Happy and full with that delectable lunch at Wemdee's, I proceeded to the transport terminal, just diagonally across Wemdee's at an intersection on main road JP Rizal Street.
About 11:40AM I was already asking around at the transport terminal where the vans going Tacloban would be. Only to be told, they were right in front of me pala. Pahiya ako! 😶How easily I forgot, this is the very same place I arrived at yesterday from Tacloban!
BUT.., none was taking-off until 2PM! Folks in the area told me that 2PM on a Sunday until 5PM even 6 or 7PM is the "rush hour" for those who work or study in Tacloban. Thus, oo nga naman, vans instead opt to queue for passengers at about those times - where they are always sure to have a full load of passengers without waiting that long.
Not a thing to worry about though. Oh ha?! Yabang moment! Having been in and out of this region the past 10 months, I am already a bit familiar with how commuter transport operate, and where they do occur more frequently - at the urban centers of course!
I walked to the vans that go to Ormoc City. There was one already boarding, but going via Isabel and Merida, which, I know takes 2 to even 3 hours, due to frequent stops when passengers get off and on. It had 5 passengers aboard and waiting to get full. Nge!
Another was going Ormoc too, via the faster Kananga route. However, only 2 passengers were aboard, and also waiting to get full. I took this one! Why? Because most passengers going to Ormoc would ride this van, therefore the 2 passengers will quickly become 14!
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| The driver's seat seemed to tell me something... but definitely this was better than Tuguegarao! |
Plus, even if I paid a full Palompon-Ormoc fare, I could actually get off at Kananga (20 or so kms before Ormoc), then wait there for vans passing from Ormoc or Baybay or Maasin etc., going to Tacloban. That is about 20 to 30 minutes of savings in terms of travel time! Nice choice, I thought! Lucky, I even got seats 1 and 2 (the whole front as usual) yey!
And luckier still: groups of two or three or four came quickly to take this same ride. So, in no time (not even 10 minutes I guess), the van got full and off we went at 11:47AM!
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| 11:47AM, I was already on the way out of Palompon, but on a van to Ormoc, not to Tacloban |
Change of plans...
As the van approached Kananga town proper, and it was only 12:42PM, I thought I still had a lot of time since the trip from Ormoc to Tacloban takes only 2 hours. What to do?
Eto na! The quickie decisions (that I am not fond of, actually)...
Kananga is just about 20 kilometers (I think) from Ormoc, and in my experience having passed this stretch of road many times, it never takes 30mins between the two places.
So, buti nalang I did not (yet) tell the driver I really intended to get off at Kananga! I decided to go straight to Ormoc - the fare I paid anyway hehe. So, I didn't say anything!
Thus, at 1:08PM I was in Ormoc City. Walked to the Grand Tours Terminal. Still lucky, I got seats 1 & 2 of the 2PM van to Tacloban. Almost an hour to waste in Ormoc! Now what?!
No problem! Lucky still?! Just beside the Grand Tours Terminal is a newly opened big and spacious branch of Bo's Coffee, so I went there (even told the Grand Tours dispatcher I would just be at Bo's Coffee if the 1:30PM run gets to have seats 1 and 2 available)!
The 1:30PM schedule did not happen for me, no luck this time, but no sweat, I was okay with 2PM as I was enjoying the new Bo's Coffee of Ormoc with a very good wifi signal!
2PM came, we left, and nothing much is worth telling. Grand Tours is such a dependable transport company in the region, they have fixed and very strictly followed departure times. They seldom breach that promise. My van left with 5 passengers, me included!
Ah, btw, and OMG, as in "Oh My Gino-o"! What a chance meeting! These two passengers in front are my lovely babies! They are the "wizkids" of a dear high school classmate! Bahay nila was/is/willbe tambayan ng batch (then and now) whether they like it or else!
The one on the left (kuya) just graduated Summa Cum Laude at UP Diliman. He flew from Manila to Cebu, to fetch little sister (ate) on the right, then they went via fastcraft from Cebu to Ormoc, this time taking a van from Ormoc to Tacloban, afterwhich, they would transfer to another van from Tacloban to Catbalogan! Two lovely genius kids!
They were on this trip going home, to see their "cutier" little bro, equally a henyo!
Anyway, and so..,
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| 3:50PM, I arrived! That is/was the Yolanda-torn welcome arch entering Tacloban from Palo. |
At 3:53PM, I was at Robinsons Place (Marasbaras) Tacloban - for my 4PM appointment! Turns out, I even arrived ahead at the designated meeting place than who I was meeting with! And they all just came from somewhere in the city center! Harumamay! Fun day!
Okay.., end of my Kalanggaman sojourn...
But oops, I made fun notes on this trip from Palompon to Tacloban.
That's next! Pramis!
11 12 13 14 15 Fifteen stories!
 to Tacloban){kind=link}
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