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Published: March 21st 2006
Sunrise
Taken from the Big boatWent back to the San Miguel beer festival on Sunday night but it wasn't as good as Saturday night, the bands weren't as good so I didn't stay long, in any case I wanted an early night as I was leaving for Tobaco in the morning.
Monday morning I got a mini van to Tabaco and checked in at the Casa Eugenie hotel, it's the best place I've stayed at so far. I had a little apartment with a kitchen, louge room, bathroom and bedroom. It was air conditioned, had cable TV, hot showers and the room rate of 1,300 pesos (about $34 Aussie) included a good breakfast. I then withdrew some money from the Mero Bank (my bank in the PI) ATM and took a walk to Tobaco Port to check out the boats for Virac, I decided on the 6.30am boat as it was the "Big" boat. On the way I saw 3 pigs being stuffed into a tricycle making one awful squealing racket. I then took a look at a very old church built by the Spaniards, an English Mass was due to commence so I decided to stay for it. There was a girl singing as a
Spanish Church
The stained glas windows were spectacular part of the Mass, the rest was pretty much the standard format as I remember it.
After the Mass I had lunch at Jollee Bee and then went back to my apartment to read and have a rest. Decided to go to Chow King for dinner and had the "Boneless Bangus", it was very tasty and cost only 82 pesos (about $2.15).
I had an early start this morning, the alarm went off at 5pm, had a shower, paid the bill and got a pedal version of a tricycle to the port. The boat trip to Virac cost 196 pesos (about $5) and took 4 hours. There was a bit of a swell so the boat rocked a bit, I was OK though as I'd packed the TravelCalm which worked a treat, thanks for the tip Fran.
Upon arriving I checked in at the Midtown Inn, it's quite modern with cable TV, airconditioning, hot showers etc, the rate is 680 pesos (about $18). After checking in I looked for (and finally found) the Asian Spirit Airline office to book my flight back to Manila. When I first asked the fare they said it was 3,400 pesos, I then asked for
3 pigs
3 pigs were stuffed into this tricycle and they were squealing a cheaper flight and was offered the Promo special for 2,537 pesos (about $66), I accepted this and paid by VISA to conserve my pesos. I then went to an ATM to withdraw some more money but it was offline, I'll try again later. Good thing I didn't use pesos or my flight.
Lunch consisted of a Pancit Canton at the Midtown Inn, 60 pesos for a half serve that was ample. I'm now at a Internet Cafe struggling with a Korean Keyboard doing this update. I also checked my footytips, I got 5 out of 7 and I'm 3 off the leader after a disastrous first round of only 2.
Tomorrow I'm going to Puraran beach which is pretty much off the beaten track, I'm not expecting to find Internet access and I'm not sure about mobile phone coverage. I've read some very good reports about this beach and may stay 5 days or so if it's good. It's well known for a surfing break known as Majestics and is reputedly "world class" on it's day. It's not the surfing season though so there may be no surf at all, still the beach and coral are supposed to be
Mayon from the boat
The Mayon Volcano seems to dominate the landscape very pretty and the lagoon safe for swimming.
Next update may not be for 5 or 6 days unless I find a sattelite internet connection there, anythings possible. Bye for now.
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Peter D.
non-member comment
Pictures
Glen, keep up the good work - loved the Pictures of the Volcano.