Blogs from Sta Fe, Bantayan, Cebu, Philippines, Asia

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 ... read more

Caught ferry from Bohol to Cebu then bus up to Hagnaya and ferry across to Bantayan. First thing we encountered was the worst bunch of pedicab drivers I have ever seen in Philippines! We told them we were walking to our resort but they followed us for 20 minutes anyway, not a good start. Island was very relaxed after Cebu and we found a great little resort to stay at. Went out one night to local Karaoke Bar and had an awesome time! Did a bike trip around the Island but ot that much to see. Some really good beaches around Santa Fe though.... read more

As hoped in our last blog we've just arrived at the internet cafe directly from the beach. Unfortunately Hannes experienced some problems with his snorkelling mask but we both felt better after a few shakes (coconut, banana/rhum and mango). Not a bad day on the whole. The ferry trip from Manila to Cebu was comfortable but not that exciting. We did, however, finally hear some of the infamous karaoke. The Filipinos were actually quite good at it which in Sweden wouldn't be fair to the audience since they wouldn't have anything to laugh at. In the Philippines the karaoke singer is deeply respected and we've even heard of a german tourist being threatened with a beating for laughing at the performer... When we after 22 hours on the ferry finally arrived in Cebu we quickly found ... read more

I'm just relaxing at Bantayan at the moment. It's low season so there was pretty much just me on the beach for a quite a long time. Unfortunately, the sand wasn't as nice as the picture--it never is. Lots of shell bits. I saw a baby jellyfish. I think it's the first time I've ever seen a jelly fish. It was so small--pretty dark coloured though. I've never seen a jellyfish but I assumed that that is what is was...hm...Anyways, it was all on its own near the shore. Perhaps it was dead. I have no idea. I thought about touching it to see but decided it wasn't worth the risk. Lots of reading done. Just picking any random book off the resort shelf that was in English. Most are German. I find that odd.... read more

Two Weeks in the Philippines: Part III: Bantayan and Cebu City We arrived in Cebu City around 5 p.m., much later that planned, and had to decide whether to stay in the city for the night or try and take a private car up to Bantayan. I knew we wouldn't make it for the last ferry, so either way we would be spending the night someplace other than where we planned. Charito called up one of her friends who lives in Cebu and she said she has a friend who drives to Bantayan all the time, so we called him up and he was at the airport in 10 minutes. It was a larger passenger van, and it had AC so I was happy with it; we had it all to ourselves. Being in the PI ... read more

I almost forgot featuring this... When you visit Bantayan Island, this is one of the most visited spots...whether you're a local tourist, or a foreigner, one could not say that he/she has gone to Bantayan Island if his/her body has not taken a dip into the cool waters of this cave. THe cave is actually situated in the middle of the Ogtong Cave resort which is also owned by Sta Fe Beach Club. It has fresh water inside and it's definitely cold. It stretches to the deepend of the cave and before you even reach the end of it, there will be table-like carved stones and chairs to accomodate tourists who reached that deep.... cool! NOt only that, outside the cave, you will also be able to wander around their garden paradise and even take pictures ... read more