It's more fun in Philippines
My first trip to Philippines - the plan was simple: go to Boracay thru Cebu and enjoy the white sand and blue water. That's the plan, now, the reality. The flight from Cebu to Boracay was delayed and then cancelled due to the Quinta storm. With not many options of flights we chose to go to Kalibo (1h away from Boracay) thru Manila...
So we ended up in Manila. The Layover: Manila (but we actually have 5 hours only). Our stop here is Resorts World Manila - with a free shuttle service from the airport, but in fact it's just a hundred meters away.
Since it's a kind of a shopping mall - a unique Filipino experience - bag checks and metal detector at each mall entrance. Should I feel safe or be worried? Wait, did I mention that the guards are carrying M16/AR15 riffled and bullet-proof vests?
Hungry as usual we headed to the food alley and took our sits in first restaurant with bourbon and steak in it's name. San Miguel Light and San Miguel Super Dry please. We've spent there some time, eating nice chicken liver pate, oysters with spinach, bacon and mozzarella cheese, yummy!
Then, the baby back barbecue ribs, served with... rice. Quite unique combination. But I'd rather stick to my oysters.
Back to our flight then, expected at 5:45pm, but of course it would be too simple to just fly. No parking space for the aircraft at our destination (Kalibo) caused further delay of 2-3h (who'd count this). Finally took off and with third approach managed to land in a tiny Kalibo airport.
Here's where the more fun in Philippines begins:
No more pickup service to Caticlan available as some bridge was under water due to heavy storm and high tide.
No overnight stay arranged by a very resourceful and thoughtful Cebu Pacific.
Almost no available rooms in nearby area, but we've managed to get the second-to-the-last available in Bee Bee Lodges, around 20 mins away from the airport. Having had instant noodles and a pepsi for a supper, we're looking forward to the next adventurous day!
And there it was - the whole place was flooded when we were sleeping. No electricity in the morning and a signs of ~1m of water on buildings' walls. We rushed to get a transport to Caticlan but nothing was available. Luckily after around 30 mins Kuya arrived and took us thru the flooded streets of Kalibo to 60km away Caticlan where we got a boat to Boracay. Only 24h behind the schedule, but with great adventure already.
The flooded streets: