After a quick stop in Cebu City from Malapascua, Amelia and I boarded a not so 'fast craft' to the island of 'Bohol'. Bohol lies southeast of Cebu, and amongst other things is famous for its 'Chocolate Hills' and the 'Tarsier'.Arriving whilst it was getting dark we were undecided what to do. In the end we decided to rent a motorbike from a friendly local guy who approached us near the pier. We knew both of us (including bags) could...

There was no straightforward way for us to get from Donsol to Malapascua. The tricycle from Donsol to Pilar was stressful to say the least, as it was a rush against time for us to catch the midday ferry over to Masbate. To add to the equation, as we approached a steep hill, the tricycle driver instructed me, in the sidecar, with all the bags, to move and lean forwards....this did not do the trick however, and Chris had to jump off the back of the bike in order fo...

Home to the 'Butanding' aka whale shark - the initial attraction for us (not so much Amelia) to visit the Philippines. There are other places to see them around the Philippines. For example Oslob, Cebu. But in Oslob the local fishermen and tour operators feed the whale sharks, to attract and keep them there for longer than normal. Unfortunately these actions slowly take away the shark's ability to 'hunt' its own food (plankton). Not agreeing w...

Chris and I took the sleeper bus from Manila to Naga, which took around 10 hours. We were prepared with trousers, socks, jumpers, and our sleeping bag liners, to help keep us warm, having suffered on the previous night bus. From Naga, we caught a tricycle over to the minivan station, where we found a minivan leaving for Legaspi. Two hours later we arrived. We spent some time searching for a room, and after an hour or so we settled on a small, below average room, ...

We weren't planning on stopping in Manila, largely because of the notoriously bad reputation. But Moon and Sujin (Korean couple from our Mt Pinatubo trip) offered some insight and some floor space for a night or two, in the nicer part of Manila, Makati. So we decided to give Manila the benefit of the doubt. We arrived in Manila at 5am, after taking a freezing cold, seated night bus, from Banaue. It wasn't a nice start to the day. I'd contracted deadly...