In Transit

Jeepneys - the coolest form of transport!

View more photos 

The bus from Baguio arrived at about 4:30am and we were allowed to "sleep" in the bus until we were ready to go.  This bus was really uncomfortable but provided cheap accommodation, so we lasted until 6am.  Another McRice burger for breakfast and we headed to Makati City to collect our refund from Cathay Pacific.  A little boy trailed us for a couple of km asking for money.  He gave up when we entered Makati proper.

Cash in hand we went to the JAM bus station to get the bus to Batangas Pier (P146.5 pp).  By the way, hold onto your bag because Adrienne nearly lost her bag onto a bus before we knew where it was going.  They're paid per person so the driver wants bodies regardless of what you want.

Batangas Pier was harrassment central!  The vultures (aka touts) swooped on us as we descended the "lino carpet" of the bus.  Clasping our bags, to protect them from the overly helpful porters, we made our way into the terminal.  It took a while to see through the smokescreen of prices but eventually we found out that the companies all cost the same.  Initially they were saying P200 pp one way, which is correct, but then they said P170 pp one way ("special discount") that was actually for a return journey.  It was really P340 pp and wasn't a special; just rewording the standard price.

McDelivery???

View more photos 

On the boat we had some friendly/pissed Saudis next to us who gave us a couple of beers.  Drunk, drunker and drunkest had us a bit concerned because the sea was a little bit rough and we hadn't vomit-proofed our bags...