Well. It’s been a hectic few weeks but the time has come to leave the Philippines and move on to Chiang Mai in Thailand.

Since I’ve been here Internet time has been severely limited and I still can’t find a way to upload photos in this country. Hopefully I will find some time to finish blogging and upload photos over the next few weeks, but I’m afraid most of my adventures in the Philippines will have to go unblogged!

Right now I have one hour to bring you up to date on all the happenings since last weekend.

Monday morning was an early start as at 7am we boarded a bus bound for Sipalay on the North West coast of Negros. The bus was a typical Filipino bus with no air conditioning and subsequently not really any windows. It did have sliding windows but everyone keeps them open because if you have them closed it is ridiculously hot.

Fatima took us to the bus station and told the conductor to look after us and make sure we got off in the right place. Emily and I got on the bus with our large rucksacks and proceeded to sit cramped up with our bags in font of us on uncomfortable seats for the next five hours.

Emily squashed her bag under the seat but as my bag didn’t fit I had it upright between my legs for the entire journey. This wasn’t too bad but it meant I got the window seat. Now whilst this is the coolest place to sit I didn’t factor the hot sunshine being on my arm all day and when I got off the bus five hours later one arm had burnt to a crisp. Just what you want to begin three days of lying on the beach.

The bus dropped us off a very short walk form where we needed to catch the boat. We arrived just in time as the boat from the Takutaka lodge (where we were staying) was just about to go back.

We knew the lodge was in a fairly remote location but didn’t account for just how remote. We got off the boat on a beautiful deserted beach with palm trees lining the shore and discovered the only place we could buy food and water was the lodge.

The lodge where we were staying was amazing. It’s done in a crazy ‘Takutaka’ style which apparently comes from a well know children’s story. Everything there was made from junk. In our bathroom you turned the light on by pressing a stapler into the wall. Another light was made from an old torch and there were crazy decorations everywhere all made using well…junk! I wish I could upload the photos because that would be the best way show what it was like.

We spent three days at the lodge. The first afternoon we spent a bit of time swimming and exploring. Then the second day was a lazy day of reading, swimming, sunbathing, some more reading, swimming and sunbathing. The beach was that quiet we were the only people on it. There was no artificial noise in the background and we could just relax and listen to the sound of the waves lapping against the shore. It was bliss.

The lodge specialises in diving. But not being able to dive we decided to go snorkeling instead. The resort was run by a Swiss/German family and they advised us that the best place to snorkel was Julian’s Wreck.

Julian’s Wreck is a Filipino cargo ship that ran aground on a reef in 1984. As it sunk it broke into three pieces and only lies about seven meters below the surface. It is now covered in brightly coloured corals and an abundance of beautiful fish.

We set off early in the morning because this is supposed to be the best time to snorkel there. We were driven for about 20 minutes into the middle of the ocean before the boat dropped anchor. Already the wreck was visible below the surface. It was a strange feeling to be looking down at a ship wreck and immediately nerves set in. I don’t really know why but seeing the remnants of a boat beneath the surface it suddenly seemed like a really eerie place to snorkel.

I tentatively got into the water swam away from the boat and looked below the surface. As I looked down the outline of the ship was clearly visible. There were places where corals had grown over ladders on the boat and fish were swimming in and out of what used to be windows and doors. As I looked at the myriad of colour beneath me I forgot to be nervous and it no longer seemed eerie. It was fascinating to watch the fish swimming around oblivious to my presence. Every crevice seemed to hold a new kind of fish. Some of them were plain oranges and browns blending into the fire coral that was all around. Others were adorned with bright colours shimmering in the sunlight as they swam.

Swimming around the wreck drinking in the beautiful sight beneath me it was easy to forget the time and before I knew it our time was up and we had to leave the under water wonderland and head back to shore. But not before getting a bit too cocky and swimming down onto the wreck for a closer look. To stop myself floating back to the surface I held onto the fire coral, only to find it was called fire coral for a reason – it stings!!!!

Back on shore there was little else to do but read, relax, sunbathe, swim and relax some more.

During our time reading and relaxing I managed to spend a little to long in the sun and returned to the room looking a little red. It was lucky we were leaving the following day and I would be able to keep my sore body out of the sun.

We arrived back on Thursday afternoon. On Thursday night we took Fatima out for a drink whilst Brain stayed at home with Joshua. A few too many beers were consumed by all and we ended up in the disco. Can you believe it cost 50 pesos (about 50p) to get in including a free drink!

Waking up with a hangover never leads to a productive day and Friday was a bit of a non event. Although we did go out for a bit with Brian to take Joshua to the disco so he could strut his stuff on the dance floor!

Then on Saturday (yesterday) we went out for the day with the whole family to visit Fatima’s grandma who lives in the mountains. The ride took us off the main road and onto a very rough dirt track through rice paddies and sugar cane crops. It was amazing to see field after field of very tall sugar cane. Then just before we arrived at the village the road became too bad and we had to abandon the jeep and go the rest of the way by caribou. Well Emily did. Watching her get on and struggle to stay on I elected to walk the short way to the village.

The village was like nothing I have ever seen. There were about four houses mainly made out of Bamboo, the residents all appeared to be family and there was nothing else for quite some distance. The village was surrounded by sugar cane crops and trees. It was that quiet that even in the middle of the day you could hear insects in the undergrowth. There was a stream running nearby that they used for washing both themselves and their clothes. The village is so remote there isn’t even any electricity and only one toilet to serve all the residents.

I have some pictures and a video of the village that I hope to upload at some point.

For now that all I have time for. I’ll try ad write again once I’ve arrived in Chiang Mai later this week.

* Posted by j150vsc on 01/07/2007.