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Traveling Cattle Class to Manila28th April 2007 Neh-gross Nav-e-gay-shun. Phlegm coated lung coughs are just one of the many delightful sounds you will hear when traveling cattle class aboard the San Paulo. Add some strangled rooster cries, a wailing cat and a beep-beep beep-beep or two and your twenty-four hour boat trip from Ilo Ilo to Manila will be a truly memorable one, albeit a tad noisy. Traveling by boat from Ilo Ilo to Manila is the cheapest way to go (1500 pesos, or $NZ42.86). Say bye-bye to personal space though. I slept in this mass of welds where accidental spooning was a real option. There was more space top-side where you could gaze at the stars and listen to the water hiss as the San Paulo sluiced its way though it. Being the only white guy on board made me a bit of a novelty and meant that people were forever coming up to me to say hello. Ralph was one such person. Ralph was most excited to learn that I was an Atheist. "I've never met an Atheist before", he proclaimed. He asked me why I was an Atheist and I gave my ten minute rant. It's weird. I was an embarrassed Christian and a hesitant Agnostic. Now I've got an evangelical zeal that was sorely lacking in my Born Again days. Ralph was an interesting chap. He had a passion for environmental issues and spent some of his time doing some local volunteer work. He also described himself as "Catholic and Homosexual". I would of liked to have talked to him longer to see how he reconciled the two. I also met this bunch of students. They were all doing some practical work experience on board the San Paulo as part of their course. The girls quizzed me with the usual questions: Where are you from? How old are you? Do you have a wife? Girlfriend? Why not? Children? Why not? While the boys - whose English was not quite as good - adopted the universal mannerism of scratching the back of one's head when one is not sure what people are talking about. Some of the students could speak Ilongo and were delighted when I attempted a phrase of two. In this case, the lack of a shared fluent language helped bridge a gap. A stark contrast to this situation. I enjoyed my trip in the Cattle Class. It was a pleasure meeting all the students. I still keep in contact via text with most of them.
(c)
2005, 2006 and 2007 Malcolm Trevena. |
