Perfect vacation, shitty ending in Philippines

I couldn’t choose a worse date to visit Philippines. In my haste to grab the limited and ridiculously cheap flight tickets to Manila, I didn’t think much and simply picked July as my travel date.  I found out months later when I did the research on Philippines, July is the wettest month with high possibility of typhoon. There goes my hope for Hawaii like vacation. Instead of sun lotion and shades, I brought along umbrella and rain coat.

Then came swine flu. Damn. This is totally unexpected. Few days after I came back from India, the news of the virus spreading in Mexico came up. At first, I didn’t think much about it until the Malaysian media made such a huge fuss about traveling to those countries with high cases such as USA, Australia and Philippines. Never before I faced so many challenges prior to my travel. Normally, it was simply pack and go. I almost gave up the trip because I worried that I might get the flu and spread it to my family members. After thinking for long and hard, I decided to go ahead with the trip but with proper prevention. Looks like my desire to travel is stronger than anything else.

Swine flu prevention. It is not the coolest looking thing, but it better to be safe than sorry.

It was suppose to be a vacation with 5 of my friends, but in the end only 1 is going. No matter how many is going, a vacation is still a vacation.

When I was at the airport, I was surprised to see almost nobody is wearing mask. Not even a single airport’s personnel. I swear people were staring at me when I put on my N95 mask. The person sat next to me in the departure hall suddenly went to toilet with all his luggages. I bet everyone would freak out if I sneeze. When I asked the airport personnel whether they are worried about the flu, he just shrugged it off with an ignorant opinion that the issue is overblown by the media. Ah, who cares. It is better to be safe than sorry, right?

Thermal scanner at Clark Airport

Another surprise is the weather has been kind to us throughout our 9-day stay in Philippines. It was sunny most of the time. It only rained for a couple of times but that were only when we sleep or only a short moment. The best thing about traveling during low season is everything is cheaper and the places are not crowded. We couldn’t ask for more…

Sun, calm sea and white beach in El Nido. Just perfect.

Our journey started in Manila; a comfortable two hours air-conditioned bus ride from Clark Airport. Our main destination is the island of Palawan. Manila is just a place for us to sleep before our flight to Palawan. When in Palawan, we stayed for a couple of days in Puerto Princesa and Sabang where we did the underground river tour. After that we continued our journey to El Nido by a local bus. The bus ride reminded me of the one I took in Laos. Even though it was not as pack as those in Laos, but it has all the ingredients; rice sacks, chicken and other weird cargoes. The only thing I enjoyed during the 9 hours journey is riding on the bus’s rooftop. It has the best view.

Arriving at Clark Airport

Discovering Manila before flying to Palawan.

Flight to Puerto Princesa, Palawan via Philippines Airlines. Still the only one wearing mask in the airplane.

Puerto Princesa Subterranean River or underground river

The bus to El Nido

Riding on the rooftop of the bus

Best view from the rooftop

El Nido is the most beautiful place I have visited in Philippines. In fact, it could easily be the most beautiful place in South East Asia. It was exactly how I imagined it would be; quiet little town, picture perfect beaches, clear blue skies, friendly locals, cheap seafood, hidden lagoons, colorful corals and marine life, crystal clear seawater and lots of bangkas (boats). It doesn’t take us long to realize 1 day is not enough. So we decided to extent one more day and that means we have to forfeit our flight tickets back to Manila from Puerto Princesa. Now, the only way back to Manila is by boat from El Nido and that’s where the nightmare begins.

Peaceful

Secret beach

Cheap seafoods

and lots of cheap beer

Sunset at El Nido

The boat is not really a passenger ferry and definitely not a cruise ship. It was a more of a cargo ship with makeshift bunk for passengers. Lonely Planet says it is worse than a prison. How true. See it for yourself.

Err… what is this? This does not look good.

Oh shit! This is definitely not a cruise…

WTF? I am going to stuck in this shit hole for 32 hours???

Not feeling well… where is the toilet?

This is the view I saw after I vomited

Captain, are we there yet?

Haih… back to my bunk

Ah… I found the toilet

WTF? This is where my lunch came from? Beside a toilet?

Get me out of here! Get me out of here!

Looks like we are almost there. The lady beside me is putting up her makeup.

OK. Better pack up now.

Ah… land after 32 hours.

Justin so happy to see land.

Slum area in Manila

So glad to survive the journey

When I thought the worst was over, I missed my flight. That’s right. Our taxi driver got lost and he took longer than the bus took. When we arrived at the airport, we were 15 minutes too late. Even though the plane was still there, the check-in counter was closed. No matter how we begged and pleaded, the lady just wouldn’t let us in. To make thing worse, we couldn’t buy the next flight back to Malaysia because the AirAsia sales counter’s system was down. So we have to wait until the next day hoping the system would be back online.

To stop further damage to our wallet, we decided to overnight at the airport. The condition was much better than the cargo boat. The only problem was we haven’t bathe since the boat ride and the toilet in the airport doesn’t have a suitable “facility” to bath. I longed for a cold shower after the boat ride because my whole body was so smelly. After downed another San Miguel, we slept through the night on the hard plastic chairs with flies all over us. The only consolation for me was free Wifi in the airport. We finally got our flight ticket the next morning.

The 15 minutes late cost me additional RM800; almost equivalent to my expenses in Philippines.

That’s what happen when you don’t bathe for 3 days. Fly follows you everywhere even into the airplane!

Even though the ending was shitty, I will definitely remember it for a very long time. Come to think of it, it was the unexpected experiences that make the trip memorable. On the bright side, I wasn’t infected with the flu or kidnapped by terrorists. The only thing I suffer right now is sunburn and the skin is peeling off.

If you love this post, then you might love these:

1. A brief moment in Manila
2. Scuba Diving in El Nido
3. Puerto Princesa – Where is the rubbish?
4. The journey to El Nido
5. Puerto Princesa Underground River – A Natural World Heritage Site