Photos et lettres des Philippines, de France et d'ailleurs

First part :

(See Map of the Philippines)

I had been thinking about it for a while but now I was decided, my next destination would be the island of Leyte. I would travel around with an incursion into the island of Samar to the north, separated by the 2 km of the San Juanico Strait and perhaps in the island of Biliran, also north but further east.
Leyte is located in the Visayas archipelago and has about 2 million inhabitants and a maximum length of 180 km from north to south and a 65 km width from west to east. At the east it opens out to the Philippine Sea and the Pacific Ocean where is the Philippine Trench which drops to 10 540 meters in its greatest depth and is 1320 km long and 30 km wide .
This island is famous for several reasons, by the events of the Second World War, by its most famous daughter, Imelda Marcos, for natural disasters but also for me because my family's wife originates in the southern part.
On 11 May, therefore I left home at 5:45 am and I began my journey loaded with my carry-on bag and my 7 kilos-camera –shoulder- bag. First I had a 10 minutes' walk, then a 40 min jeepney ride (20 pesos),  a 20 min tricycle ride (80 pesos), a 20 min boat crossing (52 pesos) and a three hours and fifteen minutes bus ride (175 pesos) before arriving in Cebu city.

(The boat from Sibulan to Liloan)

(The aircon bus from Liloan to Cebu city)

Here I had a 4 hours waiting time, so I went to SM shopping mall to have lunch in my favorite Thai restaurant and to have later my credit card swallowed by an ill-intentioned ATM.

(The Thai restaurant)

Then followed a trial of strength and persuasion with the bank BDO staff (Banco de Oro) to get my piece of plastic back before the 4:40 pm departure of my Super Cat fast craft bound for Ormoc. (480 pesos with my 20 % senior discount or € 8).
After one hour everything eventually was settled with smiles, mine being rather tense, and after two hours and twenty minutes crossing, I arrived at night and with the rain in Ormoc. I booked a room in one of the oldest hotels in the city, Don Felipe hotel,  ideally situated opposite the pier and with just on the right side, the bus terminal. The room rate was 980 pesos or about 16 €.

(The Don Felipe hotel)

(The surrondings)

Ormoc is the economic, cultural, commercial and transportation hub of western Leyte. Its population is of approximately 180 000 inhabitants is a relatively affluent city in part due to the geothermal energy.
We cannot speak of Ormoc City without mentioning the tragedy of November 1991 when Tropical Storm Thelma, aided by uncontrolled deforestation, caused flash floods and landslides killing  more than 6,000 people, mostly in Ormoc itself. The next day May 12, I took a bus to Tacloban where I arrived around noon after a three hours ride (120 pesos / € 2)). To my knowledge there is no air-conditioned bus there, but only the good old local buses, often without windows, with little room for my long legs and always crowded.

(I took buses like that but with no passengers on top)

With a population of about 220 000 inhabitants, Tacloban is the capital of Leyte and is one of the cities with the lowest poverty incidence in the Philippines, thanks to a booming economy due to the many local businesses often owned by Asian investors.
I tried three hotels before finding a room in an excellent small
pension, Luxury Suite, located on the 3rd floor of a building. The room cost 750 pesos per night or about 12 € with the only slight inconvenience of not having a restaurant for breakfast.

(A Luxury Suite room)

The afternoon was rainy and after eating in a fast-food hamburger and fries washed down with Coca Cola and having survived (lol), I just visited under the clouds the Leyte Park Resort. I was saving myself for the following day hoping that the sun would be there.
The next day the sun was really there and I took my breakfast in a nearby hotel, the hotel Angelo which was also fully booked. Then I started looking for a typical local vehicle roaming the Tacloban's streets and named 'spider', to rent it with driver for the day.
I had to wait 30 minutes and I end up finding one for 1200 pesos the day (20 €).Later I had added 300 pesos because the driver had no permit to leave the city limits.
So I started my day with the visit of the Santo Niño Shrine which is one of the 29 presidential rest houses that the late President Ferdinand Marcos had built. It was constructed for his wife Imelda Marcos, who was born in Tacloban. It is considered the N°1 tourist spot in that city because of its association with Imelda, an ex. Beauty Queen.

(The Chapel)

A chapel dominates the ground floor with the image of Sto. Niño as a focal point. Elevated by 2-3 steps on the peripheral are the 13 guest rooms, each with varied motifs representing the different regions of the country. On the second floor is a very spacious ballroom as well as the bed chambers of the former First Family.

(The ballroom)

(The dining room)

Imelda's bathroom was luxurious and larger than many Filipino homes and the palace is filled with antiques, ceramics and pottery from around the world.

(Imelda's bedroom and bathroom)

(Antique furnitures and vases)

The guest rooms are in a different theme with a signed picture of Ferdinand and a diorama showing Imelda performing some beneficial act or another.

(A guest room)

(Diorama showing Imelda performing charity)

It should be noted that Mrs. Marcos stayed in this palace only once.

After the visit and before going to Palo Beach located a few kilometers from Tacloban where General Douglas MacArthur and his staff landed on October 20, 1944, the driver went to the LTO (Land Transportation Office) in order to obtain the permit for his vehicle to exit the city.

(The Spider car)

It was already noon and pending the reopening of the offices, he drove me for lunch in a very good seafood restaurant with mostly Filipino customers and yet I was pleasantly surprised to see on display, many French local wines.
After eating, and with a bit of patience and 300 pesos, finally we had permission to visit the old Douglas.

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