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Published: March 23rd 2008
My brother Gary and his girlfriend Milena had a bit of a rough start in the Philippines. First, they arrived at the guest house in Manila at 1:30am to be met with a giant cockroach in their room. In the morning, they tried to shower and found it had no water so had to use the one on our side of the building (which was very busy). We all headed out to use the ATM when it opened at 10am, and it was out of order. We got a taxi and the driver didn't know where the bus station was that we wanted to go, even though he pretended that he did. When he realized that he was lost, he yelled at me that I should have just asked for "bus terminal" instead of saying the actual name of the bus company. The problem is that Manila has in fact 18 different bus stations, so that would be pointless. He snatched the money from our hands with a snarl, but at least we didn't feel obliged to leave a tip, the grumpy old sourpuss!
From there, things improved. We boarded a bus instantly and set off to the south. The
traffic crawled out of Manila at a snail's pace and we thought we would be horribly late, but in fact the supposedly three hour bus ride took just that. I guess they factor in the traffic problems!
Arriving at the port of Batangas, we were met by at least a dozen touts all trying to get us to take their ferry company. It was 2:30pm and many boats were reporting the next leaving time as 2:30pm, insisting we could catch it. Not trusting them, we instead opted for a 2:50pm boat, which of course left at 3:30pm - typical!
The area around Puerto Galera is a lush green peninsula with pockets of white(ish) sand beaches and clear water, and instantly it seemed a world away from manic Manila. We had decided to base ourselves at White Beach, known as the quieter alternative to the popular but brash resort of Sabang. As our boat pulled onto the beach, we were met with the sight of a huge inflatable beer bottle - not exactly the paradise we had hoped for! Disembarking from the boat, we again had a dozen touts on us asking us to looik at their accommodation. Being
close to Holy Week (Easter), we were just glad to hear that accommodation was available and we wouldn't in fact be sleeping on the beach. Along with Christmas, Holy Week is the biggest holiday in The Philippines, a predominantly Christian country.
While Milena and Scott stayed with the bags, Gary and I headed out to find accommodation and soon found something suitable at the end of the beach with decent views from the blaconies. Being quite late, we just showered up for the night, but once again, Gary and Milena's shower had no water in it so they had to come down and use ours! Going out at night at White Beach was a little wierd as there is a curious mix of old fat foreign guys with local girls, and Philippino families with 6 kids staying in one room. The old fat foreign guys survived on a liquid diet in the bars, and the large Philippino families cooked their own food on the beach and drank their own beer there too. Consequently, despite the crowds, the restaurants were almost empty. We had some food and beers, and then went to bed for the night.
In the morning,
we met a sleepy Gary and Milena after having no sleep because of another cockroach in their room. They really are having bad luck! Wanting to escape the crowds and the giant inflatable beer bottle on our beach, we walked around the headland to neighbouring Anilao Beach. What a transformation! The white sand beach was almost completely empty. The handful on nice resorts backing the beach seemed deserted, but still the bored security guards kept kicking us out of the shade of the trees, claiming it was private property!
We spent a lazy day lounging around, swimming, and getting sunburnt, before indulging in a sunset beer at one of the nice resorts. For dinner that night, Gary and Milena got a chicken curry, which turned out to be more like bone curry, and they paid the price! That night, they apparently had a tough night due to, er, food poisoning!
The next day it was time to move on bright and early to the premier beach destination of the Philippines - Boracay island. We have heard nightmare rumours from people in Puerto Gallera that the accommodation will be 5,000 pesos (over $100) which was very scary. Indeed, our
800 peso basic fan room was set to be priced at 5,000 pesos over the holidays - rediculous! We are going to just go for it - wish us luck!
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tobyx
non-member comment
we
we went to pg last year and stayed in tamaraw beach resort in aninuan, the beach after white beach. you should consider it next time, we intend to go back there