Back to Batangas
I boarded the ferry to Batangas City in Abra de Ilog early in the morning, and from there back to my beachouse in Anilao.
Mount Kalawit on Mindoros northern faded slowly away as the ship sailed east towards Batangas. That should be my nest destination.
The Maricaban Strait between Anilao and Maricaban Island was a familiar and welcome sight as the ferry sailed into Batangas Bay. The ride from Batangas Harbour to the beach house is 30-40 minutes, passing through the congested roads in Bauan to Mabini and Anilao.
A Note on Accommodation
While Puerto Galera teems with good resorts, good food, good drinks and what have you for any wallet size, the Philippine countryside generally has little to offer. Mindoro was no exception...It was hard to find a place even for a basic lunch meal, and of ambience - there is practically none. The beer is invariable warm although ice cubes of less than glacial purity usually are available (who wants ice cubes in their beer anyway).
There are places I'm sure, but it's damned hard to find them. I was able to sleep well in the end, but can't say I found anything to recommend. I mean we're in the tropics! A burnt out garden with some dying potted plants, crude timber-imitation concrete cottages, the resort fenced off from the beach (and instead a pool with stale semi-translucent green water), and to top it all a prominent display in the garden of a fiber-glass tiger surrounded by faded plastic flowers! And those were places that were left after say an hour of screening out the bad ones. I recall in particular a place supposedly with beatiful waitresses who would satisfy all one's needs... the resort's crypt-like concrete cottages were not the stuff dreams are made of, and I bailed out quickly after a cursory look at the room revealed a bed sheet worthy of an army brothel - it was so impregnated with stains that I bet it could stand vertically by itself!
