Philippines Travel Info

Continued from Philippines Vacation Pt2

We stayed in Puerto Princess for a few days. Enjoying shopping and preparing for the rest of out travel. We found a cafe called iToys that offers some nice European and Western food and coffee. They also offer free Wi-Fi. There is a large store in the center of the town, I forget the name but everyone knows it there so it won’t be hard to find. It is like a type of mall but don’t expect anything like you would get in Manila but you can get everything you need from the supermarket there or one of the other department stores in the building.

We hired a motorbike out from a local bike shop for a reasonable price. Something like $150 AU for a week. It was a Honda 200 XR trail bike and perfect for the terrain we would later encounter. It was also fine for the road too with tires fitted for both road and trail.

We decided to go to Port baton through the back way. You head towards north and take a side road several hours later. We met some locals at the intersection and they said it was extremely muddy and I think they were surprised a foreigner would have the balls to go that way.

So we decided to pay a local to come with us on one of his bikes and carry a couple of our bags. We paid about 1000 pesos and it was worth every cent. It was one of the most exciting and challenging things I have done. Lucky I had ridden a trail bike often when young so I still knew somethings. It was great to be back on a bike in mud and I just enjoyed it so much although it was tough going. I had one drink bottle of water and we finished that about half way and I was sweating like a pig right through. My girlfriend hung on for her life and also enjoyed it.

We got to Port Baton finally and found a nice place to stay by the beach. Check out the pics below:

There are a few locations in the Philippines where surfing is popular. Global Surfers have a “Surfspots in Philippines” guide worth checking out.

This map will show some coastal regions on the Philippines islands.

When you travel then make sure to understand what places you must becareful at in the Philippines. Here are a few spots to get facts and information on travel saftey.

• Philippines surf spot guide

Continued from Philippines Vacation Pt1

I arrived in Manila after the plane flew over the city where I could get a good view of the city on the plane.

Once in Manila I didn’t take long to find my flight to Puerto Princess. I had a snack and some drinks when I started to realize the food was going to be a little different to what I’m used to. I was happy to finally get on the flight to Puerto Princess which took around an hour to arrive and land in Puerto Princess although it is not that far away.

I was greeted by my girlfriend Ruth who lives on the island and I have known for around a year. She and her friend were happy to see me and we got on a tricycle and took a ride back to Ruth’s place.

I soon learned that the Philippines is quite a bit different to Bondi and I had to get used to drinking from bottled water which is cheap luckily as I wouldn’t trust the water there. It was nice to relax at Ruth’s place before we all went out for dinner where I enjoyed my first Philippine meal which was delicious.

One thing about the Philippines is that you can buy your food at restaurants quite cheaply and would cost you less then it would to make it back home. Some of the food you can buy out is delicious and good quality if you stick with what is in season and is locally harvested. Seafood is in abundance so I recommend to get on a seafood diet there as you can have mouth watering meals of Crayfish, Tuna, Marlin and Prawns etc at very affordable prices. At least this is true on the island of Palawan.

We stayed in Puerto Princess for a few days and it was enjoyable. We would often go to the local cafes or markets and get breakfast. One good cafe is called iToys where we could also access wireless Internet and they served Australian or US food if you miss bacon and eggs or a good drink of fresh milk.

Our first adventure was to go and meet Ruth’s family in the southern town of Bataraza. We took the trip down in a mini van which cost around 500 pesos each. It took most part of a day to get there. See pictures above.

 One thing I found interesting and a little worrying was how the people and children would walk close to the roads in the rural areas. As we passed them I felt it would be all too easy to hit someone. Sometimes the driver would warn them with a beep of the horn. The drive was fairly smooth but it felt a little unsafe in a crowded van which went quite fast and most of us had no seat belts. I would have preferred to have hired a car or bike and drive myself and Ruth there.

We arrived in Ruth’s family’s province and by the time we made it to her parent’s home it had gone dark. Their power had been cut so we had to use candles. I was overwhelmed of the hospitality and friendliness of her family as they were very nice to me. They cooked a feast of dried fish, vegetables and rice that I soon learned this was what they ate nearly everyday.

We stayed there for a few days and enjoyed the family’s hospitality even though they were struggling for money they were happy and content. We went to the beach while I was there but it was very stony and had awful views of big industrial ships that looked to have polluted the beach. We also went to the local weekly market and that was interesting. I purchased a lot of fresh food for the family and some fresh fish.

It was sad to say goodbye but we decided to head back to Puerto Princess and stay for a few days before traveling North West.

To be continued…

Today I was heading over to the Philippines for my first ever time and I was quite excited to this adventure.

After getting a meal from the airport and checking in with my hand luggage I boarded the plane and had both seats to myself from Sydney to Melbourne but a Philippino man took the isle seat from Melbourne to Philippines.

I decided to travel light with only a small daypack which I use daily when going to the city, The bag is a skateboard/snowboard type, durable & padded well although slightly heavy from all the padding but ideal to take since it would keep my laptop protected. The only other bag was my camera bag which is also well padded and ideal for traveling with my camera and the 18-200 lenses plus it holds a spare battery, the thick Nikon D300 manual and a few accessories.

I also took the following items:

• a fairly big camera book
• laptop remote mouse
• Bathroom and toiletries which were placed into 10 100ml plastic bottles to pass the airport security rules.
• Cloths included what I was wearing; light weight trekking pants, 1 t-shirt, 1 trekking long sleeve shirt, underwear, a singlet, a cap and 2 pairs of socks.
• A very compactable poncho
• Compactable travel towel
• Silk sleep sack

The flight was pretty uncomfortable but I did manage to get a couple of hours of broken sleep in. The bonus is I can at least say I have been to Melbourne now even if it was just waiting at the airport for the plane to continue its journey.

Continued Philippines Vacation Pt2

I thought it would be a good idea to put a page of resources of animals, mammals and creatures that could be considered dangerous in the Philippines.

Snakes:
Herpwatch.org Philippines offers a page that lists snakes found in the Philippines.
Plus you can find information on crocodiles and reptiles from the Philippines.

On the USGS website a list of snakes can be found. They list the following snakes that could be harmful:

• Habu snakes, Genus Trimeresurus

A bloke named Scott W posted an article on the Yahoo Answers board titled “Are there any poisonous snakes in the Philippines?” Cobra & Vipers are documented.

So without too mark difficulty it was quite easy to learn that the Philippines does have a number of dangerous snakes it should be fairly safe in populated areas. Always take precautions when you travel and wear good footwear.