Lovina/Candidasa

Dolphin’s & Driving

We had to be up early as we were due to meet the guy for the dolphin trip at 6.00 outside our hotel, that was once we managed to break-out as all the entrances were locked.

Once we had managed to escape the hotel we waiting for a while in the darkness with our fingers crossed that the guy was going to turn up (it was a deal done on the roadside).  A few minutes late but then there were two people on scooters to pick us up, so Shell and I climbed on the back of them and we were driven down the road and deposited a bit further along the coast.

Whilst we waited for another couple sitting in the dark we wondered whether this was such a good idea seeing there was a storm further out to sea with bolts of lightning hitting the sea in the distance.

By the time we got in our small boat the storm had moved slightly but there was also loads of other boats going out so I guess you have to trust their local knowledge.  We did not have to go that far out in any case the boat driver just headed to where a large flotilla of small boats were gathered and we were soon spotting dolphins.

 

There were literally hundreds of them jumping out of the water in and around all the boats, but at times it did feel as though all the boats were crowding them and pursuing them.  However I guess if they were that distressed by it they would just swim off somewhere else.  Unfortunately because of our crap camera with a shutter speed of 5 seconds we did not get very many good photos.

 

After around 45 minutes the boat driver asked if we had had enough, we told we had so he started to head back to shore, it had been a great start to the day spotting hundreds of dolphins at day break and the driver even dropped us back on the boat to the little beach right next to our hotel.

 

We returned to our hotel to have a bit of breakfast before we checked out.  On check-out we were given a discount because the air-conditioning was not working and so were charged £ 6 for the night, so you can’t really complain.

Getting back in the car our next destination was Candidasa another beach resort on the east coast of Bali and it was going to be our longest leg at just over 100km.  The drive was pretty nice though as it followed the coastline on a single road all the way around about quarter of the island. Two or three hours later and again seeing stunning scenes along the way we arrived in Candidasa.

 

The hotel was a distinct upgrade from Lovina and slightly over budget (it evens itself out – hopefully), but we had a lovely large room with a four poster, outside seating area and an inside and outside showering area.

Again unpacked we headed for the pool/bar/restaurant area which was right on the waters edge with a view of the sea and islands a little further out,  so we sat there and had a couple of drinks and had some fish for lunch and admired the view.

 

During the afternoon we went for a swim in the pool and then I spent some time catching up with the blog, whilst some of us relaxed (Shell had a massage in an area next to the pool) and we had a couple more beers.  The only annoyance was some guy that kept pestering us about what was an expensive sounding snorkelling trip.

In the evening we thought we would check out the main strip which turned out to be pretty deserted (out of season), so after looking for a restaurant for a while we plumped for the one that actually had a few people in and sat down for our evening meal.  We opted for two 3 course set menu’s which although served very quickly were very nice and with a couple of drinks and less than £ 15 for both of us you could not complain.

As the town seemed pretty dead after dinner we just headed back to our room and watched a bit of TV before going to bed.

Munduk/Lovina

Day 1 – Mountain Drive

Up fairly early, we packed and then went for breakfast.  We said goodbye to our temple accommodation and we were back in the car again and heading for the mountains.

Now we were out of the big town the driving was getting much easier and I could start to enjoy the fantastic scenery.  We were making good time to get to our next accommodation in Munduk so when I spotted a large sign for some temples we decided to double back and check them out.

We parked up and paid our entrance fee and found ourselves at a beautiful temple complex called, Pura Ulan Danu Bratan, which is a very important Hindu-Buddhist temple dedicated to Dewi Danu, the goddess of the waters and is built on small islands on the lake. Pilgrimages and ceremonies are held here to ensure that there is a supply of water for farmers all over Bali (Thanks, Lonely Planet Guide!).

 

We wandered around for about ½ hour taking photos before heading off again and found ourselves climbing up winding mountains and along a high ridge alongside the lake below, passing monkeys on the roadside as we went.

After another ½ or so we came to the sleepy little mountain town of Munduk and located our hotel.  Once again we were amazed by the standard of accommodation, for around £13 we got a very large en-suite room with a balcony and four poster bed overlooking nice gardens with a view of the mountains.

 

Once unpacked we went down to the gardens and got a couple of beers whilst we decided what we were going to do.  During that time there was a rumble of thunder and the heavens opened so we opted to go back to the room and catch up with a bit of blogging/reading.

In the evening we went back down to the restaurant area in the gardens and ordered some traditional dishes as the food had been recommended here.  The food was fairly nice but what was atmospheric was somewhere below us further down the mountainside there was a band playing/practicing traditional music that travelled up to us and accompanied our meal (along with the rain!).

A couple more drinks and then we retired to our room to watch a movie before going to bed.

Day 2 – Waterfall and Poo Coffee

We got up fairly early as we had to do what we had come to Munduk for, trekking to see waterfalls.  So after a nice breakfast we headed off in search of the trekking paths.

Walking through the small town and after checking with a couple of locals along the way (we only had a rudimental map) we found the start of the trekking path and started to head into the jungle.

Walking for around ½ we found a turning for the first waterfall but as it had been raining heavily we had been advised that path would be very slippery and so with Bambi on Ice in tow we decided to skip this one, instead we viewed it from above through the trees.

 

Trekking on through the dense forest Shell was not a happy bunny as the mosquito’s were out in force and enjoying their breakfast, namely her.  However we soldiered on for another ½ - 1 hour and with some help from passing locals (again no discernible signposts) we stayed on course for the other waterfall we were looking for.

Just before we came to that waterfall we stopped off at a small café/restaurant on the Cliffside, overlooking the valley below, where we thought we would have a drink.  We got the menu and found that they did Luwak Coffee which is considered to be the planets finest coffee, basically what apparently makes it so great is that it is made from coffee beans that have been ingested and excreted by wild civet cats (Yum Yum). 

 

Anyway we were shown the raw product and thought we would give it a whirl, It’s not every day you get to drink poo coffee!! It was about 10 times the price of normal coffee at a princely sum of £ 2.50 a cup, but to be fair it came served with banana/potato fritters and raw palm sugar lumps (which you bite into before taking a slurp of coffee).  How did it taste?  Not bad but I don’t think I will be shelling out to obtain this delicacy when I’m back in blighty!

We finished our coffee’s and continued along to find the waterfall, stopping only when I thought a trickle coming down from the mountainside might be it, only to see that some people were walking a little further.  So we followed the path that we had seen them take and then we got to Red Coral Waterfall and to be fair is was far more impressive than we thought it was going to be, so we watched it and took a few snaps for a while before moving on.

 

There was a choice of two routes back, either a quick route back to the town or a longer route that followed the river, but looking at the brail coming up on shell’s legs we decided on the former.

We returned to our hotel, checked out and were back on the road again.  The roads out of the town were very steep, windy, under construction and at some points I was praying that we would not meet anything large coming the other way.  Apart from that it was a lovely drive and after an hour or so we arrived at our next destination, Lovina, which is famed for its beach and dolphins.

On arriving Shell pointed me in the direction of the hotel which was down a very narrow concrete alley which led to a tiny car park, only to discover that this was not our hotel it was next door.  So after a twenty four point turn and getting stuck in the alleyway, about a centimetre each side where I thought I might be adding some custom go-faster stripes to the car, somehow I eased it out unscathed and found the nice big car park in our actual hotel!.

Checking into our hotel we discovered what a £ 8 room got you and let’s just say it was not what we had got used to in Bali (I won’t write what Shell put in our notes!).   We went downstairs to the reception area and had a beer and some food (Jaffle – which is basically a toastie), whilst one of the staff tried to sell us what seemed like an over-priced dolphin trip for the following morning.

We then went to check out the beach but where we were it was just a load of boats moored up with no real beach so we decided to walk to towards town to see if we could see why Lovina was a popular destination.

After about a mile or so we realised that we had based ourselves in the sticks, but we did come across someone selling dolphin trips and Shell managed to negotiate a good price which was about half the price we had been quoted by the hotel at around £ 5 per person. 

Still not having any sight of town we headed back towards the sea and found the beach, it wasn’t that inspiring and a bit dirty and had black sand.  So we walked along looking for a beach bar and after another mile or so we stopped at a pretty ramshackle place, basically two tables outside a shack and stopped for a couple of beers.

Whilst sitting there the bars owner came over and started chatting to us for a while before bringing out his bag of homemade jewellery and preceded in showing us every piece.  We told him we would not be buying anything, but in the end when I found out it was only £ 1.50 for a necklace I cracked and decided to buy our first non-essential purchase, a necklace that Shell told me once I had it on I looked like a 1970’s porn star!! (It now resides at the bottom of my bag!).

 

Speaking to the owners they told us that the main town was only another ½ mile or so down the beach so we headed in that direction.  When we eventually got there it was more touristy with plenty of restaurants and stalls selling toot, so we wandered about for a while before settling in a bar restaurant to have a few drinks. 

We sat there for a while taking in the bay, the beach football tournament that was going on (Glenn not Shell) and the locals that had waded into the sea to do some fishing, before moving on to find somewhere to eat for the night.

 

After only finding slightly expensive places Shell spoke to some guys outside a bar, who turned out to be ex-pat’s, and they pointed us towards two restaurants that they recommended.  We found them and decided on the busier of the two and were happy to find that the food was both cheap and tasty.

Dinner done we found another bar to have a drink at but it was apparently out of season for them and the bars were all very quiet and the promise of live music did not look like it was going to materialise so we decided to get a taxi back to our hotel.

Once back we did pop into a Reggae bar next door which was the only thing open around our hotel, but once again found ourselves to be only punters in there so only stayed for a short while before going back to the hotel for the night.

We then found out what we got for our £ 8 room, air-conditioning that didn’t work and a ceiling fan that didn’t work and a sweat box of a room.  Shell went downstairs to see if someone could sort this out and shortly after we were presented with a stand-up fan as a solution.  So we plugged this in, set it going and went to bed.

Ubud

Day 1 – Culture and Creativity

I’ve given poor Glenn, our weary blog writer a break to give his a brain a rest and to hopefully catch up on the blog a bit quicker so that we can at least be in the same country/Island/time zone we are writing about…

After another uneventful breakfast but in a stunning setting (did Glenn mention that our homestay was built amongst a temple?) we said goodbye to our lovely oversized bed, hot water shower, FRIDGE, Fluffy towels and air-conditioned room and set-off for Ubud.

We’d read that Ubud was Bali’s cultural capital with artisans, dance, museums etc and being a bit ‘beached out’ we agreed to head there. Glenn had very helpfully written down the major towns enroute for me (he knows what my map reading skills are like) so that I could direct us to Ubud which was inland for about 60k. Unfortunately this well laid plan was quickly abandoned  when we couldn’t find one sign relating to anywhere we needed to be so back on with the satnav and we were soon speeding out of the congestion and through pretty little villages and passed stunning temples. We read somewhere that Bali has more temples per capita than anywhere, basically there seems to be one temple for each house in every village.

 

Arriving at our new lodgings we were thrilled to see what £13 per night including brekkie gets you!. Huge air-conditioned room, marble floors, dark wood furniture , 4 poster and hot water shower! Again it was set in amongst a temple, stunning!

 

After our usual drill of locking away valuables and securing the bags to something with a cable we headed out to explore. Ubud’s very touristy but with a nice feel, a lovely market selling lots of interesting stuff. Again we searched for long shorts for Glenn, again we failed! But we did manage to exchange our Philippines travel guide for a slightly out of date, well-worn and scribbled on book for Indonesia. Armed with our new guide we felt it was time for a beer and headed for some shade so we could research and plan what we wanted to do in Indonesia.

Indonesia is BIG, quite overwhelming to try and work out what to do and what to miss inside 2 months so we had to have a couple more beers to help us along!. Feeling excited about our adventures and seeing double from the beers we ordered what was to be one of the best meals (Shell not Glenn) to date on our travels. Some fusion lamb thing, Glenn enjoyed his but it was a bit Nuevo Cuisine so he had to have pud!. All came to a princely sum of about £25, a lot for us and well over budget but for the amount of beers, quality of food we were happy!.

 

Fed and watered we then headed off to find the cultural dancing show. Now for those of you that have been following our journey will know that we haven’t had a lot of success with these. Some fella dressed as a peacock in Nepal, and on previous trips, crap puppets, out of tune singers and bored looking dancers is the usual mix. However, Glenn was determined we would see some of the culture we came to Ubud  to find so off we went, with me dragging my heels and moaning behind him.

Tickets purchased (we opted for one with fire? The man who sold us the tickets said it was the better of the 2?) we found our way to the venue which was set outside again within the grounds of a huge  temple and after a brief exchange between myself and a fat American sitting behind us who commented on not being able to see due to Glenns size, we settled down to watch the performance.

To be fair it was good!, and that’s not the beer talking!.  No idea what the storyline was but it involved, princes, princesses, devils, a deer, a dragon and what to me looked like a badger, lots of dancing and all accompanied by a big circle of guys doing some really catchy native beat box thing with their voices, brilliant!. The grand finale was some poor old guy walking across burning coconut shells!, brilliant!, well worth the fiver!.

 

That done we headed back to our temple/accommodation to find there was a wedding reception in progress in the grounds of our room. I went off to bed (beers had caught up) but Glenn decided to go and have one final cig outside. Our room, being on the ground floor, right in front of the guests, in his underpants probably wasn’t the best display of responsible tourism J

 

Day 2 – Monkey Phobia

First cows, now monkeys!. Since the attack of the cow back in Sri Lanka Glenn has developed a slight wariness of the 4 legged doe eyed, milk giving creature, opting to cross to the other side of the road rather than risk walking past and getting another headbutt.  It seems we’ve now added Monkeys to the list too since he got chased by one on a beach back in Thailand!.

We had perused the artisans markets and bookshops, dined on their fine cuisine, sampled their beer and watched their traditional dance. This, we felt, was the culture box ticked!. The only other thing to do (other than museums and cooking lessons) was to go to the Monkey Forrest where some old temples were set back in amongst the trees.

I knew Glenn was feeling a little apprehensive when after reading the list of monkey rules at the start of the park I had to drag him over the threshold: don’t feed the monkey, watch your valuables with the monkey, don’t look the monkey in the eye, don’t go near mother and baby, don’t react if they jump on your head! To be honest, I wasn’t really feeling the Monkey forest thing myself much after reading that!

 

We rounded the first corner to find hundreds of them with hawkers clearly ignoring rule number 1: don’t feed, and selling bananas and nuts to unwitting tourists!. After witnessing one jump on a girls head and then use her hair to clamber down, we moved on, FAST!.

 

We managed to negotiate the temples and only had to run in the opposite direction once more when a family of monkeys came charging down the stairs with the two male alfas spitting and screaming at each other. All in all I think we navigated the forest and was out in under 20 minutes!.

Monkey forest done, we headed for a cold drink outside the park and then headed off to walk through the paddy fields and find some calmer surroundings. Either we took a wrong turning or the author of lonely planet has a lot of poetic licence as what we found was a few paddy fields, nothing to write home about and the walk done in about 20 mins!

 

We found a route back (outside of the forest perimeter) and as it was now around mid-day, the heat was awful, we made it back into town and up a steep hill and fell into a café to purchase cold water. Fully quenched we then decided to have a beer J and got chatting to a couple on another table and spent the heat of the day chatting to them and getting their recommendations on where to visit in Bali.

I think it was the heat (or the beer?) but when we left we felt a little dizzy so headed to some nondescript café for food before heading back to our lovely room for the night.

Sanur

Day 1 – Discovering our Local!

A quick note for our loyal readers, we are a bit behind with this blog (possibly alcohol related!!) so you may be confused where we currently are in the world (Currently Java), so if you check the date stamp on the photo’s you will be able to see the actual dates that these blogs relate too.

Despite our slightly dodgy room the included breakfast was possibly the best one we have had on our travels, eggs, toast, fresh fruit, juice and coffee delivered to our doorstep.

After breakfast we headed out to explore the area and do a bit of shopping (in search of some elusive shorts for me and a 2^nd hand travel book on Indonesia).  The area had the feel of a low key holiday resort during low season but seemed quite nice.  We walked round for quite a while without much success apart from picking up an Indonesian SIMM card, but it was becoming very hot so we thought we would take refuge in a funky looking reggae bar and get a cold beer.

 

Well it continued to be hot all afternoon if you get my drift, but we did manage to achieve something.  On the wall next to the bar there was an advert for a pretty decent looking hotel 50 metres down the alley, so we thought we would check it out.  When we got there we found a beautiful boutique hotel that had four large air-conditioned rooms around a small private pool and gardens, it was at £22 a night, above budget but we thought we would treat ourselves to two nights there (these rooms would cost us £150+ back home).

 

We then went back to the reggae bar for a couple more drinks to celebrate before heading to find the beach.  The beach was OK but not mind-blowing (having been spoilt in The Philippines), but we did find a number of basic beach restaurants so we stopped to have our evening meal there.  The food we ordered included a nice do-it-yourself satay where you had hot charcoal in a section of bamboo with skewer’s cooking on top delivered to your table.

 

Having spent most of the day in a bar we headed back to our basic hotel for one more there before our upgrade the following day.

Day 2 – Luxury  

We got up fairly early and enjoyed another great breakfast before packing and checking out.  It was time for our upgrade so we wheeled our luggage down the road and were happy to find that our room was vacant and we could check into our boutique room early (10am!).

 

Having unpacked we thought we would take advantage of the fact we had a fridge in our room, so went up the road to the supermarket and stocked up on beer, canned iced coffee, water and snacks for the room.

For the rest of the morning/early afternoon we chilled out, swam in the pool and caught up on some hand washing in our nice shower (the room had individual drying racks, so meant I did not have to turn my underwear inside out!).

 

Getting hungry we then headed out for some food and being very indecisive we eventually found ourselves in a sports bar of all places where we just settled on a burger and chips (Glenn) and some spring rolls (Shell) and a couple of Bingtangs.

We had decided that trying to schlep around Bali by public transport was going to be a bit of a ball ache so we would hire a car for the next 6 days (despite reservations of the locals and the fact we had been told we would be better off with a driver!), so on our way back to the hotel from lunch we managed to negotiate a hire car for £5 a day! (Shell not Glenn)

For the rest of the afternoon we took advantage of our new found home comforts before heading out in the evening. 

 

We had passed a bar that had advertised live music on our way back from lunch so we headed there to check it out.  Once there the band weren’t on yet so we settled into some seats and overheard our neighbours asking each other a question which Shell answered for them, not realising that a pub quiz was going on.  So we ended up helping this struggling this duo until the quiz finished (they ended up plumb last – so we were not that helpful!!!).

After the quiz the band came on, it was quite a large band and we were hopeful but they ended up being the worst cover band we have heard on our travels.  We chanced another number but after totally crucifying a Bon Jovi number (I can talk!!!), we thought we would preserve our eardrums and retreat back to the reggae bar.

Back at the reggae bar we found that they also had some live music on in the form of a singer with an acoustic guitar.  He was marginally better doing some country stuff and standards, the only irritating thing was halfway through songs his would start doing this quacking thing (his own style I guess) instead of singing.  Anyway we had a few beers and put up with it for an hour or so before retiring back to our room and the film, Scarface, which was showing on the TV. This is the life!

Day 3 – Driving around the area!

The first rules of driving in Indonesia are that there are no rules, which we was about to find out, on our first outing. Heres how it works:

1.       It’s perfectly OK to go either way round a roundabout

2.       You are allowed to both overtake and undertake

3.       There is no fast lane or slow lane on a dual carriageway

4.       If someone flashes their lights at you at a junction its not to give you right of way its to say they are coming through with no quarter given

5.       You can just pull over without indicating

6.       All lorries must drive at 5mph

After breakfast (which incidentally wasn’t as good as the budget accommodation) the man turned up with our hire car and to be fair it was a decent motor, some Toyota 4x4/car hybrid number and soon we were back on the road heading for a beach that we had heard about.

 

Well the good news was that after 5 months I had not forgotten how to drive, the only problem is that everyone else on the road had (see notes above).  It was quite worrying as there were hundreds of mopeds buzzing all around you and they would undertake/overtake you and then pull straight in front of you afterwards, it made me very nervous to move the steering wheel either left or right, having to triple check before doing so.

After a while I just had to ignore it and just concentrate on what I was doing and after filling up at a petrol station (hoping the right fuel was put in) and ½ hour later we were at a toll station which led to about a mile of fly-over/bridge over the sea which was quite interesting.  A few more miles after that we reached our destination and parked up.

The area we were in appeared to have been specifically set up for package holidaymakers that did not leave the resorts, all polished gardens and flashy hotels (It reminded us of Vilamoura), but it did have some nice beaches.

 

We took a walk around for a while and checked out a statue in a park before finding a resort with a beach bar where we took a rest (and had sprite, not beer!).  There were some half decent waves here so we sat, had our drinks and watched the surfers for a while before heading off again.

 

Our next stop we thought was going to be Kuta beach which we heard was a pretty lively/funky area and after following a few signs we then did not see any more so we drove around for a bit and came up to signs for Legian beach which was a bit further along but apparently had a similar vibe.  When we got there we crawled along in the traffic until we spotted a parking lot and parked up.

Legian was a resort with a younger feel to it with plenty of bars and shops, but still not really our type of thing.  However we decided to check out the shops on the main drag in search of some shorts as they had a few surf shops there, but still had no joy (I am fussy!!).

We then turned our attention to trying to find the beach and after a few narrow streets we found ourselves in a bar where we got speaking to some Ex-Pat Scottish guys from Australia, who gave Shell some pointers about local tobacco.

After a quick refreshment we then continued to the beach which was a long expanse of white sand with some good surf on it.  So we sat there for around half an hour watching the surfers and others before thinking we should head back before it got dark.

 

The way back wasn’t as simple as I thought and we soon found ourselves lost yet again, luckily enough the local SIMM we had came into its own and we used the SatNav on Shell’s phone to get us back.  Only one error was SatNav showed we had to do a U-turn at a designated turning point on a very busy dual carriageway – which is where I found that flashing headlights do not mean ‘After You’ – a matter of inches from disaster!!

Happy to have made it through one day in the car we then parked up at the hotel and decided to visit our local for one last time for dinner and some drinks (quite a few drinks to calm my nerves).

Whilst drinking we got talking to a couple from the UK in their 30’s? who were getting married on the beach out there later in the weekend.  We chatted with them for a while and they were very nice but she was a bit mutton dressed as lamb (Bitch!!) and when she told us she was getting very long blonde hair braids for her wedding day we balked a bit, seeing our doubt she then proceeded to show us a picture of when she had it done before (Classy!!!!) and now Shell’s nose is about a foot longer (I said nothing!).

When the bar shut it was time to go home, but not before one last midnight dip (well we had to make the most of it) before going to bed.

Getting to Indonesia (Bali)

Travel Day

Moving on again today but we did not have to get our flight until the afternoon so had a bit of a lie in.  Once up I went outside to have a ciggie and nearly sat on a large gecko which scared the life out of me when it ran from the impending impact with my bottom.

We had a late breakfast and then had to wait for our lift to the airport.   At midday we were picked up by a tuck tuk which seriously struggled to get up the hills with both of us and our luggage, we thought we may have to get off and push at some points.

An hour or so later we were at the smallest airport we have travelled from so far, it only has three flights a week and involved a bag search rather that a x-ray machine.  When checking in we were informed that as it was a smaller plane therefore we could only have a baggage allowance of 10kg, but once Shell diplomatically told them we were checked into another connecting flight with their airline they agreed not to charge us for our 18kg excess.

Unfortunately we had a two hour delay with very little to do, which wasn’t so bad as we had about a 4 hour transfer window.  Once on board it was an hour flight back to Manilla for our connecting flight to Bali.

We were hoping that Manilla airport would have a decent departure lounge that we could spend the remaining Philippine Pesos at but it had very little and we had to settle on buying a couple of hot dogs to eat and buy some duty free cigarettes..

Our flight to Bali was on time and a direct flight (I thought we were transferring through Kuala Lumpar, so that was a result). Which took about 4 hours and the plane was pretty empty, which meant Shell and I had a row to ourselves each to stretch out in.

On entering the terminal at Desapar (Bali) we had to purchase a voucher for $35 each that gave us the right to obtain an extension to our tourist visa (30 days on British Passport as standard), before we passed through customs.

Picking up a bit of currency at an ATM on the way through we were then met by a car that had been arranged with our hotel and we were now into the 8^th country of our travels.  Our first impressions were slightly negative as all the roads and buildings were all a bit too western to what we had recently been used to (although it was nice not to be shaken about in the back of a car for a change).

Arriving at our accommodation around 2.30am the receptionist had to be roused from her sleep so she could give us the keys to our room.  Our room was quite pokey with very few windows and Shell soon discovered we had some guests it the form of a spider and a cockroach, but you can’t expect that much for £ 10 I suppose.

Shelley's Philippines Round Up

Philippines Island upon Island upon stunning Island

 

Time difference +8 Hours

Exchange rate £1 = Philippines Peso 67

Average Temp 30+

Cost of a beer £ 1.50

We were both really excited about finally visiting the Philippines after all we had read and heard about it and we weren’t to be found wanting! The first thing you notice is how very different it is to the rest of Asia, it almost feels like you are somewhere in South America. No doubt helped by the influence the US has had on the country. English is generally good,’ they call out ‘hey Jo’ as you ride by (to Glenn, not Shell!) their buses (Jeepneys) are made out of reclaimed US vehicles left over from the war, as are their versions of the Tuk Tuk, a side saddle version of the typical Asian standard and decorated to the hilt with pictures of movie stars, named after wives, girlfriends, lovers and bloody brilliant!.

 

The beer is generally Red Horse which gets you off your face very quickly, makes you do and say things you regret and gives you a killer hangover,  or San Miguel, always served with hygienic little hats on the lids made out of serviettes. Food is okay, nothing to write home about…you never hear people saying they went to a great Filipino restaurant at the weekend back home do you?  However the scenery, unspoilt beaches, lagoons, waterfalls, etc is absolutely stunning!

 

Our very first impression of the Philippines was when we landed in Manilla, tired, robbed (of our extortionate return air fair (see prev blog) and then being immediately ripped off by the security/taxi rank to be taken to a rundown hotel in the middle of the Bronx!. The best decision we made in Manilla was to stay in the hotel. Unfortunately poverty, street kids and desperation means that the big city’s are not the safest areas to spend your time in. However the other islands absolutely are!

 

Our second impression was landing in Palawan airport, I wasn’t sure if the plane had taken a detour and we had ended up in Hawaii!, a little homemade dinky airport with wooden signs, pretty Filipino girls singing and offering you leighs (that’s Leighs as in the flowered garland variety!) as you disembarked from the plane, stunning!. Palawan however is set to become the new tourist destination, its currently largely untouched but the level of investment in infrastructure and building means it will soon be a very different place so go visit soon!

 

For me, the Philippines easily trumps Thailand, it still has its own catholic culture, unspoilt and usually deserted beaches, stunning backdrops, amazing marine life and can be difficult to get around which adds excitement to your adventure (hotel booking apps don’t exist outside of the larger islands so you put your trust in the hands of an out of date lonely planted, a  friendly local who will usually direct you to a lodging somewhere, it usually works out, usually!). It’s a shame however that in their quest to get more tourism it seems that they are trying to become like Thailand, particularly in Palawan where we were asked on a number of occasions on how their food, hospitality, lodgings compared.

 

It was also the first country we used up our entire 30 day visa on but it was still no way near enough!. With over 7000 islands and 30 days all we could do was get a glimpse of what it has to offer. Some memorable moments for us include:

1.       Releasing baby turtles back to the wild in Binucot beach, very special as it was unplanned, something the locals were doing and we were allowed to join in. I hope mine survived!

 

2.       Meeting up with Daz and spending the first 2 weeks of our trip with him and having some mad crazy and unforgettable times!

 

3.       Glenn’s face when the taxi driver explained that he had to back the car right up to the ATM in Manila due to ‘unfriendly people’ and slamming the locks on as soon as we got back in!.

4.       My face when another taxi took us through the seedy back streets in Cebu City and I thought we were driving into an ambush (never look at the foreign and commonwealth website, its worse than a Stephen King novel!)

5.       Daryls face when he had his pic taken in the Hobbit Tavern in Boracay!.

 

6.       Rachels face when she saw the beach hut she would be living in for the next 2 days!

7.       Chartering a speedboat with Daz, Rach, Glenn and touring the best bits off El Nido. The first glimpse of the lagoons were breath taking!

 

8.       Dive bombing the Koreans

9.       Romblom Islands in general, incredibly friendly, unspoilt and beautiful!.

10.   That moment when you’ve just been for a swim, then put you mask on, go back in and can see the minefield of porcupines which you myracoulsly managed to previously avoid – A down side of their remote beaches, but one you can adapt too!

11.   Being invited to Easter celebrations with a local family and joining in with the Karaoke, Filipino style!

12.   The hospitality of Mingong and her husband, taking us for a tour of the island on her only day off.

13.   Whale Shark!, Whale Shark Whale Shark

 

14.   That moment when you are 12ft underwater as a novice diver and see blood in your mask!

15.   Our own private sunset party (speaker & booze inc) on a pontoon in Tablas… private till some free divers appeared from nowhere that is!.

16.   Jellyfish sting!

17.   Deserted beach after beach after beach!.

 

18.   Our long journey home on a knackered bike, pitch black, dust and no back light!

 

Top Tips

1.       Avoid big cities if you can, get in and out quickly. Otherwise its safe!, lots of female travellers

2.       Although its costly, If you can take a flight rather than a ferry on longer hall or overnights then do it!.  Their safety standards are still under question with ferries sinking in very recent years and terrorism on the rise again (mainly in the south). Spend the extra few quid if you have it but don’t let it put you off going!... Some guy we met who travelled a lot purchased a tyre inner ring as a substitute life jacket, he’s now invested in a more conventional fold away life jacket for his travels J

3.       Avoid Boracay if you are limited on time, or don’t want to party your socks off. It sucks you in!, we spent far too long there coz we couldn’t work out where we were going next (possibly due to the fog of Red Horse beer!), reminded me of Phuket!.

4.       Go to the Philippines and go soon!, for all of the reasons listed above.