Trip to Batanes, Day 7+8+9

So early on my last day I left my lodge after paying the night before and thanking them with a little tip, I walked to the airport. I got in around 6:00 and had them hand check my bags, and then went to get my ticket. Turns out that my bag was 3kilos overweight and so I had to pay some money for that. Then I checked in and waited in the waiting room. There were a lot of people waiting to leave as well. It was going to be a packed flight.

Anyway, so the plane lands from coming in from Manila and unloads and then we see them load everyone's luggage and then about 20 minutes later, we see them pulling some of it off. Then some of the staff come in and say that those who have their luggage out of the airplane must come and claim it.

Turns out the airplane was too heavy and these peoples bags couldn't go to Manila with them yet. Luckily my bag did. So after about an hour and a half delay because of the luggage fiasco, we took off. Some people though would have to wait for their bags to show up in Manila a day or two later. God is good, huh? :-D

We landed in Manila and I took a taxi to my new lodge (Friendly's). It's in the heart of the city, so I was excited for the change of pace. My last lodge in Manila was outside the city somewhat. So I go to the lodge and check-in only to find out I can't check in until 12. They let me go to their rooftop terrace though. I did and found out I was very tired, my neck hurt and I didn't feel very good.

Finally they let me check into my room and find it to be very small with just a bed and fan. I crash though and fell asleep till 5pm that night. I then was a little hungry and wanted to find some dinner. So I walked down the street trying to find some place. Finally I walk past one place where the guy invited me in to check the menu. I see chicken and pork adobo on it (one of my favorite filipino dishes) and decide to stay. So I saw that it was only 250 pesos, so I also ordered an iced coffee drink for 150 pesos too. So I eat the meal and find out that I still wasn't feeling perfect, but it was still good. I get the check and find out the meal is 620 pesos! WHAT!? How? I guess what had happened is that I ordered from the filino special price and since I was american, I had to pay more for that meal. I paid it and went back to the lodge to rest. That evening I went up to the rooftop and just chilled and watched some movie.

Then the next morning I woke up fairly early, went to starbucks which was just a block down the street and had a pastry and a strawberries and cream drink :-D Then I hung out with one of the guys at the lodge who invited me to play cards with him. That was cool. Then in the afternoon I went to the Mall of Asia again.

I'm glad I went again because this time they had a big thing going on where they were going to have a concert with some big name people. Also, they were going to have fireworks as well.

So I was going to have dinner there, but I decided instead that I'd walk around to the different food stall/stands in the mall and see what sort of food I could eat. So I walked around and had some good stuff. I also had some delicious fruit drinks. Mmmm, I wish there was more fresh fruit here in Korea.

After that I watched the fireworks which were really spectacular and then watched the concert.

The other neat thing was that today was Earth Hour day and it's big here in the Philippines. You would see signs everywhere saying Earth Hour at 8pm where a lot of businesses were going to turn off their lights for one hour to support the global warming issue. So all the SM malls in Manila were going to be supporting this. Mall of Asia is one of those malls. So it was neat that at around 8pm, you saw a lot of businesses starting to put candles in their stores, or restaurants using candles and shutting off their lights. It was very surreal and very cool at the same time.

Then after all that and the sweet concert I got to see, I went back to my lodge. I found out, that while I was at the mall, the lodge was having a wine and cheese night. I got in and the lodge owner was like "dude, you missed all the wine and cheese". I was fine with that though, and found a bunch of the people upstairs already had a bit too much to drink. So with that, I went to my room and went to bed.

The next day I went to church again, and then had to leave almost immediately after to get my plane.

All in all, the trip was amazing and incredible. I would recommend batanes to anyone and everyone who is seeking a place where many tourists don't go and where you can seek to find peace and tranquility and yet at the same time feel the wind and turbulance of the seas in nature. Ah, I want to go back already :-D