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Published: March 27th 2009
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Hi all.
Currently in Cebu City in the Visayas with sadly only a few more days left in the Philippines. Currently staying at a friends flat who I met in Palawan which is handy.
So the last time i wrote i had one more nite left in Puerto Princesa, had a tower of power and a few Red horses(Philippino stella) was a good nite. So got my flight the next day from Puerto Princesa - Cebu City, pretty easy, got a cab from the airport, but be warned there is a taxi station which charges a considerable amount more than if you get a metered taxi form the airport, which I sadly found out. So my hint would be ask the guards to point you in the direction of the metered cabs.
So arrived in Cebu staying at my friend Jackies on her floor, in a cool little area of the city, and easy to get into the main part as well by Jeepney. Although there is another cockrel here with a time difficency as he goes off at all hours. A common occurence here in the Philippines.
So the weekend came and off we went to Malapascua
Island, pretty easy to get to, just a bus from the North Bus terminal to Maya i believe its called and you get dropped off rite by the dock. If you can call it a dock anyway, as I had to climb over rocks to get onto the bangka. Which they try and sting you for unless you wait around for more people, arrived on Malapascua Island, a beutiful island white sand beaches crystal blue sea and laced with palm trees. We stayed in a beach hut a bit further down the main beach (I fink the place was called Dano but not sure sorry.) Was a bit over priced at 1200pesos a night (20pounds) as the room could have done with a lick of paint and only came with a fan. But the part of the beach was more or less always empty and it was less than 30secs from our veranda to the sea so the positioning is what you are paying for and that is well worth the money. Plus this includes breakfast so was ok.
Spent the afternoon just chilling out and i went to book my dive for the following morning with Sun&fundivers. Only 1200pesos
Manta
Gliding above me for the dive which isnt a bad price.
So the next morning im up at 5am and down to the dive shop which is handily next door, and onto the boat. I heard that to see the threshers they stammer out the boats but it didnt look like it today, there were about 7 boats already there. So we decended down on Monad Shoal to about 22m and within minutes we saw a manta ray, a little later we get wat we came for a 4/5m long thresher shark, they are huge and so amazing but sadly due to the amount of divers down there it did not hang about for long. Later though I was treated with a Manta that swam right over us, such graceful creatures and this is the first time I have seen Mantas so well worth it.
So back on dry land I took Jackie out swimming, as she had never been taught to swim, so in came James swimming teacher, thankfully she didnt drown as later on we went for a sunset snorkelling trip, and one of the stops had some of the most pristine coral i have ever seen, so was well worth
View from the veranda
Worth the money just for that, afterall a little treat is ok every so often. Right? the snorkelling for that, and by the end of the day Jackie was swimming along un aided, she learnt really quick. (I guess you have to with me as a teacher.)
Had a great meal of Blue Marlon 2nite and some Mango Shakes, the Philippines deffinately have the best Mangos in the world. The next day we just chilled out on the beach, and left in the afternoon back down to Cebu.
The next day I got a cab to Cebu City Pier 1 and booked myself onto a Liteshipping ferry (190pesos 4hrs) and off i went to Bohol Island arrived after sunset so had to get a trike to the backpackers NutsHuts, one problem is the trike cannot go down the jungle road as its to bumpy, so I had to walk down the 750m jungle road in darkness, a little nervy hearing all the sounds of the jungle all around with only my torch for light. Still got there in one peice and got a room in the dorm 250pesos if you stay more than 1 nite, and the dorn itself are single rooms, which is handy. So slept there listening to all the sounds of the
jungle and not a kareoke sound in sight, heaven.
The next day I went to the chocolate hills, waited at the top of the road and jumped on the public bus bound for Carmen, 1 fing i must say i feel sorry for any philippinos 6ft or over as these buses are designed for midgets, no leg room at all. Arrived at the chocolate hills, and my impression of them? Not very chocolately they were still covered in lush green grass, but still were nice to look at, but I would recomend maybe seeing them in the height of summer as then they will be brown. Got a bus back to Nutshuts and went on an adventure in the afternoon to a waterfall. 1 issue i didnt pack my swimming shorts, so i went in my undies and towel as you have to first swim accross a river to get there and then walk through a little village, got a few strange looks and smiles. But well worth is as i had a waterfall all to myself, or so i fort, as I didnt realise that there are organised boat tours going to this water fall. So im standing under
the water fall in my pants and sudenly i look up and there is a boat full of Japenese tourists all taking photos of me in all my glory, naturally i gave them a wave and quickly sank into the water. Before swimming back. A bit of an experience anyway.
The next day i got a bus from Nutshuts to the Junction with the bridge just before Loboc as this way I couldnt get on the wrong jeepeny/bus as they all have to pass this point if going that way. I waited for another bus to take me to the Tarsier centre, was a cool little place as a guide shows you to the mini primate ( the smallest primate in the world) as they never move far from their tree. Were cute little fings, big eyes.
So after here i got a bus down to Tabularan and onto the ferry back to cebu this time it only took 2hrs with Jetcraft only 350pesos. Then got a metered taxi(as some were trying to charge me 250pesos unmetered, it cost me 85pesos metered.) from the port back to where im staying.
So that leads me to now, had a couple
View from nuthuts comman area
Not a bad view from your hammock of nights just watching DVDs which has been a real treat, actually watched comando the other day and tonite, Ace Ventura 1 & 2. I really am living the dream. Also may go pictures and see Watchmen.
So hope every1 is well back home, im off this weekend to some waterfalls and monday the next part of the adventure begins, Me & Mr Mong and the rest of SE Asia. First stop Singapore. It could get interesting. ha
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TinNiE
" Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness "
Bohol have lovely white sand beaches! We got burnt. Good thing you can endure the heat ^^