If there is one word describing our trip to Boracay Island in the Phillipines, then it is "rugged". It's a good destination for backpackers or rich people, but for us it was a little rough. We came up with a new definition for 'luxury'. If the hotel meets you at the airport and takes you to the hotel that's 'luxury'. The number of public transports between the airport and the hotel is how faraway you are from 'luxury' .
From the airport to our hotel took 3 public transport.
It was a 2 hour flight from Taiwan to Kalibo where a new airport has been opened up. The runway is still a little short so we had a exciting time braking the Boeing 737-800.
At the airport, the hotel had arranged for a sticker to be applied to our shirts that marked their hotel as our final destination. Along the way the transport workers just directed us according to our sticker.
The first transport was a bus from Kalibo to the port of Caticlan. 2 hours on the bus with no bathroom breaks. One European couple with children found out the hard way that there weren't going to be any bathroom breaks. At Caticlan, one transport worker extracted some fees that turned out hotel had already included in our package. What to do? How can you argue when you don't know what is happening? The real difficulty was that we hadn't exchanged money yet so had to scramble exchanging dollars for pesos from our fellow travellers.
From the port of Caticlan we took the 'ferry' to Boracay Island. That idea that the water would be rough goes with the stabilizing outriggers.
It's a good time to contemplate how good a swimmer you think you are.
From the jetty on Boracay Island we took the local transport to the hotel. These "tricycles" are just small motorcycles attached to a big sidecar. The engines are over matched for the hills but the roads of cement are too narrow for any other vehicles.
Some of the motorcycles are the old 2 stroke which are pretty bad on the emmisions, along the roads the fumes can be distracting from the beauty of the place. The sounds are deafening, I really feel for the drivers after a day driving, they have to be unable to hear anything.
Mike, you once said to me that vacations can either be for rest or for adventure and that you preferred adventure. It sounds like you are having adventure this time!
ReplyDeleteWow, it looks like it took a lot to get to Boracay! Cute scooter by the way. :)
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