Legaspi
Two days would merge into one. Or was it one day, starting late and ending late, daylight merely a passage between nightly pursuits?
Our night started as it always did - with a beer.
We met Huey and Johnny in the lobby of the Legaspi Tourist Inn. Both were English, and both had worked in the mines of Western Australia for 9 months, built up a 'war chest' and come to the Philipines to compensate for their sabbatical in the desert. For what it's worth, 'war chests' go a long way in the Philippines.
Over about 6 cold beers each (conveniently available from the Hotel front desk, just metres away from our plush surroundings) we got the serious part of the evening out of the way - the benefits, and drawbacks of working in the mines, the money, living in England, and various other topics of interest. Needless to say, it's always interesting to meet people from the other side of the world and get their perspective on things. I hope they thought the same of us.
Dinner, and a few more beers later, we found ourselves - I won't lie - in a Filipino strip club. When I say, 'found ourselves'... well, you can use your imagination.
Picture a school hall located in an industrial wasteland, with a makeshift stage and plastic chairs, about thirty particularly seedy, yet placid males, and there you have it. Each of the four of us had a lady 'assigned' to us, whose primary role was to encourage the consumption of over-priced drinks, and perhaps keep us from wandering too far.
I'm sure they were successful, as my memory has a blank spot in it till about 6pm the next day...
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| View from the window of the Legaspi Tourist Inn... the next day |
The next day, once I had my bearings again, and had done a few chores, we met our Filipino friend Rainer and his brother. Rainer worked in the adventure shop below us, and was an intense sort of chap. He faced directly into you as he spoke, and did so with a piercing gaze and wide teeth. He spoke about 10cm from your face, a 'close-talker', one would say.
Well, he showed us a good time, strip club memories aside.
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| Hey, check that out! |
First, we dined on some fine Philippine cuisine, and made our way to an empty Karaoke bar, again filled with small plastic chairs. Swags bought along his 'girlfriend' that he had met the previous night at Dinner, a delightful 20-year old named Connie. For those wanting to know, John is nearly 28. That's an 8 year gap. Also, by now it should be clear, Swags fell in love nearly every day - waiters, barmaids, shopkeepers, janitors, chemist assistants, checkout operators, hooke... you get the picture.
Back to Rainer and his mysterious brother.
As it turned out, Rainer had a soulful voice with a talent for wispy American rock ballads. Immediately his accent and stilted speech would switch off, and he would become a full-throated, full-blooded American. Give him Bon Jovi, he could blow it away any day of the week. Rainer's brother joined in as well. Boy, did they have some talent. There we were - two Kiwi idiots, sitting like stunned mullets from the previous nights experience, eating Silsig (pig face), and jamming with two global superstars.
As the beers piled up on the table, my instincts couldn't help but kick in - this is going to be expensive. But hey, 13 beers, a pack of Marlborough Lights (I'd momentarily taken up smoking), some pig face, all for $15 wasn't a bad deal!
I got better and better at singing as the night wore on, my raspy, passion-soaked voice piercing the still night (I'm a Guns N Roses, Pearl Jam kinda guy). By the time Rainer has almost past out, his brother was fast asleep head down in his plate, and Swags and I were just warming up, the early morning hours wore thin, and we were home to bed.
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| Looming My Mayon... what trouble would find us in Legaspi... |
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