we just had a lovely relaxing day. If we just had that bloddy papaya stay at home. I can’t remember when my girlfriend bought it but it had been some days ago and this Papaya had made a good deal of this trip with us. At that time I thought it was time to eat it, but would consult GF. She was in the water on some stones and in her eager she jump from one slippery stone to another, fell down and got her toe scraped very nasty on a coral. It was bleeding and she had pain. We got her patched up and back to Negros. We are going to hospital, but girlfriend would hear nothing about it. Ok we go tomorrow and she recovered quickly without a visit to a doctor.
Apart from my danish friend got a nasty throat infection and I in the end of this holiday caught a cold whish later developed into a nasty pneumonia is minor details but we where not completely safe yet :-)
The whole crew where going to manila and spend one night there before splitting all over the world.
It was my GF’s first time flying. She was a bit nervous, but seemed confident. We boarded the plane and everything was fine. GF had a window seat in the last row in the plane. She was excited but ok. In the second the plane took of she just passes out. Fainted !! The staff was very professional and was with her in seconds. Took her pulse and checked her respiration. It was fine. Put some medicin under her nose and she woke up. She was a bit confused and had no idea what happend. I did not tell her before we landed in Manila. She was relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the flight. A good deal tired however.
I guess this is about it.
I will rest my case but all this said, I had the holiday of a lifetime. Met the nicest people I can imagine. Reunion with great friends. My GF's lovely family. Beautiful scenary, great beaches, lovely corals, but mostly great friendliness from Philippine people. My lovely GF and all her help to us. I just love her. Plain and simple.
I shall be back !
Best wishes and thanks if you stood the whole story.
Niels