Moving fast against the wind – Transportation around Manila, Boracay and Iloilo.

Written by Maxine Lim
Photographs by Maxine Lim

     When we, the Monash University alumni students, decided to coincide our holiday plans with this year’s Monash Arts study trip to Iloilo, we knew that getting around was going to be an interesting adventure. Most of us were no strangers to hard travelling – the previous study trip to Baguio and Sagada in 2007 brought to mind 6 hour bus-rides from Baguio to Sagada, winding around breath-taking and hair-raising rice terrace cliffs. Evidently, five years out in the working field blurs memories of motion-sickness and makes one nostalgic for some backpacking escapades. 

    Nine days and nine types of transportation later, this is one woman’s experience in transportation from Manila to Boracay to Iloilo.

Manila, Ermita 

1) Taxis 

     In Ermita, and for the first-time traveller to the Philippines, taxis are the most expedient ways to get around if you are not on a budget. A taxi from Manila Ninoy Aquino Airport Terminal 3 to Tune Hotel, Ermita, costs us PHP 300 (RM 22). Later, we were told that this was an appalling rip-off. Depending on one’s bargaining skills (and possibly, proficiency in Tagalog), the price can deflate to PHP 150. 

2) Horse carriage 

     Yes, you read right. Horse carriages are aplenty in Intramuros (fortified city, remnants of Manila’s Spanish colonial days). Touristy but kind on the feet, it provides a good overview of the 67 hectare Walled City, and to better identify areas to zero in for further exploration later. The drivers, in their bright green-and-yellow uniforms are the tourism ministry’s initiative and double-up as tour guides. Our guide was Nestor, a horse-carriage driver for the past 22 years in Manila, who gave an excellent and well-rehearsed history of Intramuros. One could almost not begrudge him the PHP 350 fee for the half hour tour (PHP 300 after some hard bargaining). 

Caticlan & Boracay 

3) Bangka 

     From the Caticlan jetty to Borocay island, a bangka (boat) costs PHP 20 (excluding the PHP 100 environment fee). Resembling a catamaran, the bangka has bamboo support “legs” by the boat’s hull to smoothen the sea journey. If you sit with a boatful of tourists, you’ll probably be asked to don a flimsy life-jacket. If you journey with the locals, chances are the life-jackets remain as decorative pieces on the bangka’s ceiling. 

4) Tricycles 

     Essentially motorcycles with an attached sidecar, tricycles are the most common way to get around in Caticlan and Boracay, especially for the latter, where cars are buses are banned. Travelling from White Beach to Puka Beach on one of these will cost no more and no less than PHP 150. The sidecar can seat one or two persons in front and two at the back, rear facing. 

5) Vans 

     A bus from Caticlan jetty to Iloilo town costs PHP 300 per head, but if you travel with a group of six with huge backpacks, a private van is the more comfortable way to spend a five hour journey (with rest stops whenever you need it). Our driver personally sought divine protection for the journey by touching the Holy Family, Rosary, Crucifix and Santo Niño with a prayer on his lips whenever he started the engine. Costing PHP 4200 (PHP 200 for terminal fee), it can comfortably take nine with luggage. Additionally, we were introduced to some pretty good local pastries at the rest stops along the way. 

Iloilo 

6) Smaller Tricycles 

     Tricycles in Iloilo are slightly different from Boracay due to its smaller attached sidecar. Unlike in Boracay, the backseat faces the road and slopes to the ground so passengers can experience vehicles breaking behind, up close and personal. For pillion riders, you sit side-saddle with one hand holding to a strap and the other to the sidecar. Best seat on the tricycle! A trip from University Philippines Visayas to downtown costs approximately PHP 10 per person. Our group of four took a tricycle from downtown to Molo (St. Anne’s Church) for PHP 60. In one memorable encounter en route to Iloilo, we counted 15 students balancing on one tricycle. 

7) Jeepney 

     Jeepneys in Iloilo are less flamboyantly decorated than their counterparts in Manila. To find the correct one to your destination, just look for the locations printed on the front and side of the vehicles. Failing which, you can just ask the driver. By far, the cheapest mode of transportation, students travel for a flat rate of PHP 6. Paying the driver is a communal effort – jeepney fares are passed up the line, until it reaches the passenger closest to the driver’s seat, and will notify the driver by saying, “Bayan” (pay). Canny locals tend to scoot closer to the door to avoid crab-walking up the aisle and the inconvenience of having to constantly hand over change. 

Manila, Ninoy Aquino Airport Terminal 3 

8) Bus 

     We finally ticked off “bus” from our transportation experience when we boarded the free shuttle from the Terminal 3 airport in Manila to Resort World (right at the entrance of the Casino). Fully air-conditioned, the bus leaves every hour and was a way for us to while away the seven hour wait until our next flight back to Kuala Lumpur. 

9) Aeroplane 

     We started and ended our journey with Cebu Pacific. Keep alert in domestic flights and you might get an unexpected surprise. Halfway in our Manila-Caticlan flight, the air stewardess picked up a microphone and started to announce the start of games. Passengers quick enough to show a variety of objects – from safety manuals to passports, were given travel bag organisers from Cebu Pacific. Most entertaining flight experience.

Thanks, Cebu Pacific! 

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Maxine is joining the roll call In Search of Iloilo, 2013. As I write this, we are (were) on the brink of the end of the world as we know it, possibly a zombie apocalypse. So it is only fitting, that in light that the Mayans are proved wrong and we continue to soldier on to 2013, for us to kick start the new year in search of an adventure - this time to Iloilo, Philippines.

Four years on as a Monash alumni, I realise that Gandalf in The Hobbit (with some artistic license from Peter Jackson) was right. The world isn't to be found in our books or maps, it's out there!

It is never too late to brush off our hairy feet and climb out of our Hobbit-hole "in search of" a world out there- bigger and more colourful than the home we are accustomed to.