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Philippines

October 2018 - April 2024
An open-ended adventure by Shahnavaz Read more
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  • TravelerPhilippines
    Day 1

    Happy Halloween - Country Number 10!

    October 31, 2018 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    Well, I'm pretty thankful to be honest from about 1pm to 4pm I was able to get some sleep and we were not the only ones I was surprised to see when I woke up. The area we chose was full of others doing an overnight stay. It was much more comfortable than my sleep in Gatwick Airport helped by the China Air blanket and pillow 😊

    So now its 4:30am and I'm pretty wide awake so I decided to make the most of their free showers and get myself feeling a bit more human for our last destination, in our 2 days of travelling,Cebu in the Philippines!! I'm sooo excited 😊🇵🇭

    So why did we choose the Philippines I hear you say. Well it was actually a quite difficult decision. When we left England for the 2nd time we had a couple of countries on our bucket list, Japan, Nepal, Philippines and to be honest Japan was a very close contender. The flights from Hong Kong were only £25! But after quite a lot of research, by the time we booked it and after spending a very long time in cities we decided to go for a beach holiday for a bit. Throughout our travels we have only done the odd bit of beach life and so this time we are going to spend 2 weeks relaxing in the Philippines. I say relaxing... Let's see if we actually do that!

    After passing through immigration at Hong Kong, we had to check in at the desk and pass through security again. A slight inconvenience but it all went quite quickly so we were back round by 7:15am. Time for breakfast! Having been out of Asia for a week I was craving noodle soup of any kind so we treated ourselves to a Michelin starred Ramen. Yum!

    When we got on the flight the leg room was super small, even for little old me. Reclining seats especially on small flights should be banned. Sorry for those readers that enjoy a good recline but honestly you are just annoying the person behind you and its not acceptable. My knees now have huge red marks on and I couldn't even put my table down 😔

    When we arrived at the airport it was tiny so we quickly got out, attempted to get cash out with zero success, exchanged our $4 dollars instead and then jumped on a bus. Oh my goodness the difference in temperature was extreme. It was about 8 degrees when leaving NYC and here it was 31 degrees on arrival! The traffic was pretty chokka so it took a long time to get to SM Mall where we needed to change and get a taxi. We thought as we were there we would sort out the cash and sim situation and wow what a pallava that was. Because it is Halloween and All Saints tomorrow everyone and I mean everyone was in this shopping centre. It took 45 mins to get out cash and another 45 mins to get a SIM card which turned out, although it was recommended as the best, was shockingly terrible. Its 5pm and we have finally grabbed a taxi to our homestay. Traffic was unbelievably bad again and so we asked the driver is this just because of halloween to which he said "No it's everyday between 3pm and 8pm. After 38 hours of travelling we finally arrived at our end destination. The family seemed really lovely but we hadn't eaten since 7am so we were starving. We asked for recommendations and she mentioned a vegan restaurant 1 min from the home, so win win!

    My goodness, what a day, couple of days, god only knows/ time zones have screwed me up!    Read more

  • TravelerPhilippines
    Day 2

    A typical lazy day... For us!

    November 1, 2018 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    So after our 38 hour travel to get here it was obviously going to be a slow start to the morning. We slept off and on till 10:30am, but could easily have done with a couple more hours. We had fried eggs, bacon and toast for breakfast with our homestay family. During breakfast May, the mother, just kept staring at me and at one point apologised and said "I'm so sorry, I'm so star struck by your beauty". This has happened a lot in the Asian countries we've been to. It seems like the Indian look is really adored, something about the shape of our eyebrows?? I have no idea! Eventually we got out, after moving very slowly, at about 1pm.

    Jeeze what a difference in temperature, we are back in sweaty land. I can't blink without sweating endlessly. Within 2 seconds of leaving the house we were both fully drenched. When your knees and elbows start sweating you know its hot!

    Today's plan is to do a self guided city tour which included the following: Fort San Pedro, Plaza Independencia,Malacañang sa Sugbo, Magellan’s Cross, Basilica Minore del Santo Niño de Cebu, Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, Cathedral Museum of Cebu, Rajah Humabon Monument, Colon Obelisk, Heritage of Cebu Monument, Jesuit House of 1730, Yap-San Diego Ancestral House, Casa Gorordo Museum. Along the way Will found a burger stall selling burgers for 28 pesos. That's 40p! And it was Get One Take One, so he got 2 burgers for 40p. I question the meat content but it was substance. As it was a Bank Holiday for All Saints day a lot of the places were closed, but it lasted a pleasant enough time to feel shattered, but enough time to not rush round everything.

    As we finished by 4:30pm we decided to walk Ayala Mall where we can try the famous Lechon, suckling pig, and finally get some free cash at the HSBC cash machine (the only one on the whole island that is free for foreigners). On the way we found a department store with super cheap clothes, finally I can get some tshirts which fit me! All my clothes are 2 sizes too big... I know you're probably thinking why didn't I just get some new ones from the UK when I came back? Well I bought 2 new tshirts and some sunglasses (yes I broke them again, wups) for £2.80. That's why!

    Initially we were thinking of getting one of the really fun looking buses they have here but in the end for ease we walked. The main reason I like to walk around places is because you really see and feel the true side. It is very clear that you are either unbelievably rich or horrifically poor, with little in between. Although technically GDP wise it is not the poorest country we have visited it really feels like it. There are so many homeless people on the streets and hygiene doesn't really seem like a thing here, adults and children are covered in dirt. It's so sad to know that the Philippines is for most people seen as paradise and therefore on most people's bucket list when actually for the locals it feels like poverty. When I was talking to my hairdresser in Taiwan I remember talking to her about going to the Philippines and she was from here too. She was saying that if people get the chance to leave them they do and the only jobs they can get are as cleaners or a like because if you're Philipino you are seen as very very low in class.

    The walk was about an hour long, but luckily it was much cooler now, well 28 degrees 😂 First stop was the House of Lechon and it seemed quite posh so we were worried it would be expensive but as we were due a We got 1/2kg of Spicy Lechon, 2 garlic rice, a vegetable dish and 2 mango shakes. The food was way more than needed, really tasty, Will must have had 2 full sized portions and me 1 and the total bill came to £14. I think we have finally come back to the real asia.

    Here they call everyone Ma'am and Sir, which at first I thought "Ooo I'm not old!", but it's becoming quite cute.

    Finally after dinner we went to pick up our cash and then walked home. I can't believe how drenched we must have looked when we got in. It looked like we'd been rained on haha    Read more

  • TravelerPhilippines
    Day 3

    To the beach

    November 2, 2018 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    OK we are now in danger area of lack of sleep. So yes we slept off and on yesterday till 10:30am, but it's now been about 9 days of very little sleep. Jet lag between all these countries is really defeating us. This morning we both said we can't wait to go home so we can sleep. I quickly threw this idea out the window as I am loving travelling, just in need of some real sleep and relaxation.

    In the morning I was bored of tossing and turning so I got up at 6:15am and freshened up. Once Will was ready we went down for breakfast. May was devastated that she had run out of gas in her cooker so could only offer us toast and jam but obviously we were happy! Bless her! We sat chatting for a while and she was still amazed that I was of Indian origin. She said I looked just like Miss Universe 1994, Shushmita Sen of India, and kept asking if I'd been on beauty shows or in competitions. I swear they were looking at someone else! She was so sweet and insisted on getting a hug before we left.

    Out in the burning heat with our backpacks again and the water works begin... not tears but sweat haha After about 20 mins we got to the bus terminal and we soon got on a bus to Moalboal. It's Will's birthday tomorrow so I've been wanting to get to a beach as soon as possible so we can chill out and swim. Unfortunately the place I wanted to book was booked up so hopefully the place I booked is going to be OK!

    The journey was pretty rough, as expected and it was very very busy with preople standing the whole journey. When we arrived another couple got off at the same time and the instantly the tricycle riders feasted upon us. Luckily the couple suggested we get lunch first which in hindsight of what came next was very wise. So first we enjoyed our McDonald's lunch 😊

    After lunch we began our haggling skills for a tricycle ride to Panagsama Beach which is where our accomodation, Cebu360 dive centre, was. Firstly the tricycles were offering crazy prices. Eventually we got to a guy who couldn't take us as he wasn't going that way but told us to walk 5 mins away and they will do it for cheaper. So we did after 30 seconds of walking someone picked us up for the agreed price. Easy.

    It was a very bumpy ride down a very poorly cemented gravel road, but he got us there pretty quick. He dropped us off at what we thought was the right place but on showing our booking we soon realised it wasn't. Luckily the owner of this dive centre, Cameron from Leicester, led us to where he thought was the one we needed, but we soon found out it had been shut down as the owner had an argument with the ground owner. This seems to happen quite a lot here. Hot and bothered, Cameron led us back to his dive centre, handed us beer, let us use his WiFi and said try and work out what's happening but don't worry we will sort something out. In the end he was an absolute super star he gave us a lovely room for cheap at the dive centre, told us about dives that he can offer us for the next few days and turned what could have been into a panic situation into a calm and happy one. Now I'd like to to say that we then jumped into the sea, made the most of being the beautiful Philippines and got one with nature but that would be an utter lie. As soon as they gave us the room I desweated and just led on the bed, did some reading, read my blog and chilled out in an airconned room. Maybe it's a waste but it's what my body needed! I wasn't resting for long before Will said I should get up to watch sunset. It was much cooler now so I headed out to watch Will swim out in the sunset which was quite picturesque.

    For dinner we had veggie and seafood noodles which we were told is more than enough for 2. We waited an hour and half and it came absolutely miniscule and so we had to go to another restaurant for another dish of veggie curry before heading home for hopefully a full night sleep.    Read more

  • TravelerPhilippines
    Day 4

    Will's Birthday!

    November 3, 2018 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    So what is your dream birthday? Waking up to a gorgeous coral coastline, blue skies, swim in the sea along the coral reef wall, seeing blue starfish, nemos, swimming amongst a shoal of hundreds of sardines, having cake in the morning after the swim? Well that was our morning for Will's birthday!And after yesterday's antics it was definitely required. But... What your don't want to have is a funny tummy and then to spend the rest of the day in bed which is what happened in the afternoon 😔 He was so ill bless him and I felt helpless. Not a great way to spend his birthday.

    To be honest I don't have anything exciting to add but I'm so glad we got out in the morning for a swim before he was feeling really ill.

    The afternoon and early evening was spent with him in bed and me reading my book and chatting to Cameron. For dinner we went to a local Taco place. As we had barely moved today we both realised we might break our 10,000 step streak. We had a tough decision to make, do we break it or do we attempt to do it. With a bit of hand waving and a lot of walking aimlessly we did not let the illness defeat us and we are proudly on a 44 day streak! So happy 😊    Read more

  • TravelerPhilippines
    Day 5

    It's a Mango Shake kinda day

    November 4, 2018 on the Philippines ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    Upsettingly we have to leave our lovely accomodation in Cebu Dive Centre that Cameron kindly gave to us as he had it booked up, but luckily we found somewhere else yesterday. So all is good. It has a shared bathroom and no AC but hey we can't have it all!

    Will still wasn't feeling well so today is going to be another one of those days. In the morning we got up packed, went for breakfast, took our laundry and then found a place that had a lovely view of the sea and fruit shakes. I had a super yummy mango shake and Will had a pineapple one. All of a sudden I felt really ill and we had to go back to the room. Uh oh... I think I have what Will had! Hopefully I don't!!

    As soon as we got in the heavens opened so it gave us an excuse to sit in an AC room till check out! After check out we sat and chatted in the common area with Cameron and other budding scuba divers until about 3pm when we were able to checkin. It's back to basics, a small room, electric fan and shared bathroom, but it did the business. After checking in we had lunch,, met a couple more people and then headed back to the dive centre for some more socialising.

    For dinner we were able to get oursleves on the VIP reservation list (only 2 places left) for Smoke Night at the taco bar with Cameron and crew. All we knew is that he'd been talking about it all day and that it would be good so we went for it. What we probably should have checked was what the food would be and how much haha We arrived a bit late and saw people eating enormous meat platters. Each person had a whole chicken leg (thigh and drumstick), a rack of ribs, a beef fillet, beans and half a jacket potato. Me and Will looked at each other and thought jeeze we can't consume this much food!! However, luckily they only had enough for one platter and instead of the beans and potato they only had sweetcorn left so it was much more bearable. We met a Finnish and Belgian guy and sat chatting to them about our various countries and politics. When we got the bill we were even more relieved that they only had one. It was the same price as a dive! Phew! But it was different and something fun to do 😊    Read more

  • TravelerPhilippines
    Day 6

    Ah that good old friend again... RAIN!

    November 5, 2018 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Feeling much better we both got up early and were ready by 7am! Today our plan was to do a hike and got to the beautiful Kawasan waterfalls. We went for breakfast and guess what?! The heavens opened and I'd like to say it was just a tropical shower but it's now 11am and it's still going hard and heavy! So the morning has been spent watching YouTube videos to remind us how we set up our scuba equipment, revisiting scuba buddy checks and looking at pictures of cool fishes we might see. Feeling confident I remember it all I then carried on reading Jurassic with the fan blasting high.

    By lunch time it cleared, so we went for Chicken Sisig and rice, signed up to 2 dives for tomorrow, so unbelievably excited, and then walked for 45 mins to white beach to finally see a sandy beach!! So many locals along the way thought we were bonkers walking and to be honest at one point I did but we soon arrived and a local told us to walk through HK resort to avoid paying, perfect 😊 This part of white beach was really lovely and full of locals only, whereas if you go further or take a tricycle then you will be dropped off in the tourist side with loud music, touts and drunken tourists. Instead we had locals playing games, soft background music and mostly locals bathing in the sea as couples. Super hot from the walk we quickly changed and jumped straight in. I'm not the most confident swimmer, well I can swim well but I get scared of the deep end haha, but now that I have goggles its soo much easier and better. Today was the furthest, longest and most confident I've ever swam and although I had to hold on to Will for stabilisation at one point, (my goggles kept leaking in water) I am actually super proud of myself. The coral reef wall was just incredible!!!! We saw blue star fish, pipe fish, incredible coral, angel fish and parrot fish. It was so much fun, we must have swam for about an hour and half as the sun began to set. We swam to shore, changed, ate some snacks and chilled. Before heading back we wandered further up the beach and then jumped on a guys motorbike for the journey back. I'm always amazed how many people you can fit on these things haha

    When we got back we chilled out with Cameron and crew before heading for dinner to the Three Bears. The chicken burger and chicken stuffed with mozerella and bacon was really tasty. Shattered we both fell into bed.    Read more

  • TravelerPhilippines
    Day 7

    Scuba Time!! Eek!

    November 6, 2018 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    After yesterday's snorkeling, although nervous, we were super excited to begin scuba diving. We arrived at the dive centre for 10:15am and was hoping to practise with our equipment etc but Bro set it all up for us and took it all to the boat. This made us a bit anxious as it has been 3 months since we last dived and testing our bcds etc would have warmed us nicely back into it. The dive centre was super busy and just before 11am we were loaded onto the boat. Now, we have only ever done shore dives before, you just walk out with all your gear into the shallow water. For a boat dive you basically roll off backwards into the water, so I was super nervous about this. By the time myself and Will got our gear on our instructor and the rest of the team were already in the water and we were really feeling pressured to get a move on. Luckily another instructor on the boat walked us through it step by step and checked that we were all ready to go in a calmer manner. And I did it! I rolled off. It was kinda fun actually, well once I inflated my bcd and remembered to actually breather through regulator haha When Will got into the water he was getting quite panicked as his bcd wasn't tight enough and we were being rushed to begin descending so I stayed with him while he tried to fix his vest. In the meantime I was trying my mask and it was really loose so this gave me time to try and sort this out. It was all very panicky and rushed when we had to descend into the water. Neither of us were ready but we felt we had to just go for it. Looking back this was a stupid thing to do and a very dangerous thing to do. Will was able to cope ish with his bcd being a bit loose but my mask was the first of my major problems. On descending my mask just kept filling so I repeatedly was trying to empty it but now it was becoming painful to equalise and sort out my mask. So I had to ascend back to the surface to sort out my mask and wipe my burning salty eyes.

    Take 2... The mask was fixed, I was able to equalise now I wasn't so panicky but I soon realised that I was far too buoyant and therefore couldn't sink far enough and would just keep floating upwards. It must have been so frustrating for everyone else in the group and I was getting really worried and embarrassed. But the worst part was that because I was constantly going up and down I had to constantly equalise. Bro tried pulling me down a lot using my fin but this made everything worse as I wasn't able to equalise in time and I was now in a lot of pain. For those that have never dived, if you can't equalise your ears are under immense pressure, basically like what you sometimes get on planes too. The only fix here was to add more weight which Bro did. He added another kilo to my jacket and it was better. I was finally able to scuba and, although honestly I was quite upset and stressed, I was able to enjoy the little amount of marine life we saw, but there wasn't anything spectacular. Along the journey we were constantly tracking our air gauge and as soon as mine hit below 100 things went bad for me again. I floated straight towards the top and couldn't get back down. Bro grabbed my fins to pull me down but this time the pressure on my ears was truly excruciating he grabbed another weight from another instructor and this did the trick. We swam a tiny bit more but to be honest visibility was quite poor so it wasn't that fun even once we had calmed down but it was soon time to end.

    Getting back on the boat with the gear was pretty easy, but my mood was really low. I felt like I'd let myself down and more upsettingly I'd let everyone in the group down. I began chatting to the others and myself, Will and Shannon all felt the same. It wasn't a pleasant dive, we all had various issues and to be honest we all wanted to quit there and then. We dried off and went to lunch for a chicken sisig to discuss our individual problems and more importantly how we can fix them next time. We didn't quit and we went back for our second dive which was a shore dive called the Sardine Run. I am so glad I persevered as this time I had the right amount of weight in my jacket, we all were more confident with our equipment and so we were calmer.

    The dive was really fun. Bro was able to show us a lot of the marine life which included Denise Pygmy Seahorse, Harlequin Ghost Pipefish, Giant Frogfish
    Harlequin Sweetups, Map Puffer Fish, Big Eye Scad, Lion Fish and the star of the show sardines. Oh my goodness the sardines. There must have been thousands swimming around us. I can't describe how beautiful they were. At one point I was in my very own bubble surrounded by them and I couldn't see anyone from the group. When we finished we were all super buzzing.

    We sorted out our equipment and chatted for a while and then decided to jump back in and go snorkeling along the coral wall. It was so much fun and this time we saw a pair of Lion Fish, a lot of clownfish, blue star fish, pipe fish, parrot fish and amazing coral. We got so distracted that actually we ended up swimming for over 2 hours! I can't believe I've gone from not a very confident swimmer and needing to have my feet near surface to swimming over a 70ft drop coral wall in a matter of days!

    When we finally got out the dive centre crew were pretty impressed with how long we were out and we're already on the beers. So we decided to turn our evening into Will's Birthday! I ran back to the room showered and dressed and no one had moved a muscle. Well they moved to lift up there beer bottles haha

    It was a great night, we all just sat, drank beers, chatted about all our various experiences travelling, went to the Taco bar for dinner and drank some more. As it was Will's birthday the owner made him bright blue drink with god knows what was in it but it was super tasty, obviously also very alcoholic, and then we finally finished the night with jackfruit flavoured tequila shots.

    What a great day.

    In terms of pictures we don't have too many as we took videos on our go pro. I'll probably upload them onto Facebook or create stills at some point!    Read more

  • TravelerPhilippines
    Day 8

    Turtles!!

    November 7, 2018 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    I was going to build up to it but honestly I'm just too excited. Since arriving in Moalboal, we have overheard so many people talking about seeing turtles and we still hadn't seen any. As we are very much completionists we just had to see turtles. Our plan for today was manic. We don't want to stay another night in Moalboal but there are quite a few things we need to do. After talking to Kevin the night before we decided that the plan was:

    7am - Snorkel for turtles
    9am - Shower and have breakfast
    10am - Get the bus to Kawasan Waterfalls
    1pm - Leave Kawasan and get the bus to Liloan Ferry Port
    2pm - Get the ferry to Dumaguete
    5pmish - Arrive on the Island of Siquijor

    So in the morning we got up early and were in the water by 7:10am. I'm actually very impressed Will got out of bed after all the drinking! We snorkelled for quite a while towards white beach but had no luck so we started swimming back and decided to head in the opposite direction where we had heard a lot of turtles were spotted on previous days. The current was very very strong and honestly I felt like I was just staying still even though I was swimming as hard as I could. So we got out of the sea and just walked instead.

    When we got back in it was almost instant. You could suddenly see snorkellers swimming to a single point and hearing shouts of joy, so we quickly swam towards them and they were there!! It was unbelievable another thing off my bucket list has been crossed off. They are so elegant and adorable, I can really understand the hype and excitement! Seeing clownfish angel fish and turtles I truly felt I was in Finding Nemo.

    We were now a bit delayed as we were out for an hour and half but we had plenty of leeway. We arranged to begin the next part of our travels with Shannon who is from California and was also in our diving group. Little did she realise what she was getting herself in for, to be honest little did we know either! She's super sweet and obviously we are always up for new company and flexibility.

    So we rushed back, showered, packed, ate breakfast and then chilled out waiting for Shannon who was trying to submit her vote for the election. We were aiming to leave for 10:30am, but we ended up leaving at 12! Will and I decided to make alternate plans as we definitely wouldn't make it to Siquijor in one night. When Shannon arrived with her driver Luke we jumped on the tricycle and off we went to catch our bus. It was pretty straightforward we arrived at Kawasan by 13:45 and dropped off our luggage with a local resort.

    Kawasan waterfalls were beautiful the entire walk in had such beautiful scenery, aqua blue streams and rives, lush green forest surrounding, stone bridges and then the stunning waterfall itself. We had heard there were actually 3 waterfalls so we went to the very top first which had a swing and slide in. Shannon was the only brave one to try the swing whilst we happily paddled around and watched. It was now getting later in the day and the lower we got at each fall the more freezing the water got. By the final waterfall we had a quick dip for photos and then started heading back to catch the bus to our final destination Oslob.

    As we wouldn't make the last ferry in time to Siquijor we decided to go to Oslob so that we could swim with Whale Sharks in the morning and then get the 10am direct ferry to Siquijor instead. The journey from Kawasan was long and we didn't arrive in Oslob until 8:30am. Luckily our bus dropped us outside a resort and we were able to haggle down the price of a shared room for the 3 of us. Phew our busy day was complete. We were tucked in bed by 10pm and I don't think any of us stirred at all through the night.    Read more

  • TravelerPhilippines
    Day 9

    Whale Sharks and Siquijor (Paradise)

    November 8, 2018 on the Philippines ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    It was a super early start, we had to be in the reception for 5:30am ready for our snorkel with Whale Sharks. I must admit I woke up at about 4am in absolute fear of what we were about to do and I couldn't get back to sleep. In all honestly doing this was all very last minute and I hadn't actually done any research about it but we had heard it was quite fun so thought we might as well.

    By 6am we were being taken towards the shore and we realised it was unbelievably busy. Luckily our guide brought us through quite quickly and by 6:30am we were kitted up and on the boat. The boats only had to go out 200m and we began to see the sharks. Wow... Not even thinking about how nervous I was I jumped in. My confidence in these things are definitely growing! Would never had done something like this before. As soon as I got into the water a huge shark was about a meter infront of me and instead of panicking I was completely in awe of this gigantic creature. It was stunning and soo much bigger than I expected. At one point I was out of the water emptying water from my snorkel when all of a sudden I felt like I was in Jaws. All you could see was the top fun of the shark and I had to quickly duck my head under to check its direction. It was so much fun. We are pretty beginner at using our go pro still but we do have some footage that I will eventually convert into stills.

    I came out realising how incredibly privileged I am to have had the opportunity to come to this incredible country and see these beautiful creatures over the last few days. Just wow.

    For those environmentalists out there we have been doing research about swimming with the Whale Sharks and to be honest there is quite a lot of contraversy. Unfortunately the whale sharks are fed here which is why they can be so precise with the timings and they are fed all year round obviously this is not nature's way and so there is a lot of worry that this is making the animals dependant on human feeding and therefore impacting others down the chain. I must admit that this is very worrying as these animals are so immense and beautiful. I'm glad I had the opportunity to see these beautiful creatures but I'm not happy about its potential impact on the environment in the sake of tourism.

    After we boarded back on land we walked back to the hotel, showered, changed, packed, went for breakfast at a local restaurant where we noticed all the boat guides went and began our journey to paradise.

    The journey took about 3 hours and then half an hour on a tricycle but wow it was worth it. We booked out accomodation very last minute and as it had no reviews we were a bit worried, but wow wow wow. The room itself was basic but a very cute attic room, but the surrounding grounds were beautiful. Gorgeous palm trees, pebbled and grass areas, 2 sun loungers, bamboo hut seating areas and Will's absolute highlight, hammocks! We put our things down and he was the first to jump into the hammock. So happy in fact that I decided to sneak off to speak the owner, Cheryl, about getting Will a birthday cake. Let's be honest it's not a true birthday without cake, so fingers crossed one comes later for him!

    We went to a restaurant recommended by Cheryl and it was really homey local food. Just what we needed. Then we went back to paradise, freshened up, finished up the blog and watched a beautiful sunset.

    In the evening Cheryl and her son, Kirby, put on a little birthday party for a Will and it was super sweet!    Read more

  • TravelerPhilippines
    Day 10

    Well we can't always have fun...

    November 9, 2018 on the Philippines ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Although in paradise unfortunately life still happens so today we were in need of doing our washing and also our visa for our final destination, India. We are hoping to spend our last two months in India!!

    It was a very slow morning consisting of a lie in, porridge that we had been carrying and birthday cake for breakfast, doing a lot of washing in a bucket and attempting to do our India e-visa with horrifically slow Internet. The Internet was so bad that we went to the local restaurant instead to use their, slightly better, WiFi. We attempted to do the visa but unfortunately didn't get it all done, but hopefully now have all the info we need to be able to do it, so that is now tomorrow's problem.

    The main reason we didn't get it done was I was feeling pretty rotten and had to go back to our homestay. I ended up spending the little time we had left of daylight in bed resting and trying to rid of my fever and achey body. Typical! Just as we arrive in paradise too. Hopefully I'm better tomorrow.

    In the evening Will went out and brought back pizza's for us both and we sat watching Okja on Netflix which was just what the doctor ordered.    Read more

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