I arrived in the small city of Legaspi after a 45 minute flight and a four hour delay. Four hours! I only had a few hours sleep due to more late night poker playing in Manila (I lost) so it was all pretty torturous. I’m here because I’m going looking for whale sharks to snorkel with tomorrow so my plan was to grab some food, plunk down in my room and spend a few hours doing some work on my computer before heading to bed early.
Seems pretty straightforward except that my computer’s power source has mysteriously died. Not good. Then I decided to console myself by getting McDonald’s, which I don’t even really like but sort of felt like at the time. It was closed. It was 6pm! What kind of Macca’s closes at 6pm?? So I opted for Chow King, a Chinese fast food place. I got something that resembled chicken with tasteless noodles that I couldn’t eat and three spring roles that resembled mini penises. Fortunately the penises came with a tasty sweet and sour sauce and were edible. Plus I found root beer so the beverage side of things was a success.
My guidebook warned me that this hotel’s rooms were ‘cell like’ which has never bothered me before so I didn’t heed the warning. But this time around I don’t have a computer to do work on, I didn’t bring a book to read or notepad to draw on, there’s no common area to hang around in and they took away my TV because I’m paying the cheap-ass room rate. Plus crossing the street in this town involves some serious feats of bravery so I really do feel like I’m in a prison! Add to that my sorry excuse for a dinner and things were pretty bleak.
And if that’s all not bad enough, the hotel’s reception area smells like a kitty litter and the hallways smell like spew. It really is a combination I can safely say I’ve never experienced before in my life. It’s not a totally overpowering kitty litter smell but definitely in need of a change. I don’t think they have a cat. The spew smell, however, is pretty rank. Maybe I should start paying more than $4 a night.
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