Travelling through Mindoro by van from Puerto Galera to Calapan to San Jose, Philippines.

I'm heading to Palawan. After taking a trike to Puerto Galera I took a jeepney that took just over an hour to reach Calapan. I’d see some of Calapan, overnight there, then take a a couple of vans the following day to San Jose on the southern coast where I’d overnight again before catching a ferry the next day to Coron on Palawan.
I spent the afternoon in Calapan working in my hotel room. Finding a hotel with decent internet connection is a major priority when deciding where to stay now. Almost more important than comfort, otherwise I’m unable to upload my KZbin videos.
Destiny’s hotel is pretty kinky. I imagine it’s the sort of place rented out by the hour in other towns. The majority of rooms were windowless. The only room that did have a window had a dodgy a/c leaking over the bed, but I persuaded them to let me stay in it anyway and just use a standing fan. I’m not fond of noisy a/c’s anyway.
Calapan wasn’t worth stopping off at. There was nothing there. It’s strange how these towns or cities consist of just establishments built on the main highway.
In Calapan I checked the bus times of the Ceres Bus that goes directly to San Jose. The bus travelled along the road where I was staying and was meant to pass by around 9am and then another at midday. What I should’ve done was go directly to the port at Calapan 2km away where the Ceres Bus leaves from at a designated time. Bit of a schoolboy error.
So I caught the 9am van to Bulalacao instead which was packed and sat right at the back. Just short of Bulalacao a group of schoolkids boarded having attended a mental health seminar. We spent half-hour chatting which helped pass time on my lengthy van journey. It's great how you can easily engage with friendly filipinos in the Philippines.
On arriving in Bulalacao I had 10 minutes to grab a quick bite to eat then jumped on the 2pm van to San Jose, which took just over an hour.
In San Jose I met a Belgian guy with his French girlfriend who left Calapan three hours after me, paid the same price, but had a more comfortable journey and arrived in San Jose not long after me. I stayed at the Red Doors hotel in San Jose where check-in took so long having booked online. It was as if their online booking system booking wasn’t in tune with the front desk. The girls who manned it were quite cute thou and one of them called me a sexy man for my age. Ha!
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[@BiggWorldCinema]

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[@userbelieveinGod]

What a breath of fresh air to see these young people show respect and be able to converse intelligently...without hearing foul language...every other word. Good vlog. 👍

[@BiggWorldCinema]

Thanks! I find filipino youth very respectful of elders and foreigners. Wish I could say the same of my home country.

[@gowellnow]

wow, what a champion the young girl on the bus with the red bag is. great example of a kid who is years ahead in muturity.

[@dann547]

I appreciate the tour of Mindoro. Mindoro is under appreciated. Seems like a lovely island, but few vloggers ever go there. A thousand thanks. My wife and are retired ( USA) and live in Batangas.

[@timmy4wimmy]

Great blog. The real Philippines !

[@bobetaitum9923]

@16:56......I love it when you engage the locals to a conversation, especially to the younger group. While many are shy speaking English in public, let alone to random foreigners like yourself, some are actually good English speaker. I hope you do it as often as you can. I find it amusing.

[@peterthomas6486]

Enjoying your vids. Great interaction with the students, keep up the great content, a dedicated fan, No Bonnie Tyler.

[@waynewalker3064]

Thanks for the entertaining video. I doubt my back would survive your trip plus the lack of headroom in jeepneys and tries.

[@BiggWorldCinema]

Thanks for your appreciation. Try and limit my travelling day to 5 hours max in uncomfortable transportation. Down from 12 hours or overnighters when I was young!

[@rolandmueller7218]

I wonder why Starlink didn’t work well? Too many brownouts? A bad antenna installation or position?

[@sdickinson5234]

Many hotels use the $29 wifi routers like you would buy for your apartment instead of the more powerful commercial ones that cost around $300, so even if they have a fast connection you're getting a weak degraded signal in your room.

[@BiggWorldCinema]

It was ridiculous. Owner kept banging on that it's Starlink baby! Prior to checking in, I always check a hotel's wifi on my phone, but signal wasn't strong enough for my laptop. Doh! Should've stayed in the previous place.

[@rolandmueller7218]

@@sdickinson5234 yes,that makes sense. The router probably didn’t have a good signal path to every room in the hotel. It probably works only in the room where they keep the router. They probably never verified that it has adequate coverage. Most people probably don’t complain…

[@sdickinson5234]

@@BiggWorldCinema You should get an external USB wifi adapter with a good antenna.

[@mrmaillouify]

Is molave safe to visit Phillip?

[@j.sherlock7213]

It must be nice to have found an interesting lifestyle away from all the politics and BS of the western world. Well done!

[@sdickinson5234]

If you're taller than about 5'9" stay away from those V-hire vans for longer trips as you can see by the legroom shot. I had a girl I was with put me on one of those on my first trip to the Phils and was packed in like a hot sardine for an hour. We could have taken the bus for like 100 pesos more but I didn't know. Don't let a Filipina make your travel arrangements. Nothing against her it's perfectly rational to save 100 pesos and she wants to save you money. On the flip side of the coin you may find them suggesting a nice hotel that costs $300 a night because they don't know your budget and assume it's unlimited, or they just know it's a nice place where foreigners stay and they don't really know how much it costs.

[@BiggWorldCinema]

Absolutely. But for some legs (cough!) of a journey you have no choice. Only vans ply the lengthy uncomfortable route from El Nido to Puerto Princesa.

[@JohnnyLawrence293]

You going to head to some other big islands eventually? Masbate, Leyte, Samar?

[@BiggWorldCinema]

You been checking my schedule? Got Leyte and Samar pencilled in for early next year. I've barely scratched the Philippines surface, but I'll have covered most areas then.