The Journey from Bangkok, Thailand to Cebu, Philippines
We woke up early as we were excited to be going to Cebu. We played some crib until it was time to head to the lobby and get in the shuttle bus. We were on time but they were already waiting. So we were able to get to the airport earlier than planned at 10:30am. Everything seemed to be going so well (famous last words)
We stood in line, which wasn't to long as we were early but when we reached the check in desk the lady asked us for our return ticket. We didn't realize that you needed a return ticket which acts as your visa on your visit to the Philippines. We had until 1pm to get a ticket from the Philippines to another location before we could board the plane.
We tried to get online with our mobile phones and the airport internet kiosks to buy the required tickets but the internet was not working at all. We queued at the Airline Sales Desks for over 2 hours to be told they did not fly from the Philippines back to Bangkok. We had to fly with Phiippine State Airlines at double the price of local flyers. We managed to get our tickets at 13:05pm and ran back to the check in desk.
We were taken through the pilots baggage check in area to save time, but the security agents didn't like the look of something in our cases and had David unpacking bags all over the floor. Once they were satisfied we were guided to the gate by the check in clerk which involved running through the terminal building like contesants in the Amazing Race Program. We found our seats on the plane, heard the baggage handlers throwing our cases into the hold and then had to wait for 2 other passengers anyways.
We changed planes in Manila to fly to Cebu. This bit was simple and going smoothly but David had to go off and get some cash from the ATM leaving Jo waiting in departures. As time ticked on Jo started to worry (it's not like everything was going right so far). When David returned Jo was a little teary but explained that the first ATM was broken and the second one was for locals only and the third one had a long queue.
As it was late at night when we arrived on Cebu we had booked a room at Anthurium Inn for the night. The taxi driver had not heard of the hotel, but knew the area where it was located. He had to stop a couiple of times to ask the locals where he was going, and we were getting concerned as the area was looking very dubious. Eventually we found the hotel, which looked like an old industrial building.
As we were winding down from the journey with a drink in the reception area we asked if the staff could get us some food. They provided us with a menu which had some suprising extras. On the last page you could buy, amongst other items, condoms!
As the night progressed we grew to understand why, the hotel also served as a brothel.
The staff at the hotel were very friendly and helpful (saving us a lot of pesos in travelling) they sorted out a taxi for the morning and told us which bus station we had to go to and which bus we needed to catch to reach our destination.
The next morning we resumed our journey by catching a a taxi to the bus station, then taking a bus to Moalboal. There are 2 standards of bus: The standard costs 106₱, this bus has 5 hard seats across the bus and open windows for air; The air con bus with free wifi is just 10₱ more at 116₱ for the 98km journey, with comfortable seats just 4 wide. We decided to splash the extra 10₱ (0.19€)
We arrived at about noon and after dropping our bags at the B&B we went to find some food to eat.