One Life ...

The dogs were still tied up where we left them this morning. We woke at 6am for our last breakfast at Jaydin. We were catching a jeepney to Tagbilaran and we thought it best to go early as this is the easiest time to hail a jeep. The jeepney pulled up and we were on our way to the Dao bus terminal in Tagbilaran. People were constantly getting on and off all the way to the station. At the station we stocked up on snacks for the next journey and asked where the bus to Anda left from. The man we had asked went into slight panic mode. The bus to Anda had just left. However, he did manage to stop it for us and we jumped on board. The bus took us along the coast past many interesting villages all decorated for Christmas. It took about 2.5 hours to reach out destination. Anda is a little  town with white beaches and not many people. We asked the bus to stop at the end of our road. A little shop was selling food so we grabbed lunch to take out. We found our Dive resort and were shown to our sm...

Most days are following the same routine. Breakfast Walk to the beach picking up lunch on the way Snorkelling Walk home Rest Hit the town for live music and the World Cup Today the first turtle of the trip was spotted along with the ultimate prize. As Darryl turned away from the reef next to him was the largest fish in the sea. A filter feeder and a gentle giant of the ocean. A whaleshark! He swam next to Darryl without a care in the world before heading back into the abyss in search of another play mate. About midnight Christine was about to hit the sack when a whimpering dog caught her attention. The puppy was tied to the handle bars of a motorbike for the night but had climbed though the frame to the other side of the bike. He had got stuck and his head was hanging by the lead. The other puppy had broken the rope tying him to the small bench where he usually sleeps for the night and now he was running wild.  One dog was rescued from the bike and the other tied up aga...

The morning started with a rustling outside our window.  We took a peek to find 3 little kittens playing.  Then the usual routine of breakfast followed by research for onward travels and trying to sort out the mess airlines are making of our bookings by changing flight times without letting us know!!! We only found out when we were about to book a bus from the airport and logged onto the app to check the flight time, which had moved by 8 hours! After a frustrating morning we wandered off to find some lunch and ended up chatting to the lady and her neighbour for ages about life in the Philippines and typhoons, which hopefully we won't get to experience. Next we headed for Danao beach. There were lots of boats moored but no people so we picked our spot. Darryl went off snorkelling but the reef was very far out and dropped off a deep wall. On the way back we stopped off for pizza. Like everything in the Philippines it was slightly sweeter than we would have expected but it went do...

Today's task was to extend our Philippines visa at the immigration office. We ate breakfast at the accommodation but it started to rain. We decided to stay put and spoke to another guest about diving at Balicasag island. Eventually the rain stopped and we hit the road. The immigration center was approximately 3 km away - a 45 minute walk and on the way we grabbed lunch for a beach picnic. We also stopped to visit Saint Augustin's church and there was a wedding. The inside of the church was beautiful and there was a nice park beside it. The immigration center was busy and people were waiting two hours for their passports to be returned. We gave our passports in, paid the fee and waited for a short while and then were told to return in the afternoon to pick them up. Next we walked to the pier where the boats go to Balicasag. We watched people collecting seaweed amongst the mangroves. Next place we were heading for was Doljo point. It was a little too far t...

Hotel breakfast today with a slight variation of rice, a burger and an egg instead of a sausage. Followed by a banana and chocolate Energen. We like Energen, it is a cereal drink flavored with chocolate.  We decided to go to a different beach today. In fact we headed to the main Alona beach when most of the boats had gone to Balicasag island. We went snorkeling on the reef which is about 200 meters from the shore. It was a steep wall with plenty to see. We took it in turns whilst the other sat in the shade. Lunch today was rice and vegetables at a small store. On the beach there was a table set up with a big heart and roses plus fairy lights to decorate the sand...someone was in for a romantic evening! As darkness fell we headed for dinner. At the restaurant we met a young Australian man who was trying to order half a roast chicken but the restaurant would not sell it to him - you have to order the whole chicken. We told him we would eat the other half and share the cost. We sat an...

Breakfast was included in our room price. Today we enjoyed a sausage, fried egg, rice and coffee on a cute little table just outside our room. As everyone else started to stir, a couple from Chile headed upstairs to have their breakfast. We overheard them speaking to the owner as they passed. It appears the hotel sent the girls laundry to be done and it never came back! She now has no clothes. Apparently someone must have picked up the wrong washing. We spent some time planning our next stop before lunch and stopped en route at a local stall to eat. Mungo was our choice, cheap and tasty. We imagine it is made with mung beans but we found other things too like potato. To get to the beach we followed a long, thin lane and at the end a small little beach with a few locals. The main Alona beach is packed with tourists but the one we found had only a few couples. There was lots of boats coming back to the main beach so snorkelling was a little hairy sometimes. There was a coral wall quite a...

We left Ho Chi Minh city in our dust. We have done a little hub flying through KL. Here we spent a long time going through the transfer process from one budget airline to another. Though, the flights aren't that cheap anymore. The flight is almost free sometimes but after airport taxes, eco taxes, fuel surcharge and adding on of other options you didn't ask for mounts up!  An expected12 hours at KLIA isn't really that long believe it or not. Once you have walk through the huge airport from the plane an hour is gone. Another hour at immigration and another at security because you can't enter transit. You do this again as you switch carriers, so that is 6 hours gone! Flights are usually late so deduct another hour, eat lunch another hour gone. Oh yeah, switch terminal from KLIA to KLIA2 the Air Asia hub on a shuttle bus ... 12 hours almost GONE! Lunch at KLIA 1 was great. We ate lots of rice and pumpkin in a coconut sauce for £1, everything else worked out a lot more expe...