In the morning we took a bus to Batangas for 133 pesos. It’s the only country I have been to where
the transport prices are routinely less than LP says. I guess LP likes air con and big bus
companies. We were swamped at the port
and led to a boat to Puerto Galera for 310 pesos, including a 50 peso
environmental fee. While I am sure its
bollocks, it’s a good way for them to fleece some tourists. We eventually made it across and had reserved
a hostel bed for 150 pesos a night. It
was basic and a long walk over the hill from town. We had wanted to dive here, but we decided to
hold back for later on. We met a German
guy who said that he couldn’t dive Apo Reef because there was no one else
around. We didn’t want to waste time
going there so we gave them a ring. I
could not understand much but it seemed like they wanted 6900 pesos each for 3
dives joining a snorkelling group. That
seemed a little steep. We decided to
change route again and not go there as we were still burnt from all the time we
had wasted going to Laoag. I was then
informed that my dad had received another letter from the student loans
people. Fuck sake. I do exactly what they ask for and they still
keep coming back for more information. I
had to ring them again and this time they told me that I needed to send proof
of funding for my trip. Wasting my time
and money. Apparently it should be fine
this time because my dad sent copies of 6 months of bank statements proving my
travelling.
The next day we picked up a picnic and decided to go
snorkelling. We went by one of the dive
centres and asked them to look after something for us. Then we went snorkelling with a buoy. They wanted us to dive with them, but they
wanted us to do a check out dive before they would let us dive the only site we
wanted to go to. The canyons. We didn’t see the point. The snorkelling was nice and afterwards we
bumped into the German guy. He had just
been diving and said the canyon was great, but that the other sites were not so
amazing. We hesitated and decided not to
dive. The Danish guy running the place
was upset when we said we wanted to prioritise our diving and dive sites. A few dive places tend to get pissy with us
with when we say we have to prioritise money.
I guess most divers are not gypos.
We decided to head to Boracay next and then it was a bitch for the
route. The Philippines is really
difficult to get around so you have to plan in advance if you want to maximise
your time. We grabbed some pizza in the
evening and decided we would make a stab at getting all the way to Boracay the
following day. Only the accommodation
was really expensive there. Always
problems lol.
We took a bus in the morning to Roxas. From there we got a clunky old ferry to
Caticlan. We got a super shit British
film called UFO on the way across and part of the beginning of Flight that had
been censored in Malaysia. Too many kids
on the boat though so they cut off any sex scenes, but left the sound on. Very surreal.
We arrived in Caticlan and it looked like a nice enough town. We even managed to find a cheap hotel by the
airport for 400 pesos a night. As we
planned to visit Boracay for just one day it seemed like a really good place to
base ourselves.
The boat to Boracay is a bit expensive. They claim its only 25 pesos, but if you add
the 75 peso environmental fee and the 100 peso port tax it adds up. We walked to the white beach from the port
and got a German breakfast. We then went
for a walk along the white sand beach.
Its really stunning. The beach is
the prettiest we have seen in South East Asia, although Koh Phi Phi still has
the best overall location. Between boat
stations one and three it is quite touristy, but still nothing like
Thailand. On the South and North end of
the beach it was almost deserted. There
is a beautiful cove at the North end.
They do have some weird green algae over some parts of the beach, but it
doesn’t detract too much. We couldn’t
find the viewpoint on the island and no one seemed that inclined to help us
out. We got some lunch at the American
pub, which is very good and even got some quiche from there for dinner as
Caticlan has limited food options. In
the afternoon we chilled out on the beach and went for a swim. It’s a beautiful place. I don’t like beaches, but this place is
stunning and given that we were there during Easter week it was still
relatively tourist free.
The next morning we took the bus via Antique Province to go
to Miagao. It is famous for its
church. The road on the way is really
picturesque. Its worth the diversion. The Philippines has such great scenery that
you can head to relatively unknown places and its still really pretty. The church in Miagao is one of the prettiest
churches I have seen and well worth the visit.
The carvings on the front are truly impressive. After we headed into Iloilo City on Easter Thursday
and the place was totally deserted. Two
of the hotels were shut for the holidays and the third one was our only
option. They had walkways to cross the
traffic, but there seemed to be only about 5 cars on the road. I didn’t think we were going to see the city
in full flow, but I don’t think the Philippines has great cities anyway. With everything shut, we watched the Croods
which was ok and then Goon on tv (a bit shitty). We decided not to head to Guimares island the
next day as we didn’t want to get trapped.
At the cinema I asked them if they had a toilet and they replied that
they weren’t showing twilight. Made me
laugh anyway.
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