Leaving Taipei and Heading to Manila

An easy trip on the airport express train from our main station, we arrived to the airport three hours before our flight as Air Asia had recommended due to the busy holidays for Lunar New Year. We were glad we had, with long lineups to check in baggage. Our flight ended up being about two hours late, which we didn’t really mind as we took advantage of the free food, drinks and wifi in the lounge.

When we landed in Manila, we had read conflicting blogs about how to obtain a 30 day extension on the 30 days automatically granted upon arrival. Turned out it was pretty easy, with the immigration officials directing us to the third floor, one stop shop. Whatever that meant. We had read getting the extension meant multiple steps so were bracing ourselves. Especially after trying to get the extension done at home before we left, with the website apparently having errors after our submissions went completely unanswered.

Turns out it was literally a one stop shop and about an hour and a half later we had our extensions, had figured out the atms and used the local ride-hailing app Grab to get to the bus station. We didn’t really know when the bus to our first destination, Taal, left, but luckily it left about 30 minutes after we arrived.

Historic Town of Taal

A few hours later (getting out of Manila took a long time with the traffic) and in the dark, we arrived near Taal and got our first tricycle to the main junction where we looked for dinner. With almost everything closed, we ended up with what turn out to be our first and last meal at 7-11. Far from the high standards of Taiwan, the coffee looked pre-mixed and full of sugar and the instant noodle selection was lacking. A far cry from beer on tap. But hey, it was still open and the bao was decent.

We walked the rest of the way to our guesthouse and basked in the air conditioning. It was the first time in a while we had been really hot.

The next morning we set out to Globe to register for sim cards. When the agent asked if we had local documentation or a local who could vouch for us, we looked at each other in panic, after our awful experiences in Brazil. Luckily, the agent said our Canadian passports worked and about an hour later we were all set up for the next week, when we would have to renew, but could do so online.

We spent the next few hours exploring the historical sights of Taal, incuding the Basilica, the largest church in the country. Taal is one of the best preserved Spanish colonial towns in the Philippines and gave us a great introduction into the history of the country.

Valentine’s Day in Taal

After lunch we grabbed a tricycle to the edge of the Taal lake so we could see Taal volcano. Closed since 2021 due to the fatal eruption and continued recent activity, getting any closer to the volcano was now off limits. We were content to walk along the lakeside and play yahtzee with the volcano safely off in the distance. As well as being given flowers by local schoolgirls, as it happened to be Valentine’s day.

The new restaurant next door to our guesthouse featured biryani, cold beer and an outdoor rooftop patio. We were sold. So were the numerous couples around us celebrating Valentine’s- it turned out to be a big thing here. We celebrated with more yahtzee. It wasn’t quite as epic as our diving and whale-shark snorkeling day on Mafia island a few years ago, but it was still pretty great, and we did get our dinner much faster.

Taal turned out to be a perfect introduction to the country- the next day we would grab a trike to get a jeepney to get down to the port for our first ferry of the trip- to the town of Puerto Galera.