The philippines
Rock & roll, the 20days spent here will definately be the most productive trip in southeast Asia... Not ONE SINGLE DAY did we slack... Its always either combined with bus ride, guesthouse haunt, crazy trekking, sightseing under the heat... Etc etc!!
First stop: Manila the capital... The district where cheap accommodations were was quite ghetto! Was kinda scared to walk out alone to the streets.. Even just to the 7eleven just to buy water... I prefered buying it at a higher price at the rooftop bar! -.- ' many homeless ppl sleeping on the streets, there would be many women with 2-4 childrens? On another hand.. There are much 'richer' families, well dressed, nice cars, going to the shopping malls like normal ppl!
I am still fascinated by the colorful jeepneys, those local trucks to bring ppl anywhere for cheap. ( even tho taxi is amazinly cheap!!) just love their concept of reusing their war vehicles... But the blend of em into the boulevards, with the modern cars, males them vey outstanding... Lowers the 'class' of transportation.. But also give an heritage, authentic feel to the city. Its also only in manila that we can find real tri-cycle ... Ppl pedaling!! Any other towns would have em with motobikes attached instead!!!
Banaue / Batad: The green color of the rice terrasses is such a pure green, the scenery is grandiose.. It was totally worth the long hours of hiking up and down the mountain to get there.. Im such a slow trekker... Thank u mat & pat for waiting for the old grandma climbing the stairs so slowly and taking much more time to breath in between steep slopes D: haha i never done so muchh trekking in my life.. Couldve done that in Mtl at the mountains to train myself!! And i wouldve been more prepared, to buy decent shoes!! DC skater shoes slipped so much... Waterfalls was amazing!! 30m high!! Water was cold & fresh!! Just feel so tiny & fragile beside those nature's happenings
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| Waterfalls of 30M....so grandiosee |
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| Flower? |
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| Rice Terraces wowwwwowowowow |
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| Yes indeeed |
Baguio: small town... Many cucarachaaa! Lol bit turnoff during our guesthouse hunting! Felt glad to find a affordable place...with Internet cafe on 2nd level! Quite cheap! & had the chance to finally skype the family before the big house moving!! Was expecting much from resto My diner!? 1950's diner place with waitress on rollerblades!? Bleh it moved to another adress.. And the food was a bit nasty except for the fruit platter :p
Vigan: felt like i came back to Old montreal! Unesco heritage city... We can do the whole town by foot...2km!? Really Liked the cobblestone street and its souvenir shops!! But else then that... There wasnt much to do..and big deception on the food up to now!!
Wonderful day:
The bus from Vigan heading back to Manila: supposely 10h...from 10pm... Arrived at 5am 0.0 and i could not sleep the whole trip... And we chilled like hobos at the mcdonalds from 5.30am til 10am camped on their wifi! Thanks to the rainy weather, our 1.50pm flight for delayed for a good 1.5hours also!! And the night of our arrival in Coron village, palawan island.. It was pouring and water was flodding up on the sidewalks! Gross!! Lol ohwell What a day!!
Coron village: starting to like this place...
Found decent place to catch up on some sleep for a night...then still managed to do some hiking!? 700steps uphill to see the cross... And then tricycle ride to the hotsprings!! Salty water hotspring! Felt good to take a dip into hot water... After been used to take cold showers... & swimming into chilled sea water for months! Made me think of the spa where i used to work & like so much to stay after work just for the sauna, steam& jacuzzi!
Today: woke up at 6am to get prepared for a whole day trip of 3fun dives! Sleepless but soooo worth it!
First time diving so deep... 35m and im not even an advance diver!! I was nervous but at the same time so excited going to the wrecks: japanese war ship sinked!? The main key was boiyancy! Capacity of controling the level of how you float in the water!? So scared i would cut/scratch/ hit my head in the wreck's tight passages!!
In conclusion, Im definately a very clumsy diver:
-didnt notice i consumed much more air then the others...noticed i had only a bar left of oxygen while we were on the way up... Wouldnt be enough to swim back to boat... So had to Use the emergency pipe of the Diver master ...TWICE... On the 2 dives of the wrecks!
- was so amazed by a big batfish with my diving buddy Jeff, we didnt noice the group swam up, and so we lost them!! Lol the master kept on teasing us!! And because my buddy is filipino & was the most experienced, he was so to show the example! Altho he still did super great for watching after me all the time... Helping me to carry the bottle, installing the new one without me even noticing!? carrying the fins! And putting then at the shore! Got teased so much for getting helped! :p
- was swimming out of the wreck at some point and my fin just went off!? Lol patsya clipped it back for me :)
Yet so fun! A fish kept on following Mat on his tank! Felt like swimming like a titanic ship... All worned out, corals all covering the ship... Creepy structure!! There were school of fish... Lil fishies by thousands swimming around... Visibity was abt 5-6meters but it was so clear with the sunlight!!
The third dive, 25m deep! We went to the Barracuda lake.. Required HiKing with our equipment up & down the stairs thought the limestones to reach it...harshh!! Without the jumpsuit, the kit seemed much heavier & harder to carry on bareskin! Its a mixed lake with clear & sea water... The different layers of temperature in water was surprising... We could swim a meter into very hot water ( like in a jacuzzi) then go throught a blurry while and the water is chill then cold!! Boiyancy was very different too! Tend to sink so much faster... And float up back to surface very fast too!!
Next activity: Island hopping tomorrow!!! Big boat trip on 5 islands!!! Snorkling!? Swimming!? Hiking!? Super limestone scenery maybe!! We will seee!!
