This weekend was a long one in the Philippines. The National Elections are being held and the Government here, generic as it does, has allowed the locals a holiday to vote. This means there’s no one in the office, predominantly, so we decide to take off to the Island off Laguna (Called Mindoro) where the Filipino resort of Puerto Gallera (and it’s variations) exists for the pleasures of the Filipino tourist. I say this because, as we found out, we are like martians when we are there. Nothings really geared towards dealing with Foreigners and when Sao tried to convince them she was Thai, there was a lot of incredulous looks and disbelief. I’d think there are not many Thai’s going to this resort area (And one should not be surprised).

The trip consisted of a Saturday AM LONG drive through crappy traffic to Batangas Port, followed by a bumpy but OK ride across to the island. We’re greet there and proceed through the alleyways to our Hotel of choice (there were plenty, but then the travel agents in Manila were oblivious it seems, perhaps that’s a bog of its own). It’s then change and down to the beach to explore and get some food.

Here’s a Sunset from Tamaraw Beach, just a bay around from White Beach where we stayed.

We’re adventurous people, so we decided, this time, to have a look around. The Rental Motorbikes seemed to have disappeared, so we went for a couple of Ticycles. Now I sit tall, and even Sao was uncomfortable for these 40 – 50 minute trips, so a Trike for a short distance is fine….. any longer, and on rough roads?? Argh!! Forget about it. We went to Tamaraw Falls which was a 50 minute (seemed like 2 hour) drive across treacherous and horrid road, dusty, steep sides, rocky and uncomfortable. In the end we hot Tamaraw falls, which are nice-ish, but not worth pain.

The above Photos are from Tamaraw Falls and leaving the scene for the nightmarish trip  back to base camp (with some detours)

These pictures are from the Top of the Hill. That was one CRAPPY road!

This is Honduras Bay. We had lunch over the other side in Havana, no strike that, Nirvana Beach resort. That’s a story in itself.

Here’s Tamaraw Bay, John and I Relaxing. The Next Photo is White Beach, lots of people swimming. But at night even more people took to the water, chatting and socializing. Weird!

The trip home was a little rough in the boat.

The Boatman (pictured below), earned his keep, trying to make the trip comfortable. Wet bums all round, but not too bad. Some green faces and a few chundas were the order of the afternoon.

Cheers

Rob