New Years Eve

We had a look around San Fernando and went to the botanical garden outside of the town and towards the Wallace Air Base that was once a big US base but now Philippine Air Force.

We also bought some fireworks in the market.

The town centre had a big market selling only fireworks. I had never seen so many in one place. Imagine the noise if something had caught fire. We spent 500 pesos (5 pounds) and that bought quite an armory. For a few days now there had been plenty of bangs as kids set off fireworks but by today the noise was becoming very frequent. By evening it was rare for a few seconds to go by without hearing an explosion somewhere.

That evening again various relatives were visiting and food had been prepared. The difference this time was that we had hired a karaoke machine too. Other days any karaoke had been done via the video player. The machine was very popular and there was a queue to use it.

Even I was forced to have a go.

When midnight came we ate the food. There had been plenty before but this was the main feeding time. Outside the bangs from fireworks was continuous. Not much colour but plenty of noise. Actually it is a tradition taken from the Chinese (there are plenty in Philippines ) who use noise to frighten away evil spirits at their new year. In the sky and up and down the street there were things exploding. The occasional person who passed on a tricycle was running a gauntlet. (Tricycles are a motorbike with sidecar that is like a mini taxi that you can take for local journeys).

In our place the karaoke continued at high volume and surely did its fair share of scaring away the spirits. After the main concentration of fireworks had subsided and we had finished eating we used our fireworks; the one bought by Donna and me and ones bought by others. The one with 500 bangers tied together - I think we call it Chinese crackers or something, in Phils they call it a Judas belt was crazy and even though nobody was close, I think we all instinctively ran further away as they went off.

And then the karaoke continued. I went to bed about 3am after most people had left, and Donna joined soon after. One of her sisters continued for about half an hour on karaoke and the volume was enough that I could feel the bed shaking.

Next day was January 1st. After packing most of my things me and Donna went about 5 miles down the coast to a beach resort. Here we had lunch but after that Donna wasn't feeling well so she went home to sleep and I went for a walk. Actually I walked all the way home along the coast. The area I started was nice beach run by a series of small beach resorts. Not many people were here. Further down there was an area that had not been kept so clean and here was an area that most of the normal people were swimming. It seemed obvious that they must be banned from other parts of the beach. A bit further down got to an area by a headland near the end of the bay. Here were some houses, nothing special, just simple ones and then some private property that meant I couldn't continue on the coast and had to cut inland. I followed some roads and crossed the runway of San Fernando 's airport, which is now rarely used, and not at present for commercial flights, past some more beach resorts before finally recognizing where I was. So, a bit before dark I got back home.

That evening would be my last in San Fernando so we went out for a meal. Me, Donna, her Mom and sister Maya went. Sheryl couldn't make it. It was a restaurant overlooking the sea.

To Los Banos

Later me, Donna and her Mom got a bus to go south to Los Banos. We started at about 11:30pm . It was a nice bus with wide comfortable seats that leaned back far enough to sleep well. Good for overnight travel. My only complaint was that the AC was too cold. We arrived in Manila at about 4am and then transferred to another bus that got us to Los Banos by 5:30am . We got a room in a hotel and slept for a couple more hours.