Home » Philippines » The journey continues...(ok, so these titles are lacking in inspiration - any ideas?)

These last couple of weeks have been a mixture of the rushed and relaxed. To start at the beginning, which you have doubtless realised rarely happens in my blogs, arriving in Cebu, I gave myself a similar challenge to Manila of getting to my hostel in Cebu City without the use of a [boring] taxi. Naturally, arriving during a monsoonal downpour gave me second thoughts, but they both passed quickly, and so first I went in search of a tricycle to Lapu-Lapu City, though I am at a loss to the use of the word 'city' here. It was more of a random collection of backstreets, which I travelled through on the back of a bike, rucksack still firmly attached to my back, and more than one confused stare from a local. Unlike many travellers that, ironically, actually don't like travelling, I'm not one of them - not yet anyway (ask me again when I reach India). On local transport particularly, I enjoy the partial unexpectedness of it; it's a great way to see a lot and get a feel of an area and its people, even if it can often take twice as long. Thus, 3 hours later, with two jeepney transfers and a lot of help from locals (as I arrived without a map or any prior knowledge of names of local districts - I come prepared, as always), I got to the busy centre of Cebu City.

The journey continues...(ok, so these titles are lacking in inspiration - any ideas?)

Simon Wadsworth
2006-09-04 17:02:21

Displayed times (last time: )

a small village, has tarsiers caged up ready for the worst type of tourist. Of course, this is illegal and I did not visit this place. However, the sanctuary is doing some great work on the other hand, and over the years has released many dozen tarsiers to the wild. When I visited there were 10 growing tarsiers in a 1Ha enclosure, of which I said hello to 3, with the help of a guide with great eyesight. Besides their large, Marty Feldman-style eyes, you immediately notice 2 things about them - how utterly utterly titsily witsily small they are (they could just about fit into the palm of my hand, with an average weight of 31g) and how they take the word 'cute' to a whole new level. This might have something to do with waking them up mid-sleep, being nocturnal, and mostly the only movement we saw was the slow owl-like turning of their heads. Nevertheless, like all of nature's creatures, they're remarkable; for example, when not being prodded by digital cameras, they can jump over 3metres, and one of their eyes is bigger than their entire brain! However, contrary to popular belief, they are not the world's smallest moneky, as they are more closely related to lemurs and lorises, not being a species of monkey at all. They were definitely on of the most fascinating animals I've ever seen.

The rest of my time has been spent doing absolutely nothing. And what a good feeling being lazy is! After restlessly moving from place to place nearly every couple of days for the majority of my travels so far, I felt I needed a serious break for a few days, and sun, sea and sand usually does the trick. Unfortunately, most easily accessible beaches are advertised as being beautiful, as long as you don't mind sharing this beauty with 100 others. For those of you who know the Philippines, places like Borocay, Malapascua or Maolboal. Instead, I went to an island called Bantayan, north of Cebu, where the tourists are lacking (so far) but the beaches ...