I was not spared from experiencing the disturbance and disruptions caused by the APEC summit recently held in the Philippines. I was on schedule to attend my best friend's wedding in Laguna when my flight going from KL to MNL was cancelled. Though I actually understand the reason behind cancellations, what I can't accept is the fact that they cancelled it less than 24 hours before my flight. Other flights from Cebu Pacific and PAL were cancelled too but they announced it earlier. If they have cancelled it weeks or even days before, I could have devise my plan B and routed my flight to Clark, but it was way too late that the flight from KL to Clark was already fully booked. There was no choice left for me as the only available flight to go to the Philippines was thru Kalibo, the gateway to Boracay, so I immediately booked the flight and went to the airport afterwards.
I was hesitant that time to proceed and book that flight to Kalibo since I haven't tried to travel by RORO (Roll-on Roll-off). For most of you who don't know RORO, it is just basically a ferry, which transport trucks, cars and buses. I think this was a project of former President GMA to connects and transfer people using ferries to travel from one island to another island.
I made my research on how will my travel/adventure will be. I need to be on details since I will be traveling alone and far from my hometown. Unfortunately, there were little information I got from the Interwebs, but nevertheless I managed to know the important points and major ports I need to go to. So this was my travel itinerary:
1. Arrive to Kalibo International Airport
2. Ride a 2-hour van going to Catliclan ferry port
3. Ride a RORO ferry from Caticlan port to Roxas port in Mindoro
4. Ride again a 2-hour van going Calapan port
5. Ride a ferry from calapan to batangas port
6. Ride a bus going to manila and alight to Tanauan
From the list, it seems that it is so simple. except that I havent tried to ride a RORO and never been to Kalibo or Boracay. :)
11:00 AM
So then my adventure started. It was a good day! except that the airasia plane was forced to return from taxiing and taking off back to the boarding gate because of equipment technical issue. But hey it is better than flying with faulty equipment!
5:00 PM
It was my first time here at Kalibo International Airport. It is quite small considering it is an international airport. One thing for sure that I am in the Philippines is the long queue! I think it took me about an hour waiting for my turn to clear at the immigration. It was a really long and slow process, very Philippines! Boarding a van from the international airport was not that hard, all the vans going to Boracay are there waiting for the arrival of passengers. The total travel time took around 2 hours for P200 each.
8:00 PM
Arriving to Caticlan ferry port is far from what I expected. I imagined a Cubao-like terminal, instead it was a sleepy-looking port. But it looks safe unlike places in Metro Manila. The terminal going to Boracay is good and modern looking, maybe because it houses all the foreigners and tourist that will visit boracay. I asked some bystanders where I can buy tickets for the ferry, unfortunately the ticket window is closed until 10PM. Luckily there will be a RORO on schedule to depart around 11PM.
I also asked if there will be a bus coming for the RORO but they said the last trip of the bus were around 6pm. If I boarded that bus going to manila thru RORO, I do not need to alight at the Roxas port to look for the van because the bus will go straight to Manila.
11:00 PM
This ferry is so huge. There were lots of trucks, jeepneys and some private vehicles. There were also a handfuls of passengers like me who chose to use RORO since all the flights were cancelled. Inside the ferry, there was a space for the passengers to sit in. It was spacious and clean, but hot as I assumed they didn't open the air conditioning. There were bunk beds available and a small cafeteria that has noodles and coffees. Overall, I was delighted to see the inside of the ferry, it is kinda comfortable.
3:00 AM
We were all still sleepy when we arrived at Roxas port but the sound of the ferry, the waves of the sea and men shouting out will wake you up. It's relieving to see and feel that after 3 hours in the sea, you may be able to walk at land again. There were vans waiting at the gate of the pier waiting for passengers that is why I didn't have a hard time thinking how can I go to Calapan.
6:00 AM
The sun is already starting to show up when we arrived at Calapan Ferry port. This is more convenient and easy for us since they have a lot more companies to cater the Calapan-Batangas route so you can just choose whichever ferry you like. I chose the OceanJet for 200 pesos as they promised to bring me in Batangas port in an hour unlike other ferries/companies which normally take 2 hours and more.
7:30 AM
And they did their promise, after 1 hour, we arrived at Batangas! YES! My beloved Batangas. I was really smiling when I set my foot at Batangas Pier although I tried not to publicly show it to avoid being looked as a freak. I was really happy that time, but the journey is still not done yet, I need to look for the bus station.
9:00AM
At last. The end point. The finish line. Success!
After 24 hours of non-stop travel, I finally arrived at Tanauan City. I can finally yawn and take my much needed rest, of course after I hugged and kissed my family who welcome me when I arrived at our doorstep.
It was a fun journey overall and a great experience for me. It may be very simple to other people, but to me that haven't tried any of that, it was really a big thing. So for you guys who are planning to go to Visayas, why don't you try using RORO, it will be a very different adventure!
Note: This post is about APEC summit which happened on November of 2015. Due to some delays and lot of proscrastination, this post has just been finished recently.
