Bustling city and fresh markets in Naga, Philippines 2-1-10

It took us a while to find accommodation in Naga, seemed as if everything was booked up when we arrived. We checked out a few rooms in three different hotels that were available. In Asia they let you know which rooms are offered and let you run up to check them out before deciding. Of the three rooms in three hotels, one had a strange smell, one had a rock hard bed, and the third seemed pretty decent and clean (lavish compared to the other two). We booked in, set our stuff down, and headed out to explore the city.

Bakeries are everywhere in Naga! Doughnut shops, fast food restaurants, and sweets galore. I ducked into a popular bakery (it had #1 Bakery newspaper clippings all over the walls), just to check it out, and left with 10 different kinds of baked goods! I picked up some pianonos, which is like a chiffon roll filled with different fruity flavors, sugared crispy rolls, twisted jelly filled delights, a couple cookies, a raison-apple something, all 10 for less than $1.50.

Naga also has one of the largest and nicest fresh food markets I’ve seen on my trip yet! Of course we saw the ripe fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, chicken, etc… except this fish market went on forever! Over six streets were dedicated to the sale of fish, squid, crabs, shell fish, and other sea life (mostly fish though). It was nice to walk and discover the city by foot. The chaos of motorbikes, tricycles, and jeepneys reminded me of Manila; but on a smaller scale.

We left early in the morning to catch a two and a half hour van to Legaspi and from there we both flew back to Manila. When we got in we found a massage spa near our guesthouse and each had a one hour massage for $4. I really don’t know what I’m going to do without these massages once I leave Asia, I’ve become so accustomed to having cheap, great massages! Cam’s flight back to London left in the evening and I had a morning flight to Malaysia and some time to relax in the evening. The Australia Open was on and our hostel crew was glued to the TV for the rest of the night.

I had a 4:00am wake up call (my phone alarm has been my best friend and worst enemy), 45 minute taxi ride to the bus station, 2.5 hour bus ride to the airport, to get to the airport 2 hours early for my 9:45am flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The entire trip all I was thinking was, “I can’t wait to sleep on this plane”.