Day 31 - 48 Boracay to Dumaguete and Back

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Well its been a long time since my last blog. Apologies.


Myself and my new companion left Manila, and headed to Boracay for a week. The Island of Boracay is small but somewhat understated as it turns out to be an epicentre of tourist activity. However, despite the offers of Kite Surfing, Scuba Diving, Snorkling, boat trips, island hopping, Jet skis and ATVs we found little else but the Beach - which is incredible, gold/white sand and clear water - and drinking at night. But in fairness we wanted little else and due to the extreme tourist nature of the island the prices of the activites are expensive. The Padi Open Water course is 'regulated' across the island to be atleast 20,000php = 300GBP. And we had also heard mixed reports to the quality of the dives. Our first week on the island flew by, and we met a whole host of interesting and wonderful characters, and included me meeting an 'old' friend from Hong Kong, although I only really met him once before and that was brief, but I caught up with Ben, Australian Ben. Such an unbelievable guy, Ben had stayed on the island after his 4 friends had returned to Oz, and was the king of the place. Most people knew him and even to the extent where a local band ask him to go on stage and sing on occasion. That was quiet a night; sat back having a few beers, taking it easy then, "Ben! Where's Ben, get up here man"... Ben duely got up, grabbed the mic and let rip a thrilling version of Yellow by Coldplay. Aaron and I were amazed. As I said, we did little else by sunbathe and drink, and the week flew by.

I had originally planned to fly from Kalibo (Boracay's nearest opperating airport) to Cebu for a couple of days then fly on to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysian Borneo. After many discussions with my travelling buddy Aaron I ditched my flight to Cebu and cancelled my connection to KK. We left Boracay and headed over land and see to Iloilo City, then caught a ferry to Bacolod, and then a Bus down to Sippalay. Having left at 08:00 Wednesday 9th Dec, we arrived in Sipp at 23:30. The town is empty, and had nothing to offer us. We awoke pretty early Thursday had breakfast and decided to get out of there. We had to catch three buses to get from the West of Negros Island to the East and Dumaguete. However this was one of the better bus rides that I have experienced in the Philippines, and even enjoyed one as we cruised along the coast line, water to the right and trees to the left. The bus wasn't airconditioned but it didn't matter the open windows provided clean sea air and it was very refreshing.

Once in Dumaguete we headed to a Lonely Planet reconmended hostel, Harold's Mansion. A pretty cool place in a town that is supposed to have a good night life, but only really has one corner offering a couple of good restaurants and two bars... although the city has a few other girly bars but they certainly weren't on my agenda. In Duma, me and Aaron met a couple of other guys, Eric another Canadadian, Luke a giant white Kiwi, Bob and Dirk two crazy Dutches, and Marie-eve from Switzerland and Camilla from France/Germany. The first night just me and Aaron headed out for dinner and a couple of drinks, but as it was a Thursday there wasn't much happening. It was only Friday morning that we sat around for breakfast and met the others, and arranged to hit the town again that night. Friday night had more to offer then Thursday, and there was some genuine atmosphere. We ended up in a club around the corner from Hiya-Hiya, although I can't remember its name, and they had a strange Drum and DJ combination going on. I seemed to be the only one not greatly impressed with them. Although the music was good they both drowned the other out. The drums at times overpowering simple dance tunes, and then the DJ slaping on a 'phat' record which made the drums redundant. This came after a band played at Hiya-Hiya, and I too complained of thier drums being too loud and killing the rest of the act. The lead singers voice didn't have the strength or depth to compete with the noise. Perhaps I am too harsh. Saturday was similar but quieter, and the same club just had what appered to be a long CD or perhaps music chosen from a playlist somewhere, no DJ and no Drums. By Sunday I had cancelled my flight to KK and had extended my Visa beyond the 21 days granted upon entry to the Philippines, 3030php well spent. Aaron and I decided to head with Eric, Bob and Dirk to Bohol Island - highly reconmended to us by Marie-eve and Camilla - and we would make further plans from there. On Monday we headed to Bohol, the only ferry left Duma at 14:30 although in keeping with Philippine time management theories it only left at about 15:30. We arrived in Bohol at about 17:00 I think, then we headed to Nutz Hutz, another strong reconmendation by the European Girls. We arrived at dark, although enroute we had to exit our minivan as it got stuck in mud and had to walk in the dark on a muddy track before descending numerous stairs, one of which was a home for a hermit crab??? and then we arrived at Nutz Hutz. NH, is kind of hard to describe, whilst for some I'm sure it is the real ideal of backpacking, classic wodden huts with no creature comforts to speak of. A room with a light and a plug socket is the height of its charm. We ate dinner, had a beer or two and then all five of us huddled into one room and watched a film on Erics laptop. However, shortly before the end of the film, something fell/landed on Aarons leg and it freaked me out to the point where I hardly slept a wink. I cacooned myself in my bed sheet and attempted to hide and cower from the impending insect and arachnid attacks that were sure to come. we had all decided before this point to leave NH the following morning, and Eric promised to catch up with the girls and give them a piece of his mind for reconmending such a hellhole.

We left in the morning, and headed downt he river (back door to NH), which would take us to the local town of Loboc. From Loboc we would catch the bus to see the Chocolate Hills. The bus arrived shortly after we did, but it was rammed full of locals. The 'conductor' pointed at the roof, and up we climbed. Five guys and five large bags took refuge on the roof of the bus as it motored along, tree branches threatened to slap us, while low electrical cables threatened to decappatate or electricute us!! But all in all, it was perhaps the highlight of the day, which got even better when two Philippinas joined us, one lady boy and one homosexual guy. Their shrieks and shrills as we passed the branches and wires kept us laughing for most of the journey. We got to the chocolate hills, and payed a local minivan 20php each to take us to the top, which is only a very short walk and anyone can do it with ease. Once at the peak we could see the little hills, and they are pretty nice to look at, but the length of time it took to get there made the Hills unapreciated. From the Hills he headed to Alone beach on the southwest of the island which is supposed to be somekind of mini-Boracay but I'd say anyone with that opinion is disalusioned. The beach is quiet nice and there is small selection of bars and restaurants. However, the island is too expensive and although the boys did some diving it was lacking in real activity for me. We spent three nights in alona, and the second day for me and Aaron was spent working out our next move. Back to Boracay (via Cebu). In the morning we found flights from Cebu to Kalibo for 1,500php, but decided to wait for the boys to concur. By they time they returned from their dives the prices were 3,000php, and climbing every half hour. We couldn't get 5 seats on the same plane, so Dirk and Bob headed direct from Cebu, and Eric, Aaron and I went via Manila. We left Alona beach and Bohol as early as we could and got a boat to Cebu on Dec 15th, spent one pretty quiet night in Cebu and then flew to Kalibo and Boracay for December 17th.

Back in Boracay we found the cheapest accomedation we could which was actually pretty good. Aaron and I shared a room with for 700php the first few nights, before movning to a slightly smaller room with a double and single bed for 850php, although this was peak season, and we were told a family of four were paying a total of 2,500php per night. We returned to our similar routine of breakfast/brunch/lunch at Nigi Nigis, hit the beach, home to change for dinner, then hit the bars at night. We managed to find and meet up with Marie-Eve and Camilla, and Eric true to his word gave them a piece of his mind!! They were only one the island a few nights, as were Bob and Dirk that were Taipai bound on Sunday. The next week and half were spent sunbatheing and drinking again.

It quickly became boring for me, and after a stagnant Christmas eve, I decided I'd had enough of Boracay. Christmas day breakfast at Nigi Nigi's I booked my flight to Kota Kinabalu again, and planned to leave December 28th. Christmas dinner was spent with Eric, Aaron and Claire, an English girl doing a Kite Surfing course. We sat on the beach and ate Pizza. Merry Bloody Christmas! The next couple of days passed quickly and then Yesterday morning, I grabbed my stuff, said goodbye to Aaron and Eric and I was on my way, solo for the first time since Manila in early Dec, and headed to Kalibo then flew to Manila and finally on to Kota Kinabalu and Malaysian Borneo, where I am now, and planning the next couple of weeks.


I must add tha sadly due to drunken behavious and foolish thinking a number of my personal items were stolen in Boracay, and even due to the bloody stirling work of the Police there they couldn't find a suspect as he wasn't waiting outside the copshop to be repremanded. So, at present I don't have a camera or pictures to post.

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