Looking back on it, it was foolish to take the boat from Tablas to Mindoro. It would have been far quicker and safer to go back to Manila then catch a ferry from there, but at the time we didn't know it. We waited several days in the nondescript town of Odiongan while they claimed to be repairing the small pump boat that would cross the rough open seas between here and Mindoro. Had I somehow been picked up and deposited in Odiongan it could have been one of any number of small Filipino provincial towns. There was nothing to distinguish it; the small eateries with a collection of simple Filipino dishes laid out at the front in big metal pots, the peddle tricycles dodging in an out of the much less numerous cars, the mostly ... read more

October 2008, Busuanga Island, Calamian Group "There are four main groups of tribes in the area near Signapan," told us Bruno, a retired French anthropologist, while sipping his fourth pastis since we had met him at 11:30 am. "The most well-known is the Tao't Batu, but there are also the Konoy, the Tao't Daram - cannibals, watch out for them - and the ones I call the Tao't Arib." "Which ones are the most remote, the most traditional?" I pressed. "Well, the Tao't Arib I guess, they live furthest from the road, but they're not always friendly to outsiders." "So how long does it take to reach these groups?" "To the Tao't Batu it's a six-hour walk. For the Konoy you need about six days. For the Tao't Arib - maybe two weeks! Anyway, get to ... read more

Guimaras, a tiny island in between Panay and Negros, is absolutely loaded with beautiful beaches and opportunities for exploring areas little-visited by other tourists. One such location is the beach of Tatlong Pulo, a tiny, pristine, stretch of white sand in front of the village of the same name that is almost entirely sheltered from the sea by several rock islands. Near to the beach there's a hell of a lot of undisturbed coral so swimming there is only really feasible at high tide, but locals are happy to lend you a fishing boat to get out to one of the rock islands where the water is much deeper. The only accommodation option is a treehouse which costs 150 pesos per night no matter how many people. Food and drink are prepared for you and are ... read more

"The Negritos in Panay are called Ati and have lived here for around 25,000 years," Daisy tells us, "and there are lots of theories as to where they originated from but one of the latest is that they came in a wave of migration from Ethiopia that originated around 60,000 years ago." She pauses and takes a breathe of air before plunging back into her monologue. "Another theory is that they are descended from African pygmies because they look so similar - short, black, frizzly hair, you know. Yet another theory says that they are descendants of New Guineans or Australian Aborigines. "Over the years, new, ethnically different settlers arrived from China, Taiwan, South East Asia, that sort of area, until they formed the majority of the population, the South-East-Asian-looking Filipinos that you see all around ... read more

It was ten o’clock on the evening before the final day of the Pintaflores festival. If it is possible for a city to buzz, then that is what San Carlos on the island of Negros was doing, alive with the tense expectation of tens of thousands of people who had no work the next day and were excitedly awaiting a party of truly gargantuan proportions that constituted the very embodiment of their homeland’s culture and history. On some level the city’s soul buzzed, vibrating back and forth, up and down, barely containing the tension, ready to explode, that could be felt everywhere: in the behaviour of the citizens, barely able to contain their excitement, laughing, shouting, dancing and drinking at every corner; in the constant questions, “Hey Joe, you coming to the street parade tomorrow?”; in ... read more