Philippines Trip Recap
Before I post the videos, I thought I’d do a follow-up and tell you exactly where I went, what I did, and why. So, here’s a rough Google Map of the route that I took around the Central Visayas. Below it I’ll chronicle each day. For those who are interested, that is. Ha ha. The entries are pulled from shorthand notes in my JET Journal. Needless to say, this is a gargantuan entry. 
Read on if you’re curious!
December 20th – I took the Orange Ferry from Toyo Port to Osaka overnight.
December 21st – I met up with Kathy in Osaka, had a marvelous Mexican lunch at El Pancho’s (ぐるなび page) in Shinsaibashi, and shopped for Christmas gifts – both for the exchange we were invited to and separately for Tata, our guide, and Osa, his wife. Then we headed to the airport and stuffed our winter clothes into our jackets and checked them in for about 2 weeks. We flew from Osaka to Seoul, then from Seoul to Cebu. Landed at Mactan International Airport in the wee hours of the morning, met Tata, and checked into the Boyla Diving Resort. Didn’t sleep much due to a cockroach. I hate those things. The room was pretty gross, actually, due to a screw up. There was used TP in the trash can, no fresh TP, no hot water, no cable, and the aforementioned creepy crawly. Not a great first night.
December 22nd – Woke up, had breakfast, and headed to the Ayala shopping mall. We exchanged our spending money. In retrospect, we could have avoided a lot of pain for Tata had we exchanged ALL of our money up front. Alas, we didn’t know any better. We ate lunch, trying both a local type of chorizo (yum!), and a stew that featured slabs of gelatinous cow skin (blech!). Then we went to a dive shop nearby and bought our wetsuits – a very smart investment. Then we went back to Boyla and were antisocial. (The staff threw a Christmas party. It obligated us to provide gifts for an exchange that we weren’t prepared for, plus Kathy felt sick, and we were both drained from the wacky flight schedule. Plus, I hadn’t slept cause of the dang cockroach. The second night was an improvement – though the roach was still there, mocking me. ha ha.) Instead of hitting the party, we hit the PADI Open Water Diver Manual – our textbook for the certification course.
December 23rd – Woke up and had breakfast again (Boyla’s food was pretty darn good – switched to the beef tocino, from the local sausage on this day). We were studying for the majority of the day, finishing up the Knowledge Reviews, which are like chapter tests, for the first 3 chapters of the book by lunchtime. We then had our very first confined water dive in the pool at Boyla. We practiced setting up and breaking down our gear a few times, putting it on and taking it off a few times, did the first of 2 swimming endurance tests, took our masks off and cleared them underwater a few times, swapped regulators, snorkel stuff, etc. All the basics. Then we went to the other big mall in the area – SM. We met with Debra, a wonderfully friendly teacher at a school in Seoul, formerly a Peace Corps volunteer in Zimbabwe, on holiday visiting Cebu. We had dinner at a great Thai place and I bought the first piece of clothing that I had in about…2 years? A pair of shorts from the surplus store – I love them. Then we headed back to Boyla and turned in.
December 24th – Christmas Eve. We woke up and checked out at 4:30 AM to try and catch a ferry…for which there were no remaining tickets. We wound up taking a bus to Dumaguete instead, and then a ferry across to Siquijor. We checked into Paraiso Siquijor Resort, with lovely little bungalows. We wrapped some gifts that we brought (and avoided giving away at the earlier party) as a pig was being slaughtered for our dinner. We ventured out to see the fellows roasting the pig on a spit, and it looked yummy. (Sorry, vegetarians.) The party was held at Tata’s extended family’s house. We feasted together, then played games with the children, did the gift exchange (got a towel!), and danced. I was called upon to eat calamansi lime, which is really similar to a sudachi lime (酢橘), in less than 5 seconds. They’re small and tart as anything. Yum. Watched the stars for a bit before bed. Gotta love the rural countryside’s sky.
December 25th – Christmas. Egg sandwich breakfast…seemed to be all Paraiso was capable of making for a while there. First things first, we knocked out the Knowledge Reviews for chapters 4 and 5. Had lunch with Osa’s dad, Ralph. We all had chicken. I had the adobo, Kathy had the halang-halang (spicy-spicy), and Ralph had the nasty bloody chicken. By which I simply mean that frying frozen chicken results in a “GBD” outside, raw on the inside meal. He had it fixed. Kathy and I had to swim straight out and snorkel for ages, then turn around and come back. We were being way to careful about not touching the bottom and literally tried to stay afloat in only a few inches of water – needlessly. I cannot tell you how frustrating it was. I was exhausted. Snorkeling in stupidly shallow water is no fun, and is way harder than scuba. Ha ha. Speaking of which, we had our first dive on Christmas! We dove with Tata and John, a Peace Corps volunteer and Advanced Open Water Diver. We went back to Tata’s family’s house for dinner and ate during a brownout, which is a blackout in my terminology. We shared the candlelight meal with Tata, John, Brit – another current Peace Corps volunteer / Divemaster, Fabian and Celesti – a Frenchman / Filipina couple on vacation. The leftovers and conversation were marvelous. The brownout caused us to miss reviewing the Recreational Dive Planner, though. That was lame. We paid Tata the remainder of his fee in Japanese Yen, and gave specially bought Christmas gifts to Tata and Osa.
December 26th – We had a morning dive scheduled for today, but it was canceled. First we were told that it was delayed. Then that they were having trouble filling tanks. Then that the tanks were not going to be filled. In the end, the dive was scrapped. We were really let down. At the end of the day we had 1 dive instead of the promised 3. That SUCKED. At least we dove deeper than we had previously. We also checked the Knowledge Reviews with Tata, so that they were completed and out of the way. We went to a sweet restaurant called JJ’s Café for dinner – again during a brownout! We saw fireflies way up in the trees on the ride home.
December 27th – We had an “island tour” on this day. That basically meant that Osa, Kathy, and I met up with Bismark – Tata’s right hand man and divemaster extraordinaire, and rode in a Jeepney all around Siquijor. We saw the local coral brick church, the largest Catholic monastery in Asia (no longer in use), the Cambugahay Waterfalls on the Poo River (pronounced poh’oh, kinda, but I prefer the juvenile interpretation), the public beach, and the Century Tree. We also got our first taste of buko, or young coconut, which is great. They vendor will hack off the top thin enough so that you can stab a straw through and drink the water from inside. It’s like a sports drink, really. Then you hand it back and they hack the top off or cut it in half, and provide you with a chunk of the coconut that they’ve carved into a spoon. You use it to shave the flesh – which really does have the texture of sashimi – and eat it. Yum! We had a really disappointing snack at the burger shop (where they put mayo combined with banana ketchup on everything apparently, yuck), but made up for it by heading back to JJ’s Café later for dinner. Headed to bed afterward, in preparation for an early morning.
December 28th – In order to avoid rough seas, we caught the 6 AM ferry to Dumaguete, drove down the coast, and met our dive boat to make the passage across to Apo Island. Our party was comprised of Tata, Osa, John, Brit, Bismark, a German couple, and 2 Italian families. We got 2 dives in on this day, which were absolutely amazing. On the first we spotted and swam with a sea turtle. Breathtaking. The second was more of a coral wall dive with a current. We saw a lionfish, which was neat. Also, at one point we rose above a coral outcropping that we’d been underneath earlier, and our bubbles were filtering through the coral – we were swimming through bubble curtains like a movie or something. It was great. We bought some t-shirts from the super-pushy Apo Island sales brigade, and headed back. We ate at Jo’s Chicken Inato in Dumaguete that night, and tried the infamous halo-halo for the first time. Delicious!
December 29th – We had another “island tour” on this day, which we started after Tata and I went by a place to scan my glasses for my prescription so that I could make a purchase later. The handicraft factory was closed for holidays, so that was stricken and instead it was basically just a tour of a gift shop. We walked through and looked at some cool furniture, though. We went by a really fascinating private house / museum put together by a WWII veteran who collected loads of Japanese military miscellany. Bombs, grenades, blade weapons, uniforms, money, coupons, and even machine guns. It was sobering, and neat. We went to have native chicken at the Forest Camp, but they were out of it – strike two for the day – so we had some wonderful seafood and pasta instead. We saw a rare red bird that had the Filipinos among us all excited – apparently that bird is usually yellow. Later that day the girls went for massages (one of which was a brutal pain-fest – like every massage I’ve ever had, apparently, ha ha), and the guys went down to the docks and ate fried squid with sweet and spicy sauce. We were also targeted by some begging children about 35 or 40 times in just 20 minutes. It was nuts. Tata, being the kind-hearted soul that he is, refused to give them money because they’d just go gamble with it. Instead, he made 12 or 13 kids sit down and listen to him talk about life – really good messages, and in return he bought them each a skewer of squid and a soda. Then he had them sing all the songs they knew for us. Highlight of the day, easily. Then we went to Hayahay Tree House Bar & Grill and ate dinner. Kathy had the best grilled blue marlin ever. Easily the best fish I have ever had.
December 30th – Woke up at 5:30 and had wonderful cinnamon pancakes out by the pier, and hopped on a ferry to Bohol. We checked in at the Dumanluan Beach Resort and headed out to the Bohol Bee Farm. We looked around and had just started our tour when it started raining. When our guide told us, “the rain has made the bees very aggressive, so I cannot open the hive today,” we headed into the restaurant. The entrée was pretty good, but the honey-based spreads were amazing – even if they charged us for another piece of bread. Ha ha. I bought a prescription scuba mask at Alona Kew, and then we headed back to the hotel. We went to the adjoining local public beach’s grill for dinner, which was outstanding! Not only was it cheaper (a mango shake cost 90 pesos at the hotel, 40 pesos at the stand a few meters away), it was delicious. Lots of barbecue, rice, calamari, and grilled fish. Mmm.
December 31st – New Year’s Eve. We had 3 dives in one day on this day. We dove twice at Balicasag, first, in the marine sanctuary. It was mostly soft coral gardens and wall drifts. Nice. We saw a big storm coming, and indeed felt it as we skedaddled away right through it. Our third dive took place at Alona Kew. Afterward, Kathy and I swam in the pool for a bit. Everybody got gussied up and met for a night out late. And that we had. We ate family-style, outside on the beach, while listening to a live cover band. Fireworks over the water lit up the boats below at the magic moment. It was really neat.
January 1st – New Year’s Day. We got back to the hotel around 3:30, I think. (I think.) But Kathy and I met Bismark at the designated 8 o’clock time for breakfast. Everybody else was late. Our tour was delayed for more than 2 hours. That was pretty darn uncool – we paid for it in the first place, and we could have slept longer in the second. Anyhoo. Once things got going, we pretty much went everywhere. We took the farthest trip first, off of Panglao, and to the Chocolate Hills. The stairs were steep, but the view was worth it. The shapes are really something. We also ate a pinipig ice cream bar that was fabulous – it had hints of cinnamon, nuts, coconut, etc. Then we saw the world’s smallest primate – the tarsier. They were cute as anything, but I was equally entertained by the guy hustling people for “donations” that he surely pocketed. Ha ha. We stopped in the young forest and saw some big creepy crawlies – centipedes or millipedes, I guess. And we also saw a flying tree lizard…which, as I’ve said before, sounds cooler than it is. We saw the Baclayon Church – another coral brick church and the Blood Compact Memorial, too. Then we saw the bridge to nowhere (which would run through a historical church if completed), and stopped by what looked like an ice cream shop and restaurant area. It was actually the home of Prony, the world’s largest captive python – and her bizarre, flamboyantly transvestite caretaker. That was definitely the most interesting 10 minutes of the day. Ha ha ha. We went by a random cave, where Kathy fell down a crazy steep stone staircase and scraped / bruised her arm up pretty badly. I was worried, but she told me not to – she’s a trooper. We went back to the Bohol Bee Farm and got to complete our tour, this time, even getting the chance to hold a hive frame with loads of European honeybees. That was neat. Afterward we returned to the hotel, changed rooms (still don’t really know why, but it turned into a fiasco the next day), and went to the local beach’s grill again for dinner. That was good, because we had completely skipped lunch, and I was freaking STARVING for most of the day. Ha ha.
January 2nd – We woke up pretty early. We discovered that due to a mixup Tata was charged for 4 rooms instead of 3. (What got me was that even though the charged him for a room he didn’t use that came with a free breakfast, they also refused to give him the free breakfast, instead charging him again…what the?) Then we took the boat back to Cebu and had another extremely delayed lunch – around 4 PM, I think. We ate at the Maribago Grill, which had nice little gazebo style tables and great food. We checked back into Boyla Diving Resort, and Kathy and I were basically abandoned until the next day – we heard from no one. It was really lousy. I was frustrated. We therefore also missed dinner, since the Boyla restaurant was closed. Sigh. Delayed lunch, left in our rooms without contact, no announcements, no dinner, no dive plans, no final certification exam. Bad day. Probably the worst of the trip. 
January 3rd – We woke up and had breakfast at Boyla again, though they only had sausages this time. We bumped into Tata, who introduced us to a half-Japanese diver named Takahashi. We hit it off and spoke in Japanese, even though it wasn’t necessary, but realized that maybe there was a business deal of some sort we were interrupting, so we left them to continue chatting. We learned that we’d have up to 3 dives that day. We met up with Bismark, John and Clay – a biologist currently working in Russia, as well as a local dive guide. Our first dive was at Nalusuan Point to see lots of stingrays – that was cool. It was also the longest dive of the trip, because the current was with us for the most part, so our oxygen lasted longer. We did another coral wall dive at Hudson Point, then turned back for lunch at Boyla. Originally Tata was going to give us our final test, but Bismark had to fill in for him. We passed, each missing only 1 question – both silly misses. Then we parted ways with everyone and checked into the Maribago Bluewater Resort – which was the swankiest place we stayed. I wish we’d had more time there. After drinking our welcome coolers, a slightly sweet blend of lemongrass, ginger, and calamansi lime, and after taking off our welcome shell necklaces, we grabbed a cab to the Ayala mall again. Our driver refused to turn the meter on, which ticked me off. He originally wanted 450 pesos to the mall (which we were told is between 250 and 300), but we managed to talk him down to 300. He decided to wait, without our asking, and told us he’d take us back for 250. Whatever, I wasn’t gonna fight with the guy. We had dinner at the mall, grabbed some Starbuck’s, and headed back for some sweet slumber.
January 4th – We checked out at noon, but hung around Maribago Bluewater all day with their blessings. They told us we could continue to use all the facilities, since they just needed the room. We swam, read books, watched the blacktip sharks get fed, played ping-pong and Scrabble (which I stink at), and ate a lot while we awaited our late night flight. We especially enjoyed the coconut macaroons that Clay had us try the day before, as we checked in. We headed to the airport at about 11:45 PM.
January 5th – We flew from Cebu to Seoul and from Seoul to Kansai International Airport, and again went for Mexican food at El Pancho’s (review in Japanese) in Shinsaibashi. We parted ways at the OCAT station, where Kathy took a bus back to Tottori. I hopped onto the Yotsubashi line, transferred to the New Tram Line, and exited at the Ferry Terminal. I hung out in the terminal for ages in a semi-sleep. I bumped into some fellow JETs when boarding, actually, but it’s all kind of a haze now.
January 6th – In the morning I caught the free shuttle back to Imabari station and hopped on my scooter. I arrived back at my apartment on Hakatajima by noon and sleeeeept.
What more could you possibly want to know? Ha ha. If you do have any questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments – but I won’t hold my breath. 
