( Overview
/ 2023 more travel adventures
Friday 17th Feb
The worst thing about travelling is the er… travelling, especially when you know you have 10 hours ahead of you….
Up at 3.30am, taxi due at 4am and we get to Bicol International Airport around 5.45am. Hilariously, security consists of a man and a bollard. Seriously though, once you’re inside it’s a bit more professional with lots of security but we pass through all this with no problem and the flight leaves pretty much on time. We flew into Mactan, Cebu. Then caught a taxi to the port of Cebu and then caught a ferry to Tagbilaran, Bicol and finally another taxi to our end destination here on the Island of Panglao! What a day, we arrive around 2pm. On the way I’m treated to a man walking across the road in a loin cloth, you don’t see many of those! I couldn’t work out whether he’d escaped from a nearby tourist attraction or whether he goes around like that all the time. The place we’re staying in is really nice, built in a former mangrove plantation but a bit remote so we dumped bags, desperate for a walk and went exploring. It’s not a huge island, approx. 20km long, we get walking, looking for laundrette (the thrill of laundry on the go) and scooter hire. Manage to find both and then scooter to the popular beach of Alona which was heaving (around 4.30pm), packed with people, dive shops and restaurants (glad we’re not staying here as it’s about to turn into party central by the looks of it, so I’m happy in old fartsville). We discover someone preparing sea urchin on the beach and have to give it a try, it is absolutely delicious, like oysters but much more taste and flavour and only 200 php (£3) for 20 pieces, they mix it with a vinegar solution and you down it a bit like an oyster. It’s absolutely bloody delicious and so healthy, I shall be going back for my regular nightly shot I think. I almost think the 10hrs of travel was worth it. You’ll notice I’m keeping suspiciously quiet about my thoughts on the Philippines… let’s just say, the jury is still out.
We then scooter round to Danao beach which is so quiet and peaceful by comparison and find Linaw Resort (& Pearl restaurant) we decide to sit on the beach and dine with our toes firmly embedded in the sand, engaging with the locals. We manage to scooter back in the dark but fairly soon fall asleep.
Saturday 18th February
Rain is definitely going to stop play today. We had hoped to get out on the scooter to explore more but that may not be possible so a day of yoga and reading I think… yup it pretty much rained all day. Just cleared up in the evening and off we scootered it a Korean restaurant, different….
Sunday 19th Feb
Relaxing day in the sunshine by our pool…. J went off exploring on the scooter. Not much to report other than I’m suffering from vertigo. It could be that my brain has shaken something lose from scootering around the island, as the roads can be brutal. Ate at the most awful restaurant in the evening. You can imagine how disgruntled I was as I love my food! We’ve definitely landed in the 18-30s Magaluf of the Philippines!! Lots of Korean’s and locals plus a smattering of Westerners. Don’t think I’ll peg Panglao down as a highlight of the trip but no doubt my 18 year old self would have loved it 😘
Monday 20th Feb
Despite the vertigo, hauled myself onto the scooter and we headed off the island of Panglao via the connecting bridge to Bicol (the municipality) and we drove to the Tarsier Conservation Centre in a place called Corella. As we’re driving there I’m thinking about how fragile life is and wondering about whether we’re going to make it there and back (100k all in) in one piece. I needn’t have feared because every where you look on the back of tuk tuks are scriptures from the bible, for example ‘why be afraid when the Lord is with you’, that instantly made me feel better and some deep breathing was also useful. As you can imagine all sorts of obstacles appear in the road, and this journey was no exception. Anyway, we make it to the Sanctuary for Tarsiers which are on the endangered species list and these little Gremlin like guys are reputed to be 45 million years old. They’re incredible. Smaller than a rat but with a rat like tail and their paws are webbed and jointed. They sleep during the day and hunt at night, size wise they’re about 6 - 15cm long and, wait for it, they can swivel their heads 360. But the best fact is that their eye balls (one eye ball to be exact) is bigger than their brain. They are as cute as BUT if held by a human they die and they communicate ultrasonically, so they appear to be opening their mouths and silent screaming but actually they’re communicating, we humans just can’t hear them. I’d like to think that our two hour round trip plus our donation to the sanctuary was worth it. We drove back via two towns; Loboc and Loray. The second being by the coast but it wasn’t particularly scenic (we saw a few things we’d rather not in fact) so we pressed on and got back to our digs in Panglao. Tomorrow we head back to Cebu via Tagibilaran as we are flying to Coron the day after tomorrow. The vertigo seems to have subsided but now I have a massive neck issue, it’s really painful, related to the vertigo me thinks (probably being on a motorbike for two hours will do it too). I need to get my neck fixed before I go diving on 23rd! Although perhaps another massage might make it worse. Ah well, first world problem. We’ve enjoyed our time in Panglao despite it being the Magaluf Mecca of the Philippines… let’s see what comes next…
The worst thing about travelling is the er… travelling, especially when you know you have 10 hours ahead of you….
Up at 3.30am, taxi due at 4am and we get to Bicol International Airport around 5.45am. Hilariously, security consists of a man and a bollard. Seriously though, once you’re inside it’s a bit more professional with lots of security but we pass through all this with no problem and the flight leaves pretty much on time. We flew into Mactan, Cebu. Then caught a taxi to the port of Cebu and then caught a ferry to Tagbilaran, Bicol and finally another taxi to our end destination here on the Island of Panglao! What a day, we arrive around 2pm. On the way I’m treated to a man walking across the road in a loin cloth, you don’t see many of those! I couldn’t work out whether he’d escaped from a nearby tourist attraction or whether he goes around like that all the time. The place we’re staying in is really nice, built in a former mangrove plantation but a bit remote so we dumped bags, desperate for a walk and went exploring. It’s not a huge island, approx. 20km long, we get walking, looking for laundrette (the thrill of laundry on the go) and scooter hire. Manage to find both and then scooter to the popular beach of Alona which was heaving (around 4.30pm), packed with people, dive shops and restaurants (glad we’re not staying here as it’s about to turn into party central by the looks of it, so I’m happy in old fartsville). We discover someone preparing sea urchin on the beach and have to give it a try, it is absolutely delicious, like oysters but much more taste and flavour and only 200 php (£3) for 20 pieces, they mix it with a vinegar solution and you down it a bit like an oyster. It’s absolutely bloody delicious and so healthy, I shall be going back for my regular nightly shot I think. I almost think the 10hrs of travel was worth it. You’ll notice I’m keeping suspiciously quiet about my thoughts on the Philippines… let’s just say, the jury is still out.
We then scooter round to Danao beach which is so quiet and peaceful by comparison and find Linaw Resort (& Pearl restaurant) we decide to sit on the beach and dine with our toes firmly embedded in the sand, engaging with the locals. We manage to scooter back in the dark but fairly soon fall asleep.
Saturday 18th February
Rain is definitely going to stop play today. We had hoped to get out on the scooter to explore more but that may not be possible so a day of yoga and reading I think… yup it pretty much rained all day. Just cleared up in the evening and off we scootered it a Korean restaurant, different….
Sunday 19th Feb
Relaxing day in the sunshine by our pool…. J went off exploring on the scooter. Not much to report other than I’m suffering from vertigo. It could be that my brain has shaken something lose from scootering around the island, as the roads can be brutal. Ate at the most awful restaurant in the evening. You can imagine how disgruntled I was as I love my food! We’ve definitely landed in the 18-30s Magaluf of the Philippines!! Lots of Korean’s and locals plus a smattering of Westerners. Don’t think I’ll peg Panglao down as a highlight of the trip but no doubt my 18 year old self would have loved it 😘
Monday 20th Feb
Despite the vertigo, hauled myself onto the scooter and we headed off the island of Panglao via the connecting bridge to Bicol (the municipality) and we drove to the Tarsier Conservation Centre in a place called Corella. As we’re driving there I’m thinking about how fragile life is and wondering about whether we’re going to make it there and back (100k all in) in one piece. I needn’t have feared because every where you look on the back of tuk tuks are scriptures from the bible, for example ‘why be afraid when the Lord is with you’, that instantly made me feel better and some deep breathing was also useful. As you can imagine all sorts of obstacles appear in the road, and this journey was no exception. Anyway, we make it to the Sanctuary for Tarsiers which are on the endangered species list and these little Gremlin like guys are reputed to be 45 million years old. They’re incredible. Smaller than a rat but with a rat like tail and their paws are webbed and jointed. They sleep during the day and hunt at night, size wise they’re about 6 - 15cm long and, wait for it, they can swivel their heads 360. But the best fact is that their eye balls (one eye ball to be exact) is bigger than their brain. They are as cute as BUT if held by a human they die and they communicate ultrasonically, so they appear to be opening their mouths and silent screaming but actually they’re communicating, we humans just can’t hear them. I’d like to think that our two hour round trip plus our donation to the sanctuary was worth it. We drove back via two towns; Loboc and Loray. The second being by the coast but it wasn’t particularly scenic (we saw a few things we’d rather not in fact) so we pressed on and got back to our digs in Panglao. Tomorrow we head back to Cebu via Tagibilaran as we are flying to Coron the day after tomorrow. The vertigo seems to have subsided but now I have a massive neck issue, it’s really painful, related to the vertigo me thinks (probably being on a motorbike for two hours will do it too). I need to get my neck fixed before I go diving on 23rd! Although perhaps another massage might make it worse. Ah well, first world problem. We’ve enjoyed our time in Panglao despite it being the Magaluf Mecca of the Philippines… let’s see what comes next…
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