Philippines Trip 2002
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Puerto Galera
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At 6:15 a.m., Tito whisked us off the the port of Batangas. We were going to a new resort in Puerto Galera called Buri. For a hefty fee, we had arranged for their boat to pick us up at the terminal building at 8:45. We waited at the terminal building until 9:30 when I saw in one corner of the building a sign with our name on it. Finally, we were off on our hour long boat ride to the island of Mindoro. Buri was located about 15 minutes away from the port city of Puerto Galera. There were no roads to the resort.
Buri, www.buriresort.com.ph, had been carved out of a strip of forrested land along the beach. Three smaller cottages and two larger ones were laid out around manicured grounds and a swimming pool. The smaller a-frame style cottages accomodated two people below and two more up in a loft, while the larger ones accomodated up to ten people for a flat fee of $100 per night. We were able to obtain our room for $50 per night for the three of us, although we probably couldn't have gotten that price if they knew about the "kano" (Americano). It was beautifully landscaped.
A few words of warning. Resorts are starting to tag on some additional charges on both rooms and meals. First is the 10% service charge and second is the 10.5% government tax. Both are outrageous and should be heavily punished by the government. These businesses don't seem to care that they are cutting their own throats by driving away business and giving the Philippines a bad reputation.
Also, Martial encountered a 6% service charge when he paid a bill by credit card. Of course, this violates the agreement between the business and the credit card company. It is thievery against those who accept it and an annoyance to the others who take the time to contact their credit card company to get their money back.
I would never go to Pagsanjan Falls, because I have heard the stories of tourists who who were taken in boats up to the falls, but had money extorted from them so that they would have a "dry" return trip from the falls. Bad reputations spread quickly, but take forever to correct.
We took a 20 minute walk along the narrow coastline to get to Coco Beach, another resort, for lunch. Martial and Lynn had stayed here on their vacation, but recommended Buri to us. There were cockroaches in the rooms, was one of her criticisms. Well, while sitting on the toilet seat at Buri, I saw a cockroach close by. He was alive but seemed to be disabled, so I just decided to view him for entertainment value each time I went into the bathroom. I had viewed him for a couple of days, when I asked my Lyn (both Martial and I are married to "Lyn"'s, but his has an extra "n") if she had noticed. She took a look and screamed and before I could stop her she called one of the workers who took some toilet paper and took away my buddy. Once again my wife was denying me entertainment.
Coco Beach, www.cocobeach.com, is a resort which seeks to provide you with lots of things to do. There is a large swimming pool with some bar stools near a bar in one corner and a pedestrian bridge over another portion. There are basketball and tennis courts and boats to take you diving, on banana boat rides, and water skiing. There is even a cruise ship, www.cocoexplorer.com. Many activities have extra charges. Prices start at $38/night/person which seems rather pricey to me, but I have never been somewhere that supplied so many activities. Judging by one meal, I would give the restaurant mediocre marks for food and ultra poor marks for service. While Buri has a very open layout, Coco Beach has scattered cottages blending in with the jungle; one drawback to this would be more mosquitos.
For dinner back at Buri, I had stuffed crab, Lyn had squid pasta, and Mylene had soup noodles.
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I had pancakes for breakfast, Lyn an omelet, and Mylene coffee. We took a banca to Puerto Galera for 150 pesos. Bancas, or small boats, are a necessary form of transportation around the area as some of the towns and resorts are not connected by roads. We took a tricycle over to the central market and bought a little food. We walked back to the main part of town, being cooled off a little bit when a few clouds came by and dumped some rain.
We looked at some rooms during the day to help out Tito, who earns a living by shuttling tourists in his van. Now, when one of his clients wants to go to Puerto Galera, he will have suggestions on where to stay. Just like we found on the ultimate Philippine destination - Boracay, there is a wide variance in prices. On the low side were some rooms above a German restaurant (Bahay-Pilipino Hotel Pension & Restaurant, www.int-office.de) from only 180 to 280 pesos (fan, w/ bathroom down the hall). Being next to the street it would be kind of noisy. The Coco Point Hotel & Restaurant, at the harbor, offers 500 peso rooms (2 small beds, airfan, no ocean/no terrace) and 700 peso rooms (1 big bed, airfan, ocean view/terrace). Moreover, we had a nice breakfast there on our last day.
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The Puerto Galera Resort Hotel is only 7 years old, but starting to show noticable wear. Still, the adequate rooms are 1000 pesos for 1 bed, 1500 pesos for 2 beds, and 2500 pesos for a suite. Away from Puerto Galera, at the "white beach" is a Korean place, Jun Resort & Restaurant (aircon P1,000/night low season and P1,500 peak season/weekend; airfan P500/night low season and P800/night peak season). There are several other reasonably priced resorts at the white beach which has several restaurants as well. While a nice spot, this white beach pales in comparison to the much prettier white beach at Boracay. The restaurants at Boracay are fantastic and offer a wide variety of food.
We took a tricycle to the white beach for 60 pesos for about a 15 minute ride. On the way we passed by some other resorts. We had lunch at a Korean owned resaurant: pork kaldereta, soup, pansit bihon; also, I had a tasty hurricane. We walked along the beach for aways and had some delicious halo halo (shaved ice, mixed fruit, and evaporated milk -- similar to ice cream, but much more refreshing) for only 30 pesos. We took a banca for the long ride back to Buri (300 pesos). As we got further away from the coastline, we got caught up in some wind and waves. Back towards the coast I saw a huge barge bellowing out smoke; it supplies the entire island with power, except of course when one of the frequent brown-outs occur. Not too far away from the barge, I saw a couple of large beached ships listing slightly to the side.
Back at Buri, I took the long hike over to Coco Beach to play some basketball. The tide was higher than before which made it a little hazardous walking over sharp volcanic rocks in my flip flops. Afterwards, I bargained a reasonable rate for a banca ride back to Buri. We had a dinner of: chicken aroscaldo soup, a delicious chicken and rice dish and an incredibly expensive mango shake (155 pesos!!!), which was more than twice as expensive as the Pina Colada I had the night before.
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After breakfast we considered our options for the day. I could play golf at what Aida, the Buri co-owner, said was a beautiful course. Lyn was willing to walk along with me. However, just the jeepney ride up the steep hill to the course was 2000 pesos ($40), plus club rental and green fees. With Lyn being pregnant, motorcycle riding was out. Snorkeling was an option, but when we tested the water it seemed much colder than it had been down south in Boracay. (Oddly enough, there were no waves at the Buri beach, just as it had been about anywhere we went -- just peacefully still waters.) I was still feeling rather poorly and Lyn was a little sick as well. We ended up lounging around the grounds and going for a swim in the pool. Lunch was scallops & asparagus and pork adobo.
I made my trek over to Coco Beach again, but this time I wore my basketball shoes. Most filipino basketball is played in flip flops, but sometimes you do find games where several people wear shoes. I try to blend in and yesterday I noticed some players wearing shoes, so I decided it was okay for me to do likewise. It made the hike much safer and quicker. The game was short lived, however, as my fellow players (all filipinos) were all called back to work. Apparently, they were all employees of the resort. We had a tasty dinner of chicken in oyster sauce, deluxe fried rice, and a Margarita (they said it was the best ever -- it wasn't).
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