I didn’t want to, but it was time to go back to work again today. It felt weird to wear shoes again after 3 weeks in slaps…
This trip in the Philippines was just amazing! It went all the way with no trouble, just easy times moving around from island to island, seeing crazy landscapes both above and under the sea, meeting very nice and friendly people, tasting fresh fruits and food and just enjoying in the sun.
We were really lucky though because August is the rainy season and most of the Philippines is affected. Specially the west side, and then on the east side typhoons regularly hit the coast. So we had a few doubts before leaving but this is why we opted to go to the Visayas region which was supposed to be more protected from the rain. And it was! At least during our 3 weeks!

We started out in Boracay where we stayed in a place called Villa Camilla on the south tip of the beautiful White beach, and did a kiteboard course for 4 days with the Hangin crew and the best rider from the island for sure, our coach Merck! It was lots of fun and the beer ar sunset with all the guys was always a mellow moment!
Than on Bohol’s alona beach we stayed in this nice place called Alona tropical and dived with Atlantis dive and cruised the island on a bike.
On Negros we visited Dumaguete and then stayed 4 days on Apo island, a divers paradise but also a real local community life dedicated to preserving their environment.
And to finish it up, we cruised around Manila for a day to experience true asiatic chaos

Moving around was really easy. Since we didn’t have soo much time we had to use little planes. However it was not to expensive and saves lots of time. We also used a few boats, tricycles, tuc tucs, slaps…! Travelling in the low season is also cool, because prices are down everywhere and there is no need to book anything in advance.
So this was our trip, mostly beach and outdoor sports oriented. But Philis offers much more diversity and everyone can find it’s share and live a great adventure from the rice fields of Banaue to the surf beaches of Siargao island. Philippines has much to offer and the locals are the ones which make the trip special! So forget about the negative ideas people generally have about the Philis and go there!
A great place to find info about travelling in the Philippines is the website from Jens Peter.

Here you can find a first album with some of our pics! Hope you like them!

We made it to Apo island after one night stop in the town of Dumaguete on the island of Negros. Dumaguete is quiet a pleasant town compared to other towns we have seen for now in the Philippines, but still it was no use staying to long. We organised our transfer to Apo and the return to Manila and just moved on…

Apo Island is a little unspoiled paradise. This tiny island has just one village and one dive lounge. The whole island is a diving sanctuary and the locals established a community to protect their environment. We were almost alone in the lodge, diving two times everyday and chilling the rest of the time contemplating the amazing view, or the smiles of the kids on the beach at sunset!! The dives were amazing, because the visibility was huge and the guides showing us so much stuff..like being in an aquarium and taking a biology lesson!! crazy! The highlight must be the nice eagle ray that we spotted and that just peacefully swam (flew?) around and away from us….

Ok, now we are back down on earth and in the chaos of Manila! Tomorrow we’ll go around a bit before heading back home on Thursday. What a trip! Go to the Philippines!!!

So we dived twice in Baligasa Island. Baligasa is a 30 to 40 minute boat ride from Alona beach and the sea was pretty rough so you can imagine in what state we were all day! 
The dives were nice but not incredible because rough sea means a lot of sand moving around and this affects visibility. However we saw some very nice coral gardens, a lonely turtle, a couple of barracudas, and hundreds of colorful fishes! Our 100% german dive trip partners were, well, german! Ok the bad point is that I had problems equalising with one ear so my second dive was a complete failure.

Yesterday we decided to go tripping around Bohol island so we just rented a bike and went cruising around. We visited some beautiful old stone chuches, as well as the Tarsier center. The Philippine Tarsier is like a gremlins! It’s a 10 – 20 cm creature with huge eyes which can jump 5 meters. Daka will say it!s “sooo cute”. I think it looks weird! His eyes are bigger than his brain…

The objective of our bike trip was to go see the landscape of the Chocolate hills. No this is not Switzerland even though with a name like that it sure sounds suisse! The Chocolate hills “are eroded formations of a type of marine limestone that sits on top of hardened clay“. The scenery up there is beautiful…like thousand goosebumps spreading in the middle of rice fields.

So that’s it! today we chill big time before moving on tomorrow to APO island! Supposedly one of the best dive spots in the country! Till then be guapo!

Alona beach is on Panglao Island next to Bohol. It took us the whole day to get there from Boracay because we had to take a plane and than a boat! But we are here now and the place looks great! The weather is still fantastic and we are off for a treat of crazy dives! More in a few days…!

We are lucky b*st*rds because last week it was pouring non stop rain in Boracay and the wind conditions were horrible. But it all cleared up for us and we enjoyed 4 days of perfect kiteboarding conditions! We got a course with the Hangin crew, super nice local guys, and our teacher Meriyn teached us all the basics. On the second day, Nico was already riding the kite up wind on the board, and today I succeeded to stand up and ride it too!!! weeeee! We are having the best time and are completly sunburned but addicted to it!

Happy Birthday : Claire, Remi, Luka, Etienne, Valerie, Yogi, Vincent, Geil!
Best wishes from sunny Borakite!

Left our place at 8h15 on saturday morning in Paris and we made it straight to Boracay. It’s 17h45 local time, so something like 11h45 in europe and we are here!!! 27 hours of non stop travelling! A metro, a plane, another plane, a taxi from the international airport to the domestic one in Manilla and straight on the plane to Caticlan on the main island opposite Boracay, than a 20 minutes walk to the jetty, a boat ride, a tricycle ride and just when we made it to the White Beach it’s started to rain ‘moonsoon style’so we sheltered in this internet cafe before finding our place to stay, eat and relax for the next days! pa pa!

From the Guardian :

The genesis of plans to detonate bombs simultaneously on a number of civilian airliners goes back to the so-called Bojinka plot by Islamist fundamentalists in the mid-1990s.

The foiled operation has similarities to attacks planned in the Philippines and organised by two prominent jihadi figures: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi Yousef.

KSM, as he is known in US intelligence circles, was the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Yousef was the alleged organiser of the underground bombing of New York’s World Trade Centre in 1993. “Bojinka” reportedly means “loud bang” or “explosion” in Serbo-Croat, a term supposedly adopted by KSM after fighting in the Balkans.

The two jihadists moved to the Philippines in 1994 to develop their plans to strike at the United States. The operation they proposed relied on smuggling liquid-based explosives on board scheduled passenger services. The aim was to bring down as many as a dozen flights, killing up to 4,000 on board planes bound for Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and New York.

The plot was foiled when a fire broke out in an Manila apartment, which had been converted into a bomb factory.
Chief Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza, a Philippine police intelligence officer who helped uncover Bojinka, said al-Qaida had to be considered as a suspect in the UK plot.

That’s how a local kiteboarder from Boracay tried to discourage us from visiting the jewel of the Philippines. Boracay is a beautiful small island, probably the best known by tourists and the most developed also (on the downside). It has one the most famous beaches of South East Asia called “White Beach”. It also is a top funboard/kiteboarding spot, and we are planning to take some kite lessons there. However when we tried to get some infos from the local kite clubs there, this dude warned us that it’s not the best wind conditions right now. But it might be good enough for beginners like us!
However he then send me this video from ”normal” January to May Boracay when the wind is really steady and it’s the best time!

Btw, we also have friends of friends who are tripping in the Philippines right now and posted some videos on their blog (in slovene). They are on Boracay right now so check it out! (Good news is: it’s not raining! ha!)

Mount Mayon is almost a symbol of the Philippines. It’s a beautifully coned shaped volcanoe. I donno why but it decide to celebrate our arrival and is giving out a fire show right now…

A volcano in the Philippines sent six explosions of ash about a half mile into the air Monday, prompting authorities to warn that an eruption appeared imminent and to evacuate tens of thousands of people.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alert for the 8,118-foot Mayon volcano to Level 4, the second-highest level. Officials also extended the government’s permanent “danger zone” from 4.3 miles to 5 miles on the volcano’s southern side.
About 35,000 villagers were being evacuated Monday, and an additional 20,000 people will be moved out if there is a major eruption, said Gov. Fernando Gonzalez of Albay province, about 210 miles southeast of Manila on Luzon island.

Mayon is one of the Philippines’ 22 active volcanos. Its most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried a town in mud. A 1993 eruption killed 79 people.
The Philippines is in the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common.

Oups…

Next saturday we are on the move to the Philippines! We are going there for about 3 weeks. We are flying through Bahrain, and since we have a four hours stopover we might try to go around to check out something else as the airport’s lounges!
To prepare the trip we got some really good advices from friends who lived in Manilla or went there on holidays already, but we also had good mail exchanges with people over there, had a lot of replies on questions left on the Lonely Planet’s forum, and read good reviews on places to stay or things to do on travel sites like tripadvisor. Internet really changes everything, and brings people closer. Plus reading about people who stayed there or have done that is much more valuable.

Ok now check out this video which should make you want to go to the Philippines too!