The Philippines

8^th – 20^th May 2016

The old excitement came back to me again as I was sat on the bus from Manila Airport heading to the city. I’m in a whole new city in a whole new country that has a completely different language, history and culture and I know nothing about any of it. It’s always the same, no matter how tired I am the first thing I want to do is to go out and explore and learn as much as I can. I have had this feeling several times in the recent months and it’s something I will miss when I return home in July.

Manila

I’m in the Philippines, the tropical archipelago that has beautiful clear skies. It has been so long since I’ve seen the sky so blue. No pollution, no smog and no dust so my first thought of Manila was how pretty it was. I realised after a couple of days here that whilst it’s nice on the surface there are some very dirty cracks.

Separate stairs for separate carries

As I got off the shuttle bus and onto the train I noticed that there were different carriages for men and woman. I’m not sure what happens if you’re a couple. Do you have to split up? I suppose the women would have to go the men’s carriage. I had a few people stare at me on the train. I think they are plenty used to westerners here, but maybe it was unusual to see one on the train. Most people that travel here are on holiday and have a much bigger budget to afford to pay for the taxi mafia.

It was still silly o’clock in the morning and I had essential been up all night. I was able to check in early so I went straight to bed to catch some zzz’s before I went out to explore.

I had heard about the jeepneys and the first one I saw was parked right outside the hostel. It’s quite hard to describe them, I suppose they are like a long jeep but they are always extra colourful and flamboyant. They work like buses with each one on a certain route. It seems completely unorganised and there is no way a westerner could use one without being told what the deal is.

Thought it was taller

Not as big as the real one

Manila is made up of big suburbs. I didn’t want to go too far today so I just explored the suburb of Makati which was where I was staying. There are mostly just shopping centres here. Actually there are a lot of shopping centres in Manila. It almost seems like the only thing you can do here is shop. Outside this one was a lot of replicas of monuments you would find in Europe. I should get to see the real Leaning Tower of Pisa in July. I expect it will be bigger.

There's something happening

I was mainly on a mission for lunch but I found a shop that had some cheap stuff in it so I bought some a few things. I got some new flip flops, socks, sunglasses (although they broke before I used them) and a new rucksack. It was all quite cheap and it’s been ages since I had any new stuff.

As I left the shop I noticed a large crowd had gathered for some guy that had won the Filipino X Factor but they were having massive technical difficulties and I left after half an hour of waiting.

Nice view from the rooftop garden

Rooftop garden

The shopping centre next door had a rooftop garden which seemed a popular place to hang out. There were lots of families. There were a couple of artworks and some dancing fountains. It was a nice place to sit for a bit.

American War Memorial

Many graves

One of the info boards

I had a bit of a history lesson at the American War Cemetery that afternoon. It was a very peaceful place with hundreds and hundreds of graves. The memorial in the centre had four rooms each with a few of these massive displays describing different parts of the war with Japan.

I knew very little about the Pacific part of World War II. I’m aware that I should know but history doesn’t really sink in with me unless I’m in a place and experiencing it rather than reading about it in a book. I didn’t even know that the Japanese had occupied the Philippines. I suppose it makes sense because I know that Australia had their fights with them.

In these rooms I learnt a lot about what happened. It gave a good overview of the Pacific War as well as individuals battles that were fought on and around the Philippines. The Japanese had occupied the Philippines for 3 years and they were very oppressive. The Japanese I’ve met seem so nice. T. It’s hard to imagine them doing these pretty horrible things here in the Philippines and elsewhere in Asia. I considered myself educated and went back to the hostel.

The old Spanish part

Old colonial building

The next day I went over to a different part of the city where I planned to have a whole different history lesson about the Spanish Colonisation. You definitely notice the Spanish heritage even now. There is a very Latin feel about the place and the language sounds very similar to Spanish although I imagine the words are completely different.

Old church

Unfortunately, the day I chose to visit the old city was the day everything was shut so I wouldn’t be able to learn much. It was still a nice place to walk around but it was like a ghost town and I couldn’t go in any of the museums.

St Mary's Cathedral

St Mary's Cathedral

Its open

The Manila Cathedral was open though so I got to have a look around that. It’s the eighth version of the cathedral. The sign outside the front of it made me laugh as it described the fate of the previous seven versions. It’s a wonder they didn’t just give up on it.

Destructive history

Old war barracks

The old fortress

I went over the old fortress, past the old army barracks that was destroyed in the Battle of Manila when the Japanese sacked the city. The fortress is one of the main tourist attractions in Manila but I felt a little underwhelmed. Most of it is closed off and the only impressive part of it is the moat and entrance but that was all rebuilt in the 70s.

Some famous guy

Dead man walking

There was a golden footpath walked by a man that was famous for something. It was his dead man walking trail as he was escorted to be hanged. I have no idea why he was famous as the museum was closed. I was annoyed I had paid full price entry when everything inside was closed.

Old abandoned building

Left to the wildlife

Old city wall

I continued to walk around the old city. There were a couple of signs around that explained what I was looking at which came in useful. The wall was pretty cool.

Don't know what this was for

The next day I took a flight to Cebu. My expectations for Manila had been low as most people told me to skip it. It was alright for just a couple of days but now I was going to Cebu Island which would be a lot different.

I arrived late in Cebu and there was about an hour wait for a taxi into Cebu city which was a little frustrating. When I finally did get going I had an interesting conversation with the taxi driver. He taught me a few Filipino words which was handy but then he told me to watch out for the drug addicts. There was a rock in the middle of the road which he had to swerve around and he said a drug addict had probably put it there. He went on to say there a lot of drug addicts in this city. Excellent. I was only staying one night anyway. Cebu city looked exactly the same as Manila so I didn’t think I’ll be missing out on much.

The hostel seemed like a very lively place. The one in Manila had been very quiet with not many people to talk to. Here in Cebu, there were loads of people and it would have been a great place to socialise had it not been 11pm already and I was knackered. I left early the next day too so no time to make friends.

A pool!!!

I had a three hour bus journey to the region of Oslob which is an area where you can see whale sharks. I chose to stay in the area rather than do a big day trip from Cebu city as I heard it can get very crowded by midday. This way I could go early before the crowds.

Beautiful coast

Huts on the sea

The hotel was very nice place on the coast. I had my own double room which was the cheapest bed in the area. There was a pool which I thoroughly took advantage of. It’s been a while since I’ve been in a pool. There didn’t seem to be all that many people about. There was large Filipino family staying there but that seemed to be it. No one for me to make friends with.

Sunset

That night I ended up having a few beers by myself. I can’t remember if there was a reason, I think I just felt like it and there was no one there to drink with me so I just got drunk by myself in the room.

Whale sharks

I was up early the next to catch the bus to the whale shark place. I had wave down the bus from the side of road which was unnerving as there is no bus stop so there’s nowhere to stand and they come flying down the road pretty quickly. I had to follow the route on the GPS so that I knew when to get off.

Once I arrived I organised my snorkelling trip with one of the companies. It’s much cheaper to do it here than in Australia where I had passed up the opportunity to save money. I was hoping to join a group so that I would have people to enjoy it with but the woman said I would get a private boat.

Out on the water

A shadow

After a quick safety briefing, more for the whales safety than mine, I jumped on a boat. There must have been about twenty boats already floating around and as we headed over to the group I saw a whale shark swim underneath the boat. It was huge.

Whale shark!

I got in the water with my snorkel and admired these gentle giants. They looked awesome and they are huge. You aren’t supposed to go within two metres of them but sometimes they would swim directly at you which was very unnerving.

Huge

I think I enjoyed the experience. I certainly tried to but there was a nagging in the back of my mind. This whole operation is really harmful for the whales. I noticed scars on their fins where they have hit the boats and, no matter how hard you try, you are always going to get those tourists that don’t follow the rules as there is no consequence. They are trying to police it much more than they used to but that’s not the biggest issue. They are constantly being fed so they have stopped migrating which is causing a whole other set of issues. It’s a once in a lifetime experience but I feel like I have just contributed to the problem and that dampened my enjoyment.

Waterfalls

Bit dry

Back on dry land I organised for a guy on a motorbike to take me to a nearby waterfall. It’s quite a popular one but it hadn’t rained for some time so the water level was very low.

Sparkling

It was still impressive though and you can see why it would be so popular in full flow. I had a little shower underneath it to wash the salt off. Then it was a massive hike back up the hill to where the guy on the bike was. He took me back to the hotel where I checked out before catching the bus to Moalboal.

This was on the other side of the island but I had to take the coastal road so it took a little while. I had to change buses at the bottom of the island before going back up the other side. The second bus was far from enjoyable. There were no seats so I had to stand or sit in the aisle for most of the way.

New hostel

I choose to stay in a hostel this time so that I would have someone to talk to but alas I had a five bed dorm to myself. There were other hostels on the beach but they were fully booked. I stayed in town where seemingly no one else stays. I briefly saw a couple in the room next to me but they disappeared and on the other side was a storage room for the McDonalds around the corner which was random. I kept seeing a guy in Maccas uniform coming to collect things every now and then.

Small village church

Quiet village life

Moalboal was one very busy street but just behind that street is a quiet traditional village. There was a completely different vibe here to the big cities of Manila and Cebu.

Doing some laundry

Walking up the river

Kawasan Falls

I got on the bus again. This time for about half an hour down to Kawasan Falls which is a hugely popular tourist attraction. The waterfall is beautiful and you can see why it gets so busy. I arrived early before the crowds but there were still people sneaking into my photos.

Pretending there is no one here

Jump

Second set

You have to pay for everything here. Even if you want to sit down for a minute you have to rent the chair. It completely spoils the beauty of the place. I was hoping to find a quiet spot I could put my bag in so that I could go for a swim. I continued up the path to the waterfalls higher up.

Third set

Jump

The upper waterfall was much quieter so I put my bag on the side and jumped in. The water was freezing! There were people jumping off the cliffs which I thought was a bit of a dangerous thing to be doing on Friday 13^th. One girl let out a huge death scream that made everyone look round but she was just being dramatic.

Car crash

The journey back to town took a while. It was so busy that I couldn’t even sit in the aisle but that wasn’t the worst of it. We were held up with an accident in the road. There was a crowd of people all trying to get a look and discussing what had happened. It seems a bike and had gone quite hard into the front left corner of a car coming the other way. There didn’t appear to be anyone hurt. They wouldn’t move the car until the police arrived so we were waiting a while.

Tropical beach

A path through the coral

The next day was a beach day. I caught a tuk-tuk-type thing to the coast where I heard there was some good snorkelling to be done. They weren’t wrong.

Wowsers

Spot the bright blue fish

I expected a few little things with some fish but what I found was a full on coral reef. I was so shocked. It started straight off the beach and after a couple of metres it looked completely untouched. No one was trampling on it, it wasn’t bleached and there was no rubbish stuck in between the coral. I wasn’t expecting anything like as good as this so it was a very pleasant surprise.

Hello fishy

Fantastic colours

The dropoff

It wasn’t a very wide reef. About 50 metres from the beach it dropped away. I felt like Nemo looking out from the ‘drop off’. I daren’t swim out in case a shark got me. I tried to free dive a bit down the side of the reef. It was like a vertical wall. I was so impressed.

To make the day even better I found some people to talk to! I asked a couple of westerners to watch my bag whilst I was in the water and I got chatting to them when I got back. I had got so used to being around people I could talk to but its more difficult here than in mainland South East Asia. There just aren't as many people around.

Another sunset

Great shot

Sunset over Cebu

I had a bit of a walk around that evening and I was treated to a magnificent sunset on the edge of town. I’ve been lucky in my travels to have had many awesome days but this was the first day in the Philippines that I had fully enjoyed. It had been a long time coming.

So cute!

I want to steal one

Just as I was leaving I noticed that the hostel does actually have some other guests after all. These puppies. I’m not a huge animal lover but these were absolutely adorable. I really considered nicking one.

Bit of Eurovision with a beer

I got the bus back to Cebu, then a taxi to the airport and then a plane to Kalibo. I choose to spend the night here as it would be really late if I had gone all the way to Boracay. I still had a 2 hour bus journey plus a boat ride and then a taxi to the hostel. I thought I’d leave that for the next day. Instead, I bought a few beers and enjoyed Eurovision in another empty room.

Tiny boat

The boat over to the island of Boracay was much smaller than I thought it would be. It only fit about ten people on. It was more like a raft!

I checked into the hostel around midday. I was quite annoyed that the total price in my booking didn’t include tax. So it’s not the total price at all. The woman told me it was in the small print and she was right but it’s such a cheeky way of tricking people into paying more than they wanted. I was already a little frustrated by the boat ticket. You buy the ticket but then you also have to pay an Environmental Fee and a Terminal Fee. I was in the terminal for about two seconds!

Beautiful beaches

Impressive sand castle

I couldn’t even take a picture of this sand art without some guy coming over saying I needed to pay to take a picture! I wasn’t going to pay and I had already taken the picture so screw you!

Calm

Mary

Happy thoughts

Pic of the day award

Anyway, tropical beaches. That’s what I’ve come for. It’s very much like a resort and that’s not such a bad thing. I was looking forward to getting involved and having a good time. I went for a walk down the beach to a beautiful little island that looks straight out of a post card.

The other beach

The island is very narrow in the middle so I walked through to the other side in just a few minutes. The beach here was much quieter but not as nice.

I spent a couple of days chilling on the beach and relaxing in the hostel. I had somehow managed to choose quite an unsociable hostel again. There were at least people here but no one seemed to want to chat.

Beer pong

Friends!

On the third night in Boracay I walked around to a different hostel which I had heard was very good. It had a rooftop bar and free beer pong at 9pm. When I arrived there was only two people in the bar. Luckily these two were pretty cool and so started a big night out where the group swelled into a decent size and I could have a good time.

It’s like being out of the loop. When you can’t talk to people then there’s no one to recommend places and so you keep staying at shit places and so can’t meet people. It’s hard to get back in the loop but I think I did it with only a couple of days left in the Philippines.

Sunset on my last day

Nice sunset

Another pic of the sand castle without paying

Every night there would be a stunning sunset on the beach. On my final night here I took my camera down to get some pictures. It was probably the best sunset of them all which was lucky.

Epic

Goodbye Philippines

The next morning I did the whole shuttle/boat/bus combo to the airport which was closed. They open two hours before the first flight so I had breakfast at a place opposite. This airport was like a shed. The line weaved in all kinds of directions as people tried to squeeze around one of the two check in desks for the whole airport. It really was that small.

I nearly lost my shit when I was asked to pay Airport Tax. I had been standing in this queue for ages whilst they faffed around. It was so unorganised. There was no air con so I was sweating and now I have to pay a tax on top. Who in the world still charges airport tax! I was fuming.

It was at this point that I finally resided myself to the fact that I did not like the Philippines. I had genuinely tried to enjoy it and make the most of it but it hadn’t worked. I’m sure people have had a lovely time here but overall I had not. Maybe it’s because I’ve been traveling a while now and I’m tired, maybe it’s because I’ve seen beautiful beaches and beautiful waterfalls already or maybe it’s just because I don’t do well being by myself all the time. I don’t have anything against the place or its people and I wouldn’t dissuade anyone from going. It’s just that my experience wasn’t as enjoyable as it should have been and I was happy to be moving on.

The Philippines is the tenth different country I’ve been to in this year so to only have one bad one is not such bad going. Hopefully my next destination would be more fun. I was heading out of South East Asia and into Eastern Asia, bound for Hong Kong.