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February 06 Palawan - Manila, again, screwed up the flightThe Manila domestic airport must be cursed. Again, the flight to Puerto Princesa is screwed up. Thought it should be smooth this time, flight, hotels.... everything has been confirmed at home thru internet. Therefore I did a big city advanture in SM of Asia, a pair of high heel killed me with the sexy look, will definitely come back for her on the way home. The bay walk was romantic, the bands of seaside restuarants are fantastic. Was tired but satisfied. Things went wrong on the 2nd day of the trip, again. Suppose to take 8.15 am flight. Woke up at 6 am, finished all morning routine within 50 min, including a breakfast. Rushed into the street, grabbed a taxi, then things got ugly......traped in traffic. We were there about 15 min without moving too much. Asking the driver if the airport is walking distance is also tried. Finally, we were out of the traffic, got thru the security check as soon as I could. Lined up after 2 white guys, thinking that I passed and it was when the staff in Cebu Pacific Airline told me the bad news. Mam, we are closed 45 min before the flight take off. Please re-book the ticket at our office next door, there is a flight at 2 pm this afternoon......OMG~~~~~~~~~~I don't want to pay for stupid extra money!! Could you try something? Is there any other way that I can still get on the flight?......Finally, I was forced to face the reallity. I have to go for next flight, and your altitude is really bad, you suppose to help, that's what I didn't say to him. Going to next door means that I have to get out of the airport thru another door with a safe guard. If I want to come in again, it's the door with security check. Anyway, went to the airline office, get in, the guard (there are guard everywhere in Philippines), gave me a number, #36, at least 10 people are waiting in front of me. Sat down, looking at the e-ticket, suddenly saw the staff at the check in desk wrote "LCI am 7.32". Ok, if "LCI" stands for "Late Check In", then I was only 2 min late. It doesn't make any sense. a. they can't prove that they are using standard time in their system. b. if all the seats are sold, it means they over sold the seat as it's impossible to sell my seat in 2 min window. Anyway, it was a long Q in front of me, maybe I should go back to the check in desk and negotiate. Passed the security check again, try to remember who was the staff served me...no clue at all. So randomly picked one, told him the story. The only thing lied to him is that I tried to buy a ticket at their office next door, but the lady told me to come back to talk to them again...trying to make them feeling guilty and confused about their procedure with challenge from their internal....:-P That worked. Just after 30 or 40 min of negotiation, I found one thing. the guy I talked to is not in high authority level. But I smelled the chance to get my seat back, FOR FREE! Tryied not to be angry, I asked for the manager. It was another 10 min before her showed up. I could see the guy I talked to was very nervous and talked to his colleagues about the situation. Finally, the manager showed up, I repeated the stories, emphasized again that there is an error on their procedure, they need to fix it for future business...blah blah blah....and miracle happened, I got my seat!! Although it is 2 pm flight, at least I don't need to pay! So now I only need to worry what to do between this huge stupid window that appears unexpectedly. Well, I can check if I have extra luck to get the flight from Puerto Princesa to El Nido. I knew that I probably need to take a whole day bus, just why not give it a try. Got out of the airport thru the guard saw me 2nd time, entertained him with my miserable story, then went to SEAir office. No good news, there is no flight on the day I plan to travel, but the nice lady at the desk helped to call the hotel for my delayed schedule to pick me up at the airport.....Then all thing I could do is to kill time. Went back to the small complex shop (there are a bakery, a internet shop and even a money exchanger in one tiny space that you could barely turn) that I visited when I screwed up the flight last time. They remember me. Entertained them with my sad story again, got internet, write down this story. Enjoy, my friends! BoracayDay 2 - EXCITEMENT
The room I had is not too good. The noise of the bars and the aircon was really bad for sleeping. 5 am in the morning I gave up and decided to go to domestic airport for an earlier flight. The only thing I booked was the international flight to Manila. I trust I could get the flight to Boracay at the airport and randomly find a hotel with reasonable price. It was a mistake not booking the domestic flight through internet. The earliest flight with acceptable price is 13.30. And the price was more expensive then what I can have from internet. The kind staff at the desk helped me to book the flight first and suggested me to look for other resolution. If I failed, i could go back and take the flight he helped me to book. He's right. I tried another airline, it is even 2 times more expensive than the 1st airline. What now? Anyway, I already have a seat, maybe breakfast first. With more blood sugar, my brain started to work. According to the staff in the restuarant, there is an internet shop within 10 min walk distance. I decided to take a taxi because of my luggages. Again, when I arrived the internet shop, I have to wait for another 30 min (it was actually another 30 after the time to open), because it was not business time yet. 30 min work in internet shop, I got the cheap internet price for return flight, print it out 17 pesos, I felt so satisfied with my achievement. Of course, I took the picture of the little shop (it is REALLY small), and the street in front of it. I have to say, it is not a picture of modern area.
Then I returned to the airline office, a big thank to the staff there, had my outbound flight ticket, checked in at the airport, start another 3hr wait. I said "don't ask" when the staff at the check in desk wide open her eyes with my departure time. That's ok, I had a great massage, by this blind massagist.
You know what? It turns out not so difficult to travel alone. I thought that I might be stuck in Manila or had to sleep on Boracay beach and be arrested by the cop there. Filippino are actually friendly, even they always tries to make money from you. With trust, I left one of my luggage at the 1st hotel that is too expensive to my budget and looked for another. And it was it, I got what I needed, didn't have to sleep on the beach!
Day 3 - Time is to be wasted for good stuff
Many people I met in this trip asked my trip plan. I always looked at them for 2 seconds and said "waste time". Exactly, no rush, nothing serious, just lie on the beach for whole day is exactly what I planed. See, I got white soft sand and transparent blue water, I don't know what else could be my priority, if this weren't.
Day 4 - Bikini shopping, Mt Luho, Fairways & Bluewater
I got this sexy bikini bought from Bali. It enhances the advantages of my body figure. However, it is really bad to my neck circulation by tying behind my neck. I got serious bad headache last evening and even trew up that I already started to think of my contigency plan if things went ugly. Anyway, the first thing on day 4 morning is to shop for a bikini not tying behind my neck. It was great, got one for 250 pesos. Now I have 3 bikini (left one in my house)!
The trip to Mt Luho was originally planned with a motor tricycle. But the guys on the steet told me that they don't accept single for the ride. My choice is to go with a motor bike....Why not? Let's do it! Mt Luho and Fairways & Bluewater are great. However, I need to write more about the motor bike driver. We made a deal to pay hime 60 pesos to Mt Luho. When we arrived, he said that he would charge me more for waiting. I don't know how long does it take at this view point, therefore I negotiated for a package by paying 150 pesos to cover my whole day plan: Mt Luho + Fairways & Bluewater + Phuka Shell Beach. I had the feeling that I have already promised for much higher price than usual. He accepted, so I spent 20 min in Mt Luho (it is just a hill with a bay watch stage, was good, just would never take you too long). Then we went to Fairways & Bluewater. It is actually a golf resort, so I had to take the resort shuttle bus to go down to the seaside from the front door. The resort and the beach it has is pretty good, so I spent longer time (30 to 1 hour) this time. It was too hot, so I couldn't do it longer. When I got out, interesting thing started. The driver was angry about waiting for too long. I felt funny that how could him expect that I could do the in-and-out sightseeing being a tourist hungry for a great view?! I don't know if he misunderstand me with the part that I wanted to go to Phuka Shell Beach or just played dead, anyway, I was sent back to D'mall, where we started. I tried very hard to play safe between not over paying the driver anything and or being beaten up because the driver looked really unhappy. I guess I was not that convincing about the service worth only 120 pesos. So I still paid 150 pesos, end of story. It's ok that I didn't make it Phuka Shell Beach. I could go tomorrow during island hoping. I've lost my appetite anyway, and I have had enough fun today. |
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