The Long Road to Samar

Road to Samar

Airport

Once Landing in Tacloban , the smell of debris gets stronger, The Taxi drivers bombard you , all wanting to be your guide . (TIP, wear head phones and ignore them ..works great !)

As the people stare at you while walking down the stairs of the airplane onto the run way , guarded by airport security , you enter a room where you can pick up your luggage . (similar to landing in Hana , Maui ) but much more populated than Maui ..Keep the Country ,Country !

Into a Caravan and into town, where reading the news of the most recent Political Murder in town , the Mayor executed in the way of power .

Tacloban

After being harassed by the Hotel Counter person who wanted to charge us extra , we check in to our room , that looked more like a jail cell.  Note , the Hotel has better rooms , but this time we stayed in a much smaller room .The holding cell room .

This is the last stop to pick up what ever you are going to need , the rest of the way will have no stores, hotels , gas stations or pit stops .

Stocking up on 2 weeks worth of food and water , and shopping for any of those hard to beat deals , we hire a driver , Arnold who always drives us , to take the crew to the jungle .

Road to Samar

The trip should take about a hour or two  , depending on traffic . Its not long before your into deep jungle , and then over the San Juanico bridge , Guarded with the biggest guns of them all . M16s and Army Soldiers  heavily arm this San Francisco looking bridge in the middle Samar  .

After crossing the bridge more jungle and smell of smoke in the air .Then finally after over a hour we make a left , at first a smooth road then no more concrete , bumpy off road action  for about 30 minutes . Check out the video footage for yourself .

When we get to the village , after the hard rain , you hear cheering , walk out the front door and about 30 yards away is a chicken fighting ring and all the guys holding there chickens waiting to enter inside .

It is a Rain Forest with smoke always in the air . From the village to go any further down the road , you must ride a taxi bike , 4-5 people and children  on a bike is very normal , check the pictures .

Taking the off road motor bike to the end of the road you will find the Mayors town , a major school and small police station and a small post office , a few small basic food stores , very small only the bare essentials for survival  . The first gas station is being built on the road to town .The Mayor owns a nice little cozy bar and restaurant on the Ocean Waterfront on a walking pier . Offering Karaoke as well .

The Culture

The people here are very hard working Farmers and Fisherman , as tried to capture in many photographs , a festival is held every year to celebrate to hard work of there Community . Each Village has a captain with a few people under him in charge of maintaining peace with in . You will not find a police officer around unless you go to the Mayors town .

Things to Remember
Chicken Fighting is a very important part of  Culture ,with drinking and singing Karaoke . The smell of fire burning is thick and can be found in any part of the Philippines . Riding in the boats to get to other islands is a great memory . The Tobacco Leafs grown here are as strong as  Cuba’s , from the mountains and grown 100% organic with out needing any additives .

Being farmers of Rice , they have some of the best tasting Rice ever had a chance to eat . Not being a rice lover , it is a guarantee , and you would admit , this locally grown rice is the best flavor ever tried .. And they have many excellent strains , from brown, black and red rice all so good .

Adam Siehr, President and Proud Owner
434 Tattoo
Custom Tattooing LLC.

Directions:
434 Ena Road
Honolulu, Hawaii
96815

Contact:
mailto:adam@tattooadam.com
1-808-391-8287