PART TWO:

I woke up around 5:00am (May 31st). My honeyko was still fast asleep. This gave me an opportunity to catch up on some reading. She looked so peaceful laying there. Although she was in a deep slumber she still maintained that wonderful grin from the previous day. Her eyelids were flickering so I assumed she must be dreaming. What could she be dreaming of? Me? Maybe she was thinking about her chances of moving to the USA? Probably both since I was her meal ticket away from the poverty she’s lived in all her life. I read for about an hour then took a shower. When I returned to the room she was awake and scanning the TV stations. She immediately found a Filipino movie and was laughing her ass off at something. She turned and looked at me. “No honey – it’s not Viva, only GMA”. Like that made a difference to me. I laid down on the bed beside her. She immediately jumped on top of me and commented on how long her hair was (she was NOT referring to the hair on her head). I agreed and offered to be her barber. 20 minutes later and she had a new look between her legs. She was so excited about it that she begged me to take a picture of it. (Sorry guys – that pic stays in my private collection). After a quick shower we reacquainted ourselves again, and then checked out of the room.

I booked the Si Kat shuttle/boat package from the concierge desk at the hotel (400p each). A very comfortable bus was waiting for us for a prompt 9:00am departure. Although the bus could hold 50 or more people there were only 20 passengers this morning. The ride down to Batangas was supposed to be 2.5 hours. This would have given one hour to relax at the terminal before the ferry pulled anchor. The trip was very smooth and fast through Manila. One of the other passengers commented how there wasn’t anyone of the road. Well, sometimes people speak too soon. About an hour into the ride the traffic came to a sudden stop. Since I had never been to Batangas before I couldn’t tell how close we were. The traffic continued at a snails pace for what seemed like hours. At one point we came upon a terrible accident. A fuel truck, heading in the opposite direction, skidded off the road and landed upside down between two river overpasses. Unfortunately, the truck landed on top of several shacks. It was obvious to me that there had to be fatalities involved. The traffic started moving again and I soon put the image of that horrible accident out of my mind.

30 minutes later traffic came to a standstill again. This time we were on a two-way road. Of course there’s no such thing as a two-lane road in the Philippines. Soon other vehicles, our bus included, started using the emergency lane and the opposite traffic lanes for passing. This just made the matter worse. By the time we had arrive at Batangas we were told that all the ferries had left. The only boats available were the large bunkas. Unfortunately these bunkas could not tie up to the piers because of the high surf. Did I mentioned that a Typhoon had just moved through the area? The bus operator flagged down 3 jeepneys to take us to another port – where the water was calm enough to board the bunkas. What they didn’t tell us was that this other port was 20 km away. The jeepneys drivers, in their quest to collect as many pesos as possible, crammed us in like sardines. After we boarded they then tossed our luggage in on top of us. About this time the rain started coming down in buckets. One hour later and we arrived at this “port”. Calling it a port is an overstatement. The bunka was tied up alongside a rusty old barge. We had to traverse three (obviously non-seaworthy) vessels before walking the plank to the bunka. The bunka pulled out to sea around 3:00pm. Yes – do the math. It took us 6 hours to get from Manila to our boat.

At this point I should mention that it’s not a good idea to sit close to the bow when riding a bunka in high seas. Although the crew did its best to shield us from the rain and surf nobody, in the first 5 rows, was spared from the water. Everyone onboard looked miserable. I, on the other hand, was having the time of my life. Every time we hit a big wave I would swing my arms in the air and cream “weeeeee”. I called it “an adventure”. Most of the other passengers got a kick out of my light-hearted approach to our situation and soon people were smiling and chatting away. My poor honeyko, however, was soaked and cold. About ¾ of the way there I remembered I had a rain jacket and took it out and put it on her. Although she was happy I had it I got the impression she was a bit peeved that I hadn’t pulled the damn thing out before we left the pier.

We arrived in Puerto Galera at 5:30pm. Yes, what should have been a one hour crossing took us 2.5 hours. After disembarking we were told that the combination of low tide and choppy seas would prevent us from taking a smaller bunka to our final destination (Big Lalaguna Beach). The transportation company made arrangements for everyone to pile into yet more jeepneys for a “short” trip to Sabang. I saw that there were only 4 jeepneys parked and about 60 people waiting to board them. I wasn’t about to go thru another session of “let’s play sardine” and promptly hired two trikes – one for us and the other for our luggage. The road to Sabang was interesting to say the least. It was paved most of the way except for the uphill portions – go figure. A few times along the way I was sure I was going to have to hop out and push. My driver just smiled and told me to “hold on sir”.

We arrived in Sabang around 6:00pm. My two drivers helped hump our luggage over to the Big Apple Dive Resort. We shook hands and I paid them handsomely for their help. The hotel had rooms and put us into a superior deluxe room. Well my friends – superior deluxe takes on many different meaning and is very subjective in the Philippines. I didn’t mind. I was on an adventure! After a quick shower we headed down and had some dinner at the hotel bar. Big Apple has a beach front bar and is Sabang’s version of Manila’s LA Café. I say version, not an exact replica. The talent was below average at best – I was not impressed. We hit the only three go-go bars in town (called Discos). I can only remember two of them (Sabang Disco and Village Disco). The dancers were okay but the action around the stage was impressive. At Sabang Disco I saw many AC-quality girls. Some looked a bit young but were still nice to look at nonetheless.

We hit all three discos and seemed to always bump into many of the people that made the boat crossing with us. Makes sense – Sabang town is very small. We went to bed around 1:00am and slept for a good 9 hours.


...(prog)




(Message edited by progman on June 22, 2003)

(Message edited by progman on June 22, 2003)