18/01/2010 A surprising find!!

Headed off to catch the boat to Caticlan and ran into Mike and Catherine from Miami, Florida. Grahame had met them on Gili Trawangan when they were looking for accommodation there – what a small world. They are working for the US Govt in Manila doing aid work for a few months and travelling in between. Check out their blog! Then it was onto the bus for a 6 hour trip to Iloilo in Southern Panay.

Well we bumped our way in the air conditioned bus (please note I said air conditioned) trip was not so bad as they had a tv on board and I got more free enetertainment than we have got on any of our cheapo air fares. Bus was 312 pescos each about $15 for both of us. The dodgey chartered mini bus guys wanted something like 4,000 each !! Anyway I managed to watch Alien 3 and 4 plus Predator. Not a bad way to spend a bus trip.

We got into Iloilo after dark which around these parts is a lot earlier than back home. Its dark here by 6 or 6.30 pm. Tricycle guys tried to scam 150 pesos for the trip to the motel but we got a taxi for the same price. The taxi driver spoke English really well and it was a pity it was dark as he was giving us the guided tour on the way. We got to the Family Pension House (and no they don’t just cater to old backpackers). We checked out our 450 pesco room about $12 with a dodgey breakfast, no hot water and single beds!! But it looked reasonably clean so we showered up and discovered they had this really neat restaurant that was decorated with cool paintings and short tables and you sat on the floor on pillows. Way Cool!!! We had a drink there and decided to go for a walk as we had been in the bus all day. After wandering for half an hour we decided to go back as we could not find anything better than the Pension house restaurant. We ordered some pretty good food and drank some beer. They had a small band come in and they had open mic so Tracey got to sing with them. When the band was on a break I was coming back from the toilet and I got talking to the guys in the band. After the band finished playing one of the guys came up and started talking to us. His name was Alvin and a really nice guy as well as a talented singer and musician. He offered to give us the guided tour the next day as it was his day off.. We did not really plan staying 2 days in Iloilo but he was such a nice young guy we decided to take him up on his offer. We hit the hay about 1.30am.

Family Pension Iloilo, Panay Island (The Visayas) Philippines