Manila

Day 1

Thai Airways from Arlanda to Bangkok. The flight went well, and luckily the middle seat was empty. However, I didn’t manage to sleep more than 20 minutes, but I was hopeful about the next trip, from Bangkok to Manila. When I booked my seat, the flight looked only half booked, so I would be sure to get a three seat row for myself, and get some sleep. But I was totally wrong, the plane was fully booked, so no sleep on the last flight.

Day 2

Once in Manila, I met up with Mon for a coffee before we walked back to her and Niels house/apartment where we hang out for a while. In the evening we went out and had lovely Indonesian dinner. I got to bed around 23ish but woke up at 02.00 and was awake until 05.00. But finally I got two additional hours of sleep.

Day 3

Breakfast at Filling Station together with Marvi (we have been working together for more than 10 years). Then lunch at Greenbelt with Shynne and Mon. The day was finished at the Sportsbar next to the hotel. Got to bed at 23.30 and slept until 07.30, almost a new world record for me:-)

Day 4

The breakfast is served in the Sportsbar, and it was a new experience entering the breakfast where there were a lot of people drinking beer, and some of them really drunk. There was a boxing match going on, and I guess they had been preparing all night to watch this. Anyway, I got my English breakfast and then I just had to wait for Marvi and Fern to come by. We went to the Spanish quarters of Manila (Intramuros) where we had a wonderful lunch with Filipino food, before we walked around in the Spanish quarters. The name Intramuros, from the Spanish word meaning “within walls,” refers to the fortified city founded at the mouth of the Pasig River shortly after 1571 by the Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi. It’s also so obvious that the Spaniards have had a huge influence in how the Filipino language has evolved. There are so many words in common, and that became even more obvious being in Intramuros. Finally, we ended up in the Sky bar in the same place where we had lunch, with a beautiful view of the city. Ended up back at the hotel at 20ish.

Day 5

Due to a strained back, I decided to take it easy throughout the last full day in Manila. Tomorrow I will leave for Phnom Penh.

Cambodia

Day 6

Took at Grab to the airport, and was there some 2,5 hours before takeoff. Got slightly worried at the checkin counter, they examined my Cambodian visa many times, but finally everything was okay and I got my bag checked in. Immigration and security was quick, and with two hours to go I was in the International terminal. Only one thing though, I couldn’t find my phone/wallet. Then I realised that I left it by the checkin counter. But luckily I was in the Philippines, and one of the security staff walked with me all the way back to the checkin counter. He was praising the honesty of the Filipino people and was certain that the wallet would still be there. And luckily it was. He then walked me back to the terminal, and I could relax. In the terminal I was approached by WWF, that was doing a campaign for donations to different causes in the Philippines. So now I’m giving a small amount monthly to WWF for preservation of wildlife in Oslob (like whalesharks and turtles). Feels good to give something back to this wonderful country.

First flight was to Kuala Lumpur and then the final flight to Phnom Penh. I thought the flight was less than an hour, but it turned out to be close to two hours. I hadn’t realised that Cambodia is GMT +7 and Kuala Lumpur is GMT +8. I find it so strange to fly east and subtracting GMT. Anyway, everything went well, and Ratana was waiting for me at the airport. Ratana is Cambodian, and is a good friend of Anders and Eva, and he was the one taking care of me last year when I was here. He took me to the hotel, and I called it the day. Tomorrow Anders & Eva will arrive in the morning, and then we will spend the rest of this trip together.

Day 7

I spent the time after breakfast at poolside, waiting for Anders & Eva to arrive. They were picked up at the airport by Ratana and his family, and arrived around 10ish at the hotel. Slightly tired and jet lagged. While they were taking a nap I went for a walk to a local beer brewery close by the river. The beer (a pils) was really good, but the price was closer to the price we pay back home (7 USD).

At 16:00 Ratana with family picked us up again, and we went to Raffles hotel and the Elephant bar. It’s a long time since I was here, but it’s a really nice bar, especially since they have happy hour between 16.00 and 21.00. Gin is their speciality, and it’s said that they have more than 50 different gin brands. We then went down to a restaurant close by the river, and Ratana ordered different Cambodian dishes that we shared. As always here, the food was great. We closed the day by having a whisky by the pool.

Cambodia part II

Day 8

Ratana and Lin picked us up at 10 at the hotel, and then we went southbound in Cambodia. After a couple of hours drive, we came to Kampong Tracy District and some very beautiful mountains/hills with caves. One cave lead to an open space in the middle of the mountain. After that, we took off towards Kampot, not very far from the sea. We found a good and reasonably priced hotel just by the river. In the evening, we went on a boat trip on the river, and we shared several excellent Cambodian dishes. During the boat trip something extraordinary occurred. A guy speaking Swedish walked up to us. He and some friends were also going on this boat trip. It turned out that he had lived very close to where Anders & Eva lives, and now he lived at Hornstull, really close to where I live. But not only that, he spent half his time in Siem Reap, and it turned out that he and his friends knew a person living there that Anders & Eva has tried to find for several yers. He promised to try to locate this person and send the contact information back to them. One in a billion that this could happen, meeting someone that lived/lives in our hoods, and that has common friends in Cambodia! After the boat trip, we went to a street food stand and bought Nompang Ang, a grilled bread with different sauces and corn. A speciality of this province, and it tasted really good.

The evening was ended with some drinks and local fruit at the hotel, sitting just by the river.

Day 9

We took the car to the other side of the river, and found a small place where we had breakfast. A breakfast was superb, and with our stomachs filled, we took of towards Preah Monivong Bogor National Park. It’s located on a mountain just outside of Kampot. Before we entered, we bought a lot of bananas, in order to feed the monkeys that lives in the mountain. First monkey that we met was really fast. He reached into the car and grabbed the bag with bananas that Lin had in her lap. Luckily, Ratana managed to scare him away and get the bag back, so we were able to feed some more monkeys on the way. Close to the top we came to Lok Yeay Mao. Lok Yeay Mao is an ancient mythical heroine and a neak ta divinity in the local popular form of Buddhism and Brahmanism in Cambodia. She is venerated mainly is in the coastal provinces of the country, especially along the road from Phnom Penh to the sea port of Sihanoukville, as well as in Kampot and Kep. Here at the Bokor Mountain there is a 29 meters tall monument to Yeay Mao inaugurated in 2012. We then went on to have a look at an old Catholic Church that is no longer in service, and is not taken care of. At the church we reached our peek when it comes height, we were above 1.000 meters above sea level. Then on to a temple, in a very beautiful area as well. After taken in all of this culture, we went out flower picking. It was a bit late in the season, but we managed to find some Nepenthes holdenii, and I leave it to your imagination what they resemble!!

Back to Kampot for once again a superb lunch, and then we were of to La Plantación, the biggest pepper farm in this region. Kampot pepper is regarded as the best pepper in the world. We had a tour and also got some pepper tasting in the end of the tour. As one could imagine, the price for buying pepper was quite high, so we will wait until Ratana and Lin can help us find good and priceworthy pepper.

When we came back to the hotel, Anders (pain in his back) and Ratana went for massage nearby. I turned out to be really good, for the price of 7 dollars.

The dinner was as always incredible, and again we took in different dishes and shared. And as always, we finished the day off by having a quick whisky before going to bed

Cambodia part III

Day 10

We met up at 9.30 in the morning outside the hotel. Ratana and Lin had already been away and bought large amounts of Kampot peppers. We started our trip towards Sihanoukville. We knew beforehand that we would encounter a really bad part of the road, so some of the luggage in the back got a garbage bag as wrapping. And it was a really bad road for some 25k. But we survived and finally made it to Sihanoukville. Sihanoukville also known as Kampong Saom, is a coastal city in Cambodia and the capital of Preah Sihanouk Province, at the tip of an elevated peninsula in the country’s south-west on the Gulf of Thailand. Anders & Eva have been here before, but a long time ago. And the change was dramatic. Large hotels everywhere, new buildings in the city and many casinos. A majority of the signs in the city are in Chinese. It seems like the Chinese has bought the whole city. However, we found a nice resort a little bit outside of the city with the beach on the other side of the road. In the afternoon we went to the beach and had grilled squids, really delicious. And the water temperature was most likely above 32 degrees.

Before going out for dinner, we sat down and had a drink in the bar, and it was then Anders received the email with the telephone number to their lost friend. The guys from the boat in Kampot had been going around in Siem Reap trying to find somebody that knew him, and eventually they found a colleague to his daughter and through her they got the telephone number. When they got hold of him, it turned out that he was in Phnom Penh! So when I go to Siem Reap they will spend the day with their friend. It feels almost like a proof of the Six degrees of separation!

It took a while to find a restaurant, and as always we shared everything. The food was good, but not as good as in Kampot, and it was much more expensive. For five persons in Kampot we paid between 30 and 35 USD, now it was 60 USD. And finally, the evening was ended in our standard way, before we went to bed.

Day 11

We took off from Sihanouk and headed towards Phnom Penh. Luckily this time, it was a very nice motorway all the way. Just outside Phnom Penh we stopped by at some friends of Lin and Ratana. They wanted to treat us with a lunch. He’s working at Ganzberg, currently the most popular beer brand in Cambodia, at least in the provinces. And it’s crazy how much signs and posters they have by the roads. Apart from the highway, I would say that on every road, there is always a Ganzberg sign or poster visible, so on this little road trip we have seen more than several thousands of those. Anyway, the whole family and some relatives were waiting for us, and once again we were treated with some good Cambodian food and plenty of beer (no surprise). The food was excellent, but some dishes were not to my taste, like brain. However, the cow tail was really good! Here it seems that you save your empty beer cans visible on the table, and I would say the average number of cans per person was around 6. I think Eva and myself were the only one with just two cans. But the hospitality was wonderful. They lived in a huge house, that somehow used to be a hotel, so they had some 20 guest rooms. They also had a big brewery in the building, used by Chinese people that rented the place. But when the new road was built, they lost most of their Chinese customers, and the brewery was abandoned. Anders and Ratana played badminton in the living room with some of the kids, and it was high and big enough to be able to play in a normal way! After this four hour lunch, we went to Lin and Ratana’s house to meet up with their kids, Eric and Elisabeth. Eric is very famous on TikTok, with more than 600k followers, and sometimes more than 1 million views. Lin and Ratana sometimes participates in the videos, and several times at restaurants and other places, young people approached us since they recognised Lin and Ratana. So we have been driving around with celebrities:-)

Ratana then drove us to the hotel, and we went out for dinner, this time an Indian/Nepalese place just across the street. The food was amazing, and Anders & Eva that eats more Indian food than I do, gave the food a very high ranking

Cambodia part IV

Day 12

At 08.30, Ratana picked me up at the hotel, and took me to the bus station. The drive took 6 hours, and I arrived just after 16.00. Mao (Ratana’s friend) was waiting for me. Unfortunately, the tuktuk driver that was supposed to drive us, got busy, so Mao had to do the driving. We decided that we should go to this special place to watch the sunset. To enter the Angkor area, you need to have a ticket. If you buy your one day ticket after 16.45 it will be valid for the evening and the day after. So we waited some 15 minutes before we bought the ticket. We then headed off, but we didn’t come far before there was an accident. We were getting close to a road crossing, and Mao passed slowly by this woman on a scooter. Suddenly she turned left and hit our tuktuk. She fell onto the street and started screaming. My recollection of what happened was that she was holding her phone in her left hand and looking at it, and didn’t pay any attention to the traffic. She didn’t seem to be seriously hurt, most likely some scratches and bruces. But she claimed that Mao had driven into her. And the police seemed to believe more in her than Mao. Mao arranged another driver to pick me up and take me to the hotel, it was anyway too late to watch the sunset. The hotel is located very central, but it’s very “Chinese”. Not very friendly staff, the rooms are far from cosy, just sort of 200 W lamps with a very cold light. I went out for a dinner, and today I was looking forward to have some Western food. So I ended up with a very good pizza and a beer. Then back home to the hotel for an early night

Day 13

Early start (07.00), so breakfast consisted of croissant and an ice latte from SevenEleven. We took off towards Angkor Wat, as many other tourist. Most of the temples were built in 1100 century, with different religion ruling. First Hinduism then Buddhism and some four years of Islam. If you want to know more about Angkor Wat, I suggest you google it! Nowadays the most famous one is Ta Prohm, due to it being used in the film Tomb Raider. At noon we finished and went for a Khmer lunch in the city, and then I was dropped off at my hotel for some rest. Later in the day we went to a Buddhist monastery, really calm and quiet and no tourists. After the monastery we drove to the outskirts of Siem Reap, and to a local market known as the Market for widowers. Once again, in contrast to Angkor Wat, so nice to be in a place with no tourists. I got to eat a fresh mango, so delicious! We then continued for 5-10 minutes and visited some friends of Mao. They are farmers, with a small piece of land and Mao showed how you manually water the crops. We then went to Mao’s home and had some well deserved Angkor beer on his porch. It was so nice to meet his wife and his two kids. Finally, the driver took me back to the hotel and I went out of a quick dinner before going to bed.

Day 13

This will be a day of transportation. First a 6 hours bus ride to Phnom Penh and after midnight we have a flight to Manila, with a couple of hours waiting at the airport before we continue down to Cebu. So I’ll close the Cambodian part of the blog. Cu in The Philippines!

Cebu (Philippines)

Day 14

To finish off Cambodia, we went home to Lin and Ratana and had a wonderful dinner with Khmer food, before they drove us to the airport. On the first flight to Manila, we managed to get one row each, so we managed to lay down and get some sleep. Then a three hours wait at Manila airport before the final flight to Cebu. Anders & Eva has a friend in Sweden, Geraldine. She’s from Cebu, and her brother’s daughters has helped us arrange for our three days stay in Cebu. They were in school, so her father picked us up and drove us to the hotel. Once again, a very Chinese look & feel hotel. Not really my cup of tea but the rooms are nice. I managed to get one hour of sleep before Johanna, her sisters, her father and the driver picked us up at 14:00. First they took us to the monument of Lapulapu. Lapulapu or Lapu-Lapu, whose name was first recorded as Çilapulapu, was a datu (chief) of Mactan, an island now part of the Philippines. Lapulapu is known for the 1521 Battle of Mactan, where he and his men defeated Spanish forces led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his native allies Rajah Humabon and Datu Zula. Magellan’s death in battle ended his voyage of circumnavigation and delayed the Spanish occupation of the islands by over forty years until the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi in 1564. We the continued to El Fuerte de San Pedro in Cebu. Fort San Pedro is a military defense structure in Cebu, Philippines, built by the Spanish under the command of Miguel López de Legazpi, first governor of the Captaincy General of the Philippines. In the early 17th century a stone fort was built to repel Muslim raiders. Today’s structure dates from 1738 and is the oldest triangular bastion fort in the country. It served as the nucleus of the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines. During the Philippine Revolution at the end of the 19th century, it was attacked and taken by Filipino revolutionaries, who used it as a stronghold.

We then continued to a museum and the Basilica Minore Sto Niño. The Minor Basilica of the Holy Child, locally known as the Basílica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebú and commonly known as Santo Niño Basilica, is a minor basilica in Cebu City in the Philippines that was founded in 1565. It is the oldest Roman Catholic church in the country, allegedly built on the spot where the image of the Santo Niño de Cebú was found during the expedition of Miguel López de Legazpi. At this time, our tummies started to indicate that it was time for food. We went to a local food market, where we had some different Filipino food, including blood from a pig. Since you eat with your hands, you put on a plastic bag on each hand. A bit unusual but it worked out really well. Even the plates were in a plastic bag so there was no need to do any dishes. We had pork and spring rolls and of course some rice, this time hanging rice (rice served in a container made out of palm leaves. The food was great, with one exception (pig blood). We finished off the day to go to the grocery market. This was by far the biggest grocery market anyone of us has seen. Several rows of stand in the street for several blocks. Just walking through, without stopping took almost half an hour. Time was now close to 20:00 and we were dropped off at the hotel, and it will be an early night, that’s for sure

Day 15

Today was a full sightseeing day. We started by going to the Heritage of Cebu monument, before we continued to the Casa Corordo. It’s a beautiful house built in the 1850s in a very Spanish style. It’s now a museum, and definitely worth a visit. Then a quick visit to the Taoist Temple. The temple was built in 1972. And Chinese rules, so even though we were outside all the time, we had to wear a face mask. A nice view, but I wouldn’t say it should be your top priority to see in Cebu. Then we were off to the Temple of Leah. Not a religious temple, instead an declaration of love from a businessman to his wife Leah. Also located high up with a great view over the city. Lunch was eaten at Inasal, a fast food chain serving Filipino food, really good! After lunch it was time to visit Little Amsterdam, a homage to flowers, windmills etc from the Netherlands. Also with a love theme throughout the park. The day was then ended at TOPS Cebu. This is a lookout place high up in the mountains with a spectacular view of Cebu city. It’s relatively new, and very well visited. Especially for viewing the sunset and to see all the city lights in the evening. We had some coffee and some desserts, before it was time to take photos. At around 19ish we drove back to the city, and had our dinner at a local food market. The food was excellent, as it has been throughout our visit here in Cebu.

Day 16

Island hopping! We were picked up at 7.00 and made some stops on the way to pick up food and drinks, before we reached the harbour. After loading everything on the boat, we took off to a small island some 30 minutes away from the harbour in Mactan. It was a perfect place to have a look at some beautiful fishes, and as expected, the water was very warm. We then continued to a very small island, where we had to walk in the water to the other side to get to a small but very nice beach. I think the pictures says more. After the small island we anchored up outside Olango Island. The food and the drinks were being consumed through the day. And food, as always excellent! We came back to the harbour around 15ish and then we had an hour’s drive to get back to the hotel. We ended the day at a huge mall, where we made some purchases in the supermarket to bring to our next stop Bantayan Island. And finally, the day was closed down in the bar at the hotel, this time with drinks instead of beer.

Bantayan Island (Philippines)

Day 17

Once again, early start. We took off from the hotel at 07.00, driving towards Haganya, where the ferry to Bantayan departs. We had plenty of time to catch the 12.30 ferry, but after a while it turned out that we would be able to reach the 10.30 ferry. And so we did. The ferry took approximately one hour to Santa Fe on Bantayan. We were picked up at the port by the landlady. We had a quick tour around the house, and then she took us to Santa Fe so we could have a lunch and buy some food. Bantayan has changed a lot since I was here 10 years ago, much more tourism and much more restaurants. Even one with a sign saying that they sell Swedish snus. And that’s a bad sign. We bought some basic food at the supermarket, and then went to the normal market to buy groceries and meat. A tricycle took us back to the house, and we could start settling in. The house is actually located on a private beach, with some 15 meters to walk from the house to the water. The house is really nice, so I’m pretty sure that we will enjoy this stay. In the evening we cooked dinner (chicken with green chili and garlic and fried potatoes). It was enjoyed with a bottle of really good wine (bought in Marks & Spencer in Cebu. I guess nothing much will happen here for the next four days, so this is probably my next to last post on this trip. On Thursday we will go back to Cebu. Anders & Eva will go to Moalboal (in Cebu), while I will go to the airport to start my journey back home, via Manila and Beijing.

Bantayan part II

Day 18-23

We just stayed by the house and the beach throughout our stay in Bantayan. Apart from the last dinner, we cooked our own meals during the stay. On the second day we all had a massage, but apart from that, nothing much happened. Reading, playing cards, swimming and sun bathing. We planned to take the 7.30 ferry from the island on the last day. However, since this is the Easter week, the situation for the ferries was chaotic, so we didn’t leave port until 9.15. It felt like all Filipinos had decided to go to Bantayan for Easter. When we got to Haganaya, our friends from Cebu were waiting for us. Then a long drive started towards Moalboal, where Anders & Eva will stay for a couple of days. A visit to a waterfall was unsuccessful, since it was closed during Easter. Travelling by car in the Philippines takes for ages, due to heavy and slow traffic and very narrow roads. The trip from Moalboal to the airport in Cebu took slightly more than four hours. Now I’m waiting in Manila for the flight to Beijing, and if nothing spectacular occurs during the final hours, I will end my travel blog for Asia 2024 here and now.