Week 79 - Legaspi ,Manila, Bacolod, Sipalay, Silay (Philippines)

The week started with a tricycle to the bus terminal and a short bus ride back to Legaspi. Leaving Rhys and Tim with the backpacks in the 7-11 in Legaspi City (as opposed to Albay, Legaspi is made up of two conjoined cities), me and Rhodri headed out, map in hand, to find somewhere to stay. After walking around for 45 minutes in very muggy heat, a little old man pulled over in his car to ask if we needed help. Rhys had chatted to someone in the 7-11 and heard of a decent hotel and we asked for directions. The man told us to jump in and after dropping off his wife at work, he drove us down to the port, to the hotel that was in a new waterside complex. It turned out to be too expensive and after a total hour and a half of walking around and reporting back to Rhys and Tim we decided to stay at Rey Hotel, the second place we’d looked at, typical. 

After a quick stop in the shopping mall food court for lunch we hired a tricycle to take us to a few of the city highlights. First stop was at the disused railway station before we arrived at the Albay Wildlife Park. From what we’d read we thought it was going to be a municipal park with a nice pond and picnic spots. We were very wrong, once we paid to go in we realised it was full of caged animals, in tiny little dirty cages, it was very sad and we left pretty quickly. Our next stop was at Lignon Hill. Since the path was so steep our tricycle driver dropped us at the ticket office and we walked for 20 minutes up to the view point. We timed it perfectly and reached the top just as the cloud was clearing and Mount Mayon came into view. It truly is a spectacular sight, the volcano rises from the plateau to form an almost perfectly symmetrical cone. Its the kind of volcano you’d draw if you were playing pictionary. We sat at the mirador admiring the view for quite some time before descending back to the ticket office and taking a side path to some Japanese tunnels. For 15p each, the tunnels were unlocked and the light switched on. Information was a bit lacking but I gather the tunnels were cut into the rock face to initially be used as an ammunition store before the Japanese moved in.

Mount Mayon, Legaspi.

 We caught another tricycle that evening to a Lonely Planet recommended restaurant, Small Talk, in Albay. A lovely setting in an old house with a decent menu. After dinner we explored the area and stumbled across the Magayon festival. It was incredibly busy, a cross roads cordoned off and lined with bars with plastic chairs spilling out on to the street and a band playing 80’s power ballads. We stopped for a couple of drinks, were bought some more drinks and some snacks by a local guy at the table next to us (who was too shy to actually talk to us and was content just sitting near us), and headed back to oqur guesthouse. A few more drinks in the room and a handmade care bear T-shirt Tim made for Rhys and it was bed time.

Care Bear Taffy - Rhys and Tim enjoying some bromance.

We were feeling a little worse for wears when we woke but had to pack up and head out for our flight back to Manila. As always the flight was delayed. Before leaving Manila airport we stopped by Burger King then jumped in a taxi to our prebooked hotel on the edge of Malate. Although the staff were completely incompetent, the rooms were fantastic and we spent a couple of hours recuperating. Despite this being our sixth night in Manila we hadn’t yet seen anything of the city outside of Bonifacio High Street so we grabbed the cameras and took a taxi to Fort Santiago. We were surprised how nice the fort was, everyone says there is nothing to do in Manila but i’d definitely recommend the fort. It’s only small as most of the walls were destroyed during the wars and have been reconstructed but there are some worthwhile areas, the storage/prison cells and the memorial to all the people who died there at the hands of the Japanese and the Rizal Memorial and Museum, a newly opened museum dedicated to the life and execution of the national hero Joseph Rizal (a revolutionary who was not part of the major revolution which lead to Philippine independence but who was executed by the Spanish nethertheless for previous revolutionary writings).

Rhys and Tim admiring the view from the fort, Manila.

Back at the hotel we had some more downtime to enjoy our room before it was time to head out for our final night with Tim. We took a taxi to Adriatico Street, a strip of bars and hostels, where we settled in for a quick dinner at a little shack before finding a beer pong table in the centre of a semi-circle of bars to entertain the boys. Another taxi ride and we headed to P. Burgos Street in Makati, a bit of a red light district but no where near as sleazy as Phuket’s Patpong. Our aim was to visit the Ringside Bar where we’d heard about midget boxing. We arrived just after 10pm, just as a bout was due to start. It only lasted about 10 minutes and after trying to arrange for Tim to go in the ring and being told it was about £30, we left and headed to a Coyote Bar next door. Me and Tim ended up having massages in our chairs at the bar and Rhys treated Tim to a special shot before we decided to head back to the karaoke bars of Malate. We dropped Rhodri off at the hotel and found a place with cheap drinks but before any songs were sung we decided it was home time and followed in Rhodri’s footsteps. All up our experience of Manila this time round was a positive one, we saw a little bit of culture, visited some of the more popular bar areas and stayed in a nice hotel.

Rhys and Rhodri playing beer pong, Manila.

Midget boxing, Ringside Bar, Manila.

We didn’t leave our rooms until check out time when we wandered along our road to find something cheap for lunch. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the airport. We had a nightmare hailing a cab (another Friday afternoon rush hour in Manila) and finally found a tiny one with very poor air conditioning. Squished in with half the luggage on our laps we had a very long, hot and painful journey to the airport, cutting it fine yet again for check in. We had a speedy goodbye with Tim outside who was flying a couple of hours later from another terminal and rushed in to make last call. As soon as we got in the lounge we saw our flight was delayed and we ended up arriving in Bacolod 2 hours late. 

It was sad to say goodbye to Tim, up to this point we’ve spent 10% of our whole trip with him and we were getting used to having him around, being thoroughly entertaining, giving Rhys lots of man loving and helping out with the logistics. Who knows where and when we’ll see him next but i’m sure there will be for another grand adventure at some point.

Once in Bacolod it was already dark so we jumped in a taxi to our hotel. The driver couldn’t quite understand how he hadn’t heard of the guesthouse we were headed to and rang all his mates to ask them if they knew where it was. We had the full address and suprise suprise, there it was, where it was supposed to be. We checked in to Mainstreet, a great place for a very reasonable price. We decided it was too late to venture far for dinner and popped into the Korean restaurant downstairs. The food was immense, on top of our main meals they brought us out starters and dessert and free coke, we weren’t sure if it was the normal service or that they were just very excited to have some western customers. 

We treated ourselves to a bit of a lay in the following day and didn’t checkout until 9:30am. We hailed a cab to the south bus terminal and found a bus bound for Sipalay. Unfortunately the buses only go once an hour and it was already full so we started the journey standing, expecting the bus to clear out in no time. It didn’t and four hours and a tire change later and we were still standing. Thankfully the bus was aircon so aleast we didn’t have to deal with the heat and humidity. Finally we got seats and spent the last two hours in relative comfort (the 4.5 hour Lonely Planet trip took 6 hours). Once we reached Montilla, we disembarked and jumped in a tricycle to Nauhang. The tricycle left us at the side of a river where some kids ran over to offer to paddle us across to Sugar Beach. We took off our shoes, piled in the bags and headed off, 4 kids and the 3 of us all crammed in. It was less than 5 minutes to the other side and then, having made the mistake of not agreeing a price before we got on the boat, the kids demanded 200 pesos in payment (£2.75). A little annoyed at having been ripped off and having had an awful travel day as it was we trudged our way along Sugar Beach without really taking in the beauty of it.

When we arrived at Driftwood, the staff were so friendly and the nipa hut we’d booked was so perfect our morale got a bit of a boost. We changed into our swimming gear, bought a beer and waded in to the sea to watch the sunset. The journey was worth it. Sugar Beach is about 5km north of Sipalay town and feels pretty remote. There are no roads and access is either the way we came or by boat directly to Sipalay. The beach is a brown chocolaty colour and is lined with palm trees and rustic resorts, no 5* luxury, more high end backpacking. The sea was perfectly clear with no seaweed or rocks in sight making it perfect for swimming and the cove it was in was sheltered by little green, rolling hills in every direction. It really was a little piece of heaven. We ate in our resort, played with the dogs and fell into bed exhausted, only woken by Rhodri shouting in his sleep to ask if we needed help.

The next day, leaving Rhodri in bed, me and Rhys had a coffee overlooking the water before heading out for a walk to the southern end of the beach. As the weather forecast predicted a cloudy afternoon, we woke Rhodri at 9:30am and hired kayaks to explore the coast. We only took them out for a couple of hours but the views were tremendous, Rhys and Rhodri snorkeled in a little cove and when Rhodri headed back me and Rhys discovered a cave full of bats where we had to pull our kayak through by our hands on the rocks. Back on Sugar Beach we ate lunch and sat in the hammocks. The boys headed back to chill in the room and I sat on the beach as a storm rolled in. It was bizarre, thunder and lightening (I could even see the lightening hitting the sea just offshore) but no rain and still hot and sunny. Before dinner we wandered south along the beach to a little hut selling beer and rum to watch the sunset before eating at our resort again and playing pool and foosball in the bar. We were woken again by Rhodri shouting in his sleep, this time telling us he couldn’t find the yellow thing that had been put in his bed, we’re yet to find out what it was.

Me walking along Sugar Beach, Sipalay.

Rhys and Rhodri with a rainbow over Sugar Beach, Sipalay.

Sugar Beach, Sipalay.

Me and Rhys left Rhodri in bed again and walked along the beach in the other direction. We had a couple of games of boules and relaxed in the hammocks until Rhodri got up in time for lunch. We tried a different lunch spot that wasn’t very successful before Rhodri headed back to bed and me and Rhys went out for a snorkel. As there aren’t any rocks in the bay where Sugar Beach is, snorkeling was limited to the cliff side on the northern edge, there wasn’t a huge amount to see, some huge puffer fish and some shoals. Back at the room we had a planning session before heading out for another sunset along the beach and to another resort restaurant for dinner.

We booked the Driftwood boat to run us into Sipalay at 8am the following morning so we could get a good start on the journey back north, the journey south having been quite trying. We got the last 3 seats on the bus and were feeling optimistic. Then we got to the halfway point, the woman next to Rhys left her seat so I moved then 20 minutes later she decided she wanted to get back on the bus and have her original seat back. Being the ultimate gentleman Rhys let me keep his seat and he ended up standing for an hour and a half before sitting on the floor by the door. With one hour of the journey to go a seat freed up. The bus dropped us back at Bacolod south terminal and we jumped straight in a cab for the 20 minute north to Silay.

Silay has fancifully been called ‘the Paris of the Orient’ because of the mansion houses scattered around town, built at the turn of the 20th century when Silay was at the forefront of sugar production. We arrived and checked into our pension house and I left the boys to relax and eat ice creams from the 7-11 while I ran around town to see the main ancestral homes in the hour and a half I head before closing time (there are 29 recognised homes within the town). I was overwhelmed with how European the whole town felt and the houses themselves were beautiful - grand wooden mansions with well kept gardens and a real antique, colonial feel. Two of the houses I visited had been opened as museums, the Balay Negrense and the Don Bernardino Jalandoni Museum, (where I had a private tour) and gave you a real insight to how the people of Silay lived with their big, open, airy houses.

The Balay Negrenese, Silay,

Back at the pension I had a quick shower and headed back out with the boys to ‘The Ruins’ in Talisay. We spent 15 minutes trying to find a tricycle to take us there before we finally found a taxi. Once there we were surprised how busy it was. We wandered around in the twilight before taking a seat at the Italian restaurant where we ate dinner and watched the lights coming on while listening to classical music. It was a very pleasant way to spend an evening. The building itself is a mansion house built in the early 1900’s by thew sugar baron Don Lacson, it was the largest residential building built at the time but was burnt down to prevent the Japanese taking it as a base.

Me and Rhodri at the Ruins, Bacolod.

Enjoying a beer at the Ruins, Bacolod.