Philippines Day 1 - From Clark to Manila & Friendly Guesthouse

Date of Visit: 20th March 2012

Frankly speaking, Philippines has never in my travel bucket list nor neither popped up in my mind before. But there was once one of my secondary friends ever suggested to go Philippines and during AirAsia Big Sales back in year 2011, I just tried and had a look on the price and surprisingly return airfare from Kota Kinabalu to Philippines (Clark) cost RM45 per pax. Tell me now, how would you resist such an amazing offer right? Hence, I called up my secondary friends and there is goes, our journey to Philippines. 

We booked a 7 days trip to Philippines and we planned to cover on Boracay Island too. Unfortunately even AirAsia which happened to launch their new route from Clark to Kalibo early of last year for just return flight of RM27, but the travel period only started few days after the end of our Philippines trip. We totally booked our travel period on the wrong date! Of course, we felt kinda sad and plus, now AirAsia has terminated the direct flight from Kota Kinabalu to Philippines. No more direct flight via AirAsia from Kota Kinabalu unless you decide to fly with Cebu Pacific but I doubt it will be more cheaper than AirAsia.

Print screen of AirAsia started to launch their route from Clark to Kalibu - Return flight for RM27 only

The flight duration from Kota Kinabalu to Philippines (Clark) took almost 2 hours. Oh well, AirAsia disembarked at this airport which located 2 hours away from Manila as it is mainly serves the low-cost carriers and thus, it has currently become a hub for AirAsia Philippines.

#1: Diosdado Macapagal International Airport, the old name for Clark International Airport 

#2: Pink colour helicopter spotted outside the airport

Once we came out from the arrival hall, immediately we bought the bus tickets near the counter at the airport exit cause it was limited of seats. If we miss out the bus, we might need to wait roughly another half an hour or maybe an hour. We don't mind to wait but the journey from Clark to Manila took almost 2 and half hours, hence it was better to take the earlier bus and arrive earlier to check-in the guesthouse.

#3: A trip from Clark to Manila by bus cost PH350 per person and our destination was Makati.

#4: Ninoy Aquino International Airport - The main international gateway for travellers

The bus driver supposed to drop us at Makati bus station but most of the passengers requested to drop them in their hotel instead. Hence, we did the same thing too but of course, the bus driver did requested for some tips and we agreed to pay him.

#5: Friendly Guesthouse which we stayed throughout our trip in Philippines

This guesthouse was basically introduced by Lady Mariah to me and I make this recommendation to my friends and they agreed to stay here cause it was dirt cheap. But to be frank, we were kinda disappointed especially in terms of cleanliness and for sure, we will never consider this for the second time. One of my friends was attacked by bed bugs and there is no blanket provided in the dorm. The other down side of this guesthouse was all electronic gadgets including smartphone, laptops are not allowed to be charged inside the room and being requested to charge at the front desk.

#6: Two-storey guesthouse with all dorms and bathroom on the 3rd floor whereas the living room and kitchen on the top deck.

After a long hour and exhausting journey, we settled our dinner at the Robinsons Mall, a shopping mall nearby our guesthouse.

#7: Inasal, a kind of roast chicken served on skewers that originated in the Visayas