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Published: August 8th 2011
Paradise
Our view from The Boardwalk.Dear Blog Readers,
Welcome to The Philippines Diary Part 2. Check out Part 1
here.
We went down for our free buffet breakfast at the Bellavista. We spent most of the breakfast trying to judge who was Cesario and who was Bellavista from the clientèle. Some were blatant when they bring out their brand new iPads at the breakfast table. The buffet was fantastic. Fresh orange juice, bacon, eggs, toast, marmalade and fish.
We got the airport in plenty of time. The rain had held off so the flight to Siargao was still going ahead. We were slightly surprised when we got to check-in. The steward says, "Ok, we just need to check your weight." I assumed he meant he wanted to check the weight of my carry on luggage so I placed my rucksack on the scales. He looks back at me and says, "You as well." To check that the plane was balanced, we had the bizarre experience of actually physically standing on the scales at the check-in counter.
I'm glad we did it in the end when we saw what we were boarding. It had propellers and not much else. The flight was full
Weighing In
"One at a time please." (about 40 people) which was unsurprising because there are only two flights to Siargao every week! When we landed, the announcement on the plane said, "Please do not take photographs of the plane as you leave as the landing crew will be very busy," but really, how busy are they? This is the one of only two planes they've been preparing and waiting for all week. If anything, I'd savour the moment and stretch it out for as long as possible!
I propose a new winner for the Airport of the Year after Incheon’s dreadful catering hours. My winner is Siargao Airport. It’s like nothing I’ve seen before. It has no traffic control tower so if it rains or if the clouds are low then there are no flights. It has been said that once you get on the island, you only have a 25% chance of a flight getting you home! As we stepped off the plane, we made our way towards the Arrivals lounge. I say lounge when really it looked like a village cricket pavilion. It was indicated by a small sign in the grass with ‘Arrivals’ written on it. There, we waited under a little
Dodgy
Cebu Pacific - Banned from European airspace. canopy for our busy landing crew to get our luggage off the plane 50 yards away and wheel it towards us so we could just pick it up off the trolley. We were in and out in 10 minutes!
We went to Tourist Information – just a desk outside with a woman behind it. She told us to get to Cloud 9 we’d have to pay 1500 Pesos. A man outside the gate, who normally charge at least double, told us we could go for 300 Pesos! We hadn’t booked anywhere because we honestly thought everything would get cancelled. The driver was great though and was happy to show us to different hotels and decide on the best one. We plumbed for The Boardwalk which is on Cloud 9. Cloud 9 is one of the most famous surfing spots in the world and we’d found a place right on it’s doorstep.
The owner, Andrew, is Australian and he owns the place with his wife. He has two kids too and an amazingly friend staff to help run the place. One of the staff members, Kyron, is also from Australia and he told us loads about the place and
what to do. First we got some lunch. The menu was mainly Western so I got the spare ribs which were absolutely phenomenal. We spent the rest of the day immersed in our new found surroundings. As I read my book lying in a hammock with palm trees overhead, a gentle sea breeze taking the edge off the sun and the sound of the Cloud 9 barrel waves crashing down in the background. We’d genuinely landed in paradise.
Tink and Laura
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