World Traveler

If you are vegetarian and thinking about going to The Philippines, please, think again! I was warned about it before I went but like usual I took no notice and thought that it wouldn’t be as extreme as I had been told. Once again I was wrong!

People seem to survive on eating meat and cakes only, you can’t even find vegetables anywhere and that’s probably why every second shop is a pharmacy! I was there for 21 days and after six hours I was already wondering how I was going to manage.

In the odd restaurant there was a vegetarian option, although that was very rare and I was always asked what mean I would like with it but I spent most of the three weeks I was there eating cakes. Bakeries are open 24 hours, even in remote towns where there are hardly any people – very strange! Cake for breakfast, cake for lunch and, lucky me, cake for dinner. Don’t get me wrong, I love cake but I was actually getting good at being healthy before all this!

As I travelled around some of the 7,000 islands of the Philippines, occasionally I was lucky enough to come across a Pizza Hut so I could actually eat “a real meal� and by the time that my 21 days were up I was craving vegetables, I would even dream of them. At least I finally found a way of getting my mind to stop thinking about cake all day, but it didn’t work for long!

Read more about mishaps in The Philippines……

 

I travelled around as much as I could of the Philippines for three weeks and it seems that not much can be done during that time at all. Travelling around just proves to be an annoying, time consuming nightmare! I hardly saw any tourists on my travels, that was until I arrived on the beautiful island of Borocay.

At first I was wow-ed and it felt like paradise but after a look around its so set up for tourists that everything there just seems so fake, even down to the fake sand walkways. With its perfect little beaches, fair rides for kids, water sports and western buildings. Compared to the rest of the Philippines its like a different country and you get no sense of culture what so ever, probably because there is none there. Its ok for a holiday I guess but not if you want to see the world. I found most of the tourists there are male, and older, you get the picture. So if you go out in the evenings and you are female you get treated like a piece of meat and that’s whether you go to restaurants or bars so there isn’t really any getting away from it either. Talking about spoiling my appetite (I didn’t think that was possible!)

I find it strange to see how Borocay became to be in amongst the islands of the Philippines as it shows no resemblance to the rest of the country at all except for the tourists, they certainly show a fair bit of resemblance to the ones in the rest of the country!

Read more about adventures in The Philippines…..

 

I was in the Philippines and as I am from the UK I only get 21 days on my visa, not realizing that it takes two days to get several boats and buses, coaches etc to get to the next destination I decided to forget my plan and just go to the nearest place, that’s how I ended up in Bantayan!
 
As soon as I stepped off the boat I was met by about thirty tricycle drivers, all shouting for my attention. First I tried the “No thank you� technique, to which is always ignored, so decided to try and ignore them. So they followed me for 45 minutes, all of them, still shouting for my attention and it started to become really annoying. I found a hostel, unpacked and went for a wonder, and surprise surprise, there they were outside my door. I headed straight for the beach (their wheels don’t work on sand – ha ha ha!) and finally found a safe haven!
 
The beach was beautiful, pure white sand, clear water and almost deserted and I saw a starfish as big as a football! The town was really small and consisted of a bakery shop, a couple of bars and a couple of places to eat. Some places I walked in I wasn’t sure if I was walking into a café or into someone’s home, even when was in there t was hard to tell! Nightlife consisted of karaoke or pool, no other choices but I enjoyed myself all the same. It’s a very peaceful place and there are hardly any tourists there, great for a few days relaxing.

Read more about the Philippines…..

The Chocolate Hills are one of The Philippines natural wonders and consist of over a thousand cone shaped hills that are green but turn to brown in summer because of the hot sun, hence the name ‘The Chocolate Hills’. I was staying in Tagbilaran, the main town on Bohol so the Chocolate Hills are about 2 hours away. The bus seemed to take forever but finally I arrived in time for sunset, just as I had planned. Its about a 1km uphill walk to get to the lookout point (there are motorbike taxis available.)

After a strenuous walk I reached the top, very out of breath but the view was amazing! As far as the eye can see there are hundreds and hundreds of green coned hills and it looks really surreal like some kind of fantasy painting. As the sun set over the hills the view just got better and better and I really didn’t want to come down but it was getting dark and I didn’t want to get lost! When I reached the bottom I saw the best sunset that I have ever seen, it totally bowled me away.

Then I had to get back to Tagbilaran…..unfortunately the last bus had been and gone and I was in the middle of knowhere, and it was dark. Here we go again! As usual there were loads of motorbike taxi’s asking extortionate prices for getting me back to town but there was no other option so I had to take it and was glad when I was finally able to get off at my hostel.

All in all it was well worth it, I love natural wonders, there really is nothing like it.

Read more about The Philippines……..

I found out about Air Asia when I was travelling around South East Asia and although I was on the smallest budget ever imaginable its a very economical way of getting about. Air Asia is one of the few budget airlines operating in Asia and is a great way to travel around Asia cheaply.

With flights between Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Singapore it connects you with ease to the whole of South East Asia. Flights are as cheap as chips, literally, with many flights as low as $10 USD including taxes! When I was travelling Asia I often found it was actually cheaper to fly than to get a long distance bus or train - that makes a change and its certainly an easier way of getting around, rather than on a bus with random children and chickens on your lap!

Air Asia has now introduced a new route that links Australia’s Gold Coast to Kuala Lumpur, hopefully there are more routes to come connecting Asia to other parts of the world at very low prices. Flights are quick and easy to book with either online or telephone booking facilities. Some travel agents also book Air Asia flights but at a slightly increased cost. The website is really user friendly and its also available in a few different languages and has currency converters etc. There are usually special deals on flights and regular sales for even bigger bargains. The website is www.airasia.com

I have flown with Air Asia plenty of times and generally flights leave and arrive when they should do and the staff are generally very helpful and friendly. I would highly recommend them, although I haven’t yet flown with them long haul.

More travel deals….

A local family took us out clubbing, our first taste of Filipino flavour.  First there was a band on, the songs were good and they had dancers too which there were amusing to watch as it looked like they has a routine planned but none of them seemed to know what came next.  The band took a break and the dance floor was packed within seconds.  Wow, Filipinos can really move, all bendy and wiggly in a Latino style way - how do they do that?  Everyone dances with everyone, even the guys were dancing with each other, it was funny to watch.

Every group had formed their own little circles, each taking it in turn to strut their stuff in the middle.  I finished my cigarette and waltzed over to the dance floor, my group were at the back of the crowded dance floor so I was forced to dance in the circles of all the groups in front of them.  It was a real energy lifter with everyone clapping and cheering like off some kind of Run DMC music video.  I finally made it over to my group, everyone was really friendly and our circle was soon merged with all of the other circles. Everyone wanted to talk to us as Zamboanga doesn’t get any tourists, its too dangerous - but I was there by mistake and luckily taken in by a local family!

The band came back on and the dance floor cleared as we all sat back down.  When we got over to our table there was some weird looking stuff in food bowls, apparently it was vegetarian so I tried some.  It tasted weird, but not that bad, I asked what it was made of and was told that it was intestines   Nice!

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 I was travelling with my sister and we took the cheapest way from Malaysia to the Philippines, by boat for 22 hours!  Stupidly we forgot to eat beforehand so we starving but the cafeteria sold nothing but meat (we’re vegetarian!) but soon had a donation of some freaky vegetable from one of the passengers and was up singing karaoke (not Celine Dion as requested) whilst being sick at the same time (sea-sickness!)  Laying down took the sickness away but we could barely fit on the miniature beds which were exactly 5″7, I know this as my head and feet were pressed firmly at each end!  The mattress was just about wide enough for me but the giant waves made it even harder to stay in! Coming from the UK I stupidly presumed that we would have our own cabin, duh!  Communal bunk beds covered the deck in sets of four so you end up laying next to some random man, and there was no bars in between either.  I wasn’t comfortable with that so managed to pay extra for one of the two cabins which had one other girl in.

We woke the next morning with 3 hours until we reached land, during which time I think we spoke to everyone on the boat!  There seemed to be a lot of concern for our safety, we found out that Zamboanga, where the boat was heading, was a terrorist area and tourists don’t go there as it common for them to get kidnapped, there was also a bombing the week before.  I did wonder why we were the only tourists on the boat!  I like the way our guidebook tells us about the cheap ferry but nothing at all about Zamboanga – helpful!  We spoke to a lovely Filipino girl whose Brother worked for the Tourist Police, she said that they could help get us out of the area safely.

We arrived at the port and her brother collected us and took us all back to the tiny 2 bedroom family house where there were already 10 people staying and were cooked the tastiest meal we had in ages, vegetarian too which was really kind as in the Philippines they just eat loads of meat, no one eats vegetables and trying to buy them anywhere is a nightmare! One thing led to another and soon we were up singing karaoke in the sitting room with the family, the neighbours, and the random audience outside in the street!  As you may of guessed, karaoke is very popular in the Philippines!  I was forced into singing and I am the worst singer in the world – in England when I do karaoke they turn the microphone off and say its broken, and then when I put my name down again they wont call me up, so I put fake names down.  I warned them that I sound cross between a donkey and a dolphin but as usual no one gets the extent of how bad I am until they hear it, people always think I’m exaggerating.  I sang ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ as some how I think it take the attention off of my hideous voice as it puts a little bit of humour in instead (obviously I’m fooling myself).  It was bad but I have done worse, everyone looked a little shocked until my sister started laughing at me, no one was shy to get up after that!

Time flew and we hadn’t enough time to get the tickets, so they suggested we stay with them overnight and get the tickets the following day.  I felt guilty staying the night as they had been so kind to us and the house was jam-packed already – talk about ten in a bed, but they insisted.  We ended up staying with the family for two days! Although Zamboanga was such a dangerous area, I felt really safe with the family and it was actually my favourite place in the whole of the country!  They were definitely the kindest people I have ever met and it was by far the best bit of my trip!

http://www.worldtravelerjournal.com/great-read-where-to-go-when/