After arriving at the small airport in Lagazpi, we took our first drive in a tricycle, which is the filippino answer to a tuk-tuk. We only payed 50 pesos (6,25kr) for around 4 km into town. And we didn't even bargain the price!
The town itself looked like the wild wild west, with big old-school cars (as public busses - called jeepney's), tricycles everywhere and the buildings are in same shape and colours as we imagine the wild west to be.
It looked very different from the other countries we've been in. Here there was something new to look at and new things to be discovered. The people were happy to help us, and they speak very good english.
There's mentioned 3 hotels in Lonely Planet, and we checked them out on tripadvisor before we came, and only Tourist Inn was rated to be okay. So that was our option, and it looked allright, although a bit expensive 700 pesos (84kr) pr. night. But at this time after 16 hours of travel, we didn't bother searching for another place. We just wanted something to eat and a bed to pass out on. Apparently the eating was goona be a problem for us, since there were very few restaurants and the street stalls, all served the same disqusting food, it really reminded us of China, and not in a good way.
When we eventually found a "restaurant", we couldn't figure out the menucard, it seemed like China again, where you order a bunch of dishes and share everything. The waiter helped us out and we just ordered 2 different things. None of us are fan of sharing food, and the food didn't make a good first impression.
Weather here has been unpredictable the last few month, because of a tropical depression, so one day it is calm and quiet, the next is ruff, windy and rainy. This was a mixed day, like a grey and sad day in Denmark, but warmer though. We relaxed in the evening, still very tired from all the travelling.
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| Our first ride in a tricycle |
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| Tricycles |
Wednesday 22nd Jan.
The hotel we stayed at, were fully booked or the night, so we had to find another place. Hotel Rex was allright, but in bad conditions, and a very old hotel. If it wasn't because of the fact that we're use to living in shitty places, we wouldn't have picked this, but we're not piggy anymore, at least not that much.
The Philippines most spectacular and active volcano is located just outside the town, and we wanted to explore that on ATV's. It was a great opportunity to do some fun driving and see the amazing volcano at the same time. Luckily it was only the two of us and a guide, so we could drive in our speed, and we really drove on some hard, bumpy and uneven tracks. It was fun and enjoyable to drive in, what we felt was, the middle of nowhere. We only met some local workers, we never found out what they actually did, but we imagined that they were digging for gold or diamonds!! Ahem.
The view of the volcano Mt. Mayon in front of us and all the palm trees surrounding us really made this experience unique.
We stopped at the 2006 lava front and went for a little walk further up through the lava. We were a bit disappointed that we didn't get higher up on the volcano. Took a few pictures and then we were offered to zipglide down again, off cause only if we payed extra money (we thought it was included in the price we allready payed for the ATV's). The ATV was quite expensive, so we doubted to do the zipgliding, since they wanted extra money, and we already payed a fee down at the lavafront, for walking on the volcano, a fee they "forgot" to tell us about at the company.
Our guide sensed that we got a little annoyed about all the extra charging, and we sat up some sad facial expressions, and then he gave us a 50% discount. Sneaky and clever europeans!
The whole tour with ATV, hiking and zipgliding was around 2 hours, so we got back into town in good time to check it out.
Everything is in english here, and most people speak very good english, sometimes they even say words that we don't understand, so that's certainly a step in the right direction for the Philippinos, although everything else seemes like 50-60 years behind. The people are overwhelming sweet and helpful, they use Sir and Mam all the time.
At night we went to the cinema and watched "the secret life of Wally", 260 pesos (31kr) for both of us.
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| Vulcano Mt. Mayon |
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| Nice view from the lavafront |
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| The public busses, called jeepneys |
Mt. Mayon ATV tour
Thursday 23rd Jan.
We signed up for a boat at the pier, and then all the confussion started. First we were told that we would get on a boat soon, then we were told that it was fully booked and we had to wait to the next day, we complained and then all of a sudden they could fit us on a boat.
Then we walked to one boat, that they weren't allowed to sail on, walked back, waited for a while, then switched to another group to a third boat, were told it would leave in 45 min., went for lunch at the neighbor restaurant, and had to rush to catch the boat because it left 25 min. before time.
I don't know who was most confused, the staff or us, but it was one big confussion and very bad organized. You should think they do this everyday and it would be controlled much better, but nope!
Eventually we got on the boat and very quickly the guides spotted a whaleshark, so we got ready with our mask, snorkel and fins and jumped into the water. Visibility wasn't great but we swimmed the direction our guide told us to, and then out of nowhere this enormeous creature was swimming right underneath us, like only 1 meter from the surface, it's mouth wide was over 1 meter and it was around 8-10 meters long. It was bigger than expected so I think we all got a little shocked to begin with.
We tried to keep up with it, but to fast it swimmed away. Actually Erik didn't see it, he was too far away from our guide, so when we got back on the boat I found it funny to pick on him. Haha! Lucikly we jumped into the sea more times and saw these amazing darkblue and silver-spotted creatures 4 times more, also Erik these times. It was such a fantastic feeling and we felt super lucky. A lot of people go to other places in the Philippines to swim with these gentle giants, sadly the other places feed the whalesharks so that they are sure to have them around, when the tourists come... We didn't wanna support this way of "zoo keeping" so we hoped to be lucky to see them where they come by of natural reasons - and got very lucky indeed!
Most people go on the boattrips several days in a row to spot the whalesharks, and many leave without seeing any, but our guides saw them straight away. We couldn't be happier about this experience, and it was worth all the effort at the port. Next dream is to dive with them!
We went back to Legazpi and Erik got the most affordable haircut ever, 38 pesos (4,60kr), so after that expensive treat we had to eat some of the cheap food on the local market, to make sure we didn't blow our budget totally. Absolutely horrible and depressing food. It's the same precooked food everywhere, if we're lucky we get HOT rice on the side, even the steamed or grilled vegetables tastes bad.
How the heck can you destroy vegetables! If that's really the best they can do, it just not good enough. It's really a thing that's bothering us, and it's unbelievable how bad it really is. You will have to try it, before you believe me, no wait I will never recommend any of this food to anyone, except to chinese people (sorry), and I guess dogs can eat it too.
I've started to eat white bread on a daily basic, and that indicates how bad the food is here. I usually never eat white bread, unless it's for survival. There's a huge amout of childbeggars on the streets, and apparently they don't take no for an answer, they're not shy and sometimes they will grap you arm and beg for money or food. You will have to say NO loud and clear, and really mean it, and tell them to leave you alone. We spend some time on the "police known" American cake chain Dunkin Donuts, to use their wifi connection.
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| A common shop around here |
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| Notice the spare tire behind Erik.. Hmm |
Swimming with whalesharks
Friday 24th Jan.
We were hoping to reach Catbalogan in the late afternoon, have a night there and then travel further on the next day.
We got to Legazpi busterminal in the morning, and intended to take a minivan to Sorsogon, but the driver expected us to pay an extra seat for our luggage, which we refused. We haven't been doing that anywhere else, so no way we would start doing that now.
Instead we found another option; the public bus to Sorsogon. It took about an hour longer, had no air-con, was old, dirty and rusty, but almost empty and very cheap. A great solution for us, even though it didn't remain empty. Busses never do in Asia, just as you think it's gonna be a pleasant ride, and you have lots of space, the bus is picking up people and loading it to the max! From Sorsogon we continued the trip with another bus to Magnok. After being a little confused about buying the ferry tickets, and paying terminal fee, a lady helped us out and showed us to the right boat.
This was the first time we actually had some waiting time this day, so we couldn't complain even though the 2 hours waiting time on the boat seemed very long.
We arrived in Allen on Samar Island and wasn't sure where to catch the next bus further south. We loaded up a tricycle (this time a normal bicycle with sidecar), and I really mean loaded. We could barely fit in there, and I was just about to give up and walk, when Erik rearranged a bag and I squizzed in on top of Erik. Even the philipinos were turning their heads when they saw us. Amazing how much stuff you actually are allowed to fit in only one little bike.
He drove us to the busterminal (jeepney terminal) but sadly it was too late in the afternoon, so there was no more jeepneys driving south. We got a little worried that we would have to spend a night there then.
Erik talked to some guys who could help us to get on, one of the real busses from the ferries. They stopped everyone of them, and we got into the third bus passing through. Under normal circumstances we couldn't fit in the bus, but in Asia there's always room for more people.
We got 2 standing "tickets", so now we found ourselves in the isle trying to sit comfortable on our backpacks, the bus was already overloaded, but whatever we got to Calbayog relatively safe for only 100 pesos (12,5kr).
We decided to stay there for the night, since there was no more busses going to Catbalogan. We met a random guy on the street who was so kind and showed us to a cheap guesthouse, just of the mainstreet. Dinner was enjoyed at a foodchain like Mc D., called Jollibee, serving rice, mashed potatoes, chicken, beef etc. To our big surprise we had our first good meal on the Philipines! Just sad that we had to go to a international chain to get it!
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| Not any fun to live in those houses |
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| Nice little island we saw on the way to Samar Island |
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| Bus terminal on Samar Island |
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| Getting into the philippino lifestyle |
We woke up early and continued our travels with a bus to Catbalogan, the landscape was stunning. It's so unspoiled and untouched, and have a paradise kind of look with all the palm trees.
We can really tell the difference between this and the other countries we've seen so far. We changed bus in Catbalogan to Tacloban and the landscape changed into something that we usually only see on TV. This area was affected a lot by the typhoon in november, so everything was ripped off it's normal positions and everything was damaged, and I mean everything. It was really horrible to drive by, and it kept going on for a long time. It really made us open our eyes to how terrible this typhoon was. One thing is to see it on TV, but you don't really realized how awful it is, before you see it in real life. So many people lost everything, and there's still a lot of work to be done, before it gets back to normal again. We also realized how lucky we are to live in a civilized world, where our houses isn't made of bamboo, old lumber, used cardboard etc. Next bus was to Naval, on Biliran island, and our final destination this day. The awful landscape kept going on, and it was truly heartbreaking to be witness to.
Naval is a small uncharming town, with busy traffic and curious non-speaking-english people. Found a place to stay, bathroom facilities was shared, it couldn't flush, no toiletseats and a big bright sign saying "No smoking", but smoke and pee was the two main thing it smelled of.
Erik saw a mouse in the hallway, and the windows in our room was so thin that we could hear everything going on out on the streets, the place was incredible noisy and repulsive, but we decided to stay there anyway.
Tried to find a restaurant in town, but Philippines have very few restaurants, where they serve "normal" food, most places they don't have menucards, only the few uninviting dishes in their counter. Finally we found a place with a menucard, and ordered some rice and coconut-chicken.
After 20 min. the waiter came with our COLD rice.. We send them back and told her we wanted hot rice (wondering why we even have to ask for that). Then she served the chicken, NOT in coconutsauce, and definately not enough for both of us, as she said. We took our stuff and left the place immediately. We were shocked!
We bought a BBQ chicken and shared that on the dirty harbour front, between a old left pick-up truck, rubbish and a smelling market. Several curious people stopped their motorbikes and tricycles, to watch us round-eyed people eat a whole chicken with our hands. Probably not a sight they see everyday, it got pretty messy!
Went back to the "hotel" and waited for the wifi to work, so we could research about the nearby bounty island, Higatangan. We figured that there was a boat leaving around noon next day.
We felt reliefed and just wanted to get away from this noisy "hotel", as soon as possible.
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| Stunning bridge from Samar to Leyte |
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| Tacloban city |
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| Tacloban city |
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| Damage on a Shell station, after Yolanda |
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| More awful damage |
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| This is where we enjoyed our chicken dinner |
Yolanda
Sunday 26th Jan.
We checked the boats at the pier, and some locals told us that there wasn't any boats leaving to the island on sundays. We went frustrated and annoyed back to the hotel. If there wasn't a boat it ment that we wasted 2 hours busdrive and our whole time in Naval, cause we didn't want to stay another night in the town, we would then travel further south, but we would miss out on the beautiful island, that we read about.
We tried calling the only 2 resorts on the island, and got a hold on one of them. They informed us about the boat, and it was leaving everyday, also on sundays. The lady, Emily said they would be happy if we came, but we should know that, after the typhoon, the island was still without electricity and water. They could provide us a bed in a cottage, with a leaking roof, that they would try to fix, if it began to rain. We didn't hesitate to visit them, it would be a different experience yeah, but definately a life teaching one.
We found the boat and got safe to Higatangan island. Boats are in really bad conditions, as everything else in Asia. "Safety first" is something written on signs, but they don't have a qlue of what this means. Population on the island is around 900. We quickly met Emily and she got two guys to walk us to Emponet Barnet Resort", there's only one road on the island, the highway as they call it, and every person we met on the way asked the guys where we were going, they were very curious, but in a sweet and kind way. There was still a lot of damaged houses, that needed to be fixed and several overturned lampposts. Again we could see the power of mother nature, a awful disaster.
On Emponet Resort, british Graham welcomed us, and immediately we felt comfortable.
He's 60 and owns the resort, together with Emily (his Philippino business partner), or should I say the leftovers from what they owned. Everything got destoyed and carried away by the typhoon. They lost four cottages, several boats, a big part of his beach house, the restaurant and parts of the roofs, of the tree still standing apartments.
The philippinoes name the typhoons in alfabetic order, so the first of the year starts with A, second B, etc. This one is called Yolanda by the philippinoes, but Haiyan by the rest of the world.
It slightly began to rain, Grahams carpenters took care of our roof and put a big tarpaulin over the leaking parts. He told us everything about Yolanda and how it affected them and the island.
First of all the island is hard to reach in bad and rough weather conditions, they never got any aid, they had no acces to the mainland. Only because Emily and Graham arranged a helicopter from Cebu with aid, the island survived.
All the money that was gathered worldwide to help, never got to the victims, cause of the corruption in the red cross and the goverment. That's actually the most sad thing about all this, cause we can't control the natures power, but if we could change peoples mentallity and behaviour, it would be a better world. It's awful to think about that some corrupt guys in the goverment just got a brand new car, house etc. for all the money that the world donated to help the poor victims suffering from Yolanda, and it's not a small amount of money we're talking about.
We should think about another solution to help next time. Like sending a working team down here and help, instead of sending money. That would help them much more!
We listened to Grahams stories most of the day. At dinner time we walked in rain to Emilys cornershop, made out of wood with a big jail look-a-like fence around it. All shops has this. Inside was a noisy generator, 2-3 girls working in the shop, Lilo (Emilys husband) in the kitchen with the one and only stove they had at this time, then a bench and a table. Very simple and very Asian.
Lilo cooked some amazing food and we had our first delicious meal in the Philippines.
They were all enormeous friendly and kind to us, and we enjoyed hearing about the island, Yolanda, Emily & Grahams business in UK and their philippino life style. When we returned home to the cottage our bed was wet, we moved it away from the leaking part, turned around the matress and got some dry sheets, and then passed out.
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| Bangka to Higatangan Island |
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| Some of the damage on the island |
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| Philippinos fixing our leaking roof |
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| Yolandas work |
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| 2 nice beers after a raining day |
Woke up early because of the big noisy chicken farm, that Graham decided to have right next to the "resort", even though he owns a big part of the island, so he could have placed it anywhere else than next to his resort.
There's good money in chickens here, cause of all the chick fights and it really brings home some good money. People come here to relax and get away from all the noise in the cities, but waking up to the sound of 50 rooster is not what we refer to as relaxation. Well, we didn't want to hang out in the smelly room anyway.
Breakfast was porridge, served on our porch, with the view over the messy seafront with carpenters working on the new cottages. All rocks and rubbish from the sea got washed up during Yolanda, so what used to look like a bounty beach, wasn't there anymore. It was a special experience to live like the victims, with only well water and no electricity, not to mention the poor food.
We were the first guests since the typhoon, so we got treathed like kings & queens.
Graham arranged a guided tour around the island for us, with a guy named Ray and his mentally disabled friend "Rambo", as we like to call him. Saw a small cave where everything was alive, big lizards, bats, spiders, crabs and apparently also a snake that Ray happent to be very affraid of.
We didn't see it, but Ray knew it was there somewhere, and that made him even more terrified than us. The island is known for its sandbar, that change its direction depending on the tides and winddirections. Sadly also ruined with rubbish, wood and stones.
At night we went to Emilys cornershop again, for another fabulous dinner, consisting of homemade fries and fried eggs.
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| This is where Grahams house used to be... |
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| They cut the comb of the rooster for a better view |
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| The worlds smallest watermelon |
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| An untouched beach on the island |
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| Beautiful and different landscape |
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| Little remote house |
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| The moving sandbar |
Higatangan Island
Tuesday 28th Jan.
Time to move on and get back to the "civilized" world again, with water and ecationally electricity.
Next destination: Padre Burgos in southern Leyte.
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| Emily and her daughter.. We look so big compared to them.. |
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