From Laos to Philippines

Ho Phra Keo Museum

After breakfast at the hotel in Vientiane,we are able to obtain a late check out. We fly to Bangkok at 6:35 pm so we have until 3:00 pm to tour around the city.

Our first stop is Ho Phra Keo Museum. It is a temple that houses many artifacts collected from numerous other temples. There is a beautifully carved tree trunk on the property.

The building itself is also beautiful. I love the artwork and all the details.

Wat Sisaket

Nearby is Wat Sisaket. This is the only temple in Laos that survived the Siamese occupation in 1828. There are more than 10,000 Buddha sculptures of numerous sizes and styles. Many of these Buddhas line the cloisters. The temple is beautiful. The more you stop and look, the more you see.

That Dam Stupa

Our final stop is “That Dam Stupa”. No I am not making that up. A stupa is a Buddhist dome shaped shrine that often has a pinnacle.

Khop Chai Deu  

We head back to the hotel to finish packing, bring our bags down to the lobby and head out for one final lunch in Laos.

We return to last night’s restaurant, Khop Chai Deu. Besides a fish dish, I order a “healthy” Roselle Drink. I’m not sure what it is but it says healthy so I give it a try. It turns out that it is a hibiscus drink, known as Jamaica (but pronounced as ‘hamica’) in Central America. It is delicious.

Vientiane Airport

There is a fair bit of traffic but the Vientiane airport is very close to the city centre. There are crowds and line ups. It takes a bit to get through checking bags and security. It’s a confusing system.

I find an interesting sign in the airport washroom. “No washing your feet in the toilets”. Hmmmm. Good to know that the toilet water isn’t going to he tainted by dirty feet.

Off to Bangkok

The flight on Lao Airlines from Vientaine to Bangkok is an hour but leaves 45 minutes late. The Bangkok airport is well organized and within an hour of landing we are through immigration, reacquainted with our luggage and at our airport hotel.

It’s now 9:15pm. We go to bed immediately because we have to get up at 12:40am to return to the airport for a 4:00am flight to Manila, Philippines. Yes, the timing is very ugly.

Bangkok to Manila

I sleep on the plane. John does not. We are flying Cebu Pacific Airlines and the plane is freezing. There is a one hour difference between Manila and Bangkok. We are now thirteen hours ahead of Toronto time. I have now reached my 88th country.

At Manila’s airport we have to transfer to our 3rd flight to Caticlan. John had read many horror stories about Manila’s airport such as 4 hour waits to get through immigration and 2 hour waits for a taxi.

There are 4 terminals but they are not connected. We need to get from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2. Various travel blogs recommend at least 4 hours to make the trek by taxi or the one airport bus because of line-ups and road traffic. One blog says to never try to connect between terminals on the same day because it’s so difficult to know if you will make your connection.

Fearing the worst, earlier in the day at one of the temples in Vientiane John made an offering of 5,000 Laotian kips (33 cents CAD) to a Buddha statue, praying for easy passage through Manila airport.

Our prayers are answered… excellent value for the money. Our flight from Bangkok arrives on time. We breeze through immigration, our luggage arrives minutes after we get to the baggage belt and we have a Grab cab (ride hailing app like Uber) waiting for us 2 minutes after booking it to take us to Terminal 2. From touchdown at Terminal 3 to checking in at Terminal 2 takes 1 hour 15 minutes.

Manila to Caticlan

Now we have a few hours to relax and catch up before our one hour Air Asia flight to Caticlan airport. I notice a rather interesting disease testing vending machine in the terminal… hopefully we will not need to use it.

We are on our final flight for the day. They have upped the air conditioning so much that a visible cold mist is coming out from above the overhead baggage compartments.

Unfortunately our long journey starting from Vientiane will not be ending at Caticlan airport. Caticlan is a town at the northern tip of Panay Island. From there we are going to the island of Boracay.

Borocay

It’s raining when we arrive in Caticlan. We take a shuttle bus to Cagban Port, then a ferry ride to the island of Boracay then a tricycle taxi to our hotel. The tricycle taxis are everywhere and they are all electric.

We are booked for four nights at Jony’s Beach Resort. The place is very cute…but it’s raining.
We go for a walk on the beach. The beach is beautiful, even in the rain.

Supper is at a nearby restaurant that serves Filipino comfort food. We are the only ones there so it is nice and quiet. A few minutes after our food arrives over twenty five local people arrive within a five minute period. The place is packed.

Hermit Crab Rescue

John is too tired to go for a massage so we head back to our room. Climbing the stairs, I find a hermit crab at the top. How did he get up all the stairs? I take him down two flights of stairs, past the reception area and back to the beach. Click here for a short video.

The weather forecast for most of our time in the Philippines looks grim… lots of rain and clouds. This is supposed to be the dry season. John and I spend the rest of the evening deciding whether to change our travel plans which would entail changing three flights, losing a bunch of non-refundable accomodation and losing the deposit on a 3 day island hopping tour. It would also be a lot of replanning. We decide to stick with our schedule but will look for another temple and pray for sunnier weather.