Goddess, I Am.

Picking up from where I left off . . .

Day Three

The night before, we made arrangements for a van to take us back to Legazpi City where we had to catch the 14:40 flight back to Cebu, and since we didn’t have to leave until about 11AM, we decided to sleep in. The Husband woke me up with a shower of birthday kisses and greetings – definitely one of my favorite ways to wake up. We were hoping to wake up early enough to get breakfast, but unfortunately, we got up later than expected. We were sharing the van with 3 others, so we really couldn’t dilly-dally.

Our companions – Fiona and Jade (a couple from Australia) and Rod (also from Australia, I believe) – were quite the fun bunch. We’ve seen them around the resort the whole time we were there, but we never spoke to each other until then. We exchanged stories about our Donsol experiences, and as it turned out, they went out for another morning of butanding interaction just that morning. Now why didn’t we think of that? The Husband and I were pretty bummed about that, especially when they told us they saw nine – nine! - sharks that fine, clear morning. Oh, well. I’d be sourgraping a bit when I say that I needed the extra sleep anyway, but I’ll let the puffy eyes that not even the best under eye cream can sort out speak for themselves.

But I digress. Like us, they haven’t seen Mt. Mayon yet, so I asked the driver to stop someplace where we could get a decent view of the mountain. He stopped somewhere on the highway, but unfortunately, half of the mountain was still behind a thick cloud. But at least we managed to see most of the base this time.

Since we still had nearly two hours to kill before our flight, The Husband and I asked the van driver to drop us off at McDonald’s so we can get some food. After all, one should not be starving on one’s 28th birthday. He dropped us off at a mall in the middle of Legazpi City, and he told us we could easily take a tricycle back to the airport. After 2 days of eating mediocre food in Donsol, I was craving for Chicken McNuggets big time (weird, I know), so that’s exactly what I had.

We walked around the mall for a little bit afterwards. It was like a slightly smaller SM, and it had a Metro Gaisano. The Husband left me outside National Bookstore while he bought me a birthday card. My birthday presents were waiting for me at home, but he just had to get me a card, too, because he can be romantic like that. While waiting, I asked the security guard how much a tricycle ride to the airport would cost us, and he said it was about P50. I automatically assumed that it was P50 per person. When I asked the tricycle driver, however, he told me it was P50 for the whole ride. Wo-ow. He had every opportunity to overcharge us, but he didn’t. Yes, there are still some honest people in the Philippines.

We saw a bit of Legazpi City on the way back, and it was such a lovely place that I couldn’t help but wish we were staying longer. Methinks we’ll be staying in Legazpi longer the next time, and maybe even go on a trek to Mayon. It reminded me a lot of Cebu City when I was younger, back when it was nicer, cleaner, and less crowded.

We made it to the airport in record time. Checking in was a breeze, too, and I loved the no-nonsense staff. Why, they even let me in with my bottled water! Practically all the airports I’ve been in always made a fuss about that, so that was a tad shocking.

We had to wait a while for our flight, but we didn’t really mind because we were sitting in what is officially the most scenic airport in the country. We were literally facing the Mayon Volcano, which was only about 12 kilometers away. While waiting, The Husband sort of kept watch near the windows, waiting for the clouds to clear up enough to get a good photograph of the mountain.

Luckily, it did at some point, and we were able to get some good photos. Why, we even saw the smoke pouring out of the crater! That was really, really cool.

Before we knew it, we had to board our plane back to Cebu, and it was officially the end of what is – without a doubt – one of our best holidays ever! We’re already planning our next trip back. ☺

Here’s a rundown of how much the entire trip cost (for two people):

Rountrip flights (Cebu-Legazpi-Cebu) via Cebu Pacific – P2,821.21 (seat sale, baby!)

2 nights at Amor Farm Beach Resort – P3,600 (P1,800 per night for a standard air-conditioned room with hot and cold shower)

Private Van to and from Donsol – P1,200 (P300 each on a van shared by 5 people, one way; it’s about P60 per person on a passenger van)

Registration fee for butanding interaction – P400 (P100 for Filipino, P300 for foreign nationals)

Butanding Interaction – P1,167 (P3,500 divided by 6 people)

Firefly River Cruise – P500 (P1,250 divided by 5 people)

Meals – about P2,000 (for the whole trip)

Tricycle ride to airport from a mall in Legazpi City – P50

Airport Terminal Fees – P460 (P200 per person in Mactan Cebu International Airport; P30 per person in Legazpi City Airport)

Souvenirs – P300

The total? A little less than P12,500, or nearly US$280. Not a bad price to pay for an awesome life experience, eh?

More photos of the trip can be found on Flickr.

As far as life experiences go, this is definitely somewhere at the top of my list – probably somewhere between traveling for a week in Malaysia and Thailand with only about $80 in my purse and watching Lea Salonga play Kim in Miss Saigon back in 2000. It’s powerful, intense, and completely surreal.

The Husband, he knows a lot about wildlife, and it was he who told me about the whale sharks that migrate through the waters somewhere east of the Philippines. After a bit of research, I found out that we can actually swim and interact with this fantastic fish off the coast of Donsol, Sorsogon, about an hour’s drive from Legazpi City in Albay. Not only that, we can fly straight to Legazpi City from Cebu via Cebu Pacific, so the moment there was a seat sale, I booked our tickets without even batting an eyelash. Yes, I’m a sucker for seat sales.

But I digress. Being the ‘organized’ traveler that I am, I spent months reading through travel blogs and trawling forums to get ready for the trip. I read that although the whale sharks (or butanding, as they are locally called) travel through the Donsol sound between November and June, they are best seen during the dry months of March to May because rain makes the water murky otherwise – quite similar to a pond without a garden pond filter. And since I was celebrating my birthday on the 13th of March, anyway, I figured it’ll make for a great birthday holiday. I also found out that it was a good idea to book accommodation months in advance as guest houses in Donsol are quite few and far between and can get pretty crowded during the peak months, so I had that sorted out as early as November.

Day One

We left around lunchtime on the 11th to catch our 1310 flight. Yes, I know we should’ve left at least an hour before that, but The Husband forgot to sync movies to his iPhone, so we had to wait for that. Thankfully, we found a cab driver who drove like a maniac and got us to the airport in about 15 minutes, so we were able to check in with a few minutes to spare. It was a bit embarrassing, though, because while I lined up at the airport Dunkin’ Donuts, our names got called over the loudspeaker to board the plane, and when we did, all the other passengers glared at us. We took off about 10 minutes early, so really, that was unnecessary.

We would’ve landed early, too, if it wasn’t for the really thick and really scary fog that had the pilot circling around Albay for a full 40 minutes. It was strange because it really was quite sunny and pretty on the way over.

I was told that another 20 minutes and we would’ve had to turn back to Cebu. Thank heavens the fog cleared up long enough for the pilot to land! That really was quite a harrowing experience. I wasn’t sure whether I was more scared of crashing or having to turn back!

It was drizzling when we landed in Legazpi City. Just our luck. We planned a trip for high summer when it was highly unlikely to rain (there’s a drought, after all!), and that’s exactly what happens!

The airport was really small and quite functional. I spoke to the lady at the tourist desk to ask her where we can get the tricycle to the public terminal where the vans to Donsol are, and she suggested taking one of the private vans right outside the airport because of the rain. A van to Donsol costs about P1,500, but she told me we could share with other tourists who were heading our way, so that’s exactly what we did. We ended up with 3 other people, and we were off!

Normally, the drive to Donsol is meant to be quite scenic, thanks to the Mayon Volcano. The mountain was a complete no-show that day, however. The fog was THAT bad. Still, Albay is quite pretty. We passed rice fields aplenty and some of the prettiest cemeteries I’ve ever seen. Now, I’m deathly afraid of cemeteries, no pun intended, but these ones were so pretty, I couldn’t help taking a little peek.

Donsol was a lot larger than I expected. We got to drive around the town somewhat to drop off the other passengers in the van, and it really is quite a pretty town. The locals seemed friendly enough, and I’ve never seen so many foreign backpackers since Thailand.

Our driver drove us straight to the Amor Farm Beach Resort, where we would be staying for the next couple of days. Apparently, this family-owned resort was the first resort ever to be established in Donsol. One of the Amor daughters checked us in and showed us our pretty little bungalow. Now, being staunch budget travelers, The Husband and I have been in some real shitholes in our time, and this was definitely NOT one of those. In fact, our bungalow was one of the nicest places we’ve ever stayed in. I was very impressed by the room and was even more impressed by the bathroom with its faux Greco-Roman tile design. Yes, it was definitely worth the price of P1,800 per night.

After we settled in, one of the resort staff directed us to where we could sign up for the next morning’s butanding interaction tour. It was about a 5-minute walk from the resort, but it took us about half an hour to get there. There were just so many pretty things to photograph! The new 35mm was on a roll! I took photos of everything from cows to flowers to boats, while The Husband did what he does best: bird-watch.

There was a small crowd of travelers when we got to the Butanding Interaction Center. Everyone has to register for the trip, and no one will ever get scammed here when all trips are regulated. The registration fee is P100 for Filipino citizens and P300 for foreign nationals. Each boat costs P3,500, which is divided amongst its passengers.

Everyone’s encouraged to register early because they only allow 30 boats to go out to sea each morning. Each boat carries a maximum of 6 people, and the staff usually groups people together to make up those 6. When we got there that afternoon, everyone else already had their groups, so we were told to come back at 7:30 the next morning, and they’ll find us a group then.

It was already near sunset when we got back to the resort. We walked to the beach and watched the beautiful Donsol sunset. The water was so calm that you can almost ignore the fact that it was raining just a few kilometers away across the sound.

We realized that we haven’t eaten anything since we left, so The Husband and I then had dinner at the resort’s restaurant. The food was mostly Filipino, so he settled on the safest thing on the menu – fried chicken and fried potatoes – while I had pork sinigang with rice.

Unfortunately, the food wasn’t all that good. His fried chicken was bland, while my sinigang was quite dismal. We ended up feeding most of our dinner to the resident puppy, instead (who we decided to name ‘Patch’, for obvious reasons).

After dinner, we went back to the bungalow and ate almost all the sweets and chips we brought with us to make up for the disappointing dinner. Beat after a long day of traveling, we decided to turn in early.

To be continued…

More photos of the trip can be found on Flickr.

Still on the subject of cars and driving, although the main reason I decided to finally work on my driver’s license was to have another piece of identification, we’ve also been toying with the idea of getting a car sometime this year.

It probably wouldn’t be much of a car, really. After all, we’ve got other more pressing priorities. But say, hypothetically, we had about $100,000 to burn, I would pick these babies any day. Hypothetically. And yes, in this order.

1. The 2010 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 in the Torch Red color with white racing stripes.

2. The Audi TTS Coupe in Meteor Gray or Brilliant Red.

3. The Mini Cooper S in yellow or British racing green with white racing stripes. The Husband would be proud of me, truly. He used to drive a Mini Cooper S back in the UK, but the poor man totaled the poor car in a horrible accident that involved a poor deer.

Goodness, if I ever got one of these, I would definitely need to sign up for a 24 hour towing service. I used to drive a piece of shit 1983 Ford Laser that wouldn’t go beyond 40 kilometers per hour, yet I still racked up around 7 speeding accidents – in my first month of driving! With these babies, I think I will definitely be in trouble.

I suppose it’s only a good thing that I can’t afford ‘em. Sigh.

I never got to blog about this then, but a few weeks back, I finally managed to get my driver’s license renewed. The whole exercise was a lot like pulling teeth, but I’m not going to complain as the whole thing was largely my fault.

My driver’s license expired in 2007. Back then, I didn’t have a car anymore, so I just put the whole thing on the back burner. Then I moved to Thailand and lost the expired card somewhere. When I moved back home, mum arranged for an Affidavit of Loss so I can get it sorted out, but I kept putting it off and putting it off. By the time I got around to it a few weeks ago, it has already been expired for over 2 years. And this means that LTO now had every right to make my life a living hell.

I practically had to start from scratch, sans the student’s permit and driving lessons. The worst part had to be the drug test. I’ve always hated public bathrooms, and having to use a horrible, smelly one in the dingiest LTO-accredited drug testing center imaginable to pee in a cup AND then personally transfer the contents in a teeny tiny bottle was absolute torture. Thank all the stars that the whole process didn’t last too long, so I was in and out and done with the medical hoopla within minutes. Really, that drug testing center/medical clinic was like a well-oiled machine. Why, they can even process car insurance while you wait!

The rest of the steps weren’t as horrible, thank heavens, but they were still unbelievably exhausting. I had to travel all the way to the main LTO office downtown – which is quite a long way away from where I live now, mind you – several times every day for nearly a week. I had to sit through a very boring lecture in a very stuffy room, take a written exam that I (naturally) aced, and a driving test.

I have to admit, I was very nervous about the driving part. Although I drove my own car for nearly 4 years, I have not driven at all in nearly 6, so I was absolutely terrified. We also had to supply our own vehicle, and since I didn’t have one, I had to borrow a car from one of my mum’s friends. Good thing she agreed – after all, not a lot of people would lend an unlicensed driver who hasn’t so much as driven a wagon in 6 years their car.

Well, as it turns out, my (and I imagine, her) fears were unfounded. The moment I got behind the wheel, it really was a lot like finding a long lost friend. I never realized how much I missed the freedom of driving. Even The Husband, who was always so skeptical about my driving skills, was thoroughly impressed. Tee hee.

It was a relief that the car was a stick (manual transmission), actually. I learned on a stick and drove a stick. I was once forced to drive an automatic once, and I hated every minute of it. There was just no . . . artistry to it. I guess my examiner saw that I’ve been driving for a while because he just asked me to parallel park and that was it. The other examinees took half the freakin’ morning. After that, I just had to take a quick trip to LTO one last time, and I got my driver’s license card within minutes.

I must say, I was very impressed with the new LTO, even after all the crap that I had to go through. If my license wasn’t expired for over 2 years, I would’ve been in and out of the LTO office (with the proper driver’s license card, mind you, and none of those shitty temporary receipt things) in about an hour. The Husband got his student’s permit (he had to start over because he lost his UK license) in 10 minutes. Truly, the things that government offices can do when they decide to join the rest of us in the Information Age never cease to amaze me.

Last Saturday saw me and my man at the cinema in Central World Plaza to watch The Incredible Hulk. It wasn’t a particularly exceptional film, but it wasn’t bad either. I enjoyed it anyway because of two words: Edward Norton.

But I digress. The film ended about 10 PM, and we left Central World shortly thereafter. We walked about a couple of blocks towards the Pratunam area to catch our bus home. Right in front of Platinum Mall is a rather narrow walkway, so we had to walk single file. I went first, my man brought up the rear. Walking towards us from the opposite direction were 3 Thai men. I didn’t think much of it.

When I was level with the first guy, he sort of leered at me, but I ignored him. I’m used to dirty leers and jeers from men, and I’ve found that it’s way better to simply ignore them and not give them the satisfaction of my attention. From what I gathered later, he made a gesture which led the boyfriend to think that he grabbed me. Naturally, my man reacted and gave him a nasty look. The next thing I knew, all 3 men have jumped him from behind, so he didn’t really get a chance to defend himself. They were all fists and elbows and knees, muay thai style, while my man fought to stay on his feet as he tried to get them off him.

At this point, I was screaming for help at the top of my lungs. It was surreal, like something out of a movie. I wasn’t really thinking at all at that point, so I acted on instinct. I hit and poked the men randomly with my trusty umbrella (one of those pointy-tip ones). I must have hurt one of them because he moved as if to strike me across the face. I sort of cowered and waited for the blow to come, but it didn’t. I think he still had some decency left not to strike a woman.

At this point, my man already managed to break free from their clutches, so I took his arm and dragged him away towards the crowd gathering. The men started walking away in the opposite direction. My man tried to tell a security guard who was in the crowd to call the cops. The man just sort of gaped at us with his mouth open like an idiot. Upon hearing the word ‘police’, one of the 3 men came back (the guy who was walking first) and threatened my man with something from his pocket. I imagine he had a knife in there or something.

There was a cab parked at the curb and the driver was gesturing at us frantically to get in, so I dragged the boyfriend into the cab. At this point, the adreline had worn out. I was shaking like a leaf and quite hysterical. My man had about 5 nasty bumps on his head. I wanted to go to the hospital, but he and the cab driver had other plans.

We drove around for about 5 minutes looking for a police outpost. We found one just past a BTS station (I think it was Ratchethewi). There were about 5 policemen milling around at the sidewalk. The cab stopped, and the boyfriend told me to stay inside while he and the driver dealt with them. The moment they saw the driver and my boyfriend with his torn shirt and head bumps, they literally scattered and disappeared faster than non-existent electronic cigarette ashes.

There were 2 policemen left who didn’t want to help at all. They kept shaking their heads and putting up their hands. But the cab driver was adamant that they help us and my boyfriend told them he was working in Bangkok as a teacher, so after about 5 minutes of talking, they finally decided to do something about it. We gave the cab driver some money for his trouble and got into the back of the police cruiser. We then drove back towards the scene of the crime.

Of course, our attackers were nowhere to be found by then. My man, heroic as he is, jumped out of the cruiser and ran out towards the direction they were headed. The cops didn’t move at all. I had all sorts of scenarios in my head, that the men were lying in wait to stab him and stuff like that (shoot me, I’m female), so I started to get hysterical again. I practically screamed at one of the cops to go with him, so he did, probably to get away from the shrieking banshee that I was turning into.

Needless to say, they didn’t find those men, just as I expected. The police dropped us off and waited for us to get into a cab safely – probably the only thing that they actually did right that night. I’m just thankful that we got out of the harrowing situation with nothing more than a few bumps, one missing umbrella (my boyfriend’s), and a bent one.

That was by far the scariest thing that has ever happened to me, including getting mugged at knife point back in university. Almost a week after the incident, I still find myself shuddering at the memory of those men pummeling my boyfriend’s head. It hurt me so much that they hurt him for almost no reason at all.

A friend asked me how I could’ve had the presence of mind to hit them with my umbrella (Mary Poppins style, as it had come to be known). She said she would’ve either run away, or fainted. I personally don’t think so. When someone you love is under attack like that, you just can’t run away. Instead, you’ll do everything you can to stop it, as futile as it may seem, regardless if you’ll end up putting your own life in jeopardy in the process.

Some people would probably call that stupid. I call it love.