Week 76 - Dumaguete, Apo Island, Oslob, Siquijor (Philippines)

Tim was up early again for a dive trip to Apo Island. Me and Rhys had a lay in before heading in to town to find a laptop repair shop to see if the netbook could be brought back from the dead. With no luck we decided to jump on a bus and head along the coast to Malatapay, as it was Wednesday the weekly market was in town and we thought it would be worth a look. It really wasn’t, it was one little track with a few small stalls and a field where they were selling cows and driving off with them stuffed into their tricycles. We stopped for lechon (hog roast) and wandered back to the main road for a bus back into Dumaguete. While we were waiting we were adopted by a chatty policeman, one of the five standing at the junction, each holding a pistol and a machine gun, bewildering considering how safe it feels here. 

Taking the cows home in the tricycle, Malatapay market.

Back in town we found another laptop repair shop upstairs in a dusty little wooden house. After waiting 30 minutes while he tried to unscrew the screen we left him to it only to return after an hour to sit and wait for another 2 hours with more and more people crowding into the tiny little room. A bit of solder, some masking tape and a new screen and the netbook was usable again, Rhys was over the moon, after 18 months together that netbook is his baby. Back at the hostel Tim came back from diving having had a great day with a good bunch of people exploring some of the best coral in the world. We had a couple of drinks in the hostel bar before heading out to a Filipino restaurant for cheap dinner.

Laptop repair, Dumaguete.

Tim had another dive day planned and left us in bed to head out to Dauin, just up the coast. We had a very lazy morning, watching TV in bed and drinking coffee on the roof terrace. When Tim came back at lunch time he was hyper having seen a flamboyant cuttlefish, among other things, while he was muck diving just off shore. We had lunch at the hostel before wandering into town to the department store that sells a bizarre mix of fakes and genuine branded clothes. We stopped at a coffee shop for cake and coffee before walking back. 

The next day we were headed to Apo Island. As the cheapest and easiest way for us to get there was to join a snorkel trip from the hostel we all booked on to the boat. Although Tim had dived at Apo already he decided he’d dive again and hope they went to some different sites. The first stop was just off of the main beach. We jumped in and within minutes we’d found our first turtle chomping away on the seaweed. We spent the next hour surrounded by green sea turtles who couldn’t care less that we were there floating about next to them in knee deep water. Back at the boat we stopped at another two spots, hindered a bit by the wind, snorkeling above some of the most beautiful coral we’ve ever seen. With a delicious lunch on the boat, despite the weird crowd and lack of atmosphere, we were all pretty content by the time we were dropped off at the island. We propped Tim up on a bench and went off to find rooms. Although very basic our find was dirt cheap and perfect, until we saw the four cockerels lined up along the back fence and the wind blew and made the tree the house was built around creak so loud it sounded like gunshots. 

Rhys swimming with turtles, Apo Island.

We were all pretty tired from our day on the boat so after a drink on our terrace and another on the beach we wandered around and found a little guesthouse serving delicious food cooked by the kindest lady ever. 

We were awoken early by the cockerels, the tree creaking and the heat (the electric only ran from 6:30pm to 9:30pm so no fans) having had a pretty terrible nights sleep. As we’d been recommended to hold off on swimming with turtles until noon when it was high tide we packed a bag and headed off for a walk. A lap of the lagoon and a sweaty climb up and down hundreds of concrete steps and we found another village on the other side of the island. We were back in the main village before lunch and grabbed our snorkels to head out in to the bay. Although not as many turtles as the day before we still saw a few before drying off and heading to one of the two resorts on Apo for lunch with views out over the sea. A lazy stroll to another cove and we chilled by the second resort, snorkeled in the bay and relaxed on the coral beach. Back at our guesthouse we had a drink on the balcony before walking the 100 metres to the beach to watch the sunset. Another couple of drinks at the beach bar (literally a table on the beach with a cool box) and we wandered back to Ronors again for dinner cooked by the lovely lady from the previous night.

Tim and Rhys watching the sunset at the Apo beach bar, Apo Island.

The wind had dropped and although that meant a hotter night’s sleep it also meant the creaky tree was a lot quieter. Me and Rhys left Tim in bed and wandered out for coffee before heading to the beach for a snorkel and to swim out to the dive boat to arrange a pick up. We saw so many turtles and as the wind had dropped visibility was better and the water was calmer. Back on shore we came across a group of locals cleaning and eating sea urchins straight out of the sea, they offered us some to try, very salty and fresh. All up, we had a great morning. Tim joined us on the beach where we left him snorkeling while we walked up to the view deck at the tip of the island with views out across the sea. Back on the beach we had time for a cool down swim before a quick bucket shower. We collected our bags and went back to the Liberty’s Resort for lunch while we waited for the dive boat to pick us up for our trip back to Dumaguete. After a very uncomfortable short trip in a tiny boat to the main boat we motored back to the mainland. 

Eating fresh sea urchins on the beach, Apo Island.

View of the lagoon from the view deck, Apo Island.

View of Apo Island from the boat.

Rhys and Tim relaxing on the boat back to Dauin, Apo Island in the background.

We had a short wait for a truck to take us back from Dauin to Dumaguete and were dropped at the bus terminal where we thought we could easily get a bus to Oslob. We were wrong. We had missed the 14:15 and the next direct bus didn’t leave until 22:30. Feeling adventurous we jumped on the next bus north and headed to Tampi, the port from which the buses catch a ferry over to Bato in Cebu. When we got there a ferry had been loaded and we were waved on, thinking it must be due to leave immediately. Other than asking if the ferry went to Cebu (the name of the island and the name of the main town) we didn’t stop to ask any further questions. Only when we were onboard did we start to wander where we were actually headed. Surrounded by truck drivers, the boat pulled away and it wasn’t until we got halfway across and the ticket guy came around that we worked out where we were going. 

View from the ferry from Tampi to Bato.

The ferry pulled in to Bato and we jumped on a tricycle, keen to get to Oslob before sundown. 20 minutes down the road and the tricycle pulled over to say there was a problem with his bike and he couldn’t take us any further. We waited in a a random little village for a bus to take us the rest of the way and ended up catching another tricycle. We reached Oslob just as it started getting dark. After viewing a few rooms we accepted that it was more expensive there than in other parts of the island due to the flock of tourists to see the whale sharks and settled in a resort on the beach. After dropping off our bags we headed to the cluster of stalls surrounding the car park for a delicious BBQ dinner while watching the Philippine version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. We turned in early with the alarm set for 5:50am.

We bounced out of bed the next morning, dressed in our swimwear and grabbed our snorkels. On the beach we were herded into a small boat and rowed the short distance to the briefing centre. Although we missed the bulk of the briefing, they didn’t seem to mind and took our ticket money, issued us life jackets and took us back to the boat to head out, about 75m from shore where the spotters were sitting in their boats, pouring bag after bag of krill into the water, straight in to the mouths of the waiting whale sharks. We jumped in and spent the next 30 minutes swimming with (and dodging) the whale sharks, the biggest fish in the world, they can grow up to 12m long and can weigh up to 21 tonnes! We had very mixed feelings about the whole experience, it’s very unnatural and really not something that should be condoned, the sharks are just being hand fed so they don’t have any need to go elsewhere and it’s already disrupting their migration patterns and they’re no longer going to Donsol in the north. When we should have been on a high we came out of the water, smelling of krill, feeling a bit deflated, our desire to see them had made us put our morals to one side but saying that they were amazing, incredible creatures. 

Me swimming with the whale sharks, Oslob.

We ate an expensive breakfast at a little shack in the car park before grabbing our bags and flagging a bus to take us back to Lilo-An where we caught a ferry back over to Negros. After a very cramped bus ride we were back in Dumaguete where we checked back in to our aircon room, excited for a hot shower and a change of clothes. We spent the rest of the day relaxing, shopping, watching TV and playing pool. For dinner, Tim headed out to MacDonalds and brought us back a feast to eat sneakily in the room.

We rolled out of bed the next morning and jumped on a tricycle to the port. We thought there was a 9am ferry but found out the next boat didn’t leave until 10:30am. We filled in the waiting time walking to a coffee shop for take out lattes. Finally on the boat we left Negros and headed over to Siquijor. Once there we caught a tricycle to San Juan where we’d read about a decent hostel, as it was fully booked we propped Tim up with the bags, a beer and the rugby on the TV and wandered out to find a room. After walking for about 3km we found a great place, right on the beach. Although it was over budget, the room was incredible, a huge private veranda overlooking the beach, a kitchen, high ceilings and dark wood. As we’d spent so little on accommodation in Apo we decided to treat ourselves. 

After a couple of drinks in the bar we walked to the centre of San Juan a few kilometres away, stopping in a weird bar on route and to play a little basketball with the local kids, in search of a dive shop. Tim arranged his trip for the next day and we jumped in a tricycle back to our room. After watching sunset on the beach, trying some coconut wine a guy shimmied up the tree and brought down for us, and a drink on the verranda, Tim cooked us pork sandwiches in our room before we wandered over to the bar. A few people (including two Welshies) were drinking at ours and we ended up sitting up with them drinking and chatting.

Week 75 - Cebu, Malapascua, Banyatan, Mabinay, Dumaguete (Philippines)

I was up and in the hotel reception in Cebu at 9am to meet the agent returning our passports along with a new visa and a receipt for our ACR cards. A change in the rules after we’d already made all our plans meant we had to pay £230 to stay in the country past 59 days, good job we love the Philippines and think it’s worth it! Back in the room the boys were stirring, we showered and packed up ready to head out. We jumped in a taxi to the bus terminal and found a bus heading north to Maya, 4 hours away. As we got further north we started noticing the effects of Typhoon Yolanda, something we haven’t seen so far in the Philippines. Buildings missing their roofs, pylons bent in half and palm trees with all their leaves missing from one side of the tree.

Once in Maya we found a boat headed to Malapascua. After agreeing to the price increase the captain was angling for to leave immediately, we set out for the 30 min journey across to the island. As we drew close we knew we’d made a good decision, we were welcomed by a white expanse of coral beach and turquoise waters. Rhys made friends with a local guy on the boat who took us to some cheap beach bungalows and walked us through the village to buy water and arrange diving (for Tim) and snorkeling (for us). After a few drinks on the beach at ours we wandered out to find dinner. 

Bounty Beach, where our bungalow was, is the main beach on the island and the area that has seen the most rebuilding and the new roofs were in stark contrast to the main sand street of the village where the devastation was more evident. The beach is lined with dive shops and resorts, not leaving that much for backpackers but in the village we found a decent little restaurant, Ging Gings. We ate, wandered along the beach, found Rhys a dog with purring/teeth baring issues and turned in for the night.

Tim was up at an ungodly hour to head out on his own private little dive boat to a thresher shark cleaning station, from the happy Tim who came back into the room at around 7am I would assume the diving was well worth the early start and the videos he took only support my view. Thresher sharks are the most amazing and graceful creatures with humongous tails that seem to have no purpose but to look pretty. Me and Rhys had arranged to go snorkeling for half a day. We boarded the boat with a couple of french guys at 9:30am and were back in two hours. The snorkeling was rubbish, possibly the worst we’ve done since we’ve been away, we saw a couple of cool fish but nothing that blew us away and visibility was terrible. It was cheap though so we were still in good spirits when we got back and it was still really cool to take the boat along the island to see some of the little bays and coves and one of the stops was at a Japanese shipwreck and we’ve never snorkeled a shipwreck (although it was more like just a plank of wood or two). 

Me and the Japanese shipwreck, Malapascua.

Back at the bungalow Tim had also cut his diving short. As he was still recovering from his lengthy journey to get to the Philippines he spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach with a good book. Leaving him to it me and Rhys packed a picnic and headed out to explore the island. Lonely Planet had suggested a walk around the island would be a nice 3-4 hour explore but again it was wrong. There wasn’t really a path around the island and after walking through the villages along scorching hot sandy tracks and climbing a couple of hills we dropped down into a cove and ate our picnic at the side of a little hamlet. We walked to the top of the next hill before deciding to call it a day and heading back for a swim in the sea on Bounty Beach. We found Tim and sat out the front of ours while he enjoyed a massage on the beach. That night we ate at a cheap place on the beach before turning in for another early night.

Tim enjoying a sunset massage on the beach, Malapascua.

We left Malapascua the following day. After a lazy start we were on a boat by 9:30am heading back to Maya. Once in Maya we jumped on a bus to Bogo, where we caught yet another bus to Haganay. After a short wait at the port we boarded the ferry over to Bantayan Island. As soon as we stepped off the ferry we were surrounded, it was like a swarm of ants over a honey pot with everyone trying to take us somewhere. We walked to the end of the pier and the boys propped me up in a bakery to look after the bags and fend off the ants while they headed off to find a room. An hour later they returned and we grabbed a tricycle to Tickety Boo, the English run resort they’d found a couple of kilometres away. We settled in, cooled off in the swimming pool and grabbed a beer on the roof top bar overlooking the beach. 

That night we took a tricycle back into town to a Nordic run bar where we treated ourselves to a bit of a feast. We ate so much we couldn’t bear to stay out drinking. We stopped at one place for a quick drink (lovely bar, sandy floor, white floaty curtains and fairy lights), watched all the youngsters dancing and making us feel old before heading back to the room where we intended to have a game of pool before bed. The night watchman wouldn’t open the pool room so we ended up turning in for another early night, me and Tim read while Rhys went to sit on the beach where he failed in his attempt to start a bonfire. 

The next day we wanted to rent scooters to drive around the island. As all the bikes on the island were apparently rented it took until 11:30am for any to be arranged for us and we spent the morning playing pool and using the swimming pool. Tim had a big boy bike with gears while me and Rhys had a scooter. We left Santa Fe, the town we were staying in and headed north to Madridejos, on of the other two towns on the island. As soon as we left Santa Fe and the rest of the tourists behind (not that there were that many to start with outside of the remaining disaster recovery crews and old men with their Filipino brides) we were overwhelmed with the amount of people waving and saying hello, I felt like royalty sitting on the back of the scooter waving and shouting greetings back. It became obvious quickly with the amount of hand painted signs and little gardens with words spelled out in shells thanking Oxfam that the warm welcome had a lot to do with the association they have between white people and the aid they received after Yolanda. It really made us wish we’d done more. Considering Bantayan wasn’t the centre of the storm and it was 4 months ago, the affects still run deep. There are piles of rubble everywhere you look, collapsed fences, missing roofs, chunks of twisted corrugated iron and trees ripped out at the roots. But at the same time as seeing all that you see the happy smiling faces of the people, the Oxfam supported community vegetable gardens and really good quality family sized Oxfam and UNICEF tents that have replaced the fallen buildings and become the centre of new homes with new wooden rooms extending off them. The people here are so resilient and have not only dealt with it but are bouncing back with a smile, it’s very humbling to see.

Rhys and Tim on the bikes, Bantayan.

Gratitude to Oxfam, Bantayan.

We grabbed fried chicken in Madridejos, got laughed at by locals putting sun cream on, and continued south to Bantayan Town to use the ATM and to find out about ferries to Negros for the next day. By the time we made it back to Santa Fe it was about 4pm and we were getting tired, we stopped to check out the beach on the otherside of town to our resort (which turned out to be stunning) and the boys swam. Back at the bikes we realised Tim had a puncture so we limped back to ours. After a swim, a bit of chill time and some more pool we caught another tricycle back in to town and ended up eating back at the HR Bar. We’d decided a night out was in order and made our next stop a Polish Karaoke bar (they absolutely love Karaoke in the Philippines, it’s everywhere), where we spent the rest of the night. As the bar was dead we had the Karaoke to ourselves, sang a bit of Tom Jones in honor of it being St David’s Day, roped the bar owners parents into singing with us (who then bought us free vodkas) and rolled home after midnight with a bar bill for the three of us of £8.

Kids playing in the street near Madridejos, Bantayan.

Kids fishing on the pier, Madridejos, Bantanyan.

Sante Fe beach, Bantayan.

Rhys and Tim enjoying the beach, Santa Fe, Bantayan.

Back at the room a group of Filipino’s from Cebu (I think about 8 of them were sharing the same 3 bed room) were sitting outside their room drinking brandy and invited us to join. Tim sensibly headed to bed while me and Rhys stayed up making new friends. Tim made it out of bed about 10:30am the next day, me and Rhys didn’t rouse until gone 1pm. Deciding to stay an extra night as one, we’d missed the ferry and two, the horrific hangover wasn’t conducive to a travel day, we caught a tricycle into town for lunch before heading to the nice beach we’d discovered the day before. A long soak in the sea seemed to help a little and gave us enough energy to walk the 2km home along the beach. After a big lunch we weren’t hungry for dinner so the boys went to the shop at the end of the drive and came back with a selection bag of crisps, crackers, super dense cake and candy covered peanuts and snacked while watching a film in the bar.

Recovered, we were up early with plenty of time to flag a tricycle to take us to Bantayan Town to catch the ferry to Cadiz in Negros. After breakfast at a booth on the main square we headed to the pier and were ferried out to our boat. An hour after it was supposed to leaving we finally set off. The journey was hot and uneventful. The boat dropped us at a pier in the middle of nowhere and we had to grab another tricycle to take us the 4km into town to the bus terminal, with a couple of stops to retie the bags so Tim’s expensive dive gear didn’t end up sprawled across the road. Once at the bus terminal we had to wait for a bus to Bacolod an hour and a half away. Once in Bacalod we had to take a taxi across town from the north terminal to the south terminal where we then caught yet another bus headed to Dumaguete. After 4 hours and a short dinner stop we pulled in to Mabinay, a random town with a huge modern bus terminal but not much else. After trying to get a tricycle to a hotel in the guide book, we ended up somewhere completely different which was so cheap we couldn’t turn it down (we paid £3.50 for a double room!). 

After dropping off our bags and Tim discovering his room didn’t even have a fan, we walked to a nice looking restaurant we’d seen on the way from the bus terminal (there were only two choices on the main road, that or an empty fast food restaurant). Our instincts were right, it was a lovely place with a security guard and tables lit up in a little garden but strangely it only served three different dinners but an immense selection of desserts.

The reason we’d stopped in Mabinay, along with breaking up the long journey south, was to try spelunking in the second largest cave system in the Philippines. We jumped in a tricycle to the visitor centre, were gawped at by everybody we went passed and openly laughed at a couple of times, and discovered yet another Lonely Planet error, from the visitor centre it was only an option to view the beginner caves, no spelunking. As we were already there and it was very cheap we signed in and headed off with our guide to the walk to the first of the three caves. The whole trip took about an hour with the last cave, the Crystal Cave being the most impressive with lots of sparkly stalagmites and stalactites, the odd rhino bat and a few cave scorpions and spiders. Although we weren’t blown away the private tour and being off the beaten track still put a smile on our faces. 

On the way back to the room we stopped at a shooting range to see if we could arrange some guns to play with. After the girl stopped hiding behind the fridge giggling because three white people had walked in, Tim had a phone call with the owner who informed us they needed a weeks notice to organise licences. Back in Mabinay our adventure wasn’t over, opposite our room was the gate to the Mabinay Springs and for 15p entry we couldn’t resist. It was only a small place with a bright blue natural lagoon, a swimming pool and a boardwalk and zipline. Of course, being the big kids we are, we harnessed up and clambered up the zip line tower expecting the ride of our lives for the 300m line. We swam in the lagoon, were videoed a couple of times (I think they think white people are some fantastical mythical creatures like unicorns) and headed back to the room to dry, change and finish packing. We timed a tricycle to the bus station perfectly and jumped straight on a bus to Dumaguete. Once in town we grabbed another tricycle to a huge hostel from the guide book and checked in to an aircon room with hot water and cable TV. After pizza at the rooftop bar and dinner at an Italian on the harbour front we wandered back to the room to watch UFC before bed.

Week 74 - Banaue, Cambulo, Batad, Manila, Cebu (Philippines)

Our guesthouse restaurant was manic when we woke, full of people getting ready for one trip or another. We had time for a coffee before our guide turned up to collect us. His name was Johnny and we would be spending the next three days with him. Outside, we bundled in to a tricycle and head off for the starting point of our trek, a couple of kilometres north of the Banaue Viewpoint we’d been to the day before. We made a couple of stops on route including the point where the image for the 1,000 peso bill was taken from. At the start of the trail we left our tricycle and began the 24km walk to Cambulo where we would be spending the night. Other than an Israeli couple who we leap frogged for the first hour or so and a few couples coming the other way, the trail was quiet. We stopped for lunch by a river in a tiny village called Pula before pushing on to Cambulo. Although we’d been told the walk would take 4-5 hour it ended up taking 6 hours and we were the first in for the day (there were 7 of us at our guesthouse in Cambulo and the Israeli couple staying elsewhere), i’m not sure how 4 hours would ever be achievable unless you ran it. 

Rhys in the tricycle at the start of the trek, Banaue.

Newly planted Rhys terraces near Pula.

Our guesthouse was far nicer than we’d expected and after Rhys had had a quick dip in the ice cold river to freshen up, we showered and got the cards out for a few games with our new Dutch friends over dinner and lots of cups of coffee.

Cambulo village.

As we were the only people spending the night in Batad, we had a relaxed morning and waved the others off before packing our bags and eating humongous pancakes. Back on the trail we had a leg burning hour and a half into Batad. We entered the village over a ridge and were rewarded with the ampitheatre of rice terraces stretching out before us. At the moment it is planting season so rather than being a patchwork of green the terraces are a mix of brown - where they are yet to be cleaned and prepared, white - where they have been cleaned and the water reflects the sky, speckled green - where the seedlings have been planted 4 inches apart, and bright green - where the seedlings are clustered in nurseries awaiting planting. 

View of Batad from the ridge as we entered the village.

View of the rice terraces at Batad as we walked in to the village.

It was a good time to be there, we had perfect trekking weather, a little overcast but warm and no rain and as it’s planting time there are people working on the terraces as you pass and the town is busy as the younger generation have returned from the city to help (they have to work in the city to send back money to their families as the rice they grow isn’t enough and they have to buy more). We dropped our bags at a guesthouse in the centre of the village, the only one there, away from all the tourist hotels up on the ridge near the saddle where you enter the village if you come straight from Banaue. After lunch and a rest Johnny took us down the 937 steps leading to a waterfall where Rhys swam again before we climbed back up into the village. Leaving Johnny there we decided we hadn’t quite had enough of stairs for the day and continued up to the ridge to a guesthouse called Ritas with a little restaurant with views out across the terraces. We sat there with coffees and a puppy taking it all in. The rain started and we figured it was time to head back down to our guesthouse before the stairs and the mud walls of the terraces got too slippery, walking around the walls requires a lot of balance at the best of times. We ate at the guesthouse and went to bed.

View of Batad from Ritas, a guesthouse near the saddle.

After a bad nights sleep due to a mix of it being the hardest bed in the world and pretty chilly in the night, we were feeling a little less motivated than we had the day before. Nevertheless we packed up, ate our pancakes and laced up our boots ready to hit the trail again for the final push to Bagaan. It was another 14km, the same as the previous day but after an initially steep climb and lots of sliding about on wet paths from the rain in the night, the track evened out. We wound our way out of the valley passing a few smaller areas of rice terraces before meeting the road where our tricycle was due to collect us. In places the road is just a mud track and the rain had turned it in to slush. We ended up walking all the way in to the village to find the tricycle and just as we climbed in the clouds drew in and it started to really drizzle. A freezing 45 minute journey later with a couple of stops at view points and we were back in Banaue. 

We collected our laundry and walked back to our guesthouse where we’d left our bags, paid for a hot shower and repacked our backpacks. We had about 6 hours to waste so after lunch we sat in our guesthouse, drank coffee, caught up on admin and played cards. At 6:30pm we climbed the stairs out of the town to the bus terminal and boarded the night bus to Manila.

For once, Rhys managed to sleep and we pulled in to the city on time at 4am. We’d been a bit apprehensive about the journey as one of the night buses went off the cliff last week and was still laying there when we came in from Sagada. In response, our bus took a different route and went back to Manila via Solano.

We’d messaged our hostel in Manila to warn them we’d be arriving in the early hours of the morning and after a short taxi ride from the bus terminal we had checked in and were in bed by 5am. After a lay in, Rhys decided MacDonalds was calling and we wandered out for lunch and to head back to Market! Market! a shopping mall we visited on our last stay in Manila. This time we stumbled across a floor with market stalls and lots of cheap clothes and ended up buying more T-shirts than we needed. We walked back via the Bonifacio Highstreet, another area we seemed to have missed last time, lined with shops, posh malls, bars and restaurants. By the time we got back to the hostel we were shattered and ended up ordering a pizza delivery for dinner.

We left the hostel early the next morning and flagged a cab to take us to the airport. This was our 4th time through Manila Domestic Terminal and we were starting to feel at home. Our flight left early and we arrived in Cebu 20 minutes ahead of schedule. Another cab ride and we checked in to our hotel. We’d treated ourselves to a nice place with a pool thinking as we had a couple of days in the city to sort out our visas and to wait for Tim to arrive we wouldn’t be spending much money elsewhere. It wasn’t quite what we’d hoped for, the room was fine but was two twin beds and there was no wifi, the toilet seat was broken and the pool was out of order. After an hour of going back and forth to reception we had the beds pushed together and a wifi router put in our room. We popped out to the shopping mall next door to the supermarket and then later we wandered out again to the Terraces, an outdoor restaurant area of the mall, where we ate Japanese for dinner.

The next day we had arranged to meet an agent in the hotel reception to pick up our passports and the £200 visa fee to extend our visas past the 59 day mark (we will be in the Philippines for 71 days), it’s a bit nerveracking handing your passport over to a stranger in a hotel lobby but fingers crossed everything will go smoothly. We were going to head into the old town that afternoon but Rhys’s i-touch was playing up and he spent 3 hours putting music on it just for it to crash and he had to start again. Leaving him to it, I wandered over to the shopping mall for a while before we headed out again to the supermarket together to pick up some bread, pate, cheeses and pork for dinner. Rhys’s i-touch crashed yet again and I went to bed while he was sorting it out for the 3rd time, a 12 hour job and a very annoyed Rhys.

Tim was due to land in to Cebu airport at 11am the following day, by noon he was at the hotel. We had picnic lunch in the room before heading out to a random bar Tim had found in Lonely Planet. A bizarre shack with weird paintings and cheap beer. We didn’t stay long before wandering over to the shopping mall yet again, after a drink on the Terraces and a chat with a strange Australian we walked back to the hotel to freshen up. Despite telling us they’d put a third bed in our room when we got back we found out they’d been ‘looking’ for us and we had to change to an identical room a floor up. A few drinks in the room and a couple of rounds of penny can (thanks Tam, best present EVER!) and we went back to the random bar for dinner, stopping by another bar across the road with a live band and very hot fried chicken on the way back.

Week 73 - Manila, Baguio, Sagada, Banaue (Philippines)

Our flight from Puerto Princesa to Manila wasn’t until 13:45 so we had time for a lazy breakfast. We wandered back to Neva’s where we’d eaten the night before and had coffee and eggs in the garden. Once at the airport we indulged in some more souvenir shopping (there are hardly any touristy shops in Puerto) and were pleasantly surprised when our flight left on time. 

We checked in to the same hotel in Panay, close to the airport, where we’d stayed on our first night with mum - although this time we got a room with some delightful (that’s sarcasm) planet decorations. Me and Rhys rushed out to buy bus tickets from the nearby terminal for the following day and on our return asked to move rooms to something less planet-y. After a brief visit to the mall next door with mum we headed back to the hotel where we ate dinner in the rooftop bar.

The next day Mum’s flight left at 11am so we jumped in a cab to take her to the airport. I think we planned a good balance of relaxing beach time and adventure, a bit less strenuous than when she came to Ecuador but just as exciting. Again, like in Ecuador, she was a pleasure to travel with, she just joins in with whatever we want to do and we don’t have to change our plans one iota for her to fit in. The only problem was that it all went too quickly!

We got the cab to take us back to our hotel from the airport where we had time for a yucky breakfast and chill time in our room before heading to the bus station. We’d bought deluxe tickets and had a very comfy 6 hour journey to Baguio. After asking a couple of policeman for directions our taxi driver finally found our hostel and we checked in. Baguio is a busy mountain university town and although there’s not a whole lot to do there, it has a certain appeal. We wandered out to check the bus timetables for our next stop and walked back to the hostel via Session Road, the main street lined with cafes and shops. As it was already dark we stopped for a £2 steak (food in the Philippines is so so cheap) before turning in for the night. Unlike in Manila and even Puerto we felt incredibly safe in Baguio and had no qualms about walking around after dark.

The only plan we had for the following day was to visit the central market. We found lots of souvenir stalls, lacking in Puerto before turning a corner and finding the fresh fruit and veg area. The aisles were stacked full with bags of the freshest looking veg we’ve ever seen with whole lanes dedicated to bright orange carrots and deep green brocoli heads. We bought a massive lemon and explored further, every turn taking us into another area of the market, meat and fish, shoes and sewing machines, flowers and sausages, we were blown way with how big it was and how clean and open, every part of the country we’ve been to so far has been incredibly clean and has fines for littering, it’s a real contrast to most of the other countries we’ve been to on this trip. We ended up buying lots of odds and ends, and I had a £2 haircut before we wandered in to the big modern shopping mall where we had a Taiwanese bubble tea.

Carrots for sale, Baguio Central Market.

As it was Valentines day we’d intended to head out for a romantic meal but the town was heaving. They take Valentines very seriously here and there are people selling roses and balloons on every street corner. We struggled to find a free cab and ended up choosing a little place on the highstreet thinking we’d never get a table at the restaurant we’d hoped to go to, my meal was good but Rhys’s was just mediocre. 

We had another 6 hour bus trip the next day, to Sagada. The road wound through the mountains and was incredibly scenic, passing over the Halsema highway. It wasn’t the most comfortable journey as the bus was pretty basic but it arrived on time and we headed in to town to find a hostel. We checked in to a cheap place on the main street and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the town, peering in the souvenir shops and watching the weavers at work. We stopped for some yoghurt at a little place with views down the valley and ventured out again later for dinner. It’s a very quiet, relaxed little town, nestled in a valley lined with pine trees and vegetable terraces.

We spent the next morning out walking with a guide. It was only a 2 hour walk but the sun was shining and the fresh mountain air and the chirping of the birds made it feel a world away. Our first stop was at a view point of the Echo Valley from where we descended in to the valley to see one of the locations of the famous hanging coffins. It sounds quite morbid but was actually quite peaceful, a bit like a cemetery but instead of being buried, the coffins are mounted on the cliff face. There was only a small cluster of coffins there, dating from 200 years ago to 2 years ago and our guide gave us a bit of info about the practice, how the dead are put in their coffins in the foetal position having been carried through town and how the thinking is that the dead are closer to heaven up there rather than being trapped by the weight of the earth. Further in to the valley we saw another small cluster of coffins before walking across to the underground river, much smaller than in Sabang obviously but still a pretty impressive sight. We could only visit the entrance to the river before climbing back out of the valley to the Bokong waterfall for our last stop. As it’s dry season there’s not a lot of water but it still has a nice natural swimming pool at the base, too cold for me to brave though. 

Hanging coffins in Echo Valley, Sagada.

After our walk we stopped by a little coffee shop for lunch, watched the locals play baseball and generally just mooched about. We had dinner at the same coffee shop before retiring for an early night. The village has a self imposed curfew between 9:30pm and 4am and nowhere serves alcohol after 9pm so early nights are the norm. 

We met up with the same guide the next day and headed to the Lumiang cave to begin our cave connection tour. At the entrance to the cave was a burial mound with coffins stacked along the rock face at the opening. Lit only by the gaslight carried by our guide, we descended into the cave, squeezing ourselves through holes just big enough for one person and sliding down guano covered limestone ledges. There were a few points where the guide has to lower you down or pull you up and a couple of parts where you hang off of ropes to move between the caverns. Towards the end of the trip we arrived into the Sumaguing cave, it was pretty spectacular, a waterfall of calcium and limestone deposits forming bulging steps and terraces that continue down in to the lowest point of the cave. After two hours we returned to the surface and headed back to town. We left our guide at a little vegetarian cafe on route, Gaias, where we stopped for lunch, sitting on a bench overlooking the rice paddies in the valley below.

Burial mound at the opening of Lumiang Cave, Sagada.

A very happy Rhys scrambling through a hole on the cave connection tour, Sagada.

Limestone rock formations in the Sumaguing Cave, Sagada.

Rhys enjoying a well earned milkshake, overlooking the rice terraces, Sagada.

As the previous day, our morning activity had worn us out and we spent the rest of the day chilling, popping out to the Lemon Pie Cafe for, yes, lemon pie and endless cups of lemon tea. Dinner was at an empty little Korean bar and was one of the best meals i’ve had in the Philippines.

The next day we left the guesthouse and climbed the hill to the jeepney stop for a 7am jeepney to Bontoc. Rhys asked if we could sit on the roof so we braced ourselves against the fresh morning mountain breezes and climbed up. The 360 degree views were spectacular as the bus followed the Halsema highway back to Bontoc. The driver dropped us off by the jeepney for Banaue and we transferred our bags to the new bus. We had an hour to wait so hopped across the road for a coffee, meeting a Dutch couple who were waiting for the same jeep. At 8:30 the driver of the new jeep said that he wouldn’t be going to Banaue with only the 6 passengers he had so far and offered to take us on a more leisurely journey with stops at viewpoints if we hired the whole jeep. It cost an extra £1.40 each and was well worth it. We sat on the roof again and spent the 1 3/4 hour journey waving to everyone we passed and delighting at the ever increasing number of rice terraces wrapping the mountains. Once in town, he dropped us at the tourist info booth where we had to pay our entry and ended up booking a 3 day trek. We had the rest of the afternoon to explore Banaue.

View from the roof of the jeepney on the road leaving Bontoc.

After wandering around town we decided to grab a tricycle to head up to the main viewpoint, a couple of kilometres out of the centre of town. The view was stunning and even more exciting were the souvenir shops - we ended up buying yet another wooden bowl and a chopping board for stupidly bargain prices. Preparing to walk back in to town along the road, we ran into a local boy, Owen, who told us about a route that would take us through the rice terraces and past a waterfall. For a small fee he offered to guide us for the 2 hour walk and even carried our purchases for us. It was very peaceful off the road and surrounded by the terraces and we learned a bit about the rice farming process as Owen described the work that was being carried out around us.

View of the rice terraces on the way from the Banaue Viewpoint to Banaue town.

Me balancing on the edge of one of the terraces on the way to Banaue town.

Back in town we bought supplies for our hike, handed in our laundry and headed to our room for an early night after a freezing cold shower. Yet again, the Lonely Planet had let us down on our accommodation choice!

Week 72 - El Nido, Port Barton, Sabang, Puerto Princesa (Philippines)

We enjoyed our “Tour C” boat trip around the Bacuit Archipelagic but felt like we’d spent a lot of time on the boat and not much time on the islands themselves. Rather than take another tour, Rhys suggested we book a taxi boat to drop us at a beach and pick us up later - we chose Paradise Beach on Cadlao Island. After buying supplies for a picnic lunch we boarded our taxi and set out for the island. Halfway there the captain asked which beach we wanted to go to and when we drew closer we pointed at one that looked tranquil. It turned out to be Natnat Beach rather than Paradise Beach and the perfect choice. With a pick up arranged for 3pm we had the entire day to relax in our own little spot of heaven. Other than a couple of kayakers and a few locals we had the beach to ourselves for most of the day with one small tour group turning up for 40 minutes in the afternoon. After being on a busy tour the previous day it was paradise. We whiled away the day reading, walking on the beach, snorkeling into the next bay and sharing our lunch with the scrawny island dogs. 

Me and mum enjoying the sun on Natnat beach, Cadlao Island, El Nido.

Back in El Nido we had a couple of hours before sunset so Rhys, having been there the day before, took us around the bay through the un-touristic end of the village to see some boulders that had been eroded at the base so they appeared to be sitting on tiny little pedestals. We enjoyed El Nido, a lot of the businesses seem to still be locally owned and the tourist side of things is intertwined with the every day life of the village. Everyone we came across was super friendly, people of all ages were waving and saying hello and although it is the most touristy spot in Palawan it still retains some of its rustic charm with electric only running from 6pm to 6am and community wells dotted along the streets, always in use.

Other than a man falling off scaffolding keeping mum awake we all slept well and were out of the guesthouse before 7am. We jumped in a tricycle to the bus station and boarded our shuttle bus to the San Jose junction. The 3 hour journey went quickly and after talking with the driver we were dropped at the bus terminal in Roxas, the better option for finding onward transport to Port Barton. At 11am we left the terminal and 5 minutes later pulled in to a garage where they loaded an engine on to the roof before heading back to the bus station for them to load a few more boxes of fish. Finally on the road and we stopped a couple more times to pick people up and when we finally thought we must be full and people were sitting on the roof we pulled over again to pick someone else up along with 6 sacks of grain to fit in the aisle. A bumpy drive down a long dirt track later and we pulled in to Port Barton. While Rhys waited for the bags to be unloaded me and mum ran around the one track village to find accommodation. After four places telling us they were fully booked we stumbled across one with two free rooms for a bargain price, right on the beach with dark wooden floors and a balcony area with sea views.

We had the afternoon to explore so after lunch at our guesthouse we walked along the beach. Rhys spied something flapping in the sand in the distance and ran over calling us to follow, it turned out to be a spotted ray stranded in the shallows, luckily a local walked by and dragged it back into the water and off it swam. We wandered back along the main road (a dirt track) and stopped at the guesthouse next to ours for a drink before returning there later for dinner. Port Barton is a lot smaller than El Nido and more relaxed. There are only a handful of places to stay and eat, all on one strip between the main dirt track and the golden arc of the beach. 

Helping the ray back in to the sea, Port Barton.

Rhys chilling out in a palm tree, Port Barton.

Our alarms were set and we had another early start as we’d booked ourselves on a tour of the nearby mangroves in the hope of seeing Hornbills. As the mangrove channels are only skinny little passages they can only take little boats through so we were alone with our guide. We were surprised how little wild life there was, no Hornbills but a couple of snakes in the trees, a big fat monitor lizard and lots of brightly coloured Kingfishers. It was very serene and worth getting up for. 

The mangroves, Port Barton.

Back at the beach we had a quick turn around before we headed out again. This time on an island hopping and snorkeling boat trip. Unlike the big boats in El Nido the boats in Port Barton are small and there was only us and another couple on our tour. Our first stop was at the Aquarium Reef, it was an off boat snorkel and was fantastic, possibly our favourite spot in the whole time we’ve been away (or at least top 3, Belize was pretty spectacular). It was quite shallow and the coral was fantastic, lots of different types and really brightly coloured. Although there weren’t many big fish the variety of smaller fish and the sheer number of fish was breathtaking, it looked like a scene from a Pixar movie. 

Rhys snorkeling, Aquarium Reef, Port Barton.

Our next stop was another snorkel stop at White Reef and for lunch we stopped at Paradise Beach, true to it’s name with only a handful of other people on the island. The captain cooked up a huge lunch of freshly grilled tuna and we whiled away an hour or so sunbathing and snorkeling. Compared to the El Nido trip it was all so unrushed and it felt like we pretty much got to leave each spot when we were ready rather than the captain gathering us up. We stopped at another island, German Island and another reef for snorkeling before heading back to Port Barton. German Island was a tiny island with expanses of sand, hammocks strung up in palm trees and a little house where they were rearing (or trying to) baby turtles to release when they were bigger. 

Rhys snorkeling at White Reef, Port Barton.

Mum on German Island, Port Barton.

Me in a hammock on German Island, Port Barton.

With two tours in one day we were pretty tired when we got back to the guesthouse. We stopped by a little cafe for dinner, played cards on the veranda with the waves crashing on the shore as the soundtrack and went to bed.

Leaving Port Barton was a bit of an adventure. As the boats to Sabang were really expensive we decided to take the local bus. We were told it left at 9am so arrived at the stop at 8:30am. It was full and the only option if we were to make it to Sabang that day was to sit on the roof, so up we climbed along with 11 other people. After an hour of touring the town to collect people, packages, boxes of fish and sacks of rice (all tied to the roof alongside us) we were off and braced ourselves for the first hour of the journey along a winding unpaved track. Considering we were squashed in, ducking electric cables and branches and balanced on the metal poles that formed the roof rack the ride was more enjoyable than it had been on the way down inside a jeepney. The track wound between rice paddies and banana plantations up and over the mountains to join the main road. We made a brief rest stop at a little cafe before continuing to the Salvacion junction where we waved goodbye to the bus

Me and mum on the journey from Port Barton to Salvacion on the roof of the bus.

At the junction we found a guy who ran a guesthouse in Sabang who had come to collect some people from El Nido who didn’t show up so he had an empty van. 40 minutes later we had wound our way over the mountain and down in to the bay. Instantly we didn’t like Sabang as much as Port Barton but it is the jumping off point for the Underground River so we collected our bags and walked along the track parallel to the beach to find some Lonely Planet recommended cottages. As in El Nido and Port Barton they were full and we ended up walking most of the way back to the port to find rooms. Although basic the cottages were right on the beach and cheap.

The day ended with a quick exploration of the town followed by a dip in the sea before a super strength cocktail with umbrellas at a posh hotel.

View of the mountains behind the posh hotel, Sabang. 

View of the beach with the tide out from the wharf, Sabang.

After spending hours the previous day trying to work out what time we were supposed to meet our Underground River guide (there’s no internet nor public phones in Sabang apart from at the posh hotel) and meeting a lovely lady from a tour booth who managed to call them for us, we were at the wharf at 8:30am. We wandered over to the boat waiting area to join the rest of our group who had come from Puerto and within 5 minutes were being herded to our boat. The ride was only short, it took us around the bay and to the entrance of the river where we disembarked and waited for our guide to register us before leading us to another boat. The second boat took us in to the caves. The Underground River has been voted one of the new 7 wonders of the natural world. It is the longest navigable river in the world at 22km and our trip took 45 minutes to cover the first kilometre or so. We rowed through ‘the cathedral’ and ‘the market’ with the guide pointing out familiar looking rock formations, Jesus, Sharon Stone and peanut butter among them. The highest point of the cave rises 65m above the river and the cave is home to around 47,000 bats and has a huge population of swifts. Seeing all the bats hanging around was one of the best bits! Back at the entrance we stopped to ogle some monkeys and massive monitor lizards before heading back to the wharf in town. Buffet lunch was laid out in a restaurant nearby and despite it only being about 11am we dug in. All up worth doing and although more expensive to do a tour than DIY it certainly made it easy and cut out any waiting time.

The entrance to the Underground River, Sabang.

Monitor lizards in the Underground River National Park, Sabang.

As we were staying another night in our basic Sabang beach cottages we had the whole afternoon to relax and enjoy the beach. After a quick swim and frolic in the waves (we haven’t seen waves in a while!), Rhys headed off for a smoothie in the posh restaurant to check the rugby/football scores and me and mum found a massage ‘tent’ right on the beach. For £5 each we had a one hour full body massage. Mine was blissful, mum’s was more like a deep tissue sports massage.

Me and mum having a massage on the beach, Sabang.

We met Rhys back at our huts, packed some bananas and walked along the beach and over some rocks to the next bay for an explore. We spent the rest of the day reading on the beach outside our huts before heading to a restaurant nearby for dinner. 

We weren’t due to leave Sabang until 1pm so after a lay-in we walked along the beach to find a spot for a relaxed pancake breakfast. The pancakes were huge (literally cakes cooked in pans) and by the time we’d finished it was time to pack up and head to the road in the village to find our van. To pass the time before the van left we bought mum a fresh coconut to drink (she’d never tried one) and sat with our feet dangling over the port wall. A few more pearl and semi-precious stone bracelet purchases (it’s so cheap!) and we were on our way. We pulled in to the San Jose bus terminal 6km out of Puerto Princesa proper and jumped in a tricycle to take us to one of the guesthouses recommended in Lonely Planet. As seems to be the norm, yet again the place was fully booked, as was the next place we tried. Luckily our tricycle driver knew of another place and although basic we checked in with a bit of awkwardness when the lady asked if she could put more people in our room if they turned up later and we refused.

As it was only early and we were a bit down because the guest house was basic, we decided to head into town to see what it had to offer - answer, nothing. It’s a busy, dirty town, not really set up for tourists. After walking past a modern, blue, pretty ugly cathedral we stopped by the Plaza Cuartel, which was actually a nice little garden square kept as a memorial to American POW’s and then walked to find the non-existent centre. After a detour through a market we wandered down to the bay before circling back to the hostel, by this point we were even more unimpressed with the place. A bit of internet research later and we decided we’d risk the weather (storms have been forecast all week but haven’t emerged) and we found a tricycle to take us the 45 minutes out of town to Iwahig for Firefly boat trips in the mangroves. It started raining on the journey but we pushed on and were there as soon as it opened. We registered, collected our fetching bamboo hats and ponchos and were in the second boat out, beating all the tour groups from town. The fireflies were mesmorising. They cluster on the flowering trees and when you shine a red light at them they hold their breaths and glow to warn you off, thinking you’re a threat. They looked like twinkling Christmas lights and despite them hiding from the rain under the leaves, we could still see hundreds. Back in town we asked our tricycle driver to drop us off at Kinabuch’s, an American style bar and grill in town that everyone seems to go to.

Our only photo of the fireflies, Iwahig, Puerto Princesa.

We woke early the next day and were surprised to see blue skies. We spent too long procrastinating, deciding how to spend the day and ended up heading out for another explore without really having any aim in mind, it was a bad choice. We walked along the main road, pretty much to the other side of town and found nothing that would keep us amused for a whole day. As the sun was shining and the town is pretty horrid we jumped on a tricycle (an old, falling apart tricycle that got a puncture on our journey), rushed back to ours to grab our beach bags and headed out to the Honda Bay Port on the outskirts of town. We ended up chartering a huge boat just for us that gave us the option of choosing any three islands in the area to visit. By lunch time we were pulling up at our first stop, Pandan Island. We found a spot under a tree on the white sand beach away from the tourist hordes and settled in. Although there wasn’t any worthwhile snorkeling, the beach was beautiful and the sea was clear and warm and the shallows were littered with starfish and that’s no exaggeration, every where you looked there were more. We spent three hours there soaking up the sun and watched the storm clouds roll in over the other islands we’d chosen. Rather than visit Luli Island and Starfish Island we decided to head to Cowrie Island, a more touristy stop but further from the clouds. We had time for a fruit shake before our boatmen called us back to the boat to head back to port to avoid the storm.

Mum and Rhys paddling in the sea at Pandan Island, Honda Bay.

Back in town, more internet research had suggested another nice restaurant, Neva’s, for dinner, this time just around the corner from our guesthouse. We ordered a stupid amount of brick oven pizza, ate a dessert meant for four people and enjoyed the atmosphere of the candlelit garden restaurant, an oasis from the hustle and dirt of Puerto.