Backpacking The Philippines: We Rode With A Herd Of 45 Cattle
There are many different ways to travel around Asia. Planes, cars, buses, tuktuks, rickshaws, and ferries to name a few. These methods of transportation are all a cool and fun way to see a country but sometimes they aren’t exactly what they seem. What should have been a 30-hour casual ferry ride stretched into 42 hours packed with animals, bunkbeds full of friendly Filipinos, and a shipment of supplies all bound for Manila.
This is the story of how we ended up on a floating petting zoo. Smelling the ocean, diesel, and all the animals for almost two days straight. And worst of all, almost running out of coffee. By the end of our journey we would learn what Backpacking The Philippines really meant. And that there was nothing that Asia could throw at us that we couldn’t handle.
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Taking Ferries While Backpacking The Philippines
Ferry travel is a common way people get around in the Philippines. With over 7600 islands, not all of which have airports, ferries are apart of daily life in this country. They are the most common way to move people, vehicles, and supplies to where they are needed. We were no strangers to taking ferries at this point of our trip. We had actually grown accustom to the bright red hotdogs with rice, a staple in the Philippines and served on every boat. Along with the cafes selling decent coffee and the option to sit on the top deck and look at the stars, ferries were actually a fun way to get around while Backpacking The Philippines.
We had been on two big overnight ferries already, one from Manila to Coron, then from Coron to Puerto Princesa. Looking at these ships from the pier they almost look like cruise ships, probably not nearly as extravagant but still nice and more then enough for us. We made our way North from Puerto Princesa, visiting Port Barton, and finally reached El Nido. After a great few days in beautiful El Nido we got our tickets for a ferry back to Manila. So far nothing was different or out of the ordinary, that would soon change.
Boarding Our Ferry While Backpacking The Philippines
As I mentioned we had taken a couple ferries before this one, so getting to the dock and seeing the ship we were about to board was a surprise. Instead of the cruise ship style we had been seeing, this was much smaller. The ferry had an open area on the bow, and a small storage area with bathrooms (squat toilets with no running water) and a kitchen on the main level. The second level had an observation deck, and then just beds. Half inside with AC and half just on the deck exposed to whatever weather was present, our tickets put us in the AC room luckily.
We settled into our bunks and took a quick tour of the ship, which lasted just over five minutes. While walking around I noticed an odd smell but I couldn’t figure out what it was. I didn’t give it much thought and before long we set off toward Manila. We were only on the ocean for a couple hours before we stopped at a small town on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere. I honestly don’t know if I could find this place on a map again.
With the ferry docked, I wanted to explore the town, but I didn’t want to risk getting stranded. After talking to multiple sailors I was able learn, and get shocked by the fact that we were docked until 2am and it was only early afternoon. Our journey was supposed to be 30 hours and we were a long way from Manila, however I trusted our team to get us there. They’re the ones that run this route all the time so they should know how long it takes, right?
Supplies on Shore
After quadruple-checking that the ferry would definitely leave at 2 a.m. and wouldn’t strand us in the middle of nowhere, we worked up the courage to leave the ship and explore the tiny town. We stopped and grabbed another 5 liters of water for our journey, along with more snacks and vegetables. I originally protested the vegetable part but would later be grateful for them. We dropped off our new supplies at our bunks then went back out to explore the town.
This tiny beach town offered almost nothing to do, but walking its narrow streets was still fun. Locals would either smile, wave, and yell at us happily as we walked by or simply stare at us. I couldn’t tell if I felt like more of a celebrity or a zoo attraction. After seeing everything the little town had to offer we went back to our ferry and killed time playing cards, patiently waiting to sail to Manila.
Meeting The Rest of The Passengers While Backpacking The Philippines
Our boat was full of locals, Faye and me were the only tourists Backpacking The Philippines on board. I tried talking to some people casually on the viewing deck but it quickly became apparent that hardly any English was spoken on this boat at all. I took a nap to kill some time, while napping Faye managed to find the only other person that spoke English, an 8 year old kid who only wanted to talk about colors, animals, and counting to 10. A cute exchange I’m sure, one I wish I didn’t miss. Despite the small size of the boat we never saw that kid again.
A Pleasant Surprise
After waking up from my napped I stretched and looked out onto the bow of the boat. It takes a lot to surprise me but this managed to do it, they were casually loading cattle onto the ferry and tying them up on the bow. “Faye try and guess what they’re loading on the boat right now.” She rattled off different supplies and I would say no each time but also refused to tell her what it was, she had to see for herself. She eventually got up to look and simply said “Interesting”.
We both watched as our boat suddenly became home to 45 head of cattle, 3 roosters, 1 dog, a man who for some reason would not put down his two hand saws, and a pile of other supplies all bound for Manila. I suddenly realized what the smell from earlier was, a weird mixture of barnyard animal, ferry, and salt. Can’t say that’s a smell I’m familiar with, hence why I couldn’t place it earlier. This honestly didn’t bother us that much, just surprised us. There was literally nothing different about our ticket to say this ship would be hauling cattle across the ocean as opposed to the cruise ship ferries hauling people.
Getting Comfy
We honestly loved our new passenger friends. We also got a new game to play, try to figure out how long various people in our lives would last on this ferry. That sparked a lot of laughter, and Faye became attached to the cow labeled 14-P. We spent the rest of the day playing cards, snacking, and drinking instant coffee from the canteen—which was basically a broom closet (and the coffee could have been worse). Every once and awhile we would check on 14-P, at one point 14-P didn’t have enough room between his two neighbor cows. Faye wanted to literally go tell the captain of the ferry to give him more room, luckily for everyone the cows shifted and 14-P could lay down peacefully.
As the sun set over the sleepy little beach town, our crew was loading the last of the supplies. Darkness fell, the crew was making preparations to leave, we figured it was a good time for bed. By the time we woke up we should only be 6-8 hours away from Manila. So we said goodnight to 14-P and went to sleep.
The Ugly Side of Ferry Travel While Backpacking The Philippines
I awoke the next day to the sun shining in the morning sky. Despite sleeping on a foam mattress 1 inch thick and god knows how old, I felt great and ready to get to Manila. We were still in the middle of the ocean but it would only be a few more hours now. The hours passed and the day was more of the same, playing games, eating, drinking coffee, and watching 14-P. Another good day Backpacking The Philippines but I was ready to get off the ship, it was starting to feel cramped and the novelty was wearing off. I’m definitely not meant to spend a prolonged amount of time on or in the ocean.
It was getting close to the time we should have been arriving in Manila but I could still only see nothing but ocean. Eventually, it was time to dock in Manila. I saw some land off to the side, figured we must be close, and tried to check my phone’s GPS. The good news is that it worked, the bad news is that it said we were still 12 hours away. I figured there had to be something wrong, I kept trying to reload the GPS but it would always say the same thing. After a while, the land beside us vanished, leaving us back on the open ocean, and my GPS stopped working. No mistake about it: I had another 12 hours stuck on the ferry.
So Close Yet So Far
Imagine that you’re just about to complete a task that you can’t wait to finish, when suddenly someone tells you “Psyche, you’ve got another 12 hours to go”. I tried to make the best of things, what else can you do? But god I was ready to get off the ship. Faye was her usual happy self looking after 14-P, it takes a lot to rattle her. Knowing we still had hours to go we continued to do what we did best. Play cards, snack, drink coffee, and watch the cows. I was very glad we reloaded on snacks and water in the beach town, we would have 100% ran out with what we had originally. Now is also the time I was grateful for the vegetables we bought, my body needed one. There’s only so much junk canteen food you can eat on a boat.
The hours crept by, and we watched a beautiful sunset over the water—a bright spot amid everything else. Our 30 hour ferry ride turned into 42 hours. instead of arriving at 6pm we would get to Manila at 6am the next day. We had to contact the hostel we had booked and let them know we were still coming, even though we’d only use the beds for a grand total of 6 hours, the shower alone made it worth keeping. We watched the sun go down while a tanker passed by in the distance, a pretty cool view. And with that we went to bed. In the grand scheme of things the ferry ride wasn’t so bad, it’s still a highlight of Backpacking The Philippines that Faye and me talk about regularly.
Getting to Manila to continue Backpacking The Philippines
42 hours since stepping off the dock in El Nido and I could finally see the dock I would be stepping onto in Manila. Perfect timing—the canteen had almost run out of coffee, and another surprise 12-hour delay would have left us in trouble. Sleep came rougher on the second night—multiple nights on a one-inch foam mattress weren’t as easy as they used to be—but the excitement of getting off the boat, outweighed my exhaustion. The sky was starting glow with the early morning sun in Manila and all I could think about was getting to the hostel to shower and pass out. We grabbed our things and said a heartfelt goodbye to 14-P, I hope he’s doing alright. Then finally stepped onto the Manila dock.
The trip to our hostel was just under an hour. We had to detour around the Manila old town and surrounding area because of a religious festival called the “Feast of the Black Nazarene”, a religious festival honoring a centuries old, dark colored statue of Jesus Christ. Our driver said there was one million people in the area and apologized for the inconvenience. I told him it was no trouble just don’t stop the car. After spending 42 hours at sea I could not think of a single thing I wanted to do less than get stuck in a crowd with a literal million people. Hopefully we’ll go back to experience the “Feast of the Black Nazarene” eventually, it just wasn’t the day.
A Much Needed Rest
After 42 hours at sea and a grueling hour in Manila traffic we finally arrived at our hostel. We actually hadn’t heard back from them at this point despite all our messages saying we were for sure still coming just arriving late. I was ready to fight someone had they gave our room to someone else, which happens more often then you’d think. Luckily for us all was well, I had one of the best showers of my life, a quick breakfast, and passed out for a few hours before it was time to check out and continue our trip Backpacking The Philippines.
Final Thoughts on Ferries While Backpacking The Philippines
While this ferry trip turned out to be much more than we expected, I actually wouldn’t change a thing. We bring up this ferry trip together constantly, I think it was the point where Faye and I were both like “ok we’ve got this, we can handle anything together.” That’s simply travel in general, surprises come up all the time and honestly travelling wouldn’t be as fun if they didn’t. It was a nice reminder that the best memories come from the most unexpected places.
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