Advertisement
Published: February 25th 2015
Edit Blog Post
Puka Shell Beach
Last days in Boracay Well Folks before I start this weeks blog...........I would just like to say to you all just how we are so happy that everyone weathered cyclone Marcia. I know every one would have some kind of damage and I also know just how terrifying it would have been, we were with you all that day.
We had our own cyclone day, feeling helpless and worrying about you all. Its been nice to read Face Book to see that slowly the electricity is being restored and things. It's good to know hat slowly things are returning to normal. Yeppoon community is strong and I am sure it will take a long time to rebuild life's as well as homes. But it will happen and it will be more beautiful place to live. We travelled to Donsol from Boracay. We actually flew from Boracay back to Manilla and then to Legazpi and then traveled by bus for about one hour to Donsol. We travelled though small villages, people very happy. The Philapino people are always smiling and happy they are devoted to their religion, everyone goes to church on Sunday's, young and old, poor or wealthy. I suppose they don't have much,
Baracay
Dancing chefs so festivals and holy days become a big part of there daily life. Daily washing lines the roads, the whites are the whitest and water is pumped from wells. Fresh fruit and veggies are also sold on the road as well as what the villagers make and sell. Everyone is busy selling buying trying to survive. But nobody complains everyone helps each other they are all entwined in one community...... Arriving in Donsol we were greeted to a lovely welcome from a group of local boys who were running a small bungalows at the side of the ocean. Small resorts lined the black volcanic beach. The sand was so different from the Boracay white sandy beaches. The weather was wet and we thought that bad weather had finely caught up with us and we weren't sure if we would be able to see the Whale Sharks. After all this was why we had to come there. The next day we walked up to the dive boats and headed out to sea, we had noticed the night before that lots of local boats had headed out to catch squid the evening before we wondered why Whales Sharks came to this part
Boracay
Saying goodbye to Boracay of the Philippines. On the boat, the crew comprised of the captain, two spotters one dive master and six passengers. When a whale shark is spotted you must get you mask and snorkel on with your flippers and jump off the boat and swim like hell towards the creature not as easy as you think. Then the whale shark is there for just a short time before it dives deep. Then you all have to get back on the boat ready for the next one. Well when you get the hang of it and you see your first Whale shark its kind of OMG they are massive, huge monsters they are like smoky grey with pale grey spots on them . When you see them it's like is that what I have just seen. I think your that shocked, you gulp down heaps of sea water. This was Glens reaction, he saw a whale shark and turned around and saw this mouth coming towards him, as long as he was tall, and was that terrified that he started swimming away. He said it was like instinct. Like shit it's going to eat me. We had a terrific time, exhausted but
Donsol
Do you think they sell Beer a remarkable time we had. We spent the next few days exploring the region. Valentine's Day and the little town had a Pageant with all the children dressing up as Mr & Mrs Love, Mr & Mrs Cute, Mr& Mrs Sweethearts, etc, and all the school children carrying hearts it was lovely. Firefly watching,walking and chatting to locals and tourists, we wondered if we should dive again but I think we were lucky to have seen so many, 5 in all. On the following days only a few were seen. We payed around $28.00 for two for four hours, we googled it and in Australia in Perth it was $800.00 for the day for two. Bargain for us,me thinks. Arriving back in Manilla after four days in Donsol we checked into our home which we had called it. It was an apartment Hotel which each time we had been in Manilla it had become very familiar and we felt comfortable staying there. It was nice being back in a large city, we shopped, dined out and went to the movies, normal things, we washed our clothes had hair cuts. Arriving in Taiwan on Wednesday 18th Feb early in the morning
Manilla
Makati town in Manilla was going to be a bit of an adventure. We hadn't booked any hotel, we had decided that we were going to try airbnb. Where you can rent some ones apartment or a room with a hosting family. We chose a apartment. We wanted to be a bit normal as in doing day to day stuff. It gets a bit much when your travelling and your head space feels strange. We were quite scared as we didn't know what to expect........... No need to worry, we have found the best apartment in the best little area in Taipei quite yuppie trendy uni area with lots of night markets and trendy eat outs . We love Taipei, what a difference, what a country. People very polite, courteous, proper and proud . So helpful and really lovely. Our apartment is in Daan district in Taipei, A small apartment on the fifth floor, just big enough for us, we are in a community of people living and going about there daily life's. Even though we are Australian, nobody bats an eyelid, we just fit in doing daily things. People smile and nod wish us good morning. We have a laundry on the top
Donsol
Valentines Day Pagent floor of the building and we take a rubbish out every morning and go have brekky. We have taken to eating were their is a long queue of uni students, which means it's good food. We have eaten some very strange dishes but very yummy. Very clean, great tastes and good quality food. The Taiwanese are very close to Japanese traditions I think and very influenced by traditional cooking. There are a lot of Japanese here too. The metro is just fantastic as Taiwan is sprawled, a network of under ground rail systems. It is very efficient as everything else is here in Taipei. Quite wealthy too although no need to have a car here. I think every other car here is either a Mercedes Benz or BMW, we also see few super cars too. We have seen most of the North of Taiwan. As we love the apartment, we have chosen to stay here all the time, even when we travel south of Taiwan and we use the bullet train which will only take a couple of hours so if we have to stay over night, so be it. In Taipei we have seen lots of temples, also Taipei
Donsol
Marching Bands and Marching girls 101 tower which was until a few years ago the largest tower in the world, and so many other things. We went to the zoo today, it cost us $2.40 each and $ 4.00 for a cappuccino, go figure. We leave on the on the 12th of March so lots more adventures to write about............ My love to you all.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.052s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 31; dbt: 0.0223s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb