Blogs from Donsol, Sorsogon, Philippines, Asia

Feb 1st – HCMC – Manila – Legazpi – Donsol It’s a true travel day. Flight from HCMC to Manila at 1am, arriving at Manila at 4:30am. I relaxed there for a couple of hours, managed to find a good cinnamon bun (oh the things you miss) – hard to find a good one. I almost missed my flight because I forgot to change my watch. In my defense I got off the plane at 4:30am having 2 hours sleep. I was looking at the departures board and saw “Boarding” for my flight. Given that it was 1 ½ hours before the scheduled time, I was confused but quickly realized my watch was an hour behind. The hour long flight to Legazpi, a small city on the southern region of the main island of Luzon, was ... read more

Not just one sighting. Not just two whale sharks (or butandings, as they are called here). Today is my lucky day. Three whale sharks. Three sightings. Each time, the butanding "stayed" with us at least a full minute before bidding us goodbye with a gentle flip and dive . What an adrenaline rush! You think I'm a diver? To tell you honestly, I am perennially jealous reading about diver-bloggers narrate their undersea adventures. Them seeing the undersea world . The colors. The tranquility of the deep blue sea. The anticipation of meeting and encountering unknown, unnamed species. I never dreamed of doing what they do. Thought I'd never have the nerve. I'd be quite content seeing a few colorful tiny sea creatures with my grandchildren and enjoying a boat ride on a clear, peaceful day. Besides, ... read more

Here we are in 2010. For Paul it started on the 2nd as the 1st was almost entirely spent in bed, as the San Miguel Red Horse is rather strong. For us the Philippines was always going to be about diving and some of the most exciting sharks in the world. Malapascua is one of the few places where Thresher Sharks can be seen near the surface so we took the opportunity ... ... first dive 2 sharks! If you look really closely at the first video you might catch a glimpse (we need some practice with the underwater videography) before Nicola's head and bubbles obscure the view. But it wasn't all about the sharks as we also saw some fantastic Sea-horses and the elusive but stunning Mandarin fish. The rest of our time on Malapascua ... read more

Why oh why do air-conditioned buses always turn the air-con onto full? It’s as if they only have two settings: “off” and “right, let’s make 'em freeze”. The direction vent above your head can’t be turned off, and so you are subjected to an icy breeze throughout your journey. I’m usually sitting there wearing a fleece, and I am used to cold weather. The poor locals sit there wearing blankets and wooly hats. Makes no sense. And the larger long-distance companies insist that you turn up an hour before your journey. Why? It’s a bus for gods sake, not a plane. Also, for some reason, when you arrive an hour before the engine is already running. Gasoline here is expensive, about a dollar a litre. Everyone complains about it. So it makes no sense to leave ... read more

since i am from the bicol province.. i invited my office friends to visit bicol and stay at our place.. they arrived in albay in april 28, morning was rest time. since it was their first time to drive all the way to bicol with only a map on hand, they were travelling at a slow pace in order to get the right route. in the afternoon, the group decided to have some view of the recent typhoon Reming's aftermaths / destructions in Sto. Domingo, Albay. we went to donsol in the morning of april 29. after 2 hours travel from albay to donsol, we finally reached the place.. since it was already 10am when we arrived, we had to wait for our turn.. first, you have to register at the counter (registration office) then watch ... read more