8th May.
We left Adelaide on a cold rainy day with Malaysian Airlines
for Kuala Lumpur Airport. It was the longest flight we have done so far in one
leg. Eight hours plus and I was over flying already, even though we had another
3.5 hours to fly to the Philippines. The airport was pretty amazing and huge.
Arriving in Manila was great as there had been a typhoon warning for the
Philippines, which did nothing to calm my flying nerves.
I was travelling with my “boot” due to tearing my ligaments
in my ankle to a severity not seen by the specialist before. We were exhausted
and not on our game as we came out of the airport doors so we got fleeced by a
taxi driver as we had not yet got our head around converting Aussie dollars to
Philippino Peso. We paid ten times as much as we should have ($80 instead of
$8) but to be honest I would have almost paid twice that just to get to the
hotel room and fall into bed.
Century Park Hotel was lovely, great staff and great food.
The pool was nice too with most of the Asians staying in the shallow end
leaving the rest of the pool for us. We were definitely a minority as there
were hardly any white people, and not one Aussie in sight. Manila was a very busy place with traffic
everywhere. The air was hot and hazy from humidity and or pollution, I'm not
sure which and overcast. There was a lot of poverty on the streets and you
could see homeless people living down alley ways with neat little piles of
clothes and cardboard houses. As nice as the people were, I could not wait to
get out of there and visit the smaller islands. The concrete jungle has never
had any appeal for me.
We left for the airport on Sunday and had to stand in a
massive line just to get in the door of the building. I got through customs
quickly and easily, however Phil forgot to pack his Swiss knife in the check in
luggage and had to go back out leaving me sitting on the other side, stressing
as it took a lot longer than I expected due to an Asian family having to spread
all their luggage on the floor because they were overweight and trying to
spread their luggage in separate bags. Then the plane we were booked on had
mechanical problems so we were pushed on to another plane after sitting in a
hot crowded bus for over an hour. It was a relief to finally touch down in
Coron and what a beautiful sight it was. Just like the tropical islands I love.
Phil has decided to rain on my parade and get a sore knee so
that I don't get all the sympathy for limping. We are both limping now and
people must think 'what an odd couple'. We hobbled around and decided it was
easier to catch a tricycle several times because it was cheap. No one wanted to
exchange our Aussie dollars in Coron all the banks said no, but we finally
found one money changer who would at a lower rate mind you, thank goodness as
some of the islands only take cash.
Sea Dive was a busy place where everyone came to do their
dive certificate. It was also a place with many white people but again no
Aussies. The owner, Jim was a nice older American guy who has lived there for
23 years. The place was ok but way too noisy for us. Our room was above the
dive centre and the walls and floors were paper thin. We could hear them
rolling the oxygen diving tanks from really early in the morning until late at
night. There was a bar next to the dive centre which stopped playing music at
about 3.30am. The restaurant had a fabulous view over the Coron harbour which
was filled with Banca’s ready to take people out diving or on organised island
hopping tours.
We were picked up after 2 days and taken to our first island
- Sangat Island. The island was stunning and our room was lovely. There was no
power during the day and we had fan power at night. The shower was cold only I
think, but in this climate it came out quite warm. At night we watch the change
of staff as they all leave in Banca’s, some like noisy little sports cars and
some with big V8 engine noises. Unfortunately on the first night Phil and I
both developed a tummy bug taking it in turns using the loo all night and most
of the following day. We felt like we had been hit by a Mac truck and ended up
sleeping most of the day missing breakfast and lunch because we felt terrible.
By afternoon coffee time, we decided to try a bit of pineapple cake and that
agreed with me so at dinner time I had a small meal. Phil also ate but was not
over it yet so had to resort to the Imodium on the following morning.
The wind had picked up making it more comfortable to sleep at
night and also during the day. The snorkeling was ok but we had to watch out
for jelly fish and stone fish so it was not quite as relaxing as we were used
to. There were much better fish and coral further out but the water was a bit choppy
to snorkel as much as I would have liked. We felt much better again the next
day but still had to rest a lot. We also heard that half the resort was also
suffering from the same thing.
The morning has finally arrived where I am now officially
50. It was a lovely surprise that Phil had organised a beach picnic and
snorkeling trip on our own private banca for the day. We went to an amazing
white sandy beach island with pristine water. The resort had packed us a
delicious lunch of whole cooked fish, chicken, salad, stir-fry vegetables and
rice. There was great snorkeling there also, but Phil got attacked by stinging something
which we later found out was from swimming under a rope and touching it with
his back. There was a nice line of welts across his back and down one arm.
Thank god it wasn’t poisonous. We then stopped at a couple of different
snorkeling spots on the way, one of them a sunken war gun boat which was
surrounded by other divers and snorkelers.
When we got back, Phil had arranged a massage for us both on
the grass out the front of the bungalow which was divine. After the massage we
had a secluded romantic dinner on top of a rock island, which was beautifully
decorated just for me. I felt very special that day.
It was time to leave the following day and Phil had one more
dive in the morning. The dive instructor Jo Jo, was a German guy with and
amazing sense of humour. The banca from Chindonan Island picked us up just
after lunch and we went for the short ride to the next island.
The food was delicious and the water was spring water from
their own well and it tasted fantastic compared to the R.O water from Sangat.
The restaurant was on a large balcony over the water and you could throw bread
over in the mornings to feed the trigger fish. They would spot the bread in the
air before it reached the water and they were lightning fast. They spit water
out at their prey and can spit so high, it actually reached the ceiling of the
restaurant.
The snorkeling was ok but there were plenty of stinging
things around, which I later found out were probably sea lice. Phil went for
the 3 dives and I rested my foot most of the time. We took a canoe out to a
tiny island to explore and when we came back it was difficult to get in to
shore as the tide was really low and there was coral everywhere.
Just before we were due to leave the dive boat came back
dragging Jo Jo's Jet Ski behind it as it had stopped in the middle of the bay.
The bay was so big that Jo Jo and his mate had sat out there for about an hour
shouting for help but no one had heard them. This sort of thing happens all the
time and we often see a boat being dragged by another. Despite the drama Jo Jo
was still in good form and he didn't lose his sense of humour. The boat ride
back was quite rough but with a quell it was no problem for me.
We arrived at Balinsasayaw at about one thirty. They then
cooked a massive lunch for us with three courses so we finished eating at about
2.30. Our bungalow was set up high on the hill (59 steps to be precise) the
view once again was stunning and it was worth the pain to get there. The other
bonus was glorious air conditioning even though the power was only on from
5.30pm to 7.30am. Dinner was another massive 3 course meal. At least we had 59
steps to work some of it off.
The next day had arrived and it was time for the day trip I
had wanted to do ever since I saw it on the internet at home. We left after
breakfast for the first lake which was only about 15 mins across the harbour.
Kayangen Lake was every bit as beautiful as the photo had shown on the
internet. There were 150 steps up to the vantage point to see the lake properly
and another 150 steps down into the lake. Six hundred steps in total to get
back to the banca. It was worth every painful step with my sore ankle. The lake
was amazing to swim in, warm and crystal clear with a few fish as the water was
a mixture of fresh and salt water. Dianna our guide was amazing, she knew all
about the lakes and she got us there before the hordes of boats came from the
mainland. She was always there to grab my arm and help if I needed a little
extra support.
After another huge lunch we were off in the boat again, this
time to a Skeleton wreck. Dianna brought some bread with her and we fed
thousands of fish. It was amazing swimming between them. There was also a great
reef with many different varieties of fish and coral. The last stop was a
beautiful beach with white sand and shelter huts. We just lazed in the water
for an hour or so. I think that we had probably spent more time in the water than
out that day. It was an amazing day.
It was time to leave Balinsasayaw on the following day and
we caught a banca with some young locals from Manila who had also stayed at the
resort. When we docked at Coron, they helped carry the bags to the street and
flagged down a trike and one person came all the way to our next resort and
helped get the bags off. They even paid the fare. We have never had service
like that before.The Asia Grand View Hotel was a stunning looking resort and
the staff were all lovely once again. The only downside was that the stunning
pool was very warm to swim in making it not very refreshing. You know it is hot
when the air conditioning is set to 16 deg all day and the room only feels
cooler a couple of hours after the sun goes down. This is definitely build up
season and not something I could cope with for long periods of time. On the
last day so we took a trike to a pool called Jungle View. The pool turned out
to be crowded with locals and we were the novelty factor. All the children said
hello to us and I was so glad that the water was cooler than our resort pool.
When the driver took us back, we arranged for him to pick us up later and take
us to the Maquinit hot springs and the Coron Lookout.
The hot springs were way too hot for us and the few people
who actually jumped in, looked like cooked lobsters. After the hot springs, we
went to the Mt Tapias lookout. It was 700 steps up to the top and another 700
steps back down which is no mean feat with my ankle on a stinking hot afternoon,
but we made it and the view was worth all the agony. The next morning, it was
time to fly back to Manila. The minivan ride was not the most pleasant we had
ever had. The driver was in an obvious hurry and threw us around every tight
bend and corner in the road he could find. I didn’t know you could even fit 13
people in a Toyota van, let alone their luggage as well. I even had to change
seats to fit in with my long legs which was not comfortable at all I can tell
you, and I was trying really hard not to feel car sick as he careered around
those corners at a ridiculous speed.
We finally made it… Yay! Only to find that the plane was
delayed for about 3 hours – situation normal for Cebu Airlines. They actually
served the lunch we were meant to have on the plane in the airport, which was
ok - only the curry made us even hotter sitting wedged between hundreds of
angry delayed passengers all wanting to be home on time.
We got back to Manila and managed to not get fleeced this
time by the taxi driver, and booked back in to Century Park Hotel where we were
meeting Suanne and Jake our friends from Oz. The beers were good and we were
winding down before returning home to Australia where as our friends were only
starting their adventure in the Philippines.
We managed to catch a trike to the largest shopping mall in
Asia, only to find that he wasn’t allowed on that stretch of road, (they seem
to have roads where no trikes are permitted) and we found ourselves going down
one way streets facing the wrong way with the driver singing at the top of his
lungs… not sure what he was on but it sure made our last day fun. One last swim
in the pool and dinner with friends before returning home to freezing Adelaide.
