We jumped on the boat for the short journey to Batangas and then the airport. We really wanted to avoid staying in Manila for the night. It was the 17th November and if possible I wanted to celebrate my birthday in Palawan.
Once in Batangas we got a bus to Manila, it would take about 2 hours 30 minutes. We did stop off at a service station on the way, there was a cash point. We did know that there were no cash points at our final destination of El Nido and all of us were quite anxious to stock up.
The bus driver was very helpful in that he called us a cab so as we pulled up by Manila Airport we jumped in a cab. There is a time and a place to negotiate a good price so I accepted then first quote of 200 pesos and we all jumped in the one cab.
The tickets were bought at the Cebu Pacific counter and we were sorted!
Once again the flight had it's 'Cebu' inflight entertainment. This time it's was a 'name three things' the first questions was ' name three countries beginning with F'
My hand shot up, 'France, Finland and Philippines' thinking (or hoping) that there was a Filipino way of spelling.
The flight attendant looked at me
'Phillipines begins with PH' she said, but her eyes conveyed a 'are you a Fuckwit' sort of look..
On the flight Sabi was researching the 'city in the jungle' and had a couple of suggestions for cheap accommodation. The first one looked really nice but was full. The second one looked a little less aesthetically pleasing but this was more than made-up by a good price and Glen, the good natured owner who was very helpful to the point of being quite annoying.
One installed we went in search of food and drink. For the last couple of weeks Sabi and I had been desperate for a rack of Ribs. Granted, not the national dish but they sold them in a number of places which we had visited.
Tonight was the night.... Delicious.
It was decided that we would start celebrating my birthday at midnight, and we did. I was as pissed as a fart and didn't get to bed till very very late. Consequently the first half of my actual birthday was spend nursing a mammoth hangover! Not a good start to my 51st year but great fun culminating with a live band playing 'Happy Birthday' just after midnight.
Oh, and I bought myself a birthday gift. Two pairs of pants as I had none left!!!
Facebook nearly crashed with all the birthday wishes from back home and people I had met on the trip.
In an effort to blow the cobwebs away we had a walk into the town and the quay. There was a nice church not far from the port and I lit a candle for Mum, JB, Liz whose sister in law was having an operation and Mooo.
Just across the road was a garden of remembrance for some US soldiers who had been murdered in the second world war. They had been Japanese POW's. On December 9th, 153 had been ordered into the air raid shelter. Their captors then threw grenades and gasoline down and killed all but 11 of them.
The rest of the day was quite chilled. Dinner was great. Kipp and the girls had done a team photo and a card with all the crazy 'catch phrases we had used on the trip. I was also given three 'personalised' lighters as I kept losing mine. I even had a cake, plus another two renditions of ' Happy Birthday' one in the restaurant and one in a bar later in the evening. The cake was provided by the restaurant but Liz provided the candles. She had bought them in Puerto Galera and in an effort to keep them hidden from me had put then in her arse crack while she walked around town. We had eaten the cake by the time she shared that piece of information with us. They were magic candles, the ones that don't go out. They are only humorous for so long.....
On the 19th we organised to go an a trip to another of Asia's '8th wonders of the world' the longest subterranean river in the world. We did a deal with Glen to get a private bus, lunch and visits to other 'attractions' it was a long but very interesting day, the river trip was great, at the crocodile farm we were all getting more than a little jaded. Kipp decided it would bee cool to tease one of the five year old Crocs and nearly lost an arm as it jumped up at him. It also nearly gave me a heart attack.
The final destination was 'Bakers Hill'. It was a bit like a themed garden centre. it was quite shite really.
As we were leaving early on the 20th for El Nido we planned an early night. Once again, the best laid plans and all that. Arriving back at the hostel Glen had got a group of friends around and we were asked to join. More beer, met a charming lad who was Mr Puerto and his mates. Had a good chat and rolled into bed at around two.
It had been a great few days...
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