Bataan 1/3

Our journey takes us to Bataan, a province in the Philippines where part of Debbie's family usually lives.

Vendors keep boarding the bus and offering drinks and snacks. After politely declining for the 5th or 6th time, it starts to get a little annoying. But Marc gets a high five from a vendor because he says 'Hindi-po' which means 'No' in Tagalog, and the vendor says he can speak Tagalog better than English.

Our way leads through small towns and rice fields towards Balanga, the capital of Bataan. We check into a hotel, which means: hot water, air conditioning, and a proper bed for 2 ½ days.

It's evening, and we ride a tricycle to Cedee's family in Bataan. There's a mango tree in the garden, and we're allowed to pick one, and there are fighting cocks sitting under the trees. After getting a few things there, we ride back to Balanga City.

There, we visit the plaza, the marketplace. It's surrounded by 4 large buildings: the church, the town hall, a hotel, and the shopping center. In front of it, there's an impressive water display that's illuminated in different colors.

The huge, old, magnificent buildings are a strong contrast to most of the buildings here that look rather run-down.

We're starting to get hungry, so we go back to the hotel. We decide to eat at the 'FoodPark', where you sit in the middle and there are several stalls around with different types of food. This way, everyone can eat what they want, and we can still sit together.

Tonight, we're having Filipino barbecue and fancy drinks. After we finish eating, it suddenly starts raining. But don't ask how, the food park is covered with a sturdy corrugated iron, which has made it extremely loud, so we could hardly talk.

We get dessert, because we have to wait until it stops raining anyway. After what feels like an eternity, the rain slowly subsides, and we can start walking back to the hotel.

Completely exhausted from the long journey, we fall into bed, because tomorrow we have to get up early to go to Las Casas.

I think we left the mango behind...

Paalam.