Archive for September, 2011

Day 20 Travel to Malapascau

The day after our adventure tour we had a LONG day of travel to get us from Panglao to the ferry (600p, 30min) for a 9:30 ferry ride (550each) to get us back to Cebu. Once in Cebu we had a taxi take us the 2 or so hours to get from Cebu to Maya (2500p). Our driver stopped about ½ way for the cheapest lunch we have had so far – 130p for three of us to eat – even had some vegetables!

We were really glad we bypassed Cebu. Neither one of us are fans of city life and what we saw just solidified our desire to stay far away. Loud, dirty and crowded. Smack dab in the middle of the city we saw naked kids bathing in the street/gutters. Nothing like seeing how other people live to help you appreciate what you have.

We arrived at Maya port and was greeted by a boat captain explaining that the ferry would go when there are 26 passengers or we could pay 1500p and go immediately. We were the only white people there, the rest of the passengers were all Filipinos. We decided to wait a bit and then “miraculously” there were 15 people ready to go and now we could go for just 1000p. Oh, and of course the 100p to get us and our luggage to the boat. I guess that is cheaper baggage costs than the airlines. We jumped on board and were given the center most seats, “first class”. Chris and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the only ones who actually paid a fare.

Ridin' VIP style

We felt a little bit scammed but were tired from the 8 hours of travel so far  just wanted to get there. Plus, when you really look at it, 1000p is about $24US.  It’s not that we mind paying, we would just prefer that the price is the price.

When we arrived and had some porters take our luggage without us really asking and then carry it to meet our friends, and then of course ask for money. Our friends had sorted out a cottage for us on Malapascau at White Sands, it the best cottage we have stayed in so far. 09058615616 is the number if you want to stay. We paid 1000, had a nice view of the bay, an upstairs, nice bathroom where everything worked and a big porch. The only thing that wasn’t good was there was loud music on Bounty Beach the two nights we stayed. A big turnoff from the entire place actually as you could hear it from any accomodations near by. Again, bring earplugs! Seriously – we never found a place to buy them.

Our favorite cottage so far

Malapascau was nice, a dive resort island at the northern tip of Cebu. It doesn’t have any cars, some motorbikes if I remember correctly. We also went to Bantayan and Malapascau wins hands down.

Day 19 – Chocolate Hills and Bohol Tour

As we are becoming more and more aware things work differently here than they do where we are from. Everytime you walk on the beach you get hounded by guys on the wanting to take you on tours. Depending on where you are you start thinking your name might actually be “taxi”, “dolphin watch”, “island hopping” or when you are on Bohol “chocolate hills.”  We finally organized one with a guy on the beach for 2500p. He basically called us a taxi and was our “guide”. The taxi cost probably 2000 and our “guide” was 500. We didn’t really need a “guide” – as we basically just got driven from place to place and honestly our taxi driver was more of a guide than our “guide” was. Similar to our van ride from El Nido to PP we felt a bit duped. If you jumped in any taxi you could have easily said – take me on the chocolate hills tour. Our “guide” took a few pictures for us.

The chocolate hills are one of those “must do’s” while on Bohol, so being the good tourists that we are we went got it done. There are a handful of sights you’ll see on your tour. We skipped a few of them. We are fast tourists. We skipped the blood compact and the church. We drove through the man made forest which was pretty and then headed to the chocolate hills. I thought they were pretty but wouldn’t make a special drive out to see them again. After that it started raining so we got wet at the butterfly place (the Bellagio’s was better) and the bamboo bridge (pretty cool). Everything costs extra money – 10p for the bridge, 50 or so for the hills, 50p for the butterflies, etc.

It was finally lunch time and we headed to Lobuc River for our river cruise and lunch. It was touristic. Is that a word? It is now. We loaded onto a boat with a bunch of other tourists, ate a pretty decent buffet lunch and then cruised up the river on this big barge. It was… pleasant. We stopped at another pontoon to watch some children singing and dancing (give a donation) which was the ultimate in cheese (but I guess also some culture as they were doing some native dances) and continued our cruise up to a “waterfall” which was pretty much a class 5 rapid. Chris and I laughed most of the trip at the cheesiness of it all. After the cruise we went to check out the tarsiers. I didn’t want to pay to see a small primate in a cage and our driver took us to the sanctuary (50p) and we saw 4.

If you can’t stand doing touristy things skip the chocolate hills tour and river cruise. This was not a highlight of our trip. If you don’t have a ton of time in the Philippines there are probably better ways to spend your days.

Day 15 – Relax then explore Balicasag

After a full day of travel yesterday all I wanted to do was relax, read, jump in the pool and do a workout. I got a good workout done in the morning and then had some internet time. We had met back up with our friends, but one was really sick. Chris decided we were going to rent a boat and head to Balicasag Island to check it out and do some snorkeling.

Balicasag Island

We got over there, snorkeled, it was awesome! The water was clear and warm, the reef was alive, there was a huge drop off of the reef, saw tons of fish, some big ones even.

Fresh grilled shrimp

After that we checked out the island, grabbed some lunch, and found the two accommodation options. We had a choice of a fan room with limited electricity or a hotel with a pool, a restaurant, AC and electricity. We chose to go fancy and stay at Balicasag Island Dive Resort for 2500p a night it was well worth it. Plus with one of our friends still feeling pretty sick the cool air would feel WAY more comfortable.

Balicasag Beach

We headed back to Bohol Divers Club, ate another very mediocre dinner and called it a night, looking forward to our two days ahead on Balicasag.

Day 16 and 17 – Balicasag

I had some Beachbody work to do in the morning. I was going to be without internet for 2 days so wanted to get a bit caught up. We were on our way back to Balicasag at 10am to check into our cottage.

Our cottage

Our Room

Our View

Everyone but me was ready for a nap after we had lunch. I swam, read and snorkeled and hung out. When our friends woke up we went for a snorkel, saw trigger fish, big yellow/black/white fish, pretty blue and rainbow fish, a lion fish (my first one!). It was a fantastic day. Read in the hammock, wrote, and had a great dinner of chicken, pineapple and mushroom. This quickly became a highlight of our trip. Quiet, peaceful and relaxing. Not

sure if it beats out El Nido or not, maybe you can help me decide…

Y

Book time

Sunset on Balicasag

Day 11 Travel from El Nido to Puerto Princessa
El Nido was great and I would definitely go back. It was our favorite spot in all of the Philippines. When we first arrived we really liked it and were excited to do all four tours. That changed after the second day due to a few different factors.
1. Chris had a meeting coming up that required internet access which was tough with the electricity being off most of the day
2. We were all kind of tired of being on load boats
3. Two of us weren’t feeling 100% after getting a little stomach bug
4. Weather for the day wasn’t looking amazing, rain was coming

Chris proposed that we just leave that morning and we all said – sure! I went back and found a van to take us to Puerto Princessa. We opted to split a private van, with AC that would be ready to leave in an hour. We found one for 6,000pesos – which later found out the booking office kept about 2,000pesos – which hardly pays for the gas and time the driver spent taking us to PP. This will come to be a norm while traveling through the Philippines. The road was part dirt road, part paved. The drive was fine. We stopped for lunch just in time to watch the last part of the Mosley vs Pacquiao at a tiny little restaurant on a small tv.

We went back to the same hotel at Puerto Princessa. It was nice to have internet, electricity, AC and flushing toilets. Not excited about being back in the crazy traffic of Puerto Princessa. It’s pretty entertaining.
This is just a typical day, on a typical corner in PP. Love it!

Day 12 Massage and chill

Chris had his meeting this morning. After Chris’ meeting we went looking for some more food, phone cards, a post office and the immigration office to extend our Visa. When you come into the Philippines you can get a 21 day visitor visa and can extend pretty easy for a longer visit. After that we headed back to the hotel until I got hungry and needed a snack. I was STARVING and finally I found some meat on a stick so I asked if it was chicken and the guy said yes so I ordered two. Chris came up to me looked at what was getting grilled up for me and the rest goes like this:

Chris: You know that’s a chicken head.

Mandy: No it isn’t, is it? (He’s always messing with me)

Chris: silence

Mandy: (takes first bite and something juicy and liquid pops out) Ewww, what’s that?

Chris: That’s its eye.

Mandy: (spits out chicken head and throws the rest in the trash)

Chris laughed at me until I found him fried banana pancakes. Sometimes he still laughs at me because of this story.

Day 4 – Flying to Coron

We woke up early in Puerto Princessa pretty much used the day to search out money. Many ATMs only let you take out 4000-10000 pesos a day and many were empty due to a holiday weekend. Our flight left for Coron at 1:50 but it actually left when everyone was there and on the plane, about 40 min early. A big surprise actually. The airport in Coron is 30 min drive from Coron town where all the accommodations, restaurants, etc are. You don’t get your own cab, instead there will be about 5-6 shuttles and you’ll share it with anyone else who happens to get in. I enjoyed the back seat to see the view of where we were although I was crammed in with the luggage.

Crammed in the back with the luggage

The van was comfortable and the ride was fine. 150pesos per person. Tell the driver where you want to get off and he’ll take you there. We checked in to Sunz en Coron, took a dip in the pool and headed to town.

Sunz en Coron, hotel

The hotel was a bit out of town – 10peso tricycle ride per person. That night we met up with MJ a couchsurfer and tour guide at a restaurant called Manekin Pis. Really good burgers, would definitely recommend going here.

Day 5 Hike, chill out, hot springs

I woke up early and headed out to hike Mt. Tapayas before it got to hot.  719 steps to the top and nice view of town. Good to get my heartrate up.

View from top of Mt. Tapayas

Came back to the hotel to play on the internet a bit, jump in the pool and then Chris and I went to the Manquit hot springs. Really cool tricycle ride through the other part of Coron town – 150p each r/t from the hotel. The hot springs were pretty and a nice place to hang out. 100p entrance fee. Nice view of the water. Would definitely recommend going there.

Manquit hot springs

Day 6 – Coron Island

Today was dedicated to a tour of Coron Island. First stop was Kayagan Lake – very cool seeing the limestone cliffs especially how they wear down at the bottom and hang over the edge.

Lake Kayangan

Next stop was Baracuda Lake – different temps of water made it interesting.

Jumping into Lake Baracuda

We had lunch at twin lagoon and did some snorkeling. Then to skeleton island for a snorkel of a wreck and finally off to Atawayan Beach – nice place for a sunset but we didn’t make it that long. It was a loooong day.

Gorgeous water, limestone features

We were back about 5 but could have stayed out later if we wanted to watch the sunset. Knowing how long it takes to get food from a restaurant we chose to just head to dinner.  The tour with was good but we didn’t NEED a guide – most of the boat drivers know where to take the tourists.

Our Boat for the day