James takes on the world!

Since I last updated my blog I traveled to a place called Borongan on the East Coast of Samar, Philippines for a little R&R after all of my recent adventures. Borongan is pretty much as far East as you can go in the Philippines and it looks straight onto the open Pacific, the next stop would be Mexico. It took me about a day and a half to get there from Legaspi City on a cramped bus filled with people, bags, boxes, animals and all sorts of other things. At one point I managed to fall asleep only to be woken a few minutes later by a Cockerel which was traveling on board.

I was aiming to stay at a place called Pirates Cove. The beach and surf resort is the idea of 58 year old, self-confessed American surfer ‘Dude’ Pete. It was the strangest and most eccentric place that you could imagine. Pete the owner has basically gone full circle and over the last 22 years he has been reliving his childhood by building this amazing place. He bought a big patch of land on the shore as well as leasing the area of reef, which lies in front of it, from the Philippines government. The Pacific swell creates great surfing, especially during typhoon season. The result of his dream is a giant ‘Pirates Coves’ which is filled with different hidden pools, slides, climbing walls and aquariums, all covered in wild mosaics.

I stayed in one of the beachfront cottages which had an incredible ocean facing glass wall. When I woke up in the mornings, after being soothed to sleep by the sound of the crashing waves, I would opened my eyes and see right out over the stunning bay which was highlighted by the stunning sunrise.

Pete is also in the process of building a six lane Scalextric track which is located in an outbuilding constructed solely for that purpose of housing the track. As a guest I also has free use of all of the fishing equipment, snorkeling gear, diving equipment, bikes, boats and surf boards.

The best thing about it was that I had it all to myself, apart from one other American guy who enjoyed being there so much that he has stayed for the last 9 months.

I stayed for 6 nights, although I had orginally only intended to stay for 3. I went down to the market every other day to buy some seafood such as freshly caught Yellowfin Tuna or Squid. A whole Tuna which weighs around 2.5kg would set you back the equivalent of £3.

I went surfing a on the reef a few times, however, the waves were a lot biggest than the ones I was used to in England so I usually swallowed a load of sea water and then headed back into shore. I also went and did some net fishing with the locals. Using their years of experience they were able to catch a loads of small fish, I however, only caught 1 and that was only because it jumped out of the water and onto my foot.

I finally managed to regain some motivation to move on and and now I am now in Cebu which is the second largest city in the Philippines and is located in the central Visayas. Yesterday I spent the day looking around the city and visited the market, a fort and a mall which was huge, even in comparison to some UK malls.

I am here for one more night and then I wll be heading on to Borneo where I have booked to do my Open Water PADI diving cetificate in an area where there are regular sightings of Turtles.

Since my last update I took a flight from what seemed like the worlds smallest airport on Busuanga Island to Manila and then another flight to Legaspi City in South Luzon, Philippines. I made my way to a small town called Donsol which is famous because it is a well know location for spotting Whale Sharks from November to May who come to feed on the abundant plankton. They can reach as big as 12.5 Meters, although there have been unconfirmed sightings of ones as big as 18 Meters and they are the largest living fish species.

I went out on a boat trip with an American girl, 3 Swedish guys and a French guy called Guillaume that I had met back at the rice terraces and then bumped into again here. We then got to snorkel with these gentle giants for around 3 hours and within this time we swam with 5 individual Whale Sharks.

This is sadly not my picture as I don’t have an underwater camera but it gives you an idea of the size of a small one.

The following day Guillaume and I went back to Legaspi City and took a trek up Mount Mayon which is a 2400 Meter (8000 ft) high volcano which is regarded as a ‘the perfect shaped volcano’ because of its perfect cone-like shape.

It is still an active volcano and the last eruption was in December 2009. We took a guide with us and he navigated us off the trail to the lava bed which is the result of the 2009 eruption. The lava is still steaming however it was safe for us to walk across. We then proceeded up to Camp 1 which is at an altitude of 2500ft.

Today we headed to a nearby black sand beach. On the way to the beach we were invited by a local person to have some lunch with them on our way back. We took him up on the offer and the family of 5 cooked us some great fish, pork, rice and various spicy sauces. They were so kind and they insisted that we should come back again and that they would teach us how to make a local specialty called Bicol Express. We were extremely appreciative of their hospitality, especially as it was evident that they were not at all well off. When we tried to offer them some money as a thank you, they strongly declined and told us to promise to either come back to visit or to show them around if ever they were lucky enough to come to England or France. The Father then took us to his small Coconut plantation where we drank and ate Coconut which he chopped from the trees around us. He then suggested that he would take us to the local cockerel fight (a very popular betting sport in Philippines) however I declined as I decided that a ‘to the death’ cock fight was not something I really wanted to see. However he was not entirely disappointed as my fellow French traveler accepted his invitation. Before leaving he attempted to marry us of to various local Filipino girls and once again, obviously, I had to decline this offer

I arrived last night in a town called Coron on Busuanga Island north of Palawan, Philippines after a 4 day sail around the picturesque islands, and it was one of the most incredible 4 days of my life.

On the boat was the skipper called Jim from Canada, another Jim also from Canada and a Czech girl called Patrika and of course myself, also nicknamed Jim for the trip. We of course thought that it would be appropriate to call ourselves The Three Jims.

We set sail from El Nido and did a couple of short hops to some of the little islands and anchored overnight in a beautiful bay which was home to a small fishing community.

The following day we sailed on the South China Sea for around 30 miles at a steady 7 knots, what the skipper described as “brochure sailing”.

We then anchored on a tiny little island and went ashore to buy some supplies. The community living on the island has no road and they are completely cut off from mainland Philippines apart from a small boat which goes to Palawan once a week and also a radio communication system. As a tourist it would not be possible to reach this island unless you had your own boat like we did. We were immediately greeted by lots of children who, as you can imagine, were in complete shock to see westerners walking around their small village. We chatted to one of the locals who said that they only get around a half dozen visitors a year from those with their own boat. We seemed to be causing a big stir in the community as everyone wanted to say hello to us and follow us wherever we went. The children made fun of our westerner noses which they seemed to find hilarious as according to them they are a lot pointier than a Filipino nose. I took a couple of pictures of them and they almost caused a riot in order to get a peek at themselves on the camera preview screen.

After an hour or so we got the dinghy back to the boat where we were waived off by all of the villagers who had congregated on the beach.

We had another great day of downwind sailing with the spinnaker up (a first for me) and the boat was flying along as we surfed down the big waves.

We dropped anchor in a small protected bay called Coral Bay on the island of Popotan. Within this bay was a stunning 5* resort which according the to the guide book was ‘yacht friendly’ we went ashore and what followed was a great evening where we were encouraged (as if we needed any encouragement) to help ourselves to as much crab, lobster, chicken, pork, fish, vegetables and salad as we wanted from the evening buffet table. We took a little stroll around the resort which was filled with around a dozen Nipa huts all with their own decking area and hammock overlooking the beautiful bay. We drank our way through plenty of red wine, vodka, beer and rum and then Jim II decided he would serenade the bar with a guitar he found, much to the amusement of all of the couples hoping for a quiet, romantic stay.

We went back to the boat and we were greeted with the most incredible mirror like water surrounding the boat which was so still that you could actually watch the stars just by looking in the water. We of course had to take a night swim which was so special as every time you moved your hand or foot there were bright florescent blue sparks everywhere around you from all of the phosphorescence in the water. I floated on the millpond like water and watched the stars whilst glowing blue all around. It was definitely an evening to remember.

In the morning we snorkeled on the coral reef which was beside our anchorage. The water was so clear and the coral was stunning. We saw so many varieties of fish which included Clown Fish (a.k.a Nemo Fish), Parrot Fish, Bat Fish which were around 1ft tall and hundreds more that I couldn’t recognise. The fish would come right up to your face and stare at you as if you were some kind of alien species.

The following 2 days were very laid back as we only had to do half the distance of the previous 2 days. We snorkeled on many old WWII wrecks which were also teeming with life before eventually arriving here in Coron.

This morning me and Jim II hired motorbikes and went on a 30km drive around the island which was mainly made up of dirt roads which made it very hard to stay on the bike.

After finishing this post I am going to go to the nearby Makinit Hot Springs to get rid of all of the dust which I got covered in on the bike.

I arrived on Palawan Island after a 9 hour bus trip, a 4 hour sleep in a bus station with my bag padlocked to me and a 2 hour flight. I had to stay for one night in the capital, Puerto Princesa and then I took a 7 hour minivan to reach paradise (a.k.a El Nido) . It was well worth it and I would have quite happily traveled twice the distance to reach this place.

The only problem I had when I arrived was that paradise was full. I didn’t realise that it was actually peak season, although peak season here means that the 3 beach side huts were fully booked. I was very fortunate to get chatting to a local Filipino lady who told me that her friend had an annex that I could rent. Although it wasn’t right by the beach, it suited me fine as it was a lot cheaper that staying in one of the huts.

Yesterday I took a private boat trip to some of the surrounding islands in the Archipelago on a Bangka (a small outrigger boat). It was stunning, we visited various hidden lagoons and beaches and snorkeled around the many coral reefs which were teaming with hundreds of different species of fish. They say here that you will see more in 10 minutes underwater that you would see in 10 hours above.

I got taking to a guy in one of the local bars who was looking for paying crew to head up to a another smaller island north of where we were called Basuanga. He had already found one crew member and he was looking for 1 or 2 more. I said that I would join them and we are heading out on his 1971, 12.9m Sparkman and Stephens designed sloop called Remington tomorrow. We will take 4/5 days to reach a town called Coron which is famous for its WWII wreck diving. Along the way we will be stopping frequently at many of the tiny islands to do a bit of fishing, snorkeling and beer consumption.

Having conquered the Batad rice terraces Oliver and I decided that we would try and make our way to the Julia Campbell Agroforest Memorial Park which is a 48-hectare organic coffee plantation.

The reason this plantation is so famous is because the coffee is derived from the excrement of the coffee-bean-eating Civet (a cat/fox like creature with a pointed nose). The civet is left to roam the forests freely where they naturally eat the very best and ripest shade grown coffee. The Civet is unable to digest the bean in the centre and it then excretes this. The plantation workers then collect the excreted bean. This coffee sells at £50 per shot in the UK, we were able to buy a large pack at the plantation for 50p.

We made the 2 ½ hour journey to the plantation by Jeepney where we were able to sit on the roof along with various parcels of food, drink, rice and live chickens. The Filipinos looked at us like we were crazy but when we arrived at the plantation and found out that they had only ever had 15 visitors since they opened we realised it was just because they were not used to seeing tourists.

When we arrived we were taken for a trek in the dense, jurassic-like forest by the owners son. He cut down a few banana trees on the way and we helped ourselves to Philippines style bananas which are a more square and shorter version of the bananas that we know in the UK. We finished the hike by finding a viewpoint that looked across the untouched mountains, rice terraces and forests. It was stunningly beautiful. It is seeing sights like this which make me question why so many travelers miss out the Philippines.

The children in the neighboring village found it hilarious having a picture taken and then being able to to see themselves on screen.

I was very tempted to stay on the plantation overnight which is free if you help out during the day, however, we had to get back in time for our bus to Manila ready for my flight to Palawan. We had spent more time than we should have on the plantation and found that we had missed the final Jeepney back to Banaue where our bus departed from and our bags were. We therefore had to get 4 motorbikes and 1 tricycle back only to find that we had missed the bus by 30 minutes. We stayed yet another night in Banaue and Oliver had to leave at 6am this morning in order to get to his flight and I am leaving at 8:30 this evening (hence why I am updating you all again so soon after my last post).

Today Oliver (the Brit from my hostel) and I set out at 7am on a 6 hour trek to the Batad. This was the hardest trek (or bit of exercise for that matter) that I have ever done. We had to hike up extremely steep paths and steps that were really just tiny dirt trails covered in rubble. I have never been so tired in my life, however, when we reached the rice terraces it made the knackering hike more than worth it. I still can’t get over how stunning they were.

We then moved onto the Tappiyah waterfall which was also stunning and the water in the pool was perfectly clear.

We were strongly recommended to take a guide by our guide book and the guides themselves to go with a guide to these terraces and waterfall however our confidence from yesterdays hike made us decide not to take one, especially as they were so expensive. We made it easy enough and only got lost a couple of times. My mind then shifted to the dreaded hike back over the mountains to the tricycle which had waited all day for us.

We made it  back and I am so glad that I did it. We sadly didn’t get back in time for our bus so I am here for one more night.

I arrived in Manila and had a massive culture shock. The area I was staying in reminded me of a slightly watered down version of India. Every person was trying to scrape together a living using what ever method they could. I don’t have any photos mainly because I was a bit affraid to take my camera out with me.

Manila is incredibly cheap to travel around. You can use Jeepneys which are old converted American Jeeps that carry around 16-20 squashed Filipinos. These guys don’t make room for anybody, they squeeze through the tiniest gaps in the traffic and you can hear them coming well before you see them. I also used a many Tricycles, these are great fun, basically 100cc motorbikes with hand made sidecars attached to them. A 20minute journey costs around 50 pence.

I stayed for one night in Manila and then happily got a very very cold 9 hour overnight bus to Banaue in the north.

Banaue is considered as the eighth wonder of the world. It is full of man made rice terraces which line the mountainside. I met another Brit at my hostel on the morning I arrived. We took a 4 hour trip up the mountain to a viewpoint. Although it is cooler here because of the altitude,it is sill in the low 30’s around midday.

Banaue town itself is great. All of the house are thrown together with wood, brick and tin roofs. Tonight we had a 2 hour power cut but this was a good excuse to drink some San Miguel which costs around 50p (this is almost cheaper than the water) and play some cards.

Tomorrow we are going to be doing another 6 hour trek to see some more rice terraces which have just been planted up along with a waterfall and and old mountain village.

After feeling that I had exhausted what Kuala Lumpur had to offer I took a trip with three fellow Brits to the Batu Caves close to the city. After climbing around 1000 steps filled with monkeys up to the entrance we reached the entrance. The cave was filled with various bats but apart from that there wasn’t much to see that was exciting.

The following day I headed to an elephant sanctuary around three hours away. What a day! We were taken by a great guide to the sanctuary. The main highlight was having the privilege of being able to wash the baby elephants in the river. They loved every second of it and they were extremely reluctant to get out.

Next stop Manila, Philippines.

So, I got here fine. The flight was nice and smooth and I managed to sleep for quite a bit of it.

Today I have been exploring the delights of Kuala Lumpur. I woke up quite late in the morning after taking a sleeping tablet at about 4am. In short I have had a great first day. I started out with a nice spicy chicken noodle soup for breakfast followed by a trip to the Petronas Towers.

After relaxing in the KLCC park I wandered across town to the Muslim Mosque and the KL Park where I was pestered by a family of wild monkeys. On the way back to the hostel I stopped off at a Chinese temple where I got covered in ash from hanging joss sticks.

Tonight I have been out for some Cantonese with a couple of fellow Brits that I met at my hostel and then onto a reggae Bar to drink Danish beer (all very Malaysian). I’ll update with more pics and info soon. I hope everyone is well.

Tomorrow is the start of my 6 months of traveling South East Asia. I have set up this blog so that anyone interested can see what I have been up to. I intend to put up regular posts along with lots of pictures. Feel free to add any comments or messages as I would love to hear from you.

If you would like to see a rough outline of my itinerary please Click Here

I will be visiting the following countries:

• Philippines
• Borneo
• Indonesia
• Singapore
• Malaysia
• Thailand
• Laos
• Vietnam

Below is a rough route that I am planning on sticking too: