Leaving on a jet plane . . .

Hello from Bangkok, where I await my flight home.  And now back to the Philippines. . .
 
    So I flew to Manila with Felix and we took a bus into town.  Manila is everything everyone has said it was - super sketchy, dirty, and ugly.  We couldn't wait to get out of there and I was glad I'd booked a ferry to Coron for the next day.  Felix, not being a diver, booked the same ferry to Puerto Princesa because he was convinced there would be nothing to do in Coron besides diving.  On the ferry, I met Pete from the UK and Martin, an expat from Germany living in Manila.  When the ferry docked in Coron, I said goodbye to Felix and split a taxi with Pete to town.

    Coron is a beautiful town on the island of Basuanga in the Palawan Province of The Philippines.  While there, I spent my time with Pete, Martin and his Filipino girlfriend Fritzy, and Robert (Norway) and his Filipino girlfriend Lea.  We went on an island hopping snorkel cruise, a few hikes, a tour of Culion island (the nearby leper colony), and dove a few wrecks.  The wreck diving was fun, but I was unimpressed overall with the sea life in the Philippines.

    After Coron, Pete and I grabbed a small boat to El Nido on Palawan Island.  El Nido is often described by other travelers as the most beautiful seascape they have ever seen.  They were not exaggerating.  Framed by ragged limestone cliffs and islands, it is stunning.  We spent our time there snorkeling, going for walks, and relaxing.  We also ran into Robert and Lea again, so hung out with them a bit.

    The Philippines went by fast and before I knew it I was on my way back to Thailand, which took three flights and three buses.  I said goodbye to Pete in the morning and headed to Puerto Princesa where I caught my first flight to Manila the next morning after spending an afternoon exploring the city.  I was surprised and confused when the tricycle taxi (basically a motorbike with a big side car at the level of the seat) pulled up to the airport.  It looked more like a bus station and I thought surely my driver had made a mistake.  But he hadn't.  So I knew I was in trouble when I realized I hadn't printed out my itinerary and their system was down, so I waited for nearly 40 min. before they finally got someone on the line in Manila or gave up and stapled a hand-written ticket to my hand-written itinerary and confirmation number (see the pic).
   
    So I made it to Manila and took a taxi into town (I was flying out of a different airport 2 hrs. away in 9 hrs.).  On the way, it started down-pouring and the streets quickly flooded.  I spent a few hours in town getting lunch and uploading photos before grabbing a taxi to the bus station that would take me to the airport.  The bus was at 3P and I left town at 2:20P with the station 10-15 min away (normally), but there was so much traffic from the flooding (which had subsided a bit by now, though it was still raining) that I decided to hoof it by 2:45P when we were about a 23 min. walk away and not moving an inch.  So I half speed walked half ran through the rain with nearly 50 lb. of gear and made it to the bus station at 3:02P.  I went to the desk and asked for a ticket for the 3P bus (the last bus of the day) and the ticket agent responded, "The last bus was at 2:30."  (Apparently they need to update their website.  So I asked where I might find another bus to the airport and she directed me to a bus station across the street.  Sounds easy right?  Well, to get across the busy street, one has to use a pedestrian bridge.  So I ran to and up and over the bridge and found the station after stopping to ask about 5 locals (it wasn't obvious - there are about 30 bus stations in Manila).  Luckily, there was an information booth at the front of the station with a woman who spoke English.  She told me to take the 3:30 bus to Dau and take a taxi from there to the airport. 

    So I bought my ticket and spent the next 20 min trying to figure out where Dau was.  I finally found it on a map right next to the airport.  Perfect!  Now I just had to hope the traffic wasn't so bad I'd miss my 8P flight.  It took us 1 1/2 hrs to get out of Manila, but we arrived in Dau just before 6P.  Then I learned that there were no taxis at the bus station, just tricycles (not like the ones I was used to.  These were basically motorbikes with a traditional side car) and the tricycles could only take me to the gate of the airport 2 km away and I'd have to catch a taxi the other 7 km.  So I negotiated a price (which you have to do everywhere here or you'll get ripped off) and caught a tricycle to a taxi where I negotiated another price to get me to the airport.  And I made it!  Phew!

    Okay, this entry is getting a bit windy, so I'll leave it here for now and let you all breathe a bit before I send the last installment.

    Here are the links for the pics from the Phillipines:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2719475&id=8369089&l=1e9141e3e3

AND
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2719507&id=8369089&l=b5b72155bf

  Hope you are all well.  See many of you soon!

Sierra