Philippines Part 3 (Finally)

It's taken me a while to sift through the many photos we took while on vacation and to motivated myself to write this post. After returning from the Philippines, we were thrust back into the daily grind and finding time to catch up on the blog hasn't happened until now.

After leaving the island of Bohol, we headed to the small island of Siquijor. Our visit to Siquijor was intended to be our first diving experience, however our resort didn't realize that we had never been diving before and did not have a dive instructor on hand. Despite this setback, we had a wonderful time exploring the island by motorcycle and walking the beach.

Here are some highlights...(click on the slide show to see full captions and larger photos)

Our final stop was Manila for the weekend before heading back to Taiwan. We arrived around mid-day and took advantage of the daylight to explore the city. We wondered around to the various cultural sites and through the parks listed in our Lonely Planet guide. The best find was this beautiful cathedral that had been rebuilt 7 or 8 times due to various burnings, bombings, and other disasters, however the front of the church is the original structure - it remained intact throughout each of the disasters and they were able to salvage it during each rebuild.

Dan's only request of our trip to the Philippines was that he got to see a volcano. So on our last day in Manila, we headed south to the Taal Volcano. The ride took about an hour and a half and upon arrival it was nearly noon - the sun high in the sky, not a cloud in sight and no wind to speak of - it was HOT! We took a boat from the main land over to the island where the volcano is then chartered two horses with guides to take us up to the top of the volcano. Throughout the trail, there were numerous openings in the ground releasing steam - adding to our heat. The view from the top was magnificent, the mouth of the volcano is a lake - apparently sulfuric and deep enough that some SCUBA dive in it. While it's an active volcano, it has not had any activity in recent years.

(click on the slide show to see full captions and larger photos)

After about an hour exploring, we headed back to the mainland where we enjoyed some Tilapia - they live and breed quite well in the sulfuric water and because of this are quite healthy for you. Once we had finished our lunch, we made the trek back to Manila via tricycle, jeepney, bus, and subway, not to mention a short walk back to our hostel. That evening we relaxed in the hostel talking with other travelers wishing that our vacation wasn't ending.

Philippines Part 2

Sorry this has taken me so long...it's been a rough week trying to get back into the swing of things. It's hard to come back from such a relaxing vacation!

Tarsiers
These cute little nocturnal monkeys make their home on the island of Bohol. They have become quite a tourist attraction - locals have captured the monkeys and display them at local markets. However, some including the one we visited, have created a natural-like habitat for tourists to see the monkeys as they would be in the wild.

Unfortunately, while we were exploring the Tarsier Center, a bus of Chinese tourists arrived, crowding us out and agitating the Tarsiers. When they left, the guide allowed us to take a few more photos before leaving.

Loboc

Between the Chocolate Hills and the Tarsiers Center is the small town of Loboc. We ventured through there a few times throughout the day as it's a beautiful, quaint town. There is a large Catholic Cathedral and a river that runs through the middle of town. The locals have done a great job cleaning up the town and used the tourism to their advantage - it's the primary source of income for most.

Here we took a boat back to Nuts Huts - it turned out to be a much more expensive trip than taking the bus and walking, but it was a beautiful ride.

Jungle Hike
Our last day at Nuts Huts began with a jungle hike. Our guide, who lives across the river from Nuts Huts, lead us on a 4 hour hike through the jungle and to a bat cave. Along the way, he shared with us about his family - pointing out his parents, grandparents, siblings, and other relatives homes - he climbed a tree to share with us a fruit we had never heard of...

and took us to a rest house to relax in the shade and enjoy the magnificent views.

Finally, we ended in a nice cool bat cave - I was a little less than enthusiastic about this part of the hike, so I spent the time relaxing in the cave opening while the others ventured down various tunnels. It was a great experience to spend time with a local and learn more about this culture and landscape.

And we're back..

Our wonderful vacation in the Philippines came to an end Sunday afternoon as we returned to rain and cool temperatures here in Taiwan. We had a fantastic time in the Philippines. It may take me a while to sort through all the photos, so this post will come in installments. Here's the first few days.

Getting to the Airport

First of all, despite what all the locals say, you can in fact get to the airport from Hsinchu via public transportation - and it's actually quite easy and cheap. The High Speed Rail takes a total of 12 minutes and if you order your tickets in advance they only cost $80NT. There is a bus (UBus) from the Taoyuan HSR station directly to the airport - only $30NT and some airlines even have check-in counters at the train station. This was the route we took, we unfortunately didn't realize just how efficient it really was and ended up sitting, waiting at the airport for nearly 3 hours for our 1.45 hour flight to Manila. Though we could have spent this time in the "Beauty Saloon" we opted for a coffee at Starbucks instead.

Cebu

Cebu is a small city centered around a few large Cathedrals. We only had a few hours to explore as we were just there to catch a ferry to Bohol - but that didn't matter because it's not very big. We ventured through some wonderful markets, filled with beautiful fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately it's also a very dirty and polluted city as well. It was humbling to walk through such a town, convicting at times as Cebu, like Manila epitomizes the economic inequality of much of Southeast Asia. Spending time in these two cities has only solidified our convictions for social justice. For this very reason, we rarely took pictures, as it would be socially

unacceptable.

Here are a few to give you a glimpse of the city.

Getting Around

Arriving on Bohol, we headed out to find the bus we needed to take to Nuts Huts. We wondered around outside the pier looking for the bus station, being mobbed by tricycle drivers asking "Where are you going? I take you there" to which we replied "Where's the bus, we want to take the bus." After about 10 of these, we were informed that we had to take a tricycle to the bus station, about 5 km away.

*side note* the buses are much cheaper as they're a fixed rate and these tricycle drivers set their own prices, often ripping off unsuspecting tourists.

tricycle = motorcycle with side car attached

view from inside

We grabbed the first tricycle driver and asked the price - he quoted us 50 Pesos (about $1US), which seemed reasonable enough, so we took it. When we arrived to the bus station, our bus was waiting to leave, so we quick paid the driver and started to board the bus, but the tricycle driving stopped us saying "No, 50P per head!" - oh! This is where they get ya, be sure to clarify when traveling in groups! We decided that it wasn't a big enough cost that we'd argue it, but we now knew to watch out in the future.

The bus, which was open air, was jam packed already and they packed us in - along with out giant hiking packs. We sat for quite a while and I realized that though they do not keep a schedule, the buses are privately owned and wait until the bus is fully loaded before leaving. After about 40 minutes, adding nearly 20 more people, we headed off out. The ride was beautiful but quite uncomfortable as we would stop periodically to drop off one person and pick up 3 more.

Nuts Huts

When we arrived, we're had to trek 1.5km down a long lane in order to get to our resort.

Then we had to descend many stairs...

Thankfully the sun was setting and the temperature was moderate - this trip proved to be brutal in the mid-day heat. After checking in - if you visit Nuts Huts, be sure to call the morning of as they do not take reservations and you could be one of the unfortunate ones to make this long journey only to find there are no beds! We were lucky enough to get their last two dorm beds - we enjoyed a nice dinner and exploring the area before dark then headed down to our hut for the night - the picture above only shows the steps to the office/restaurant, the next set is nearly double that of the first.

Chocolate Hills

The next morning we woke early to catch a bus to the Chocolate Hills - bizarre limestone hills, whose formation has yet to be explained. They're called the Chocolate Hills due to their brown color during the dry season, during our visit, most are still green as it's nearing the rainy season. We were able to walk to the top of a look out and see for miles and miles, hundreds of hills.

Philippines...here we come.

(*photo courtesy of National Geographic)

This afternoon we'll embark on our first international expedition since arriving in Taiwan. We're headed to the Philippines for 9 days!

Here's a brief itinerary - most of our planning will be done upon arrival.

Saturday, Feb 13 - 5:15pm flight from Taipei to Manila, Philippines

Sunday, Feb 14 - flight to Cebu then a boat to Tagbilaran where we'll be staying in here where we can visit the famous Chocolate Hills.

Tuesday, February 16 - boat to Siquijor where we'll be staying at the Kiwi Dive Resort to enjoy the sand and sun!

Friday, February 19 - boat to Dumaguete where we will catch a flight back to Manila

Saturday, Feb 20 - day trip to Taal Volcano

Sunday, Feb 21 - 10:45am flight from Manila to Taipei

Like I said, not very extensive, but an idea of where we'll be and when. We will most likely be without internet access during the trip, but check back the end of February to hear all about our adventures!

Until next time...