PH II: Bicol Region
21-27 SEPTEMBER 2018
Yeeahhhhh, this is it!!!! Bye bye Dubai, it has been fun, a bit warm, a tad sandy… now we are expected in the Philipines 🙂
Naga City
First stop: Naga, back to the roots for Tita Nene! The trip was quite long, and our buttocks are sore from the comfy seats of CebuPacific airplanes, but this is quickly forgotten after the first few (big and supa good) crabs cooked by Jun (Gretchen’s dad).
After a couple of days at home to see the family and the new little guy in town, Gael, we are heading for 2 days in Caramoan.
The four hours of bus ride from Naga are a bit bumpy, but the scenery on the road is incredible and that first glimpse of Philippines lush vegetation puts a big smile on our faces.
Caramoan
Nothing new: Filipinos are a super happy people and are very welcoming. After a 60 pesos meal for 2 (soit un cinquieme de kebab) right outside the bus, the cook (Ate Malyn) gets out of her way to help us find our AirBnB and arrange a island hoping tour right away for the upcoming days, with the help of our tour guide, Kuya Cario. A bit cruel for her (the cook) in the end, though, as we are not taking her with us on the trip ahahahah!!
So anyway, this is our accomodation in Caramoan: the “countrified living” experience. Here was the pitch: “Immerse yourself in nature. Experience Caramoan in the most enchanting way. Stay at quaintly luxurious Harong Sa Iraya” blablabla… More like: “Sleep with mosquitoes and bugs, learn that toilet paper is not mandatory, stay itchy for dayzzzz”.
Good view though and very quiet. Perfect if you’re going sabbatical.
Anyway, that was the “not so good” part, the rest was superrr awesommme.
Day 1: Short trip to the islands close by. The pictures speak for themselves: It’s nice.
Day 1: Short trip to the islands close by. The pictures speak for themselves: It’s nice.
Day 2: Full day island hopping
I must admit, I was whining a bit at first, as the sky was very threatening, but that was another lesson: Filipinos know the weather in Philippines better than frenchies. Awesome day in the end with a few showers but tons of sun, very nice lights and landscapes completely different than one day ago.
The first stop is an island known as “Little Batanes”, an island in the north of Philippines, looking a bit like Ireland (well I guess… never went there): it’s nice.
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| Sand bar: some low tide pleasure 🙂 |
Lunch in floating cottage
The crabs are huge, super fresh and juicy… and so are the grilled squids… and the vegetables… and the chicken adobo… all in all we end up having a feast on these floating cottages. It was nice also.
Nothing like a good swim in the clear Caramoan waters…
The Caramoan trip was short but Oh! My! Geeeee was it nice!!! Few lessons learnt on the way:
– Bring ear plugs on boat trips
– Bring liters of insect repellant
– For Westeners: toilet paper is a luxury
– It’s more fun in the Philippines
– The pictures on google are real
– Bring ear plugs on boat trips
– Bring liters of insect repellant
– For Westeners: toilet paper is a luxury
– It’s more fun in the Philippines
– The pictures on google are real
Back to Naga for a couple days before heading to Palawan, we take lil detour to the family’s farm in Tinambac (1 hr away from Naga), and grab a few coconuts and cacao fruits on the way.
-Guillaume
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