View of Taal from NASA's spaceborne Imaging Radar (360k)
The Taal Volcano is a normal tourist attraction that is 2-3 hours outside Manila. As such, I expected it to be easily accessible. What we found was that it takes quite a bit of maneuvering to get there. The services of a thorough guide book like The Lonely Planet is indispensable. However, the book didn't give us enough information on the subject as it could have.
We started out from our hotel, the Malate Pensionne, and walked a block to where we could get a jeepney going in the right direction. It cost P2 each to ride the few blocks necessary to get to the LRT--the Manila mass transit rail system. For another P6 we took this electric elevator train South to the end of its line. It was morning peak travel time and the train was crowded. Very crowded. As is typical with crowded trains, when it pulled into the station and the doors opened, there was a mad dash of people attempting to enter and exit the train simultaneously. We were several people back from the train and the doors closed right in front of us. It all happened rather quickly and one unfortunate passenger in the car behind us didn't quite make it. All we could see of him was a foot sticking out from the partially closed door. An observant passenger started attempting to call an operator's attention to the situation but he was not very successful. The trapped passenger struggled and finally pulled his pinched foot inside the car as the train pulled out of the station.
From the LRT we took another jeepney east until we reached the Dangwa bus station. There we boarded a bus bound for Tanauan. I have not been on a great number of buses, but I have seen some nice ones. This bus, however, was nicer than any I have ever seen. The seats looked like they belonged in the first class section of a Boing 747 and the leg room they provided was more than ample for a 6'2" tall man like myself. The final luxury was a laser video disk system that was playing a James Bond movie (in English!). The ride was a little over an hour and I was really getting into the movie and didn't want to get off the bus!
The payment procedure for the ride worked just like it did on the Dangwa bus to Banawe: Simply get on the bus, find a seat, and sit down. When the bus is full it leaves. Some run on schedule but this one ran on occupancy. After the bus is in route, a conductor comes along and asks you where you are going. The conductor then uses a hole punch to perforate a ticket with the price of the fare and destination. The little paper punch dots are allowed to fall out of the punch and onto the floor of this new and otherwise uncluttered bus. The conductor starts at the front of the bus and works his way to the back. Then, he starts again at the back of the bus and collects fares from the passengers working his way back to the front. Our destination was Batangas and the fare on the ticket was clearly marked P33. The thing that confused me about my ticket was that the conductor had missed punching one of the little holes on the price of my fare and it only read P3. He came by and I handed him a P50 bill. He gave it right back to me in a manner which non-verbally said "Don't you have a smaller bill? I don't want to give you change." Confused at this, all I could think to do was wrinkle my forehead up and say "What?". "The fair is P3," said the conductor in retort. Still confused, I decided he must know what he was doing so I handed him a P5 bill and he gave me P2 in change. I asked Lani later about this and sure enough, she and Kurt had both paid the full price of P33. In retrospect, this was both the cheapest and most luxurious transportation I had in the Philippines. Even at the full price of P33 it was a good transportation deal.
We exited the bus at Batangas and walked two or three kilometers to the local market place. There we caught a jeepney for P6 which took us to the local market at Talisay. Lani asked on the jeepney where to charter a boat to the volcano and sure enough, a guy on the jeepney had a boat to rent. After the bad experience we had with the cave guides in Sagada we had learned to be cautious of arrangements made through any contacts not recommended in The Lonely Planet guide book. Upon exiting the jeepney we talked to the people at the market about their boat. But not knowing what to expect once we reached the volcano, we were still convinced we should go through the Rosalina's Restaurant for safety. The only way to get from the market easily was to take a tricycle. The tricycles here in Talisay were of a little different design than those in Palawan, and would carry five people. Other tricycles would have charged P2 per person or P6 in our case. This guy, however, wanted P10 because he had the capability of hauling five people. The guy that wanted to rent us the boat went with us on the tricycle for some reason and the driver took us to the boat instead of the restaurant. Lani jumped the driver about this and demanded to be taken to the restaurant. Again the boat guy hung on the back of the tricycle for the ride to the restaurant. Once there, Lani, the boat owner and the restaurant owner worked everything out in tagalog. The boat owner wanted P800 and the restaurant advertised the trip as costing P500 in The Lonely Planet. We finally wound up with the P800 boat at the P500 price. Nobody was really too happy with the deal including us, but it was a compromise on everyone's part.
To add one more final insult to our experience, we let the boat owner talk us into paying an additional P50 for a "guide" to take us to the top of the volcano. At the time it sounded like a good idea, but it wasn't. The boat owner even brought over an old guy named Larry who he introduced to us as our guide while we were eating lunch at their restaurant.
After lunch we picked up life jackets and headed down to the boat. Our guide Larry met us there and informed us that he had to leave but his nephew would meet us at the volcano in the center of the lake. The Banka ride took twenty minutes and the water was uncommonly smooth. Upon our arrival on the island we were deluged with people wanting to serve as our guides, rent us horses, sell us hats, water, Coke etc. We pushed our way through the waves of profiteers and located Larry's cousin. He turned out to be a twelve year old kid that barely spoke English.
Our destination was the old crater and as it turns out, we did not need a guide for this trip. The trail is very well worn and easy to follow. In some spots it was so well worn that it cut a five foot deep groove in the hillside. There were even rocks along the way with big yellow arrows painted on them. All our twelve year old guide did was walk up the hill with us and back. He couldn't even answer any of our questions we had about the volcano. He was a total waste of P50 and the whole thing was kind of a set-up on the part of the boat owners. We had no way to know that we did not need a guide because The Lonely Planet suggested we get one. So much for believing guide books!
The natives offered to rent us horses for P300 each or $12. This sounded expensive and they were sorry-looking horses, but by the time we got halfway up the hill, this price started to sound a little better. In fact, some of the locals followed us with the horses, hoping that we would change our minds. They later turned around and returned back to the shore to await other tourists. It was a long steep hike of about 4 kilometers. When we reached the cone of the volcano, there were more profiteers waiting for us. There were two thatched sun shelters with benches inside and a commanding view of the crater. This was the only shade after that long climb and the shade looked pretty good. The only catch is that the natives wanted P10 to go inside and sit down in the shade. Then, you could also buy a bottle of pop for 25P. HINT: take something with you to drink on this hike; it gets very hot.
The
view was worth the hike. The interior lake is a bright green
or greenish white because it is heavily laden with sulfur and
other chemicals. We read somewhere that swimming in the lake
was OK but you have to keep your eyes closed. There was no visible
path leading down the steep walls of the crater to the water.
While we were there, we did not see anyone attempt the downward
trek. It might have been easy enough to get down in the crater,
but getting back out again would have been hard. Another factor
was the heat. The temperature at the outer lake was 97F without
a breeze. The lake in the bottom of the crater had to have been
much hotter.
If you go on this trip be sure to take an adequate supply of water. You will need quite a bit to drink and water is usually the best. You can purchase soft drinks from the natives at the top of the cone, but you will pay $1.00 each for them. Besides the breathtaking view we also noticed a number of small steam holes scattered around the hillside. These are the only reminders that this is an active volcano and not just another pretty mountain.
We returned back by Banka once again. This time the water was a little rougher and some water splashed over the bow onto us. Again we stopped off at Rosalina's Restaurant for a cold drink.
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