We originally planned to travel for up to 8 months, but it’s hard to judge how a trip is going to go until you are on it. We ended up completely changing our travel plans from our original itinerary, and although it was one of my favourite destinations, traveling 2 months in India really takes it out of you.

The Philippines has been an amazing part of our trip and I think it’s a great place to depart for home from. We came here thinking we would have endless relaxation on beautiful beaches, and although we did visit some of the worlds best beaches, most of the Philippines has been action packed. The actual travel aspect of the Philippines can also be exhausting because of the fact that it is a country of islands, so days upon days can be spent taking buses, jeepnies, ferries and tricycles to get to one destination. This is why lately I have heard my bed calling my name from Canada.

I have had an amazing time and couldn’t be happier with the route we’ve taken and have had no regrets along the way. I spent everyday seeing beautiful, disgusting, interesting, crazy, monumental and downright weird things with Nick, and as we celebrated our 7th anniversary this January I couldn’t think of anyone I would rather have shared these experiences with.

Nick is a lot tougher than I and has a higher threshold for the little things that have begun to wear me out, plus he is still as excited to see new places as we both were when we left, which is an indication that he should not yet return home. Our computer unfortunately crashed so Nick won’t be continuing with regular blog updates, but he’ll hopefully get the oportunity for a few picture posts.

Before I leave I want to address how long term budget travel isn’t as ‘fun’ as many people might imagine it to be. It might seem like backpackers simply step out on life and take a break from the stresses that plague most people. What isn’t widely understood is that it’s simply an alternative lifestyle, that brings along with it new and different stresses and frustrations. Amazing things can happen when you’re put in situations so completely different than your ‘regular’ life, but unfortunately these things don’t happen everyday. It’s on the off days that you realize this awesome backpacker life is the opposite of being irresponsible, it’s actually a big commitment to stay on the road and search for that next adventure.

When I arrive home I probably won’t see anyone for at least a week because I’ll be sleeping day and night, but when I finally wake up it will only be a matter of time before I once again decide to save all my money and journey to another area of the world to explore. So as I sit here typing this I am not saying ‘goodbye’ to our blog, I am really saying ’see you soon.’

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 8 hours. A final Jeepney and tricycle ride and we had finally reached the place we had come all this way for.

Rolling into the town of Donsol after 3 days of rough transport it felt anti-climatic to the journey that preceded it. Other than the occasional views of Mayon volcano, the town appeared the same as the countless other fishing villages we passed in Samar and Leyte trying to get here. Tucked away on the southern coast of Luzon, no matter which direction traveling, Donsol is difficult to reach but from December to May tourists make the long haul trip here in search of the “butanding” also known as whale sharks.

It was up early to make it to the visitors center for when it opened. Snorkel gear and fins rented, we joined up with a group of 2 Swedes, 1 Dutch and a local World Wild Life Fund volunteer for our boat trip out to see the sharks. Due to their insane migration patterns very little is known of whale sharks and only a few places in the world do they ever congregate in any kind of numbers. Donsol is one of these places and it wasn’t until roughly 10 years ago that any eco-tourism infrastructure was put in place. SCUBA diving is not allowed and groups are limited to 6 per boat plus a guide known as a Butanding Interaction Officer in an attempt to lessen the negative affect tourists can have on these huge creatures. The center shows a video of proper swimming etiquette around the sharks which is a nice conservation effort, but later we learned from the WWF volunteer that zero of the dollars made from the tourism industry in Donsol gets reinvested in conservation and instead goes to the pocket of the local government. Can’t say this surprised me in a country with such a poor environmental record but since the experience of a lifetime costs 15USD, I’m sure tourists wouldn’t complain paying more knowing the extra dollars are being spent protecting the whale sharks.

Having seen a whale shark in Thailand years ago while diving, the experience has stuck with me and is something I continually talk about to this day. I couldn’t wait for Lianna to experience something so amazing but the thought of swimming alongside a fish of mammoth proportions left her more than a little anxious while we searched around for sharks near the surface. With a small one sighted everyone was over the side of the boat in a matter of seconds and suddenly a young whale shark came into view and allowed us to swim alongside it for a minute or so before diving down. Soon after, we were back on the boat searching for more.

Lianna, not realizing how she would react to such a large fish began to question whether or not she could handle being up close to a large one. It was then our spotter noticed a fin at the surface of the water and our boat was moved into position to intercept. Lianna began to shed some tears and started hyperventilating then decided this wasn’t for her. She wasn’t going in. Following the lead of the Butanding Interaction Officer, the rest of us piled into the water followed surprisingly, by Lianna who changed her mind at the last second. Nothing could prepare us for what we saw next, as the whale shark the size of a school bus appeared out of the blue and was heading towards us mouth wide open.

Three times the size of the whale shark I’d seen in the past this was a true giant over 10 meters long. Preoccupied with feeding on the tiny plankton, the shark remained feeding at the surface for over 15 minutes barely moving making it easy for us to keep up. We watched in awe as its huge mouth filtered gallons of water barely giving the annoying tourists a glance while we dove and surfaced all around him.

Hearing some commotion and yelling above the water I surfaced and heard Filipino being yelled in my direction. When I felt something bump my foot I quickly looked into the water realizing another whale shark had come out of nowhere and at an alarming speed passing barely underneath our group. Lucky to have been just out of the way in time, everyone was caught off guard as Lianna announced she was ready to get back on the boat. It was then a third shark made an appearance and allowed us a few more precious minutes of swimming time with it. When our legs became too tired we left the shark for the next boat who was just arriving. We had two more brief encounters with some slightly smaller sharks before our time was up and we headed back. Too good to do just once I made plans to go again the next day.

Lianna opted to sleep in after our long days traveling but its certainly not everyday you have the opportunity to swim with giants and I left again in the early hours of the morning for the visitors center. Again, I was not disappointed as our trip consisted of spotting over 8 whale sharks although nothing quite topped the enormous shark at the surface the day prior. An added bonus was seeing a huge school of bottle nose dolphins swimming by with some flying completely out of the water.

Southern Luzon’s other main attraction is Mt Mayon dubbed “the most perfect volcano in the world” due to its perfect cylindrical shape and later that day we took a bus to Legazpi to spend a night and enjoy the views. Certainly not dormant, Mayon volcano is one of the most dangerous in the world and it was just in December that villages within a certain radius were placed in refugee camps due to lava and ash spewing form its crater. I visited Cagsawa ruins early the next morning where in 1814, 1200 people sought refuge in a church only to be buried alive by the falling debris. Clouds covered most of the peak but after waiting 15 minutes the perfect shaped cone became visible. I was lucky to time my visit with the clear skies only lasting 10 more minutes until the clouds moved back in, but the sight of the volcano amongst the rice terraces in the morning light made for one of the most beautiful sights i’ve seen yet in the Phillipines.

The remainder of the our day was spent waiting around for an 11 hour night bus to Manilla but with endless views of the volcano from most of the town the hours passed quite quickly and before we knew it we were on our way back to Manilla.

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 a large list of just about every accommodation option in El Nido and a frustrating full day spent calling each one was in vain as none had any rooms. We were faced with a tough decision, cancel our flights and reroute, or risk arriving with no where to go. Chinese New Year really seems to bring in the hordes of tourists to the Philippines and since El Nido is a place we required accommodation for over a week, we knew our chances weren’t good and regrettably had to cancel our flights.

With Cebu City’s grime and chaos getting to us we needed not to linger and decided to head out to a peaceful place to rethink our plans. 4 ½ hours on a bus and an hour long bangka ride brought us to Malapascua Island which had been recommended to us by some friends we met in Sri Lanka.

Malapasuca is a tiny little island on the northern tip of Cebu made up of a few fishing villages blended in with some resorts. Only a few square kilometers in size, there are no cars or noisy tricycles to disrupt the tranquil atmosphere, although like everywhere in the Philippines, there is karaoke and plenty of roosters. It’s amazing a place so laid back can exist so close to the industrial island of Cebu. A powder white beach stretches in front of the resorts but its not the sand that draws the tourists here, its the diving.

Not long after arriving we found an average place to stay almost immediately and decided to head down to the dive shop and organize a trip to see Malapascua’s most famous residents, the thresher sharks. Extremely rare, Thresher sharks are not often seen by divers as they spend most of their time in the deep ocean hunting and it’s thought that they only come up to be cleaned by cleaner wrasse (small fish). Monad Shoal off the coast of Malapascua, is a rare plate because they are seen quite frequently and to witness such a rare animal was definitely something I did not want to pass by. Monad Shoal being an advanced dive site meant Lianna would have to sit this one out, but not one to hold me back, she let me go on the condition that I wasn’t going to get obsessed if I was unlucky, like with the tigers in India.

Speaking to another diver in Bohol, who spent days diving without seeing the shark I tried not to build my hopes too high but couldn’t hide my excitement the night prior to our dive. The following morning I was up early and my spirits were still high even though most of the other divers were trying for their second and third times. The sun began to rise when everyone was ready to descend and at 25 meters depth we were signaled to sit on the bottom awaiting the arrival of the shark. A line of divers sat waiting beside me while my head was filled with thoughts of amazement that so many people were as willing as I to wake up at 430am to see this damn shark. Monad shoal doesn’t offer divers much to look at while waiting and once I became bored with the open blue, I found a tiny moray eel staring back at me which occupied my attention for awhile. After 20 minutes our dive master signaled it was time to move to another view point and we left the line of divers behind as we swam in the opposite direction. Not long after, we realized why we hadn’t seen anything for 20 minutes, the shark was behind us! It’s silhouette was unmistakably that of a thresher and about 15 seconds elapsed as he swam a few circles in front of us before disappearing again into the open ocean. We didn’t see it for the remainder of the dive until our safety stop at 12 meters when a second larger thresher shark passed by underneath us which was an eerie way to end the dive. Craving more, I wish I had more time with this incredible animal but felt grateful after hearing some of the other divers saw nothing. I was able to get a great video from one of the divers using nitrox and thus was able to spend much longer with the shark. I did not get his name so I can’t give credit where its due but I will load it when we find faster Internet so check back!

We had planned to keep our accommodations for the following night but were thrown out due to another reservation and spent the morning searching for a room. We found a very basic option for cheap with the only drawback being their was no toilet seat. Not wanting to look anymore we settled.

That night I was scheduled for a night dive to witness the mating display of mandarin fish. A sharp contrast to seeing a huge thresher that morning, the tiny mandarins held my attention for only a few minutes as the visibility was poor and other divers with large cameras began pushing and shoving to get pictures of the little guys. Despite the poor visibility, we did see some giant sea horses, a stone fish, and some seriously alien critters further on in our dive. It was then the fun ended for me as my poor rental torch was barely functional and when I looked back realized I became separated from the group. Anxiety levels having risen I frantically searched around for my other divers to no avail in the murky waters. It was just then one of the divers with a seriously powerful floodlight came into view and I made sure not to lose sight with him for the rest of the dive. The whole thing probably only lasted 5-10 minutes but is not a feeling I hope to recreate.

Having been awoken by the roosters, we again spent the morning searching out accommodation, hopefully this time with a toilet seat. We spent over an hour aimlessly wondering around looking for Wobbly Boots which had been recommended. It wasn’t until a friendly local offered to show us the path that we passed by roughly 3 times. With rooms ranging from 400-1000 pesos and a swimming pool to boot, Wobbly boots is good value and we really wished we found it on the first night. The rest of the day was spent lying in the sun before a delicious dinner at Angelinas, the best restaurant on the island for sure, and the best pizza we have had yet in Asia.

A Mammoth overland journey ahead of us, Malapascua didn’t exactly leave us feeling relaxed (our own fault for not prebooking) but is a great little island to visit for those who don’t dive and a one of a kind place for those who do. The locals were some of the most friendly and kind we have met in the Philippines so far and the island itself is a very low key destination which will probably not last long. On the day we were leaving, monad shoal was off limits to all divers as the Filipino President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had a private date with the Threshers.

]]> http://theworldonatoilet.com/2010/02/28/reaching-our-threshold-pun-definitely-intended/feed/ 5 http://theworldonatoilet.com/2010/02/20/above-and-below-bohol/ http://theworldonatoilet.com/2010/02/20/above-and-below-bohol/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 04:08:44 +0000 Lianna http://theworldonatoilet.com/?p=1338 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 so we got out and sat at the side of the blistering road waiting for a ride and an hour later we finally found a fully functional tricycle.

When we finally got to Alona we had very few options to choose from and ended up in a room in Lonely Planet recommended Tierra Azul that was one of the most expensive yet, and looked like someone had been murdered in it. We stayed there for 2 nights before Nick broke the shower and we decided to get the hell out of there. Diving in Alona I experienced one of my fears of diving – witnessing a school, yes a school, of great barracudas swim right before our eyes. As the other people in our group sat watching the fish in wonder, they had a laugh when they turned around and saw me swimming the opposite direction. Not my thing. We later came across some frog fish, nudi branches and lion fish which were all a first for me. These are more along the lines of what I like to see under water with frog fish looking like a mix of a grumpy old man and a frog, nudi branches looking like colorful splats of paint on the coral and lion being one of the most impressive fish having fins sticking way out their sides (seriously, google them). I also got to spend more time staring at my favourite fish – clown fish. These dives were also a lot easier than Apo island with no currents, but the visibility wasn’t quite as good. After diving in Alona there wasn’t anything else there for us so we headed to the interior.

We stayed at Nuts Huts which is extremely popular, so they only take bookings the morning of arrival and once you get there you can stay as long as you want. Because of this, our first night there was in a dorm. In the jungle. With no mosquito net. Our dorm mates were some really nice teachers from Korea and we had a great night learning a new card game (one of our favourite things to do), but when it came time to go to bed anxiety kicked in when one of the girls started getting into a story about how last night she woke up to multiple (!) spiders crawling all over her arms. Interrupting her, I explained that I was super arachnophobic and didn’t want to hear the rest then she tried to make it better by explaining they weren’t that big… I didn’t sleep much that night as there were also giant ants on the ceiling that were creating a thick dusting of wooden sand near the head of my bed, so I slept in a ball at the bottom covered in my sheet so no spiders could get in. Needless to say, we were very excited to get our own room the next night with our very own mosquito net. Nuts Huts is a wonderful place with exceptionally healthy eats, but be warned that there is a mountain of stairs that lead to the common/restaurant area so be prepared to flex some glutes at least twice a day. From here you can set out to see most areas of interest.

The tarsier is an incredibly original looking animal, with it’s eyes bulging out of it’s head and it’s long claw-like feet, it somehow manages to look cute. These animals are known to be one of the smallest primates in the world. They are extremely fragile and unable to live outside their native forest, but because of their looks they are unfortunately a hot commodity in the pet trade. There is a tarsier conservation center on the island where you can go and have a guide point out the critters to you for a small fee. It’s worthwhile to visit, but unfortunately we saw a few illegally-kept tarsiers before we even made it to the center.

It’s hard to believe before I left I had never heard of the chocolate hills because all over the Philippines they are the tourism snapshot of choice. The hills are technically “an uplifting of ancient coral deposits” and legendarily the tears of a broken hearted giant, but in the dry season the brown vegetation creates the chocolaty look. They didn’t let us down, but also didn’t amaze us. They are one of those things that are exactly as you see them in the (many) pictures, but are nonetheless a cool thing to see.

From Tagbiliran we took the very efficient and large (no sea sick-ness for me) supercat ferry to Cebu City. We got into a taxi at the port and without anything pre-booked (terrible idea) we started selecting random options from the guidebook. A half dozen let downs later and we were starting to get to that point where frustration takes hold of you. We finally asked the driver if he had any ideas, and one more let down we went across the street and arrived at somewhere somewhat within our budget, and jumped at the chance of having air conditioning for the first time. Exhausted, we went to sleep knowing that within days we would be on the super laid back Palawan.

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 our tiny vessel got to the large rollers of the open ocean. Waves pounded against the windows soaking everyone within, while Lianna slipped deeper in an intentional gravol induced coma. 90 minutes later and even the Filipinos looked happy to be on dry land once again.

WITCH DOCTOR

Siquijor has a reputation as an island of witches and black magic among the locals due to the mountain healers who inhabit the mountains on the interior but we were more interested in exploring a piece of the Philippines which felt a little more low key. The game plan was to rent a motor bike and set off to explore the island at our own pace but after meeting 3 other travelers with injuries, 1 quite serious, from motorbike accidents we decided to find an alternate way.

The following morning we met some fellow travelers with the same idea in mind and attempted to get a vehicle organized to take us to some of the islands best sites but by the time things came together, it was too late so we made arrangements for the next day and headed off to nearby Salagdoong Beach. A popular picnic spot with locals, Salagdoong has a nice patch of sand around some rocky outcrops and is a good place for swimming. Not a bad place to kill an afternoon laying in the sun but certainly not one of the finer beaches I have been to. When the sun had set and our tricycle driver was taking us back to our guesthouse he suggested we come to a disco that night as it was Friday and that he could pick us up. There was some hesitation in the group as we were going to leave at 830am the following morning but in the end after playing cards and a few rum and cokes, 4 of us set out for the party around 10pm.

After the (many) cheap drinks and conversation things lead to a point of ridiculous dancing and singing. The playlist was surprisingly familiar after the live band switched to a top 40 set list. Our group of 4 foreigners were warmly accepted amongst all the Filipinos and except for some hilarious dancing from some of the older men trying to pick up the two western girls, we realized the locals idea of a good time was exactly the same as ours.

The end of the night saw us settling in with the friendly owner of the disco for some free beer and he encouraged us to invite all our relatives to the wonderful island of Siquijor, but not before Lianna got up with the band to sing her own rendition of Black Eyed Peas. By the time we were back at the guest house it was 3am and we knew waking up the following morning was not going to be easy.

Everyone the next morning was slow to get it together and thankfully so was our driver. We started out around 9 am heading straight for the interior mountains before snaking our way down to the coast over the course of the day. Our first stop was to see a local witch doctor in the interior and after he treated one of the other travelers with a terrible reaction to a sunburn we moved on to a satisfactory view point atop the highest mountain on the island.A trip to Siquijor is incomplete without a trip to see the amazing Cambugahay waterfalls which offer a gorgeous turquoise plunge pool to swim in. Easily our highlight of the island it was difficult to leave as all afternoon could have been spent swimming underneath the falls, we headed to JJ’s cafe for lunch.

Slowly being developed into a residence for backpackers, the friendly Aussie owner made our lunch all the more interesting and would certainly be a fantastic place to stay once they finish the plans to add more rooms as at the moment they only had a 6 bed dorm available. Our last stop was to Paliton Beach from where we took in a scarlet sunset as the local fisherman launched their boats in search of an evening catch. Everyone exhausted from the (night) and day we had, it was early to bed with just about all of us needing to wake up at 4 am to catch the 6 o clock boat off the island.

We stayed at Kiwi Dive Resort which was a descent place to stay although the owner wanted almost no interaction with his guests. Despite having a lovely girl doing her best to serve the 12 or so tourists, without ordering in advance there is a risk you could go to bed hungry as we did on our final night. Nonetheless, we had a great time and met some great people while staying there.

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