Sunday, March 30th, 2008
8:30am – 2:00pm
After breakfast, we headed out on foot to a mall nearby to get some toiletry stuff. It was just shortly before 10, but the sun was already blazing hot. My back was completely soaked when we walked to Alaya Mall. The mall wasn’t open yet but there was a big group of people waiting outside the door. As soon as the door opened, the group of people transformed into two single-filed lines. Every bag had to be inspected and each individual was patted down by the security guards. At the entrance, a sign with big bold letters in cop blue: “No Hand Guns or Other Firearms Allowed.” Security at the mall was almost as tight as that at any international airport.
It was almost noon when we got back to Kukus Nest. We thought we’d spend the $2,000p and hire a cab to drive us to Maya Pier, but we couldn’t find a cab. Our only option was to take the jeepney to the bus station, take a 3-hour bus to Maya Pier, and get on a boat to Malapascua.
Bill and I are no spring chickens when it comes to long and uncomfortable means of transportation. In
Our first task was to catch the jeepney to SM Mall. While standing at a random street corner under the unforgiving sun, Bill explained to me that the stops were written on the sides of the jeepney and the number was usually on the roof. I had my eyes open for one that had SM Mall on its side. Out of the blue, one pulled up in front of us and the driver was yelling, “Same! Same!” Bill almost immediately started heading toward the back of the car. Uncertain, I asked again (as slowly and clearly as I could), “S.M. Mall?” “Same! Same!” the driver replied.
At SM Mall, we had to catch another jeepney to go to the Northern Bus Terminal (written as NBT on some jeepneys). When we got on, Bill asked the driver to tell us when we got to NBT. The driver gave him a barely audible “Yeh.” Bill reconfirmed, “You tell us when we get there, okay?” The driver looked at him from the rearview mirror without making a sound.
After weaving half way across town, we arrived at a bus terminal. We were getting ready to get off when Bill asked again, “Northern Bus Terminal?” The driver didn’t say anything but a passenger answered, “No. This is Southern Bus Terminal.” Bill and I both started at the driver, who looked at us innocently and quietly. The passenger pointed us to a jeepney that was about to take off, so we scrambled out of this one and into the other jeepney, which would take us all the way back to SM Mall and further up north.
The roof of a jeepney is really low. It was so low that Bill and I practically had to crawl in. Though it was no air-conditioned family sedan, it was nevertheless bearable. I could deal with being packed with 10 other sweaty individuals in a tin box under the mid-day sun. What I found agitating was that loud sucking teeth sound the Filipinos were making all along the ride. Everyone was doing it: men and women of all ages and from all walks of life. A young lady in a nice white blouse and black tight skirt who squinted her eyes and covered her mouth because of the dusty air would remove her dainty handkerchief in a gipsy just to make that awful sound with her mouth. Even the little girl who had been curiously looking at Bill and me and whom I thought was quite cute and pretty also made that sucking sound just when I turned and smiled at her. I heard the descending tune of a video game as her cuteness meter dropped.
The Northern Bus Terminal is a real hustling-bustling place. It was packed with locals going to different places. People were talking, vendors were shouting, and the TV was on full volume. As soon as we stepped off the jeepney, everyone’s eyes were on us. We were the only foreigners there. Different people pointed us to all directions for a bus to Maya Pier and they were quoting different prices for the bus fare. It took us a while to finally get some straight answers from a chubby dude in a yellow busline uniform. He told us the bus would arrive in 10 minutes and asked us not to go anywhere. The bus wasn’t there in 10 minutes. Bill and I decided to find somewhere to sit. As soon as we wandered away from Mr. Chubby, some random guy came to us and told us to go with him. We were pretty good about fending a couple of those off for a while. However, after 40 minutes of waiting in the noisy chaotic Bus Terminal, we started to lose our patience.
One guy came and told us that he could get us to Maya in 2 hours in an air-con’d van for $2,000p. The deal was particularly tempting because (1) that was how much we were prepared to pay the cab driver in the first place, and (2) we were tired, hot, and confused. We followed the man to a white van. I got into the van first and noticed the driver and another man in the passenger’s seat were there already. They both had reflective fake Rayban sunglasses on so I couldn’t see their eyes. I didn’t like that.
A man asked if Bill would like some rice crackers for the road. It was around 1:30pm. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast and we still had a couple of hours of traveling to do, so we bought a bag. When Bill got out his wallet, I saw the handful of men standing way too close around him all had their eyes fixed on the content of the wallet. Even the driver and the other dude were looking from the mirrors. After Bill put the rice crackers in the van, the guy who brought us to the van started asking us to pay him $200p in advance. Bill didn’t understand him and proceeded into the van. One of Bill’s butt cheeks had just touched the seat when I freaked out. “I don’t trust them,” I said, “Let’s get out.” The guys outside had already started shutting the door. Bill put his right hand on the door, turned to me, and asked, “You wanna get out?” The driver started slowly moving the van. I started pushing Bill out. “Stop! Stop the car!” Bill shouted as we hopped out of the van.
OMG! Don't leave us hanging! Are you two OK??
ReplyDeleteMom
Holy crap! Sounds like something out of a movie!
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