Part 41: Boot camp....
It was so good to be back in the Philippines, and back at my apartment too. I was really looking forward to having my own space and cooking my own food again because this is were I managed to save the most money. A £8 shop would easily last me a week here - fresh vegetables and fruit were just so cheap. In fact, it was the healthiest I had eaten in years. My parents would be happy at my healthy diet here and all the seafood I was eating too. On a typical day here I would eat boiled eggs and brown bread with a cup of tea for breakfast, followed by fresh cucumber salad and tuna fish for lunch and finally two baked potatoes with beans or a piece of meat or fish for dinner. Cheap simple and easy to prepare.
Outside, the smiling, armed security guards at my condo were still there and greeted me, as were the homeless young kids out side Quick-stop, they recognised me instantly the and were soon up to their old tricks. I bought them candy which caused a little excitement out side, the shop keeper had to come out to fairly distribute it out amongst the kids. Yep, it was definitely good to be back home.
Despite not being able to resist buying the kids candy, I was looking at ways to save even more money, because up to now, I had spent a fortune on outward and inward flights to Manila in order to get around the immigration issues.
On entry to the Philippines, foreigners were only granted 3 week visas, plus needed onward flights before being allowed back in, adding up to a lot of money to keep constantly outlaying.
After considering all my options, It was now time to apply for an extension to save me on booking flights at short notice. I checked the Filipino immigration website, and the procedure seemed relatively straight forward to me, all I had to do was print out an application form, fill it in, then take it along with my passport to the nearest immigration office on Roxas Boulevard, Manila - how complicated can it be.
Cy reminded me to dress respectively and smartly which usually means covering up my tattoos, before she kindly drove me to the busy, tiny office with standing room only.
When we arrived I had to first speak with the security guard on the door, who looked me up and down, frisking me, then in turn referred me to an immigration officer, who in turn told me to speak with the secretary, who told me to sit and wait after she snatched my passport and application from me!
'Take a seat' she mumbled. I could not figure out if she was being sarcastic, because there was not much chance of that!
Anyway, after waiting there for around 20 minutes we were asked to pop back in an hour. That was more than fine by me as the boiling hot office did not have any air- con, on what was turning out to be a scorching hot day. I was really sweating through my shirt and trousers, so we took off to find food, and more importantly, a place with AC to stop me from melting!
As it happened, and in the same block as the immigration office, was Manila's most famous restaurant apparently. Appropriately named 'The singing cooks and waiters restaurant' with the title kind of giving away the theme here.
Basically, it was a traditional Filipino eatery, where all the staff are authentically dressed in traditional attire of years gone by - on top of all of that, the waitress's sing as they serve you.
Now when I say sing, I do not mean karaoke singing - but more like fully accomplished, professional singing! As do the kitchen chefs whilst cooking, and security guards too. Accompanied by a live musical four piece band. They sang Non stop, duets, solos, collaborations as well as 'sing offs against each other in a very well choreographed show - it was like living in a musical movie; seriously this was absolutely and completely authentic, and was just so entertaining.
I dare anyone to enter this place and not just constantly beam away whilst being romantically serenaded.
They sang to me, to the other customers, to each other, sang as they cooked our food, sang as they served it, and sang as they brought over sauces and serviettes too, Ive never really experienced anything like this. The food was served in traditional old pots and amongst all the singing, it was easy to forget how delicious it was - all the recipes were traditional filipino food.
I loved this place, and snapped several pictures, even filming which they seemed to love .
The songs were a mixture of mainly Tagalog and English, upbeat, romantic, and even freestyle rapping thrown in which funnily enough worked - this just brightened up my whole day and was such a happy place.
It got me thinking if this bizarre, but brilliant concept would work in England, with my conclusion being I very much doubt it. Most brits wouldn't appreciate being sung to from the minute you walk in to the last - anyway, I loved it.
After my eating/singing experience, I felt all 'disney' and was ready to face the gruff immigration officers - not even they could dampen my spirits.
I was allowed back in with out to much fuss, but once more they asked me to take a seat, even though the place was busier than before.
Thankfully the wait was a brief one, before I heard the secretary shout the strangest pronunciation of my name ever!
'Come back tomorrow at 4pm' she said!
And that was it, nothing else.
No yes, or no, just come back tomorrow, it was all a little unclear, but thats how they do things here.
There was not much else to say really apart from return the following day, which I did, and after yet another wait. They finally handed me a extension visa which cost me 3000 pesos (£50) plus a bit on top for their time.
I could now stay for 59 extra days and would save a fortune on flights.
That coming weekend It was the pre bootcamp training session on the bay, this was a two hour, four times a week, month long gruelling experience, and something I was very much looking forward to, especially with my visa extension. Its a big deal here with major sponsors and a medal at the end, I was keen to add this to one of my experiences.
Having not trained in nearly a month I was wondering how I would react - I'd find out soon enough. As always here the sessions start by stretches before shuttle runs, core fitness and metabolic training.
It was full on, and despite the long break, I led the pack before feeling a muscle in my shoulder pull tightly.
This was not good and it stopped me dead in my tracks, I felt a really sharp pain and panicked a little. Coach saw my distress and moved quickly to put pressure on my shoulder.
He is a sports physiotherapist and knew exactly what the problem was, luckily he was on hand to give me some advice, but I had to go home and rest for a few days whilst all my Filipino friends started the boot camp. Sadly there would be none of that for me.
It was a big big blow, instead I had to watch them all from the sidelines.
The exercises were hard, the sessions were divided into 3 groups with most of my friends placed into the advanced group, where I would have been. Looking more like a grumpy bulldog chewing a wasp, there was no way I would have been able to participate, the sessions were way to intense for my injured shoulder.
With climbs, runs, competitions, Muay Thai boxing training, obstacle courses, and much more all planned for the month I was set to miss out on all the fun.