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Philippines: Definitely the most underrated Southeast Asian country. I myself did not have a burning desire to go to the Philippines. But last January Lisa said "Let's go to the Philippines for Golden Week." I thought, sure...beach, sand, fun....let's book it! So for Golden Week this year (I guess you could say the Japanese Spring Break. There are three national holidays in one week so many people take the time to travel travel travel = expensive prices!) Lisa and I, with two late additions Misha and Ryan, headed out to the Philippines! What an incredible, beautiful, and wonderful country. I hope that my entries about our trip and the photos can do it justice. I seriously can't wait to return someday, and I hope it is in the near future.
The Hills are Alive with Chocolate....
Casey Lary2006-10-06 16:58:20
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Yup, the Filippino families we met sure beat the bars.
The morning started with going into some caves that were similar to the ones up at Shasta Caverns, just not as well preserved. In these caves they really don't care if you do touch the stalagmites, whereas in Shasta Caverns if you do they will cut off your arm. Next we went to see this HUGE snake called Pawny. She was cool, but what was more entertaining was the lady-boy who told us all about the snake and other random creatures, aka freak show, that the place had to offer. Favorite fact of the day: Pawny's poo was the size of a big cake and is white. Next we went on a Loboc River cruise. At port they had an abundance of the cutest little furball-marsupials I have ever seen. Ryan heard about these lil buggers, called Tarsiers and talked about how he was going to make one his lunch. Upon seeing these lil guys they were even smaller than expected, and would have just left Ryan even hungrier- so he opted to hold out for our all-you-can-eat cruise. I fell in love with these little guys and wanted to take one home- yet Japanese customs will barely let me back in the country, let alone a random marsupial. On the riverboat cruise they played horrible music, so Misha took over on the mic, and decided to tell the entire boat it was my 28th birthday and dedicated the next song to me. He sang me "Gloria" by Van Morrison, putting my name in everytime he the name Gloria came up- how romantic and fun ;-). Post riverboat cruise we headed up to the the Chocolate Hills- one of the main reasons we came all the way down to Bohol. They are called the Chocolate Hills because during dry season the grass dries up and they turn brown, like CHOCOLATE. All 1608 of these hills are a natural phenomenom. They honestly look like they are man-made and some crazy burial site, but they are all natural. They have a huge viewing stand. We went up there and Lisa and I became celebrities. A Filippino family- we are talking aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, grandmas, half cousins etc etc, were on a trip and decided they wanted to take a photo with us. The more I travel in Asia the more I feel like I am famous! It's fabulous! For Misha, looking
at the hills was not enough. He purposely brought his hiking boots to hike a chocolate hill. On our way back to Alona Beach Misha spotted the hill he wanted to climb. We started off-roading in Pancha's little truck. A bunch of kids saw us drive up and we told them we wanted to hike the hill. They took us to a path around the back. Without these kids, there was no way we would have been able to successfully climb the hills. Similar to the cables at half dome, these little kids just scurried up the side of the hill. It was slow and go for the foreigners! Still, we made it to the top! Mt Everest eat your heart out...we got to the top of a chocolate hill! After our successful summit we made it to the bottom, encountered a flat tire, but soon enough made it back to the beach. Definitely one of the best days of the trip.
We opted for one more swim as the sun started to set... the next day we were headed back to Manila. The Visayas, Bohol, Siguijor, and Panglao to be exact, were phenomenal. Beautiful beaches, few tourists, crystal
clear turquois water, and tons of stuff to do. Our only complaint was that we wish we had more time. Would have been awesome to snorkel or scuba dive. I must say the Philippines turned out to be a lot more than I ever expected it to be, and is a hidden treasure among the Southeast Asian backpacker path- and would reccommend anyone to make the trek there. Romantic getaway aside (bc well that was really amazing), southern Philippines was incredible!
Next stop: Cebu, Manila, and Banaue.....the adventure continues
See photographs from:
Philippines Gallery
My name is LAR and I'm a Filipino. I made a site to promote the beautiful island nation of the Philippines through pictures, and I am currently inviting anybody, Filipino or not, who visited/travelled the Philippines to help build my 'Photographic Profile' page.
If you have some time to answer a few questions and share some pictures of your favorite places in the Philippines, I will create a profile for you on my site. Through this, I aim to help more travelers, photographers and people get in touch with each other and publicly share information about the Philippines.
Please visit www.philtravelphotos.com for more information.
Thank you for your time and I truly hope to hear from you. Best regards!
Welcome to the beautiful Philippines!
L. A. de los Reyes
www.philtravelphotos.com
www.sapot-litrato.philsites.net
LAR, 2008-10-01 09:28:29