Philippines Part 5 (Bacolod, Silay, Mabinay and Dumaguete)

Easter Friday was even more dead than Thursday.  We wanted to take a boat across to Bacolod, but they were all cancelled and there was only one left for the day.  We had to wait around a while for the boat to leave and Cannelle got chatting with a Filipino who was now living in Seattle.  Of course he gave us some fruit.  We then got chatting with another local guy who was heading back to Bacolod with his dog.  The dog had to stay outside the boat on the trip.  He was telling us about his woman troubles, but he gave us a lift into town with his girlfriend.  Nice people.  Everything and I mean everything was shut.  Wow they really shut down everything for Easter week.  Both Iloilo and Bacolod are meant to be cool student towns.  We saw none of this as both of them just seemed to be ghost towns.  We got yet more bad news as we found out that we could not climb Mt Kanalaon because all the permits were booked up until a week later.  Dammit.  We weren’t having luck in this country.  They have a nice church in the middle of the town and then we watched their crappy parade in the town centre.

We got a shit breakfast in the hotel.  Really, really shit.  Then we decided to head off to the ruins.  It’s a short jeepney ride to the turn off and then you get swamped with people offering cheap tricycle rides to the ruins.  Seems like a catch.  There was one.  We decided to walk the 2km or so to the ruins and they have a checkpoint where you have to pay 60 pesos for a tricycle to use the road.  They use this trick in a few places in the Philippines.  You hire a tricycle for cheap, you ride around the corner and are hit with road fees for the tricycle, which you either pay because you have already paid for the tricycle or you walk and waste the money.  Anyway the walk is nice enough.  The ruins themselves are very atmospheric and different.  A mansion without any roof and holes for windows.  Very impressive.  Its very romantic as well.  We then headed to Silay which is like a mini Louisiana.  Loads of wooden colonial houses that you can wander around.  It was all from the sugar plantations that made a lot of money.  Most things were shut again.  Seemed a shame, but it was still very nice to wander amongst the old house and one of them was open to take a mini tour around the insides.  We ate in the old vintage bakery and it’s a relly pleasant double trip out from Bacolod.  In the evening we watched GI Joe 2, which was ok and I spoke to my mum and sister.  Spurs won 2-1 against Swansea and Chelsea lost to Southampton which was a nice bonus.  Some local guy even said ‘nice tits’ to Cannelle as she was walking down the road.  Bacolod itself is nothing special, but the day trips around it are really nice.

The next day we took a bus to Dumaguete, but decided to jump off halfway in Mabinay, where we got an excellent lunch.  Barbecued chicken and the best mango I have ever had.  I don’t normally like mangos, but the mangos in the Philippines are like a totally different fruit.  Its so juicy and so sweet.  Delicious.  They have a small natural pool in the town and it makes for a nice break between the two town, as we were beginning to get very tired with taking so much transport.  We got back on a bus to Dumaguete and checked into Harolds Inn in town.  They only had single fan rooms left so we shared the smaller bed as we hate air con.  The hostel is the first real hostel we have seen in the Philippines, with a rooftop chill out area and pool table.  They also have a very average free breakfast, but at least it was a place to meet people.  We even bumped into the Spanish guy from Baguio randomly and he told us Siquijor was nice, but not worth going out of your way for.

In the morning we wanted to rent a motorbike, but they don’t let you take one without a driving licence here.  Cannelle has one, but doesn’t want to drive.  I want to drive, but I don’t have a licence.  So we decided to take a jeepney to the turn off for Twin Lakes National Park and then walk the 15km to the lake.  I figured it might be an exaggeration, but it seems like it is.  About 3km of the walk in a family in a truck stopped to give us a lift.  It was a local family, but there was a Belgian kid whose mum was from here and his dad was Belgian.  They had come to see the local area.  We joined them at the lake and of course they fed us.  We even joined them on a boat trip across the lake to see the local waterfall (its not really worth it apart from the trip) and the lakes are a very relaxing and different place to the what we had seen in the Philippines.  The paddling was also quite therapeutic.  After the lakes the family asked us if we wanted to see Casororo Falls as they were near where they lived.  So we got a ride out to the falls and they were closed.  No worries.  The family just effectively bribed the guard we went down to see them, scrambling through the rocks and water to see an impressive drop of a waterfall.  They gave us a lift back to the hotel and we chilled out in the rooftop bar.

The following day we dived in Dauin.  It was our first beach dive and our first macro dive.  Cannelle had said that she wasn't sure if she really liked scuba diving.  Both dives were on the wrecks of jeepneys that had been sunk and some tyres.  They had created artificial reefs and it was almost much easier to see the fish against the black background than when they were on coral reefs.  We saw giant lionfish in open water, when usually they are hiding around rocks.  We saw a dead sea snake, lots of small stuff, some even requiring a magnifying glass.  We saw jacks fighting with a couple of groupers, a free swimming moray eel, one turtel (apparently the only one there) and our first seahorse.  They were both really nice dives.  Cannelle really loved it and was finally excited to go diving for the next time.  We met a local guy for lunch and he told us that Dumaguete was a cheap place to buy a laptop.  We took his advice and picked up the laptop that I am writing this on for just 200 euros.  We then went looking for haircuts.  Cannelle paid 2 euros and I paid less than 1.  I think those were the cheapest haircuts that we had ever had. The local guy then took us for dinner at a local barbecue place that was really good and cheap.  Everyone hammers Filipino food, but we find it really good.  Best in Asia for Cannelle.  Second best for me.  I think its only great if you eat with locals as the stuff aimed at tourists tends to be a bit shitty.  Back at the hostel we played pool with a Swedish couple and we realised that we were the only travellers that were not going to Palawan.  Everyone goes there.  Cannelle had also decided that Dumaguete was by far her favourite city in the Philippines and would be the one she lived in if she had to choose.

The next morning we were picked up by the family we had met at the National Park.  They took us to go to Apo Island for the day.  We got there early and they fed us again.  We then waited and waited and waited for a boat.  It was about midday and we started to think it was too late to make it worthwhile to go.  So we pulled out.  The family were very apologetic for the delay and I think we ended up insulting them really.  It was a colossal mistake and a stupid one as I am sure we would have had a nice afternoon.  Instead we hung around and did nothing in Dumaguete.  Of all our decisions on the holiday that was the stupidest and the one we regretted the most.  We went to an excellent cake place in the evening for dinner, but that was a big regret.  We should have gone.  Or we should have dived it as it was only 3300 pesos for 3 dives including boat and lunch.  At least we had dived Dauin for 1000 pesos a dive.  Now we were heading to Cebu for some more diving.  Negros probably has the nicest Filipinos we met on all of our trip.

Philippines Part 4 (Puerto Galera, Boracay and Iloilo City)

In the morning we took a bus to Batangas for 133 pesos.  It’s the only country I have been to where the transport prices are routinely less than LP says.  I guess LP likes air con and big bus companies.  We were swamped at the port and led to a boat to Puerto Galera for 310 pesos, including a 50 peso environmental fee.  While I am sure its bollocks, it’s a good way for them to fleece some tourists.  We eventually made it across and had reserved a hostel bed for 150 pesos a night.  It was basic and a long walk over the hill from town.  We had wanted to dive here, but we decided to hold back for later on.  We met a German guy who said that he couldn’t dive Apo Reef because there was no one else around.  We didn’t want to waste time going there so we gave them a ring.  I could not understand much but it seemed like they wanted 6900 pesos each for 3 dives joining a snorkelling group.  That seemed a little steep.  We decided to change route again and not go there as we were still burnt from all the time we had wasted going to Laoag.  I was then informed that my dad had received another letter from the student loans people.  Fuck sake.  I do exactly what they ask for and they still keep coming back for more information.  I had to ring them again and this time they told me that I needed to send proof of funding for my trip.  Wasting my time and money.  Apparently it should be fine this time because my dad sent copies of 6 months of bank statements proving my travelling.

The next day we picked up a picnic and decided to go snorkelling.   We went by one of the dive centres and asked them to look after something for us.  Then we went snorkelling with a buoy.  They wanted us to dive with them, but they wanted us to do a check out dive before they would let us dive the only site we wanted to go to.  The canyons.  We didn’t see the point.  The snorkelling was nice and afterwards we bumped into the German guy.  He had just been diving and said the canyon was great, but that the other sites were not so amazing.  We hesitated and decided not to dive.  The Danish guy running the place was upset when we said we wanted to prioritise our diving and dive sites.  A few dive places tend to get pissy with us with when we say we have to prioritise money.  I guess most divers are not gypos.  We decided to head to Boracay next and then it was a bitch for the route.  The Philippines is really difficult to get around so you have to plan in advance if you want to maximise your time.  We grabbed some pizza in the evening and decided we would make a stab at getting all the way to Boracay the following day.  Only the accommodation was really expensive there.  Always problems lol.

We took a bus in the morning to Roxas.  From there we got a clunky old ferry to Caticlan.  We got a super shit British film called UFO on the way across and part of the beginning of Flight that had been censored in Malaysia.  Too many kids on the boat though so they cut off any sex scenes, but left the sound on.  Very surreal.  We arrived in Caticlan and it looked like a nice enough town.  We even managed to find a cheap hotel by the airport for 400 pesos a night.  As we planned to visit Boracay for just one day it seemed like a really good place to base ourselves.

The boat to Boracay is a bit expensive.  They claim its only 25 pesos, but if you add the 75 peso environmental fee and the 100 peso port tax it adds up.  We walked to the white beach from the port and got a German breakfast.  We then went for a walk along the white sand beach.  Its really stunning.  The beach is the prettiest we have seen in South East Asia, although Koh Phi Phi still has the best overall location.  Between boat stations one and three it is quite touristy, but still nothing like Thailand.  On the South and North end of the beach it was almost deserted.  There is a beautiful cove at the North end.  They do have some weird green algae over some parts of the beach, but it doesn’t detract too much.  We couldn’t find the viewpoint on the island and no one seemed that inclined to help us out.  We got some lunch at the American pub, which is very good and even got some quiche from there for dinner as Caticlan has limited food options.  In the afternoon we chilled out on the beach and went for a swim.  It’s a beautiful place.  I don’t like beaches, but this place is stunning and given that we were there during Easter week it was still relatively tourist free.

The next morning we took the bus via Antique Province to go to Miagao.  It is famous for its church.  The road on the way is really picturesque.  Its worth the diversion.  The Philippines has such great scenery that you can head to relatively unknown places and its still really pretty.  The church in Miagao is one of the prettiest churches I have seen and well worth the visit.  The carvings on the front are truly impressive.  After we headed into Iloilo City on Easter Thursday and the place was totally deserted.  Two of the hotels were shut for the holidays and the third one was our only option.  They had walkways to cross the traffic, but there seemed to be only about 5 cars on the road.  I didn’t think we were going to see the city in full flow, but I don’t think the Philippines has great cities anyway.  With everything shut, we watched the Croods which was ok and then Goon on tv (a bit shitty).  We decided not to head to Guimares island the next day as we didn’t want to get trapped.  At the cinema I asked them if they had a toilet and they replied that they weren’t showing twilight.  Made me laugh anyway.

Philippines Part 3 (Vigan, Laoag, Manila and Taal volcano)

Not sure if I mentioned the bitch of a journey we had to get to Vigan.  The lying bitch in Banaue wanted us to pay 450 pesos for the bus to Baguio even though the price was 330.  She told us the bus was bigger and so the price was higher.  We found the original jeepney driver who took us to Solano for only 100 pesos.  From there we jumped onto another jeepney to Buyombang for 30 pesos.  It was a complete waste of money as we could have just stayed in Solano and waited for the bus to come by.  After around 30 minutes of waiting, the original bus from Banaue came by.  Low and behold the price was now just 200 pesos to go all the way to Baguio.  So we had paid the 330 pesos that was the price and not the 450 like all the other tourists who were on this bus.  I would recommend grabbing the jeepney to Solano and just waiting there for the Banaue bus to pass through.  Should be 100 and 220 more or less.  We went back over the mountains by Kabayan and grabbed a noodle soup.  We grabbed a McDo and I found out that Spurs had lost 1-0 at home to Fulham.  Shitty as that was going to hurt us in the race for 4^th.  For 80 pesos we got a local bus to San Fernando and after a bit of a wait we finally picked up a bus for 202 pesos to Vigan.  So instead of the 800 pesos we had been quoted to get to Vigan, we ended up paying only 612.  The last bus even gave us a 1 peso discount because we started off without a seat.  How generous!  We found a cheap room in Vigan for two nights and finally got some rest.

In the morning we took a bus out to Santa Maria church.  Its UNESCO and its nice, but its somewhat overrated.  Not really worth going out of your way to see, but it’s a nice morning trip.  Then we visited the historic old city.  The centre is very cute.  Reminded me a lot of Latin America.  Its definitely the prettiest town in the Philippines, although the historic centre is very small.  It does not take very long to visit the city.  Only around a couple of hours.  You could almost day trip it from Baguio in a long day.  I did some writing and that was the last time I came back to this blog.  There was some shitty tv about Alaska gold mining and that was about all we did that day.

The next day we got an early bus to Laoag.  We grabbed a hotel and set off for Pagudpud for the day.  We’d heard it was a really nice beach town.  It was 100 pesos for the first bus and 60 for the second.  This turned out to be a disappointing trip.  The famous windmills are just a bunch of wind turbines along the coast.  Underwhelming.  The famous lighthouse is so-so and not worth going out of your way to track down.  When you arrive it’s a very long walk down to the beaches as well.  We stopped for lunch at a great German restaurant and had schnitzel.  They wanted 40 pesos to enter the private beach and I didn’t want to pay so we ended up just going back.  Laoag the town itself is quite nice.  Nicer than we expected.  Yet we couldn’t help feeling that it was a waste of time coming to the North of the Philippines.  We have felt that we could have had the time again to change our decisions with where we visited here.  So much to see and not enough time.  Everything in Vigan and Laoag was nice, but they weren’t worth the three days we lost to get there.  Pagudpud was especially not worth it, because we would see many great beaches in the Visayas.  We watched Oz which is a good film, but not great.  Very apt for the North of the Philippines.  We found some people to climb Pinatubo with and so we decided to head back to Manila for a couple of days.

There were no morning non-aircon buses to Manila.  Shitty.  So we grabbed a bus to Vigan and from there we picked one up to Manila.  The people texted us about the Pinatubo climb, but we had no credit and we were trapped on the bus ride from hell.  So fucking long.  So fucking long.  I don’t wish this trip from Laoag to Manila on anyone.  When we finally arrived in Manila we couldn’t find a cheap hotel.  Everything in Malate was either closed or no longer cheap.  After a long slog we eventually went to the Adriatic Hotel for 3 nights.  It’s a bit of a sexpat den, but it’s the cheapest there is.

The next day we headed to Taal volcano.  On the bus a local guy started chatting with us.  The usual Filipino friendliness.  He told us that its not worth visiting the volcano itself and that the most impressive thing is the view from the crater.  We got mobbed by tricycle drivers the moment we stepped off the bus and everyone wanted us to take a boat tour with them.  We navigated the swarm of touts and the local guy invited us for cakes and coffee in a really nice place.  Amazing apple crumble.  He also invited us to come and stay at his house in the mountains.  Its frustrating sometimes to travel with a time limit.  It should be easier next trip when we only have a money limit.  The local guy gave us a ride to the park from where you get a great view over the volcano.  Its really beautiful.  Immense.  We just chilled out while watching it.  In the evening we grabbed some schwarma  and now had a spare day in Manila.

What better way to spend a spare day than doing a laundry.  We sorted that out in the morning and it was long overdue.  Then we watched the Silver Linings Playbook, which is much better than I was expecting.  The end also made sense now.  We had seen just the last 5 minutes in Krabi and it had made no sense whatsoever.  We then went for dinner with Mike again.  He again was super generous and at his restaurant he bought a huge feast for us and an American and Italian couchsurfer.  Again it was amazing food.  Following the meal we went to his brother’s place for drinks.  It was another good night in the Philippines and another illustration of the generosity of the people.  When we finished we walked back from Malati to Makate.  Some teens sent us the wrong way and that added an hour to the walking time.  If you don’t know where the place is can you stop giving fucking directions.  People say that Manila is a dangerous city, but its not really.  Bad air, bad traffic yeah, but dangerous no.