The
guidebooks recommended to skip the town altogether calling it a dusty
spot in the middle of nowhere. But, I disagree. Sure, it is dusty and
there isn't really anything special to do there, but it is really not
that different from other small towns that for some miraculous reason
made it in the books. For one, Roxas was so much more pleasant that the
annoying Sablayan (which we had "U-turned", and which was supposed to be a
new top spot according to the books). Second, local people were so much
more pleasant and helpful. Third, on market days you could encounter
the Mangyan indigenous groups coming to trade their crafts and
belongings. Fourth, the town had food options including decent
evening choices, great mangoes, and ice-cream. And, fifth - the
supermarket had a free wi-fi and a great security guy who would drop
anything and send employees to get me hot water for my decaff coffee.
In other words, not only we did not "skip town", we ended up spending
two nights here before proceeding further north on the way to Puerto
Galera.
CALAPAN CITY
... was a necessary over-night connection stop-over
on the way to Puerto Galera. Not too much flattering to say about the
city - bigger (richer) urban area, snotty (richer) local kids, lots of
fast food establishments (McDonald's had great chicken-rice-and gravy
special, and ice-cream was pretty good), and hotel we stayed at had a
better bigger bed to seep in. The city had a small heritage center
dedicated to the Mangyan indigenous group - apparently that seems to be
the only group in the Philippines that managed to never be colonized by
European invaders. Displays were limited, but the stories were
interesting. We talked to an indigenous girl there who was volunteering
in a small gift shop. There were a few heart-touching friendship
indigenous poems written on pieces of paper attached to letter-opening
knives, and we thought immediately of our dear friend who has
graciously been our point of contact and a designated correspondent for
us for almost seven years... When one travels for so long and sometimes
forgets what and where a real home is, there is a great comfort in
having someone looking after the practical affairs.
PUERTO GALERA
Noted in guide books and self-proclaimed as "the most beautiful bay in the world" Puerta Galera
town itself is really just another s..t-hole... The bay itself is
all right, but the description has really been created to get the
attention and make some money on it. The sailing boats and expats do
seem to flock here, but I think the cheap (really cheap) alcohol has
something to do with it, and not the natural beauty. The town itself is
dusty, noisy, over-run with obnoxious tricycle touts that would gather
and talk loudly under (our hotel) windows until 4 a.m. hoping to make a
buck by taking a drunk Western expat back to their over-priced resort.
The small guest house in the town center we stayed at was German-Philippino run (apparently a German guy had married a local Philippino
lady). And, it can also be awarded a title of "the filthiest hotel" in
Asia. Let me put it this way - we had stayed in real dumps while
traveling in numerous developing countries, and yet this was THE first
time in my ten travel years when I had to clean the common bathroom (the
only bathroom available for the guests and staff to use). The floor
was covered with used toilet paper soiled with fecal matters, the toilet
had not been flushed for days and was plugged with what you would (or
would not) expect; and it goes from there. There was no other guest
house available in town, and the young lazy Philippino
ladies "running" the hotel wearing high heals did nothing to correct the
situation; as a matter of fact they would mysteriously disappear when
work had to be done. I must say they were friendly and smiley (of
course they would smile - they finally got someone (me) to clean up the
bathroom for everyone's enjoyment); and one morning they
even made us a nice big fresh pot of real coffee that went well with
fresh bakery items I picked up. In either case, I am disclosing the
hotel's name - it is "Bahay Pilipino" - enter at your own risk...
Now about more pleasant memories. We did mange to explore a local
marine environment for a couple of hours (exceptionally short time for
us). Our expectations had been set quite low (Philippines is not that
great for marine life), but we had some time and joined a diving boat to
be dropped off in the snorkel-accessible area. The water was cold (wet
suits helped, but only for a short time), and the currents (abundant with jelly fish) were quite
strong, but we did manage to see typical tropical fish, a moray eel,
mandarin fish, and lots of banded sea snakes - so many, as a matter of fact, that I told Rob I felt we had been dropped off in a "snake farm" as
opposed to a (yawn-yawn-boring) "clam farm" near-by - another tourist
trap created by local diving businesses. I must say however, that
coral looked quite pretty in areas as long as you can disregard the fact
that the ocean has been depleted by locals' over-fishing.
Another outing (and definitely a highlight of Puerto Galera for me) was a trip to Tamaraw
Falls. We spent almost the entire day swimming in waterfalls and their
pools created along various heights. From one of the angles, you could
look towards the ocean miles away over the green lush jungle tops. We
also got lucky - there were only a couple of people besides us - and for
the most part we had the falls to ourselves. While waiting for a jeepney
(former school bus converted into a public bus) to get back into town,
we struck a lively conversation with a super nice local young guy (who
apparently was having a long-distance infatuation with a Russian girl he
had met here as her tour guide), so I had to explain some of the
cultural interpretations for that fellow. He also shared with us his
local knowledge. One of the questions we had for him was an obvious
"convenience" relationship between numerous old Western expats and young
local Philippine girls. Our suspicions were confirmed. I guess
everyone is looking for something, just the way the song goes...
And, the third highlight of Puerto Galera
was a simple street food stall run in the evenings by two brothers in
their early 20's. They would cook up super delicious, freshly made
soups and finger-licking BBQ chicken accompanied with numerous
condiments - hot chili peppers, limes, fried crispy onion bits, spicy
oils, pepper flakes, etc. The food was quite cheap (both of us would
eat our fill for a total of $3). And - no two-tier pricing (locals and
foreigners paid the same) - honest sellers proud of their work and their
guests. Way to go!
CALAPAN to BULALACAO
Calapan
was simply a practical stop-over to load up on food supplies for our
upcoming trip to the Tambaron Island. On the way to Calapan from Puerto
Galera we shared a jeepney with an interesting outspoken young
lady of the Hawaiian-Philippine descend. She'd returned to the
Philippines and established a successful business, however, due to the
local corruption and laziness of her family members (according to her
own admission), she ran into a lot of dead ends. So, it was informative
to get the perspective on the local bureaucratic customs and tactics.
We
had to figure out numerous bus connections in order to make it to
Bulalacao and avoid the "private vans cartel". Eventually, we located a
what looked like a large jeepney (public bus), but it seemed to
be loaded with mounts of baskets and produce and very few locals. We
confirmed that it was indeed the public bus to Bulalacao, but when we
inquired about the cost of getting to our point, the price kept
shifting. It just didn't have the right sound. However, choosing
between the bus and the corrupt van cartel, we chose the former. We
climbed into the bus, and the passengers began eagerly moving their
over-loaded with produce baskets to clear us a spot to sit down on the
narrow wooden bench. I immediately picked up on the passengers'
appearance - they definitely looked different from the local Philippine
population; and then I realized we were sharing the bus with the Mangyan
indigenous group. Cool, I thought! Tourists pay big bucks to be taken
to their village, and here we have the village on the bus with us!
They all were jolly men and women. They spoke no English, but we
quickly got acquainted via the universal body language, gestures, smiles
and giggles. A Mangyan elderly lady proudly showed me a huge woven
basket of turnips she'd bought at the market, and picked up a large one
for us to try. We politely declined it, but it was very curious to
observe the Mangyans enjoying those ripe turnips like they were a treat
of the century. We smiled back and forth all the way, and eventually
the lady had to get off the bus. She and a few other passengers
unloaded their precious cargo, then she went to the driver, pointed to
us, told him something to which the driver nodded, and then she walked
away from the highway sending us air kisses and waiving us good-by. We
found out about 15 minutes later what had been said to the driver... We
reached Bulalacao, and I went to the driver to pay for our ride - I
handed him the money, but also mentioned to him that I was fully aware I
was over-charged. He smiled back, told me completely different (lower)
local price, and returned part of the payment back to me. I understood
then that the Mangyan lady had spoken to him about being fare with us,
and he was. So, the bus ride ended up on a pleasant note after all.
And, by the way - on the way to Bulalacao we saw a broken down van and a
group of confused Western tourists along with their spread luggage
standing on the highway. See - that's why you gotta spend a little more
efforts to locate that local bus with actual locals riding it!
We
seemed to be the only two Westerners staying in Bulalacao. Two places
mentioned in our guide book had been shut down (of course, the lazy book
writers didn't bother updating their "super new and improved
information"). But, we still had a hope of locating one more obscure
hotel. It was so obscure, that even most locals had no idea where it
was. Eventually, one lady took us to the place. The building actually
looked quite pompous from outside (and had a matching name to go with it
- El Rio Grande), but apparently it had not been occupied in months!
We located a care-taker, and she and her young son took us inside of the
hotel. We were shown to a HUGE room with over-sized windows and
sweeping views of the ocean from all areas (even from the toilet seat -
literally). There was one issue, however - the room's key had been
mysteriously lost, and no one had any idea where it would be. Not to
worry - my super-man Rob (who had acquired the nickname back in
Indonesia due to his grand appearance from the ocean in his impressive
wet-suit), had the solution! With his travel tools, he took a lock out
of another unoccupied room (that was in the process of being remodeled),
and within 10 minutes we had a room and a key! He also proceeded with
repairing handles of both rooms, and even fixed up our shower. I can
tell you this - this is probably the first and the last time that
care-taker had an aerospace engineer (and Westerner) working on her
property. I warned Rob to be careful - otherwise the care-taker and her
family would not let him go. In any case, we had a comfy room, large
breezy roof-top terrace and the entire hotel all to ourselves. We went
and picked up several simple local dishes, and had our supper watching
the ocean, sunset, and appearing in the night sky multitude of stars.
TAMBARON ISLAND
Finally,
we have secured a peaceful isolation that we'd been longing for after
so many noisy dusty towns and bus connections going around Mindoro. I
had been communicating with the island resort months prior (even before
we took off for this fourth Asia trip back in November). It would be
Rob's birthday so I planned this retreat in advance. There were only a
couple more Western travelers on the island, but even they seemed a lot
more serious, respectful, and interesting (which is quite rare these
days). For the most part we had an island to ourselves, and spent days
either snorkeling or enjoying the tranquility and the ocean. At night,
unbelievably beautiful stars would cover the night sky. Being on a
relatively isolated island without any light pollution, we would indulge
ourselves gazing at the striking unobstructed star clusters, it made
you feel so insignificant being surrounded by these astronomical
wonders. The only similar experiences we encountered were on isolated
Banda Islands in Indonesia (a few months ago), and on South Island in
New Zealand (a couple of years ago)...
The
accommodation itself was quite basic (including a typical dingy cold
water bucket shower room) - though we were given an eight-person room
(that normally would have been used by a large group) just for the two
of us. We had about four windows in our large (mostly unused) room, and
the wooden shutters would produce loud noise when the strong ocean
winds would pound the wooden building and force the shutters close.
Despite of the island's peacefulness, there was still something
unsettling for me. The resort staff (though always polite) reminded me
robots. They produced a kind of depressing aura around them, and seemed
like lost souls without any positive outlook or hope...
The
snorkeling experience was nothing spectacular (especially after the
Banda Islands), however, we did manage to encounter a few very unusual
(and highly desirable) marine creatures - over 30 nudibranchs (some as
large as 20 centimeters long), and once even witnessed two giant
nudri-branchs' engaged in an intimate encounter - while we were
snorkeling around the island caves. Among other things this is what we
saw: numerous pipefish (related to seahorses) - some with bright
black-white stripes and red target-like round tales; striped box-fish;
gobbies; shrimp; walking mantis shrimp; lobster; starry eel (adult and a
baby); scorpion fish; razor fish; green puff fish/box fish; beautiful
vividly coloured anemone fish; green cup coral; soft coral; bubbly
honey-comb coral; long sea cucumbers; and a couple of unusual things -
small round-ish brown-yellow squid-like fish with a round eye in the
body center and tiny tentacles as a tale (none of our marine literature
identified this creature); and a grey-ish jelly with very thick
tentacles.
Over
all, the island was an acceptable stop-over, and we enjoyed needed
peace and quiet. It was also worth carrying all the food supplies with
us - the island keeps you as a hostage charging pretty much what they
want for the only food option available - at their own restaurant (which
we luckily avoided).
BULALACAO to SAN JOSE
Our
journey around Mindoro was almost complete... We left the Tambaron
Island in the same fishing boat we came in, and crossed back into "the
mainland" at Bulalacao. Our boatman seemingly liked us, and drove us in
his small motorcycle taxi to the Bulalacao public market. He was
waiting with us to flag down the correct public van heading all the way
to San Jose. While Rob and the boatman were waiting by the side of the
road, I sat down on a bench at the market and chatted with a few locals
that we'd met before the trip to the island. That's what happens in a
small town - people hang around in pretty much the same area and talk
about pretty much the same stuff.
While waiting for a van to
arrive, I noticed a few entertaining things. First, a large rooster (on
a rope) was guarding an access to the public restroom where the fee box
was located. Secondly, a macho-type man I was talking with had his toe
nails perfectly manicured and painted in bright-red nail polish. And,
third - a small restaurant next to the bus stop had a very inviting sign
that said "Come and Dine Us". OK, I thought to myself, this town is
quirky after all...
Eventually,
our van arrived and we eagerly boarded it - actually, we were given
good seats on the back, and even our backpacks were stored in a very
decent manner right behind us. Because the van was full, two other men
passengers were riding on the roof. There were a lot of pin-curves
along the mountainous route, but that didn't seem concern the
roof-riding passengers or a driver. A couple of hours later we reached
and entered (for the third time) the already familiar town of San
Jose...
SAN JOSE
We
had started our journey around Mindoro here, in San Jose, almost three
weeks ago, and this was where we would finish it. Everything was
familiar here by now. We went to stay at the same hotel. The room was
quite small, but it was clean, and the hotel staff was always friendly;
we even had a cable TV (in English). We knew exactly where to go to eat
(the public market had great grilled chicken and super tasty fresh
mangoes; the evening central square market had really nice mango shakes;
and numerous bakeries down the street had fresh (and almost passable)
addition to my coffee. And, of course, as a finale to our journey here
in the Philippines we treated ourselves to the
all-time-national-favourite Halo-Halo desert. We used last few days in
San Jose for practical purposes including a hair cut for Rob. By now
Rob has become a client-expert specializing in international hair-cuts
(the previous one was done on Sumatra, Indonesia).
Our
flight from San Jose was departing in early morning hours; we left our
hotel about 3:30 a.m. A small motorcycle taxi driver (jolly fellow and
the honest one!) efficiently delivered us to the entrance of the tiny
airport (still closed for the night). We unloaded our large backpacks,
exchanged a few jokes with a driver and waived good-bye. There was a
large group of Western tourists waiting by the airport doors. They
looked strange to us - all cleaned-up, hanging on to each other,
carrying the same diving bags, and wearing the same dull facial
expressions. We must have looked strange to them as well. When we
stepped off the motorcycle taxi they looked at us like we had returned
from another planet. We knew too well the differences between their and
our travel choices. And, suddenly I began smiling - despite the
challenges of the independent travel, the real experiences and real
local people we encountered made our journey yet again rewarding and
worthwhile. There was that sense of bliss and reassurance we had chosen
the right path...
We
watched the sunrise above the small airport field, and soon enough
boarded a plane. We were on the way to our next destination - South
Korea!
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