Having left the MSU Campus just outside Marawi City I had the ambitious task today of visiting two waterfalls outside Iligan City before heading to Cagayan De Oro for my hotel and next morning flight out to Zamboanga.After getting an orange juice bottle for 28P (.70 cents) I then had to figure out where the jeepney to Iligan was. All the jeepneys collect outside the campus gymnasium so I had to ask around to find the right one to Iligan. The rain was still coming...

After two overnight flights the previous night this was my first night in the Philippines to have a proper sleep in a bed. I was so tired I had passed out the previous night at 8pm. I heard the gentle sound of rain on the tin roof and was hoping it would clear by morningI had to ask for towels the previous nite and when I took a shower in the morning, which was only in lukewarm water, there was a blackout. This was my first shower since leaving Taiwan almost 2 da...

After an almost five hour drive I had finally reached the Mindanao State University Campus where my hotel was. Accommodation was to be another problem in MarawiThere are only two choices for accommodation in Marawi. Stay in the university campus dorm rooms for 250P ($4) or stay in the private Marawi Resort hotel for 1500P ($38). As I hadnt slept all night on my two flights to get here I wanted the private room at the hotel and thought this would be safer than sle...

Leaving the Sultan Hassan Mosque we drove back into Cotabato City (actually a town) to find the bus terminal. Although the town is not that big it is a bit built up in the small centreThe town was striking in the many peace initiative banners and artwork placed prominently all over town. This region was a hotbed of the insurgency and the recent peace agreement is a welcome calm after decades of tensionThere was a mini traffic jam in the block or two that was down...

Cotabato City as its called is not really a city and just a small town you can drive thru in ten minutes. It captured my attention as recently they had built the largest Mosque in the Philippines. It was funded by the Sultan of Brunei and is said to cost $48 Million Dollars.Cotabato is not a tourist destination due to the lack of sights and political tensions so I was really making a special out of the way trip just to see this one location. After flying in, from...