10%

The Philippines

7,107 Reasons to Go

By Michael Flarup

December 19^th, 2010

A rusty bus pulled out of the south bus terminal in Cebu. I threw myself in a chair in the front row and placed my bag in the aisle. This was a southbound local bus, windows wide open and filled to the brim with Filipinos. A yellow beam of sunlight shot through the windshield as the suburbs of the second largest city in the Philippines sprawled outside.

As we watched the last of the day disappear in a haze of smog and honks, a raspy voice next to me inquired “Where you going?”. The elderly gentleman smiling at me was a retired police officer in Cebu going to visit his daughter in the south. He had that calm look that comes with experience, and stories that come with age. As we honked our way through the winding roads of Cebu, we had long conversations in broken english on almost every imaginable topic.

A week earlier we where planning our expedition into the Visayas from the warm golden confines of the dinner buffet at the Marriott in Manila. With only a few weeks at our disposal the 7,107 islands seemed hard to wrap our heads around. Anyone who has tried to organize a journey through this country from home quickly realizes that there is a towering amount of places to go and things to see. As soon as you settle on one thing, a few other places of interest seem to pop up over the horizon.

One luxurious night later and we left the Capitol of the Philippines on a small aircraft bound for Caticlan, Panay. From here we would take the ferry to one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Philippines; Boracay where relaxation was in stock.

Boracay

At the very tip of Panay, just a stone-throw away from the main island lies Boracay, a 7 kilometer slender piece of land inhabited by around 15.000 people. Like so many other beach starlets, Boracay was a bright paradise, complete with powdery white sand, swaying palms and problems combatting the effects of over development.

A slowly moving patchwork of sailboats hung around the bay at White Beach, offering tourists magic carpet-like trips up and down the island. A small sandy stretch of road creeps along the shoreline where barefooted tourists peruse the stalls or hang around the central D’Mall area, an outdoor labyrinth of restaurants and boutiques. Brilliant sunsets color the evenings as thick carpets of clouds roll in from the mainland. Afternoon showers and the smell of the beachside grill buffet set the scene for a surprisingly low key nightlife.

Sleepy Moalboal

In the typhoon of ‘96 all the sand on the beach of Moalboal was blown away, and with it mainstream tourism seemed to have disappeared. It’s become a place of divers and adventure visitors, hiking the surrounding forests and waterfalls, we rented mountain bikes and explored the rural area around the city on our own. Just down the road from the old spanish church we met Naomi and her husband Tito who run a bottle museum. After a few words of wisdom from a bottle, they urged us to try and make our way down to the city of Dumagette on the neighboring island of Negros.

Moalboal hadn’t been on our initial itinerary, we took the bus there because some people had recommended it, now we where contemplating moving further south and crossing over to Negros for a chance to see the old university city of Dumagette. We had a looming deadline, a flight out of Tagbilaran on the island of Bohol and this expanding adventure on Cebu was quickly swallowing up days. When you travel you always need to keep some dates flexible, cause it’s usually when you’re on the road that you get the best tips on where to go and what to do.

Making our way further south

So early next morning we where making our way further south by Tricycle, a quick stopover at the local attraction; Kawasan Falls, then by local bus, another trycicle, then a ferry from Lito-an to a remote harbor in Negros. From here we took yet another trycicle before finally arriving, dusty and tired in the laid-back city of Dumagette.

If you’re up for a bit of local transportation, getting around the islands in the Philippines is surprisingly easy with bus and ferry connections crisscrossing the landmasses. Should you find yourself in a place with no apparent official transportation you can be sure that a guy with his motorcycle is waiting around the corner. The people are wonderfully open, inquisitive and very eager to please. With my background in Thailand, I can’t stop comparing the countries and the people, and while Thailand may hold the official tagline ‘The Land of Smiles’ I’m beginning to suspect it might have been invented by a guy who just visited the Philippines.

Dumagette

We hit 3 islands in less than a week, to say we where on the road would be an understatement. We where on the road, across the sea, climbing mountains and braving any available means of transportation. The only time i got a good look at my bag was when it was strewn in the aisle of a humid bus next to a cage of chickens or in the rows of a freezing ferry next to sleeping children.

We left behind the long slender mountainous island of Cebu and crossed the narrow calm passage at Lito-an over to the Island of Negros. With it’s volcanic dark soil the beaches looked like crunched oreo, washed wet by the foamy sea.

With just a single night in Dumagette, we saw the local market, ate dinner at the popular Rizal Avenue and even made our way out to the bars on the outskirts of the city. I can see why people come here, compared to Cebu the size of the city just makes it very manageable, and because of it’s heritage and university it seems that the locals are ‘used’ to foreigners, which means you can walk the streets without anyone shouting ‘Hey Joe!’ after you.

Late checkins and early checkouts had become the rule rather than the exception. Our alarms went off at the same time at around 6:00 am as the sun dawned on a new hotel room. We gulped down the usual Filipino breakfast. The streets where waking up and we caught a tricycle to the harbor and jumped on a ferry bound for Tagbilaran, Bohol.

Bohol

Arriving in Bohol we had no reservations, just a vague idea of where we wanted to go. After some haggling with the local tricycles we bartered a ride to the island of Panglao, connected to Bohol by a shallow bridge. The Republic of Bohol, as the Boholians affectionately calls it because of a quick spat of independence in the past, was almost circular in shape. A vacation destination for locals and foreigners alike it sported a more laid back vibe than our previous stopovers. We arrived at the hotel and restaurant known as the ‘Bohol Bee Farm’, an epic organic operation situated on a quiet stretch of coast on Panglao. A sprawling herbal garden and, you guessed it, an actual bee farm produces the main ingredients for the zen-like restaurant perched on the cliff overlooking the water. Hidden between pots with lettuce, rows of vegetables and hanging flowers where little villas or ‘beehives’ as they called them. We stayed in the ‘Carrot’ room.

The Chocolate Hills

We rented a motorbike and etched our way through the winding roads of the mountainous inner island. Zooming past rice paddies and waving locals yelling the occasional ‘Hey Joe!’ we made our way to the big attraction on Bohol; The Chocolate Hills. Parking the bike and walking the last hundred steps up to the observation post we had unabridged view of the hundreds of 100-150 meter hills or lumps dotting the plains below. This bizarre geological phenomenon was fairly hyped. Someone far up the ministry of tourism must have a strong affection for hills as these lumps appear on billboards, tv commercials and flyers all around the Phillipines. The truth is, unless you see them in perfect weather conditions and the right time of year when the grassy hills turn to a brownish hue (thus the name), they really aren’t that big of a deal. I found the motorbike trip more enjoyable than sharing the observation deck with a hundred people making funny poses in front of a, albeit unusual, but otherwise tame geological occurrence.

The time was running out on our Visayas adventure and as we chucked down the last of the flowery organic green salad (yes hippies, we ate flowers) we started preparing ourselves for the next leg of our trip; Borneo and the many challenges waiting there.

The Good & The Bad

☺ 7107 islands. The sheer wealth of places in the Philippines is overwhelming. You could travel to this country for years and visit entirely new islands every time. It‘s exciting and there‘s easily a real sense of adventure with new destinations pulling you over to the next island, and to the next. ☺ Smiles. Everywhere you go, I found people smiling. They‘re a happy and talkative bunch.

☹ Bad weather. Monitor the weather situation and make sure to go in the good time of the year. Typhoons and other disasters easily wreak havoc on the infrastructure and local communities. ☹ Manila. I found the capital mostly uninteresting, commercial and generic for the region. Some interesting food and shopping options and high end living, but get out quick, the beach is waiting.