(^96) Sandakan, Sabah, Malaysia - Zamboanga City, Mindanao, Philippines - By ferry
At last, the third arrived, and even though the ticket stated the departure time would be
16h00, we were told to board at 18h00. Unfortunately, shortly before getting going, the
rain started bucketing down. The last thing in the world I felt like was riding the short
eight kilometres to the ferry in pouring rain. Luckily, as rain goes in the tropics, it came
in hard and quick, and the weather soon cleared.
The port was a madhouse of people, trucks, buses and minivans picking passengers up
or dropping them off. Once on the ferry, my investigation revealed double bunk beds on
the deck (better than sleeping on the floor). My bed was No. 317, and that was only on
Deck 1. People kept pouring onto the ferry, and it was common for two or more people
to have the same bunk number.
The time was past 22h00 before finally departing. The tiny canteen was jam-packed, and
hardly worth the wait. The bunks were awfully close together, and a noisy night was
spent under blazing, fluorescent lights. Eventually, I fell asleep to the snoring, phlegm-
coughing, burping and farting of other passengers.
leana
(Leana)
#1