A trip from nightmares

So.. we started our flight marathon with no problems. Air Asia took us to Don Mueng on time, a shuttle transferred us for free from DMK to BKK in an hour and we had plenty of time and thai baht to find food from the airport. And oh yeah we found sushi! Expensive but delicious.

Our next flight was delayed by an hour but we knew we had plenty of time at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino airport. Arriving there around 5.30 in the morning we didn’t have to queue long. ATM and money, checking in to our Surigao flight and chilling at the airport. Still all good.

Alright, Thailand.

Handy those carabiners

Chris had already been feeling better for a day or so but now his stomach was not happy again so he wasn’t hungry. I was but the airport options were limited and expensive and so I decided to wait until Surigao. It was only a few hours away.

The flight was great: we could see the amazing lush islands and the turquoise clear water below us! Soon we’ll be in paradise!!!

We had been flying for over 1,5 h and the pilot announced that we’d start landing soon. Not much happened though except that we were circling around, I noticed after seeing the same perfect little island beneath for the third time. I woke Chris up just in time for the pilot to explain that the weather is too bad in Surigao for us to land. We were running out of fuel so we’d go to Cebu to refuel. Noooo.

We landed in Cebu but weren’t let out of the plane. The pilot announced that the weather had turned better and we would try again.

But what false hopes, the weather was as sh*t and there was no chance to land. When he then told us that “Sorry guys, it’s a no go, we’ll fly back to Manila”. I was furious. We were flying in vain for 7 hours, I hadn’t eaten anything and the worst part was that we were so freaking close!! I saw the islands right there.

So. Manila again. It was the last place we wanted to be or stay for that matter but would we have any other options? Transfer desk adviced us that we can either fly to Surigao the next day or change the ticket to another flight just paying the difference. Would the weather be as bad the next day we wondered? Should we risk it?

No. We decided to go elsewhere and the only option for the same evening was a flight to Cebu. Cebu. Again. We ran thru the terminal to catch a shuttle to another terminal to catch the flight and found ourselves in Cebu at some late hour after about 32 hours of constant travelling. We were spent.

A tired traveller over Cebu

Grey Cebu

We didn’t know what to do next. Suddenly we were in the city where we were supposed to end our Philippines stay. All we wanted was to go to that chrystal clear water and dive and swim and beach. I had eyed the small island of Malapascua which is located in the north coast of Cebu island. The diving should be sterling and the journey wasn’t too bad: 4,5 h plus a boatride for 30 min. We could do it.

A clinical, expensive but clean and conveniently located hotel in Cebu offered us a short night’s sleep, local restaurant offered us food (I don’t know what it was and I don’t want to know) and the next morning’s taxi driver offered us extra sightseeing when he tried to take us to a wrong bus station (which we of course paid for).

Tarzan's adventures are captivating

The strangest toilet payments so far...

Instead of 3,5 h as advertised, or even 4,5 h as LP informed, the busride took 6,5 hours. And trust me, no more VIP buses. We arrived to the port for the boat to Malapascua and a typhoon style rain started smashing down. I’m not afraid of the monsoon rains but this was different. We were stranded under a leaky tiny shelter to wait for better weather.

It came but the sun started setting and suddenly the herds of boatmen came up with some extra charges for people and baggage. They had the most ridiculous reasoning and we weren't going to pay 40 peso more after already paying 100. Chris fetched the boss and in the end, after waiting for an hour or so the price was settled for 20. Cheez. We were shipped to the island on a bangka boat with its spiderlike legs for balance. But the boat had no lights. We were sailing in the darkness completely blind and invisible. Any sudden obstacle or other lightless floater we would’ve certainly hit with no chance of stopping in time. The waves were big, winds were high and we were wet. I wasn’t quite sure we would ever make it to the island. “We’ll probably have to turn back to Manila” became a tragicomic phrase that was later very much used in many occasions.

We made it alive in the end. Sort of. Jesus, crazy this travelling.