Merman, Dad! MER..MAN!

So far, my time on Siargao has been epic. It’s a beautiful island with the friendliest locals I’ve met so far in the Philippines. They’re such welcoming people. After some discussion, it's clear that they really want people to visit their island, unlike where I live. You can get the vibe that our locals ain't too keen on the tourism, even though that’s where the Gold Coast gets its income.

I’ve mostly been chilling out, hanging with the other visitors here. They’ve come from all around the world, but probably half of them are Aussies or Kiwis. I’ve even been invited to have dinner with the locals, that’s just how nice they are! I can now say I’ve surfed Cloud 9, but it's been pretty small - one to two foot small. If the surf is small, I'll go for walks around the place, do some snorkelling, or just sleep on the grass in the shade next to the ocean... or get on the booze.

About one hundred metres down from my resort, there’s an expat Aussie named “Bones” with a bar next to the Cloud 9 surf break called the “Bones' Bar”. It's got all the typical Aussie nostalgic league/union stuff around the bar. One of the nights I thought I'd pop in for a drink or two. What I didn’t know was that there was a game on with the Wallabies against the Kiwis for the Bledisloe cup. Bones was net streaming on the telly. Of course, all the Aussie and Kiwis came in force and it just felt like home, giving those kiwis shit all night. And, of course, the Wallabies won!

All I can say is I’ve got it good right now, and I haven’t even arrived at El Nido!

The trip to Siargao Island

I arrived at Davao ready to catch the 6:00pm bus to Surigao City. The trip is about an eleven hour ride, so I would arrive at my destination around five the next morning. I was lucky to have some guidance during the trip; while waiting for the bus at the terminal, I started talking to these two locals catching the same bus as me. They spoke English pretty well, and I think they were lesbians; one of them looked like a bit of a tomboy. Anyway, they gave me helpful information, like when the bus would arrive to Surigao City, and how to get to the ferry terminal from the bus station. The bus trip there was pretty painful for me, I didn’t trust leaving my bag in the bottom compartment, because there were other stops before mine and any keen person would've easily been able to flog my bag full of camera gear and my laptop. I figured I could just keep it on board next to me, but I was wrong; I didn’t know the bus was going to be so busy. Needing to make room, I had to place my bag between my legs, and that didn’t give me much room at all, so I didn’t get that much sleep during the trip there.

Finally arriving to Surigao City at about ten past five, I was bloody glad to get out of that bus! Got out, stretched the shit out of my legs, and then went straight to the bush to drain my main vein. I found someone to drop me to the boat terminal and caught the six o’clock boat ride to the island. During the journey, I met a friendly Spanish girl named Ane. She was also travelling around the Philippines; before then, she had travelled around other parts of South East Asia. She also decided to find accommodation at Ocean 101, the same place I was staying. Anywho, got to the island. My lift to the Ocean 101 was there, waiting for us, and that’s when I knew it was time for me to really soak in the sun!

The Plan

Since I arrived, I never really made any plans for where I was heading; was mostly just going with the flow. After reading a few articles in my lonely planet booklet of the Philippines, I’ve decided there were two places that I had a high interest in visiting: Cloud 9 on Siargao Island, and El Nido, North of Palawan. After a bit of research, I worked out a path for how to get to those destinations to suit my timeframe and budget.

I would leave North Cotabato, heading back to Davao to catch the bus (P750/$16.90) north to Surigao City, an eleven-hour trip. From Surigao City, I would then catch the next ferry to Siargao Island, a one and a half hour trip (P250/$5.60). I'd book my accommodation at Ocean 101 (P750/$16.90), and they would pick me up from the wharf and take me to the resort. I’ve booked accommodation at the resort for the next 9 days, 'til the 2nd of September. There were flights leaving from the island only on Mondays and Fridays, so I booked a flight heading northwest to Cebu, a forty-five minute flight (P2345/$53). I'll be there overnight, hoping to find accommodation through some couch surfing, and then on the 3rd I'll leave Cebu and head west to Peurto Princesa (PP), Palawan - an hour and ten-minute flight (P2625/$59).

From here, I’m mostly just gonna wing it and see what I wanna get up to, but mostly spend my time at the northern tip of Palawan, at El Nido a days bus ride from PP and probably around P700 for the trip. My flight is scheduled to leave Palawan on Friday the 16th of September back to Manila (P1505/$34). I'll need to leave El Nido and catch the bus back down to PP’s airport. There are planes leaving El Nido to Manila, but the flights are pretty expensive. I think I saw flights costing $300. Once back in Manila, I'll have just under a week until I head back to Australia, so I'll probably just catch up with more family until the 21st of September, the day I leave.

Let's go for a walk...

Kadayawan Festival!

I was lucky enough to be around for the Kadwyan Festival, supposedly king of all festivals in the Philippines. Well, that’s what their tag line said on the shirts. With the festival in Davao, I headed back to the city for the weekend it was held. I could tell the city was in festival mode with the louder nightlife (our neighbour was cranking the karaoke machine till four in the morning) and the decorations in the streets. The street parade was pretty cool with all the colourful tribes around the Philippines performing in front of judges for a placing in the competition. I noticed there were HEAPS of other photographers out there, walking through the parade, carrying some serious gear just to get that one shot. I later found out that the city was hosting some massive photography conference, so a lot of big name Filipinos were out in the parade.

I was supposed to have a “media pass” to have access to take snaps inside the parade, but the security seemed to not care that much, they just made sure the crowd would give room for the performers and floats to pass through the streets. I said "Screw this. I’ve got an Aussie passport; that’s my media pass." So like a Bawss, I got in there and tried to make use of the 35mm lens I had in my camera. Also, I’m pretty sure I was on TV, 'cause I eventually just walked with the performers into the main section where the judges and the cameras were - that was definitely a media access only area.

I need your clothes, boots, and your motorcycle...

We had a spare moped at the house that I could use to venture around town. It’s a dodgy vehicle with the front shocks completely busted, front brakes sucking at stopping, and the throttle line a bit loose, but that didn’t stop me rally bashing into the mountains.

Jungle whacking

So, the past few days I’ve been hanging out in the countryside of the Philippines in North Catobato. There’s a lot of venturing to be done, just don’t venture into Muslim territory. We took this mini ute out, wasn’t too sure the model of the car, but it's like a Suzuki mighty boy, which I have back in Australia. Heading off in the beaten truck, I got to the see the smaller villages away from the main township: the little huts and the friendly, curious village people. On the way back we kinda got stuck trying to cross the river. It was one of those Moman moments; the more we’d accelerate, the deeper in we’d get the tires bogged. We placed rocks under the tires, but it was too late. We called in some help and they brought their mini ute (everyone has the same ute around here) and more muscle. With the towing rope placed, we put on the gas until the other ute also got bogged in the river…

With the extra helping hands around we just pushed the other ute in its situation and attempted again with success. I got really burnt that day/got my “summer tan” back.