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Moving South: Guinobatan And Its Mighty Neighbour
Accommodation in the two mountain towns has been a little on the rustic side, without AC and with no storage facility for clothing. Living out of the backpacks for a week in that level of humidity has left everything feeling damp: our clothes, our toiletries, even the bags themselves are wet to the touch. Back for one night in Baguio as we start the journey south, it’s a big relief to be in a dry environment with cool AC and a hot shower, but there’s definitely going to be a need for a laundry session soon. Nothing feels clean and fresh now……but then travelling through humid climates ever was thus….…
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Impressions And Opinions: The Philippines So Far
We’ve been in the Philippines three weeks now so it’s perhaps a good time to reflect on our early impressions. One thing’s for sure, it’s been a very varied three weeks, with a mammoth city, an active volcano, a town of Spanish heritage and a two-centre excursion into the mountains all forming part of the experience. Sunshine, humidity, cool mountain air, torrential rain. So here’s some impressions after those three weeks… People It will probably sound a little crass to put into print just how lovely everybody has been so far. Filipinos have shown themselves to be extremely kind, ultra friendly and considerate, but, in addition, honest. Not one tuk-tuk,…
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The Rice Terraces Of Banaue: A Stay Of Two Halves
Our stay in Banaue took something of a different turn as a proper deterioration in the weather took hold. The Philippines has this week been hit by a weather front known as a “shear line” – no, we hadn’t heard of it either – which has brought torrential rain to several islands. South of here the damage has been much worse with devastating flooding, here in northern Luzon it was less damaging but still pretty extreme. Our perseverance in getting out to the rice terraces on the wet day was rewarded by some better weather on Day 2. This is how it went… The thing which draws visitors to the…
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Sagada: Hanging Coffins, Lemon Pie And The Paytokan Trail
Sagada, say the travel websites, is not an easy place to get to, but is without doubt worth the effort. Let’s deal with the first half of that sentence: it’s a ridiculously long drive to this remote location no matter where you start from. Look at the basic mathematics: a drive of just 143 kilometres (89 miles) takes 6 hours – yep, SIX HOURS ! – so it’s pretty obvious that this is no ordinary journey. There is, of course, no highway, the whole route is a narrow, twisting mountain road of steep inclines, dramatic descents and tight hairpin bends. Add to that trucks struggling up the mountains, long trails…
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Baguio, City Of Pines
Slowly, slowly the bus hauls up the mountain road, climbing ever higher above the pine clad slopes and dramatic valleys, dragging round sharp hairpins until eventually we’re even above the clouds which cover the mountainsides in a giant cotton wool coat. It’s an incredible view from the bus window even before the setting sun sends unlikely shades on to the rolling clouds below, casting the pine forests into a ghostly golden twilight. This spectacular is, remarkably, to be outdone by the skies of the following evening….but of course we don’t know that yet… We hadn’t been sure about the bus, in terms of how we would get a seat. You…
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Unwrapping The Philippines, Where Spain Meets The Orient
Our first week in the Philippines has given us an introduction to the customs and culture of the country and, whilst we have been surprised by the huge volume of American food outlets here (never mind the ubiquitous McDonalds, Starbucks, KFC etc, there’s even Denny’s and Dairy Queen), there’s one clash of cultures which is really piquing our interest: the fusion of Spanish and Chinese – or should we say Oriental. Unlikely as it seems, these two wholly disparate cultures are melded together here in ways which are surprising and unmissable. Tagalog, the most widely spoken language of the Philippines, is laced with Spanish words, both written and spoken. “Parar”…
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Doha To Manila: From The Pearl To The Grit
Philippines, Manila, Binondo, China Town, Chinese New Year, Intramuros, Jeepney, Travel journalism, Travel photography, Manila Masacre, Independent travel,
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Stopovers: Too Good To Be True?
We’d seen the offers, first from TAP we think, but hadn’t really investigated too deeply. It was only when we read a post written by Rochelle at adventuresfromelle that we started to realise that the changing concept of what a stopover might constitute may just be something which we could embrace for our benefit. What happened next seems too good to be true. Qatar Airways will be the chosen airline for our next ultimate destination, and, when booking, they were pushing a stopover in Doha. Further investigation made it clear that the difference between passing through Doha airport within three hours and stopping in the centre of Doha in a…
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Retracing Our Steps: Different Sides Of Bodrum
One last morning cappuccino in the Greek island sun, one last tickle of the friendly cat with the pretty face, one last pastry from the savoury counter, and it’s time to pack the bags and wander round to the ferry point. With impeccable timing, Meltemi has taken a rest day and the Aegean is benign and flat as well as its usual spectacular blue. When we looked out on our first morning on Kalymnos, preparations for some sort of ceremony were underway, one which lasted through the Sunday morning and featured the army, a naval captain, a marching band and what appeared to be most of the island’s dignitaries. The…
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Kalymnos: Diving For Sponge And The Joy Of Meze
Skevos is clearly pleased to see us or, more accurately, pleased to see someone, anyone, because being a museum curator out of season can be a lonely job. He has a face which carries a natural smile which is completely disarming in its sincerity. His full head of cascading white hair is long enough to sit neatly on the shoulders of his zipper jacket, nestling on the collar in the style of a rock band lead singer still strutting his stuff in the bars of Pothia. But he’s not here to sing, he’s here to tell us about sponge diving. Sponge diving museum He does so in articulate English and…
