Philippines

Just spent two months in the philippines, mostly in san juan on luzon island 6 hours north of manila. San juan is a mellow little beach resort that we heard about from several people and is featured in the stormrider surf travel books. We found a 2 bed apartment set back across the road from the beach with kitchen and cable t.v for £40 a week, so nice and cheap.It was fortunate that the place had a kitchen because the food in the local restaurants was not my favourite in asia,have you ever seen a philippino restaurant at home? I thought not.

In the main town nearby san fernando, they have a good market with veggies, fruit, and amazing seafood. We made the most of the cheap seafood having it 2 or 3 times a week, tuna ,mahi mahi and monster prawns for next to nothing.

Our main purpose for visiting san juan was to surf the right hand points of the area, namely mona lisa point and carille point. Mona lisa is the main break, a gentle consistent right that worked most of the time we were there, quite crowded with expats and locals alike, but easy to score a few waves, mona lisa point is the main focus in the area while carille point only a few kms down the road starts to work conveniently when mona lisa becomes too big and closes out. Carille is a longer ride than mona lisa but both waves are easily ridden  by all abilities.

The prime season for this area is nov-april and the rainfall is at its lowest, if you are searching for big hollow waves then this is not the place to come, better to wait for the season to start at cloud 9 or various other spots, this place is strictly gentle fat waves but long rides,not for me personally but Helene enjoyed them (except when she cut open the top of her foot and needed  5 stitches!).

Plus points of san juan..cheap, safe, consistent surf, seafood, weather, cheap alcohol.
Bad points..way to many sex tourists, fat waves, bad food, not much culture compared to the rest of asia..
A worthwile sidetrip to the town of sagada was maybe even the highlight of the trip, a mountain town full of caves, trails and better food, well worth a visit,reminded me of northern india strangely...
So to sum the trip up, will i go back, no, im glad we went because we wanted to see somewhere new that was the good time of year but the waves are not challenging enough and the sex tourism is a bit depressing for me......

Searching For Michael Peterson Movie

A somewhat sad story of one of australias best ever surfers, M.p won the first pro contest in australia, the' 77 stubbies at burleigh heads, Peterson grew up around Kirra point and swiftly became a key player in the 'Kirra' scene.

Although his surfing was explosive and dynamic, his mystique remains because of his elusive nature and perhaps lack of footage of such a great surfer.. for me his most memorable surfing growing up is of him in Albe Falzons 'Morning of the Earth', shot in the typhoon season of 1970 at Kirra, it remains one of the most beautiful and influential pieces of film ever shot, the famous cutback to this day remains watchable over and over.

As the film charts his history through the seventies, it turns to the darker side of the m.p story, drug abuse and a later diagnosed schizophrenia led to him being ever more withdrawn and elusive, after winning at bells beach in '75, he hid in some bushes, rather than come out and accept his trophy. After the '77 stubbies win he was involved in the biggest car chase on the gold coast when the police were racing towards an unrelated incident and m.p took off and a high speeed chase proceeded, eventually stopping him and sending him to jail, which resulted in him being diagnosed and sent to psychiatric hospitals and suffering electric shock treatment,mp never surfed again... He still lives in burleigh heads with his mum.

I enjoyed the movie and thought it was well put together, if you are familiar with the m.p story you may be left wishing there was more footage found but still its a captivating story with lots of amusing and insights from surfers of the time such as Rabbit and m.p's brother. I would say it is a must watch if you are interested in this period of surfing and the dvd includes bonus film of  'dogs run free'  and rabbit talking about the hawaii story of which  they are famous for all presented in a nice case.

Incidently if you havent got the book on mp,s life by sean doherty,then get it NOW, i promise you will not be able to put it down................

marching powder

Just finished a good book ,marching powder by rusty young. Its a memoir of a british guy Thomas McFadden ,who was inprisoned in san pedro prison in bolivia for cocaine smuggling. Its the usual story of the harshness of being incarcerated in a third world prison and the corruption and torture, in san pedro you even have to pay an entrance fee and purchase your own cell! .Thomas finds his own way to get by and survive by becoming a tour guide to backpackers and even letting them stay over for the prison experience. Thomas is a likeable character and rusty young tells the story well, wont tell you too much but thought it was well worth a read...

Lloyd Khan..inspiration..

I Bought a book recently by Lloyd Khan,its an amazing book full of alternative places people live and have hand built. Lloyd is 73 years young and lists himself as publisher,  editor, photographer,  builder, skateboarder,  gardener,  explorer. The book is a must for anyone with even the remotest interest in building,  wacky houses and forms of shelter utilising existing structures,  trucks, trees, anything. His blog is a fascinating read and all i can say is this guy is seriously inspirational. Check out his blog at www.lloydkahn-ongoing.blogspot.com.