Blogs from Philippines, Asia - page 4

Day 6 Another early morning..ah.. a buffet breakfast before heading off on our tour for the day. We had originally booked the Reef and Wreck tour as we were keen to snorkel over the top of WW2 shipwrecks but unfortunately it was cancelled due to the weather. It looked like blue skies with dotted clouds but apparently the direction of the tour was in was forecasted torrential rain. I was really dissapointed, this tour was the only reason why we went to Coron, but you cant control the weather. We went on the Coron Island Tour instead. Our tour guide, Dalton, provided a lot of information including history, tips and was great in getting tour guests to get to know each other. He told us by the end of the tour we would be like family. ... read more

Day 4 Up earlish for our island hopping tour, we had picked Tour A. We were told pick up would be between 8 and 9 so we went down for breakfast early. We weren't picked up until after 9.30 and were getting worried that they had forgotten us. We went by tricycle, which is a motorbike with a sidecar extension that could fit families, although not sure how, it fit us sitting opposite each other comfortably but i had seen a family of 5 in it plus the driver. It will cost you in El Nido 150 pesos ($4.20AUD) Many of the streets in El Nido are narrow and vans could not fit down them, pot holes were everywhere so the ride was bumpy. We passed lots of small stores, there seemed to be a store ... read more

Day 2 We had complimentary breakfast and needed to be there before 9am, so had set an earlish alarm. The buffet consisted of rice, noodles, deep fried sweet hotdogs, fried eggs and a slightly spicy dish and mushroom soup... it was good. A swim in the rooftop pool for an hour felt like we were officially on vacation. The weather was a balmy 32 degrees, slightly humid but exactly what we wanted. Packing our suitcase back up (We travel lightly, 17kg suitcase between us plus carry on) and we got a Grab to the airport. Air Asia asked us to check in 2 hours before and over an hour of that was spent in line for the bag drop. A quick lunch of sweet doughy buns filled with pork and a donut kept us saited. Our ... read more

I can feel it so vividly, the feeling of new adventure on the open road. After an amazing time in Mindanao and around Mount Apo, I had met some really cool people and almost extended my time there. So tempting, much more to explore and I will be back. I stuck to my original vision though, woke up in my funky art hotel in Davao, tossed down some instant Indonesian coffee and walked out to the main street. It was about 8AM but starting to get warm already. I was completely comfortable in this city now, it had been rather scary when I first got here over a week ago. That's how it goes, these worries we create in our brain are often unfounded. Ready for new adventure, I hopped in a loud colorful jeepney that ... read more

Jeepney You can find these colorful graffiti-splashed Jeepneys in every town and city! It’s a form of local public transportation. Jeepney is something like a small minibus mixed with a Jeep. Believe it or not, an incredible amount of people can squeeze in one Jeepney. Or not just IN, even on the roof! There are no paper tickets. You simply pass the money to the passenger next to you and he or she passes it again and again until money reaches the driver. If you don’t have an exact amount, the driver passes you your change the same way back. The journey within 5 km will cost you 0,15 $. Tricycle The whole Luzon island in Northern Philippines is full of Tricycles everywhere. Tricycle or so-called “trike” is the most common transportation in the northern Philippines. ... read more