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I am sure you have all heard about the floods and Monsoons and bad weather but fortunately for us it did not affect us that much, we had rains and very strong winds the first week we were here but the second week the weather turned around and it was just stunning. First of all before I go on I would like to thank Allan and Lina for having us and giving us a fantastic holiday in the Philippines, we have had such a brilliant time and after four months of backpacking it was so nice getting some home comforts and thanks so much for showing us around Bohol, and also thanks to Jinx who drove us around allot.
As you know I have been dying to see the little tarsier monkeys and I was not disappointed, it was brilliant, you are not meant to touch them but we went on a really quite day and we slipped the guide a few pesos , so I got to hold them and I was like an excited little girl on Christmas eve, I was bouncing around and squealing in a voice that only dolphins are able to hear, but they are so cute I could not resist. They just sit there and stare at you, but if u have a bug on a stick like I did they jump so fast and snatch it away. Their enclosure is so lovely, as they are actually not enclosed at all, they are free to come and go but they stick to that place as its their home. We were told that if you take them from there home, they would get depressed, not eat and die, so its very important to leave them in the wild. The owner is a Pilipino guy who used to sell them but he has done a complete change and looks after them now and gets very angry if he hears people abusing them. You can only find these monkeys in the Philippines too, anyway so there is a bit of a lesson for all of you haha. We also visited the famous chocolate hills and they are so fascinating as they are dotted all over the place and in the dry season they are brown and look like chocolate drops, obviously, so they are really interesting.
Out of all the South east Asian countries we have travelled to, I have found the Pilipino people the most polite and welcoming of all, everywhere we went they were just so friendly, which made the experience that much better, Bohol is so chilled and definitely a holiday destination, and of course they have their own tuk tuk type things too, and the craziness of the drivers is the same. One thing that is a big thing here is karaoke singing, they just love it and there are so many bands playing all over the place and they can really sing, Lina even has a karaoke machine and all the grandchildren come over and sing all the time, its very sweet and seems to be a cultural thing. The Filipinos don't have a word for hello but instead they raise their eyebrows twice and I found this so amusing so would practise this on anybody I met, they also do this really funny thing where they point their lips which is their way of giving direction or just pointing at something its so cute and I also picked up this habit, so went around pointing my lips and doing the double eyebrow lift, and of course not forgetting the 'psssst' sound which is their way of getting your attention. The Filipinos also eat rice four times a day and they eat it every single day with every single meal and is everywhere in every house and in every restaurant, apparently this country gets the most imported rice anywhere in the world, its crazy, rice galore!
Going off topic a bit, October is a very religious month and Allan and Lina's house is next door to a church, so to our horror, every single morning at 3.30am let me just say that again THREE THIRTY in the morning the church bells start going and not just a few times, oh no, they do it for a whole twenty minutes, I swear it drove me mad, I wear ear plugs anyway but that noise just went straight through me every time and the one night I just burst into tears because I just could not take it anymore, I was so tired and annoyed that I just cried, I mean that is ridiculous right but god they were annoying, and then because I was so tired from the broken sleep I used to get up about eleven, after a few days they also decided that the one session of bell ringing was not enough so they did a practice round at about 3.15am! I do see the funny side in it, but at the time I imagine myself storming over there and dismantling the damn things. Shame it's a very religious country so I just put it down to experience at the end of the day and smiled sweetly in the morning to everyone.
Darren and I spent two nights on Alona beach to do some diving, and let me tell you, it was the most amazing diving I have ever done, out of all the places we have dived, this was by far the most stunning, there was no big wildlife but just the colours of the reef and the school of fish, were the most vibrant blue's, purples, yellows and so on, just so breathtaking, and the visibility could not have been any better, considering there were big storms out at sea. I was very sad though because a few divers spotted a whale shark but when we went it must of moved on, that would of put the bloody cherry on the cake if we had seen that. But it was amazing and we will defiantly be back to dive here again. The two nights we were on the beach we just chilled mostly and drank lots of cocktails, we stayed in a place called 'oops', the owner is Allan's mate so we were known by our first names and were looked after, which was lovely, far cry from some of the backpack places we have stayed in I tell you. The other side of the island where we dived, had less wind and the water was crystal clear it was truly stunning. After diving we are so shattered and end up sleeping the afternoon away and waking up at 10pm and this particular time we thought it would be a good idea to go and get some coffee and cake, but soon after regretted it as we both felt so sick and wished we had just stayed in bed.
We also went on a boat cruise on Loboc river which was very lovely, there was a singer on board singing to us while we ate which was nice. The river water is the most incredible green colour and so clean and at the end was a very pretty little waterfall. On the way back on the side of the river there was a choir playing on ukulele's, and they were so talented, it was a lovely way of spending a lunch time.
We also spent some days at the swimming pool and others just lazing around the house, and of course spending some nights at Bob's bar where we also celebrated Allan's 60th birthday, and I think I may have landed myself a job as I was working behind the bar and convincing the locals of the pub to have shots of Jaeger bomb with me and I succeeded, of course I was very drunk myself and felt the need to get everyone else drunk or to my level anyway.
It has been a fabulous two weeks and is the start of a new chapter and is nice to know we have another home to come to, and what a stunning location at that.
Our next adventure is Australia so very much looking forward to that.
Until next time, miss and love you all, hope the weather in the UK is not to gloomy J
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