October 2024 - Philippines Part 1; Cebu and Negros Islands

From Korea to Philippines which has a lot more flights going to Cebu than I would have expected.  Started with no plan, but managed to go from Cebu to Moalboal to Dumaguete and Tambobo Bay in this part 1 of my 2 weeks visiting some of the great Philippine islands.  Also, I managed to stay SIM CARD FREE!

An as-built map, not planned

Day 20 - Late flight out of Seoul to Cebu (delayed 1 hr on tarmac) which started out as a whole row to myself until a bunch of people jumped around.  At least I had the window.  Late night arrival in to Cebu staying near the airport at a dorm sort of place which I walked 25min to in the middle of the night with a touch of rain coming down.  10 min walk my ass!

Now...what's the plan??? 

Score photo taken before 
everyone piled in to my row

Some of Korea from the night

The next morning trying to figure out what to do, stay in Cebu city for a few nights or go somewhere...I was not impressed to start and with no beach nearby the urge to move on was strong...

Side note: Not only do you need to fill out some app for your arrival which works horribly, but the border control at the airport forced me to book a flight out of the Philippines which I did at 2 am sitting beside the entry control booths.  In the end I decided 2 weeks would have to be enough to explore the country.

I'm here, Cebu

No side walk... fun

Well Jeepnys look uncomfortable, can't wait

This supermarket was quite impressive

Almost bought this for $2, but
stayed SIM free regardless!

Signs of under development
with cable bundles like these

Great rating for my moto driver
on Sarah's Maxim app.

Well, as long as it's not far

hope there is no huge crosswind

30 min into ride, glad i'm fit

Discovered my visor late in trip

Flipped a coin basically and decided to jump on a bus to Moalboal one of the recommended spots on Cebu Island since I wasn't feeling the vibe to stay in the high traffic and crowded capital city.

Survived the 38 min moto scooter ride with 15kg bag hanging off me through all the swerves around traffic, potholes and people and animals. Then jumped on a nice relaxing 2 hour bus ride that was anything but that, 4 hrs plus, no bathroom on a packed bus that took 2 hrs just to get through Cebu which was about 6 km since I had already skipped a bunch of traffic taking the scooter ride.  Hope this is all worth it!?

Looks modern enough, but...

Buses don't leave until they fill

A super slow traffic filled ride allowed for
good sight seeing.

Now we are in Asia Baby!

Reminded me of a place I got
food poisoning in Tonga

Philippino chain now in Canada

charming

like mexico, vendors jump on
the bus and sell when possible

Bathroom stop.  To be a women yikes!

Still 50 km to go...

Day 21-25.  Stayed at D'Sister's Inn Hotel (in Basdiot a village of Moalboal) which is 10 min walk to town centre on rough roads so lucky not to have too much rain.  Luckily Jereline from my bus scootered me in the 2 km from the main Moalboal bus stop in exchange for lending her my jacket on the freezing cool air conditioned 4 hr bus ride from Cebu.

Over all I enjoyed my time in Moalboal, good underwater life, good restaurants, met nice locals and travellers (all with Cebu to Moalboal travel horror stories, haha) and rode around on a scooter to see a bit more too.

comfy enough and way more space than Japan or
Korea for less, $22 CAD a night.

Malaysian dish and whisky, $6

These guys were pretty good

A little bit of everything at the new food court

$0.50 a shot, but the soda is $2!

Smooth Bar for good live music

Handwritten bills. $10 CAD
Try to get that price in Mexico!

Fun!

At Chili Bar hanging over
the waves crashing in.

Welcome to the Philippines!!

Walk down to the beach for a snorkel with the famous engulfing school of sardines.

Look out for the turkeys

Very clear.  

Turtle time!!!

The video captures the sardines better than the photos.

Sardines everywhere.

Reminded me of a snorkel in Baja Cali

Well deserved rib dinner

I bet it used to be 1 hour long, hahaha.

Of course I had to do a Scuba dive in this popular spot and loved that they offered one dive at a time as I am more a one dive per day guy than some of these crazy 3 per day people, yikes.  $42 CAD.

I thought the dive out to Pescadores Island was quite good. 20m depth, water temp 28C, visibility 10m.

Easy jump in from shore, actually it wasn't, haha

Spot the german? Lena

A bit rough

Can my new action camera handle 20 m down

Here we go...

Took a day to head a few km North to explore on scooter up to White Beach that everyone was talking about and of course do more snorkelling.  So far generally the beaches of Moalboal are not amazing with chunks of rock in them but does however make for great snorkelling.

Chili Bar in the day time

Chili Bar literally on the rocks, haha

A little shelter getting out of rain at start of ride

Cute street dogs, calm and sweet like the people

Lots of garbage piled up from the tide

Hadn't left town yet

Heading 10km North in the rain

Don't get leather wet

Turned off a side road to get to the sea

Found it!  The spot with no tourists.

A little crab in seashell walking along the rocky beach.

Above and below the water footage.

Wonderful underwater coral and aquatic life.

A few quick photos from White Beach.  I avoided the entry and parking fees ($1) by slipping in at a hotel and restaurant since it was only for a quick look due to pending rain.

Hotel beside White Beach

Hot roddie!

Mind the rocks protruding out

back to civilisation...7/11, hahaha

Dinner at Hungry Monkey with Jereline 

Smart password to bring in the
clients...

I really liked the food at 
Thailicious

Last night in Moalboal spent with Lena, Marcel, Simon and Clara starting at Venz Kitchen.  The town is full of German, English and Korean tourists with the odd Aussie and Canadian.

Pig ear sizzler

Resto worker and Simon, Clara, Marcel, Lena

Marcel...looks so gay with
those drinks at Isla Bar

Day 26...Off to Negro Island for a few days staying a night each in Dauin on the beach and in the city of Dumaguete. Getting there was a real adventure starting with the "cheapest" trike taxi, local bus South, another trike taxi, passenger ferry and local jeepney (US military vehicles left behind from World War 2) before jumping on a scooter (motorbike as called in Asia). 

OMG, what seemed like a risky ride, was a great experience. "Oops moments" always make the best stories.

Hang on to your change or
anything else...

Unable to sit upright

Ripping along...better than walking...

Why would you need to see
the speedo

A 2 km ride to get to the main bus stop for Moalboal was too far for this trikes empty gas tank...

Arrived at bus station (stop) and jumped on the first bus, which felt like a scam and very confusing. I thought they tricked me on to a bus just 5 km down the road as they were kinda speaking english, but I didn't get it (only $3 for bus ride).  Thank god for Mel Gibson who helped me!

At least im going the right 
direction, South.

Sitting right by the door, why?

Awesome coastal views

True lack of sidewalks

Confused and concerned and well out of my comfort zone I panicked to get info from the people sitting behind me on the bus; Jenn and Mel Gibson, who took me under their wing the rest of the way.

Mel Gibson

hanging off the back of another
 trike. This one more posh. 

Arrived at the ferry with my new team Jenn and for real "Mel Gibson" Oredo.  

At one point Mel Gibson asked me,  "So what is Mel Gibson's last name?"  You can't make this stuff up.

Ships log...

Waiting room

First boat/ferry in Philippines

Mel Gibson and Jenn

Crammed in to the Jeepney,
banged my head, and survived
25 min of traffic without losing
my bag unstrapped on the roof

Bought the team lunch to payback Mel Gibson
for the trike and jeepney.  All for $6.

Foodnet. Thanks guys

They even walked me to the
scooter rental to make sure I 
got a good deal.

Ricky's motorbikes

Grabbed the scooter for $8, dropped bags at Aivy Mae's Dive Resort then headed for a rip in search of the lost sailboats in Tambobo Bay. No luck on the first try.

Get your motor running

Good to do this in the daylight

Down this side road

Lookout for animals sleeping
all over the road.

Really, all over the road!

This is going to be worth it!

Nice sunset...oh crap I need to ride 40 km back in the dark with a weak headlight...oops.

Dead end!

Who needs to know the speed

Comfy and right at the beach

Nasi Goreng at Lokal

Final day on Negro Island beginning with sunrise and ended with Halloween night.

Day 27 - Before moving to Dumaguete hoping to catch some kind of Halloween festivities I tried again to find all these sailboats in Tambobo Bay with delinquent owners.

Like everywhere in Philippines
little entry charges ...

Found the lost sailboat cove, Tambobo.

Thanks for all the tips Jozef.

Hilarious photo as it looks like Jozef is grabbing
Johan's hair, haha (father and son)

Pay $.050 or buy a drink

down a beaten path...

...to get to a far off spot

Nigel's Tongo Sail Inn

Halloween?  Nah, not really, but fun to have a look around.  Still wasn't the place for me on first impressions.

Kayong Inn

a nice town square similar to many in Mexico

Mmmm, mangos

Like $8 for all

I love Sizzlers!!!!

A few spots in Dumaguete.  Cool open air live music at Honey Comb.

Bogart's only an hour before
was full of old men, Filipinas 

Side Story: Turns out if you buy a double or triple it is cheaper than a single as the price of alcohol is cheaper than the soda pop mix.  A single was $2 and a triple was $1.50!!!

The late night choice Why Not Bar

Exploded in to busy with in 45 minutes.