This was the most beautiful boat ride of my life. We caught a break between typhoons so the sky was clear. I saw tons of sparkling flying fish. The rocking movement of the boat and the white noise from the engine put me in a meditative state. I wore my farmer's hat (ugly but so useful) and $12 polarized shades that I bought in Alaska. Polarized shades are totally worth it. At one point the clouds looked orange!
We shared the ride with Ben and two other solo travelers who've paired up for the time being - Nico and Graeme. I was in my reverie and didn't feel like talking to anyone so I let Matthew do the socializing.
ARRIVING IN EL NIDO
We arrived at 2pm and left our bags with our boat vendor, Jezzebel, to look for housing. There was a monkey tied at his waist to the ceiling.
Ben suggested that we all stay at one place and negotiate as a group, but soon it was clear that we had different indifference points. I was willing to the pay the most for an air-con room - 1500 pesos ($30). Ben preferred the same hotel but was content with a fan - 700 pesos. Both our rooms are on the 2nd floor (fewer mosquitoes). Graeme and Nico stayed at a crappy looking place, ground floor, for 300 pesos each.
Graeme and Nico have been traveling for almost a year. Ben is on vacation from work for 6 weeks, 2 of which he spent in Australia with his girlfriend's family. Then he moved on alone to Indonesia and now the Philippines. He does restructuring work at PwC in London.
Graeme is from Ireland and used to work in the music technology industry. He plans to find work in Manila. Nico is French and used to work at Adobe before moving to Africa. They both have plans to become divemasters and throw their cubicle lives to the winds.
DINNER TOGETHER
We met at 6pm as previously agreed for a drink. I told them that I was hungry and would prefer to eat instead. Ben and Graeme were very agreeable, and Nico came along. I had chili squid with rice and Matthew got adobo chicken. We sat right on the beach with fire torches around us.
Nico was surprised that I couldn't tell his accent was French because it was very prominent. He said that when he speaks English, people would not correct him when he's wrong. French people don't do that. If you speak French, they will tell you if you say something wrong. During dinner he smoked one cigarette after another. I wish I'd sat further away from him.
I said, "So are we going to do an island tour tomorrow?" Yes, but we didn't know which operator to go with. So Nico walked off and came back and said we're going to do it with Jezzebel for 650 pesos each. The group said great. Nico is the biggest "value" guy out of all of us - Graeme said that he sometimes gets embarrassed by him - so if Nico's happy with the price, we're happy.
By the time we finished eating, the men were on their third San Miguel and intended to keep going. I said, "I think I shall retire back to our room, I'm pretty tired," and looked at Matthew. He got up too. I guess I should've asked if he'd wanted to stay with the boys. In any case, he seemed content.
MEDIOCRITY
Back in the hotel, the toilet didn't flush and there was no water pressure in our shower head. I went downstairs to tell the owner. He and his wife used to run a cashew business in Manila. He was fat. He was sitting on the couch watching TV when I approached him, and he held up his hand, still watching TV, and said, "for a while." WHAT?! I'm a customer and you tell me to talk to the hand? 20 seconds later he turned around and I told him the problem. They got fixed but we still checked out the next day and moved to a cheaper hostel.
My boss once said, "I hate mediocrity." I DO TOO. Can we not expect a decent level of service anymore?
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