The Philippines awaits…
Trying to explore the world’s second-largest archipelago in 59 days (the length of our visas) is a bit daunting, but we will give the Philippines our best shot over the coming two months.
With over 7000 islands, a ring of volcanoes, much natural splendor and enough fried chicken and rice to last a lifetime, the Philippines has plenty in common with nearby Indonesia, but we’re hoping that the more compact geography of the islands and a bit more experience on our part five-and-a-half years after our Indonesia trip will make it easier to get around. To that end, we spent only enough time in Manila yesterday to change airports, then flew to Cebu City in the Visayas, the chain of islands south of the main island Luzon. Our impression from our very brief stay so far is that the local people are extremely helpful and friendly, English is more widespread than we thought, and that it should be a laid-back couple of months here, a welcome change from the intensity of the subcontinent.
We decided to start in the Visayas so we could see Kalibo’s Ati-Atihan mardi gras festival on Jan. 17, which is the most famous religious festival in this, the only Christian country in Asia. In the meantime, since a good deal of the archipelago’s highlights are under water, we’re starting at one of the country’s most celebrated scuba diving spots on Panglao Island off Bohol in the Visayas, where I’m going to get my PADI open water diving certificate and Wendy will see if she remembers anything from doing her own PADI course 14 years ago.
All going well, after the Visayas we’ll head to the island of Palawan which sounds like an incredible natural wonderland of underground rivers and beautiful karst islands jetting out from crystal clear water. From there we’ll return to Luzon and spend most of the rest of our time on the country’s largest island; things I’m looking forward to there include swimming with whale sharks, climbing a volcano or two and trekking in the famous rice terraces of north Luzon.
Tags: Asia, itinerary, Southeast Asia, The Philippines, Travel, Visayas
Nick