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Jay CongdonJay Congdon
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traveled in 32 countries Read more Melbourne, Australia
  • Phillipine Phiesta Pham
    Day 16

    Manila

    May 4 on the Philippines ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Our final destination! We return back to Manila for a day in order to catch our flight.
    Our day started at 530am. Breakfast was rushed, but there was plenty to choose from at that time of the morning (suprisingly actually quite busy for that time of morning).
    We had pre-arranged transport a few days prior to take us to the airport for our 950am flight.

    We arrived in Manila by 1130am. And we were at our accommodation dropping off our bags early by 1203pm. The city is our least favourite destination by far, but the girls are all excited to get a hair wash and blow wave.

    We later found ourselves at a rooftop bar after being rejected from a rooftop mini golf for not having appropriate shoes 🫠.
    Some delicious cocktails and a chateuserie board were consumed with some very chill vibes.    Read more

  • Phillipine Phiesta Pham
    Day 15

    That time we got matching tattoos

    May 3 on the Philippines ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Our final day was pretty uneventful. Jay and Esther had a "nap" after breakfast, and Jess and Lilly went to hang out at the final pool on their list.

    We then rendezvous and headed to the beach. We were told we had to get a non-negotiable pancake from one of the places, so after going on the wait list and a quick swim, we were sitting in front of more than we could handle. Note to self - trust the servers. If they say it's huge and you should have a half serving, do so!
    The red velvet pancake was delicious, though we could not eat it all 😞.

    It was during this lunch that we came to the conclusion that we were to find a tattooist and get matching tattoos. After going to one place and deciding against it, another google search led us to the place. An hour later, we were all branded with palm tree tattoos 🌴 ! This was Jay's first tattoo and is no longer of virgin skin!

    Later, as we were trying to find a sports bar to watch the AFL, we found ourselves in a street food market. We grabbed a few small bites, yum 😋, and proceeded our search. We finally found one that after 5 minutes of us being seated, had a channel malfunction. The girls continued to watch the last, nail-biting quarter, from their phone.

    On our way home, Lilly convinced us all to hire a karaoke booth for an hour. You can guess how that went🎙    Read more

  • Phillipine Phiesta Pham
    Day 14

    White Beach and a Sunset party boat

    May 2 on the Philippines ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    Today, we had a super lazy morning, once again getting to breakfast after 9 am. and spending most of the morning in air conditioning and planning the rest of the afternoon. Jay kept napping and claiming he hadn't slept at all....

    Once we decided to leave the air con, we headed to White Beach and spent some time under this big tree for shade and swimming in incredibly clear water that, unfortunately, was filled with fine algae.

    We then got a quick round of nachos and some chunky monkey shakes. They were filling and just ended up finishing off Jess and Lilly's shakes, crowning him, the Chunkiest Monkey 🐒 👑 !

    Next thing you know, we were walking across a totally floating jetty and boarding our sunset tour.
    It was not a terrible time. The boat went up the coast a bit before turning around and coming back to a reef spot where we could swim and snorkel if we pleased until sunset came.
    We chose to stay on the boat, drink terrible cocktails, eat a ham board, and choose some songs to dance to.

    The sunset was gorgeous, and we had a splendid time up top of the boat enjoying it. The party boat only really became a party in the last 10 minutes on the way back to shore so they could film some social media stuff 😅.    Read more

  • Phillipine Phiesta Pham
    Day 13

    Beaches and pools

    May 1 on the Philippines ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    We appear to enjoy pushing the limits on an appropriate time to arrive at breakfast for a 10am close. Today, we arrived at 930am, and there wasn't a whole lot left. But we all managed to eat our fill and then proceeded to head back to the room. We all collapsed on the rock-hard beds, and not too long later, Jay was asleep (allegedly).

    At around 12, we decided to get a wriggle on, and we packed our beach bags and made our way to Puka Shell Beach.

    Puka Shell Beach wasn’t as beautiful as we were expecting from the photos online. But we hired two grass mats for the price of 2 beers and 2 shakes and finished those drinks before we went for a dip. The water was refreshing, murky and surprisingly had a strong current from the wind which pushed us along the beach. Lots of algae and seaweed instead of sea creatures which seemed to wrap around our legs constantly. We didn’t stay in the water long.

    Back up to the beach to read, before packing up and heading back via e-tuk to the hotel where we went to pool number 3 of 6 (Cabana). It was deserted and was oddly warm water but no seaweed or current here.

    We then went to pool number 4 of 6 (Augusta) where we got MANY cocktails, tried to avoid conversations with one annoying American tourist and enjoyed conversation with many others from South Africa (who worked in China), Australians and a lovely lady from Hawaii who had actually arranged the romantic birthday dinner on the private beach the night before.

    Once we were all a little tipsy and enjoying the token hot tub on premises (all the rest are cold jacuzzi), we got dried off and dressed up for a dinner at a delicious Spanish restaurant (that was annoyingly pricey).    Read more

  • Phillipine Phiesta Pham
    Day 11

    A Hop, Skip and a Jump Later...

    April 29 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    After 6 hours and 7 different vehicles later, we arrive at Fairway & Bluewater, Boaracay! Our route consisted of Jeepie, Aeroplane, Minivan, Ferry, Electric Tricycle and Hotel Minibus x 2 before we enter our room, overlooking the golf course of a resort that within its own right, deserves a postcode.

    This resort boasts 6 pools, a private beach, over 20 food outlets, and of course, the golf course! Following the roads within the perimeter, it is estimated a 19-minute walk just to get to the front gate!    Read more

  • Phillipine Phiesta Pham
    Day 11

    Goodbye El Nido 😢

    April 29 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    On the bright side, we all got a sleep in u til 9ish this morning. Packed and tidied, we headed down to Mia's for breakfast before Marco was to meet us with our bags and our final ride in the Jeeply.

    The breakfast wasn't terrible, with the prize winner a cake sized pancake that Jay ordered, as big as a hand and as tall as finger!
    Our coffee was a plunger each. The girls were devastated as there was no ice for iced lattes or smoothies!    Read more

  • Phillipine Phiesta Pham
    Day 10

    Vanilla Beach and Zipline

    April 28 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    Our final beach destination of the day, comprising of ziplining and some beautiful sunset views.

    We arrived at around 430pm after a steep climb from the base, we got dropped off as Marco said the Jeeply won't make it up the steep incline, and only new cars or motorbikes would make it. The climb actually wasn't too bad. It only took about 5 mins but definitely burned the legs.

    We paid our money, and after a short wait, we were next in line for some zipping. Helmets and harness equipped, we were clipped in 2 at a time, Jess and Lilly went first.

    The zipline was probably less than a minute from start to finish. The views were nice starting over the treetops, then over the ocean as it connects to a small island just off the shore of the main beach. It was low tide and the end of the day, so we only had the option to walk back across the sand bar, again, not a very long walk and we were back on the white sand of vanilla beach.

    Like most things this trip, we discover some hidden gems right at the end. This beach has great vibes, more vibrant and crowded, but this beach had water where the El Nido beach is usually very low at this point in the afternoon. There were a few DJs playing along the beach in the various hotel/beach bars along the stretch. We did not get a drink, but we enjoyed a nice dip in the water and enjoyed the beautiful sunset.    Read more

  • Phillipine Phiesta Pham
    Day 10

    Lio Beach

    April 28 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 33 °C

    Our second destination. It was beautiful!
    The consensus was that this was, in general, prettier, and this was based on the many palm trees that overhung this little district. It was very green, plenty of shade, and was quite saturated in choices of restaurants and bars to choose from. The beach itself was quite nice too, it wasn't very wide so your feet didn't burn too much between shade and water.

    We had some delicious fruit shakes and some chicken tenders, then Esther had a university team meeting while the rest of us went for a dip and got everyone ice cream!

    No jellyfish here either!    Read more

  • Phillipine Phiesta Pham
    Day 10

    Nacpan Beach

    April 28 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Today, we decided to do an inland tour comprising 3 beach destinations, with Marco as our driver in the Jeeply.

    Our first destination, Nacpan Beach. Famous as one of the nicest stretches of beach around, white sand, some restaurants and a few fancy accomodations.
    Only 1 place was serving breakfast, it was already hot, the sand burned, and there were so many jellyfish type creatures in the sea - luckily we found that they did not sting, but they were very weird when it brushed past a body part.
    We spent 4 hours here, eating, lounging in the sea, reading books under a palm tree and Jay did a great job of getting a burnt back 👍.    Read more

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