Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Planes, Boats and Automobiles

Hello There!

What a wonderful week!  I hope that your week was wonderful too:-)

I flew to Manila, Philippines last Wednesday to hang out with my friend, Michelle, who was on Spring Break from International School Manila.  As I stated in a previous post, Michelle and I worked together in London.

Wiki link about the Philippines:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines

Here's the CIA version:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rp.html

Michelle's school:
http://www.ismanila.org/

Although Manila was interesting, the highlight of this trip was a 2-day stay at a resort on Coron Island, which is in northern Palawan province.  This Huffington Post link about the place includes some wonderful images (possibly even better than mine:-/.
 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/24/coron-palawan-philippines_n_6193058.html

Here's a quick run-down of my time in the Philippines:

Day 1 - 6 a.m. bus to Bangkok and flight to Manila took all day.  Arrived late...had dinner...talked to Michelle...went to bed.  Michelle lives on the 37th floor of a very nice apartment complex in Bonifacio (a very swank area of Manila).  More info here: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/17/asia/bonifacio-global-city/
View of Manila from Michelle's balcony
Day 2 - Michelle treated me to breakfast at Chelsea Market and Cafe (http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/chelsea-market-cafe), then we went to her school.  The school was very impressive - especially the size of her classroom and the pool.  After school, we went for a walk to Market Market mall then back to the High Street.  After resting for a bit, we went to eat at Orale - very tasty Mexican food.  https://www.facebook.com/oraletaqueria/

Day 3 - Adventure day!  We had to take a seaplane to get to Coron Island.  To get to the seaplane dock, we used Uber (yes - Manila has Uber! So does Bangkok apparently:-).  It was an interesting ride to find the plane.  First, the traffic was pretty bad, which made us late.  Even though Michelle told the driver that the plane was in a certain area, he refused to listen to her (a woman, a foreigner, etc.), so we rode around and around.  We finally arrived very late to find that the pilot, John, had not arrived yet either, however the co-pilot was there.  Michelle and I were the only passengers.  John finally arrived about 10 minutes after us.  A jovial fellow - he told us lots of jokes.  He gave us the safety briefing while sitting outside the Air Juan (http://www.airjuan.com/index.php) office.  We knew it would be a memorable flight...and it was!

Michelle and me about to board the seaplane.
Inside the plane with Captain John

We had beautiful views from the plane
The landing was interesting - we sort of hit the water and bounced up and down a bit before finally settling down.  My first flight on a seaplane!!!!!

Preparing to land

The Two Seasons Resort (http://www.twoseasonsresorts.com/coron/) was a totally worthwhile splurge.  What a lovely place!  The staff met us at the plane with umbrellas, and walked with us into reception.  Filipinos love their umbrellas, because they shield them from the sun.  Our welcome drink came with churros and chocolate, and we had a very nice chat with John, who didn't seem to want to leave.  After being shown to our room, we changed into swimwear and headed for the water.  It was hot, so we actually ended up having drinks and real food out in one of the beach bungalows.   Later that evening, we had a massage (included in our package), then went to dinner.  Great way to start the trip!
Michelle poses much better than me!
Day 4 - Swimming and norkeling day!  We booked Tour A - Coron Island Adventure Tour.  Our wonderful tour guide was Arnold.
 
Arnold
We went in what I call a spider boat, but they call it an outrigger.  I forgot to take a picture of our outrigger, but here's a link if you're interested in how it looks:

https://www.google.co.th/search?q=outrigger+boats+philippines&tbm=isch&imgil=we0E8im-vdFQcM%253A%253BabbaaRM41Ch1zM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.donteverlookback.com%25252Fphoto-friday-34-filipino-fishing-banka%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=we0E8im-vdFQcM%253A%252CabbaaRM41Ch1zM%252C_&usg=__TCO5rtuJV6YmxXY_FYRWTGsbrHQ%3D&biw=1366&bih=657&ved=0ahUKEwjf0r2lvfnLAhUCm5QKHfD7BFIQyjcIJA&ei=ULkEV9_qKYK20gTw95OQBQ#imgrc=mYbNcX_dUm94RM%3A

Outrigger driver
 This tour included stops at:
Kayagan Lake

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/philippines/palawan/coron/sights/lakes-rivers-waterfalls/lake-kayangan

Me at the top of the hill before going to Kayagan Lake
Kayagan Lake - visibility for snorkeling was not good, but it was great for swimming!
Twin Lagoon
Twin Lagoon

Twin Lagoon - ready to swim at a moment's notice
Skeleton Wreck
We did not dive but snorkeled instead.  Taking advantage of another person's dive photos - this is what it looked like:

Banol Beach 
This is where we had lunch...prepped very nicely by Arnold.

View from the beach
What an absolutely thrilling day!  We ended the day with a lovely surprise - our very own table right on the beach:-)   

Dining on the beach on Coron Island
Day 5 - Seaplane departure time changed from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Then everything changed.  Instead of taking a seaplane right from the hotel, we had to take a speedboat to Coron City (smelled of gasoline the whole way - we thought we'd pass out), transfer to a tour bus for the trip to the airport, then fly from Coron City to Manila on Air Juan's 12-seater Cessna.  At the airport, they couldn't tell us what time the plane would leave. I thought that was odd, but Michelle said, "This is the Philippines!"...with a snarky smile:-)  We finally departed with a female pilot and a male co-pilot.  They both appeared extremely focused - no jokes on this flight! We arrived in Manila one hour or so later.  We had a lovely dinner in Aura Mall at Todd English Food Hall (https://www.facebook.com/Todd-English-Food-Hall-Manila-446633605469010/).  I had the best burger ever!  In preparation for my 6:30 (to avoid traffic issues) Uber ride to the airport, we went to bed early.

Female pilot
Plane she flew
Day 6 - I flew from Manila to Bangkok, then took a bus to Hua Hin.  Arrived in time to meet my Sundown group at the beach. 

When we lived in Thailand before, I had a work trip to Manila and Bataan.  So...I wasn't originally considering a trip to the Philippines again, but I am so glad I went!  Despite our sometimes challenging transportation issues, this was definitely one of the best experiences I've had since I've been in SE Asia!

Until next week...may the force be with you!






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