Bus... Beep-beep

Traveling in the Philippines meant lots of bus rides, boat or ferry rides, some plane rides... and very seldom train rides.

Buses connect the towns and cities.  They bring you to all directions possible.  They travel almost all-day and all-night.

You are lucky if you are one of those who can sleep well very much everywhere.  And if you can sleep on the bus, it is a good sign.  Bus travels in the Philippines can take as long as 16+ hours (that's at least the longest bus ride I did - from Zamboanga to Cagayan De Oro).

The Good Side
The thing with buses is that they are fairly cheap.  It is like 2Php per kilometer to compute the fare rates.   And there are always buses to almost everywhere.  Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao is connected by these buses as well (with the help of the nautical highways where there are ferries that can connect islands).

So it is cheap and it has frequent trips.

The Other Side
Oh well, bus rides can take forever!!!  We don't tell distance by the kilometers mostly but by the time it needed to get from point A to B.  Like: How far is it to La Union?... Answer is: It can be 6-8 hours.  That 6-8 hours bus ride is only covering roughly about 300kilometers.  If you do the math, you are driving about 37 to 40 km/hour which is... really SLOW!

So it is slow.

However, there's almost only the bus or you better start walking to your destination or hitchhike (but hitchhiking is not that popular in the Philippines as it is in Europe or in some SE Asian countries).

But, anyway, I will still take the bus.  I can sleep well on the bus and I usually take the night trips.

I hope, that there will be more organization with the buses in the Philippines to make things lot easier.  In Negros Occidental, there are just one bus terminals per town/city.  In the capital city, there is the north and south terminals like in Bacolod and Cebu.  I hope there will be something like that in Metro Manila and other major cities.

The bus ride last night from La Union was a bit stressful.  Standing for more or less an hour before getting a sit was tiring.  And you really have to literally catch a bus. The bus companies in Metro Manila has got their own terminals each.  If you want to catch another bus from another company, that would mean sometimes from 500meters to a kilometer away... only if you know about it.  We ended up waiting for 3 hours on our way up north as we just went to one bus company and we are not sure where the other bus terminals are.

I think, not being biased towards the places I lived in the past decade, Visayas and Mindanao are much organized in terms of transport.  Lesser traffic might be one of the factors BUT having a centralized terminal is definitely the biggest reason.

Trains, Borders, Friends

A trip that was initially just a plan to see more of Borneo... is now expanded to 4 countries and a long stretch of land to travel.

I will be taking the the train from Johor Bahru (Malaysia) to Bangkok.  This is something I have been meaning to do in 2010 but decided to cancel to volunteer for an event in Kuala Lumpur.

I'll be stopping in KL to meet a friend.  And hopefully meet another in Bangkok.  Just today, I was invited to stay with a friend in Nonthaburi which is very convenient since I will be taking the plane from Don Muang Airport to Chiang Mai.

And yeah, Chiang Mai for the New Year! It will be the first time I will meet Manang Meow whom I knew years back and who also belong to the same organization I was with in La Salle... but we have not yet met in person.  So, finally!

It will be sure and I bet sweet time up there.  Another German friend is gonna be there too.  People bump into each other more and more - the world is shrinking.

Now, the hurdle will be the route from Chiang Mai to Hanoi.

I will have at least 5 days to reach Hanoi (which I think is no problem) to catch the midnight flight back to the Philippines.  We will see how it goes.

This trip will be a series of train rides, plane rides, bus rides, border crossings and LOTS OF FRIENDS along the way!

It is really not the destination but the JOURNEY.

Schedule of RORO between Bacolod and Iloilo

This might help travelers on a budget or those who wants to experience all the routes from one island to the next.

I got these just last month (January 2011).

These are really cheap. It cost only Php60.00 for the ferry plus Php10.00 Terminal Fee (if you are coming from Bacolod). Then from the post of Dumangas to Iloilo is only roughly Php50.00. That is Php20.00 for the tricycle to the jeepney/van station in Dumangas and another Php25.00 to Tagbak, Iloilo. Then it will only be Php7.00 to the City Proper.

Happy island hopping!!!