It was very run down. They really
should flatten the place and start again. The fact that it had a pool
wasn't a plus – it was a grimy concrete thing with a ton of leaves
floating on top. The room was tiny and basic with a dribble of water
from the shower, a noisy aircon unit with space all around it on the
wall to let mosquitoes in and a curtain rail holding a thin
ill-fitting piece of fabric. The whole thing kept falling down every
time you went near it. We were tired and had been travelling since
6am so took the room anyway, but as they didn't take credit cards,
foreign currency or travellers' cheques, we needed to find some cash
fast. The staff couldn't tell us where the nearest cash machine was.
I also needed to send an urgent e-mail, but the staff didn't know
where I might be able to get online. We were used to the convenience
of relatively affluent towns of Naga and Legaspi, this was a shock to
the system.
We set off on a tricycle to look for a
cash machine and an internet cafe. We took all our valuables with us
because the windows in the room didn't lock. We found no cash machine
in town, but I did find a ramshackle hut that had a row of old
computers connected to the internet. Brilliant. I sent a quick
e-mail and then we walked back along the road a bit to where we had
seen the signs for somewhere that looked like an upmarket resort.
They might take credit card and enable us to escape from the Green
Lake hell.
