Blogs from Cebu, Philippines, Asia - page 22

After a long and tiring flight to las Islas Pilipinas I left Apple in Manila and took a flight to cebu. The flight was delayed, just what I needed after travelling for 24 hours already... Finally got to the pension house and had a nosey at the Historically and Internationally significant Mactan Island. This is the place where Ferdinand Magellan (remember him from history lessons - the portuguese working for the Spanish KIng) was slain by the local chieftan Lapu Lapu for going a little too far. Not that it stopped the colonisation of these Islands. Years later a second Spanish Expedition was more successful Catholicised the Country using the sword. Enough history - I just had a nosey round, ate some daing na bangus (Milkfish), drank the worlds finest drink - fresh mango shake and ... read more

Chuseok is labeled on our calendars as the Korean Thanksgiving. However, if you think about that for a second, it seems odd that Korea would celebrate Thanksgiving. Christmas, yes. New Years, of course. Even Halloween if you want. But Thanksgiving? I thought the fourth Thursday of each November was a uniquely North American holiday celebrating the survival of the pilgrims through the first Winters in the New World. Not to mention the fact that the Korean holiday Chuseok is celebrated sometime in September or October and has nothing to do with eating turkey, stuffing, or apple pie. It seems hardly to be anything like the Thanksgiving I know from America. However, upon a little further research I have found that Chuseok is a holiday celebrating the harvest just as Thanksgiving is supposed to be the holiday ... read more

...well you won't see Cebu in the pictures as we didn't take any. Our first blog with no pictures and the honest reason why is a combination of 3 things. The first being that where we were staying had a lot of dodgy people hanging around, the second being we were too lazy to take any and the third being that Cebu, like Manila, is not particularly photogenic and most of our time in Cebu was spent experiencing the Philippines various transport options! Our ferry from Siquijor to Dumaguete was again a vomit-fest because of the rough seas and again we 'luckily' secured ourselves 2 benches to escape the nausea. By the time we reached Dumaguete, it was clear that both of us were coming down with a head cold. The 30 minute walk to the ... read more

My week in Cebu was packed full of diving. I spent half the time at Malapascua Island off the north tip and Moalboal in the south. Malapascua is a great place. Especially the week that I was there. Since it is low season, the island was almost to myself. It is covered with pristine white sand beaches and very friendly locals. It is the beginning of the rainy season, but I got lucky and it was sunny during my stay there. The major reason for me going was to scuba dive. There's a spot there where Thresher Sharks make regular shows. I was able to see one, but with poor visibility, I wasn't able to get a photo. I did the next best thing and took one of the thresher shark painting that was on the ... read more

Everytime I try to write this blog a computer crashes on me. I left Siquijor Island at about 8 the guy who I did the tour with picked me up and dropped me on the jetty roughly an hour later I was on the dock in Dumaguette buying a ticket to Cebu via Bohol, I had to wait a while so I went and bought some postcards, had some lunch etc, before heading back to the dock. I splurged a little and got a first class ticket which gave me the whole section to myself which was pleasant, it was just before arriving in Bohol that I realised I had already missed my flight back to Clark, so I had stressful night until the travel agents opened and I was able to get a flight on ... read more