Philippines 2013: 10 - Manila to Cotabato to Manila, Philippines

Monday, May 20, 2013

We taxied to the airport for our flight to Cotabato after checking most of our baggage at the hotel. The driver thought we needed terminal 4, but security at the entrance said we had to go to terminal 2, a 20 minute taxi ride away. Here security insisted we needed terminal 3 - we now had 5 minutes to check in, but the taxi took another 20 minutes in traffic. Check in was officially closed, but they processed us as we had no baggage.

We rushed to the gate, about a kilometer from security, when Marilynn noticed she didn't have her jacket. The gate employees said she would have time to go get it, so for the first time PAL's late flights worked for us. This flight was half an hour late.

Cotabato province is part of the Muslim Autonomous Zone of the Philippines. They have their own government, which controls a large part of Mindaneo and the entire Sulu Archipelago. The Canadian Government web site states that all travel to this area is to be avoided due to a serious threat of terrorist attacks, kidnappings and bombings that have already killed dozens of people. Needless to say, there aren't a lot of tourists.

Marilynn asked at airport information for an English speaking taxi driver. We settled with driver Leo, who spoke a little English, on a price of 350 pesos ($8.75) per hour for an area tour.in his Isuzu SUV. We stopped at the Moorish designed city hall on the way to check into our room at El Manuel Hotel, which I'd booked through a travel agency in England for $30 per night. We were a bit apprehensive, but although basic it was fine.

Leo drove us around the agricultural based area and the impoverished appearing city for the next 5 hours. There are no high buildings - with few exceptions the largest are two stories. Although there were a number of mosques, Leo said the population in the city is mostly Christian. Less than half the women had their heads covered.

We drove into the countryside, past areas where half the road was taken up with corn, fish or copra drying in the sun, to suddenly come across the giant Sultan Hassanal Balkian Mosque. It looks like something right out of Arabian nights with four minarets and multiple golden domes! The caretakers were friendly, permitting us to take photos. This is the largest mosque in the Philippines. We are objects of curiosity everywhere we go in this little visited area, but are usually met with smiles and friendly waves.

We stopped at Jolly Bee for lunch. We have seen this fast food chain throughout the Philippines, and the food was great. It is preferred by most locals to other chains such as McDonalds, and has apparently begun expanding to the US.

We visited a beautiful religious Grotto, where in one area called "evolution" life size creatures have been sculpted, from dinosaurs to panda bears. There was also a small zoo. A friendly caretaker took us around - they are only open on Sundays, but she gave us a private tour.

In our travels we passed through frequent checkpoints manned by heavily armed soldiers, and army trucks transporting troops were a common sight in the narrow, crowded streets of the city.

We stopped at the river port, about 3 km upstream from the ocean. Large ships can't get here, but a number of smaller ships were tied up. Police guards at the heavily barred gates took us to the security office where the head man spoke good English and was very friendly. He made notes from our ID, and asked if we were going to publish the photos we hoped to take. Once convinced that we actually were tourists and would not publish photos, he told us to take all the photos we wanted.

It was a great place for photographs. Dugout canoes ferried people between the markets on our side across to a community built on stilts on the far bank, naked kids jumped off house porches into the river and the fishing fleet moved by - an action filled location.

We visited the political headquarters for the autonomous zone government, where offices such as the highways department are located before being returned to the hotel. Everywhere we went Christians, Muslims and Buddhists seemed to get along fine.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Our tour taxi took us to the airport where for the first time PAL was on time. In Manila we went for a taxi outside the exit from the arrivals area, finding lots of hustlers wanting fares of 900 pesos to the Manila Hotel. We refused, eventually going up a floor to the departure area where we got a taxi that had just dropped people off. He used his meter, as the law requires, and the fare was 230 pesos.

After check in we had a swim, happy hour drinks and an hour long massage courtesy of the hotel. A tasty, light dinner was enjoyed on the patio overlooking the pool

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

We checked out at noon and went to the airport with our previous taxi driver. We had to wait an uncomfortable 1 ½ hours before we could check in - they didn't open until 3 hours before flight time. Once in the China Southern Lounge we were fine. There was food, beer and internet until our Guangzhou flight left on time at 5:30 PM.