With our brief time in Coron near its conclusion, we hopped on a 5:30am shared van to Francisco B. Reyes Airport, formerly known as Busuanga Airport, in the middle of the island to catch a flight to Cebu City on one of those small Q400 prop planes. From there we took a connecting flight to Dumaguete, which is the most southern point of the island of Negros. The final destination was an island across the channel called Siquijor, known as a hotspot for divers worldwide. With nearly crystal clear water providing a home for a variety of corals, turtles, fish, and other sea creatures.
The Busuanga airport was tiny and had only one runway. The terminal had two gates, no food, no shops, and needless to say, no lounge. We have been to countless airports, but it’s always fun to people watch and have some fun at their expense, especially those going through security. The rules don’t very too much from airport to airport:
-You must remove your laptop from the bag.
-You must remove all items from your pockets.
-With the exception of Israel, you cannot bring liquids above 100 millimeters through security.
There were two guys who were ridiculous. The first guy was in line directly in front of us. For whatever reason, he had his shoes and socks off, and had weird white lotion of both of his feet. On the left foot was a gaping wound that was clotted with blood. He put his pair of shoes on the conveyor belt, independently of his bag, and not inside of another bin. He walked through the scanner, retrieved his bag, and walked away without taking his gross sneakers. The dude was so out of it.
The second guy looked relatively normal. Clean cut guy, lucid, and seemingly comfortable in his own skin. Typical backpacker. The fact that he had all sorts of various contraband in his carry on didn’t match his appearance. I’m talking hair spray, lotions, shampoos, plastic water bottle, and to top it off, a half full (empty?) flask of either rum or whiskey. All of them over 100mL. Maybe he had downed the first half, which partially justifies his actions, but he seemed sober. Of course the security took all of his items away, save for the alcohol which it looked like he took for his personal stash.
The flight to Cebu City was short and unremarkable. The airport in CC didn’t have a lounge either, so we had pizza, chicken wings, and ranch dressing at Shakey’s!
It was here Nadine received a very peculiar telephone call from Charles Schwab. Now before we left on the trip we did tons of research on which is the best card available for overseas usage. Bar none, Schwab is the best in the business. The biggest reason is due to the fact that they will reimburse exchange fees at ATMs, which quickly add up. $5 here, $3 there, $6 here. They have returned several hundreds of dollars in the past four months. We give them five stars and recommend to any traveling abroad.
When we saw "Charles Schwab" pop up on the iPhone, we basically knew immediately something bad happened. It’s not like they ever call just to say hello. After a series of personal questions from an automated service, specifically about our zip code and social security number, which Nadine answered, she had an uneasy feeling that maybe it wasn’t actually them calling, so she promptly hung up. She rang the customer service line, who connected us to the fraud squad, who confirmed that it was indeed Schwab calling minutes before. Not Charles Schwab himself, obviously, but an agent from the company. The purpose was to inform us an attempt had been made for a cash withdrawal of $183 from an ATM in DETROIT!
What we assume happened was someone had attached some sort of scanning device, called a skimmer, inside of one of the international ATMs that we have to frequently use since local banks won’t dispense cash to foreign cards. On top of copying the 16 digits on the card, the device also captures the activity on the screen, including the amount the customer intends to take out, and somehow the pin code as well. We have heard of this scam before but it has never happened to us. Sometimes there are video cameras that are placed to physically watch the customer put the pin and details in the machine.
The day before receiving the phone call, we had taken out that exact amount at an ATM in Coron, so we could most likely pinpoint the exact location where the details were swiped. If not there, then maybe a couple other spots we had used in the Philippines. The maximum amount we can take out from the machines in the Philippines is 10,000 pesos, which is 196 US, but would be 183 if we used the local exchange rate, which we don’t do. If we use the local rate, then Schwab will reimburse us. But it makes sense why those sneaky criminals tried to withdraw 183 exactly. When Nadine commented to the Schwab agent how creative the scheme was and maybe she should start doing it, the woman didn’t find it humorous, stating factually it is a federal crime to do. Relax lady, it’s a joke.
We were very impressed and appreciative of how Charles Schwab was attentive and on the ball. Most importantly, sensing unusual activity, they blocked the transaction in Detroit. Clearly we didn’t fly from Philippines to Detroit in less than 24 hours. Neither of us have ever even been to Detroit, let alone the state of Michigan. It also helps that we told them in advance the countries to where we would be traveling. Their systems are surely designed to recognize strange geographical patterns, but that doesn’t necessarily mean their fraud department follows up on such alerts. In this case, they did.
Maybe it sounds cliche or like a commercial, but banking with Charles Schwab makes us feel comfortable traveling knowing they have our backs. All sorts of weird issues can come up whilst on the road, but knowing we are protected by Schwab means the idea of having to worry about money, or accessing money, is a non-factor. The real-time bank exchange rate and free fees are cherries on top.
The first flight left Busuanga at 7am, so when Nadine was looking for rooms to book, for some inexplicable reason Ben was confused and told her we arrived at 7pm. For this reason, we booked one night in the sleepy town of Dumaguete. We found a tricycle for the normal non-touristy price (10P/PP), thanks to Nadine’s investigative research skills, and made our hotel on the boardwalk, the Honeycomb Tourist Inn partners with Red Doorz. The hotel was fine and the rooms were just that, rooms. In our first room the aircon was misbehaving, so we were moved to another room. Attached to the hotel was a restaurant with ok tasting food and cheap prices. They also had a live band blare loud music well into the night. The most interesting part about the hotel was that it was owned by the Medina family (not a famous family, just a common Filipino family), but during WWII/Japanese Imperialism, the Japanese Imperial Army troops occupied the house for three years until the liberation of the Philippines (WWII in Color on Netflix is recommended to watch). The house was then given back to said Medina family, who them made it into a Honeycomb Tourist Inn in 1997.
There isn't much to do in Dumaguete; it is only a stop over to the Island of Siquijor. But since we had the whole day we made the best of it. Ben found a couple gyms in the area so we climbed up the stairs to what looked like an attic and found the gym for the cost of 45 pesos for a one time pass (88 cents), on our way to look at the other gym we came by a Mickey D's. Since we are only human, we couldn't leave without checking the Big Mac Index in the Philippines, so Nadine ordered the Big Cac meal at 162 P. The Big Mac meal in USA is $5.99. 162/5.99= 27.05 meaning the rate is 27.05 P to $1, the actual exchange rate to date is 50.92 P. The currency according to the Big Cac index is undervalued at 47%. There are many known flaws to the Big Mac Index, to read more check out Burgernomics article.
After our familiar tasting lunch (what Ben calls the food he doesn't really like, but it is a familiar taste so he is happy to eat it), we took a stroll on the Dumaguete Boardwalk to the pier to scope out the situation for the next day's adventure to Siquijor Island. Unfortunately, the direct boat to Siquijor City Port was under construction and the only way to get to the island was via Larena City Port. Quick geographical insight: the island is called Siquijor, but there are two ports, Siquijor City and Larena City.
There are various ferries/cargo ships that travel to Larena. The ferries are for passengers only and leave often, but are triple the price. We decided to go with Montenegro Shipping Company, which carries both passengers and cargo. We settled on the 10am leaving the next day. We went back to the hotel and changed so we could go to the gym, which was basically a hangout for Filipino teenagers. Most of the people in there were either looking in the mirror doing nothing, or standing around talking to each other. It seemed we were the only ones actually exercising. Apart from the distractions it was a well spend .88 cent work out session. After the gym we made it back to our hotel for dinner and sleep.
Next day we will travel to Siquijor via Laurena.
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