Rob and Anna's travel adventure

Philippines - Dumaguete and Siquijor Island

Anna's entry:

Introduction - Philippines, really???
We have not planned on adding the Philippines to this SE Asia trip, but very glad we went for it. Normally, we disregard the suggestions of I-know-it-all "travelers" (quite frankly most of them are worthless, and it is actually almost always better to do quite the opposite of what has been advised), but there are rare exceptions. While traveling in Indonesia, we met a couple of Dutch travellers who we truly respected and sincerely enjoyed the company of, and they encouraged us to explore the Philippines. So, during our stay in Singapore, we arranged our visas to spend a couple of months in the Philippines. Actually, after securing the visas, we almost decided to cancel them and not to go - due to a misinforming guide book's advice which portrayed the Philippines as another rip-off experience (which we've had enough by now), with high pricing attached to it. Luckily, we persuaded ourselves to give the Philippines a try. It took as some time, but by the end of our two-months journey we knew it would be very sad for us to say good-buy to that country, and several events would forever become the life long memories... But, let's go step by step of what has happened...

Arrival - Dumaguete
My goal was to take us away from Manilla and Cebu - two largest cities, and with that hopefully avoid the ruthless nature of rip-offs. For our arrival I chose a small size city of Dumaguete, located on the Negros Island. After changing planes in Manilla and paying the "connecting plane fee" which in my opinion is a rip-off, we finally landed in Dumaguete International Airport - looking more like a bus stop surrounded by a tropical garden. Normally, we would make our way to the city, but to my surprise we were punctually met by a free shuttle arranged by a hotel we had to book. "Booking rooms" was another unfamiliar notion - we usually just show up, no matter day or night, but not in the Philippines! You'd better have something arranged in advance - that was something we really had to get used to, as flexibility and independence is number one priority for us... Anyway, the plan was to spend a few days in Dumaguete to get a re-adjustment to "reality" after a very nice and comfortable stop-over in Singapore. And, afterwards, take a boat to the island of Siquijor for about a week to do some snorkeling hopefully.
The hotel I booked for us turned out to be a very pleasant pleasant place (about $10 per night) that came with a free TV, free internet access, free continental breakfast, all-day coffee and tea, lockers and top notch security - so we have decided to pamper ourselves for a little bit longer before heading out to more rustic islands... By the way, later on we ran into a Brit who happened to stay in the same hotel - he was bitching to other travelers about the place (obviously he had not been around much, but knew an answer to everything - see why I am saying don't listen to most "backpackers"?). Anyway, we have been doing nothing for several days - enjoying our satellite TV, sipping freshly brewd coffee, and catching up on the news, movies, and documentaries. Though I did have to put some work in the detailed planning - we had to sketch out our route in this new for us place. After all, there are more than 7,000 islands that the country consists of...

Philippines seems different - it reminds us a lot of Latin America (except it is a lot more modern), with lots of Spanish names and all these brightly painted houses, except that majority of population speaks English (I keep restraining myself from asking a question in Spanish, which would be silly and strange of course). People are definitely more reserved, but polite. After Indonesian we got spoilt with attention from the locals, but here we seem to be ignored for the most part. It is something new to get used to. On one hand, it is nice to be left alone, but on the other, do they really see that many foreigners around here? We start to wonder, how we will be treated on other islands, will we be welcomed, will we win the local hearts? I sure hope so, it is a long way to come here...



The Island of Witches - Siquijor















The Island of Siquijor was feared for a long time because of the numerous legends about the witches inhabiting the island. Nowadays, no one seems to see one, but locals still believe they are there....

We arrived to the Island of Siquijor after 11 p.m. and were met by a habal-habal (motorcycle taxi). We questioned the necessity of reserving a place and a ride in advance, but came to find out it was a must. After a fast ride in complete darkness via a highway, dirt road, and through what it seemed a palm fringed coast, we eventually got dropped off by a place by the cliffs. We saw a concrete pathway steps heading down to the water where we saw the lights and hatched roofs. We began descending with our heavy backpacks, but a few seconds later a young cutely dressed Philippino lady greeted us. "You don't need to go all the way down and then up", she said with a smile, "Your cottage is right behind you". She showed us to our wooden cottage which came with a complete kitchen (including gas stove, table, chairs, shelves, dishes, skillets, etc.). "You can check-in tomorrow, and if you are missing anything for cooking, let me know!". Knowing that the food in this remote place was pricey, we brought all food supplies with us from Dumaguete. Plus, it felt nice to be able to be self-sufficient and cook some Western food for a change. The cottage with the kitchen and a bathroom was a rare value, it cost about $16 a night, and as we came to find out it was the best deal on the island. We spent the entire week on the island, and kept seeing other travellers being turned away due to a lack of availability (we've learnt quickly that Philippines works different for places to stay, and if you are looking for a good value, you'd better book in advance, even in the remote areas). Every morning we would wake up to a wind of palm trees caressing the thatched roof of our cottage - the cottage was located on a cliff over-looking a fine white sand beech and blue waters of the ocean. The "resort" as it is called here, was in a pretty remote area, very quiet and self-sufficient. It was a complete tranquil exile, good enough for meditation. Though the marine life, as we came to find out, was quite disappointing. We learnt from a long-term diving instructor, that the waters around here were "fished to death", so nothing exceptional could be found in the last 8 years. Sure, there was a regular colorful tropical fish, but nothing too spectacular (though I must add in some parts the table coral was surprisingly stunning). After Indonesian Borneo (where we got used to a plethora of tropical species including giant sea turtles and occasional manta rays and sharks), the waters around Siquijor were disappointing. We have tried to go to other points on the island - gorgeous scenery, but marine life was similarly very poor. We saw a couple of banded sea-snakes, and to-be-expected tropical fish, but that's about it. Sad situation for us, marine life fans... To correct that, I put on priority the research, so I could take us to see something we haven't encountered yet, specifically - magnificent whale sharks. If that could happen, then the trip to the Philippines would be worth the long way. I narrowed my research to two places that we could explore on our journey through the Philippines. It will take us many stops, islands and sea crossings before we make it there, but I thought it would definitely be worth it. That also meant that we would be skipping the island of Cebu (which turned out to be the right decision as we found out later). We still had a lot of stop-overs before us, the next one of which would be the island of Bohol. Our ferry crossing was scheduled for around mid-night. We had many hours ahead of us, which we used for cooking our last spaghetti supper in our well-utilized kitchen, relaxing in a hammock, and walking on the perfectly white sandy beach. We could see sea stars slowly moving in the ocean puddles formed by a slowly approaching tide. We were wondering what the next island would be like after all that peace and quite on Siquijor...

Eventually, we bid good-buy to our hospitable Philippino hostess, and made our way to the highway to pick up a habal-habal to the nearest ferry town. We stood on the highway with our large backpacks, and three elderly ladies joined us in waiting. Eventually, habal-habal pulled over, and the women and us started climbing in the crammed seats. The ladies offered us to take the best seats, while they climbed the awkward motorcycle seats half hanging next to the driver. We were embarrassed that the elderly women would have to do that instead of us, but they insisted they've got used to it, and that it was fine with them. We were very touched by their kind gesture. The tiny motorcycle with six people (including the driver) and our huge backpacks was making its way along the highway; we got dropped off by a ferry station and began exploring our food options - since we had good four hours before the ferry departure. We nibbled our way around the night streets, and eventually ended up at a small convenience store with a place to sit down and consume a soda. We started chatting with the family running a store, and got to know a lot of details about their life on the island. And, that late night on Siquijor, something happened. We began feeling that there was a reason we chose to come here, and that there was a lot more to be explored.

So, I guess Siquijor still has retained the spell of the witches. Even now, typing this entry many months later, long after the Philippines journey has been over, I still could remember perfectly the island, and my memory is subconsciously drawn to the little dot on the globe. Yes, I started to feel spelt by the Philippines, and the Siquijor - the island of the witches - must have had something to do with that ...

posted by Rob and Anna @ 11:59 PM