Category: Philippines

July 10, 2007 Andy 0 Comments

This, I’m afraid, is a bit of a half hearted attempt at a post. Sitting in the cold in Sydney it is hard to think back to what the 35 degree tropical islands of the Philippines were really like. In fact the last place we stayed at, Panglao Island, was much like the other places we visited in the Philippines. Beautiful soft white sand, coral reefs off the beach, expensive package holiday resorts and distinctly German menus in the restaurants (not a bad thing in itself but while in the Philippines it would make sense to eat Filipino food thus…

July 9, 2007 Andy 1 Comments

I’ve been too busy doing pretty much nothing over the last week to bother posting anything here. Met up with some familiar faces though, which was nice. I might get round to posting something about that this week. For the time being here is my June Photo… Sunset over Coron Town, Philippines.

June 27, 2007 Andy 2 Comments

You’re sat in the office on a dull afternoon reading this immensely interesting blog and quietly wondering to yourself, how can he afford all this? This round the world trip has been a long term plan of mine ever since uni when Jon and I said we would travel once we graduated. Well that didn’t happen due to money and the fact that I was enjoying Spain too much when Jon did set off. For this trip Espe and I had been saving for about a year, helped out by a pay rise (and an unexpected bonus a month before…

June 26, 2007 Andy 0 Comments

Our long journey from Coron to Malapascua got worse after the two flights and 10 hour wait in the cramped ill equipped Manila domestic terminal. After an overnight stay in Cebu we boarded a bus bound for the closest port to Malapacua island to be told that we were lucky, we had a “very good driver, very fast”. Not two things that necessarily go together in my mind. The guy had a heavy right foot, full throttle or full braking was all he knew. Add to that the constant swerving in and out of traffic to overtake regardless of oncoming…

June 25, 2007 Andy 0 Comments

Once again we found ourselves in a situation whereby we were uncertain on how to move onwards. Our plan was to move south to El Nido on Palawan for a few days and then go over land to Puerto Princessa followed by a ship over to Cebu. The problem we encountered was finding anyone who could give us reliable information about getting to El Nido. After loads of faffing about we came to the conclusion that to travel in the Philippines you need either lots of time or lots of money. There were ship / boat connections to various locations…

June 24, 2007 Andy 1 Comments

I’m standing on the back of a Bangka (Filipino style outrigger boat), San Miguel in hand, watching the sun reflect off the beautiful clear blue water. We are passing by the limestone cliffs of Coron Island to my right with the bizarre rolling Windows wallpaper type hills of Busuanga Island to my left. I wonder how two such topographically different islands lie side by side. After visiting as many “tropical paradise” islands as we have over the last three months they do start to lose their impact but standing back enjoying every sip of my San Miguel, the beauty of…

June 23, 2007 Andy 0 Comments

Our planning of where we go and when is somewhere between long term and last minute. Usually I have a fair idea of the places I’d like to go to before we get there. This is reinforced with a good reading of the Rough Guide shortly before entering the country combined with tips and recommendations we’ve picked up on the way. The Philippines was different. The routine of reading up about the country in advance was thrown by the fact we were still reading about Singapore and were too busy shopping to brush up on Philippines knowledge. That combined with…

June 17, 2007 Andy 1 Comments

After enduring a five hour bus journey from Manila to Batangas in the Independance Day “Bank holiday weekend” traffic (the driving standards here are second only to India’s, and that is not a good thing) we found ourselves on a “Banca” outrigger boat crossing over to the Island of Mindoro. Spotting dolphins on the crossing well and truly made up for the hellish bus journey. My first impressions of Sabang beach in Puerto Galera were not good. Concrete right up to the shore, loads of seaweed, expensive accommodation crammed into every available space, go go bars and a much older…