100 islands is a brilliant place , well worth the journey from Manila , if I go again it will be on a bus rather than hiring a car . The journey from Manila took about five hours and was straightforward as my navigator seemed to know the route well . The journey back to Manila took 11 hours and ended up taking nearly all night and became an endurance test trying to avoid having a head on collision with oncoming trucks or being run off the road by jeepneys overtaking , the highway ( which I seem to remember finished about the halfway point or less was closed ) . We were diverted off and then I remember slow driving for about four hours on bad roads following signs saying 'diversion' but none mentioning Manila and then unfortunately my navigator had no idea where we were , stopping to ask locals didnt help , no road signs or road lighting no map or satnav . We realised we had been going in a very large circle , perhaps several times . The situation was that bad we were considering just parking up and waiting for daylight but my companion advised that might not be a good idea either so we pressed on . I didnt buy a map because one I did manage to get a peek at looked like a pirates treasure map ( can anyone recommend where to buy good road maps ? ) , with hindsight we could have been much better prepared but at least I learned a valuable lesson , dont drive at night .
