Bantayan Island

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All went well with my 1 hour flight from Palawan to Cebu 11 days ago, and no problems getting a metered taxi from the airport to my hotel in the city centre. I must say that Cebu City is not the prettiest city I have ever seen. There seems to be a fair bit of poverty around and quite a few shady characters. For the first time in the 10 months of my latest trip I had a couple of guys on 2 seperate occasions within 30 minutes trying to get close enough to me waiting for a chance to pickpocket me. On my second day in the city I decided to go to the Ayala Shopping Center with Phil, a guy staying at my hotel. I spent the afternoon having a look around the impressive mall and enjoying a couple of lates overlooking the outside courtyard.

The next day I caught a taxi to the north bus terminal where I caught a bus to Hagnaya, the jumping off point to Bantayan Island. The bus took about 3 and a half hours and then I hopped on the ferry for the hour and a bit trip to the island. Once on the island I caught a short bicycle trike ride to Sante Fe where I found a very nice room for $19 a night. Sante Fe is a very laid back place with a few guesthouses, resorts, and tourist restaurants scattered around. The town itself is surrounded by some nice beaches all within a couple of minutes walk.

The first few days here I did very little due to being stung just under the eye by some insect. It swelled up quite quickly so I headed to the clinic to get looked at went back to the hotel with some creme and anti-histamines. I got a bit worried when overnight it seemed to get worse so I headed off to the hospital up the road in Bantayan and they prescribed some antibiotics to take. Whilst out the front of the hotel one day I ran into about 20 guys all dressed in army gear with guns who were off to play in a tournament of Airsoft, a bit like paintball but with plastic balls instead. They were off to play in some coconut groves down the road and after that they hopped into some pump boats which I assumed would head to one of the islands for the next round. It looked like it would be a lot of fun.

After a few days the swelling went down so I hired a motorbike one afternoon and headed to the hotel receptionists' house about 20 minutes from town to see her house, have a chat with her Swiss husband, and take a few photos of the lovely sunset. The following day I rode to Madridejos at the far north of the island to have a walk around a small fort and to see some of the island. Whilst on the end of the pier I came across a school group of boys, had a chat with them and took a few photos before getting back on the bike and heading to some mangroves on the other side of Bantayan. For 50 cents you can have a walk along a short bamboo bridge that they have built within the mangroves. It was a nice peaceful spot and a good place to take some photos. After that I returned to Sante Fe to drop off the bike and get back into my aircon room to cool down.

The next morning I hired a basketball off one of the young trike riders and played for a couple of hours with some of the kids. By the time we stopped my tshirt and shorts were covered in sweat. In the afternoon I took a trike to Ogtong Resort where I paid a couple of dollars to use their pool and have a look around the place. I just relaxed for a few hours and felt like a rich tourist for once. That evening the young trike rider took me to his village where they were playing a couple of competitive games of basketball under lights. I found the experience fantastic, with dirt court with drawn in keys and 3 point lines, surrounded by banana trees and coconut palms, most of the villagers watching, and even commentary of the games on loudspeaker. Seeing I was the only white person around I got a lot of stares, but was very welcomed and offered one of the few plastic chairs to sit on. At half time when I got up to have a few shots at the basket I felt very nervous with about a hundred people looking at me and even the commentator making a few remarks over the loudspeaker about me. I think I hit only one shot in 6 and even shot an airball, very embarrassing. I just wish I had my camera with me.

By the time I leave tomorrow for the island of Negros I will have spent 9 very relaxing days here. They have some nice beaches, a good sized island to ride around, and friendly locals. I can see why quite a few foreigners live here.

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