The Philippines
Well, everyone has been waiting for news from my trip to the Philippines. So here it is.
I was supposed to leave Sunday evening during Chinese New Year, but while I was waiting in the airport with a very nice Philippine lady our flight was cancelled due to fog. The real problem was there was no announcement. One time our flight was on the list and then next it was completely gone.
We booked it over to our gate and found a load of Filipino people standing there.. The lady I was with talked to the other people there and they told her our flight was cancelled 'till 10:00 the next day. Then everyone left. Even the airport crew at the gate.
The Filipino lady went to find someone to tell us what we're supposed to do (since she spoke more Chinese than myself) and I waited with this other Filipino guy who was also stuck and had no money. She finally came back with instructions to go to the Philippine airline office where we can stay the night. We trucked all over the airport and no one knew what were were talking about. We were getting absolutely no where... until I spoke up...
Unfortunately, the Filipino people are not treated very well in Taiwan and I was seeing it. I finally got pretty angry with the runaround we were getting, so I decided to speak up for everyone with me (since they weren't really very accommodating with the lady I was with).
Finally things got going and people were bending over backward to take us to where we needed to go and put us up for the night.
I finally got back to Taipei and called Justine (who is already in Manila) and found out that she had already bought the tickets to Sabu and was leaving the next morning. That made me have to meet Justine in Sabu instead of Manila.
We took off from Taipei around noon, with no other real adventures (except the delay) and I landed in Manila and called the hostel I was staying at to pick me up.
I got to the hostel and decided not to leave it (the neighborhood was a little scary). Justine had left me instructions on how to get to Sabang so I headed out the next day, took the boat and saw Justine waiting for me on the dock! What a relief! :)
In Sabang, I was much more relaxed. It was a beautiful area. We did a day on the beach in Sabang-where I snorkeled a little, took a tour of the island, hung out at a great little creek on the tour, and went to White beach before we left to go back to Manila (where Justine found a MUCH better hostel).
On our little day tour we went to see this great waterfall, took a water buffalo/cart ride to this great water hole where we had lunch, and visited a local village. On our way back with hit a chicken and the boys jumped out and grabbed it for dinner. Waste not want not.. :)
I took pics of my little snorkeling swim, but the camera is still sitting in my cabinet waiting to get developed. So everyone'll just have'ta wait for those.
I definitely would have preferred an extra day at the beach (like the one I missed with my flight cancelled) but at least I got there! :)
We headed back to Manila without a hitch and stayed at a MUCH better hostel in a MUCH better area. We went to the water front where there were hords of people waiting to see/participate in a Guinness World Record. A million kisses in something another time.. or something like that (it was going to be Valentine's Day).
I left for Taipei the next day and trudged back to work.. :(
I was supposed to leave Sunday evening during Chinese New Year, but while I was waiting in the airport with a very nice Philippine lady our flight was cancelled due to fog. The real problem was there was no announcement. One time our flight was on the list and then next it was completely gone.
We booked it over to our gate and found a load of Filipino people standing there.. The lady I was with talked to the other people there and they told her our flight was cancelled 'till 10:00 the next day. Then everyone left. Even the airport crew at the gate.
The Filipino lady went to find someone to tell us what we're supposed to do (since she spoke more Chinese than myself) and I waited with this other Filipino guy who was also stuck and had no money. She finally came back with instructions to go to the Philippine airline office where we can stay the night. We trucked all over the airport and no one knew what were were talking about. We were getting absolutely no where... until I spoke up...
Unfortunately, the Filipino people are not treated very well in Taiwan and I was seeing it. I finally got pretty angry with the runaround we were getting, so I decided to speak up for everyone with me (since they weren't really very accommodating with the lady I was with).
Finally things got going and people were bending over backward to take us to where we needed to go and put us up for the night.
I finally got back to Taipei and called Justine (who is already in Manila) and found out that she had already bought the tickets to Sabu and was leaving the next morning. That made me have to meet Justine in Sabu instead of Manila.
We took off from Taipei around noon, with no other real adventures (except the delay) and I landed in Manila and called the hostel I was staying at to pick me up.
I got to the hostel and decided not to leave it (the neighborhood was a little scary). Justine had left me instructions on how to get to Sabang so I headed out the next day, took the boat and saw Justine waiting for me on the dock! What a relief! :)
In Sabang, I was much more relaxed. It was a beautiful area. We did a day on the beach in Sabang-where I snorkeled a little, took a tour of the island, hung out at a great little creek on the tour, and went to White beach before we left to go back to Manila (where Justine found a MUCH better hostel).
On our little day tour we went to see this great waterfall, took a water buffalo/cart ride to this great water hole where we had lunch, and visited a local village. On our way back with hit a chicken and the boys jumped out and grabbed it for dinner. Waste not want not.. :)
I took pics of my little snorkeling swim, but the camera is still sitting in my cabinet waiting to get developed. So everyone'll just have'ta wait for those.
I definitely would have preferred an extra day at the beach (like the one I missed with my flight cancelled) but at least I got there! :)
We headed back to Manila without a hitch and stayed at a MUCH better hostel in a MUCH better area. We went to the water front where there were hords of people waiting to see/participate in a Guinness World Record. A million kisses in something another time.. or something like that (it was going to be Valentine's Day).
I left for Taipei the next day and trudged back to work.. :(
posted by Amanda at
4:51 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home