Arrival, and day one in Calamba

Earlier in this trip - Friday, May 15, 2009, about 4 PM local time

So I'm sitting here on the second floor of a beauty salon. For the past several hours, Agnes has been having unspeakable things done to her hair, downstairs; from time to time, there's been lots of laughing and conversation going on around me, not in English, and most of which I cannot understand. Manang and Chris, who are accompanying us everywhere these first few days, are relaxing in chairs near me. The air in here reeks of perm.

Outside the salon's picture windows is a tangle of dozens of black cables: telephone and DSL, cable TV, and who knows what else. Beyond the cables, there's a busy street, probably a national highway (I think this is the road to Los Baños) full of jeepneys and tricycles and commercial trucks, with an occasional bus or private vehicle. Traffic, though heavy, moves more easily here than in the bigger cities, except for holiday weekends when Metro Manila residents clog these roads on their way to the Los Baños resorts for their vacations.

I can hear puttering engines and the squeak of a loose fan belt, the barking of a small dog, and the thump of music coming from somewhere not too far away. Lots of people are walking around at street level, coming from every direction. It's a beautiful day, with partly cloudy skies, and none of the lingering haze that you'd expect in Manila and which sometimes makes an unwelcome guest of itself here. Mount Makiling keeps watch over us, alone and unobscured except for a low cloud hanging out at its peak. Across the street, Walter Mart, a two-story indoor small-city mall; shops, fast food, a supermarket, movie theaters.

School must be out of session; Walter Mart is full of high-school age kids. With the crowds, the food, and the constant thumping music, it's a busy place, and full of excitement for people who get excited about crowds, food, and constant thumping music. Me, I like the food, and find the rest less compelling. (The air conditioning is nice, though.)

There is that constant tropical heat and humidity. The weather really doesn't bother me as much as it did on my first visit - instead of wishing it were cooler, I've come to accept it as it is. You just have to get used to being sticky all day, every day. The thermometer on the free-standing air conditioning unit in the corner of this room gives 33 C as the ambient temperature, and when the fan blows my way, there's a moment of relief, yet the room remains warm. Malls are cooler, but still not at the same standard as in the USA. (Later in our trip, the climate became more comfortable... or maybe we became more comfortable with it.)

All in all, it's been a good day. Not a productive day, but a good day. We took care of some business this morning, and when this hair treatment thing is done, we'll be visiting friends nearby.

Our travel here went really well. We didn't sleep the night before our flight, and on the long flight from JFK to HKG we took several one-hour naps before getting an actual full night's sleep in Calamba last night. I wouldn't say we're all caught up, but I at least am not feeling sleepiness crushing my brain in the way that often comes with jet lag. (Agnes is finding it a little more difficult, but at least I don't think she has to stay wide awake for the beauticians to do their thing.) I'm sure it helps that we got in to Manila at a decent hour - about 6:30 PM rather than the 12 midnight we've seen in the past - so we were able to head to bed at a normal time. The flights themselves were comfortable and uneventful, pretty free of turbulence.

Streaks of something the color of pureed pumpkin run through Agnes's hair. We are assured pumpkin won't be its final color; "brown, like mine" says the black-haired expert. We must only assume he has had his marinated the same way, and that on some level which lies beyond my cognitive grasp he knows what he's talking about.

The Philippines can be a wonderful an exhilarating place. It can also be like this!