Blogs from Cebu, Philippines, Asia - page 11

Baseline Party was indeed the best party I have ever been to so far. It was the wildest and craziest party ever. To those who didn’t go to Sinulog…. Where were you? You’ve just missed the biggest event in the Philippines. The crowd was fun and everyone was friendly. Strangers keep on putting face paint all over your body and the beer was overflowing. People kept throwing beer, hard drinks, and water to the crowd. The party started at 12 noon and ended up at 2 in the morning. The crowd was mostly composed of adults ages 18 to 25 which are mostly Filipinos from Manila and Cebu. There were few foreigners partying at Baseline since it is not much promoted worldwide. The street party event was like the Philippine’s Version of Tomorrowland. I and my ... read more

My year of adventures started with a very popular festival celebrated in Cebu City, Cebu. For the month of January, most Filipinos local to the Visayas region pay tribute to the Santo Niño, the baby Jesus. Different provinces have their own versions for their devotions but Sinulog is known to be the biggest and most visited. Every year, Sinulog draws in millions of visitors for a weekend of culture, food, festivities (and alcohol!) After hearing about this for years, some friends and I decided to finally experience it! It was a perfect break from the busy city. We flew in Friday night (just an hour away from Manila by plane) and went straight to where the celebrations were! Crossroads is a popular strip of bars and restaurants where the locals and visitors (mostly visitors, I think!) ... read more

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 ... read more

What a mission to leave the Nuts Huts! I had the choice of climbing a couple of hundred steps then the 15minute walk to the road with my bags or taking the boat across the river for 10pesos and walking the 1.5km into Loboc and taking the bus from there. I chose the boat and the 1.5km walk as that meant i could stop in Loboc and buy some of the delicious sponge/coconut hot sugar cakes that i discovered the other day when i visited and in the end it always comes down to the food! I was then able to easily catch the bus going to Tagbilaran, although it was abit squashed on the bus it was only for 40mins so it wasnt too bad, the driver wasnt crazy like most Philippino drivers and ... read more

Our final week in the Philippines was spent on Cebu, an island that is part of the 'Visayas' in the middle of the country. But first we briefly stopped over at Bohol, a tiny island next to Cebu that is home to the Philippine tarsier, one of the smallest primates in the world. This was our primary reason for visiting but we incorporated it into a day tour of the island where we also went to see the 'chocolate hills' and a local butterfly sanctuary. We hired a tricycle for the day, complete with a very moody driver! He seemed really nice to begin with but we soon realised he was taking us to the wrong place! We wanted to go to the tarsier centre (a centre dedicated to protecting the tarsier and establishing a breeding ... read more