FLYING FROM SAIGON TO MANILA We could have gone to Indonesia and Malaysia as well but we limited our stay in this region to one place: the Philippines. We did not know much about the country except that Manila the Capital is dangerous, lots of streets kids and a French song: “Être né quelques part”. We booked a flight to Manila, departure on Thursday 22nd October with Philippines Airlines. Let´s discover a new country. The morning of the departure, Önder wanted to arrive two hours early at the airport. I followed his wish although I found it unnecessary. Our hotel was located 20 minutes away from the airport. We had no need to hurry. Once we wanted to check in, the stewardess asked us for the flight out Philippines???? What she explained at the beginning: “the Philippines government requires a flight out, if not you will be deported”, at the end: she finished with “maybe you might be asked to prove a flight out at the immigration border”. It was our first approach with Philippines rules: the Maybe rule! As we arrived in advance, we had time to book a flight out without any rush. We had to find a Wifi connection! Burger King (BK) sells it for 20 000 VDN, about 0,50 €. We found one for free one meter away from BK! For once we already knew our next destination which was Hong Kong and checked in. ARRIVING IN MANILA We flew over so many islands, it was so beautiful. We were very excited. Finally we could enjoy nice beaches and clear water! The main goal to visit the Philippines was to take a break from the world tour: no volunteering jobs. We thought of playing the tourists there! Our first stop: Manila. We had to make one stop in the Capital as I had to buy a bikini, I forgot mine in Sihanoukville (Cambodia). We decided to contact couchsurfers (CS) and it was so easy to get accepted. We had to select to whom we will go. There was Felix who offered us to spend one night in Manila and the week end at his hometown (Batangas), two hours away from Manila. This sounded very good so we opted for Felix. Once out of the airport we managed to get on a local bus, people helped us. Let´s the adventure begin! 90 minutes later we were still in the bus, managed to drive 3 km! Saigon Manila takes 3 hours for 1640 km. We got off at Ayala and decided to walk to the rest of the way to our meeting point, about 3,5km. It was still hot but it was pleasant walk through Makati – business centre and some streets of Manila. We could see contrasts between the neighbourhoods. What we noticed is that people played basketball everywhere, in some places, families hang out outside. We eventually arrived at our meeting point Cash and Carry, a mall. We had to go through a check point before entering. The security guy looked a bit confused when he saw us with 4 bags!!! Without any problem we were in. We had to find a Wifi connection to write our host that we arrived and were waiting for him but Internet was so bad and slow. It was like a mission impossible but we succeeded. It was time to have drink and wait for Felix. Our meeting time was 6pm, Felix showed up 90 minutes later. MANILA At our CS´s place Felix is a lawyer and entrepreneur, he is busy in Batangas to open a bakery! The first evening was not as good as expected as our host made us understood that we could not come with him anymore. We understood when at 1am he asked us for the third time what were our plans! It meant that we had to change our plan within 24 hours. Early Saturday morning, Felix was going back to his bakery business! The very next morning after breakfast we went to the mall as Felix did not want to do hotspot. We were lucky as Internet was good! Mission of the day: find a bikini and our next destination. 7100 island and one destinations! Isn´t it a bit complicated? We already did some researches and we had ideas but now it was time to book. Around 4pm, we bought a bikini, rearranged new plans for the new days, bought a flight ticket to Puerto Princesa (Palawan) and ate all day long! We spent the entire day at the mall as Felix did not give us the key of his flat! Our next meeting was at 6pm. No long to wait! We went back to his building and waited there for a long long time! Even the butler gave us a chair checked on us every hour. Finally Felix turned up at 9:30pm! Apologising as quickly as possible and for him was everything ok until I said: maybe next time for your CS you could give them your key. What did I suggest ?!!! Felix turned green, yellow and red when we were in the flat. He exploded and said several times I was so rude, I should have said it in another way and so on!!! In his culture we cannot tell people such things!!! Whatever… It was time for us to pack, have a shower and sleep. But no, Felix said that we were going out. We planned it…not really!?. We just wanted to have dinner together. He was not happy when we told him we were staying and not going with him. For a second time the same evening he got angry at us. His only problem was to leave us alone in his flat with his valuables!!! He started to put everything away: laptop and electronic devices were locked up. He checked his place several times and asked us three time whether we had questions! We just discussed the time we should leave: 6:30 am would be ok but after a while he corrected it and mentioned he needed us to be out by 6am. As far we were concerned, we wanted to have our own peace and sleep! We could not wait to go to the airport. Second rules: a Pilipino cannot say no. in the street of MNL One day at Cash and Carry District 5 - Manila MANILA – PALAWAN ISLAND: PUERTO PRINCESA- EL NIDO We left as planed our host place at 6am, lost one of my lock at his place and got in a taxi. Driving in Manila, early in the morning is a pleasure: no traffic. We arrived Terminal 4 in advance like in Saigon. Our flight was not announced… We went to the information desk: we were at the wrong terminal. We had to go to Terminal 3 for domestic flights! It took us 45 minutes for 2 km. We were still on time! It was so stressful. Once in Palawan, our final destination was El Nido – 270km away from PP, 6 hours bus drive. We managed to go to the bus terminal, get on the bus and arrive in El Nido around 7pm. Our hotel was located 4 km away from the bus terminal, booking wrote less than 2 km. We and walked at least 2 km until a jeepney driver took us to nearest place of our hotel. ⌠same same as a rickshaw or tuk tuk but different: it is a tricycle⌡. What we did not know is that we had to go down a long staircase, walk to a first beach, pass by restaurants and a bar, walked a bit more, pass another bar and then we were at our hotel: Orange Pearl beach resort. The hotel is located in a quiet place, near the beach and far away from the El Nido center. Our first feelings was to think of the guest house in Sihanoukville the “Mark syndrome!”. Being in a 2stars hotel, but with lot of problems. Unlike at Mark´s place, we were here as tourists. Let´s play the tourists for the next three weeks. PALAWAN - EL NIDO Sunday, breakfast at the hotel: half of it. A typical situation (third rule): if a Pilipino does not have what you ordered, he will not tell you at all. You can wait forever unless you ask him until he is fed up with you and tells you that there is no bread! That day we were asked for how many times whether we were interested in any activities. Activities means Tour A, B, C and D. We were absolutely not interested and we went for a long walk on the beach instead. We went to have a sunbath as well. Something was wrong! We were BORED and we could not think of spending three weeks that way. We made our way back to the hotel and decided to look for couchsurfing and volunteering. What we forgot to write is that electricity was only available from 6pm till 5am. No electricity no Internet. We tried our luck: we had an Internet connection and found our next job in Patoyo, near Linapacan, working in a campsite! We wrote the guy in charge Karel and the very next day we were on our way to Linapacan. Fourth rule: you should not say what you want but what they have! Before that we had to spend the afternoon in El Nido. We went to the city centre walking the distance and searched for the bus timetable and an ATM. Bus schedule was departure between 9 and 12. We were recommend to come around 10am. As far as the ATM is concerned, there was none. The lady at the money transfer after asking five times told us there is one but maybe tomorrow it will be in use! The next ATM were in Puerto Princesa (6 hours bus drive) or in Coron (6 hours boat drive). It was a back and forth what to do and we still did not have any reply from Karel. We were so confused. We finally opted for the boat trip. The lady at the agency where we were announced that the boat trip was full and the next departure was in two days. We were back to square one and we had to go to Puerto Princesa! Meanwhile we bought a sim card and get in contact with Ben (Karel´s owner property), we got the phone number on Helpx since Karel did not post his own. He confirmed that we were welcomed any time. Good news! It did not resolve our money issue. Back to the hotel, we explained our problem to the personal in charge and gave the solution! Buy money from the hotel up the hill. You need for that a credit machine. We were relieved not more 12 hours journey so we “celebrated” it with a nice meal! We went to buy money at the hotel but it did not practice it any longer!!!! Again back to square one! The jeeney drivers who got to know us after a couple of days helped us! They knew where we could go and buy money: the petrol station took 6% commission and the restaurants 8%. At that time the petrol station was closed but the restaurant not. It took us time to decide whether to go to the city again. We did not want to risk and not to have money the next day. For whatever reason the petrol station could not sell money, we were stuck in El Nido: the bus was leaving around noon and the restaurant not open before noon!!!! We were only 4 days in the Philippines and we knew the system: maybe, not sure! Let´s go back to El Nido and buy money. Around 9:30pm we had our money with 10% commission!!! And we were ready to leave the touristic area…. EL NIDO – DIPNAY (former SAN FERNANDO)We arrived around 9:45 and left at noon! It was a holyday week for Pilipinos so the bus was overloaded in goods and passengers. One was travelling with her children and her hamster; she said: “Vacation with pet!” People are very lay back and take everything in an easy way! 30 km took us 3 hours!!! We stopped every 2 minutes, in 30 minutes at least 10 times!!!! One of the helper in the bus talked to us and described the Philippines life as hard! DIPNAY We arrived in this tiny village and wanted to take a boat to Linapacan. After discussions with some locals, the boat left at noon and there was maybe a boat on Wednesday. It had an engine problem! Stuck in Dipnay. The locals disappeared when the police came and started chatting with us! It was a nice time watching the officer having a coffee and some local biscuits! Do you think he would have offered at least one???? We only had breakfast and we were starving. I went to buy some and we enjoyed it. Meanwhile the officer told about cottages 500 meters away. We were offered a place to stay at the coastal guard office for one night. We were stuck at least two nights! Önder went to the cottages and it found the place fine. Let´s go there! Everything there go at a slow pace… we were in a different time zone! After two hours we checked in! We stayed two nights and three days. We had a great time with Dice, Roberts and her kids (Ysa and Enrique). They have such a big heart but most of people abuse of their generosity. Dice and Robert really want to help their community but either people destroyed the material or politics see in donations (library or toys for Xmas) a competition. It is the hard reality! Dice helped to buy the boat ticket to Linapacan. The lady told us it costs 700 Pesos, the real price is 600 Pesos. She made us a special discount for 600!!! The same lady wanted to make business with Dice: whenever Dice sent her clients, Dice will receive a percentage!!! Dice found it disgusting and cannot cheat on people. It happened a lot in the Philippines and since we started our world tour. We paid 10€ per night included breakfast and even dinner! We had two nice dinners: once macaroni with tuna and cheese and the second day: crabs! Crabs are so cheap! It costs 95 pesos per kilo (1,87€). The only problem is how to eat a crab!!!! I only had them from a can!!! With some difficulties I found a way… It was delicious but complicated. The aera is very quiet and charming. The beach is a paradise. We would have liked to stay longer but the boat was ready for departure on Wednesday. The fith rule: "The Pilipinos do not have palabras de honor" said a local. It was time to say goodbye, we promised we will come back on our trip back to Puerto Princesa. Bye bye San Fernando DIPNAY - LINAPACANWe were in the boat but the engine did not want to start. 6 men had to pull a string to start the engine! In the boat we met a German couple from Mannheim (Lara and Thomas) who were on their way to Linapacan. In Linapacan everyone went their own way…The Germans had everything planed but us we did not know! really?! We were looking for a kitesurfing and campsite! We had Internet to double check and we tried to call contacts we had. We had a surprise the campsite in 20 minutes away from the island by boat. No one could bring us to Patoyo that day. We got an Email from Karel saying that he is in Patoyo and we could meet around 3:30 at the pier! Great we bought delicious pastry and went to the meeting point (Dory´s hotel) where the German couple stayed. We met them again and were not satisfied with the place. We offered them to come with us and did not give any guarantee as we did know what to expect exactly. They cancelled their reservation and were coming with us. WELCOME TO PATOYO !
0 Comments
|
What s next?
Archives
September 2018
Categories
All
|