Puerto Galera is situated at the most northern tip on island of Mindoro. The Island was originally settled by the Spanish in the 16th Century and was a sheltered harbour for the Spanish to repair their sea fairing galleons and restock their supplies.
today there is not much left of the original structures and serves as a tourist destination for Diving, Waterfalls and its mountains that can be climbed.
Mondays are indicate as the start of the week and this comes from the ISO 8601 according to the international standard for the representation of dates….. however no one really likes the way the americans do anything and as we know the are handicapped in most forms of measurement…. particularly distance.
on Egypt, when Sunday was set aside as the most important day of the week, and thus the one that was at the start. The “day of the sun” was observed in honor of the Sun-god, Ra, the chief of all astral bodies, making Sunday the first of all days….
so we will call Monday as the second day of the week on this trip and with it being Monday today i cant complain that Monday being the start of the week is the worst day of the week.
There is a booking issue with the 1 PM ferry to Puerto Galera that has been sent to my Gmail account and it states that the 1 PM ferry is cancelled due to mechanical issues. and the only option is the 3:30 PM Ferry , that will arrive at around 5:10 PM.
Giving extra time in the morning is always nice as it takes the rush out of having to be checked out early.
most Check out times here for tourists is 12PM – Noon, better than New Zealand’s Poxy rule of 11AM which i have never seen as a particularly nice time to checkout…. too early for lunch or still letting breakfast settle….. you get the idea.
On our way back from breakfast we as hotel reception what is the best way to commute from San Pablo down to the port of Batangas. It is only 50KM away, but public transport in the Philippines is not exactly easy.
the hotel tell us the best way is to get a van from the San Pablo Van terminal down to the outskirts of Batangas, an from there we switch van to a vehicle that will take us directly to the port itself.
I may have forgotten to mention earlier in this piece is that i have woken up today feeling exceptionally Average with a slightly scratchy throat, a casual runny nose, a dry cough (intermittent) and also I’m sweating profusely even under the AC.
Marge books us a Tricycle to the bust terminal for at 11:30, and once i return to the room i collapse on the bed and go to sleep for an hour or so to try and get some motivation to fight another day, but before doing so i take one of my RAT tests that i have lugged around for the last couple of weeks.
the RAT test we use in NZ is 80% effective and it takes 5 good swabs from the back of the nose and then you let the swab sit in a Vial of activator, from there you let it sit for 1 Minute and after that you put 4 consecutive drops onto the test bed…..and as per expected i am normal… or negative…. probably better to use negative as im far from normal….
The sleep was well needed and when i awoke the hotel phone was ringing to say our trike was here for us to get cracking.
the Trike’s here in San Pablo are much smaller than the ones on the outer islands, and the driver has to put my pack on the roof of his side car, marge sat in the side car and i casually sit on the back with my legs hanging over the back of the bike.
the trikes seem to be low geared as they are not particularly fast in any condition and the trip to the Bus terminal takes us North up the main road and we pass through the centre district of the city and get dropped off to a small gravel Carpark with only 2 Vans in it.
the Vans will wait until all 13 seats are filled as each seat costs 180 Peso’s each and from there it will make headway to its final destination, there is one van ready to go with only one seat left so we have to wait for the next bus.
the bus to fill all seats takes around an hour and as people trickle into the gravel Arena, i decide to take a walk up to the 7/11 to try and find something to perc me up in me decay of sweat.
7/11 are relatively common but you can walk up to a Kilometer to find one.
my Walk takes me south down the main street for about 700 Meters to the 7/11 and i get marge some drink called “sting” which looks like red transmission Fluid and i opt for a Green Tea Iced Tea.
i also got some snacks for the journey but i wasn’t particularly hungry as I’m now feeling bloated and achy.
upon my return to the Van depot i let Marge know that i think I’m sick and her being organises has Panadol and also a Mucus extracting seltzer tablet, which i accept with great pleasure and dose myself up.
the medication works relatively well and within 20 Minutes the concoction of Green tea, seltzer tablet and Panadol are flowing through my veins making the discomfort manageable, the only thing that makes me feel a bit unwell is manhandling my pack onto the van which at 12:30 is now full of passengers.
the ride to Batangas starts with a bit of rain and is probably the safest journey i have had in a hiace van since arriving here.
we get into the Batangas Van Depot at around 1:45PM , there is a second van waiting for us and the driver was instructed to wait for 2 tourists before we departed. he swiftly gets our bags loaded up and we are off to the port.
the port is large and looks like its a hub for Cargo Shipping, Vehicle shipping and passengers transferring to islands to either go home or start their holiday.
as we approach the main gates towards the Port, the streets is lined on each side for at least 200 Meters with tiny stalls offering food, souvenirs and then multiple street touts trying to make their next buck!
When the door slides open a barrage of Filipino men start shouting asking where we are going, what ferry we are with and so forth, this makes me exceptionally uncomfortable as it is a social overload and it makes me wonder if they even work at the port.
i get off with my pack and help Marge unload her bags, and while this is happening these same men are still hounding me for information and im about to yell “fuck off ” at the top of my lungs as it was getting to the point of ridiculosness, but marge manages to get us talking to the right guy from our island ferry company and he escourts us over to a small booth with 2 ladies on iphones.
Here in the Philipines everyone needs to take their cut of a transaction. unlike in western society where everything is built into one price, for example take an Airline ticket. this ticket has the following charges hidden within it:
-Flight
-Terminal Use
-Gate Fee
-Security clearance charge
it includes all charges to make the transaction simple and easy
Here in the Philipines everyone is out to clip their ticket, so for us to have out Vaccine passes checked and also our Tourist QR Code , this cost us 30 peso’s each, from there we get a silly hand written reciept, after that you past a firt security gate where a camera takes your temperature and if you look suspicious, they will wand you down with a mental detector.
after that you pass into the start of the main terminal where they make everyone put their bags in a Xray scanner and open your backpacks to make sure you aren’t carrying any dangerous weapons. Then you have to go to the Terminal main check in window and pay a fee of 100 Peso’s to use the terminal facilities.
after that you go to your ferry company and get your tickets and seat numbers….. and wait there is more!!!!
Thennnnnnnn you have to pass a second security X ray machine just in case the last x ray 10 minutes ago missed something , so you pass through that again…. and Finally you are in the Departure area that is a big hall with about 600 Seats and people wait patient;y for there ferry ride to timbuk2.
our ferry is running late in classic form to our travel plans and we don’t depart until 3:50, i message the Hotel on booking.com and let them know this as they have arranged a Tricycle to pick us up from the Port.
the Ferry Ride takes just over an hour and just a ride of gentle rolling motions that make you want to sleep like a baby in crib.
when we dock at Puerto Galera the general boat patrons pretend they are in a scrum and trying all they can to push the door open and get out… which as we all know doesn’t make anything move any faster.
guess what happens now….. we have to then approach another counter at the exit to the port and for a casual 150 Peso’s we have to get a Tourist ticked which is basically a tourism tax and a crappy bit of paper printed off your home inkjet printer that always runs out of Cyan and Magenta ink by the time the first page has been printed.
finally we are out in the street and a 28 year old man is waiting for us with his Trike, he loads us up and takes us up to the main street and over the winding hill roads to the Blue Crystal Resort…. which sounds nicer than it is.
after we got our bags into the rooms at the hotel, we made a request to rent a scooter for 2 days and by 7Pm a nice gentleman by the name of “Andy” was waiting in the street with yet again another Suzuki Axion 155CC Scooter ready for us.
the Day rate for a scooter here is 700Peso’s and that includes 2 helmets and paperwork is kind of a relaxed thing, he makes me sign a declaration stating i will be responsible and not use the scooter for motor sport racing, and if i crash it blah blah blah.
I looked at the hotel restaurants menu and it was priced to an extraordinary level, most dishes’ were about 700 pesos and at that point there, we decided to go out in the black of night to find a meal.
the small township of Puerto Galera is made up of only a few streets, a main street that and a few side streets, there is one supermarket a few Pharmacy’s, the odd supply store and the one restaurant that has its sign lit up is called Mar’s grill and Restaurant….. or as i will call it…. Mar’s Seedy breeding ground for dirty lonely old men.
the Restaurant is basically open plan and there is a gentleman who would be American in his early 60’s sitting on the bar at the main window smoking and eating a pizza and as we get closer it is the Dive bar of lonely old men who probably drool over the early 20 Filipina bar staff who don’t look particularly happy with there jobs.
we take a seat at the back for the restaurant and over by the pool table there is 4 White men heavily intoxicated on beer and spirits, playing pool and singing to the old 80’s music blasting from the speakers next to it.
the Menu is very western and would be typical of what you would see on a diner menu in USA.
-All day Breakfasts
-Pizza
-steaks
-Pasta
-sandwiches
nothing looked particularly interesting but we ordered some food and waited patiently.
the food was really just food. just fuel with no flavour but that’s okay it was dark and we are 3 hours behind our planned schedule.
we leave to head back to the resort (which isn’t really a resort)
By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.
-Christopher Columbus- 1451AD-1506AD
Quantum Entanglement 