Feeling the Phillipines

Asia » Philippines
August 13th 2008

Published: September 23rd 2008

The Philippines

September 15th

Well last night I left Japan for the Philippines. On the way to the airport my bag broke but luckily I packed some tape for just such an occasion. After a quick red green job on it my bag was good to go until I could fix it. Now I've been on many flight by myself and never really got into big conversations with the people next to me but on this flight me and the people on either side all ended up talking most of the flight. They were both Filipinos returning home for a visit and with was really cool. They told me what to watch out for and where to go and everything which was really nice. We also had some good movie dissection of the romantic comedy playing on the flight. On the short ride from the airport I can see why not to many tourist visit Manila. Super crazy! Its almost like Bangkok on speed. So I didn't really explore the area to much and just had a bottle of the famous San Miguel beers (80 cents!) and then called it a night! As I sat in my room it really started to sink in just what I've bitten off with this trip.

The 15th saw me waking up at about 7 o'clock to the sound of roosters. I am in Manila right? First things first as I set of to sewing up my bag and before long it was good as new. I had a quick breakfast and then headed to the bus depot to book my seat for the trip overnight to Banaue (which Ive learned is actually pronounces Ban-now-way). The ride there was an adventure of its own. I got into a tricycle (motorcycle with a side car) which is a popular form of taxi here only to see it wasn't a motorcycle but actually a bike. The driver talked to me the whole way there and was really cool. Everyone introduces themselves here I find even if you meet them for a second and I seem to be called sir a lot. Anyway something cool that happened was along the way anther guy pedaling the same get up drove up behind us and pushed us a bit to give my guy a rest. As the other guy drove off the did a fist pound and I asked the driver guy if he knew him and he said no. Guess they all look out for each other. I was also getting a lot of waves and hellos from people as we drove along the streets. It is really bizarre and really interesting. Manila is pretty much the exact opposite to Tokyo (cleanliness, organization, noise) so I through myself into a big culture shock by leaving Tokyo for Manila.

When I got to the bus terminal I found out the bus was already sold out. SO after scanning through my trusty lonely planet I figured out another way of getting to Banaue and if it didn't work it would still leave me in a place with some sights to see. I was off on an 8hr bus ride to Baguio. The ride was filled with many great views and power ballads blaring over the radio (I heard power ballads where to music of choice here). The radio station even has a power ballad jingle. Many of the sights Ive seen both on the bus and the tricycle ride here have really been a kick in the face. The gap between the rich and poor in The Philippines is pretty big and some of the things I've seen have really opened my eyes. Most of all everyone is happy, no matter where they stand. People everywhere else get upset so easily about so much and yet here are people who have so little compared to us and yet smiles never seem to leave their faces. The west could learn a lot from a Filipino.

Something different on the bus was whenever we would stop we people would come walking down the middle selling food and drinks. I ended up buying a buko pie. I had no idea what it was but everyone else was buying it so I figure it must be good. It ended up being like an apple pie, but only with buko instead. Whatever a buko is.

I arrived in Baguio and after sending a few quick emails to let people know my flight was ok I tried finding out about a bus to Banue from here. Turns out I had to walk to a different bus terminal which wouldn't have been a big deal expect that it started pouring and everyone seemed to point me in a different directions. Anyway I eventually got there and bought my ticket although I did take a nice muddy tumble along the way. Something I noticed here and along the drive too was that right in the middle of anywhere, poverty or a field, there seems to big huge malls or shopping plazas. Anyway I got on the bus, wet and muddy and headed to Banaue overnight!

Banaue and Batad
September 16th-17th

So I woke up at 5:00 this morning to a women sitting down beside me to tell me about my tourist options in Banaue and Batad. She had gotten on at the last stop to see if there where any tourists on the bus and since I haven't seen another tourist since I arrived in The Philippines she plunked herself down beside me. Ended up working out as she walked me to a restaurant for breakfast which worked out well as 5:30 am here had a bit of a sketchy feel to it. She told me the different options there where and general prices for getting to Batad and said she'd leave me alone for a bit to think it all over. Something pan handlers and drivers do here is say "hey its up to you" and when you say no they're usually cool about it which is pretty cool. Not pushy in the least. Anyway after I consulted with the tourist information booth just to see everything she had told me price wise was pretty good and I was actually able to get a bit of a lower price for the ride by hanging out with the tricycle drivers before the info center opened.

Eventually I was on my way to Batad via tricycle. Now you can only be drove part of the way by tricycle because eventually the road (calling it a road is a bit of a stretch) becomes too bad for it. Even a 4x4 can only go a bit further on down the road. So after getting dropped off I had to hike up a spot called the saddle and then hike down the other side into the village of Batad. All told it was about 2 hours of sweaty sweaty walking but I eventually go there. Wow. It was so beautiful being surrounded by mountains, built in with the rice terraces that make this area famous, and having no cars. There are chickens, dogs and horses all over the place. I took a ton of pictures but I'm sure none of them will do it any justice. I eventually found my place to sleep. Rita's place was a spot to crash that I had read about and it was pretty cool. It had an awesome view, awesome food and the girl who runs it has an awesome laugh that you seem to here every few minutes. Oh and there is a little girl who runs around the place singing which is pretty cute.

Since I hadn't been near running water since I left Tokyo I decided to head to Tapplya falls which was about a 45 minute hike from where I was. It took em a lot longer though because you have to go through the village to get there and I kept seeing really cool culturey things or talking to some of the people who live there. These rice terraces have eben around for about 3000 years and the area called Ifugoa roughly means rice eaters. This place is amazing. Definitely a good place to get away from everything or to go on some beautiful hikes. I eventually made it to the waterfall and after having a quick swim in the pool by the bottom I caught a quick nap on a rock in the sun. It was now getting on into the late afternoon and I heard that it often rains around now so I decided to slowly make my way back to Rita's again with many stops on the way. I met a man in traditional dress near the top of the terraces who said I could take his picture for a cigarette. Since I told him I didn't smoke he just let me take it. We talked for a bit and then I headed on. I got back about 30 minutes before a huge storm opened up.

While I was eating an awesome pizza for dinner a couple came in who were also staying at Rita's and were the only other tourists there that night, or so we heard. They were playing a game of basketball at the little school when it started to rain. This place is great. After dinner I sat with the Family and found out that Rita is actually the much older, hunched over, women and the girl who runs it is her daughter. I sat around with the family talking for a bit and was challenged to a game of chess by the woman's brother. Since i never play chess he kicked my butt every time but I told him I'd practice and come back someday and beat him. (I saw a lot of chess playing happening in my time in the Philippines, which was pretty cool) Sitting around on their porch watching the storm/lightening over the terraces was a great way to bring the day to a close and I eventually headed up to bed.

Up bright and early to hike it back to the saddle I said goodbye to Rita and here family and the other couple, who had actually just came from Bohol where I was heading next. After another sweaty, sweaty hike I made it to the saddle but this time I was going to take a jeepny (which is like a bus and a jeep mix) instead of a tricycle to save me from having to walk down from the saddle. Along the way we had to stop for about an hour as part of the mountain had broken off and they were trying to clear it/fix the road. While we were waiting I broke open some licorice I had and passes it around to everyone else who was waiting. They had never seen anything like it before. Some of them seemed to like ti and some didn't. None of them seemed to be a fan of how it sticks to your teeth. The guy next to me really was curious about it and asked me a lot about it. Who would have thought all this could happen because of licorice.

Anyway I eventually reached Banaue again and that tourist lady was there again to give me some more info and after having some lunch I hired a tricycle for the afternoon and went to see the terraces from the different viewpoints as well as book my bus back to Manila tonight. Seeing these terraces from the viewpoints absolutely blew my mind. Its amazing to think that someone so long ago had the idea to make something like this and then actually made it happen. Not only that but they are just beautiful to see and I'm not even here at the right time of year either.

Along the way we stopped at the police station to see a traditional house. It was pretty neat to see especially considering that, like some of the temples in Japan, it was built with no nails or screws. This house wasn't old at all but some of the officers told me that people lived in them until about 50-80 years ago which is amazing. This also felt like I was being set up on a date as they couldn't believe I was actually 25. They thought I looked more like 19...????. They said the loved my curly hair and when I had mentioned that I was a drama and math teacher one of them said she was attracted to men who know math. Needless to say I quickly got out of there and headed on to the next viewpoint. The trike driver made sure to tell me they were single too and that he could get me their number if I wanted which I thought was hilarious.

After viewing the terraces I hung around town waiting for my overnight bus back to Manila. Its really cool how just sitting somewhere doing nothing can be a really cool experience as you just get to sit back and people watch. You get random people coming up and talking to you about anything and everything and you also get to see a different culture in its element. Even sitting waiting for a bus can be an adventure!

Bohol and Alona Beach
September 18th- September 23rd

So after the overnight bus and Taxi it was about 4 o'clock in the morning by the time I arrived to the airport. After changing some money over quickly found a place to sleep near my gate and caught a quick nap. I woke up about an hour later and soon after a couple sat down next to me and we began talking. The guy was from California and he said he works back in the states for about 4 months a year and then lives here with his wife and family the over 8 months. Not a bad way to live. I arrived in Bohol and upon leaving an airport that would make the Sarnia airport seem huge I was quickly attacked my trike driver and after trike driver asking me if I needed a lift. One even followed me for about 5 minutes trying to convince me I'd get lost and I shouldn't be walking. This was really the only time anyone was pushy with me in the Philippines. I eventually found a place to grab a drink and get my barrings down and I eventually made it to the Bus terminal (more like a dusty field a bunch of jeepnies) which was across from a mall. I figured I'd check out the mall to see if it was any different then back home and hopefully find a place to eat. After finding a bakery and having a big piece of chocolate banana bread and a chocolate milk I gave the wall a quick walk only to see that it was really no different than a mall back home.

My next challenge was to find a Jeepny heading to Sikatuna to see the tarsier sanctuary and then eventually head on to Loboc. After being pointed in the right directing countless times by random people and trike divers I eventually found the right jeepny and got on. Riding in these things are a great way to not only save money but also to experience local life, but more on that later. Even such a cool experience as you are jammed into the back of a jeep/bus combo with 20 of your closet friends. This isn't even counting the 5 guys hanging off the back, 3 sitting shotgun and 4 guys on the roof. I eventually was dropped off on a empty road across from a sign that had an arrow and the towards tarsier sanctuary on it which anyone could have missed. The tarsiers where awesome to see in the semi wild here. They're so tiny. The biggest one I was was smaller than my fist and it was definitely a cool stop on my way to Loboc. Many people I met just saw these animals at road side stalls which made me sad because I've read that if these animals are kept in small enclosures that it really reduces their life span. Many of them actually end up killing themselves. So was glad I trucked it out to the see them where I did.

After waiting a while for a jeepny I decided to start walking the direction the jeepny would take me and hopefully find a place to cool off. This didn't happen and I ended up walking for about 2 hours seeing jeepny after jeepny heading the wrong direction. It turned out to be pretty cool though as person after person would yell "Hello", "Whats your name", and "Where are you going" to make sure I was walking the right direction. I even stopped and chopped some would for an old guy to give him a rest and sat and talked with him in the shade for a while. Many of the houses I saw where hut-esk and I'd say 1/4 of them had some kind of buffalo or cow in the front yard. I eventually came by a school and had almost every kid running to the fence to have a hello off with me which was really cute. After a quick soccer game I was back on my way. I eventually was stopped by a bunch of guys who insisted I stopped and rested and that a bus should be by shortly. Well one didn't come for about an hour because the town I was walking from was having their market day so not many buses would be coming out of it on time as more people where heading in then out. No problem though as I chatted with these guys for a while and had a sample of some local coconut wine. I even got to play with one of their pet monkeys a guy ran off to show to me. Eventually the jeepny came and I loaded myself on to the fullest jeepny I have every seen. People, bags of rice bigger than me and many other items where everywhere. I was perched in a awkward position for a while balancing with my right middle finger holding most of my weight. So many people offered me their seat thought but there was no way of sitting with all my bags but it was still super sweet of them.

I eventually arrived in Loboc dropped off across from the oldest church I had ever seen. After asking around and finding out how to get to "Nuts Huts", where i'd be spending the night, I heard this weird kind of jazz music coming down the street. It was a funeral precession with a hurse and a parade of people walking behind it, with some playing the music I was hearing. They all headed into the church, which I thought was abandoned. Really an amazing and random site to see. Well I cross the street and hoped on a the back of a motorcycle and Toto the driver took me up to Nuts. Wow this place is really cool. Its right on a small river with huts, hammocks and goats. It was really a cool place to stay that usually offers mountain biking but not at this time of the year. I grabbed some lunch and a nap in a hammock before having an actual shower! Batad had a shower but it was more like dripping water so having an actually shower felt amazing! My first since Japan! Oh and my room was named "The color purple" since all of them are named after movies. Random.

I then hiked up to a hill overlooking Loboc and hung out for a bit taking in the view before heading back to Nuts as the sun was beginning to go down. On my way there I was stopped by a man who talked to me for about 10 minutes about all the family he has all over Canada and another man who called me Steve Nash because I'm from Canada. He even yelled it at me as I walked back. I also heard a stunning rendition of Creep being blasted from a hut like house. They love their Karaoke here in The Philippines. Well I got caught by the dark so I took a jeepny back part of the way, again having people offering me their seat. Even an old man which was really cool. Before I got on though I watched about 30 kids doing a synchronized hip hop like dance in the town square which was really randomly neat to see. Too dark to take photos though. Well since Nuts is deep in the woods I had to walked a bit by the light of my camera and I was followed by a few dogs for part of the way which was kind of scary but since they're are dogs and homes along the way I knew they were harmless. I got to nuts huts just in time for a huge downpour of rain. I had a super big bowl of spaghetti with a Philippine twist and had a few drinks in a hammock while reviewing my scuba stuff since I started that up the next day. Again a day where not a lot happened but everything happened all the same. Some of the best things to happen while walking the streets or riding a bus. Truly amazing and things I will never forget.

Since I was asleep by about 8:30 last night I was up bright and early, woken by the goat outside my room. Something that had happened is that my sleeping pattern has really moves towards the sun. It goes down early and not long after I'm in bed. It gets up and so do I. The areas I have visited so far don't really have a ton of light or things to do at night so this is the best way to get the most out of your day. So I checked out and headed back to the main road, saying hello to my dog friends along the way and grabbed a coke by a road hut store thing while I waited for a jeepny to take me to Tagbilaran the main city on Bohol. After chatting with the owner and few other people who stopped by a jeepny eventually came, and still feeling hot after my bottle of coke and seeing a full jeepny I decided to go loco like a local and ride the roof into town. It was so amazing to ride the top, other than the palm leaf I got in the face of course. I got a ton of waves, hellos and the like on my hour ride in. It was such an awesome experience to see the drive from there and made me think a lot of the "long way" series I like and made me want to motorbike across a country. Hmm maybe doing that across Canada will be my next adventure. I even helped the driver unload the wood that was packed with me on top.

After a grabbing a coke to go (or in a bag rather), a transfer and another hour ride I eventually got to Alona beach which is on a small neighboring island to Bohol. My first step on the beach broke my sandal but ironically this happened right next to a sandal repair shop. 20 pesos and 10 minutes later I found the place I had arranged to do my Scuba with and arranged to start my pool dives with them later that day. He remembered my name and everything even though I emailed him about 2-3 months ago which was really cool. He is quiet a cool guy. He's kind of like Roy but French so he's definitely going to make this interesting. Not to mention he has the weirdest laugh like Adam Sandler and him saying air sounds more like hair.

I found a place to stay nearby which is a super nice hotel with some budget hut accommodation next door which is great. It saves me some money but allows me to get things you can get in a hotel like a safe for some of my things and cool bar right on the beach which I sample with a few beers before heading off to explore the beach.

Alona beach is uber tiny. A lot smaller than I had thought but its really pretty and picturesk. Lined with restaurants an Scuba schools. There are a ton of people offering you to rent a motor cycle or boat trips but again they aren't pushy at all. All I had to do was tell them I was scuba diving and didn't have the time and then they wouldn't mention it again and instead would talk to me about life in general and everything. I love how you can get into a really good conversation with some random Filipino at pretty much any moment.

I headed back to the scuba place and had my first chance to actually scuba dive. Although it was just in the pool it was still really cool to finally get to do this. We did some lessons and exercises about what to do if yor run out of air, how to get water out of your mask without going to the surface, and what to do if your lose your regulator (mouthpiece). We also did some bouncy exercises to get me used to finding my balance between sinking and floating. Tomorrow I'm in the ocean! When I arrived at the Scuba place before my lesson I got to meet George(ina) who is quiet a weird yet funny person. Shes an older (wo)man who works in the hotel next door and is friends with most of the people who work at the Scuba place. If it were a sitcom she'd be the wacky neighbor that always seems to hang out at the store even though she is supposed to be working. You have to meet her to believe her but (s)he's pretty hilarious.

After my scuba lesson I headed down to a bar called oops and had a few drinks and some dinner. I timed it right too as it was happy hour which was buy one get one free beer, which works for me. I started talking to the guy next to me for a while and he turned out to be the owner. His name was Ulises and he was quite the character and him nodding his head yes was like someone having about 3 mini seizers. He taught me a cool dice game and we played it for a while and I won both times and as a prize he gave me a free beer each time. So I got 6 beers for the price of 2. Works for me! I ended up talking with an American guy who works as a diving instructor with a different company for the rest of the evening before heading to bed.

Today I slept in a little bit before heading to the scuba place for what I thought was going to be my 2nd and last pool lesson. When I arrived though I found out I was going to have my first real in ocean scuba experience and man was it amazing! It took me a little getting used to and I kept forgetting to equalize my ear pressure and I kept floating up but overall I don't think I did to bad. Even though the visibility wasn't the greatest because it was overcast and a bit windy I saw so many cool fish. Shrimp, nemo, blow fish, angle fish, eels and tons of other stuff had no clue what in the heck they were. this dive was to 12m down and for an hour at the house reef near Alona beach. Eric, my instructor said I did really well too and seemed quite comfortable under the water. Such an awesome experience and I can't wait to do more. I've got another pool lesson today, 2 ocean dives tomorrow, and my last here on the day after that. This dive spot was nothing compared to where I'm gong to go!!! After a little nap and some lunch I hung out with the staff at the Scuba place before jumping into the pool for my second set of pool exercises. After reviewing what I did yesterday I learned how to do a safety assent and how to pull someone around on top of the water, among other things.

Later that night I headed back to Oops bar as it was their big night. Apparently its the hot spot to be on a Saturday night, especially during the high season. When I got in Ulises was sitting with a someone and waved me over. The three of us talked for a while before moving to the bar to play some jenga.... random I know. Before long there where a bunch of us, maybe 10, playing it and it actually got pretty intense. Who would of thought jenga in a bar could create such a crowd. The night was really good as this was my first real chance to meet other travelers. There was Jason again form the night before, 2 people from Taiwan, 2 from Japan, a few from New Zealand, Holland, and Brunei, and some other Filipinos from different parts of the Philippines. I met an older guy from North Carolina who was over with his Nephew visiting some family and seeing the country and we talked about traveling and the adventure that comes with it. He was really cool and I ended up bumping into him again the next day and talking to him again. Overall it was a pretty solid night and as cool as it has been being the only real tourist I've seen up to this point it was really cool to get a chance to meet some other travellers. I'm sure this is only the beginning!

So I woke up today looked out my window to see some pretty big waves rolling in and after grabbing some breakfast I bumped into a guy I met last night who told me that he wasn't able to Dive today because of the waves. This could be trouble for me because I had 2 dives planned for today and I can only dive till noon tomorrow since I fly the next day. Luckily I was able to get 1 dive in but my second was pushed back till tomorrow. Eric said that even if the waves are big we'll still go out and get my dives in so I can get my license which is cool. The waves make diving and the visibility a little harder but the problem is more with the boat getting out there and back. Even though the waves weren't huge the boats used here aren't exactly big either.

My 2nd ocean dive was to 12m again for an hour and we started off by doing some of the lessons I learned the first day since doing them in the pool and in the ocean are very different. After 10 minutes we were off to explore. Before We could even start a group of squid swam right by our faces! We were diving in the house reef again like yesterday but just in a different area. We were going to go somewhere different but because of the waves we couldn't go to far out. It was still awesome and I saw many different things than the day before. You spend a good chunk of your time gliding along a wall of coral looking at all the marine life and something really cool to do into look up and see how deep you are and the hundreds of fish above you. Truly an awesome experience. We were engulfed by a school of fish during the dive and spent a few minutes watching a bunch of clown fish dance around in a plant that looked like a hand full of pink spaghetti. So amazing to see this right in front of you.

Diving itself today felt a lot more natural. I was able to equalize a lot easier and because of this I was able to concentrate on other things. Something really hard to get your mind over is your natural instinct to swim. When your scuba diving the only time you really need to move your legs are when you want to move horizontal. Between your weight belt and your BCD (a vest which controls your buoyancy) you control you movements up and down t slow to go down and breath in slow to go up. The rest of the time you can just hover floating in one place (well minus the small pushes from the current). Its really an amazing experience to just be motionless, floating in one spot without having to do any work. I also got better at kicking to move myself. Yesterday when I would move I tended to start floating up because I was kicking too low but I got the hang of it all today. Felt really awkward at first because it feels like I'm being bent over in half but once I got used to it, things got a lot easier. Eric said that every dive someone does they learn and improve a lot so it should be interesting to see how my 2 dives go tomorrow!

Something really cool I've noticed here is that Filipino has a lot of English mixed in with it. I heard this in Korea and Japan with a few words like TV or ice cream but here its like full sentences and both in conversation and on TV. I'll hear blah blah blah, 20 minutes of credit or blah blah blah it hurts so much blah blah. Even commercials are like this. One will be in English and then next Filipino. Really bizarre to actually hear and probably explains why everyone here seems to be able to speak English. Its weird to think I really only have 1 more day here in the Philippines as the next day is a transit day to Borneo. It has really flown and its even weirder to realize that September is almost over.

Time is flying by so much and its such a cool thing to see what I've read and planed actually happening. The Philippines has really been an amazing experience and I'll never forget it here. Hopefully one day I can come back. The people here really make you feel welcome and it was really amazing being pretty much the only tourist I saw for most of this trip. It really made me feel like I was getting a true Philippines experience instead of just a package tour. Whether its walking through a town, along a road, riding in a jeepny, or talking to random Filipino for 20 minutes there is always a chance to get a huge dose of culture here and that is just what I was hoping for.

I was woken up early today twice. The first at 2 am by George(ina) a 2am drunk, (S)he was knocking on my door asking if I wanted a massage. Luckily after being uber quite for about 10 minutes she left. I was woken up again at about 6 o'clock, to the sound of a thunder storm and I immediately thought that I wouldn't be able to dive today and therefore I'd be denied my chance to get my license for a 2nd time. Lucky when I woke up to get ready for my dive time the storm had cleared and although there were still some good sized waves my instructor was determined to allow me to finish my course.

For my first dive we went to a spot called crystal cost and it was my first dive to 18m. This spot was awesome and we saw a lot of different fish. We saw a few HUGE schools of fish, like the one in Nemo that helps his dad. I even go to swim right into them and had them swim all around me. Its so cool seeing them all move as one from so close. Such an awesome experience. I also saw a couple angel fish that were bigger than my head! Oh and I found out what one of the weird things I kept seeing where. They're called a nudi branch. Also Eric got a small cut on his finger and it was weird because we were so deep the color red doesn't happen so his blood was green. So neat to see. Also we had one of those sucker fish on us (like the ones yuo see stuck on whales or sharks) which was really cool to experience. I accidentaly grabbed it at one point to which freaked me uot because I had forgotten about him. For my 2nd and final dive we went back to the house reef and explored there for a bit. Seeing many of the same fish as before but because of the waves we couldn't go further out.

I definitely felt a lot more comfortable diving today as it was all becoming second nature to me. This makes each die so much cooler because you're able to look around more instead on concentrating on what you're doing all the time. I really hope I get a chance to fit in some more scuba diving on this trip as it will be easier to do now that I have my license. I am HOOKED!

I headed back into Tagbilaran which is the main city on Bohol and took an easy night as tomorrow is a busy day and I'm pretty exhausted after diving all morning. Tomorrow I fly back to Manila, transfer airports, and then head to Kota Kinabalu which is in Borneo Malaysia. It should be an adventure packed week with another mountain climb, a jungle trek, and if possible another scuba dive. The Philippines have really blown my mind and it was such a cool country to visit. I'm really glad I came especially considering I almost didn't come here. I definitely hope to come back here someday and hopefully one day I'll get a chance!

Today is a transit day so not much to say except that I arrived safetly in Borneo after a bumpy flight.

Something I can't remember if I mentioned or not is that all over the Philippines there were quotes about God and prayer. Even on their jeepnies or trikes. They even had big signs about a family that prays together stays together and to always be honest even if others aren't. Kind of neat going from there to a muslim country. Also many of the tike drivers are super honest. Something I do when I am going somewhere is aks how much a trip should be since you usually have to negotiate and I found that 95%!o(MISSING)f the trike drivers quoted me a price that was what I was told I should be paying. It definitley makes getting around a lot easier. Oh and roosters, goats and dogs are everywhere!

Well again all from the Philippines as I set of for my Borneo adventure week!

I haven't been able to uplaod photos yet but I hope to do so soon. I'll keep you all posted.

**** To see my pictures from The Philippines click here

Feeling the Phillipines

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