09/10/18 - 12/10/18 From Bato to Biliran Island

Eieiei, this topic... First of all, we woke up at 5:45 because the people at the Guest House thought it was necessary to catch the ferry in Ubay, on the other side of the island. It was supposed to depart at 10 or 11 and take 3 hours to Bato on Leyte Island. Perfect, we thought, because then we would still have time to travel part of the way to Biliran after arrival, an island connected to Leyte by a bridge in the north. Our goal was to at least reach the city of Ormoc by evening, where we could find a nice accommodation for the night and some good food. We set off at 6 o'clock. First, we managed to get to Ubay, 85km away, almost effortlessly with a transfer. At 09:45, we were at the port, only to find out that the ferry would not depart at 10 or 11, but at 14:00. So, we had to wait for 4 hours. An amusing experience was when all the passengers at the port were asked by the security to line up their luggage on the floor to be sniffed by sniffer dogs. We didn't find out if they were looking for drugs or explosives... apparently, no one had anything sensitive. We were able to board the ferry at 13:00. It departed at 14:45 and despite the delay, we were hopeful that our plan would work out. However, when we were supposed to dock in Bato 3 hours later, it turned out that the sea level was too low to do so. The dock was occupied by a ferry waiting to unload its vehicles. Pedestrians were already allowed to disembark. But since there was no room for us, we were tied to the docked ship with ropes and drifted on the sea, just a few meters away from our destination, until around 8 o'clock, waiting and waiting. Despite the beautiful sunset, it was quite frustrating. When we landed, it was already too late to go any further, so we had to stay overnight in Bato. The only thing we found was a ramshackle place at the bus station, whose receptionist was quite surprised to see us there, and we had to make it clear to him that we didn't care that the rooms didn't have air conditioning. But we were also quite surprised that there was no shower and a rather difficult-to-use toilet, which we had never seen before. But we wanted to leave as early as possible the next day. The only thing available to eat in Bato was a few grill restaurants on the riverside. They served only grilled meat or fish with rice. No vegetables. So, Lea treated herself to a portion of french fries for dinner, while Mathias had grilled pork belly, which was a little more exciting but not very diverse. But despite being quite exhausted, the sleep turned out better than expected and the next day, we managed to travel the whole way to Biliran with a transfer in Ormoc!

In Biliran, we had booked a room in a beach resort, which turned out to be a rather funny facility by the sea, which was not very inviting to spend a lot of time there. But it was enough for a quick swim in the very warm sea. The young employees seemed to enjoy their time there a lot and were delighted when we joined in their selfie actions. Unfortunately, there were no scooters for rent, so we had to travel 15km back to the nearest city... everything a bit complicated, but in the end, we managed and were on our way to the green again. And it was green!! The rice fields fascinate us every time. One of our goals was once again a waterfall. But the path there made us doubt our goal... the original hiking trail is currently being converted into a road, so we had to walk through the construction site in the blazing sun, which is really intense here, uphill. Fun is really something else. But what awaited us after 40 minutes was definitely worth the effort. Mathias even sees it as the most refreshing moment of his life. A wonderful waterfall just for the two of us, with incredible power, which then, to make the moment perfect, also created a rainbow. After cooling off extensively, it was time to go again. Unfortunately, the steps up to the emerging road were so exhausting that the cooling off quickly disappeared. At the parking lot of our moped, we met a few young Filipinos who provided us with cold water and cola and had a nice chat with them.

We spent the evening in the restaurant of our restaurant, more or less voluntarily, for almost 3 hours (Lea's fried vegetables were once again enhanced with chicken - otherwise it doesn't taste good :) and the kitchen was very challenged by the surprisingly high number of guests)

The next day, it was time to get up early again, as some distance had to be covered... You'll find out what happened next in the next post.