Manila can't really be avoided by international travellers arriving and departing by air, but there's no reason to stay more than one night. We walked to Greenbelt Mall in Makati and were happy to experience such a nice, clean, green space in the heart of a large, noisy, dirty city. Afterwards, we took advantage of 1/2 price Tuesday at Papa John's! On our last day in Philippines, we took a cab to the historic walled portion of the city, Intramuros. We began at San Augustin Church and walked the cobblestone streets of the area to The Metropolitan Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. We continued to Fort Santiago, then walked over the river to Chinatown and Binondo Church. We took a cab back, showered, and checked out just before noon. We shared a small local snack/lunch and then realized that aside from the night before, that's what we'd been eating for three weeks. We also knew we had left over pesos burning holes in our pockets, so we decided to do some fast food comparisons and experimentation. Afterwards, we went to the airport way in advance of our flight to sort out online check-in woes, have our temperatures taken again to dispel fears of carrying Covid19, and to escape the heat now that we had our backpacks with us. Lisa managed to sleep on the flight and I watched "Wild Rose", "Stan & Ollie", and "Free Solo" before reaching YVR.
2 Comments
The ferry to Coron was a nightmare! Had we been given accurate information in advance, we would have flown. We were assured that the "fast" ferry took only three hours so we figured that it would take the same amount of time as the one hour flight once you factor in arriving at the airport two hours in advance. Instead, the ferry required us to arrive an hour prior to sailing, left 20 minutes late, and took 4 hours and 40 minutes to complete the crossing! Not only that, Lisa described the ride as "riding a mechanical bull while being shelled by torpedoes". Additionally, they didn't turn the air-conditioning on until halfway through the journey. Needless to say, we were very relieved to be welcomed with cold drinks at a lovely hotel with a nice pool and view. Our secluded room featured a huge bed in a large, comfortable space. We wandered around town looking for dinner and managed to see almost all of the small town's few sites/sights by accident. Having decided to only do one of the island hopping tours, we had plenty of time to climb the more than 700 steps up Mount Tapyas. Cold beers and chill country music at the pool is always a good idea (especially when it's above 33 degrees and humid)! Once again, I was fortunate to meet another interesting traveller, Jasmin from London, with whom to discuss life. After already having been dragged along on two island hopping boat tours that saw Lisa spend way more time on, near, and in the water than she'd prefer, she decided to pass on a third, so I set off for Coron's version of "Tour A" by myself. I was annoyed and disappointed that the superior snorkeling reef promised, was replaced by an inferior one just off the first island we were supposed to visit. This allowed them to drop anchor once and check off two "stops". After viewing these few photos, you, too, will have seen all the fish there were to see. The little island next to Islas de Coral features Coron Youth Club Beach. The next stop was the spectacular Green Lagoon. We were fortunate to be the only boat in the lagoon, and only two others decided to venture off of ours. I swam all over the lagoon marvelling at the colours. We ate lunch on a tiny beach. The scenery getting to Quin Reef outshone the reef itself as the snorkeling was once again a disappointment. Instead of a variety of fish and coral, I discovered a multitude of human scrap and garbage. The reef is near the entrance to Barracuda Lake, and it appeared that many boats had discarded their lunch waste while heading there. I swam through a sea of garbage bags and flotsam. Kayangan Lake is arguably the jewel of Coron. I braced myself for a plethora of tourists dotting the lake in their mandatory orange vests, but was pleasantly relieved to discover that the lake was not crowded. In fact, when taking a photo, someone politely apologized for accidentally swimming into the background and hustled to get out of the frame. I immediately recognized the behaviour as Canadian and asked where she was from... "Toronto." After swimming in the lake and visiting with new Canadian friends, I returned to the crest of the hill to capture the quintessential Palawan postcard photo (above). Having nailed it, I couldn't resist inserting myself in the shot (below). With my mission complete, I headed back towards the boat and once again encountered the Dutch couple from our Moalboal truck ride. As usual, the Filipinos made their daily routine seem like it was their first time ever transporting people from one place to another. Simply loading the share vans took ages. The drive itself was actually shorter than expected and we reached El Nido around mid-day. El Nido is the busiest hub for island hopping in Philippines, but its "downtown" is surprisingly small. We easily walked the area and followed the crowds (mostly of schoolchildren) to the cheapest snacks and local eats next to the community basketball courts. We also once again stumbled upon free rum shots and appetizer samples! The long, wide expanse of white sand known as Nacpan Beach was well worth the 40 minute trike ride north of El Nido. We even enjoyed free iced teas on the beach! Our second stop was Lio Beach. We'd planned to head south of El Nido on the 14th, but our local negotiator had it included on this day for less than we'd have paid even without the further excursion. One relatively short stretch of coast covers three named beaches. McDonald's recently opened and now anchors the entrance to Vanilla Beach. A short walk along the beach takes one to Marimegmeg Beach and then on to Las Cabanas Beach. Our second stop was El Nido's most famous - The Big Lagoon. After cajoling my water-averse wife into participating in the Bacuit Bay island hopping boat tour, I felt bad that the swim to the Big Lagoon was rougher and longer than expected. There were many others visiting the lagoon, but not so many that it ruined the experience. In fact, I was happy to be warmly greeted by the Spanish couple from our Moalboal transfer! It was then time for lunch while anchored just off Shimizu Island. We headed to stop #4 - the Secret Lagoon. Reaching the tiny lagoon from the boat involved swimming through hundreds of jellyfish - predictably, Lisa passed. I was fortunate to reach the hidden lagoon ahead of my group so I had it all to myself. Even so, it was a disappointment, and I enjoyed exploring the small beach area nearby more than I appreciated the "Secret lagoon". We had one final stop to explore Payong Payong Beach. Having completed our planned itinerary two days prior, we had a relaxed Valentine's Day. We decided to first walk to the nearby Caalan Beach and then to spend some time in the bath warm waters off Corong Corong Beach. Beer, bakery items, & more local snacks completed the day.
After all of our efforts, we were pleased with the views from our hotel room and beachfront accommodations in Port Barton. Lisa's keen eye spotted a sign promising a free shot of locally made rum cream to anyone wearing a backpack on their day of arrival. Qualifying, I claimed our shots from "The Food Jeepney". We returned to the beach for dinner. While watching a travel vlog on YouTube in preparation for our trip, I had heard about drinking for free at CocoRico Hostel... of course I had to check it out!
The following morning we strolled the beach and had breakfast before heading off to find (yet another) White Beach. We were under the impression that it would be a 15 - 30 minute walk... after 53 minutes, we reached Coconut Beach and gratefully accepted a free ride the rest of the way to White Beach (saving us another 20 minutes of walking)! White Beach was lovely, and despite the long walk, we'd managed to beat even the first boat of the day from Port Barton, so we had the entire beach virtually to ourselves. We did run into the Dutch couple from our Moalboal van ride, as they'd camped overnight near the beach. I was happy to relax in a hammock and cool off in the calm water before taking a boat past Coconut Beach and back to Port Barton. We stayed at the Ausan Beach Front Cottages in the middle of the beach. We wandered around and bought local treats (cinnamon buns and banana bread from the bakery, as well as frozen pandan and ube popsicles). I spent much of the afternoon listening to Kenny Chesney and Bob Marley while people-watching from a beachfront hammock. We ate some street food, then shared a plate at Tres Tequilas on the beach where they had live entertainment, before heading back to Coco Rico Hostel of course. We met up with Naomie who introduced us to Sophie from the UK. We also talked to the Spanish couple from our transfer who introduced us to a wonderful woman named Sara from the Canary Islands. I had come far better prepared to take full advantage of the 1/2 hour window for free drinks. Over the course of the evening, we also discovered that at some random time each hour, free shots are poured! Many of the others had the lechon roasted pig, but I stuck to alcohol. Later, some of us headed to the reggae bar on the beach, but Lisa and I didn't stay long before heading to bed. Travel and alcohol speed bonding... Sara and I became great friends! The next morning, coffee was definitely required to get me ready for our day of island-hopping through Pagdanan Bay and the Port Barton Marine Park. Our first stop was Twin Reef for snorkeling. I didn't see any turtles at the "Turtle Spot" (stop #2), making me appreciate my turtle-time in Moalboal even more. After that, we walked a long beach for an hour while the crew prepared our lunch. Ignoring the old advice to wait awhile before swimming after a meal, we headed straight for "Fantastic Reef" to do some more snorkeling. Stop #5 was another island beach exploration, this time with loads of starfish, an angled coconut tree, and plenty of cool beachcombing in the tidal pools and shallow waters. Our final tour stop was a little sand bar in the ocean. On our third and final night in Port Barton, we met up with the expanding international gang at Coco Rico once more. Sara's friend, Marie, was feeling better and joined us. We also visited with a couple who met when he lost his Uruguayan passport while visiting Iran (she works at the Brazilian embassy that helped him). Sara and I chatted most of the evening, but I'd learned to pass on the free shots.
Grey, rainy weather happened to coincide with our travel day, so we didn't feel like we missed out on any sightseeing or beachgoing.
Fortunately, we met up with the bus to Cebu City at the ferry, making the connection seamless. From the bus depot, a taxi took about 35 minutes to go just 4.5 km to our hotel. We grabbed McChicken sandwiches from next door and simply enjoyed the luxury and amenities of a nice room on a lousy evening. The morning breakfast buffet reinforced that it is nice to occasionally stay in a nice hotel. (By the way, is breakfast supposed to have dessert?) On our one full day in the second largest Filipino city, we created our own self-guided walking tour. It quickly became apparent that Cebu City is poor, dirty, and not particularly touristy. We walked through seemingly sketchy neighbourhoods, but noticed decent hotel accommodations throughout. Our first stop was the Yap-Sandiego Ancestral House. Built around 1675, it is the oldest house in the city, and one of the oldest in the country. Just down the street is the impressive Heritage of Cebu Monument. We continued our walk to the Plaza Independencia and Fort San Pedro. Founded in 1565, Santo Nino Church is the oldest Catholic church in Philippines. We were there during a huge mass service. Beside the church is Magellan's Cross, planted in 1521 to commemorate the first Filipino baptisms. Having completed our "tour", we walked back along major boulevards, stopping for free coffee samples and a Smirnoff Vodka Mule, before returning to the comfort of our hotel.
Once again, a well planned transit day became more stressful than necessary. We had booked a car and driver months ago, who insisted multiple times that an 8 am pick up would be sufficient to ensure arrival at Hagnaya Port by noon for our 12:30 ferry. Instead, he arrived at 8:20 and then had to drive like a bat out of hell, employing all of his high speed passing techniques while endangering many lives in order to get us on our scheduled sailing. We arrived at Santa Fe’s port by 2 pm, but the driver who was to greet us with a name sign was nowhere to be found. We waited over 20 minutes before deciding to find a trike driver who would take us to our hotel on the promise that the hotel would pay. Our hotel owner paid our driver and admitted that despite promising to send his driver to collect us, he hadn’t bothered because guests never arrive on the ferry they say they will and he assumed that we would immediately take a trike when not greeted. I conveyed my frustration and was eventually duly compensated. We enjoyed much needed “welcome” beers and given a free ride the following day. After quickly settling into our room, we decided to head straight for the beach. We walked along the coast from Sugar Beach to Yooneek Beach, to Budyong Beach, and to Kota Beach where we cut up into "downtown" Santa Fe. We wandered around sampling food from street vendors (fried sweet potato and ice cream) and buying cheap hamburgers. I appreciated the stained glass in the local church. Eventually we retraced our steps along the beaches, walking directly towards the setting sun as the fishermen completed their daily tasks. The next morning we enjoyed good coffee with our included breakfasts. We did some handwashing of a few articles of clothing as the property offers drying racks. After a nice visit with the hotel owner, he set us up with a free ride to Sandira (Paradise) Beach. Lisa and I both enjoyed the calm waters and walked the length of this short beach before walking back to our hotel. Lisa in the water! Back at the hotel, Lisa did some more work while I sipped a beer and read in a hammock! We walked directly into town along the road, this time getting bananas, yoghurt, lumpia, buns, a mango popsicle, and more burgers. We also did our first non-food shopping, spending a grand total of five Canadian dollars on various items, including a pair of sunglasses for $2. Once again, we took the beach back to our hotel. In the evening, we took advantage of another free ride into town for dinner, walking back using borrowed umbrellas in the light rain.
Another early morning check-out and some confusion over both the timing of the ferry and the location of the ticketing office made this morning less than ideal, but all worked out well. While on the three hour ferry to Argao, I visited with some of the only other foreign travelers aboard. We ended up being able to reduce our transport cost slightly by sharing a ride on bench seats in the back of a truck for the hour long drive to Panagsama Beach in Moalboal. (We would continue to run into these two couples throughout our holiday.) We wandered around the area a little finding our way and sampling some local snacks (fried veggie rolls, a cinnamon roll, and mango "ice candy"). Once checked in, we rested briefly before heading to the beach. I really enjoyed snorkeling just off the coast and seeing MILLIONS of sardines. The photo below is intended to show how close to shore the sardine run is. One can even walk half the distance before even needing to swim. While I was in the water, Lisa did a little more exploring on land and found wandering local vendors selling home-made "Revels", fried bananas, and lumpia with potato. We walked along the coast together. While wandering, we stumbled across a sign promoting a "Grand Opening". We returned in the evening to meet the owner and attend the free event at Daily Sweet Snow Ice Shop, featuring live music, pizza, booze, appies, and of course - ice cream! The following morning was a relaxed one, as we had breakfast and then I streamed the Super Bowl (while Lisa put in another hour of work). By the time the Chiefs had secured the victory, we were already set for a lunch of fried rice and noodles! After lunch, we negotiated to have one trike driver take us to both locations we wanted to visit. We started the afternoon by heading south to Kawasan Falls. Next, we drove just north of Moalboal to walk along White Beach. I decided to go snorkeling again, but this time my focus was not on the sardine run, but on finding a sea turtle. I swam out to the drop and began taking photos of the various fish along the reef. I decided to cruise along the shallower waters closer to shore hoping to find a turtle grazing... and it worked! I ended up spending quite some time with my new friend. A couple of times he swam so close to me that we made contact. He seemed oblivious to me and was quite content. I was delighted and happily snapped about 100 photos. I watched the sunset from in the ocean and then finally said, "Goodbye" to my sea buddy. Lisa and I rushed to find dinner before it became too dark. I found a cold beer and ordered some grilled chicken and rice - it looked good, but turned out to be almost all bone. We bought a loaf of banana bread to take back to our room. This mural was created while we were there to depict the neighbourhood dogs; each of which we met.
We spent most of January 31st in transit. We took a trike back to the ferry terminal to take a bangka back to Caticlan. Another short trike ride had us back at the airport, where Lisa put in another 2.5 hours of work! The flight to Cebu was under an hour, but the taxi ride to the Cebu Port took longer than expected due to awful traffic. We joined a long ticket line and were pleased to eventually be on the 2 pm sailing. The ferry took two hours to get us to Tagbiliran on Bohol. From there, it was a 40 minute trike to Alona Beach on Panglao Island. [Many people (including us) visiting Bohol actually stay on the small island of Panglao that is connected by a bridge to Bohol.] After all of that, we were relieved that our room and hotel on Alona Beach are lovely and pleasantly surprised by the welcome drinks just before sunset. We began February by waking up early... early enough that I enjoyed photographing the sunRISE! After coffee and fried egg sandwiches, we negotiated a price for a trike driver to take us to the Bohol sites that we wanted to visit. It meant approximately four hours spent in a trike, but our "private tour" had us back by 1 pm. Our first photo stop was the Blood Compact Shrine. Captain General Miguel Lopez de Legazpi entered into a "blood compact" with Datu Sikatuna, a Chieftain of the Island of Bohol for the purpose of insuring friendly relations between the Spaniards and the Filipinos. Both leaders made a small cut on their left arm with a dagger and poured their blood into a goblet filled with wine, which they both drank in honour of the friendship being established. This formed the first treaty of friendship between Spain and the Filipinas. We happened upon a local youth parade. We made a brief stop to admire the Bilar Man-Made Forest. Next were the adorably ugly little Tarsiers at the conservation centre that protects them and makes it easy for us to see and photograph them. I was enjoying these little guys until I noticed their long rat-like tails. We continued our "tour" of Bohol from the "comfort" of a trike. Finally, we made it to Bohol's most famous attraction, its "Chocolate Hills". The hills were green during our visit as they only become "chocolate" brown when they dry out in the hot season. With our exploration over for the day, we grabbed a quick lunch (and a San Miguel) and then rested awhile before heading back out to the beach. We walked all of the short beachfront, and then it began to rain for the first time on this holiday. We returned to our room and watched the rain fall on the swimming pool. Once it had stopped, we ventured out again for dinner - grilled chicken breast, a chorizo kebab, and a veggie kebab with rice. Due to the cloud cover and grey skies, tonight was the first evening without a wonderful sunset.
Getting to Boracay from Burnaby is no small feat! 1. Skytrain to the airport. 2. 13.5 hour direct flight to Manila. (I watched "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil", "Booksmart", and "Missing Link" to pass the time, and appreciated having a Japanese Asahi beer & a Scotch J&B Whiskey with my Indian butter chicken on a Philippine airline.) 3. Wait for connecting flight. 4. Hour long flight to Caticlan. 5. Mini-van to ferry terminal. 6. Boat across to Boracay. 7. Trike ride to White Beach. With a 16 hour time difference, it was like we'd been traveling for days! I watched the sunrise over Manila before flying to Caticlan. From the plane, we saw beautiful cloud formations over a volcano and many islands. After all that, we were thrilled to discover White Beach in pristine condition and our hotel in a prime location directly on it (early check-in and welcome drinks were also greatly appreciated). The view from our hotel (below) On our first day on Boracay, we walked along gorgeous White Beach, getting ice cream cones twice (vanilla followed by mango). We checked out D'Mall and the Main Road, finding delicious fried street food as well as San Miguel beers and Vodka Ice drinks. We also wandered a warren of local alleys, stumbling upon some cheap local eats that were more of an experience than a pleasure. Boracay put on one of its renowned spectacular sunsets to end our day. The following morning, Lisa awoke early to several work related e-mails. She ended up putting in 6 hours of work scattered throughout the day! Our breakfasts were included here, and we enjoyed the "Western Omelette" with ham, cheese, tomato, and onion, before heading off to walk all of White Beach's four kilometres. Upon reaching the end of White Beach, we continued along a path to Diniwad, a local village with a small beach. We kept walking. Another 3.5 km took us all the way to the north end of the island and Puka Beach. We bought some delicious little bananas before taking a trike back to Station 2 where we followed the locals to an eatery for pork, veggies, rice, and soup. We picked up some more ice cream cones and vodka drinks for the walk back along the beach. After that, I actually managed to get Lisa into the water! After another nice sunset, it was already time for another ice cream cone, before getting some grilled chicken and pork on sticks. I enjoyed a San Miguel with lime, too. We had an early breakfast on the 30th and then Lisa went back to work while I relaxed in the ocean (and even met a two-year-old paddler!). We once again walked the length of White Beach, then strolled through some shops, before getting ice cream and vodka drinks. We returned to our air-conditioned room, where Lisa got back to work while I read for pleasure. We shared a veggie pizza for lunch. Just before sunset, we bought some street food (fried rolls and pre-cut pineapple) to eat while walking past the end of White Beach in the opposite direction, to watch the sunset from a slightly different vantage. Dubai welcomed us back in spectacular fashion, with one of the most magical sunrises I have witnessed. Having seen most of what we'd planned to already, this time we took a different shuttle to Mercato just to get to a different neighbourhood. After enjoying some time at the beach and discovering yet another wonderful coastal walking path, we headed back to the ship for lunch since we had already decided to skip dinner in order to see the Dubai Fountain show in the evening. Dubai's wealth is evident by the array of luxury cars on display. This time around, we spent more time exploring the Dubai Mall itself, as it is home to an impressive aquarium, ice rink, and fountains. In the evening, the mall was a beehive of activity! The Dubai Fountain show failed to live up to the enormous hype. It lasted all of three minutes and seeing it meant fighting through crowds of people. I much prefer the one at the Bellagio in Vegas. On the way back to the ship we got a decent look at Dubai Garden Glow.
|
Archives
January 2024
Categories |