Friday, June 01, 2007

The Philippines

The last week in April and the first week in May I somehow ended up in the Philippines. It was originally going to be Thailand but that obviously didn't happen so... the Philippines. I ended up going by myself but was extremely lucky and met a guy on the same flight to and from China. After we figured out we'd be there the exact same amount of time it was an easy decision to travel together.

Many pictures of the Philippines follow. However they're in somewhat random order. This first picture should be on the cover of Lonely Planet. It's the jeepney, the common means of public transportation throughout the Philippines. It's a combination of a jeep and a bus, and always about to fall apart. Yet despite needing several parts replaced, it is always brightly decorated and extremely cheerful looking - much like the people themselves. Therefore (and I've discussed this with other Philippines travelers), the jeepney is somewhat of a metaphor for the Filipino people (who may not be rich but always seem happy) and should be on the cover of Lonely Planet...

Here we have a lovely beach in El Nido. And of course the tiny little boat that we hired for the day to take us to all the random beaches...

The beach in Sabang...

The hostel we stayed at in El Nido was really cool. Upstairs they had little pod areas that overlooked the water. There were cushions and a place for a cold drink. You could easily spend hours just lounging and watching the scenery...
Sunset in Port Barton...

Me after a very tiresome walk back from the underground river. It didn't help that it had to have been 100% humidity...
Pretty boats, although less pretty when you realize you'll be spending 6 hours on one in order to get to the next place. (Objects are smaller than appear in photo.)

El Nido...

There were jellyfish everywhere on this one beach we went to and at first I was afraid to get into the water (notice all the dots of jellyfish on the left in the picture below). However, this tiny little Filipino boy kept just picking them up and throwing them out of the way. We tried to make the universal hand motion for "are these not jellyfish that sting you when you touch them?!?" but he kept picking up more and throwing them out of the way. He actually picked up the one below and gave it to me to hold. HOWEVER, what we later realized is that the top part doesn't sting you - the part I'm touching. Yet the part facing up will sting you. In this picture I was still blissfully unaware of the impending danger...
Waterfall in Batad that I spent what seemed like forever climbing up and down terrace steps to get to. The only thing that kept me going was knowing I'd get to take a dip in the water once I made it there...

Traditional houses in Batad...

A small village surrounded by rice terraces...

And jump back to Palawan (here's where you notice the pictures are out of order). I think this was on one of the tiny islands in El Nido, however one beautiful beach kinda starts to look like all the other beautiful beaches after a while...

Me and Hugo about to set off on our underground river tour. I can say the hard hats were unnecessary, although they do make the picture look more dangerously exciting...

Local women in Banaue. Despite the fact they just happened to be sitting around wearing this, I don't think this is what they wear everyday. It's probably because they were near the tourist shop...

A local parade that we stumbled upon...

Me in one of the many tricycles I had the joy of riding on. They're a tight squeeze and a guaranteed bumpy ride, but have a terrific breeze. You can't tell but to the left there's a little motorcycle attached to what I'm sitting in...

Walking on the rice terraces. At some points it got really steep and falling to my death entered my mind. It also made me laugh cause in the US there would be railing on all the steep parts, which would of course have taken away from the experience...

Guess who?

Back in Manila. This is Malate Street, which at night becomes a fabulous place to get dinner/beer, listen to some live music, relax, and watch the sunset...

Rice terraces again in Banaue...

Local Filipino children...

We arrived less than a month before elections so everywhere we went there were posters attached to all the buildings. Some of the posters made me laugh cause they looked more like wanted posters than campaign posters...

The bus from El Nido to Puerto Princesa. Let's just say the buses aren't luxury class. Despite the heat I was grateful the bus had no a/c because on the past two buses I took with a/c I nearly froze to death. What made it worse was being freezing cold inside the bus and knowing that right on the other side of the window (which didn't open) it was incredibly warm...

Sunset in El Nido...

One of the many beaches surrounding El Nido which we visited...

One of my favorite beaches. I think this one was called Secret Beach (for obvious reasons). You swim through that tiny little hole in the rocks and when you get to the other side there's an amazing hidden beach about the size of half a football field.

Me, doing a little snorkeling...