http://bmb2000.tripod.com/ and the owner Oscar assured me that storing my bike there would be no problem. The slick look of their website really set me up for a surprise when we arrived at the shop; welcome to the Philippines.
He refused to take any money for storage so I decided to have him do a little work on my bike; it could use some new chain-rings and a couple of other things, so I left my bike in the trusting hands of Mr. Hidalgo for 2 weeks.
A 1.5 hour outrigger (ro-ro) ride from Batangas ($2USD) found us on the sunny shores of White Beach.
A nice room on the beach for $12US/night; life is good again.
Rented a motorbike and did a little exploring.
Some real old-school courts:
Friendly directions.
After a couple of days moved to little Tribune Bay to a place called Miller's Corner, run by a retired Dutch fellow and his family; clean, cheap, good restaurant and great view:
M seems to think the new digs are alright.
After a trip to Manila and seeing M off at the airport back to Taiwan, it was now time to start my tour.
Day 1:
Now I should mention that I had never in fact ever done a bike tour before, and wasn't in all that great of shape either. I therefore wasn't planning any heroics, with a plan to ride about 60 - 80km per day. I set off on day 1 not quite sure what to expect. Two minutes later I had gotten my first crash out of the way; cut-off by a jeepney, I didn't pull my foot out of the clips in time and simply fell over and scraped my arm; nice start.
The ride out of Sabang was in fact the worst road conditions of the entire trip; a very fine clay-like mud that was wet from rain during the night and VERY slippery.
After about 20 minutes of slipping-about it was back onto paved roads and off toward the mountain road to Calaban. Well the pavement didn't last long and half way up the climb my rear tire punctured.
It took about an hour to get to the top of the climb and I was all but bonked already. Took a little rest at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and tried to catch my breath. Was surprised to see a group of 5 men in camoflage gear carrying machine guns walking single file along the road toward me. A little welcoming committee from the local Communist New Peoples Army (NPA) living in the mountains? Great. It was no big deal however, as they just smiled and waved a soon to be familiar "Hey Joe!" as they passed and then cut back into the jungle. Decided not to press my luck and take a picture.
A refreshing decent brought me to a waterfall with a nice old lady selling mini-bananas.
Thankfully, the rest of the ride to Calaban was completely flat. Found a little hotel on the main strip for $4oopeso and was soon showered, fed and asleep.
Day 2:
Was still tired when I woke up but the riding wasn't as hard this day. Mostly flat with some
rolling terrain and a medium length climb up to Victoria lake.
Also, lots of roadside stores like this one:
Gas, produce, snacks, and phone cards.
Arrived in Pinamalayon in time for lunch and found a hotel down near the water.
Luckily, no late night party or Videoke as advertised.
Next day was an easy/flat ride to Roxas where I would catch the ferry to Catiklan and then Boracay.
The ferry of course had totally changed it's sailing times from what the schedule had said. Would have to take the overnight boat leaving at 12:30am. Got a half day rate at the Roxas hotel for $150peso and kicked around town for the afternoon.
Roxas had been without electricity for 2 weeks and there was only one place in town they were happy about it.
