By Nick
Our journey overland from Malapascua to Leyte, then on to Samar was meant to take 2 days but instead lasted 3. We seemed to have always just missed that bus or jeepney and much of the time was spent frustratingly waiting around for our transport to fill with passengers. Samar and Leyte have some of the most beautiful countryside we have seen yet in the Philippines but we did not stop to appreciate it for long, we had lots of ground to cover, our travel days lasting at least …

By Nick
Guidebooks may be useful but for accurate advice I have always found it better to speak to a traveler who has recently come from the area. So when we were given the advice to call ahead and book somewhere in El Nido, Palawan, we didn’t want to waste time. We were due to fly out the following day and arrive in El Nido a few days later but after phoning the handful of hotels recommended to us, we had not bettered our situation. Some searching online came up with …

by Lianna

Bohol is one of the top tourist destinations in the Philippines for a few reasons, two of them being the chocolate hills and the tarsier.
Before we hit the big sights we headed to the overpriced Alona beach to stick in a few dives. We got on a tricycle and after 5 minutes of normal riding we were stuck going a laughable speed that we could have out-walked. The driver got out numerous times to try and fix his bike to no avail. Finally we couldn’t take anymore …

by Nick
With over 7,000 islands in the Philippines and only a handful of them supporting large scale tourist development, the choices for island hopping are endless. Once away from the well connected routes, be prepared for some “interesting’ boat rides like the one we had on our way to the island of Siquijor.

Siquijor has no airport and the only way on or off the tiny island is by boat from Dumaguete and what a ride it was. The sea seemed slightly choppy when we boarded but that was nothing once …

by Nick
A weeks worth of lying on the beach was a great way to recharge our travel batteries but you don’t just get up, fly half way around the world, leaving everything behind to catch some sun. It was time we moved on to do something a little more active and so we headed due south from Boracay.

Two long travel days filled with buses, boats and a night in Iloilo City and we finally made it to the University town of Dumaguete. Often described in guidebooks as similar to …

by Lianna and Nick
Unlike most backpackers, we had the opportunity to experience Manila the way of a local…a local Canadian diplomat that is. We originally decided to get over to the Philippines when I remembered my Dad’s cousin John and his wife Aileen, live there to work for the Canadian government. Staying four days in their gorgeous house, sleeping in, doing laundry and appreciating the delicious (western!) food was great downtime to get us back in the mood for traveling.

Manilla comes as quite a shock from the other …

by Nick
Having left Sri Lanka earlier that day it was a slight culture shock stepping into the modern frenzy of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city. With Air Asia offering dirt cheap rates around the region Kuala Lumpur, or simply KL, is a stop on just about all itineraries through south east asia and was our home for two nights while we waited to board another Air Asia flight to Manilla, Philippines.

The good deals stop there and staying in such a modern capital will leave travel budgets a little worse for …