Philippines, the country that shines like the smile of its people!
It's always great to see familiar faces, this time Renke is here in Manila waiting for me!
Oh Manila, this traffic of yours! When you order a Grab (the Asian Uber) you have to know that they are never on time, traffic is hell in here, so they are always late! Going around Manila and eating delicious food, you can not ask for more. One night was enough for us, so we departed to our first destination, Palawan island, oh yeah finally some beach time!
Our flight arrived to Puerto Princesa, and our first encounter with the famous tricycles was great!
These tricycles are amazing, you get everywhere on them and there are thousands of them around. Of course you need to always negotiate the price, they will always charge you the triple! We didn't stop in Pto Princesa, we drove straight to Port Barton, tiny little town, where there is no electricity and water during the day. We were not lucky with the weather here, as it rained the whole 2 days. But we did have great fun walking to the white beach under the rain and thunderstorm. We even got our own home made umbrellas with some banana leaves, of course they did nothing and we were completely soaked. After a couple of hours on this nice beach we decided we didn't want to walk back, instead we took a boat. Two nights in Port Barton were enough, we just wanted to have some sun and beach time.
Our next stop was El Nido. It is super difficult to find good accommodation, it's always fully booked or the place is really shitty. We wanted to stay in this hostel, but of course it was fully booked, the guys there were kind enough to help us book some small beach cottage, were we spent 2 nights watching one of the nicest sunsets ever, of course I didn't know there would be many more to come. The must do's in El Nido are the famous island hopping, so we took this tour with the hostel and we went on a nice boat ride. It is so incredible how you can see such amazing and beautiful places in this world. We ate amazing sea food on the trip and had some beers after the ride in the hostel while watching the sunset. Apparently my stomach was not so happy the day after, of course I was so sick that I couldn't move from bed. Better I don't tell you the rest of the story. But funny enough I was not the only one sick in El Nido, everyone gets sick here, the water is so dirty thattyou can not escape. We decided to move to this nice beach, around 45 mins from town, Nacpan beach, we spent there two more nights sleeping in a nice tree house, with natural aircon and a great view. Of course being sick and having to climb that tree was not the best, but we managed to survive.
I think these islands are paradise, the water is so clear, the colours just mixed in between white sand, blue, turquoise, green, white clouds, the sun shinning, the feelings it's just amazing.
When you are traveling you want to see and experience as much as you can. Moving to our next destination, Coron Island. We decided to stay here and relax for 5 nights. We took 2 tours around paradise and relaxed in town.
I love staying in hostels, you can meet so many nice people from all over the world and you always have so much fun with them. It's one of the great parts of traveling, meeting new people and getting to know different cultures. I just love it!
Our hostel was in this little alley, every time we were walking in and out all the kids were running to us to say hello and asking what's your name, oh and I forgot, they also kept saying I love you, and grabbing our hands and yes also our ass. These kids are so happy and cute, that I would like to take them all with me.
We recluted couple of people from the hostel and we went out for dinner, we ended up having a great time eating lobster, crab, meat and what ever you can imagine. I must say Mister Chaw took good care of us, Filipino lobster king from los Angeles city Papanga, Manila, amazing person that helped us a lot! Thank you for everything and hope to see you soon.
Time to move again has come, this time back to being solo, which never happens. But let me tell you what a morning I had to get to the airport. Filipinos are happy and relaxed people, so relaxed that everytime you book something either they forget to pick you up or they just take so long time that you think they will never come, just Filipino style. I booked 2 vans for the airport to pick me up at 9:30 am, because Renke the previous day had issues with the van so I just booked 2, just in case. They never showed up! I had the people from the hostel call them and of course they said they were coming, but they never did. I started to get nervous as it was already 10:45 and my flight was at 12:30. After so many phone calls they told me they were not coming, so the owner of the hostel helped me and took me with his motorbike to the airport, thank god he helped me, I arrived just in time for my flight, what a morning I had!
Finally I am im Cebu, my next destination. Cebu is just as big as Manila, so traffic is terrible. I stayed 2 nights in this nice hostel, but the mosquitos had a fest with me, seriously they ate me alive, didn't happen to me in my whole trip, I tried drinking beer, but it didn't work.
Moalboal is our first stop from Cebu island, very tiny village, next to the beach. You just walk 300 meters and you can see thousands of sardines next to the shore, it was incredible.
We rented a bike with my new Frenchie friends and went wondering around, and I met again my dear friend Simon the Viking, who I met in Coron and my new Spanish crazy lady, and we all went to Kawasan falls and around, was just amazing. It's famous for canyonering, meaning you jump from the waterfalls, but I'm better down in the ground than jumping, I'm afraid of heights, so I was in charge of video making.
Spending 2 full days in Moalboal with amazing people and in an amazing hostel, we are ready for our next stop, Oslob, taking the local bus was an adventure, no aircon and standing up for around 3 hours was a funny trip. Oslob is known for its whale sharks, but it's not natural as they are feeding them everyday, which doesn't alow them to migrate normally, we decided not to see them, and just wonder around the waterfalls, some secret beach and eating roasted chicken, yes they have roasted chicken and boiled eggs in every corner. Philippines is famous because they do cock fights, so you can see and hear chickens and cocks everywhere. Sometimes you just want to kill them all, but they work well as an alarm clock.
Taking a very very slow ferry to Siquijor, this small island, where they say they practice magic and spirits come out during the night. The atmosphere in this island is magical and spooky. Specialy when you ride a bike during the night and you can not see a thing around you, but you can imagine many things.
Magical sunsets, blue-green water, it's just breathtaking scenery. And it was the first time I saw a firefly, it was so beautiful, I was like a kid chasing it around, it was like seeing Tinkerbell. You can do the round of the island in one day, see some beautiful waterfalls, the oldest enchanted tree and great landscape, just being on a bike around the island makes it special and nice, well after some many hours you get a flat ass, but who cares.
Time to move on to our next destination, the island of Bohol. The famous chocolate hills and the cute tarsiers monkeys. These little guys are so cute and small, but they have huge eyes, and the chocolate hills are just great, green and brown hills that make the view just beautiful. Taking my last island tour for now, I am not much of snorkeling, but this was just amazing, so many fish, colorful corals and even turtles swimming close to you, was a breathtaking experience.
My time in Philippines has come to an end, it is an amazing country, happy and welcoming people, always giving you a big smile that fills you with positive and great energy. After a while you get used to the Filipino style, always late, when they say in 5 mins it actually means in 1 hour, they never show up, super relaxed and happy. I will definitely come back again. See you soon and keep always shinning!
Next adventure, Cambodia.
Oh Manila, this traffic of yours! When you order a Grab (the Asian Uber) you have to know that they are never on time, traffic is hell in here, so they are always late! Going around Manila and eating delicious food, you can not ask for more. One night was enough for us, so we departed to our first destination, Palawan island, oh yeah finally some beach time!
Our flight arrived to Puerto Princesa, and our first encounter with the famous tricycles was great!
These tricycles are amazing, you get everywhere on them and there are thousands of them around. Of course you need to always negotiate the price, they will always charge you the triple! We didn't stop in Pto Princesa, we drove straight to Port Barton, tiny little town, where there is no electricity and water during the day. We were not lucky with the weather here, as it rained the whole 2 days. But we did have great fun walking to the white beach under the rain and thunderstorm. We even got our own home made umbrellas with some banana leaves, of course they did nothing and we were completely soaked. After a couple of hours on this nice beach we decided we didn't want to walk back, instead we took a boat. Two nights in Port Barton were enough, we just wanted to have some sun and beach time.
Our next stop was El Nido. It is super difficult to find good accommodation, it's always fully booked or the place is really shitty. We wanted to stay in this hostel, but of course it was fully booked, the guys there were kind enough to help us book some small beach cottage, were we spent 2 nights watching one of the nicest sunsets ever, of course I didn't know there would be many more to come. The must do's in El Nido are the famous island hopping, so we took this tour with the hostel and we went on a nice boat ride. It is so incredible how you can see such amazing and beautiful places in this world. We ate amazing sea food on the trip and had some beers after the ride in the hostel while watching the sunset. Apparently my stomach was not so happy the day after, of course I was so sick that I couldn't move from bed. Better I don't tell you the rest of the story. But funny enough I was not the only one sick in El Nido, everyone gets sick here, the water is so dirty thattyou can not escape. We decided to move to this nice beach, around 45 mins from town, Nacpan beach, we spent there two more nights sleeping in a nice tree house, with natural aircon and a great view. Of course being sick and having to climb that tree was not the best, but we managed to survive.
I think these islands are paradise, the water is so clear, the colours just mixed in between white sand, blue, turquoise, green, white clouds, the sun shinning, the feelings it's just amazing.
When you are traveling you want to see and experience as much as you can. Moving to our next destination, Coron Island. We decided to stay here and relax for 5 nights. We took 2 tours around paradise and relaxed in town.
I love staying in hostels, you can meet so many nice people from all over the world and you always have so much fun with them. It's one of the great parts of traveling, meeting new people and getting to know different cultures. I just love it!
Our hostel was in this little alley, every time we were walking in and out all the kids were running to us to say hello and asking what's your name, oh and I forgot, they also kept saying I love you, and grabbing our hands and yes also our ass. These kids are so happy and cute, that I would like to take them all with me.
We recluted couple of people from the hostel and we went out for dinner, we ended up having a great time eating lobster, crab, meat and what ever you can imagine. I must say Mister Chaw took good care of us, Filipino lobster king from los Angeles city Papanga, Manila, amazing person that helped us a lot! Thank you for everything and hope to see you soon.
Time to move again has come, this time back to being solo, which never happens. But let me tell you what a morning I had to get to the airport. Filipinos are happy and relaxed people, so relaxed that everytime you book something either they forget to pick you up or they just take so long time that you think they will never come, just Filipino style. I booked 2 vans for the airport to pick me up at 9:30 am, because Renke the previous day had issues with the van so I just booked 2, just in case. They never showed up! I had the people from the hostel call them and of course they said they were coming, but they never did. I started to get nervous as it was already 10:45 and my flight was at 12:30. After so many phone calls they told me they were not coming, so the owner of the hostel helped me and took me with his motorbike to the airport, thank god he helped me, I arrived just in time for my flight, what a morning I had!
Finally I am im Cebu, my next destination. Cebu is just as big as Manila, so traffic is terrible. I stayed 2 nights in this nice hostel, but the mosquitos had a fest with me, seriously they ate me alive, didn't happen to me in my whole trip, I tried drinking beer, but it didn't work.
Moalboal is our first stop from Cebu island, very tiny village, next to the beach. You just walk 300 meters and you can see thousands of sardines next to the shore, it was incredible.
We rented a bike with my new Frenchie friends and went wondering around, and I met again my dear friend Simon the Viking, who I met in Coron and my new Spanish crazy lady, and we all went to Kawasan falls and around, was just amazing. It's famous for canyonering, meaning you jump from the waterfalls, but I'm better down in the ground than jumping, I'm afraid of heights, so I was in charge of video making.
Spending 2 full days in Moalboal with amazing people and in an amazing hostel, we are ready for our next stop, Oslob, taking the local bus was an adventure, no aircon and standing up for around 3 hours was a funny trip. Oslob is known for its whale sharks, but it's not natural as they are feeding them everyday, which doesn't alow them to migrate normally, we decided not to see them, and just wonder around the waterfalls, some secret beach and eating roasted chicken, yes they have roasted chicken and boiled eggs in every corner. Philippines is famous because they do cock fights, so you can see and hear chickens and cocks everywhere. Sometimes you just want to kill them all, but they work well as an alarm clock.
Taking a very very slow ferry to Siquijor, this small island, where they say they practice magic and spirits come out during the night. The atmosphere in this island is magical and spooky. Specialy when you ride a bike during the night and you can not see a thing around you, but you can imagine many things.
Magical sunsets, blue-green water, it's just breathtaking scenery. And it was the first time I saw a firefly, it was so beautiful, I was like a kid chasing it around, it was like seeing Tinkerbell. You can do the round of the island in one day, see some beautiful waterfalls, the oldest enchanted tree and great landscape, just being on a bike around the island makes it special and nice, well after some many hours you get a flat ass, but who cares.
Time to move on to our next destination, the island of Bohol. The famous chocolate hills and the cute tarsiers monkeys. These little guys are so cute and small, but they have huge eyes, and the chocolate hills are just great, green and brown hills that make the view just beautiful. Taking my last island tour for now, I am not much of snorkeling, but this was just amazing, so many fish, colorful corals and even turtles swimming close to you, was a breathtaking experience.
My time in Philippines has come to an end, it is an amazing country, happy and welcoming people, always giving you a big smile that fills you with positive and great energy. After a while you get used to the Filipino style, always late, when they say in 5 mins it actually means in 1 hour, they never show up, super relaxed and happy. I will definitely come back again. See you soon and keep always shinning!
Next adventure, Cambodia.
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