Typed up at: Legaspi Tourist Inn in Legaspi Posted from: Internet cafe
in Naga
For our
second visit to Manila we stayed at Malate Pensionne, a simple but
gorgeous accommodation with lacquered wood everywhere. The rooms were
basic, but we had AC and plenty of restaurants and Internet in the
neighborhood. We didn’t really want to come back to Manila, which was
just a big sprawling city. So we spent a lot of time at Internet cafes
which were large, cheap, and air conditioned. A sizable chunk of this
time went to working on my resume because it looks like I’m going to
need it when we come back.
But we also
spent quite a bit of time with Bill and Faith. One afternoon we had a
tasty lunch together, followed by a lightning tour of Intramuros,
Manila’s historic center. The other time we saw them was for Faith’s
aunt wedding anniversary. It was a big event at a fancy hotel with great
food, and an excellent band. We had a good time. The main thing that
struck me was how western it all was. The exact same event could have
taken place in a hotel in Los Angeles.
We wandered
the Mall of Asia a bit, the biggest mall (and presumably air-conditioned
space) in all of the Philippines. We had some truly terrible lunch at an
otherwise good-looking restaurant. Afterwards we ate popcorn watching
Monsters vs. Aliens in IMAX 3D. The 3D was quite well done, and the
movie was OK. All in all an enjoyable air-conditioned afternoon.
A particular
frustrating morning was when I went to the Philippines Airlines office
to get a refund for the onward ticket we had to buy in Hong Kong. I now
had another onward ticket (to South Korea) in hand so what could
possibly go wrong? After taking a number and sitting around for 20
minutes, the friendly representative told me that I had to have an
authorization. After some initial confusion it came out that I couldn’t
get a refund on Danielle’s ticket without her explicit permission,
despite the fact that I paid for it with my credit card. So I fetched
Danielle (15 minutes walk each way) who was researching what else to see
in the Philippines.
Another 10
minute delay and we were helped again, now with everything we needed in
hand. It took an astonishing 25 minutes to fill out paperwork, make
copies of our passports, and whatever else was going on. Then we were
told that in 2 weeks I had to call some phone number, and that maybe in
a month I would have my money back. Considerably annoyed at this point,
I made some comments about how when I buy a ticket I make the payment
right away. But I guess that’s just the way the game is played at
Philippines Airlines.
We spent
quite some time trying to decide where to go next. Holy Week (the week
before Easter) was coming up and wherever we called to make reservations
we found places already booked up. We were unable to reach any phones on
Camiguin Island and the guidebook made it sound like a bit off the
beaten path. We decided to go there and stay wherever had some space.
The trip took 2 days. The first day we flew to Butuan, a town with a
small airport much like the Santa Barbara airport. We stayed in a hotel
downtown, eating more disappointing food and using the ATM.
