The postcard perfect Philippines!

Welcome to the Philippines.  So we have been trying and trying to get this update, but there is just to much to see and do! 

Filipino Jeepney

While we were in the airport waiting for our flight heading to Kuala Lumpur in transit to Philippines, we got an email from our good friend Chris L who was in KL hanging out.  So after a few convincing words he decided to chance it and head to the airport with us and hope he could land a ticket (the flight was sold out)........  Before I continue I have to tell you Chris was traveling with a leg so swollen that it was literally two times bigger then his other.  It even had skin cracks that were bleeding because it was so swollen, pretty scary I thought.  But, Chris said it was no big deal...so we went.  Anyway when we got to the airport they told him that he would have to wait till 30 minutes before the flight.  But, luck was on his side and 10 minutes before the flight, we saw Chris doing the pirate walk through customs with a ticket in his hand. 

We all landed in Manila and found a room to stay and made sure Chris headed to the hospital.  After the hospital we wandered around and checked out Manila.  The city was just a busy noisy hustling city that had lots of billboards for hand guns and other firearms.  Apparently they love their guns, even outside the big hotels and important buildings they have a simple wooden box outside the door that has a sign reading "Deposit Firm arms Please" as a man with a tommy gun stands and smiles.  Crazy.... 

Anyway later that night we got talking as to where we were going and decided that we would get a flight to Boracay for the next day.  We finally arrived on the island after a few long van rides and boat rides.  As we arrived on the island we were greeted by the greatest sights that our three eyes ( well six eyes) have ever seen.  This beach was long white and crystal clear waters.  It was amazing.  We found a nice cheap room on the beach and headed to the beach for a happy hour Pina Colada and then supper as the sun sank down behind the clouds.  

Boracay

Long way from home

The next day we set out for a nice relaxing day on the beach filled with mango drinks and frisbee.  All was going "relaxing"  until Chris decided to go and get a tattoo.  I thought ok, but then he told me how big it was and I thought...."OH MAN THAT WILL HURT"  haha but he went with it anyway and 8 hours later he had very nice tattoo.  We went and visited him a few times throughout the day and boy he was in pain.  But no pain no gain..as they say.

That night we headed to Andoks, a nice cheap place to get some San Miguel beer and had some good chats about old times back in high school.  The next few days were spent hanging out on the beach, reading, relaxing, more frisbee, huge buffet dinners and few (or many) drinks followed by dancing.  

Cheap beer at Andoks

Happy Hour (40=1 CDN$)

Buffet and Rum

The next few days were relaxing and fun as the three of us had a great time.  On one of our final days we rented a sail boat with 8 other people and bought some food for lunch and went sailing for the day.  It was unbelievable.  The waters and scenery were spectacular.  We sailed into a nice little cove where we set up for the afternoon for cliff jumping, eating and beer.  Our Filipino guide cooked up a nice fresh fish, beans and vegetables for a great lunch.  After an incredible sunset we hit the water and headed back to shore.  However, the wind direction change and for what ever reason it caused our boat to go at a snail pace, so a good 3 hours of sailing in the dark, well it was lit up by the moon which was amazing.

sandcastles 

Secluded Bay

Missie has turned into a cliff jumper!

Our sailboat and its sailor.

BBQ Fish

and a Sailboat Sunset

As our days in Boracay were ending we were getting pretty sad as we knew that we would have to say good bye to the lovely beach and our friend Chris.  So the night before everything was ending we had one last fiesta to enjoy our surroundings.  We got some rum and our dancing sandals and headed out.  Funny story when we were at the bar Chris thought that this Filipino guy looked cool with his red bandanna, so he bought it off the guys head! haha anyhow we had a great night and a absolutely terrible flight the next morning. 

 

Boracay

After arriving in Manila again we said our goodbyes to Chris and we headed to Daet, a small town south east of Manila.  Daet is a pretty low key town that doesn't draw too many tourist.  However, we heard that there were some good beginner waves to be surfed.  So after a 8 hours bus ride through a greener then green country side we arrive at this awesome town.  Everywhere we walked people were yelling "HALLO" accompanied by a huge smile to us it was really cool.  The beach were the surfing is done is at Bagasbas Beach, which was a 8 minuted tricycle from town.  After 4 days of getting the crap kicked out of us, we decided that we were going to be pros any time soon and decided to hit the road to Naga, where they have one of the worlds largest cable wake board parks.

Bagasbas Beach

Realizing were not pros.

When we arrived at CWC, which is the name of the park, we saw that there were almost one hundred professional wakeboarders there.  We never knew that the following week there was going to be a world tournament happening, so we kinda felt out of place as every one was doing triple back flips with turns and rotations a human brain is unable to register what exactly happened.  It really made me think "wow I should not be going" But Missie got the fire beneath my butt and I went out and had a pretty good day.  It is so much different then wake boarding behind a boat when there is no wake to jump or boat to pull you.  The next few days we spent riding with the pros and we actually got a lot better.  I was so proud of Missie when she got up her very first time and it was in front of so many pro wake boarders, then she went on the do very well and could do all the tricky turns on the course.  We had some great times at CWC and then hit the road again, this time to Donsol.

Our nipa hut at CWC

Missie's first wakeboard 

Jumping!

Donsol was a sleeping fishing village until about ten years a ago a local fisherman found massive , spotted whale sharks feeding off some plankton that was growing in the area.  Ever since, these 10 to 15 meter whales come to Donsol for 6 months of the year to feed.  It was so incredible to see these fish and fun too.  We boarded the boat where two guys are perched on the top of the sail looking for the whales.  Then out of no where the guys start yelling and you can see this huge grey submarine like thing in the water.  Next, we all get geared up and jump in.  Swimming by these friendly giants was simple amazing, we saw 5 all together at about 11 meters.  It was nuts swimming along side a fish that was 11 meters long!  The whale shark swim was a huge highlight, the rest of the town was pretty cool as well.  It was very low key and laid back, we even were lucky to be there during the towns fiesta!

Looking for some whale sharks

Donsol Farm town

After Donsol we left to Legazpi.  Legazpi is home to Mt. Mayon, dubbed as the world's most perfect volcano cone.  However, after arriving we found out that the trek up took two days and wasn't even that rewarding because you can no longer summit the volcano.  So we just decided to go to a view point that was a 45 minute walk up and it look across to the volcano.  It was a great view and it truly is perfect cone.  We then visited a village that was wiped out by an eruption that occured in 2006.  It was sad to see all the memorials and harden lava.  The following day we were on a plane heading towards Cebu for some diving!

Perfect Cone!

The village that was.

Sorry that was so quick... we will do oour best to keep up with more stories!  Hope all is well with everyone.

Happy Trip

Shaun