and now the report on the philippines, with your host, ryan campbell

day 1 - manila
july.31st, 2006.

awoke @ 6:00am to get ready for the final leg of the journey to paradise. out to torrential downpours and grey, overcast skies. fingers crossed for fairer weather as we've no hotel booked and would be lousy to trek around in this.

day 3- white beach, boracay is.
aug.2, 2006.

the 1st ytruly gorgeous day. sunshine and blue skies...'nuff said, going to hit the beach.

day 4 - white beach, boracay is.
aug.3rd, 2006.

had a great day @ sea today. rolly, one of the guys's who works at our resort, offered to take us out on his catarmaran, where we could circumnavigate the island, do some snorkelling and have a bbq on the beach. we set off @ 11 a.m. and it was incredible! we just cut right across the crystal waters. then we got to the other side of the boracay and got wet checking out beautiful coral reef formations and a host of species of tropical fish. finding nemo? found him. so tired but have some dinner plans...on a mission to get some babyback ribs...all this fresh air really works up an apetite.

day 7 - white beach, boracay is.
aug.6th, 2006.

what a great week we've had! the last few days have delivered us nothing but sun, sand and surf. the days have passed by slowly and time seems to be slowing to a crawl. lots of beach, food, drinks and merry-making. have met some really great people and going to do a little travel with a few. spent more than planned (par for the course) but thinking that leaving boracay will cheapen things up a bit. plan to catch a banca back to panay island tomorrow where we can get a bus to iloilo where we'll catch an overnight ferry to cebu city. we'll have a few options from there, but worry about crossing that bridge when we come to it. sigh, just one more night of this...wish i could bottle it.

day 8 - boracay-kalibo-iloilo
aug.7th, 2006

arrived without a hitch to kalibo where we waited almost an hour and a half to go by minibus. needed @ least 9 people to start off, but we were short 7 bodies. after a quick read in the guide book, discovered the public bus terminal was next door. so, here we are speeding toward our destination. no a/c, but with an open window it's just as good. clean, spacious (so far) and cheap. fingers crossed again we make it to iloilo in time to catch the overnight ferry. want to avoid spending the night there if possible.

10:59 pm, iloilo

we arrived in iloilo 45 minutes too late to catch the ferry to cebu. after a few minutes of mild swearing, a much needed toilet break and a quick cab ride we checked into la fiesta hotel. new plan is to veto cebu and head directly to bohol. tink we'll spend a few days there before we begin to make our way back to manila.

day 9, iloilo
aug.8th,2006.

still here. showered and dressed quickly to grab a taxi to the airport oly to discover the only flights leave ear-lay in the morning so welcome to another glorious day in iloilo. bought a ticket outtahere for tomorrow and the plan today is to watch some bad american televison, order a a greasy, salty pizza and down a 2-l of coke. tomorrow promises to be a more productive sort of day so hopefully i'll have more to report on other than the results of NBC's "the biggest loser."

day.10 - iloilo-cebu
aug.9th, 2006.

awoke, excited to get out of this one-horse town. after a short 25-minute flight to cebu, took in some sights while waiting for our supercat ferry to the island of bohol. we should be there in about 2 hours time, but man, it's a rough ride. feels like we've been on a rollercoaster. leesh is looking a little peaked. hope we make it through it alive.

day.11 - loboc, bohol is.
aug.10th, 2006.

spent last night in alona beach, panglao island. it's joined to bohol by bridge. after a quick but rocky sea voyage, it was nice to get settled in a room. accomodation was a bit pricery, but passed the night playing cards, practicing poi and attempting to watch the non-existent cable television we supposedly had. made some arrangments with a our taxi driver to take us on a half-day journey around bohol. awoke again @ 7:00 to take our tour. our sleepy minds were 1st taken to the blood compact site where one of the first spanish-filipino agreements were signed, in blood. next stop was immulacate conception church which is the 2nd-oldest in the county, built in the 16th century. mde from coral stone and sand, it was an impressive sight to behold. the walls were made from a combination of sand mixed with egg. workers had to bring 3 eggs with them everyday. this is a great example of appropriate technology if i've ever seen one. this church was built in 1527 and is still in it's original condition. it just goes to show that no matter what we create, nothing can stand the test of time like nature.

after the church, we headed for another natural phenonemon, the chocolate hills. local legend tells of a giant who lost his mortal lover and cried creating these hills. science tells a different story of calcified, coral reegs that formed when bohol was still mostly below the sea, some 3 million years ago. they are so named 'cos during the dry season, they look like big drops of chocolate and there are over 1700 of them so a lot to see. next stop on our tour, to see some tarsiers. tarsiers are the world's smallest primate. they fit in the palm of your hand. they are orangish-brown, have huge eyes(bigger than their brains) and are completely awesome. they are nocturnal animals so pretty sleepy during the day. actually had the change to hold them and neither of us wanted to let go.
apres les tarsiers, we wre atken to a floating restaurant where we dined on pickled seaweed, lo mein noodles and calamari. the restaurant floated through picturesque jungle while listening to a variety of adult, comtemporary music from the 80's and 90's. these genre of music seems to permeate the very air in the philippines. after our lunch, said our goodbyes to june adn took another short boat trip up the river to our hotel, nuts huts. set on the river, in the middle of nowhere, it's only accessible by boat, it's the real deal for any backpacker seeking solitude. on stilts, replete with thatched roof made from palm tree leaves and bamboo floor. i have to admit, it did have intermittent electricity but i'm talking bare bulbs and no hot water. fresh from the river. some wicked winds and storms came throughout the night but otherwise...serene.

day.12 -danao, bohol is.
aug.11th, 2006

feeling a bit low today. missing some comforts. bohol doesn't seem to believe in hot water so today started off with cold, salty shower of seawater mixed with fresh water. never a nice wakeup call. had a quick breakfast of muesli, milk and honey before catching a banca back to the main road and our taxi to civilization. came again to panglao island as it seems to be the only thing in the way of budget accomodation. got dropped off on a different part of the of the island and after about 30 mins. of walking around, checking things out, we settled on a room and that's about it. nestled in for some T.V. like i said before feeling a bit low and wishing i was was back in taipei. don't get me wrong, i've had a great time but i think it's just a culmination of things; bad weather, people trying to rip you off, overpriced accomodation and so-so food. it's nearly over though. tomorrow, we head for manila and hopeofully we can see some more sights before we leave on sunday.

day 13 - manila

aug.12th, 2006.

have done absolutely nothing but lounge in the hotel room, it's a sad truth. manila is a city that had a bad reputation, and after some of the hassles we encountered with taxi drivers and people wanting to "help you" we said "no thanks" for the last time. sorry manila, another time p'raps.

day 14 - manila - taipei

aug.13th, 2006

checked out late. then ate some wendy's which we don't have in taiwan. after that, decided just to give the finger to manila and head to the airport. security took an age. must've been like 1 hour to get through it all. and then there was nowhere to sit. entertained ourselves in the airport by heckling the other passengers and ate bad airport food, we eventually boarded the plane back to taipei and were home about 2 hours later. thank god.