the quieter side of Moalboal

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Notes: Exchange Rate was P40 for $1AUD



Vince says: We have been back home in Brisbane now for about 2 years so decided it was about time to get our butts back overseas as adventure was once again calling us. We knew we wanted to do a big trip in SE Asia in the years to come so weren’t too keen on seeing anything that we knew would feature in this extended trip. So it was actually Suz that came up with the idea of the Philippines. I sound surprised because, well frankly at the time, I was! Suz doesn’t plan, she has no interest in planning, she prefers to fly by the seat of her pants and let me do all the planning, as I love it! So for her to come up with this was something else. And what a great idea. We knew very little about the Philippines, and it seems so does anyone else. Every time we mentioned to someone that we were heading to the Philippines over Christmas and New Years the common response would be “why the hell would you want to go to the Philippines and what are you going to do there for 4 weeks??” It was a valid question we thought. So we (or I) did some research and was really surprised by what I found. The Philippines has so many thousands of islands, where do I start and where do we go? We knew we had 4 weeks to spare for the holiday and that we wanted to escape to the coast, being the beach people that we are. So after reading some blogs and the trusty LP, the Visayas cluster of islands seemed the perfect choice. Palawan was also high on the to do list, however we decided against Palawan simply because it sounded a little harder to travel to and around, and we only had limited time on this holiday so we didn’t want to spend it travelling.



Our rough plan was simply to fly to Cebu via Singapore and Manila, book our first few nights’ accommodation on the island of Cebu and wing it from there. We also wanted to fit in some shopping on this trip but were a bit worried about Manila as we had heard and read some concerning stories about tourist safety. We thus decided to book a few nights at Hong Kong towards the end of the trip as we have always wanted to see Hong Kong and were at one stage contemplating a move there. And so the plan was hatched, we would spend about 3 weeks in the Philippines, spending New Years at Boracay, and then fly to Hong Kong for some shopping, and return via Manila and Singapore back home.



Our first two days of travel were a CAR-PLANE-PLANE-TAXI-PLANE-TAXI-WALK-BUS-TRICYCLE combination. We spent one night in Cebu city itself as we arrived at midnight and didn’t fancy trying to get down to Moalboal at all hours of the night. We stayed in a small guesthouse called Palazzo Pensionne as close to the bus station as we could. We didn’t intend in sticking around in Cebu longer than we had to as there didn’t seem to be a lot to keep us around in terms of sights and entertainment, plus we were just hanging out for the beach.



The next morning we were fed what we think was SPAM for breakfast and then walked the 2kms to the bus station, and was instantly gobsmacked by the extreme heat and humidity that the morning sun had brought. The couple of things we also noticed were the amount of beggars and child beggars, every second person seemed to hold out there hand to us. And the other were the tub thumping tunes blaring out of neon lit half jeep half bus public transport called Jeepneys. These things were cool, and each with their own personality. We arrived at the bus station and it didn’t take too long for out backpacking mentality to kick in and our keen sense of independent travel to guide us to where we needed to be, and onto the right public bus, heading south to Moalboal. The bus was a little cramped but comfortable enough and we were lucky to jag an air conditioned bus for this 3 hour trip. When we arrived at Moalboal we were instantly getting accosted by the myriad of tricycle drivers. This is where the bargaining skills needed to kick back into gear. We managed to get the drivers down from P150 to P60 for the drive from Moalboal city out to White beach, the quieter part of Moalboal. We also bought a packet of chips P14 and a bottle of water P7.



When we arrived at White Beach (Club Serena Resort), our room wasn’t quite ready yet so we chilled out at the restaurant and ate BBQ pork, teriyaki chicken and rice for around P200 per meal, and sank 2 san Miguel’s for P60 each. Our private room was very nice and had all the luxury trimmings and a nice ensuite. We were more so flashpacking than backpacking on this trip as we wanted to travel independently, but in some degree of comfort. It was a holiday after all! That night we had dinner at the resort and sang Christmas Carols with some cute local kids who all spoke amazing English. The Filipino community is majority Christian, so it was nice to be in SE Asia but still able to celebrate Xmas. We taught the local kids how to say G’day Mate which they all thought was hilarious, and everytime they saw us from that day onwards they would yell out “G’day Mate!!” like little parrots. These kids were all around 12 years old, but compared to Aussie kids, they all looked around 5 or 6 years old, all so small.



The next day we did some snorkelling straight off the beach front. It was brilliant snorkelling, with a shear underwater wall drop off about 30m off the shore. We saw plenty of corals and fish and also a striped sea snake. The rest of the day was nice and lazy with some sunbaking and listening to our iPods, really just trying to wind down. We watched the sunset from the comfy day beds they had set up overlooking the beach. One note is that the food really hasn’t been quite up to scratch so far, or more so I guess not really what we were expecting. We seriously couldn’t tell you what the national dish is as it seems they alter the menu to cater to Westerners, and try to mimic Western foods, which is a bit of a shame. They also have loads of sugar in their food; everything seems to be very sweet. Suz’ hot chocolate was like liquid melted chocolate bars, nice but sickly.



We awoke on the 20^th to learn of a massive typhoon hitting Mindanao and Dumaguete City just three to four days ago. The typhoon has so far killed an estimated 500 people. We didn’t hear of this before we left Oz, probably just as well or we may have second guessed the safety of our trip. And our next stop was to be Dumaguete, Siquijor, or Sipilay, however now perhaps it is smarter for us to start heading North instead of South to the affected areas. This is the benefit of not having booked any further accommodation. We spent the morning researching where to go next, had some light brekkie at the resort then took a tricycle into the city of Panagsama. This is where most of the tourists that visit Moalboal end up staying, so is a little busier, however is also more set up for travellers and has more shops and variety of restaurants. We had a more full hearty breakfast at an LP recommended place called the last filling station, and it was very nice. We took a stroll around the area which was quite nice but the beaches are rocky and thus have nothing on the chalky sand of White Beach, so glad we decided to stay there instead. Next we took a P10 local bus out to Badian and then a local open aired minivan on to Kawasan falls for another P10. The locals are all crammed in, which is okay for them as they are all quite small. But for poor 6 foot Vince, he was seriously crammed and looked like a behemoth next to all of the Filipinos. He had to crane his next as his head was touching the roof, quite funny. The locals had a great time asking us about our home country, it was a nice experience.



The water at Kawasan was beautiful turquoise and nice and cool and refreshing. It’s just a shame about the locals taking advantage of the hordes of tourists by setting up shop after shop and charging P300 for tables to sit at. It took away from the serenity and beauty of the place. We managed to avoid the mayhem in our photos, although may or may not have photo shopped a couple of people out of the background. So we did the backpacker thing and just parked our butts on the small bridge for free. Vince then used the toilet and as I walked out a guy bailed me up and asked for P5. My reply was sorry mate no sign, no pay! Now P5 is not a lot I know, in fact it is around 15 cents, but I knew I was being scammed by this bloke, so it’s the principle of it. If there was a sign and someone asked me before I went in, I would have been glad to pay, but I hate being scammed into forking out cash. We got back to Panagsama and had a beer at the last filling station then moved onto Hannah’s place overlooking the water for a screw driver and a pina colada. We renamed the former the spew driver, it was horrible! We watched another gorgeous sunset from their balcony and got sung some more Xmas carols from the local kids. We triked it back to White beach just before Dusk.



We learnt 2 very important lessons on that day. First to always have emergency snacks in your bag to tame the hangriness that is sure to come out after hours of going without food, and getting a little stroppy at one another. The second is to in future pack a device that has internet access. There is Wi-Fi everywhere, but it is near impossible to find internet cafes, Next time we will be bringing a laptop or iPad for sure! Just makes life so much easier.



The next day was our last full day at White Beach, we kitted up early for 2 dives at Pescador Island. The dives were very relaxing and the underwater life was amazing. We saw sea turtles, lionfish, yellow box fish, massive schools of sardines and jack fish, needle fish, and a frogfish (freakishly ugly creatures). The boat trip back was rough, but luckily Vince had taken his sea sick tablets, which worked a treat. We also wish we had taken a waterproof camera with us, even just for the boat trip. In the evening we did our first load of “Chinese Laundry”. Any backpacker would understand and know the physical strain and hardship of this chore. It was hot and sweaty work. Tomorrow is Suz’s birthday. We have decided to take a risk that the Typhoon hasn’t left too much destruction and chaos to the local transport and keep moving South onwards to Dumaguete and then over to the island of Siquijor. The news seems to be that the main damage is further south to the island of Mindanao, and also to rural Dumaguete.

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Photos

contents of backpacks
can't recommend packing cubes highly enough!! They are a backpacking must

35L packs
we travelled light with only 35L carry ons for the 4 week journey. We will be travelling the same way always, in future

giant filipino ghekko
they are mutating and invading the world!

chinese laundry duty
not fun, but necessary