After leaving Palawan, we headed for the beautiful Visayas. The many islands were too numerous to conquer in one trip, so maybe I will have to go back at some point to get to the others, but the four islands I made it to were wonderful.
Cebu
I only spent one night in Cebu city. I used it (as I assume most people do) as a hub to get around the rest of Visayas. Cebu City was a pretty large city from what I saw. They had a lot of good shopping and a bunch of good food. (I had some wonderful chorizo there!) Lots of friendly places to stay, which is good, since that's about all I did there.
Negros
I spent most of my time in the Visayas between Negros and Negros Occidental. Landing in Dumaguete from Cebu, I got a nice place at OK Pension. It was more than OK though, it was pretty darn nice, and cheap too! Dumaguete had a lot of great places to eat including Filipino food and others like Italian and British. I also got to eat my fill at the local bakeries. I probably ate a whole cake or pie by myself in the week I was there. A lot more sweet foods than I am used to now.
One of the first days I was in Dumaguete, I headed to Twin Lakes, which are two beautiful lakes up in the mountains. They are 300 fathoms deep at one point (which I later learned was about 1800 feet). Lily and I kayaked around and enjoyed the flooded forest that surrounded it. Being flooded, we were unable to hike around the lake which was the real reason for going, but the kayaking was good anyways.
A different day, we headed up to Mabinay to go Caving with Jeffry, a local guide and mountaineer. He was a lot of fun to talk to and knew everything about the area (born there and grew up there). The cave experience was the best I have had so far. We were at points crawling on our bellies in a stream, looking up at thousands of two inch long stalactites and puckering our lips above the water and below the cave roof to get a little bit of air. It was a great time. I came out soaked and very, very muddy (I don't think that shirt will ever get clean), but I had a ton of fun!
Negros Occidental
After Dumaguete, we headed to Langub (Sugar) beach on the East coast. The beach only has about 4 resorts on it, so we were forced to go to our last resort in terms of rooms, but we were close enough to get to the other resorts that it didn't really matter. We hung out with fellow travelers Chris and Larry (Canadians), Emai and Wilfried (Dutch), Dave (Californian), and Paddy (Irish). We had a lot of fun chatting around with them during dinner and after. We also went snorkeling here. The reefs weren't as nice as some I have been to, but there was a lot of wildlife to look at besides the coral.
Panay
After leaving Negros, we took a boat to Iloilo City on Panay. We stayed there for a couple of days, but were disappointed. We had gone there to do some climbing, but the indoor gym was closed (moved to America) and the National Park was "dangerous" because the militia was supposedly hiding out there. We did explore the city though and found a nice restaurant or two to eat at. Not a total loss.
Guimaras
Since we didn't do the climbing, we had time to visit the small island of Guimaras. There was a great waterfall near San Miguel that the local kids were using as a swimming hole/diving board. It was fun to watch them for a while. Even our tricycle driver came and watched with us. It looked like fun, but I hadn't brought my swimsuit and only had one clean pair of shorts left.
We also went to the Mango Research Facility. This wasn't much more than an orchard with a couple scientist, but I did learn about the growing of mangos and I did pet a cow. What more can you ask for from a fruit lab?
Next, we are headed back to Manila to get to Donsol to go swimming with the whale sharks. Hopefully, they won't be too hungry.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The beautiful island of Palawan
Palawan is a beautiful island full of waterfalls, "archipelagic" islands, caves and one enormous underground river. It was hot the entire time we were there, but the sun was shining too, so we got to enjoy the beaches. (Except for the ones with jellyfish.)
We started in Puerto Princesa which is the main city on the island. We tried to explore the old cathedral there, but it was closed. We tried to explore the museum there, but we were unable to find it. We did, however, find something better, Shakey's Pizza and Mr. Donut. I ate more donuts in the last week and a half than in the last year probably. The town itself was much like most other towns in the Philippines, but it was a great jumping point for the rest of the island.
Our first trip out of PP was to Sabang and the largest underground river. It was a bumpy ride up there (but what ride in the Philippines isn't?), and when we got there, we realized we didn't have enough money to stay as long as we wanted. But we were able to hike the underground river and take a boat ride through it. The cave itself wasn't as impressive as the caves in Sagada, but it was really impressive that the entire river ran through it. There were a lot of interesting rock formations, like the hanging fruit and vegetable garden, where different structures looked like, surprisingly enough, fruit and vegetables. We also saw some 4-5 foot Monitor lizards that were inches from my feet and some noisy monkeys who enjoyed harassing the tourists.
Since we ran out of money, we headed back to PP to get some more and then we headed to Port Barton (a day after we expected because we got up too late for the bus). The place we stayed at in Port Barton was beautiful, cheap and had a lot of nice people there. We went out on a tour of some of the islands and some of the coral. The coral was somewhat sad, as much of it was dead due to abuse, but what was alive was very beautiful. We saw some starfish, a puffer fish or two and a bunch of other colorful fish and coral. I finally got my tan back too, maybe a little more than I had in Thailand.
From Port Barton, we took a jeepney or two to El Nido, which is another jumping off point for island hopping. We stayed in a rather crappy bungalow, but the beach and town itself were very nice. We did another island hopping thing where we saw some more coral and some more fish. We also had a nice beach-cooked fish lunch on one of the islands which was delicious. We brought a lot more money this time, but we still ran out, so this trip was cut short too.
We spent a couple of days in PP recovering from dusty lungs and a messed up neck from our trip in El Nido. Off to the Visayas next.
We started in Puerto Princesa which is the main city on the island. We tried to explore the old cathedral there, but it was closed. We tried to explore the museum there, but we were unable to find it. We did, however, find something better, Shakey's Pizza and Mr. Donut. I ate more donuts in the last week and a half than in the last year probably. The town itself was much like most other towns in the Philippines, but it was a great jumping point for the rest of the island.
Our first trip out of PP was to Sabang and the largest underground river. It was a bumpy ride up there (but what ride in the Philippines isn't?), and when we got there, we realized we didn't have enough money to stay as long as we wanted. But we were able to hike the underground river and take a boat ride through it. The cave itself wasn't as impressive as the caves in Sagada, but it was really impressive that the entire river ran through it. There were a lot of interesting rock formations, like the hanging fruit and vegetable garden, where different structures looked like, surprisingly enough, fruit and vegetables. We also saw some 4-5 foot Monitor lizards that were inches from my feet and some noisy monkeys who enjoyed harassing the tourists.
Since we ran out of money, we headed back to PP to get some more and then we headed to Port Barton (a day after we expected because we got up too late for the bus). The place we stayed at in Port Barton was beautiful, cheap and had a lot of nice people there. We went out on a tour of some of the islands and some of the coral. The coral was somewhat sad, as much of it was dead due to abuse, but what was alive was very beautiful. We saw some starfish, a puffer fish or two and a bunch of other colorful fish and coral. I finally got my tan back too, maybe a little more than I had in Thailand.
From Port Barton, we took a jeepney or two to El Nido, which is another jumping off point for island hopping. We stayed in a rather crappy bungalow, but the beach and town itself were very nice. We did another island hopping thing where we saw some more coral and some more fish. We also had a nice beach-cooked fish lunch on one of the islands which was delicious. We brought a lot more money this time, but we still ran out, so this trip was cut short too.
We spent a couple of days in PP recovering from dusty lungs and a messed up neck from our trip in El Nido. Off to the Visayas next.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The beauties of Northern Luzon
Northern Luzon is not as famous for its beaches as the rest of the country, but it has a ton of offerings for those that want to look. There are the rice terraces of Banaue, Batad and the surrounding barangays and countryside. The caves, hanging coffins and festivals of Sagada. And the bustling city of Baguio.
Banaue
First, Lily and I headed from Manila to Banaue. It is an overnight 10 1/2 hour bus ride. It is also freezing cold on the bus when they have the air on full blast all 10 hours, you are wearing shorts and your vent won't close because it is broken. It was a nice change from the extreme heat that I have been feeling though. We left at 10 at night which got us in at around 8:30 in the morning. We grabbed a hostel room and took a quick nap.
Batad
The next day, we decided to do the hike to Batad. It was a long 2 hour hike up to the saddle (the valley between two mountains) and then an hour or so down to the city of Batad. The view was beautiful, the engineering of the ancient filipino people
genius and the air was crystal clear. The sound of chickens was everywhere, and you could see ant-like people working in the terraces far below and far away. We grabbed some food, ran out of time and started the hike back.
Sagada
The next day we took a private van for a two hour ride to Bontoc since we missed the much, much cheaper jeepney ride. (For those that don't know a Jeepney is an extended Jeep that people ride all over the Philippines in.) We got to Bontoc with just enough time to catch another 1 hour Jeepney to Sagada. We got to Sagada and then I had to go back to Bontoc because the only ATM in Sagada wasn't working for international cards. The ride back, I rode on top of the Jeepney, as it was too full for me to fit inside. I much prefer this style of ride to the normal "in the back of the Jeepney" sort.
We did some caving in Sagada. It was amazing. We squeezed through holes that I had to twist and turn and scrape my head to get through. We walked barefoot up 45 degree rocks because they were just that "grippy". The water was freezing, but we waded through it to see some of the other parts of the cave. The rock formations like the turtle, the pregnant lady and the t-rex footprint were all amazing in there by lamplight. There were also a lot of bats, but they didn't bother us. We did remember to close our mouths when we looked up at them though.
We also checked out the hanging coffins of Sagada, which were interesting, but not that great. The history and culture behind them is much better than actually seeing them.
We were also in town for the Sagada yearly fiesta. There was a beauty pageant that lasted hours and hours. There was a street market and dancing and a parade. It was a great experience to see the "small town" side of the Philippines.
Baguio
We headed back from Sagada by long bus ride to Baguio. We both did not enjoy the rumbling, turning, up and down of the mountain road back, but we got there 6 hours later. We spent little time in Baguio, as we were trying to get back to Manila, but it was a very modern town with a huge mall where we grabbed our first McDonald's in a long time. (Strangely, they have McSpaghetti here). We then took another 6 hour snore-filled ride back to Manila, finally getting to our Pensionne at around 11:30. It was a long day, but the travels to Northern Luzon were definitely worth it.
Next is the island of Palawan with its underground river, archipelago and beautiful beaches.
Banaue
First, Lily and I headed from Manila to Banaue. It is an overnight 10 1/2 hour bus ride. It is also freezing cold on the bus when they have the air on full blast all 10 hours, you are wearing shorts and your vent won't close because it is broken. It was a nice change from the extreme heat that I have been feeling though. We left at 10 at night which got us in at around 8:30 in the morning. We grabbed a hostel room and took a quick nap.
Batad
The next day, we decided to do the hike to Batad. It was a long 2 hour hike up to the saddle (the valley between two mountains) and then an hour or so down to the city of Batad. The view was beautiful, the engineering of the ancient filipino people
genius and the air was crystal clear. The sound of chickens was everywhere, and you could see ant-like people working in the terraces far below and far away. We grabbed some food, ran out of time and started the hike back.
Sagada
The next day we took a private van for a two hour ride to Bontoc since we missed the much, much cheaper jeepney ride. (For those that don't know a Jeepney is an extended Jeep that people ride all over the Philippines in.) We got to Bontoc with just enough time to catch another 1 hour Jeepney to Sagada. We got to Sagada and then I had to go back to Bontoc because the only ATM in Sagada wasn't working for international cards. The ride back, I rode on top of the Jeepney, as it was too full for me to fit inside. I much prefer this style of ride to the normal "in the back of the Jeepney" sort.
We did some caving in Sagada. It was amazing. We squeezed through holes that I had to twist and turn and scrape my head to get through. We walked barefoot up 45 degree rocks because they were just that "grippy". The water was freezing, but we waded through it to see some of the other parts of the cave. The rock formations like the turtle, the pregnant lady and the t-rex footprint were all amazing in there by lamplight. There were also a lot of bats, but they didn't bother us. We did remember to close our mouths when we looked up at them though.
We also checked out the hanging coffins of Sagada, which were interesting, but not that great. The history and culture behind them is much better than actually seeing them.
We were also in town for the Sagada yearly fiesta. There was a beauty pageant that lasted hours and hours. There was a street market and dancing and a parade. It was a great experience to see the "small town" side of the Philippines.
Baguio
We headed back from Sagada by long bus ride to Baguio. We both did not enjoy the rumbling, turning, up and down of the mountain road back, but we got there 6 hours later. We spent little time in Baguio, as we were trying to get back to Manila, but it was a very modern town with a huge mall where we grabbed our first McDonald's in a long time. (Strangely, they have McSpaghetti here). We then took another 6 hour snore-filled ride back to Manila, finally getting to our Pensionne at around 11:30. It was a long day, but the travels to Northern Luzon were definitely worth it.
Next is the island of Palawan with its underground river, archipelago and beautiful beaches.
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