Blogs from Mindanao, Philippines, Asia - page 12

With the ship still anchored in the harbor I settle into my bunk overlooking the Sulu Sea with a book, and wait... My lethargic spell is broken by the abrupt arrival of five busloads of men, women and children. They clamber off the bus two-by-two. A heavily armed immigration officer unlocks their handcuffs; before they shimmy self-consciously up the gangplank and disappear into the bowels of the ship to be transported like cattle, out of sight of paying passengers, back to their homeland. They are illegal immigrants, caught in search of greater economic opportunities, treated like criminals for attempting to enter a land not of their birth. I'm told an unskilled worker in The Philippines can expect to earn $100 a month, in Malaysia they can command almost three times that amount. The Filipino economy is ... read more

Finally found the time to do the blog for this trip! This was the first packaged / guided trip I’ve gone to - it was a Camiguin - Cagayan de Oro combi. As it was an arranged trip, I don’t know much about the logistics but can pretty much remember the places we’ve gone to. Going to Camiguin, we took the PAL flight to Cagayan de Oro. After a quick breakfast at the city, a private van took us to the Misamis Oriental sea port (travel time: 1.5-2 hours) where we caught the barge to Camiguin (travel time: 1.5 hours). In Camiguin, we were picked up by another private van and proceeded to Bahay-Bakasyunan resort. It was a pretty neat place and the food was great :) Camiguin, the island of the seven volcanoes, has only ... read more