After I was done with Cebu I felt like having some quiet time before leaving to Korea. Relax a bit and do some research. In Clark I met up with my new host Olive, who happened to be Korean. This suited me perfectly, because then I could leech on her a bit and get some info about Korea. What happened however, was that her boss called her and she had to attend a birthday party. She dragged me along with her and I ended up at a Korean restaurant with her colleagues. We ate a lot of good food and downed a fair amount of soju, Korean vodka. Somehow it seemed difficult to dodge alcohol in this country.
Good Friday! The reason why I came to Clark. Olive, three of her Filipino coworkers and I were off to see the crucifixions! Once again my luck was helping me bump into the right people and the girls fixed everything. We got our private Jeepney and rode off to San Fernando, Pampanga. On the way we saw a lot of Jesuses, flogging themselves and carrying crosses. After waiting in the heat quite some time for the main event, the small girls got crushed against a fence and got passes for the VIP section by one of the guards, so that they could escape. Happily I accepted my ticket and we went in and had a great view over the whole thing, while most people were looking into each others back heads and umbrellas. The Pinoys nailed each other up a couple of times and then carried their victims on a stretcher to the red cross crew that were waiting for them. A fun thing to have seen, but it wasn't as dramatic as in Passion of the Christ. On the way back, I got to carry a cross and take some photos. I had been saving my "beard" a month, so that I would get my proper saviour look. In the evening we celebrated with Matador brandy in the company of hobos at a seven-eleven.
Olive's friend has of course a pool table, and we played pool and ate pizza for breakfast at Tess' place the following Saturday. Afterwards we went to a Korean spa, Jimjibang, and relaxed there and had some naps. In the locker room they had toothbrushes, razors and everything, so I got myself cleaned up properly. Since I wasn't 100% dry when I started putting on my clothes, one of the staff in the locker room came running and started to dry me with a towel. Slightly uncomfortable, but somewhat amusing to feel like a king. We went home and prepared ourselves for Saturday night out in Angeles, the Philippines' answer to Pattaya or any other filthy place. It used to be an American airbase, and where there are Americans, there are shitloads of whores. We watched the musical Mamma Mia while I downloaded Perl and made my first script in seven months. What most people do before going out. Once again Olive's coworkers called her and she had to join them. I had to go out with her friends alone, but I didn't mind. It's not so bad sitting there with 5 girls dancing around.
I left Clark for Manila and met up with Tania, a Canadian I met in Palawan. We went to Vikings!, one of my favorite restaurants. I ate till I couldn't walk properly and then said good bye to Tania and wished her good luck with her job here. Donna, my first and last host in the Philippines, showed up and I got to crash at her place the last two nights of my stay in this country, In Manila I did some shopping, replaced some well worn underpants and socks, and got some new shirts for Korea. Donna and I had a last supper in Manila and I had my last shake for a while! Now I was going off to Korea to burn off that belly I built up in the Philippines!
Thanks again to everybody in the Philippines!
I've met so many brilliant people that I hope to see again! The trip has been truly amazing and I owe most of it to my hosts and friends of theirs. I loved the Philippines because I was Guwappo (handsome) just because I was white, and everybody was always smiling to me. The Pinoys are everywhere, which I think is a good thing. They should breed with everybody so that everyone will have at least 20% Filipino in them.
Ha det bra!
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