Blogs from Cebu, Philippines, Asia - page 5

What a morning! It started off okay, got packed up and had a nice breakfast at the restaurant. We sat waiting for our tuk-tuk to turn up. We waited ages and it became evident that he had forgotten about us or had a better offer. It took 45 minutes from where we were staying on Panglao Island to the ferry port, we were on a serious time crunch. The owners of our guesthouse saved the day, they had to go to a flower market near the ferry port, so they offered to take us. We were relieved for about a minute, until we realised we had to wait for the driver and van to turn up. It was stressful, waiting and watching the minutes tick by. The van turned up and we drove to the port, ... read more

I was wrapping up for my first SOLO travel. I had planned to visit Cebu city. It's 45 minutes away from my homeland, via plane. When I got there, my aunt picked me up at the airport, we drove for almost 30 minutes from Mactan to Cebu City, but you might experience 40 to 50 minutes on the street if there's a heavy traffic. If you'll ride a cab, you'd pay 200 pesos, that's approximately 4.45 USD. Upon arriving to my destination, my aunt left me because she has to go to work, I went to my friend's apartment to spend two nights with her. We dined at the Thai Restaurant around 7:30. We had like, casual conversations because she was my sister's best friend. Then, my sister arrived after two days, I slept at her ... read more

Our first days were spent exactly as we'd planned: eating, diving, napping, hanging out on the deck or walking along the beach peering into tide pools. The ocean is definitely the draw here. Locals comb the beach at low tide for mussels and other shellfish and men use nets, spears and lines to fish from boats or by standing in the shallows. Dive tourism provides another source of income and the dive shops, though often owned by foreigners, seem to employ many Filipino divemasters and instructors. In an attempt to attract more tourists some people have tried to harness the draw of whale sharks, by hand feeding them from boats. Matt and I have always wanted to see a whale shark in the water, but after researching the operation in Oslob (another town here on Cebu) ... read more

Leaving the heart of Isaan in Udon Thani, it was an extended 10h traffic-jammed bus ride back to the capital, for a quick couple of nights in transit, before I left the Land of Smiles. Yes, it was finally time to say goodbye to my second home country for a fourth time, and say hello to my destination that is the Philippines. I'd already been there last year of course, in the northern region of Luzon, with some fond memories of the spectacular rice terraces of the Cordilleras, and swimming with the whale sharks. This time, I'll be exploring the central Visayas islands, with the country's second largest city of Cebu being my first port-of-call. And after an inconveniently timed red-eye flight, with a 3h layover in Manila, I'd finally arrived. LP said that Cebu is ... read more

« Le dernier luxe de notre temps réside dans l'art de ne rien faire, mais de le faire bien » Voilà une jolie phrase pour résumer ma dernière semaine. Concrètement il ne se sera pas passé grand chose les premiers jours que composent ce post. Avec Simon on aura mollusqué pendant toute la semaine sur deux îles différentes ou la moultitude d'activités ne faisaient pas rage. Notre première île fût Bantayan, une sorte de petit Boracay pas encore trop colonisé par les touristes (ou je n'aurais malheureusement pas l'occasion d'aller pendant ce voyage). J'ai même presque envie de dire que c'est un euphémisme. En 4 jours sur place, on aura croisé aucun jeunes de notre âge. Étant donné les infrastructures sur l'île (le nombre d'hôtel), je pense qu'on était clairement ici en basse saison et même ... read more