Wow, I really need to say something about the Philippines. It was a great time but so long has passed since our holiday; I will have to try and construct something from my feeble notes:
Saturday June 28, 2008
Hang-over – pack – haircut – taxi – KMRT – storms – delayed flights – Manila – try to organise an earlier flight to Cebu – they want money – no way – overnight at the airport – Shakey’s Diner for pizza and beer – sleep in the airport
Sunday June 29
Check-in staff put us on an earlier flight for free – taxi to ferry – 8.00 am ferry to Tagbilaran – tricycle to Alona Beach – breakfast – touts – Oops Bar Cottages – game of pool on the beach – beers – beach
Notes on Tricycles:
I’ve ridden in some pretty unlikely vehicles in my time but this one has to be right up there. It’s a motorbike with a sort of covered side-car attached. You have to see it to appreciate it:
Monday June 30
Beach – rum - snorkelling
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Scuba – table football
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Beach – rum – great snorkelling, teeming with clown fish, hiding in their anemones, defending their turf
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystal_images/444013599/?addedcomment=1#comment72157607249426309
Diary Extract:
Alona Beach, Bohol, Philippines
Trudy’s Place – sitting on the beach with the water lapping at my feet: endless marine and turquoise sea stretched out under a gray blanket of cloudy sky with flecks of blue peeking through.
Slightly hung-over
Last night we were in “Oops Bar” and met a German with bad English visiting the Philippines for the first time to meet his soon-to-be wife’s family.
“Philippine is paradise” were his last words to us.
Half an hour before he was chasing the girls around the bar as R refused to dance with him again.
It had been a busy day, our third on this tourist beach. We got up at nine to go diving at ten. American breakfast at the cheap ghetto restaurant with no toilet – at 85 pesos it was the cheapest we found. We checked our dive gear – the crappiest equipment I’ve ever seen and the cheapest diving on the beach.
We still had 15 minutes until we were due to head off, so I dashed back to the room for a shit. The facilities at the dive centre left a lot to be desired. I made it back with five minutes to spare but they were all on the boat. Apparently they boarded just after I left. There’s got to be one, I just don’t like being it.
It is a half hour ride out to Balicasag Island. Luckily the boat had shade, but little else. Just enough room for the crew of three plus two dive masters, four divers and two snorkelers.
The boats here, I’m looking at one now, have a single hull – maybe 10-12 meters with an in-board motor and two bamboo outrigger hulls on long bent struts. They have two masts with a tarp stretched between.
The diving was pretty awesome. Although my depth gauge didn’t work and my BCD air-out button was stuck for a while.
First dive – Diver’s Paradise, aptly named – beautiful coral, luminous fish and a turtle. It’s the first one I’ve seen while diving. When we came up, our crew had been replaced by island-folk selling souvenirs.
My first dive is always a bit panicky, trying to get neutral buoyancy and dealing the weird sensation of breathing under water.
By the second dive, I’m into it. Not doing anything, just drifting along with the current and watch it all float past: clown fish, angel fish, another turtle, a little shark; awesome.
Notes on the Philippines
- 750 ml Bottle of Rum - 100 pesos
- 375 ml can of Coke - 50 pesos
- Largest number of foreigners in relationships with locals I’ve seen anywhere
- All classes at school are taught in English except for Filipino class
- Houses and boats all look Polynesian
Thursday July 3, 2008
Diary Extract:
Woke late and breakfasted large before deciding to get out and see the rest of the island:
Car?
Bike?
Bad weather - car’s expensive – rent a bike
Yellow four-speed click-shift with no wing mirrors and a floaty front-end
Helmet?
Sort of
Better than nothing but pretty close to nothing
*** the water is lapping at the tables outside the restaurant where I’m sitting***
So we headed off to Tagbilaran very slowly, 30 km/hr
We headed through the crazy traffic. I pulled over for a Coke and directions:
Corella?
Straight on
Thanks.
Corella has a Tarsier Sanctuary.
Tarsiers are the smallest primates with the biggest eye of any animal.
A few kilometres down the road, a fork. Neither sign said Corella. We ask:
That way?
Sweet
A few kms after that we lost the paving and were making 10-20 km/hr over rocks and gravel
The air was sweet and people friendly. Lush jungle on all sides- we stopped by a river for pictures – no rush
We continued and made it to a paved cross road, which led to Corella. We wandered around the quiet town till an old man gave us directions. It was about 2 kms up the road. We headed off and finally came to the giant sign advertising the sanctuary.
There was a boom gate across the road saying:
WE’RE CLOSED 9.00-4.00
It was 3.55 by my watch.
FUCK!
Well I’m going to have a look. R stayed with the bike. It was about a kilometre down a dirt road. At the end was a visitor’s centre, which let to a caged section of bush. No one was around.
We headed back to Corella and asked for directions to Tagbilaran:
This road goes all the way there
It might have been paved once, but not anymore. We averaged 15-20 km/hr. The road was lined with grinning school kids:
Hey man, Hey Joe
The old man was right; we reached the main road in under an hour. We headed into town and had a walk around.
Busy
Poor children begging
We stopped for a beer in a restaurant and had something to eat.
We headed back. Once on Panglao Island we turned the wrong way, despite the directions we were given and it took at least twice as long to get back.
Friday July 4
Beach – rum – Cebu – live band
The sun is out; the tide is high for our last day on Alona Beach.
More Notes on the Philippines
- Language sounds like Spanish
- Security guards everywhere with handguns
- Bank guards with pump action shotguns
- Never once saw a police officer
- The Mexicans of Asia
Saturday July 5
Back to K-town
Cebu Domestic Airport 1030
Spent yesterday afternoon on the beach drinking rum then got a tricycle to the port:
ferry to Cebu - taxi to hotel - all full - forth time lucky – shower – walk – beggars - knock off DVDs - live music bar “Brews Point” - great bands - great food – cheap – hotel – TV – sleep
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