18.01.09 - We went incredibly out of our way to get to Sinulog festival, flying out of PP to get there and booking ridiculously overpriced accommodation because there was literally almost nowhere to stay when we phoned up (which was a week before). We had a day when we arrived there but mostly spent it chilling out in the Days Inn Hotel watching cable and ordering room service. I'd never done that before but it wasn't as exciting as I'd thought. I imagined they'd wheel in some kind of food trolley and leave it there to keep your food all in [View Full Entry]

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18.01.09 - El Nido is to me what the Philippines is known for. Beautiful beaches, great seafood, as yet unruined by high rise developments. We only spent two and a half days in El Nido, though I wish it had been longer. During that time we discovered that most of the accommodation was pretty pricey and bad value. We stayed somewhere that was not pricey but still represented bad value, in my opinion, just outside of town. Our first evening was spent eating seafood right on the beach, surrounded by torches, sipping coconut juice straight from the coconut. It felt like [View Full Entry]

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16.01.09 - Once in Manila we'd planned to head to Donsol, but the flights were too expensive so we headed to Puerto Princesa (using the rather wonderful Cebu Pacific, without whom it would have been a nightmare getting around the Philippines). We checked into the House of Rose, as the fan dorm was far cheaper than anything else we could find in PP. The first day we spent walking around the city, which was nice enough, and along the coast line. The second day we had booked a trip to see the Underground River, billed as one of the Phillipines'leading tourist [View Full Entry]

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13.01.09 - The final, most entertaining part of our three day journey was on our final day from Bontoc. We took a bus and were told we would have to change buses at the washout, which I found strange. I should have put two and two together. The washout is a spot where the road is literally washed out by the rains, leaving a red mud mess in its wake. It was quite entertaining to plough through the mud to our next bus, and fortunately a Filipino lent me a hand to get across. Once in Banaue, we checked in at [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Vigan midday and were unceremoniously dumped into the middle of the road. Right. Vigan hosts an unusual form of transport, horse and carriages (called calesas). We hopped in one with our bags and headed off to the overpriced and underwhelming Gordion Inn, where he fortunately only stayed one night. The horses in Vigan all look on their last legs. Between us and our bags I think we may have finished ours off! We didn't do much the first day. Vigan had the look of a city that would have been very beautiful and atmospheric were it not for [View Full Entry]

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Fed up of Manila, we had escaped to the quieter city of Laoag. Don't get me wrong though, Laoag was still a jeepney and tricycle filled jungle where you must have 360 degree vision before stepping anywhere near a road. We stayed in the charming Hotel Tiffany, where pastel blues and pinks were the order of the day. Again though, I was surprised by how expensive the Philippines was, especially in this not much touristed part in the far north. We spent a few days looking around the area. We took in Paoay church, with its massive buttress foundations. It clearly [View Full Entry]

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02.01.09 - The journey from L.A. was a bit of a nightmare as we arrived at Singapore at 1.30 in the morning and then had to kill around 11 hours until our flight to Manila. Fortunately the airport is amazing so we were actually awake for most of this time, exploring its many lounges, ponds and shops. Manila. Good God Manila. I really can't think of much positive to say. We got a taxi from the airport. Arrival at hostel of choice - three children were knocking on the window for more money before we even got out of the door. [View Full Entry]

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28.12.08 - After a brief stop via Santiago, where we rushed to the Natural History Museum (a complete joke of a museum filled with stuffed birds and, sadly, imitation rongo rongo script we could have and did see in Easter Island) we arrived in L.A. Cue overpriced taxi. Cue having to tip the taxi driver (Why?!?!?) Cue hotel breakfast of donuts and American Cable TV that was worse than American Cable TV in Peru (and over $25 more expensive). We quickly decided we couldn't afford this and anyway wanted more time in Asia. Therefore our time in LA was mostly spent [View Full Entry]

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To get to Puerto Williams, we took a tiny boat from Ushuaia with Ushuaia Boating. That was an overpriced experience but an experience indeed, with the tiny boat rocketing about and smacking hard into the waves in a manner suggesting we might be flung out at any moment! Finally arriving on Isla Navarino, we then got a transfer to Puerto Williams passing some really beautiful scenery en route. We'd booked into Hostel Pusaki, run by the rather lovely Patty Pusaki who really made us feel at home. Again it was a little expensive, but not as much so as Ushuaia had [View Full Entry]

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When we arrived in Ushuaia, we discovered that it was more overpriced and full of tourists than had been in the case in Chile. I think that is due to Ushuaia being billed as the 'end of the world', which everybody knows it isn't as Puerto Williams in Chile is in fact further south by several kilometres! Still it was a nice place to spend a few days. We spent one afternoon there taking a boat out to a nature reserve where there were thousands of penguins. We took a bus trip out there, stopping in a few places. There was [View Full Entry]

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