Philippines

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Cebu City

Well we caught a flight from Hong Kong to Cebu City, Philippines and arrived safely. We landed in the Philippines on April 28th and was granted a 21 day visa upon entry. Once we landed at midnight we jumped in a cab and headed straight to our hostel or pension house as they call them here. Now I thought mexico was a ghetto, it's got nothing on Cebu City!! We arrived at our hostel and was greeted by 2 friendly armed guards that stand out front of the hostel. During the day there is 1 armed guard and this isn't just because it's a hostel, but every shop there has one and even the banks have 3 armed guards all with 12 gauge shotguns and pistols with belts of bullets. It was quite shocking that there are so many armed guards everywhere, but I suppose it's necessary here as there is a lot of crime. At the banks they have a sign out front that tells patrons to leave there firearms with the guards before entering, this just demonstrates how many people carry weapons here. We stayed in Cebu City for 3 days too long, as there was nothing here to see and we didn't feel safe even going out during the day as every guy looks/stares at us like they are going to rob and kill us.

While we were in Cebu we met 2 English lads and a girl from Denmark who were heading to the same island next as us. So on the third day we all caught a ferry from Cebu City to Tagblaran, on an island called Bohol. While on the ferry I got to talking with a Filipino guy who rented a room in a house in Tagblaran and was so kind as to offer to aid us in finding a hotel room. We felt we could trust him as he was extremely cordial and didn't come off as a scamer. Once we got off the ferry we jumped on tricycles (which are motorbikes with a side car attached that can fit 2 people or more if you want to hang on the side or back). We checked several different hotels but everything was booked as it was a holiday weekend. After no luck of finding a place to crash and it now 11pm, Arvin, the Filipino guy offered to let us stay in one of the empty rooms in the house. So we pulled up to the house and Arvin ran in to make sure it was alright with the owner of the house. She seemed delighted to take us in. So we went in dropped our bags in the room, which was a good sized room with no furniture, just a bare wood floor. That was all we needed though, seeing as though we were cramming all 4 of us guys in there. After a quick shower, and by shower I mean pouring water over my head and body with a small bucket that I scooped water out of a bigger bucket, as they didn't have an actual shower. We headed out to a disco with Arvin and the owner of the house. After a debacle of a night, we awoke the next morning around 10am to find out Arvin had cooked up breakfast for us of fresh fish he had caught and rice. I was pretty skeptical about eating the fish as I didn't want to get sick, so I just had a little taste and told Arvin it was delicious but I just wasn't very hungry. We were taken aback though by Arvin and the women's generosity to take us in the night and even by drinks for us in the morning. Arvin had told me the night before that even though he has 2 college degrees and pretty good job working at a hotel, he only makes 8000 peso a month, this is equivalent to about $350CDN!! With this money he has a house in one city, rents a room in Tagblaran and still thoroughly enjoys life. The sad part is, is that just like most Filipino's they have a pipe dream of saving up money and getting a work visa in Canada or the US and get out of the Philippines. I say it's a pipe dream becasue its going to cost Arvin 100,000 peso to an agency to help him apply for the visa and help find him a job, and then another 40,000peso once he gets accepted. 140,000peso is a little hard to save up when you only make 8k a month!! Anyways back to the story at hand, after breakfast we gave the owner of the house 1000peso for letting us stay there, which she was ecstatic to recieve and we said goodbye to the Brits and headed off the Panglao Island, to a little place called Alona Beach.

Alona Beach

After settling into a place in Alona we just relaxed the first day; however we found out that the Ricky Hatton vs Manny Pacquaio fight was the next day. Manny Pacquaio is from the Philippines and is a legend in boxing here, so we were excited to watch the fight along with all the locals. Well the next day we woke up and were at a bar for 9:30am, as this is the advertised time they had for when the prefights started. What they neglected to mention was that is was delayed programming and was on public TV and therefore ended up being 3hrs of commercials. The main even didn't come on until 2:30pm, and by now we had already been in the same bar for 5hrs. After waiting 5 hrs for the fight it ended half way through the second round with a great left hook by Manny Pacquaio to end the fight. It was a fantastic fight and all the locals were going crazy. Needless to say we started drinking at 11:30am and after the fight decided to continue on going through the day and we just hung out at the same bar Trendi's, for a total of 16hrs. hahahha Yes I know we are degenerates!!! We had a great day and got to know the staff and owner pretty well, so it was thoroughly enjoyable. For the next few days we just lounged on the beach and took it easy.

On Friday May 8th after waking up around noon, we went down to the beach and rented snorkeling gear from a dive shop that was owned by an Aussie who gave us a great deal for the half day of 125 peso each (3.5$). So we went out from the beach about 75-100 metres to where the bottom dropped off a bit and we could clearly see all the beautifully colored fish and sea life. The fish didn't seem to care that we were even swimming right beside them, we could of reached out and grabbed them if we wanted. It was basically like swimming with all the characters of finding Nemo LOL it was a lot of fun and very happy we did it even though it was for only a couple of hours. We plan on doing a lot more snorkeling when we're in Boracay.

On Saturday may 9th we rented motorbikes for 400 peso each for 8 hrs. We had never riden a motorbike before, but after a quick 20 minute test ride of the semiautomatic bikes we took off on a day journey to the Chocolate hills on Bohol island, near a town called Carmen. It was a 2hr ride through lush forests and country side winding up the mountains to our final destination. The ride was amazing!! To have the wind blowing in our hair and the sun on our back. At first we were apprehensive about riding the bikes but after about 30 min we were very comfortable and we were soon ripping down the highway keeping up with the rest of traffic and even passing slow drivers LOL Along the way we stopped in a town called Loboc, where we went and saw the Traiser monkeys. There was a place along the road were they had a few in a cage where we could walk in and get right up and close to them. They are the size of your hand with massive bulging eyes. They were extremely cute, I definitely wanted to take one home LOL In another cage they also had 3 Lemas hanging from the roof of the cage. So again we were able to get right underneath them while they slept. After checking out the cute little monkeys we continued on our journey. once we got to the chocolate hills there was a 50peso entrance fee. Once we parked our bikes we made the hike up the 217 stairs to the top observation deck where there was a 360degree view of the hills. It was beautiful, they were very different, as the massive hills protruded from the flat plains all over the country side. Apparently they still don't know how they were geologically formed either. Once atop the deck we took a few pictures and headed down, as there's only so long you can look at hills. We were also itching to get back on the bikes and enjoy the ride back to Alona beach. The ride back was much quicker as it was all downhill and we were even more comfortable with going at quicker speeds. I must say though it was very dangerous as first we had only learn't how to ride that morning, second we were driving on highways and winding narrow roads up the mountain side and the drivers here will pass at anytime, even if it's a blind corner they just simply honk to warn any on coming traffic. The kicker though was that we didn't even have helmets and were wearing shorts and a t-shirt LOL I know I know not the safest we realize that, but we arrived in one piece and thoroughly enjoyed the day, much more fun and cheaper than taking one of the stupid tours.

That night we went out to the disco on the beach with some of the staff of the bar/restauant that we became regulars at. The disco was pretty weak so after it finished around 2am we headed to the public disco which was held in a basketball court where guys sell beer out of coolers on the side of the court. They had a makeshift stage set up with a couple dj's and some huge speakers pumping out the music. We were definitely out of place though because everyone there were locals and we were the only white people. So we got some dirty looks but luckily because we had been at Alona beach for so long we actually knew a few of the people there. As well being with the staff helped out, so the night ended safely.

The next day we awoke and caught a flight to Caticlan, which is the closest airport to Boracay!!

Boracay - From One Paradise to Another

After taking a 20 minute Banca Boat ride (the boat in the picture) from Caticlan to Boracay, we found a hotel that was a little more expensive then we planned on spending; but it was close to the beach and still cheaper than most other places. For the next few days we did nothing but lay on the beach and go out to some bars on the beach in the evening. The beach was gorgeous!! Cancun has nothing on the 4 km of White Sand Beach in Boracay, with the beach lined with palm trees and bars right on the sand. It was thoroughly enjoyable to be able to grab a drink and sit in a beach chair on the beach while still being served by a waiter.

On the second day of being in Boracay after waking up hungover as hell, after a great night of partying on the beach, we went and lay on the beach and swam the afternoon away. Around 630pm however, Jeremy started to not be able to breath, so we went to the clinic and then the local hospital but they told us we should go to the hospital in Kalibo as they weren't very equiped on the island. So we caught the banca to main land and hired a van for the hour and a half drive to the hospital. He was admitted for the night. The next day he was feeling a lot better so we made the trek back to Boracay. He was fine the whole way back until as we were gettig food he started to feel aweful again and headed back to the room. I ate my meal worked out a game plan with him incase he is still feeling sick and needs to head to the clinic again and I went out for a beer or as it turned out, about 12. haha I ended up meeting a couple from London while sitting at the bar, they were really cool and we got into some good conversation and they enjoyed purchasing drinks for me so how could I say no. 😊

On Sunday may 17th we went with Ben the manager of the guesthouse we were staying at to a cock fight just a few minutes from our hotel. It was a cool experience, it cost us a 100 peso's fpr the tricycle ride and then 100 each to get into the fights. They were well organized in an actual fighting ring with a stadium style seating. The fighting ring was surrounded by glass with 2 guys inside the ring to monitor the fight and determine the winner of the fight. Some of the fights only lasted a few seconds and some a few minutes. All depending on whether one of the cocks got a good shot in. Each of the cock's feet had a razor tied to it with thread, so if one of them got a good shot in with the feet the other fighter would be severly split open. The fights were actually quite boring, the interesting part and most entertaining was all the gambling and betting that would partake before each fight. With guys yelling and shooting hand signals from across the arena at eachother signifying their bet and which bird they wanted. The minimum bet was 500 peso which was surprising as that is a lot of money for locals, but I gather from watching them gamble that they are all degenerate gamblers; especially when it comes to cock fighting. Apparently they have massive fights in Manilla where millionaires will go to bet and place 1Million peso ($25,000CDN) on a single fight!! We ended up placing a single bet of 500 peso on a fight and of course we lost, it's a complete crap shoot as to who you take. Theres no differences between the birds, its just a matter of who looks better as they warm up before the fight by having their asses pecked by another bird. They do this to piss off the bird fighting so that when they start the fight they are already blood thirsty. Outside the stadium there were doctors cleaning and stiching up the wounds of the birds after the fights; this was pretty hideous!!! We stayed there for about an hour and then got out of there. An hour was enough for us, and we were pretty hungry anyways. We could tell that Ben, the guy that took us, was disappointed to leave as he use to have 5 cocks that fought but didn't do it any more since he got married and had a child.

That night we partied at a bar called Chill Out Bar, which was just that, a very relaxing spot where you would sit on a chair on the beach looking back at the bar, where they had a guy that looked like Bob Marley playing a great selection of tunes. After that we went to another disco and called it a night around 2 or 3am as we were heading to Bangkok the next day.

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Photos

Cebu City
Ghetto across the street from our hotel

MYDC0872
Raodway on the way to the Chocolate Hills

Alona Beach
View from our table at a restaurant

Comments

[Priya]

Wow!
Sounds like you are having an amazing time! Just found your link again and started reading through the blog. it will be good to see you soon and I'll make us some killer coffee and we can talk about travelling stories! Enjoy and I hope Jeremy is doing ok. That sucks that you had to go to the hospital but at least he was taken care of. The islands and beaches look beautiful - I have to get there one day.