Six days traveling the Aklan Province, The Philippines

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I said i'd cut down my entry size and i tried, but i haven't! Those who complained can suck it. I have a lot to say! Feel free to read as much or little as you wish.

With two Swedes, a Norwegian and a French/Nicaraguan i flew to Manila and then onto Catiklan on Panay Island (the main island in the centre of the Philippines. From there we got a ferry out to Boracay Island, a much smaller island 7km in length. The first impressions of filipinos by this point were that:
1. they are a whole world nicer and friendlier than the chinese
2. they seem a little plumper, perhaps due to diet, than the chinese
3. Filipino women come caked in make up and the men can be very camp

Boracay Island was beautiful. Long white beaches, palm trees, clear (ish) skies. With this however, as is with many locations of natural beauty, came its downfall: it was fueled by fake rolex watches, banana boat rides and filipino massages. This may as well have been a tourist resort in the Mediterrain; it certainly wasn't the side of the Philippines i was after.
I am not arguing this is not a great recipe for a top holiday with your friends and, as it turns out, this is what my friends were after. There were two other parties from HKUST on the island and it was perfect for five days of relaxing and drinking in the sun.
But i get itchy feet. I knew from day 1 on the island this wasn't what i wanted from the week.

The day we arrived (we got to the island about 15:00) we walked the town, met the other groups and went for a swim. The evening was always going to spiral with beers for 1GBP each.
The second day the five of us circumnavigated the island on a trimaran. This was BLISS. We had great weather, a good mixture of chilled waves leaving the beach and one section, around the northern tip, which was rough and good fun. A great way to spend two hours. That evening i decided i was moving on. there were other activities available: scuba, parasailing, etc., but nothing i couldn't do in less interesting countries. I wanted to see the Philippines.

Day three i woke early, walked the whole beach and had a nice breakfast by the beach accompanied by the rising sun. One last swim and back to the hotel. I left a note for my roommate (as he slept off his hangover from the night before) informing him i was heading back to the main island, Panay Island. As soon as i got into port and asked at information about maps of the main island i got the exact response i wanted; they didn't have one. No tourists really do the main island. They dug me one out from the back room. After i explained my desire for a non-touristic experience it was recommended i visit a village, Poblicoin. They tried to call the only hotel there, but with no luck. No problem, i will go there and find it myself sso jumped in a tricycle (the main method of transport in the Philippines - a motor bike with side car with just enough seating for four or five) and headed there. The driver, who coinceidently was a resident of the village, assured me in very broken English there was no hotel. In retrospect i have no idea why i trusted the the information office over the resident, inevitably he was right. On the up side, whilst in the village, i got the largest smile from a cute young girl who obviously didn't see many tall white people: she was dumbstruck by me (i later understood why when i didn't see another white person for three days as i traveled the island). It put a big smile on my face in turn. We turned around back to Caticlan where new plan was needed. I knew Caticlan, so close to Boracay Island, would also run on tourism so i wasn't staying here. The next big town/city was along the East coast namely Kalibo. I decided to ignore the calls from tour buses and went for the local option, a jeepney (google it, some spend a lot pimping up their jeepney). A jeepney is a stretched "jeep" with three benches running through the back for customers. The two hour journey (on an extremely unforgiving seat) was brightened by great scenery and their use of the vehicle: people jumped on and off the back whenever. A farmer threw his harvest of vegetables on the roof, a couple of guys clambered on board with chickens in hand and, when the bus was full (and i mean squeezed-in-like-sardines full) anyone else after a ride would hang off the back.
Kalibo was a breathe of fresh of air (not literally, it was very dirty and smelled of fuel) . There were tricycles everywhere and they clearly owned the roads. Seeing a car was a notable achievement.
I walked around for a couple of hours, half seeing the city half searching for a hotel. Everywhere i went people kept staring. I expected this, but not the the level i received. Every moment there were at least ten pairs of eyes on you. But they were not intimidating or ominous as, should you catch eye contact, you received a large smile and perhaps a few words of greetings...especially from the very friendly women.
I found a hotel but not after receiving a lot of flirting from shop assistants in every retailers i popped into. This was a place i could get used to. Attention on me and friendly women. This wasn't even the tip of the ice berg. Over the next coming days i would hear "you are very handsome" on an very regular basis and other forms of cheeky flirting...some didn't grasp the concept of subtlety. This was much needed for my fragile and wilted ego. Later on i found out European facial structure (i.e: pointy nose and jaw line) with the skin colour is very attractive to Filipinos.
The first night i tried pig skin soup and cow's hoof. The latter almost made me hurl. I also picked up 700ml of rum for 1.20GBP (it unfortunately never made it through customs).

Day two in on the main island saw me grab a pastry breakfast (The Filipinos do all sorts of tasty cheap pastries) and i jumped into an internet cafe to find things to do. There was no tourist office in the city...at all. I ended up getting a jeepney out to a crossroads where i changed to a tricycle - built for five- with THIRTEEN other locals: four on the bike, three on the front of the side car, four in the back section, two hanging off and two on the flimsy roof. It goes without saying the poor bike engine struggled. I was heading to a small village, Jawili, where there were natural falls. The river had formed a pool with a waterfall into another pool, with a waterfall into another pool etc. six times over. Entry cost 10p and a friendly local even offered to take photos for me while i frolicked from pool to pool. I met a group of 14 y.o Filipino girls who taught me some Filipino for half an hour or so. Their English was very good, so in exchange i taught them my second language: Chinese (i am clearly fluent after a month's lessons). It started raining as i left and didn't stop for the rest of the day so i took it as a sign to watch t.v and plan the last day: a trip to Roxas a larger city further down the coast. For dinner i had the local delicacy, bachoy
and sio mai. The former is nothing special after a month in China but the latter was heavenly. I thought, at first, it was just a very hot dough/bread bun and i was happy with that. But as i reached the centre i was met with half a boiled egg and shredded chicken. It was truly delicious, i was sorry i hadn't discovered them earlier.

Getting to Roxas was an hour coach journey to Sigma and a change to a 45 minute jeepeny ride onto Roxas. I thought i would see how Sigma was; if it was interesting, i would spend the day there instead...Sigma was one of the poorest places i have ever been to. I felt unprecedentedly out of place and uncomfortable. Onto Roxas it was...
Roxas had a tourist office!! But they had no idea what to suggest to me of what was worth a visit (the only museum was closed). I walked more in a search of a chat than anything to see in particular. It quickly struck me if you want a good chat, no matter what country, the best talkers are hairdressers. I got a hair cut, wash, shave and massage for 1.30GBP. A little retail shopping later (naturally accompanied by the now usual stares and giggling shop assistants) and i headed back for a bus home. I decided on a van back to Kalibo as i couldn't be fussed with changing again. I met a nice guy in the van sat next to me. turns out he was a high school science teacher, we talked about all sorts. He took my name so he could add me on facebook. He also tried to teach me some filipino and i remember one phrase: "ma al gata" (phonically) which means i love you. Then he took my photo on his phone. All fine....then put it as his background....ok a little odd.
then:
"do you have many gay friends back in England?"
"yes, yes i have a few"
"Ahh i like that you are open minded... (a very long pause and i was not looking forward to where he was going with this) ....to have gay friends"
The pieces feel together and i realised the last half an hour (and for the half an hour to come) this gent had been making a pass at me. Suddenly i was in a whole world of discomfort, and not just because he was crammed up against me due to the over filled vehicle. I am fine with homosexuality but, counter to popular belief, i am not gay and do not wish to be the recipient of your flowery words or offers. Two hours later i escaped, but not after a lot of physical contact.
I bought some chicken off a teenager serving fast food from his side cart and headed for an early night.

The next day basically just involved one last wonder round the city before 8 hours journey home including being sat by a whining spoiled brat on the first plane and a space-hopper of a women on the second (who i amicably named Pounder in my head to entertain myself and keep myself from snapping her neck for letting her rolls engulf my leg and armrest. By the point i got home (Hong Kong almost feels like home now) i was at the end of my tether but overall i knew when i regained my temper i would look back fondly on a great trip.


A couple of other interesting bullet points on life in the Philippines that i couldn't fit into the text in any particular point:

-There were extra taxes at any opportunity: airport fees, a port terminal fees, even 'environmental and sustainability' fees.
-Children gambling is common place. I was walking past i thought was a fair ground, not thinking it odd it was 22:00. Turns out all the kids, aged roughly twelve to eighteen were gambling their pocket money.
-There are pawnbrokers on EVERY corner, which is understandable i guess in such a poverty stricken country
-If you can't stand mosquitoes, the Philippines is not for you. My feet, especially, looked like a treacherous mountain range by the end of the holiday.

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