Philippines - South Luzon

Hey All
After the success of my last pictorial post, i'm going to do the same again!
We touched done in Manila and headed into town for a couple of hours kip before heading back to the airport for our flight to Legaspi. We got back to the airport at 7.30 the following morning only to be told that our flight had been moved to 1.30 and we hadn't been informed. When we finally got to Legaspi the weather was nice and we went to a travel agency to ask about the whale sharks in Donsol. They had not migrated there yet and so we thought we'd go somewhere else and come back in a few days. We went to the island province of Cantanduanes, home of the world famous 'Majestic wave'. A kind of surfers Mecca. Getting there was fun as it involved getting soaked on the top of two jeepneys (Philippino local transport) and a tricycle. Our accommodation was 'basic' much to Jens dislike, but it was all there was. The next day the weather was great and we spent time snorkeling and watching the surfers. In the evening we ate with our host and I organised to go surfing in a bay away from Majestics after being assured that it was 'no beginners wave'. I was super chuffed with my attempts at surfing as I got up and rode the wave in on first two attempts and the waves were pretty big. I had a dry spell of about an hour after my first two attempts when the swell got really big and getting out with the longboard was proving difficult. In the end I had to swim around the break to get out which took a while. Good exercise though. I got one last good wave which I rode about 100m. Low tide was approaching and the waves were getting smaller so we headed back. But it was fun, definitely going to look out for more surfing opportunities on the way round. The weather closed in and we were in a storm for 36 hours, when there was a break in the weather we headed back to the port of Virac and to Legaspi. On the way the whole island was one mass of flowing water! The weather isn't great today so no mount Mayon and no Donsol. Our flight is in a couple of days so hopefully find something interesting to do if the weather doesn't break...We managed to watch Harry Potter in English and without subtitles which was good.
The Philippines is like nowhere i've been before. As a result of numerous colonial influences there language is a medley of Filipino, Spanish and English. On the TV the presenters will be talking but half of it is in English?!??Everyone seems to speak a little English as well. Another amusing thing is that nearly all the street food I've come across has been burgers or hotdogs and the odd piece of grilled chicken...The country is majority Catholic (80%) and all the Jeepneys have names like Jesus is our Saviour and are decorated in colourful murals. Loving it at the moment as there are very little travelers and everyone is super friendly...no ones trying to rip you off except the odd pickpocket (My camera was attached to trousers but it didnt stop him from trying...). Cannot wait to get to Cebu and to go diving!

Love to All and bring on Christmas!

Majestics in the evening

Beer

254-248 Jens closest effort at beating me...

Massive Majestics

Reviewing catch

Spearing

The circle tightens

Fisherman in big cirlce

On our return journey this was a lake...

On the roof of a Jeepney before it started tipping down!

Jen catching 40 winks

Mount Mayon from the ferry from Tobaco to St Andres

Bus to Tobaco

Legaspi Airport

Jen chilling on her bag

Leaving HCMC

Hey All,

I know that most of my sports fans aren't big readers so this super pictorial...

We left Mui Ne for Ho Chi Minh City, we were going to spend a day or two and then head into the Mekong Delta. Unfortunately we spent too much time shopping and enjoying the food that we had to go straight to Phu Quoc from HCMC. We got in a cheeky trip to the 'Mekong Delta' on a tour; whilst it was interesting we were shepherded from one place to another where we could buy local produce...The restaurant we had lunch at had an awesome menu, items included: Iguana, snake, crocodile, squirrel... Didn't try any as we had lunch included, sad face :(

I really liked HCMC as a place to chill out and enjoy nice food. We didn't party at all, but a lot of other travelers were...We must have been woken most nights by someone returning at god knows what hour...I got two suits made, one serious work suit and something a little flare for special occasions. Dad described me in it as "You look like a waiter on a cruise ship" so everyone will have to make their minds up at a later date. The food was awesome and cheap so fattened up.

We had to get a bus to Rach Gia from HCMC and then a ferry to Phu Quoc. Phu Quoc is awesome. We spent the first day hunting for a place for Jen to do her dive course. Once that was sorted we headed out on the moped around the island. Apart from the developed tourist area the majority of the island has no infrastructure apart from dirt roads. The main source of income for the island is the production of fish sauce, peppercorns and fishing. I liked fish sauce but now i know how it's made i've gone off it. Little sardine like fish are packed into a barrel with salty water and left in the sun for 18 months. The remaining liquid is fish sauce. The island is surrounded by beach. There are kilometers and kilometers of clean sand with no one on them. The sea is crystal clear and at the ends of the beaches there's the odd reef to snorkel. So a fun place to explore!

The next day Jen started the course, she was pretty nervous but overcame her fears and got in the water. She had trouble taking her mask off underwater as she hates salt water in her nose. What was to follow was three days of her dreading 'Raf' the Belgium shrimp like instructor making her take the mask off again. Each day she conquered her fears and I was proud of her! She passed with flying colours and is nor a certified PADI Open Water Diver. On the last day i dived as well. The reef was nice, I saw some type of shark but not worked out what it was yet. It was a bottom feeding type and about 1.5m long. I didn't bother with the second dive of the day as it didn't look clear and thought i'd save diving expense for the Philippines where it looks set to be amazing!

We're spending two days on the beach now, continuing the tanning war which Jen is winning by miles. I'm an awesome shade of lobster but i'm hoping it'll tan up in a day or two... We fly back to HCMC and then on the 22nd fly to the Phillipines where we'll get off the beaten track once more.

My thoughts on Vietnam are is that it's a great place to travel, but it's so easy to be a lazy traveler and just get on the tourist bus that picks you up from your hotel and takes you to the next destination that you don't really look too hard for what really interests you. We were pretty bad with the History side of things in Vietnam as we were 'Historied Out' from China. I would definitely return to Vietnam as it is such a great place to travel and we've missed a lot of the country because of the rainy season.

Enjoy the mega amount of photos!

Love to All

Alex












Tan mark





Scuba Jen













No problem with the float test..
Huge Spider
Iguana yumyum


LOL tourists....

Honey tea



Loads of Mopeds









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