Work & travel in Philippines

11/6/07 - 13/6/07
Makati, Quezon City and Ortigas Center, Pasig City.

First timer in Philippines, settled for a 3 star hotel in Makati area, part of Metro Manila. Known as the financial capital of the Philippines (Ph), it was at Makati that I really had a good look at the jeepneys on the road, very similar to mini buses (like the one we have in KL in 70s, 80s and early 90s) in terms of its modus operandi.

But there's no button to press to signal the driver if you want to get down... all you have to do is flick your finger to the 'ceiling' of the jeepney or say 'para', which means 'get down'. And it can be quite congested in it at times, 20 or more can be squeezed in one jeepney...but I've seen somewhere there were 4 or more people hanging dangerously at the back of the jeepney!! Fuyooh.... too bad no photo of that to show here.

One more thing that impresses me is that the driver is also the conductor who collects the money from the passengers. And if you are seated right at the back, just be assured that the person sitting or standing (hardly straight because of the height of the vehicle) next to you will pass the money to the driver. Well, you'll get to see the jeepneys all over Philippines... except for some rural areas where tricycles (like taxi) are available for hire. Well, apart from Makati, I had the opportunity to visit Quezon City...but still no signs of balut though...



Attended a permit training by Ph's O&G company at a contractor's office building in Quezon City. Believe it or not, at the top floor there is some space for the workers to have lepak and some recreational activities ...there's table tennis table, carrom & dartboard etc. There is also a prayer room, as shown in the picture on the left.







Feeling proud after the training and endorsed as a permit issuer after passing my exams with flying colours (96%), little that I know of the hardships and challenges that awaits me in the next few days of my work in Ph.... of which I will be sharing with you in a short while... read on if you have the time...















Captured the above photo in Pasig City when I was somewhere near my company's local office, staying up quite late to work on an ESA report for a PJ site back home, in which I have just completed the site work about a week earlier. I had to juggle my time between working on the report (deadline in a week's time) and preparing all the documents and cross-checking the field supplies that I will need for my sites here in Ph. My preparation for the work in Ph didn't go on smoothly as I have thought earlier as the project manager in charge didn't communicate with me properly (cilakak betul!) on the order of which site I need to tackle first (different from the one given on paper), in view of lack of field supplies (well covers, slotted pipes, sampling jars/containers etc.). Because of that, I had to wait for 2-3 days before embarking on my first site for drilling. And since I had to wait for the lab results to complete my report for the PJ site, I offered myself (duh!) to do PI over the weekend. Wat a mistake... I should have kept quiet and make full use of my time in Manila to travel around. Anyway, I did manage to travel around with a driver arranged by the company, but to do PI on designated sites only and the following is the chronological order of my site visits.

14/6/07
Calauan & Nagcarlan, Laguna and San Jose, Batangas.

All 3 sites in one day's work!! Reached back to the hotel very late... how do I know I was very late? Cos there were so many chickens on the streets already... serious!! The sad thing is, my dear colleague Pillay is leaving to the north of Manila the next day, so I won't be seeing him for another 2 weeks the least.

15/6/07
Guinobatan & Pio Duran, Albay and Milaor, Camarines Sur.

Got up early to catch a flight to Legazpi airport from Manila (took off from the newer airport and had to pay airport tax for nothing!), carried out 3 PIs (more like 2.5) in a day within Bicol region before call it a day in Naga City.

Photo above: Quick shot towards Mt Mayon, after Legazpi airport

The first site was at Guinobatan. On my way to this small town I had the privilege to see the magnificent Mt Mayon, which was last seen blurting out pyroclastic materials back in January 2007. At Guinobatan the pyroclastic materials can be seen easily along the road side and on river banks. While I was walking around to do the PI, I came across two people squatting by the road side and there were many empty water containers surrounding them. I came closer and that's when I realized that they were pumping groundwater into the empty containers. I was so impressed by the quality of the groundwater that I cupped a mouthful of water and.... nope I didn't drink it... I just smelled the water.

At Guinobatan town I took the opportunity to ask some people at the municipal office about the next site located in Pio Duran, but I was apprehensive about going there after I was advised not to go there out of safety reasons. My driver said it's ok since I'm going there in the afternoon, but it is not advisable to go there in the evening or night because that's when the New People's Army (NPA) will come down from the nearby jungle to get their daily necessities. Being a foreigner, I was worried about my safety and I decided to call the project manager (Pm) to ask him whether I should proceed with the plan or not. He said he didn't know about the security concern at the Pio Duran site, but he said it should be ok. His assurance wasn't enough, so I told the driver that I might give this site a skip, and hence reduce my tambang. He then approached one of the locals there and somehow he got to know where owner of the station at Pio Duran. I agreed to meet with the owner (staying in one of the town after Guinobatan, forgot liao...)as I have to do some interview to get some details on the station's set-ups.

Met the owner's sisters and brother, very nice and hospitable family, they even offered me lunch, which I'd politely declined. I told them about my concern about visiting their station, but they reassured me that it is quite safe to be there in the day time. Soon after the interview, I left for Pio Duran, which took me about one hour over hilly, winding and bumpy road into some forested area to which I have no idea where I was. I saw a lot of wooden house along the way...very similar like the orang asli houses seen along the road to Fraser's Hill. I reached the town area sometime after noon and I was reluctant to get down at first because they were so many people staring at the van where I was sitting in. And I was still apprehensive thinking that I might be a kidnap victim of NPA, just like the kidnapping case in Sipadan whereby the people there were caught by MILF. I finally got down after 5 minutes and went straight to the station to do my work. After a while I felt quite safe after all the stares disappeared and walk around the town, in the vicinity of the station. Apparently the Pio Duran is a fishing village and things were pretty cheap here.

Next site: Milaor. Called the owner days earlier to inform about my arrival to the station for PI, she said ok but she wasn't around when I was there. The person in charge could hardly speak English, and she wasn't informed of my coming and purpose of my visit, and that made her very unresponsive and stubborn during the interview. At first I sensed she wasn't comfortable with me, so I asked my driver to be the translator. And yet she was reluctant to cooperate in giving the information that I need. I lost my cool when she talked rudely to my driver and didn't have the courtesy to look at him or me when we were talking to her. Not getting much info from her after much persuasion, I decided not to waste time on that bit** and started to look around the station for answers. I saw three well covers within the vicinity of the station and this discovery made my PI easier la... but I was damn hairan why this station was included in the project. Since all the wells were done in the past by my company, why didn't they do some checking first before sending people out to do the PI? What a waste of time and resource!! And when I informed the Pm about the existing wells, he suggested that I take the groundwater samples, to which I asked him how. Excuse me, how many people would bring along bailers, sampling containers and cooler box etc. to carry out PI? NONE, right? Bodoh punye Pm!

Mentally and physically drained after the 3rd site (all in a day's work), I instructed the driver to the nearest place where I can find a decent hotel. So he suggested Naga City because he's quite familiar with the road and he knew there's a couple of nice hotels there. So there I was at Naga City, overnight in Bicol Region for the first time.






















16/6/07
Naga City

Because the 17/6/07 is a Sunday and I'm not required to attend to any urgent site yet i.e. for drilling, the Pm told me two days earlier that it is not necessary for me to fly back to Manila (already pre-planned by him before I left for Legazpi the day earlier... and I remembered he said something like the air ticket was expensive.... cilakak betul!).

On my second day in Naga City, I am supposed to take a bus back to Manila, but unfortunately I missed the earliest bus. So I'm practically stuck in Bicol region! Well, apparently there were only two time slots for buses that leaves for Manila... I think it's at 6am and 6pm... and the traveling time is 10 hours!!! And because I had to work late finishing my report (yeah, lab results for the PJ site came out so soon that I hardly have the time to look at them and compile for my report) the night before, in which I had to practically stayed up until 4 or 5am! Barely had 2 hours of sleep, I got up, took shower, had breakfast, pack my stuff and was at the reception counter to check out. That was when I discovered I missed the first bus to Manila. I was advised by the receptionist to take the morning bus the following day (17/6/07) instead of taking the evening bus on the same day (16/6/07), whereby I could be reaching Manila around 4 am the following day. So when the receptionist told me about the two (only) time slots for buses to leave for Manila I was actually stunned and lost for words la... firstly because I didn't expect there's only 2 trips to Manila from this so-called city... and secondly because I don't have much Pesos with me. Thank God this hotel accept credit cards as payment (including payment for room service... makan in the room shiok mar... can baring and watch TV) so I don't mind staying over for another night here.

I was very lucky to manage the report (PJ site) that night and the following morning itself (had to rush for the report in view of my hectic schedule the following weeks) because my prodigal murid was so kind to stay up with me to receive my comments and make amendments to the report accordingly. Hah... lucky we are in the IT era... so communicating and exchanging work items although we are miles apart is not a problem lar... can use MSN messenger mar!! But in such a small town, there is barely internet access (sorry no cyber cafe here, very ulu indeed for a city!)... so I had to ask to use the hotel's office to access the internet. I think my charm actually helped me in getting me what I want (internet access la...)...*cough*..... * cough*....

Anyway at the Naga city I was compelled to walk around the hotel area and found a shoe shop. Bought a pair of sandals and that's it... my only 'purchased' souvenir from Naga. Went jalan-jalan a bit but there's nothing much to see except for an old church and a small park with a mini-memorial park located opposite of the church. What caught my attention was a figurine of Jesus lying in a see-through coffin in the church itself.... I snapped some photos, so check them out at flickr.

Got back to my hotel room before noon and started to work on my ESA and PI reports (six altogether!) after I had some baboy and rice for lunch in via room service. By the way, in the Philippines, I practically eat pork everyday.... yum yum... ;-)

17/6/07
Naga City & Makati City

Got up early the next morning so that I won't miss the morning bus again. Took for the first time a motorised tricycle all by myself (a hotel staff flagged one and told him I needed to go to the bus station and at the same time asked for the tambang). At the bus station I went from one counter to the next, hopping around from one end to another, either because the person at the counter doesn't understand English or because I wasn't sure which bus company would offer the least traveling time i.e. limited transit stops. Slightly confused and tired of carrying my luggage bag around, I settled for one decent looking bus to somewhere I can't remember but got mentioned 'Manila' and man... the 10 hours journey became 12 hours because of the mini-stops in between. Mak oi... bontot & tulang belakang sakit la... small bus...not much of space to move around... and certain routes the road conditions were bad... so bumpy.... no air-cond some more... man.. that was the longest bus ride of my life!! But getting on the bus wasn't much of a problem, the only problem is I didn't know where to stop in Manila... it's a metropolitan city and the bus driver just stopped me at a road side somewhere in Manila when I told him I wanted to go to my hotel in Makati. He doesn't speak much English, so were the people close to where I had this conversation with the driver. So I had to take my chance to get down since the bus was going somewhere which doesn't ring a bell to me at all. Got down from the bus, took my luggage from the bag compartment, walked to the nearest bus stop and flag down a couple of taxis, but all refused to use meter to go to Makati (I am short of cash, remember?). I think I waited for more than 20 mins before finally I flagged down one taxi driver who was obliged to take me in (using meter of course!). The journey was less than 15 mins and I was back at the hotel...phheewww... what a long day and I was relieved that I finally manged to find my way back to the hotel. But why do I have to go through all these troubles? Shouldn't the Pm make all the necessary traveling and accommodation arrangements for me? I was in forgiving spirit at that time, so I wasn't upset with him, yet.

18/6/07
Ortigas Centre, Pasig City & Makati City

Was back in Ph's office to await for the 'go-ahead' signal from the Pm to proceed to the first site for drilling. Got some stash of cash for the next few days. Here at Ph's office there is one dedicated person to do all the packing and checking of field supplies, but I felt he was a bit biased towards me when the things I had asked, readily available the week before, were given to others. In another words, he gave higher priority to others, although I made the request for field supplies the week before. Fine... maybe it's just my luck... so be it...I just can't wait to finish all the sites entrusted to me so that I can rush home to see my young son. Well, it was that day itself that I had found out that I will be going to my first site in Bulacan the following day. No mention about any changes to the original plan (in order of priority) for the sites... yet. Passed 4 out of the 6 PI reports to Ph's personnel for their documentation, hutang another 2 reports because I didn't manage to work on it the day before... too exhausted because of the traveling.

19/6/07 - 21/6/07
Sapang Palay, San Jose del Monte, Bulacan Province

Took a taxi (arranged by office) and the driver asked me where to stop in Bulacan. I was quite bemused that since he was arranged by the office, why didn't the Pm mention to him specifically where I needed to go in Bulacan? So anyway I took out my schedule which was given by the Pm (the same schedule that was used in a meeting with the contractor the week before) and told him that I wanted to check in to a hotel nearest to the first site on the list, which is Marilao (within the Bulacan province). So he gave me few options and I instructed him to take me to a hotel with resort in its name ('Grotto'... sounds like a nice place lar...not too far from Tungko market where I noticed there is a Jollibee outlet). So when we were there, he asked for money which I was obliged to give but wait a minute... isn't he suppose to take me to the site where I'll be working on? How am I suppose to meet the drilling contractor? Because it appeared that he has done his job and get paid already ('Bulacan' was the agreed place, little that I know that both Marilao and another site Sapang Palay in located within this large province), so he left the hotel area so swiftly that I didn't manage to ask him to take me to the Marilao site after checking-in at the hotel. The hotel rate was expensive, but the taxi had already left, I have no choice but to settle there (the taxi driver's info on the hotel rates was inaccurate). I paid the deposit and asked the person on the counter how to go to Marilao, and he didn't understand English, so I was referred to someone else. And I was told that there is no direct transport to Marilao, no taxis on the road unless they come from the city as I have came with earlier. And I was also told I'm quite far away from Marilao. I kinda panicked and called the Pm right away and told him the situation and the predicament I was facing at that time. But that was when he admitted that he instructed the taxi driver to Bulacan, but nearer to Sapang Palay (SP), which was the 2nd site on my list!!! I questioned him, but the excuse he gave was, he 'thought' we understood each other because lack of slotted pipes, I am required to go to SP first considering that we may not encounter groundwater at shallow depth (so just need to go to max 8m before terminating the dry borehole) there, unlike Marilao (predicted to have gw at shallow depth). PKMK betul .... I was so upset that I screwed him on the phone but I cooled down after he apologised to me. But when I asked him about the transport arrangement for me to go the 2nd site, he said I have to arrange it by myself. I told him I do not know where exactly I am at the present moment and he asked me to ask around (he doesn't know this place either) how to get to the 2nd site, which I did after asking so many ppl who can barely understand what I'm saying. I have to take a jeepney (jeep) across the street opposite the hotel, stop at a small jeep terminal and take another jeep to SP. Getting on the jeeps wasn't much of a problem (except for some knocks on the head because of the ceiling of the jeep) but getting down where you are supposed to be is a big, big problem if you don't know where the place is. So at the jeep terminal I managed to get a jeep, but I had problem communicating with the driver in asking him to tell me where to get down. I told him specifically that I wanted to get down at Sapang Palay's Shell Petrol Station. At one corner which appeared to me like a 'town' area, I asked him whether I can find the Shell station and he said yes. I got down from the jeep, look around, walk around a little bit but couldn't spot the station. I asked quite a number of ppl next to a 'jeep' stop, but all geleng kepala. I had almost lost hope, when there was this lady approached me and said she heard of me asking where I wanted to go and she offered me to take me viz jeepney. Her intended stop is right after the place where I had wanted to go and while in jeepney she also advised me how much I need to pay for the tambang and how to signal to the driver that I want to get down. Finally I was at the 2nd site, and the drilling contractor wasn't there yet as agreed the week before. The next few days when I was working there, I commuted daily from the site to the hotel and vice-versa via jeeps, carrying my bag with field supplies and PID. The 2nd day wasn't that bad, because I know where to get down and how much I need to pay for the ride. The earliest jeep was around 5am and the latest is around 8pm. There was one day I worked late (around 9pm I think) and missed the last jeep. I had no choice but to take a bus through some barangay areas (believe me, all these 'villages' look the same in the dark) to get to the jeep terminal. I was lucky because I managed to get on to the last jeep to head back to my hotel. All the workers stayed overnight at the station, sleeping on the pavement (first night) but slept in the quarter's room (belonged to the station) on the 2nd night. Because I instructed them to work so late on the 2nd day to keep up with our schedule (miss my son so badly already that time), they have no time to cook, so I offered them to buy dinner. And it was then I discovered that meat such as chicken or baboy is something luxurious to them...it is not something that they eat everyday. Located on a slope, there was no sign of water table (maybe hard to discern due to insufficient lighting), so we had to go to the max 8m into the stiff and hard heterogeneous colluvial deposit... using dry flight augering method some more... issh...it was really tough for the drillers and co. But I salute them for their professionalism, as there wasn't any dissent towards my instructions (unlike contractors back at home....sikit2 tak boleh masuk la... susah la....keras la...). The 2nd day was easier, as I have discovered the 1st bore was filled with water up to between 2 to 3m below ground surface. Based on my experience I know this is not the real water table but merely surface run-off. This discovery made our lives easier now that we don't need to drill another two 8m borehole to move on to another site. On the third day we completed the third well and moved to the 2nd site in Marilao (also in Bulacan province). Since I have no transport and the drillers have only one vehicle that is the drilling truck itself, I had no choice but to tumpang the truck. It was bumpy at times, but I enjoyed the view of the surroundings when I was sitting in it.

21/6/07 - 22/6/07
Marilao, Bulacan Province

Reached on the 2nd half of the day after SP site, started working after 2 hours rest. Practically easy site with ample working space, high water table, soft formation and hardly any hard stuff in the subsurface. Within that 2 hours I took the drilling supervisor with me to hunt down a hotel, riding around on a tricycle. The ride wasn't cheap, and the hotel rates weren't cheap either. Almost got frustrated and things got worse when it drizzled when my luggage bag was still at the back of the tricycle, uncovered. And because the 'driver' took a wrong turn, we ended up on a area whereby the roads are submerged with polluted river water (high BOD, COD etc., and smells of sewerage too... yuck!). Like I said earlier, the water table was high and I suspected some place will be submerged with water when the tide is high (not too far from a river that leads to the sea). So after 1 hour or so I finally settled down in a 'motel', ordered room service for myself and my guide (drilling supervisor) and the motel staff who carried my luggage to the room turned on the TV and smiling cheekily when he turned on the porn channel. Yeap...you read that right... porn channel!! Ahhh.... that explains why there is short hourly rates for the rooms there...1 hr....3 hours... etc... go figure!!

So after lunch, we worked late (8.30 - 9pm I think) to complete 2 wells. Moved on to the third one the following day, but encountered 2 concrete slabs, in which we thought the 2nd one to be a part of an old UST (PI done by sister company, but information not relayed to me by the Pm or the Ph's office staffs). I took the risk of asking the driller to penetrate it through and thank God it wasn't an old tank (spark sikit...kabooomm!!). Later in the afternoon, we proceeded to Angat, the last site within Bulacan province.

22/6/07 - 23/6/07
Angat, Bulacan Province

Another problematic site, reason being the owner was already informed about the purpose of our visit for assessment and yet reluctant to give us the 'go-ahead' to proceed, stating safety reasons. My guts tell me that she doesn't trust a foreigner like myself, although I have told her that I have completed 2 sites prior to this and no incident has occurred under my close supervision. After much persuasion and getting the regional engineer (in charge of her station) to explain to her again of our visit and assessment, she finally obliged to allow us to work, but with the condition that we must work at night after the station's operation hours only (11pm to 4 or 5am, if I'm not mistaken). I told her that's not quite possible because we have a tight schedule to follow and furthermore it's quite hard to see at night (based on our experience at the first site in SP). Then when she finally agreed for us to work in the day time, but she want to have a say where we can or cannot drill, to which I politely protest, saying that the designated locations for drilling is my purview and I told her to do that we have to consider the groundwater flow direction, safety aspects and sightings of surface contaminations. But I assured her that I will get her 'go-ahead' signal first before commence drilling on any point within the station's area. Unlike all the stations where I've worked with, this station is narrow in width and it was very challenging to drill with the big truck-mounted rig that was deployed to the site. Also at this moment, I did not have the privilege to see the information from the PI study, carried out by our sister company, so I do not know where is roughly the pipelines and the USTs. Judging by the presence of overhead transmission lines, pavements, reinstated tarmac and manhole covers at the station, I had to guess the safe points to drill, of which I could only envisage two within the station area. I took the courtesy to show the owner of the first point, to which she said yes. Ok, after 2-3 hours of drilling at this point, an old man came over to the driller and asked him to stop. Then the old man came to me and said in English: I want to know why are you drilling on my land? Oh man... I was so stunned and got pissed at the station owner for not informing me that the point where we are drilling, is actually a lease land to the station. And legally the old man owned that small strip of land within the station area. I had to apologise to the old man and explain to him the purpose of drilling and our assessment, to which I emphasize a lot on soil and groundwater assessment to see if there's any leakage within the station. As a dentist, he was very fluent in English and understood every word I said, and he finally agreed in principal (verbally) to let us do our work. And because of this hoo hoo haha thingy, I forgot that I have yet to look for a hotel and time was running out because it was getting dark already. Somehow there was a man came to the station and offered me a place across the street. It's more like a summer house in a sense that the owner will only come back once every blue moon to stay there. Already dead tired because of the traveling in the truck, the work at the station and psychological challenges that I had to endure on that day, I decided to take the offer although it is quite expensive by Ph's hotel standards. This guy who offered me the place, saw my weary face and asked if he can drive me (I have no transportation remember?) to the town for dinner. Without any hesitation I said yes. And he had to skip his weekly parish meeting in order to accompany us longer for the dinner. Not only that, he offered me Ph's breakfast at this house in the following morning... walau... how nice this good Samaritan ar!! In a way I feel blessed to meet this person but at the same time I feel kinda depressed pondering about all the difficulties that I faced so far in my course of work in Ph. Permitting, transportation and accommodation arrangements were the main setbacks that I faced here, besides having an uncaring Pm who only thinks of cutting down expenses and have weak management skills and can't make decision at critical moments. So on the following day, I had the best Ph's breakfast at the Samaritan's house; typical Ph's breakfast consisting of coffee, fried eggs and corned beef. Later, after the completion of my 2nd point, I called the Pm to inform him the status and suggested to him that we need a smaller rig to carry out further drilling due to 'safe' space constraint. He said it is not possible to do that because all other rigs already mobilise to other sites, but he said he will keep me informed on that matter. I had to wait long for his answer and tried calling him again, but to no avail. So I called up his deputy and explained the whole scenario and he advised me to move on to another site. So there I was, relieved as I would no longer want to take the risk of being there, drilling dangerously within a narrowly built station. Next stop: Tanay in Rizal Province. But before that, I had spent another night at Makati.

23/6/07 - 24/6/07
Tanay, Rizal Province

Was excited about this trip to Tanay, as apparently this town is located not too far from Laguna lake, reportedly the largest lake in Philippines. As I was traveling with the drilling team on its old truck mounted rig, I had a good view of the surroundings as we travel because of its height. The route to the Tanay site took more than 2 hours from Metro Manila because the road was narrow, winding and pretty hilly.... kinda tough on a old junkie like the one that I'd traveled on. And when you've reached the Rizal province, you'll get the chance to see the magnificent lake... like the shot you can see here. Interestingly, this province is the birthplace of Ph's national hero, José Rizal. Hmm... what a breathtaking view.... :-)

The Tanay site was pretty straight forward, high water table and easy to drill into with wide working spaces. Completed the site in 1.5 days, and I stayed overnight in 'apartel'... yeah...... a-p-a-r-t-e-l. I think it's a marriage between apartment and motel. Heck, such a lousy place but charging like a 3 or 4 star hotel. I was totally miserable when I was there... the water was cold (no water heater), the room smells, the floor was rough and the tv reception was bad. But one thing that I will remember about this place is that I was actually offered an escort girl via a 'bell boy' who actually brought another set of towels which I've already have in my room. He asked me if I like girls, to which I said yes (ehem... no naughty thoughts here ok!). But seeing his response (his command of English was barely understandable), I've got this strange feeling that he might have thought that I would like to have one girl to accompany me for the night or have some 'happy-happy' moments in my room. I was quick to say 'No' and then 'Not tonight', but he seemed to be confused. Then he asked me again if I like girls, to which again I said yes. I told him I'm tired, but he doesn't seemed to get it. He was damn persistent that he made the hand signals... copulating signs. OMG, this was my first time seeing and having a bapak ayam knocking on my door for 'room service'. I said one more 'No' at his face and resorted to slam the room door..... as I was already weary after hours of traveling on the truck mounted rig.... and we actually started to drill less than 2 hours after reaching the site. So by the time I reached my room, it was already pitch dark and my stomach was craving for solid food.

Pity the drillers... I was pushing them real hard... this was the fourth site within a week and I showed no mercy when I said I wanted to finish the site the following day. The reason why I was so pushy? Because I had missed my son so much (he's less than one year at that time) and all I have in mind is to finish all the sites allocated to me (5-7 sites) within 14 days. Kinda selfish but I have a tight schedule to follow too (given by Pm). So the next day we managed to complete the 2nd and 3rd point before lunch time, and moved to the next site in Nagcarlan, a town in Laguna Province. But before leaving the apartel with my luggage, I had a misunderstanding and arguement with a woman guarding the apartel, whereby I was asked to pay more since I'm checking out late. Actually she was quite friendly the day before when I asked about the room rates. Apparently there are two rates that I can take i.e. 12 hours or 24 hours. Since it was already late in the afternoon, I told her that I will be leaving early in the morning to work, leaving only my luggage behind, therefore it is not necessary to take the 24 hours one. She said ok for me to leave the luggage in the room and take the 12 hours rate as I told her that I will be coming back in the afternoon (before 12) to pick up my luggage and take a shower. Didn't suspect anything until the following day when I came back to the apartel to take my room key. Another guy was at the counter, unaware of the 'understanding' that I have made with the woman. He insisted that I pay more, to which I said no, insisting on him to check with the woman first. I've got my room key, had a quick cold shower and grab my luggage. And by the time I was at the reception counter to return the key, the woman was there and claimed that I misunderstood her and I retorted by saying she was the one misunderstood me. I told her, if she wouldn't have said ok to my request the day before, I would have paid in full for the 24 hours one. She was silent when I said this and gave me the fieriest stare I've ever had in years, but I was unmoved and insisted that she misunderstood me. Looking on outside of the apartel area were some people and when she noted there more people were looking at our direction, she finally gave in. I shook my head in regret (pretending only lar) when I put the keys on her palm and walked off through the main gate without looking back. And now as I'm writing this, I am wondering if all this boils down to the fact that I didn't use their special 'room service', to which they had desperately wanted me to. Cilakak betul!!

24/6/07 - 25/6/07
Nagcarlan & Calauan, Laguna and Calamba

Reaching Nagcarlan late in the afternoon from Tanay, I had limited time to look for a suitable place to call it a night. Apparently there is no hotel, motel or apartel in Nagcarlan and I had to rasuah the drilling supervisor to take me to the nearest town, i.e. Los Banos. Traveling on my own would have been a nightmare, as we have to take a jeepney to the town, asked for direction to the nearest hotel, take a tricycle from the jeepney terminal to the nearest hotel. Lucky the drilling supervisor was with me, and I offered to belanja him dinner via room delivery. Dead tired already, lucky got room service.. err... delivery. We ordered some food and ate like pigs. Seeing him so kesian, I offered him my room towel so that he could take a bath before making his way back to the site in Nagcarlan (yeap, it is common for the drilling team to stay overnight at the station). The room was in sorry state...no tv, no wardrobe, no hanger, smelly, stuffy, no window except for a small one in the toilet, no toilet seat, 'stains' all over the bedsheet and pillows (yuck!)... and paling teruk were the stains on the walls.... including chewing gums! Double yuck! Just like other nights I was dead tired already when I step into my room and it wasn't difficult for me to knock off for the night. Like the previous day in Tanay, I had cold shower (super chill water) in the morning before checking-out.... no damn water heater in this place lar! Took my heavy luggage and got the hotel staff to flag down a jeepney that passes through Nagacarlan town.

My luggage was so huge that it looked kinda out-of-place in the jeepney...but what to do... my Pm was so stingy that he didn't get a driver to drive me around the sites that I have to attend to. Thank God I wasn't lost (since the S.Palay misadventure) or getting mugged or anything like that when I travel alone in barangay areas.

We started drilling only the following day as requested by the drillers, with the condition that we finish all three points on the same day. After getting the go-ahead from the owner who lives next to the station, we proceeded with drilling, completed the first one and was about to go down approximately 1 - 2m at the second point when trouble comes. Two man claimed to be from the municipal office came to check on us and ordered the driller to stop drilling. The reason? They said we needed a construction permit to drill within the station, to which I said ridiculous lar, firstly because we are drilling on a private property to which the local municipal got no say and secondly, we are not doing any construction works. I called the Pm and he said it's better not to cause any 'problem' with the local municipal and advised me to move out to another site in Laguna province. Cilakak betul... all this permitting thing should be done earlier rightfully the owner with the assistance of our client (O&G company) and I don't need to be on the receiving end of this 'problem'. On one hand I felt disappointed for not being able to finish off this site as planned, but on the other hand I was happy because I can cancel out this site from my list! I managed to call the owner to explain our stand before we moved out but she actually asked me to wait for her return to which I said we can't wait because of the tight schedule we have and told her that my Pm instructed me to move out another site while waiting for our client to sort this permitting issue with the local municipal first. So we moved to another site in Calauan (also within the Laguna province) but apparently the news about the permitting issue reached there first before us.

At Calauan site the owner's wife said we can't do drilling at the station unless we have the letter from municipal to allow us to do so. But the owner was furious as he can't understand why a permission is needed as the drilling works will be on his land, and not the municipal's land. And moreover, he already agreed in principal to allow us to drill during the PI that I had carried out the week before. I called the Pm again to inform him of the situation and he had the same advise again: move out from there as it will take 2-3 days to 'settle' the permitting issue with the local town council. So I explained to the owner of our stand (to move out until the permitting issue is settled by our client) and I said there's no point of creating trouble with the local town council as it would affect him. By this time I've received a long distance call from my Pm back home to say that I will be needed for new Brunei jobs soon.

Calauan was the last site in Laguna province on my list, and as I have yet to receive the go-ahead for a site in San Jose (Batangas), I've got the permission from the Ph's office to head back to Manila. So we traveled back to Manila on the truck mounted rig via Calamba City. At Calamba, we were grounded for more than 2 hours because of a 'truck ban' for heavy vehicles leading to Manila. Because there were so many trucks and heavy machineries after the 'curfew' hours (9 or 10pm, forgot liao), we were stuck in a jam for more than an hour, and because there is no air-cond in our truck, we have to inhale smoke and dirt (dust, CO etc.) from the nearby vehicles. And I remembered I only reached my hotel room in Makati after midnight.

The following day I was in Ph's office in Ortigas, only to find out that a flight to KL has been arranged for me the day after next. Well, that's how I spent my two weeks in Philippines, and I only managed to buy the infamous pasalubong at the Ninoy Aquino airport. Ah... forgot about eating the balut...

Distances to Manila:
Makati, Metro Manila - 3km
Quezon - 6km
Pasig, Metro Manila - 11km
Marilao, Bulacan - 22km
San Jose, Bulacan - 42km
Angat, Bulacan - 52km
Tanay, Rizal - 53km
Calamba, Laguna - 52km
Los Banos, Laguna - 62km
Calauan, Laguna - 74km
Nagcarlan, Laguna - 102km
San Jose, Batangas - 96km
Legaspi - 550km