Philippines Continued...Manilla to Palawan and back to Manilla

Philippines continued…

The port of El Nido...

Our next stop in the Philippines was El Nido in Palawan but as with most places in the Philippines you have to get back to Manila before you can get anywhere. We had a 36 hour journey again involving many forms of transport particularly trikes and Jeepney’s. Overnight bus to Manila, taxi to the airport, Air Asia to Puerto Princesa and finally a 5 hour mini-van drive through mountains and tiny villages until we eventually arrived in El Nido around 7pm. It is a gorgeous and vibrant town surrounded by huge karst cliffs and a small beach. We were shocked to find it so busy but we found a nice wee budget cottage (Blue Azure) just a few streets away from the beach. It only had cold showers but proximity to the beach mattered more to us. We headed out to get our bearings and found the beach with a few restaurants that had tables with candles outside and waves lapping at your feet. After the food we headed down the beach to yet another Reggae bar. We met the Masons, three lovely Canadian siblings who we ended up bumping in to a lot.

El Nido is famed because of likeness to Ha Long Bay in Vietnam with lots of Karst islands and rock formations, and like Ha Long Bay there are a million and one tour companies offering tours around the islands. It is also famous for hosting a TV series called Survivor, The Bourne Legacy and supposedly where the inspiration for ‘The Beach’ came from.

One of the many lagoons!!!

We found a tour company called Servant Tours on Roxas street (the main road into El Nido). The staff where very friendly and helpful and everything was provided including our lunch. We set of with beautiful sunshine and four French students on Tour A. We stopped at a few beaches along the way and some amazing secluded lagoons. Some of which you had to climb or swim through openings in the rock formations to get into, think the beach only with lots of Russians and Korean tourists on the other side. 

Lunch was prepared for us on a private beach consisting of bbq’d pork, fish and prawns with rice and vegetables. We had some amazing snorkelling stops too with lots of fish and beautiful coral and where the waters were so clear. We had a brilliant day and even got to lie on the beach for the afternoon. We had one more lagoon stop and then we headed back port with the waters getting choppy and the wind picking up.

Susi's favourite picture from Palawan...

We found Nemo...

One strange but apparently eco friendly scheme in El Nido is that there is no power what so ever between the hours of 6am and 4pm, it makes internet usage and clothes washing a little more difficult but it didn’t bother us too much.

Las Cabanas Beach, El Nido...

Suze, body surfing the huge waves...

Over the next few days we had some lovely walks to Las Cabanas beach, which is about a 6km walk out past the main bus terminal. Had we known about this beach before we arrived we might have even spent a few nights there as it is a much nicer beach than El Nido’s and much much quieter. There are only a couple of restaurants and hotels to choose from but it would have been a nice way to finish our time on the beaches of south east asia. We had some brilliant fun though splashing around and diving through the huge waves that break on the beach and of course topping up the tan. The walk to and from the beach is pretty spectacular too as you get to see lots of really nice scenery and local villages. 

Playing in the surf...

At the Reggae bar with Chad, Kandis, Natalee...

We had one last big night out in El Nido out and bumped into our friends Chad, Natalee and Kandis in the reggae bar (well the one next door as it has cheaper drinks). It was another really good night dancing away to reggae tunes with good company, it was a good way to finish our time in El Nido. After four days exploring El Nido and the surrounding area we were starting to run out of cash and with El Nido having no cash machine we needed to head back to Puerto Princessa. We had a lovely time in El Nido and wish we had better weather and a few days extra to explore some more of the secluded beaches and islands.

We arrived in Puerto Princesa the next afternoon and in the usual style did not have a clue where to stay. Our trike rider took us from the bus station to a place called Oasis Travellers Lodge it cost us a little bit extra at 1100 peso’s (£15) per night but it was a lot more luxurious that El Nido, it had a hot shower and the power didn’t go off in the mornings…

Promenade of Puerto Princesa...

We were quite surprised with Puerto Princesa, although it’s a bustling city it was pretty clean, it had lots of tours and places to see in the surrounding areas and had plenty of shops, bars and restaurants. It was a shame we only had a couple of days. We did have a good walk around the shops trying to buy some warmer clothes for Japan, Susi got her hair butchered by a ladyboy and we went out for a meal in Tiki bar restaurant. It’s a pretty cool venue with live music on every night and it seems most tourists in the area venture out to this place as it had a really good atmosphere and a couple of pool tables to continue our tradition of playing pool in every country.

There something strange about that jeep???

We had our flight booked out to Manilla on Air Asia but with the tropical depression hovering over the edges of Palawan and Manilla we were unsure if our flight would be going. With the Airport only 1 mile away and the flight path directly above our hotel Lee was getting concerned as we couldn’t hear any flights coming in or going out. We turned up at the airport half expecting it to be cancelled but no, on time not an issue, part from being charged 100peso’s each to leave that is! It was the smoothest most comfortable Air Asia flight we’ve had and it even landed 20 minutes early!!!

We arrived in Manilla and headed for the Ermita/Malate district which is right near Rizal park and the gigantic Robinsons Mall. We were warned by a number of people before heading to the Philippines not to stay in Manila. We found out for ourselves what Manila is like. Yes it is a bit dirty, a bit seedy and not that much to do but that all depends on what you are looking for. It is a perfectly good place for a couple of days stopover. We spent our time wandering around the previously mentioned gigantic mall trying to find warm clothes for Japan. We found some but only after 6 hours of wandering around the 1000’s of shops available. We found the really cool Robinsons supermarket food court where you can eat a meal for £1. Even better though it has a French bakery with fresh baguettes and a salad bar so a quick shop for some cheese and that was our lunch sorted. For the Evening we went to a bar/restaurant called …..   (it had lots of flags outside) which has a few tourists and very cheap food and drinks for Manila prices. 

The baguette with real ham and real cheese, heaven...

After a couple of hours we headed for the casino we had spotted on our way down to the restaurant. Even though we were wearing shorts and t-shirts we led through to a huge floor of super 6 tables and one black jack table? No free booze.  The Japanese and Korean people love super 6, we didn’t have a clue how to play this so we went and lost our money on something we knew, Black-Jack. We had a really good couple of days in Manila and do not regret a second of it. To those who are wondering whether to visit Manila, just go and find out for yourself.

We where really surprised by the friendliness of the people in Manila and the Philippines in general. It takes a long time to get anywhere here but with a bit of careful planning its not an issue. It has been one of the nicest, cleanest and friendliest places we have visited in South East Asia. We would definitely like to come back and see the many other parts of the Philippines we missed on this occasion. 

Wow, that is it for South East Asia. We have explored lots of different cultures and sub-cultures, seen some unbelievable and breathtaking sights and made some really good friends. Now though its time for something completely different. Japan here we come…

Fun and adventures in the Philippines...

Susi sleeping on the floor
of the airport...

We were a little apprehensive about going to the Philippines given the devastation from the recent typhoon and all the media coverage.  However, speaking to other travellers who had recently been it was a place that was not to be missed. 

Our first planned destination was Boracay, a small Island in the Visaya’s to bring in the New Year, leaving Indonesia behind it meant getting on a number of modes of transport and took 48hrs from Gili Trawangan. This included a stop over in Manila Airport for about 10 hours. Terminal 4 is a bit of a shed so we went to the newly built Terminal 3 for a bit of sleep and our first Jollibee (MacDonald’s of the Philippines). We also had a night in Kalibo as we missed the last pump boat leaving from the mainland. The journey up through to Caticlan was quite picturesque and didn’t seem to have been effected by the Typhoon at all. After paying our Environmental Fee and the Port Fee’s (225 Pesos) it was a smooth transition onto the little pump boat across to beautiful Boracay. We arrived at our hotel for the next 6 nights and were both slightly disappointed by the standard in comparison to what we have been paying. We soon realised however that every man and his dog from all corners of the globe descended on Boracay for the New Year meaning it was ‘Super Peak Season’. After such a long arduous journey our first call was to replace our energy levels with some decent food and a sample of the local beer. So we sat down in a Mexican restaurant called Ole recommended to us by Rog Woodend (A good friend of the Barr’s) who had recently been there for Christmas. Cheers Rog, see you soon in Sydney. Boracay has a number of beaches around the island but the main two are white beach and bullabog beach. 

Go Pro Perspective of white beach...

White beach is the picture postcard side with all the main resorts, sunbathers by day and sandcastles by night. Bullabog is on the east side and is the extreme sports area perfect conditions for kite surfing and wind surfing. We stayed at Dee Timmy’s right in the middle of white beach on station 2 which was a perfect location for seeing what the island had to offer. 

Go Pro Hero?...

Fun in the water with the Go Pro...

Professional Skimboarder!!!...

After 4 months of spending so much time in the water, snorkeling, surfing and on boats we decided it was about time we invested in a Go Pro Camera. So for the next 6 days we spent a huge amount of time on the beach and in warm crystal clear waters playing with our new toy. We even had a go at something called Skimboarding with the locals. It is a bit like skateboarding only in very shallow water. The locals put us to shame however performing all the stunts and tricks. Very good fun but it proved we need to get fitter for Skiing in Japan. New Year on Boracay was amazing. White beach came alive with offers of party’s, sunset cruises, buy one get one free cocktails and all you can eat buffets to help celebrate the new year. 

New year celebrations...

Sea Sand and Fireworks with a little shower...

The main resorts along the beach also had huge firework displays set up on little platforms and boats out in the sea. We however opted for a curry in our favorite place Bom Bom Bar and then we had a carry out on the beach next to the free parties. We even found a half decent bottle of champagne to pop at midnight. Cheapskates as ever!!! As it came closer to midnight the first of the fireworks displays went off, it was pretty spectacular on its own. Then the rest of the resorts joined in one after another and lasted for about an hour. It was definitely a New Year to remember. We did a lot of walking up and down the beach and across to bullabog and had a few final days doing nothing at all. We managed, even with a lack of decent Wi-Fi to get a couple of hours of planning in for the rest of the Philippines. It was time to leave beautiful Boracay and it's amazing sunsets and head for a little more adventure.

Susi chilling on deck, wrapped up fleece and all...

Bunk room on the ferry...

Next stop was Legaspi in the Bicol region of south Luzon. We got up at 4:30am to set of on our long journey. We had booked a ferry from Caticlan up to to Batangas Harbor near Manila. This took around 10 hours on a ferry pretty similar to P&O ferrys. Somehow they had managed to squeeze thousands of bunk beds into the place cabins should have been!!! We spent most of our time up on deck sunbathing, sleeping and enjoying the scenery. 

After the delay we arrived in Batangas for around 8pm in the dark with not a clue on how to get to our destination Legaspi. Somehow we managed to get on a bus to be driven to another bus terminal we had never heard of, to then get on another bus which was an overnight one heading the way we just came from!!!. Somehow though we woke up in the morning with the sight of Mt Mayon (the Philippines biggest and most active Volcano puffing away) out of the bus window. We had miraculously arrived where we wanted to be. After a bit of free Wi-Fi on the bus we eventually published our Christmas Blog (hope you enjoyed it) and did a bit of research on places to stay and found a place called Mayon Backpackers. We arrived in the main bus Terminal in Legaspi and hopped onto the local mode of transport ‘The Jeepney’ with all the locals up to the top of town near the cathedral. 

The Jeepney...

With not a tourist in sight we walked the back streets till we found our place with lots of help from the smiling and friendly locals. Mayon Backpackers is a really new, low cost and extremely clean place to stay before you head to Donsol. It was also our first experience in a dorm on this trip as the only double room was taken on the first night. However we had the dorm to ourselves and eventually the whole hostel which was lovely being on our own again after busy Boracay. The hostel also has free bread, fruit and tea and coffee and a fantastic roof terrace to look over the Volcano on swinging hammocks. We ended staying a couple of nights to recover from the Filipino cold before braving the water again in Donsol. Legaspi is cute with lots of malls, a ridiculous amount of Dunkin Donut outlets and one particularly nice restaurant called ‘Café Smalltalk’. As Susi had lost her flip-flops dancing on the beach in Boracay and Lees toothpick repair of the flip-flops failed it was time for new purchase. 

We wandered down to the harbor and the malls in the centre for a bit of retail therapy and picked up something to help with the cold. We said goodbye to the owners of the hostel who asked us for a quick photo for their wall. Yet another mugshot left on the backpacker trail!

Fun on the trike to donsol...

We met a Finnish guy Anty who was also going to Donsol so we headed of to the bus terminal for a short trip in a minivan. We were left off by the bus in the main town about 3km from the Whale shark tourist office and all the main touristy resorts. With help from the really nice and friendly locals we all piled onto a little trike rucksacks and all and got dropped off at the place next door to the center. Dancalan resort is a perfect location, right on the beach in your own little cottages and has a fantastic restaurant with decent prices. We dumped our bags and went next door to register for the ‘Whale shark interaction experience’ the next day. Still not feeling 100% we had a nice spicy bite to eat and an early night for a 6am start the next morning.

Our spotter working his magic...

 Sighting of the Whale sharks in not guaranteed so we were told by our B.I.O. (Buntanding Interaction Officer, Butanding is the Filipino for Whale shark). We were put onto a boat of 6 all super exited about the prospect of swimming with the largest fish in the world. The trip lasts for 3 hours in total and 2 hour in there seemed to be no hope. We had resigned ourselves to sunbathing on deck and not paying attention until ‘our spotters’ worked their magic. There were 8 other boats out and our boat was the first to spot them. We quickly rushed to get our gear on, switched on the Go Pro and lined up on the side of the boat ready to go on our B.I.O’s command. (Shitting ourselves!!!) 

The next thing we knew we were all in and the B.I.O was guiding the way in murky waters. We couldn’t see a thing then all of sudden this massive bus sized shark (10-12m long) appeared in front of us. We followed it for as long as we could before it went to deep again. What an amazing sight it was, we all came back up with huge cheesy grins on our faces and Susi was speechless again!!! (that’s twice now). After a few minutes we got back on the boat and got ready for the next appearance of our giant fishy friends. Our spotters worked their magic again but this time we were joined by another 5 boats fighting to get a glimpse. 

We were first off the mark and jumped in the water again to swim above the shark. We followed her for ages before she went down into the depths again. We had to give the other boats a chance so we ended our trip on a high. We arrived back about midday and had our brunch then had a well-deserved kip on the afternoon. We exchanged stories, pictures and videos that night over a few beers whilst watching another spectacular sunset. Yet again we realise just how lucky we are.

A very pleased boat load of people...

The only other thing to do in Donsol apart from chill out by the beach is to take a trip to see the fireflies. It is a pretty relaxing experience and is cheap too at only 1250peso's for a boat that takes up to 5 people. You all pile in the boat and head up the river to specific trees were the guide educates you all about the flies. We sat and watched hundreds if not thousands of them them dance around for about an hour occasionally moving to another tree. It was a really nice and chilled out experience and a nice way to finish off the visit to Donsol. 

Another amazing sunset...

Next stop…We hear a tropical cyclone is heading our way so lets wait and see.

Amazing Indonesia Part 2...

Our home for 4 days...

After many hours of research and advice from fellow travellers we decided to do the 4 day 3 night boat trip from Flores to Lombok. It fell nicely in place as our Christmas Stop the Gili Islands are only a short boat journey from Lombok.  We booked a cheap flight with Sky Aviation for £30 each to Flores from Bali. This meant we didn’t have the 3 days of island hopping on a bus – thank goodness! We arrived into Labuan Bajo Airport otherwise know as a shack in a field and headed into the port to find some accommodation. Labuan Bajo is a little port thriving on boat trips and diving schools. It has one main little street with a few restaurants hotels and bars. After dumping our stuff we headed out to find a tour company and find somewhere with wifi so we could do some research. We found a little place called the Treetop bar, which is really cool, it looks out over the sea and you can see all the islands and even better the view of the sunset was awesome. It just so happened that in the bar was a group of people who had just done the boat trip from Lombok to Flores. So after a couple of hours we had a lot of information and advice we had booked our trip for the next day. Thanks mainly to Liam and the guys.

Mealtimes with entertainment...

We booked our trip with a company called “Wanua Adventures”. When we booked they only had 6 names on the board including ourselves, which was good news as the previous group had 25 squeezed in like sardines. Early the next morning we headed down to the ferry port loaded up with supplies for the journey. As the boat left the port everyone was in high spirits with Christmas hats and songs being played. Sunny was our guide for the trip and was a character, he was another one who loved his guitar (particularly reggae)!!!

Our first couple of stops were tiny little islands with coral reefs surrounding them. We had an hour or so at each place to snorkel in crystal clear waters with hundreds of different types of fish. Unfortunately no turtles though.

After some lunch (with Sunny providing the soundtrack) we headed to Rinca Island, part of the Komodo National Park to hopefully see some dragons. We got off the boat and were escorted to a safety-briefing hut by our ranger, armed with only a stick to protect us. These are some of the deadliest creatures on the planet so you are not allowed to wander off by yourself and we where being defended by a stick!!!. Its ok though only sixteen people have been bitten before. 
We opted for the medium trek as a group and were escorted round the island by a ranger. The first glimpse of the dragons was quite scary and we kept our distance. We reached a stilted ranger hut with 3 sleeping dragons below so we jumped up the stairs to get a closer look. This was when the heavens opened but that wasn’t going to stop us. We were there to see the dragons and a bit of rain wasn’t stopping us. We trudged on through the mud, wind and rain hoping to see some wild dragons. After about 20 minutes we caught a glimpse of a baby dragon. Apparently quite a rare thing as they are very shy when they are younger due to the number of predators they have at that age. Very excited and pleased with ourselves we headed back to the boat to continue our journey towards Lombok. We had one more snorkeling stop before we reached Komodo Island itself and our mooring point for the evening. As the sun set we had a few drinks, a game of Uno and our first evening meal. The standard rules are Lights out at 10pm so we all headed to bed ready for an early start for even more dragons.

The dragons of Komodo are slightly bigger than those on Rinca because of the amount of prey available on Komodo. We were really looking forward to finding some big wild dragons. The trek around the island takes about an hour and is through jungle and up onto hills. When we got to the top of the hill we found a large wild female, its always better seeing them in the wild.

The one on the left are definitely real...

Our next stop was manta point. We had to search for the Manta Rays and a soon as we saw one we had to jump off the boat. Sunny spotted one and we all jumped off the boat to follow it. We had no idea how big these things would be, they are huge animals about 3m wide. The first one soon disappeared into the distance so we snorkeled around hoping to see some more. All of a sudden two appeared out of nowhere and came within a few meters of where we were. It was an amazing sight they are such graceful animals the way they look like they are flying underwater.

Just a few meters away, amazing sight.

The Barracuda (Plated up 20 minutes later)

We had a few more stops on the way back taking in West Nusa Tenggara to visit a salt-water lake, Sumbawa to visit a waterfall and Pilau Moyo to change boats as we broke ours. We even had a school of Dolphins swimming along side the boat for a while. After 3 day of trying to catch a fish off the boat the crew finally caught a huge barracuda which was delicious. Sunny looked so proud. We had an amazing sunset on the last night with Mt Rinjani (The Volcano on Lombok) in the distance. It was a fantastic trip and highly recommended. You get to see so much wildlife, some fantastic scenery and even though all you eat for 4 days is rice and vegetables it is a fantastic experience. 

We caught a flying lizard...

Susi swimming in the volcanic lake...

After the boat trip we headed to Sengiggi in Lombok to chill out for a few days before our Christmas party on the Gili Islands. We found a place to stay pretty easily, slightly above our £10 budget but it was Christmas after all! We had a lovely place with a garden leading to the beach. There isn’t much to do in Sengiggi so we took the opportunity to do a bit of research, plan our next few excursions, I shaved my head whilst Susi got a pedicure and we did a bit of washing. After 3 days it was time to head over to the Gili’s so we took the ferry over which only took about 2 hours in total. We got dropped off right on the beach front and headed off into the backstreets to see if we could find our pre-booked accommodation. We were staying in a place called Kidi’s Family Bungalows. It is a really nice place with self contained rooms and if it’s not Christmas it is quite cheap. You get a little terrace with a garden out the front where you sit and have your breakfast in the mornings. It is quite a relaxed place but you do get the odd noisy day when the local mosque sparks up. Once we where settled in we went out for a walk to see what Gili T had to offer and we had only walked 10m when we heard someone shouting “oi you two” It was Liam the guy we had met in Flores. We went into the place he was staying and joined him for a Coffee. Gili Backpackers is a bit of a meeting place and a great place for meeting people. We had a good few nights in here and joined in with some if the games they placed. It was really nice meeting lots of new people, particularly Liam of course who introduced us to everyone and showed us some of the best places in Gili T, Michael, Fanny and Nick (The management), Michelle (see you in Japan) and Mark, Victoria, Paul the Northern lad, two girls from Hull Megan and Elli and Jonno the mentalist cyclist who has pretty much cycled the globe over the past 8 years. He has a cool blog too. www.homeless-but-not-hopeless.blogspot.com

Christmas party time...

Sunset Point overlooking the volcano on Bali...

We had one particular night out and couldn’t believe it when we bumped into our friend Bev (From Laos) again!!! The rest of the time we spent on the beach when the weather allowed. We had a fantastic Christmas Lunch at a place called the Roast House. We found a nice restaurant called le Petit Gili in the night market with 1 foot long kebabs.  We met 2 lovely couples from Ireland now living in Australia. (hopefully we will see you in Oz) We had a nice walk around the island it takes about an hour was really nice. We took a snorkeling trip around the 3 islands, had lunch on Gili Air and finally we got to snorkel with the turtles. We saw 3 really close up, it felt good to see big adult turtles after seeing the baby ones in Africa. Gili T is a fantastic little island, it has an amazing atmosphere, fantastic restaurants, lovely people, and you can party or just as easy get away from it all.

After 3 weeks it was time to leave amazing Indonesia, we have seen and done so much in this place but there is so much more to see and do. It is definitely up as our favorite country so far However the Philippines awaits us and our New Year destination of Boracay.