I do admit, it does feel odd to come back home after so long. And part of me is happy to be back home, but that feeling never really lasts long after you’ve been exposed to everyday adventure for so long. I even start to appreciate the “normal” things around me. My bed, hot shower and even my closet! All the old clothes I had, seems all like new clothes after having only a few pieces to wear for a year. I think it’s that post-travel glow that you have where you look at life and everything else so much more positively.

Looking back at 1 year traveling

The second month back I focused myself on finishing the posts that were left to do on the blog and there were quite a lot as I was hopelessly behind on updates. But it was also refreshing to relive those last months through pictures and blogs. It wasn’t until then that I realised how much I’ve done and seen during the past year. It was really odd to think that I’ve just spent waking up on monday morning walking on the beach and surfing in the afternoon and eating some fresh grilled fish at a local restaurant just a few months ago. It all seems so surreal to me now.

Gili Trawagan - Philippines

I set out with a few goals in mind for my trip, but at the same time, I wanted to leave enough room for impulsive decisions and flexibility. Part of that impulsive decision, was deciding to go to South-America without really thinking about it. I’ve always said that the main focus of my trip was Asia, but since I had a few months to spare, I figured I’d go check out South America since some of my friends went there and came back raving about it. So I randomly picked out a few well known cities and countries and off I went for the first part of my trip.

BBQ with Andrea in Buenos Aires - Argentina

I was really pleasantly surpised by the hospitality and warmth of the people there, in every country. That’s the best thing about making impulsive decision, you go there with no high expectations, so you won’t be (greatly) disappointed. Just keep an open mind of things and let things come as they are. I’ve tried my best to absorb as much of the local culture in each country I’ve been to. I steered away from fast-food chains most of the time and only ate what the locals ate, using transport that locals use, hanging out where locals hang out. All this with limited local language skills. Before I arrived, I had no knowledge of Portugese and Spanish, but after a good 2 and half months, I could speak a decent word of Portugese and Spanish. At least enough to get around and I’m really glad I did. You experience so much more when you immerse yourself with the locals.

Meeting travelers and locals in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil

Hanging out with creative minds in Valparaiso - Chile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdoEvy9Crtw

One of my personal goals was to learn the local dance in each country, or at least try to. I’m not a great dancer myself, but that Latin culture has so much rythm and sense of dance that it’s a must to me. In Rio de Janeiro, I learned the samba from a few local couchsurfers and got down with the best of them on a wild friday night out. In Buenos Aires went to a tango place and even took a few tango classes and in Chili a few local girls taught me the Cueca (a parody of the courtship of a chicken and rooster).

Attempt at samba in Rio de Janeiro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhTZZRLtCjw

It was also in Chile where I celebrated my first Christmas eve in my life as we aren’t as festive as home while growing up. It was a really refreshing experience eventhough it was low-key. I was staying with a local couchsurfer and her family welcomed me with open arms and they invited me to celebrate the holiday with them. It was really a great personal experience for me and really grateful to them.

Christmas eve in Santiago de Chile - Chile

After South-America, I went to the USA to visit some online friends whom I pretty much grew up with and helped me improve my English eventhough it was never my intention. I’ve known them for roughly 7+ years or more but have never met them, so it was really great to finally meet them and hang out in real life after all these years.

Long time online friends in Colorado <3

Shinjuku - Tokyo - Japan

Japan was the first of many Asian countries I was going to visit. There was no real explanation why focused on Asia, maybe it was because I was Asian and I wanted to know more about my roots, whatever they may be. The challenge with Asia compared to South America was the difference in language and culture which I had to get accustomed to each time. I spent max 1 month in each country, some less. Which means I had to try to learn a new language every few weeks, or try to. It may seem tiring in the beginning, but it’s so rewarding when you manage to talk to locals in their native language. I also feel that you should put the effort in, eventhough it’s not much since things aren’t always written in English.

Traditional kimonos in Kyoto - Japan

Local advertisement in Seoul - South Korea

Bikers in Nha Trang - Vietnam

I don’t wanna get into detail for each individual country, but I totally loved the diversity of all the Asian countries. They each have their own history, culture, language, mentality and people. Each their own charm. Eventhough it’s not all rainbows and butterflies, I still managed to find something good in each place I’ve visited and made tons of new friends along the way.

Celebrating Thai New Year (Songkran) in Bangkok - Thailand

Hanging out with local fireman in Rio de Janeiro Brazil

Me eating Tamilok (wood worm) in Puerto Princesa

It’s true, traveling alone is lonely sometimes, but the bright side is that it forces you to go out there and meet new people and talk to people and get to know them. I’ve met tons of great people during my trip and eventhough we’ve only spent a few days with eachother, they were great moments. We all share the same pashion for traveling and taste for adventure and motivate and push eachother to do something out of our own comfort zone which I’m grateful for. The hard part is to say goodbye to these new friends, eventhough the internet makes it easier to stay in touch. And it’s not just other travelers, I’ve hung out with locals through Couchsurfing and at times, I wish I lived there so I could hang out with them more often in the future.

Cliff jumping and hiking in Sai Kung - Hong Kong

Party people down at Puerto Princesa - Philippines

Shenanigans in Vang Vieng - Laos

I really made it my goal to experiences things as much as a local. One of the major events on the planning was to celebrate Thai New Year, Song Kran. To me it was just a huge waterfight in Bangkok, but I had tons of fun and learned a lot more about the celebration in the surrounding countries as well. I just love the overal Asian culture and traditions, it engulves so much past history passed from generation to generation.

Getting lost in Singapore

Hanging out with CS Jakarta - Indonesia

Bamboo train in Battambang - Cambodia

me at Dilips place in Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia

I’ve learned so much the past year from the travelers and locals I’ve met along the way. They showed me that pretty much everything is possible if you put your heart to it, no idea is too outrageous, you just need to get over that “impossible” thinking bump and ANYTHING will be possible.

Getting drenched in Foz de Iguazu - Argentina

Now what?

After 1 year of traveling, it’s hard to pick up your life where you left it. You know what else is possible rather than just staying in your old life. I’ve thought about relocating to somewhere else and continue the rest of my career/life there. But that takes some planning as well and I feel it’s an even bigger step than simply traveling there. The good thing is that you’ll always have something to fall back on when you come back I guess. I’ve thought about teaching English for a few years in Vietnam or even Japan. Maybe could even get my dive master certificate so I could travel around and work as a dive master, combining my hobby with my job and live on the beach. How great does that sound?!

In the beginning, during the post-travel glow, I thought it was possible, it still is, but there are other consequences as well. I’ve often talked about social pressure where you’re forced to grow up and settle down, get a decent job, save for a house, get married and all that. But eventhough I don’t like to give in to conformity, I do feel the pressure to follow. I’m getting older as well and feel that at one point I need to decide what to do with my life and start working towards it.

For now, I will take it easy, but the idea and taste of adventure is still lingering in the back of my mind. So for the time being, I’ll be a good little boy and start working and thinking about my future, but once opportunity arrises I can’t promise to sit still! I wanted to wait to finish all my blog posts before I can start to move on from my trip. To be honest, I haven’t even really finished unpacking my backpack. I don’t want to sound dramatic, but part of me just doesn’t want to let those good times end, but with this, I think I can store away those good memories from the past year and start on a new chapter in my life which I think will even bring me to higher places! SO POETIC IT HURTS!

Finally, I think everyone should go out there and experience what I did. I’m not a miracle worker or someone amazing, just your average traveler. Tons of people actually do it, you just need to be willing and brave enough to take the step and I promise you, you won’t regret it, you’ll just get more hooked to it.

This isn’t the end of Asian Backpacker, I’m not sure yet what to do with it, but I won’t let it fade for sure. I might update it with some short trips during the year, or I’ll get some other Asian Backpacker guest bloggers. Just stick around and see what happens.

Back home with the family after 1 year

Stunning views on Dragon's back

Trail towards Tian Tan Buddha statue

I joined a hiking group of who were going to hike the Dragon’s back in Shek-O. It was voted the Best Urban Hiking Trail in Asia by Time (Asia edition) in 2004. Just a short hop from the bustle of Hong Kong East, it provides stunning views of Shek O, Tai Long Wan, Stanley, Tai Tam and the South China Sea.

Views on both sides of the ridge

Tian Tan Buddha in the far distance

The “Dragon’s Back” refers to the portion of the walk on the south side of Hong Kong Island which is atop a high mountain ridge and offers spectacular beach and water views on both sides. The views were quite stunning to be honest, I was used to seeing skyscrapers and commercial buildings everywhere. But here in Lantau and especially on the ridges, you can barely see any skyscrapers around. Just magnificent views of the mountain tops around you.

Wisdom Path, near the Po Lin Monastery

Sadly I can’t tell you the exact directions since I followed Ming, an avid local hiker who says this is her favorite trail. One that she’s done uncountable times in different weather conditions and even at night. The general plan was to hike the Dragon’s Back and end up at the Tian Tan Buddha and Po Lin monastery.

Po Lin Monastery

On our way to Tian Tan Buddha

I’ve heard that the Tian Tan Buddha was major tourist attraction, but I’ve never actually visited it so I figured this was a good opportunity to check it out. But before getting there we stopped by the Po Lin monastery for a quick peek and bite to eat. There was a small shop/restaurant next to the monastery selling all kinds of pastries and cakes and other foods. We got ourself some soy bean custard (tau fu fa), which was really good here according to Ming.

Statues at Ngong Ping

Up close with the Tian Tan Buddha statue

Afterwards we went up to the Buddha statue itself, it’s the largest, seated, outdoor bronze Buddha statue in the world. The statue was alright to see I guess, I wasn’t really that impressed and awed like I was before. I guess now I can say I’ve been here at least. BRAGGING RIGHTS!

Up top bro!

Entrance to Tian Tan Buddha

On our way back, we walked through the themed village of Ngong Ping 360 which was part of the attraction and attached to the cable car that brought tourists up here. Everything seemed so made here for tourists that it wasn’t really new. They even had people performing dance and shows on the street, just like how they do in theme parks. Rather odd to see actually, but I guess the other tourists liked it.

Performers putting up a show for the tourists

For some reason I have something against the way this kid is dressed...

Lamma Island

A few days later, I got on the boat and made my way to Lamma Island. I’ve been here once before but that was probably nearly 9 years ago. Lamma Island has a very different pace of life to nearby Hong Kong island. There are no cars on the island, and all apartments must be built with a maximum 700 square feet per floor. People tend to come and live here for an alternative lifestyle rather than modern living which makes it great for relaxation.

Map of Lamma Island

Lamma island is not a place full of tourist attractions, but rather for peace and relaxation. There are however plenty of restaurants, beaches and hiking trails. And that’s exactly what we did! There are 2 ports on the island and a pretty nice walking trail between the 2 so we just decided to walk from one port to the other.

Little shops and restaurants near the pier

The trail itself wasn’t hard at all since everything was paved, at night you see a few people jogging or walking their dog. The view was pretty nice and just the serenity of the lack of cars was simply amazing. To me it was a great place to live if I was in Hong Kong I think. Just traffic alone would drive me crazy in Hong Kong, but I’m sure there are other places in HK that have a good balance between greenery and city life.

Hung Shing Ye Beach on Lamma Island

Sunset on Hung Shing Ye Beach on Lamma Island

As we arrived at the other port it was already nightfall and we had just missed the ferry, so we decided to have seafood for dinner as it was pretty famous on Lamma island. There are tons of seafood restaurants near the pier so you just pick your favorite one and their set menus and you’re good to go.

Fisherman boats at the other pier of Lamma Island

Huge fish in tiny aquarium. Note probably says "KILL ME NOW!"

I’m really glad that I decided to experience Hong Kong in a different way from how I used to. I actually put in the effort to learn more about Hong Kong and not just come here just for the food and shopping. I went out and discovered that Hong Kong in fact has so much more to offer, you just have to try not to get distracted by all the flashy lights and neon signs. I do have familial reason to come back to Hong Kong but I’m sure I won’t frown upon the idea anymore of going back to Hong Kong (again) in the future.

Imposing Galaxy hotel and casino

Heritage buildings in old city area

Although best known for gambling, Macau is extremely rich in attractions and oozing with atmosphere, thanks to hundreds of years of fusion between European and Chinese cultures. Macau is a fascinating place to just walk around as the place is packed with churches, temples, fortresses and other old buildings bearing an interesting mix of Portuguese and Chinese characteristics. Besides buildings, there are also hundreds of narrow alleyways forming a maze in the old part of Macau where the people of Macau carry out businesses and work.

Old heritage buildings in old city

Colorful creative buildings in Macau

A large section of Macau Peninsula has been designated a Unesco World Heritage site and 25 buildings and sites within the area have been deemed to have cultural and historic significance. One of the best ways to cover the sights is to do the Macau Heritage Walk circuit. The heritage Buildings, the Sao Paulo Cathedral, the Fort and the Macau Museum are all adjacent to each other and can be conveniently seen individually even if one cannot catch the Heritage walk timing.

Street performances in old city Macau

I think we were lucky there was some celebration when we were visiting because there was some parade going on. People were in costumes and performing acts and shows through the old city.

People queuing for local delicacies

Road to San Pedro Cathedral

I only intended to stay 1 night as my travelmates (local HK) were planning to play a few hands in the casino here. I never really gambled before when I came to Macau, so might as well have them show me what machines to play.

Interior of The Venetian

One of the most famous casinos in town is The Venetian, the sixth largest building in the world by area and the largest casino in the world. The casino is further divided into 4 themed gaming areas namely Golden Fish, Imperial House, Red Dragon and Phoenix. The casino consists of over 3400 slot machines and 800 gambling tables.

The Venetian foodcourt

There’s a huge shopping area and adjoining food court. Everything is decorated in a real Venetian style. Even the ceiling has been painted with a fake blue sky which is illuminated. It was said that it mimics the exact same weather condition as in Venice. Minus the rain of course.

Main entrance of Galaxy Casino

There’s also some great food to be eaten in Macau itself. Many visitors from mainland China and Hong Kong bring back tons of souvenir snacks after indulging themselves in Macanese and Chinese cuisine. I can only tell you about the egg tarts (pastéis de nata) and pork chop bun that I tried on the street. And they were delicious. There are several famous food stalls on the way to the Sao Paulo Cathedral, not to mention the numerous souvenir shops selling all kinds of sweets and dried meat which is popular as well.

Egg tarts!

Grand Lisboa casino in the back

I think Macau is a good place to spend a few days at if you want to get away from Hong Kong for a bit. The colonial influence and historical background is a nice change from the commercial Hong Kong and eventhough you don’t gamble, most of these casinos are huge attractions by themselves.

Lost like 30USD gambling

People gathering at the Kowloon waterfront

Hong Kong Island skyline

I stayed in Tsim Sha Tsui, which was close to the Kowloon Waterfront. It offers stunning views of the Hong Kong island shore and skyline. I didn’t walk down the promenade though, but I do recommend it to people if you’ve never been to Hong Kong before. You can eventually get to Avenue of the Stars, something like Hong Kong’s version of Hollywood’s walk of fame. You might not know most of these stars, but that’s because it’s mainly targeted at tourist from mainland China.

Tall apartment buildings are everywhere in Hong Kong

Crowds at night in Mong Kong

Plenty of lights and neon signs in Mong Kok

I turned to couchsurfing to find out what other travelers liked to do when they are in Hong Kong and apparently, Hong Kong is a great place to do some hiking, so I joined some of the groups and off I went!

Ladies market in Mong Kok

Soho Mid-Level escalator, longest outdoor covered escalator in the world

View on the way to Sai Wan village

Panoramic view of Sai Wan beach

First I went to Sai Kung to check out the Sheung Luk Stream. It has a small waterfall and “huge” cliff where you could jump off. Sheung Luk Stream behind Tai Long Sai Wan is located in Sai Kung East Country Park. Around a 10 minutes’ walk from Sai Wan are the four pools. The upper pool with a 40 ft high vertical cliff standing on its side is the largest and deepest among the four, where you can jump off from a cliff and take some cool pictures. To get there you can follow the directions here.

Cow blocking the way in Sai Wan village

Sadly, as I was running late in the morning, I forgot to bring my swimming trunks so I didn’t get the chance to do the cliff jumping. The other people in my group all did it though. Really bummed out that I didn’t even get to swim in the pool either. There weren’t that many people there as the route there wasn’t that clearly marked either. Before you get to the stream itself you need to walk about 40-50 minutes from the busstop to Sai Wan beach area, from here it’s about 15 minutes walk to the cliff/waterfall.

The pool and cliff and Sheung Luk stream

The short walk from the bus stop wasn’t that difficult and it was on a paved path so all the easier. The bus doesn’t run often though so you’ve gotta check the schedule and time your return trip wisely. We kinda lost track of time and had to return to the bus stop in 30 minutes. We actually had to run the last 5 minutes or so and just missed the bus down. We managed to find some other people there with a van and negotiated a ride down to the main bus stop.

View on the way back to Sai Wan Village

All in all I was suprised that Hong Kong had these landscapes and such a nice stretch of beach eventhough it’s way out of the way.

After some good travel motivation, I randomly tried searching out some nice places for dinner or drinks. I remembered that I had a great time at the cat cafe in Seoul last time and I was curious if Hong Kong had a place like this being a big metropole and all, and they did!

Interior of the cat cafe in Causeway Bay

This is how I found Ah Meow Cat Café in Causeway Bay. The place itself wasn’t as big as the one I visited in Seoul though. It seems like they focused more on it being a cat CAFE rather than a CAT cafe. Maybe it’s also because of the limit space, but it all seemed just bit cramped to me. Still, there were cats around, but they weren’t that playful though. We did manage to lure a cat with a cone around its neck for us to pet.

The cat related food menu

Cool thing about this place was their menu, they had a lot of cat inspired food on the menu. You also get a cute membership card when you visit for the first time, apparently something to do with law, food and cats. They also had cool cat related decorations all over the place though which was better than in Korea. I didn’t even notice all of them or else I would’ve taken more pictures I think.

Cat pancake with ice cream

Cat with the cone of shame (Up! Reference)

One of the amazing lagoons in El Nido

In front of the hidden lagoon

Small entrance to the hidden lagoon in El Nido

Hidden lagoon in El Nido

There are 4 different pre-packaged routes that all the agencies offer. Depending on what you want to see, you can select a tour that visits the major sights or one that visits the hidden lagoons. But be sure to check out the Big Lagoon and Small Lagoon.

Lunch time in El Nido!

View from our lunch spot

Since I’m alone, I got put on a boat with other people of course and there was this cute Filipino couple there as well. As we were waiting for the boat crew, the guy started talking to me by greeting me with “Hello sir, how are you?”. At first I was taken back by the polite way he was greeting me since I don’t think I’ve ever greeted someone with “sir” before. But the Filipino people are kinda known or better yet TAUGHT to greet people with sir and ma’am. For the reminder of the trip he kept addressing me with sir too.

Big Lagoon in El Nido

Anyway, the island hopping tour was pretty chill and fun. I think I picked tour A that went to the popular ones, it took the whole day and there’s lunch included. You can also go snorkeling at some spots and kayak. I only went for the snorkeling itself though. It is a bit touristic, but the scenery was amazing though. The lagoons, islands and even the view from the boat was stunning.

Prepping to get in for our first dive!

The view during a dive

Earlier I mentioned that El Nido has some excellent diving as well. The first days I walked around asking for prices and finally settled on a 3 dive package deal. So the next day we sail out for our first dive, it was a rather easy site, no current, lovely corals and wildlife as well.

After the first dive we sat around the site a bit and just as we were about to sail out, our boat gets stuck on something on the side and flipped the whole boat upside down with us in it! I was used to a boat swinging from side to side, so at first I didn’t think much of it, but once I saw that one side went up too much for my own liking I tried to re-enact what I remembered from watching the Titanic. I tried to walk over to the other side since I was sitting on the side that was being pulled down. You do have to remember that there were oxygen tanks on the side of the boat, so as the boat started to capsize, some of these tanks were falling down on us. As I just made it to the other side of, I saw a few of these tanks about to slide down, so I quickly grabbed one of the tanks and guided it past my head. It did hit me a bit in the end but not enough to knock me out or anything.

The aftermath after we capsized the boat

Anyways, everyone made it out alive and just looked shocked at eachother, not really believing what just happened. Most of the equipment was still lodged under the boat and some of our lunch was floating around as well. My small camera and wallet was under the boat as well and pretty much ruined. Luckily a nearby boat saw us and came to the rescue and picked us up and dropped us off at a nearby beach while we wait for the diveshop to send another boat. We had to swim out to reach the other boat and some of us got hammered by the sharp corals.

Some of us got annihilated by the corals

It was quite an experience, I’m glad I made out alive, but was just too bad that I didn’t get to do more diving in the area though since I was leaving the next day to Coron.

Coron

Because of a typhoon, my boat from El Nido to Coron was delayed a day and even the next day, the waves were quite choppy so the boat ride itself was quite bumpy. That’s when I started to fear the ocean more than flying.

The reason why people go to Coron is almost solely for diving. There are a few other attractions in the area but most people come here to dive around the japanese shipwrecks on the floor of Coron Bay.

Coron, small fisherman village but excellent for wreck diving

Because of my delayed arrival and my upcoming flight to Manila, I only had 1 day to dive the wrecks. People that went diving can not go flying within 24 hours after the dive. Something to do with the different in pressure I think. My flight was in the afternoon, which made it possible for me to squeeze in 2 wreck dives.

First dive site Akitsushima Maru wreck

The dives themselves were pretty challenging actually, first of all they are usually at deeper depths than an open water license allowed you to go. And second, when you go inside the wrecks, you need to have great buoyancy control to manoeuver around the place. While descending at the first wreck I got caught off guard by the strong current and the buoyancy control. But at the second wreck I got the hold of the control by watching my dive master so I actually enjoyed the second one more eventhough they said the first site was better.

Second dive site: Okikawa Maru

Since I was part of 3 dive tour, I just went snorkeling at the 3rd dive site, interesting thought since the top of the wreck was only half a meter below water, so I didn’t really need to dive to see the wreck! Lucky!

Revisiting Manila

My last visit in Manila was quite a hectic one since I only stayed for 1 day and didn’t put any effort in seeing things in and around Manila itself. This time I looked up Mimi, who I met down in Davao. I told her I wanted to check out Taal Lake and she asked if she could tag along since she hasn’t seen it either.

On the boat on our way to Volcano Island

View of the Crater lake on Volcano Island

The only reason why I wanted to go was because it’s a (crater) lake on an island (Volcano Island) in a lake (Taal Lake) on an island (Luzon)! Other than that, there was no real reason for me or attraction worth visiting in the area.

God is especially hating on people in that area....

Local basketball game on an island in a lake on a bigger island!

Another thing in my to-do list was to watch a basketball game in The Philippines. Basketball is pretty huge here, so I definately wanted to catch a pro game here. I asked Mimi to join me since she actually got us free tickets. Well not really free since someone gave it to her as a birthday gift. But we both agreed that I paid it with my friendship, our mutual currency.

Filipino pro basketball game in Manila

Tons of security at a pro basketball game in Manila

After a few days in Manila I had to say goodbye to The Philippines, another country that captured my heart. It has so much to offer and the people and culture is just so lively. People are so giving and compassionate with eachother eventhough it’s considered to be a 3rd world country by some. Definately see myself coming back for more when I have more time and luxury to enjoy the country and it’s many beauties.

Skimboarders ready for the surf!

The next day I managed to fix a ride and pick up to the Dahican beach where all the action is happening. But the thing is, the waves are only good at certain times during the day. Mainly early in the morning and around 4-5 in the afternoon. I arrived there around 1-2 in the afternoon, so I just hung out for a while on the beach, walked around and took a nap.

The world champ at work

Local skimboarders looking for best waves

I didn’t actually surf because the waves weren’t that optimal to me personally and I was more fascinated by the skimboarding. Mati is one of the best places for skimboarding and it’s not unusual to find the world champion skimboarding hanging out here like the average local kid.

Local skimboarders catching waves

Skimboarding for all ages

I haven’t tried out the skimboarding myself as there were tons of “pros” around and didn’t want to make a fool of myself. But it was rather exillerating to see them catching the waves and performing tricks on the waves. The cool thing was that even the younger kids were into it. It was also the time where other people would just come hang out on the beach, eat dinner and watch the sunset.

Dahican beach in Mati

Seeing how, there wasn’t much else to do in Mati, I decided to only stay 1 night and made my way back to Davao the next day to catch my flight to Puerto Princesa in Palawan a few days later.

Puerto Princesa

It was a small coincedence that Ruby, a local couchsurfer from Davao, also had a trip to Puerto Princesa on the same day as me. She’s a freelance tour guide and she had a group to lead on the same date. One of the reasons to come to Puerto Princesa was the accessibility to the Subterranean River National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site. But more on that later.

The Puerto Princesa party hard gang!

On the first night of arrival, Ruby has set to meet some of the local CS members of Puerto Princesa for dinner and a drink afterwards. And yet again, I had a blast with all of them. They welcomed me with open arms and we shared some stories and had great laughs. After dinner we went to a dance bar where they had played live local music with a bit of reggae influence. It was really a great atmosphere where everyone was having a great time and dancing the night away. It made me even forget the fact that I had to wake up at 5am the next morning for my tour with Ruby. She was smart, she went home early, but I decided to stay longer since it was my only night there. In the end we went to grab a bite before saying our goodbyes around 3am, but I definately did not regret my decision on that, it was totally worth it!

Zipline after caving

Who doesn't like kids handing out oversized helmets :'(

So needless to say I looked like total shit the next day, but still managed to wake up in time for the tour. I joined and met the other people on the tour and off we went. Thankfully they went caving and ziplining first as part of the tour, I kindly passed as I wasn’t really feeling it, so just hung back and chilled for a bit.

Posing in front of Elephant cave

View on the way to Underground river

Afterwards we went and got lunch before going to the Underground river. Apparently one of the delicacies on Palawan is the Tamilok, also known as shipworm. It’s actually not really a worm, but more like a slug. Ruby said I had to try it since it’s “only” found in Palawan and being the adventurous eater, I couldn’t decline the offer. Tamilok itself is eaten raw, dipped in some lime juice and has a similar taste and texture like oysters. It was rather good to be honest. Definately have to try it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB6X2EKGYNc

Group picture before going to the underground river

Sailing off to the underground river in Puerto Princesa

After lunch we went to the Underground river and boy there was a looooooooong queue to get a boat to enter the cave. I think we waited for nearly 2 hours before it was our turn. At this point the piled up fatigue from the whole day started to come down on me and sitting in a boat, paddling slowly through a dark cave wasn’t doing me any good. Eventhough the cave formations inside were interesting, I did have a hard time keeping my eyes open. I caught myself a few times nodding away and the other people from the tour were worried that I didn’t understand what the guide was saying. Afterwards I told them I was almost falling asleep and they got a nice laugh out of it.

Entrance of the underground river

Part of the queue for the boats

It was really nice to join a tour impulsively and hang out with some more locals and Ruby as well. She’s a crazy one and she loves to take pictures as well and yes, posing is included. I felt in good company so I just went along with all the posing and shenanigens. Overal had a great time in Puerto Princesa because of her and the local couchsurfers as well.

Me and Ruby doing what we do best: POSING LIKE A DIVA!

More wackiness on Ruby's tours

Government has warned tourist not to go to Mindanao because of this situation. Even local Pinoys don’t venture out there. However, the north coast and South-East side seems pretty safe to travel around. There’s actually quite a lot of offer for the intrepid traveler.

Davao

I don’t really remember exactly why I picked Davao as the place to visit. I think it was mainly because of the diving possibilities in the area. I remember vaguely I looked for the best dive sites in the Philippines and came up with Davao. Also the fact that I found a Couchsurfing host in Davao. I’ve always been telling myself to couchsurf at least once in every country I visit and Eiki and her amazing family welcomed me into their home in Davao so off I went!

Very humble Chinatown in Davao City

Lonwa Buddhist temple

San Pedro Cathedral

To be honest, I didn’t do much tourist stuff in Davao itself, there was tons of stuff to do though. Like going to the Philippine Eagle center to see the Philippine Eagle, one of the largest eagles in the world and sadly also one of the most endangered. But I didn’t go because I wasn’t THAT into seeing the eagles and it was way out from where I was staying. I had more fun hanging out with the locals instead, but more on that later.

Huge Philippine Eagle in People's Park (*not actual size)

I think it was plaid shirt day, that day.....

So for one day, I met up with Mimi, a Pinay from Manila who was in town visiting as well. Good thing, she contacted me since, I was planning to walk to most if not all of the attraction, while she could simply ask the people where to take the bus to places. THANKS MIMI! We visited the Lonwa buddhist temple, People’s Park, San Pedro Cathedral and the nearby town square. All in all, nothing too spectacular though, but at least we could say we went sightseeing. It was fun to check out the town square though since there was some event going on and people were dancing to Oppa Gangnam style and seemed really into it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYel2CLYt78

Enormous golden naked David statue in Davao

View over Davao City from Jack's Ridge

At night we went to Jack’s Ridge on the Shrine Hills Road to get a scenic view of Davao city. To get there, we had to take a tricycle/pedicab at the foot of the hill. I haven’t explained what a pedicab is before, but it’s pretty much a motorbike with a sidecart attached to it to transport people. How many people it can transport, mainly depends on how many people you can (forcefully) fit in there. I think we were with 6 passengers on a shabby looking cart and old motorcycle going uphill. We barely made to the top, but could say it was an exciting ride, as the slogan of Philippines says “It’s more fun in The Philippines!”. The view itself was rather disappointing though…

Some islands we spotted during the dive

Diving was pretty nice, we sailed out on sunday along with another group who signed up for island hopping while I went diving. Pretty nice to hang out with a group of people and other travelers as well. Most of them were couchsurfers as well and sort of know eachother already via via.

Me waiting patiently to ascend again after the dive

Everything is A-OK!

On the boat having lunch with the rest of the tour

Snorkeling after diving with the gang

The locals

The reason why I liked Davao so much was mainly because of it’s people. Before arriving in Davao, I haven’t really felt the warmth and kindness of the people yet nor have I experienced the Filipino lifestyle and that was all about to change.

As I mentioned before, I stayed with Eiki and her family. The first day we met up with another couchsurfer Elle whom I talked to on forums before. We got dinner and ended up in a karaoke and let me tell you, karaoke is really the favorite pastime in the Philippines. I was kinda caught off guard, but just went along with it. I think it’s been more than 6 months since I set foot in a karaoke and for 2 hours, my hosts were singing their lunges out and doing a wonderful job at that. Afterwards we got some skewered chicken intestines and called it a night.

Some of the CS Davao hardcore members

Fire dance show at CS Davao meeting

Apparently they really have a super active CS group here. Almost every week they get together, share a few beers and many laughs after work. Not to mention that they often organise events and trips to nearby places.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRjKjrWfrCo

Cooling down near the water with some of the CS gang

At night after the cultural tour with Mimi, there was another gathering where there were tons of newbies around as well. It was a nice occassion to meet other travelers and mainly get to know some of the locals. I also met several people who were volunteering there and it was really cool to hear some of their experiences as well. I really liked how everyone is so knowledgeable about their own country. All of them loved to travel and when I mentioned a place, they would give me tons of tips and advice.

I got wet

Eventhough they often organise things, I mainly just hung out with my host Eiki, I asked her tons of stuff concerning culture in Philippines and also some “dating” traditions in the Philippines along with certain terms like such as EB (eyeball) and FC (feeling close). Eyeball simply means first meeting between both parties since first contact is usually established in non-physical ways such as texting or internet. Feeling close means, you get too close, too familiar, getting into peoples comfort zone too much. Actually the whole idea of courtship is quite interesting and in some areas still traditional and old fashioned. Check out the wikipedia explanation, I like the part where the guy actually has to court the parents as well when he comes over to their house to introduce himself. Poor guys…

CS Davao friday meeting

As I was saying, I just hung out with Eiki and her family, it was really interesting to get to know the whole family. They do so much for their local community as well and are so involved in helping others. I know it might be bad of me to say that Philippines is a rather poor country, but it’s really heartwarming to hear people helping out others eventhough they aren’t “rich”. Especially even after the typhoon that passed by Davao a few weeks ago. Some people that I’ve met actually went out of their way to help some of the victims in the area.

CS Davao gang!

Anyways, Davao was definately one of the coolest places I’ve been when it comes to meeting locals. Eventhough I only saw a few of the sights, I still had a blast meeting people and diving. Afterwards I took a short trip to Mati before heading to Palawan for some more diving!

PS: I took some pictures from the CS Davao group, that’s why some pictures may look a bit odd.

Apparently my long lost twin brother from another mother is in Davao

One of the Philippines’ famous diving sites, Apo Island has one of the world’s best known community-organized marine sanctuaries. It is home to over 650 documented species of fish and estimated to have over 400 species of corals. Sadly at the time of visit, a typhoon has just passed by the island, destroying nearly half of the reefs there, making it impossible to dive around the best sites.

View from the boat, water looks bit oily...

One of the divemasters, former pirate

I stayed at Harolds’s Mansion, one of the best backpackers hostels in town and they had a pretty good deal on 3 dives a day to Apo Island. So I just went with them and had a pretty good time the next day. The reefs were still pretty cool to see and we spotted quite a few “rare” fishes and even saw a turtle! Always awesome when you see a turtle while diving.

View from the boat from one of the dive sites

Huge diving boat

Our massive boat and equipment

I actually stayed about 5 days in Dumaguete while I was actually only diving for 1. I just took it easy and chilled out around the town itself. Mainly to just enjoy the place itself and to catch up on some of my blogging as I was desperately behind on updates. I kinda “punished” myself to stay in for a few days to blog. I found a nice little cafe that served other Asian food like Japanese and Koreans and just started blogging away. Interesting fact about The Philippines is that actually a lot of Korean kids come here to study English. That’s why you see a rather large amount of Korean restaurants around bigger cities. And seeing how this was a university town, the cafe quickly filled up with Korean students who hang out there and study.

Bell-tower, oldest surviving structure in the city

Church next to the bell-tower

The rest of time I just rode around on the bike, looking at a few sights and even made time to go the mall and catch a movie! After a while of traveling you start enjoying these little things more and more.

Downtown Dumaguete

I also planned the rest of my trip in the Philippines and decided to check out Mindanao, despite the many warnings from people. But to get there, I needed to transit for a day in Cebu first!

Cebu

One of the first stops on Spain’s conquest agenda, Cebu lays claim to everything old- including the oldest street, the oldest university and the oldest fort. As I only had 1 day to check out the place and I’ve been taking it easy for a few days in Dumaguete, I figured I should make the effort to see what Cebu has to offer. So I got myself a hostel within walking distance from the port (walked for like 40 mins….), got myself settled in, took a nap and walk to the downtown area in the afternoon.

Flower cart event in front of city hall

Fort San Pedro entrance

First stop was the oldest fort, Fort San Pedro, a gently crumbling ruin, built by Miguel Legazpi in 1565. There’s an entrance fee, but I didn’t go in as I wasn’t that into forts really and there was other stuff to check out as well. But it definately looked impressive from the outside!

Magellan's Cross decorated with murals

A bit west of the fort you can get to the Magellan’s Cross on Plaza Sugbo. An octagonal building decorated with murals containing a large wooden cross that commemorates the Portuguese conquistador Ferdinand Magellan who planted a wooden cross upon converting the original inhabitants to Christianity.

Basilica of Santo Niño

Inside the Basilica of Santo Niño

From here you continue the walk towards the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño, a large and venerable church that traces its history to the founding of the convent of the Santo Niño de Cebu in 1565. And yes, I copied the explanation from somewhere else… the interior looked magnificent nonetheless for a non-christian though!

Murals on the ceiling of the Basilica of Santo Niño

Small pond in the inner garden of the Basilica of Santo Niño

Afterwards I continued my own little tour towards Colon St, the oldest street. I had to go through exhaust fumes , beggars, prostitutes and block after block of downmarket retail madness to get there, only to be disappointed by the sight. They weren’t kidding about the oldest street, everything looked run down, dirty and just overpopulated. So no pictures. I just bought a donut somewhere, went to the mall (YAY!) to get dinner and returned to my hostel to catch my flight to Davao in Mindanao the next morning.

Manila

First things first, some (if not most) of the taxi drivers are a pain in the ass to deal with when you’re a tourist. When taking my first taxi from the airport to our hostel, I almost got in a fight with the skin-headed taxi driver after an argument over the fare. You’ll probably hear this a lot, but ALWAYS negotiate your fare before getting in or on any transport!

Anyways, a day or so before arriving in Manila, I looked up some stuff online and most people said to stay out of the capital and just use it a transit hub to other places within the Philippines. Sarah had a place she wanted to visit as she has some history with it within her family, it was a school where her aunt was kept captive. I have no idea what it was, I didn’t even wanna tag along, but I can’t just leave a white girl alone in Philippines, me being SUCH A GENTLEMAN!

We stayed in a rather local area where I think they don’t often see white people and Sarah was white as day. As we were making our way to the school, people kept staring at Sarah like she was some weird mythical creature. I’ve been around white people before in other Asian countries, but these stares didn’t seem as friend, almost intimidating and you could almost read the expression from their faces. “Is she lost?”, “What is she doing here?”, “What does she eat?”, “That dude must be rich”. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating here, but you get the idea.

University of Santo Tomas

To get to the school, it took us probably close to 2 hours to get there on all kinds of transport. The hostel owner gave us the cheap option and slow option and the fast and expensive option (taxi). We tried to get the taxi, but even that was a challenge! Long story short, to get there we had to first take tricycle (pedicab), a jeepney (bus), train, another, jeepney and another tricycle. Needless to say this all went quite chaotic as well since riding a jeepney is quite a local thing and hard to do when everyone tries to rip you off.

Thank god we were only staying 1 day in Manila as we were flying out to Cebu the next day to take the boat to Bohol! So in less than 2 days, I think we took nearly every possible way of transportation in the Philippines.

Bohol-Loboc

Loboc was the location for the action-packed part of the challenge. In my Lonely Planet I found only 1 accomodation they recommended and it was in the middle of the jungle after a 30min ride in the van from the port and a 20min walk from the main road. The fun part about this was, we had to get there at night, on a dirt road, in the dark, in the rain, with our backpacks, with 1 umbrella and no (real) flashlight. Thank god for smartphones with flash, really!

Our lovely accommodation at Nuts Huts in middle of jungle

Enormous set of stairs to get to our little cottage

We arrived at Nuts Huts all soaked and craving for a hot meal after full day of travel and planned out the activities for the next 2 days. In the morning Sarah was really amazed by the surroundings and the location in the jungle next to a river. I’ve gotta admit it was one heck of a place to stay at just because of the location and the chill atmosphere there. But you’ve gotta put in some work to get there.

I really wasn't grumpy at the time

Anyway, first day we rented a kayak each and went up and down the river and had a swim in a fresh water pool thingy. They had these huge restaurant/karaoke tourist boats passing along the river around in the afternoon and since we were the only 2 people on a kayak there and Sarah being white, we become a minor attraction itself.

Restaurant/Karoake tourist boat on the river

View during our hike near Nuts Huts

Zipline experience during our hike near Nuts Huts

Afterwards we took a bus to the centre to look for internet cafe since I had to check some stuff. The centre wasn’t big at all, so we walked around a bit and afterwards decided to just walk back to Nuts Huts, which took maybe an hour or so.

Loboc town

Apparently many people suffer from upside down syndrome in Loboc...

Bohol is actually famous for its Chocolate Hills, rounded mounds resembling chocolate drops and Tarsiers. We didn’t see either…. probably because we didn’t put much importance in them and because we were on a tight schedule. Neither of us cared much about Chocolate Hills since it was just a view point thing and the fact that they weren’t really made out of chocolate was rather disappointing.

Panglao island

Next up was the relaxing beach part as we made our way from Loboc to Panglao island. The place was actually thémajor tourist area since we saw so many more other tourists here. Suprisingly, a lot of Chinese and Korean tourist are staying here. Probably to enjoy the pristine Alona beach and enjoy some first class diving. I checked around myself for dive prices and hot spots, but since a typhoon has just passed or was about to pass, the best dive sites, who were further out, weren’t accessible, so I just passed. We did book a small tour that went island hopping and snorkeled with probably 20 other boats around us and packed with tons of Asians who can’t swim… JOY!

Island hopping in Panglao Island

ASIANS OVERBOARD!

Virgin Island is one of the many islands in the Philippines where a big area of the beach sink during high tide and only the palm trees in the middle of the island are visible. Known to many locals as the “hidden oasis”, Virgin Island is clearly an attraction due to its long stretch of white sand beach during low tide which spans around 1 hectare.

Stretch of beach at Virgin Island

Vendors on the stretch of sand at Virgin Island

Stunning view from Virgin Island

Well, afterwards I had to say goodbye to Sarah as she had to get all the way back to Seoul. So she was in for one heck of a ride as you can read on her blog. I made my way to Dumaguete for some diving!

JUST LOOK AT THE WATER! AND THE VIEW! OMG!

Amed

We made our way to Amed, one of the 7 villages that make up the eastern coastline of fishing villages. The life here is slow and the scenery quite stunning which makes for a perfect place for a relaxed holiday in Bali. Amed is a recent tourist development area in Bali. They just started laying tarmac here in 2000 and telephone lines in 2003. While many partygoers prefer to Kuta, I definately can see feel the charm of Amed. We got ourself a room near the beach and it was nice to chill out, read a book and go snorkeling whenever you felt like it.

Fishing boats in Amed

Many divers and snorkeling enthusiast visit the eastern coast for diving and snorkeling. One of the notable attraction is diving the wreck of the USAT Liberty at Tulamben. I don’t actually remember my experience diving around the wreck anymore to be honest, but I think we dove there twice and I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it. I don’t think we maneuvered in the wreck itself much but we probably looped around several obstacles that day. But it’s always nice to get more diving done so I could practice my buoyancy control even more. Just makes me love diving even more!

Tulamben beach front near USAT Liberty wreck

Setting up our equipment for the wreck dive

I even did a nightdive as it was popular in that region since you could see things that only come out at night. Such as the Spanish Dancer, a large and colorful sea slug. It was given the common name “Spanish dancer” because the whirling swimming movement, and the red color of the mantle, are reminiscent of the skirt movements of a flamenco dancer.

Other divers getting out of the water in Tulamben

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBlB1-EabgI

But other than the Spanish Dancer, I didn’t really like the night dive at all. It was …. well… dark and there wasn’t much you could see. Maybe I wasn’t looking good enough, but it bored me a bit. But Livia loved it though, eventhough initially she was scared of the nightdive itself. Once she got in, she was the last one to go out!

Sunset on Amed

Lombok & Gili Islands

To be fair, I didn’t really visit the main island of Lombok. I merely stayed on one of the Gili Islands north west of Lombok. I originally planned to do some more surfing in Lombok, but that required me to go all the way down south of the main island just to surf for a day or 2. I changed plans and decided to just go back to Kuta a day or 2 earlier and surf there instead to save up on travel time.

Dreamy beaches on Gili Trawagan

Azure blue water on Gili Trawagan

View from the highest point of Gili Trawagan overlooking other islands

So we took the boat from Amed to Gili Trawagan, the biggest island of the 3 Gili Islands. Gili Trawagan was the largest one and the most visited island of the bunch. They said if you’re looking to party and chillax, this is the place to go. Gili Air is the one closest to Lombok itself and has a well-developed local community. Gili Meno is the one sandwiched between the other 2 and is much more relaxed and secluded than the other 2. Here you can probably find a nice stretch of beach just for yourself or sharing with only a handful of other people.

Nice remote beaches in Gili Trawagan

Lovely resorts on Gili Trawagan

From the islands there are several island hopping tours with snorkeling available. At this point, I wasn’t really that interested in seeing the other islands since I just wanted to do some diving, but other travelers told me that diving here wasn’t really worth it. So I just kinda followed their advice and saved my money to dive back on Bali. I chilled out for a few days on Gili Trawagan, enjoyed the sunset, drinks and dinner on the beach and went back to Bali.

Sun going down on Gili Trawagan

Sunset on Gili Trawagan

Padangbai

The only reason why I stopped by Padangbai was to do another day of diving before heading back to Kuta to do some more surfing and catching my plane out. I contacted the same diveshop from Amed because they had a package deal to several dive sites in the area. One of them is to see the mola mola and another one to see manta rays. And let me tell you, both were awesome!

Manta Ray swimming above us

First we went to the manta ray site, we waited for a bit down there and suddenly we saw a family of manta rays swimming around us and above us. It was really awesome to see these creatures up close and in group. At one point we didn’t now where to watch anymore and one of the manta rays startd coming up behind me and another diver. Not that we were afraid of getting eaten, but we were just suprised that we were in the swimming line of the ray itself and got to see it from up close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjnEVSKR-vM

Nusa Penida Dive map

The mola mola was a more rare sighting. The creature itself usually lives at a deeper depth and only came up to get cleaned by the other fish and afterwards went back down. So we had to time it well to catch a glimpse of him. During the dive itself, the water was really cold at 19° so even with a long suit, many of us were shivering and there was a strong down current which could pull divers down, which is actually quite dangerous. At the beginning we manage to drift along with the current to the spot to see the mola mola. I was actually too distracted by the cold to notice and spot the mola mola at first, but I did manage to get a glimpse of the huge thing. But before I knew it, I saw the rest of the group swimming away from the fish itself and against the current. At this point the current was already quite strong pulling us closer down and towards the mola mola. Again, we weren’t gonna get eaten but the current was just dangerous. Most of us got away but one other diver got caught somewhere and had to do an emergency ascend (which is dangerous).

Enormous sun fish or mola-mola

Anyway back on the surface we found him and he was all fine. But it gave all of us a scare. I was mainly suprised by the cold temperature and the strong current we had to swim against. It’s like getting pulled into a whirlpool, mainly also because I didn’t know what would happen if you get pulled in into the current and how far you drift away.

After the diving, I went back to Kuta for another day of surfing and got my flight out to the Philippines! Bali and Indonesia was really awesome though. I really loved the hospitality of the people here and the nature and scenery was simply amazing. I really liked Bali for its Hinduism, everything seemed so authentic and cultured. I definately want to come back to Indonesia because there’s still so much I haven’t seen or visited yet and so much I haven’t experienced! Some couchsurfers actually told me they eat monkey brains in Indonesia (UGH!), not that I’m wanna try it out but I wanna see if it’s just an urban legend.

Anyway, Indonesia, this ain’t over!