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Published: January 1st 2010
Philippines - South East Asia's best kept secret
The reason for me choosing the Philippines as a travel destination, was that I have seen quite a bit of South East Asia already and that I hadn't heard from a single backpacker that he or she had been there. The experiences we had exceeded our positive expectations by far: beautiful deserted islands, mountains, rice terraces, volcano's, excellent diving, surfing, relaxed & friendly locals who all speak English; all that very affordable and the best of it: except from Boracay there are hardly any tourists/ backpackers and the few we met were all very nice. We liked it so much we had to extend our stay here several times from two to six weeks.
Lonely Planet brings it to the point:
'...The so-called backpacker trail has yet to find the Philippines. But that's all part of the appeal for many travelers, and those who make the effort to get to the Philippines tend to be pleasantly surprised. The people here are as warm and friendly as you'll meet anywhere, and the island and mountain vistas are superb - some of the best in the region. And with over 7000 islands in
the archipelago, it's easy to get that off-the-beaten track feeling, something that's getting harder to do in most other parts of South East Asia.'
THE HIGHLIGHTS Dive or Die Els finally learns to dive and gets her open water certificate on Boracay, I do the advanced course and am excited about my first wreck dive.
Crash landing Our ferry crashes into a pier, but we survive without any injuries.
Surf no more aka broken bones Els does not learn how to surf and decides not to try any more after she breaks her wrist in San Juan after two minutes in the water.
The Balut challenge Although drunk, I am not able to eat a Balut, a boiled dug egg with an embryo inside. After one bite I had to give up.
Party with the Dead After drinking for a while with locals at a party, we find out we actually are at a pre-funeral party. A good way of saying good bye to beloved ones.
Party with Ms Earth We happen to visit the Ms Earth contest in Boracay and join a party with the contestants.
The 8th wonder of the world We are astonished by the beauty of the rice terraces in Batad, one of the most impressive natural sites I've ever seen.
X-mas in paradise: we spend X-mas on Coco Loco, a tiny island you can surround in 10 minutes with one resort only.
We decided to spend some more time in South East Asia, as it is much more relaxed and cheaper than Australia. Therefore I had to insist: Thailand is next on our list.
If you have more time to spare, and/or still are interested you can go one by reading …
THE DETAILS Transportation can be quite adventurous and often takes a long time, however it is great fun: to travel between islands we mainly use (very cheap) flights - with on board entertainment like small game shows where passengers have to guess the name of the songs the flight attendants sing. Sometimes we take ferries - we crashed into a pier with a ferry, luckily no one got hurt, but the seconds before and after the crash were a bit scary, google research on the ferry company Ocean Jet indicated two more crashes in the last
two years. Two more ferries sunk in 2009 as we find out later on. Road travel can be adventurous as well, as some of the roads are in pretty bad condition and up North, sometimes only one meter separates the bus from the cliff. In towns the main mode of transport are Jeepneys, small jump-on jump-off bus-jeep hybrids pimped like the buses in central and south America, and tri-cycles, the Philippines' equivalent to Thailand's tuc tucs.
Food In contrast to other South East Asian countries, food is not so great in the Philippines, but it's still okay and in most places you get international food. Filipino food is quite interesting though: a very popular snack is Balut, a boiled duck egg containing a partially developed embryo, sometimes with tiny feathers. I took the challenge on a drunken night, but did not succeed: after the first bite I almost had to throw up and had to stop. I met some tourists however who liked it and even had two or more a day.
Our itinerary
Manila Not much sightseeing to do there, but okay for a day or two to get all travel arrangements done for the upcoming trips.
We hook up with a friend there and have a nice drinking night out. Furthermore we check out some local post rock bands.
The Visayas Boracay The most touristic spot in the Philippines, which we still find pretty okay, especially before the high season starting in December. We follow diving courses there and stay at the very relaxed and recommendable water colors (http://www.watercolors.ph/). Furthermore I try to learn skim boarding, but find it more difficult than it looks.
Bohol We visit the famous
Chocolate hills, an interesting sight, and see the very cute
Tarsiers, one of the world's smallest primates with their disproportionate big eyes. We stay at
Panglao island, on Alona beach at the very recommendable Tropical beach resort (http://alona-tropical.com/) with our hut directly on the beach. From there we arrange diving & snorkeling trips to
Balicasag island, an excellent diving spot where we see several sea turtles. We also enjoy our stay at Nuts Huts (http://www.nutshuts.com/) in
Loboc a lot. These huts can be reached via a small boat along the Loboc river and are situated in the jungle. It is a very laid back place with the most pleasant travelers we met. We are
invited to a local party, which we reach by going with torches through the jungle at night. The locals are extremely welcoming. We drink coco nut wine and play cards. We have a lot of fun. After a while I find out that the party we were at is a pre-funeral party with the corpse lying in the hut next to us.
San Juan, San Fernando - La Union Not much too do there unless you surf. Surf's up, but not for us: after the first 2 minutes in the water, Els already broke her wrist. I continue after we return from the hospital, but from the next day on, there are no waves no more, the water stays flat for the next couple of days and swell forecast is negative as well. So we move on.
North - Luzon Sagada Small mountain town up North used as a base for hikes to waterfalls and caves. Although it's hyped a bit by the LP for its laid back atmosphere, we found it totally overrated and could have skipped it: the hikes and views were not so great, especially when compared to Banaue, and after 9pm everything is
closed. However we enjoy two nights of plenty of good sleep and meet many nice travelers there.
Banaue & Batad The rice terraces are definitely one of the highlights of the Philippines and worth the long bus ride up North. We stay in Banaue and make a day trip to Batad with the most astonishing terraces, for me one of the most impressive natural sights I’ve seen. Unfortunately we do not have enough time to stay overnight in Batad, which then would have allowed us to see the terraces at sunrise, another unforgettable sight, as other travelers told us.
Palawan Puerto Princesa We only spend a night there, but experience a pretty relaxed and friendly atmosphere in the capital of Palawan.
El Nido Gorgeous sea landscapes that reminded me of Halong Bay and Krabi with its many limestone cliffs. Island hoping / boat trips is / are the main activity there. While snorkeling we saw a (baby) shark and went to a couple of nice lagoons.
Coco Loco Island We decide to spend the X-mas period on this 7 hectare small island, only 30 minutes away from Roxas per boat. On the island there is
only one resort and walking around the island takes approx. 10 minutes. The a bit run down resort is pretty over-priced during Christmas, but having our own bamboo hut on an almost private beach only a couple of meters away from the sea is worth it. I have a X-mas sunset dive and we enjoy a buffet on the beach. A good way to celebrate.
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Nicole
non-member comment
foto 33 El Nido?
Mabuhay! Is foto 33 'in de hangmat' toevallig gemaakt bij Las Cabanas resort? Daar zaten wij namelijk. Ciao, Nicole