Talisay – Manila – 88 km
Cycling up the hill I came down the previous day wasn’t as steep as expected;
Manila’s traffic was far worse. The National Highway led straight into the city
centre and ran through numerous towns and villages. The traffic was bumper-to-
bumper and Jeepney-to-Jeepney, all the way into the city. Cycling the short
distance of eighty-eight kilometres took practically the entire day, mainly due to
the horrendous traffic.
Once in the town, the suburb of Melati provided decent-looking accommodation. It
felt good to be in a solid-looking guesthouse ahead of the forecasted super
typhoon, predicted the strongest typhoon ever to make landfall in the Philippines.
Due to the typhoon, all flights and ferries were cancelled, and all one could do was
hunker down. Pension Natividad wasn’t the cheapest, but comfortable and
centrally located. The place was packed with people who missed their flights and
ferries. Nevertheless, a jovial mood prevailed while all waited to see what to do
next.
Manila
Though overcast and rainy, Manila was out of harm’s way and nothing came of the
predicted high winds. The islands to the south were more affected and several
islands suffered severely. Reportedly, the typhoon made landfall in Haiyan with
wind speeds of up to 315 km/h, killing 6,300 people. Entire villages were wiped
out.
In Manila, people waited for flights and ferry schedules to return to normal.
Several of the pension’s guests couldn’t contact family and friends as all lines were
down. In the company of John and Matthew (both living on Coron Island and
waiting for a ferry), we set off to the harbour to find information about a ship
sailing to Palawan. We couldn’t find one and returned to the pension and had a
beer instead.