Pay by the Hour!!!
Trip Start
Sep 08, 2011
1
36
73
Trip End
Sep 22, 2012
Dau, Central Luzon, Philippines
Saturday, January 7, 2012
passing the gate guards again and giving them a nod and smile. I flagged
down a jeepney (on my third attempt, apparently im not as attractive
with out Georgie on my arm. Tehe). Take a seat and focus on getting
myself somewhere near Clark airport. The jeepney hits traffic and
kicks me out. While pointing down the road and telling me to walk. I
head in the pointed direction and (get the vibe that i should re
ask for directions) I ask the next body what direction the buses are.
They point me in the opposite direction and give some dodgy
directions. I get my hiking head on and stride the roads down.
finding myself in the middle of the most grotesque market and decide
I need more directions. I search for a clean clothed person and
ask him. He was so kind and even drew me up a map. I got back on the
mission and in 5 minutes I find a bus and ask the bus man if he went
to Clark. He said yes and I hopped on. After an hour and a half, the
bus stopped and people got off. I guessed it wasn't my stop as the
dude had not told me. After 5 minutes of sitting on my bottom, I get
up and ask him. When I ask are we at Clark? He laughs at me and says
'No! Your at Dau. Get a tricycle!' Well thats just ruddy great!!
Luckily in my little pad Georgie had written some notes from her
guide book (more detailed than mine) and the notes said that Dau is
very close.
I get a tricycle and tell him 'cheap
guest house please' he chats with his mates and his friend with
better English tells me he knows where he is going, and I must pay
P100. Hummm.... dodgy... and I will only pay that much if its a long
distance. So we set off and he asks how much my budget is. I tell him
P300 maybe P400. He looks concerned and tells me they are all P1000+.
I tell him I want cheap cheap and he needs to do better (haha). He
gets my drift and takes me down a dodgy ally. I see Hotel/hostel. Ok
lets try here. I hop out and the price is P1500. I laugh and ask
where is cheaper. They say next door. I walk around with my tricycle
man following, with my bags. And I ask the price. When I got the
reply of 'how many hours am i staying?' I thought 'Oh Boy!'. With
rooms for rent for 1,2,3,5,9,15 hours you can imagine that it was not
the most classiest of 'hotels'. After looking at the shabby room I
decided that anywhere cheaper would be a risky move and I took the
room and paid P580 for less than 15 hours (I did get offered company
from a tricycle guy but thought that the extra hours I would have to
pay on the room were not in my budget. hehe kidding!!).
I paid my 'Mr tricycle man' P50 and
he said nothing coz he knew it was more than enough (I gave him the
extra money as a tip for not messing me around). As I walked to the
main road he offered me a free ride, good lad.
McDonald's and bed.
What a mission!!!!
