I was up and ready early for today’s island tour. I had booked my tour for ₱700 (Rs. 1000/$16/€) and included in the price was a snorkel mask. The tour itinerary listed stops at Boracay’s Puka beach, a few coral reefs for snorkeling, the private Crystal Cove island and lunch at another beach on Boracay island. I was excited, because this time, I had an underwater camera with me. Nothing fancy, just a simple AGFAPhoto camera on loan from my friend Janet.
It looked perfectly sunny today morningI booked my tour here (only read about their cartel-like operation in Boracay much later)Scuba diving gear. One day I will try scuba diving and get myself PADI certified.I was then picked up by a staff, taken by a tricycle taxi to station 3We walked back to the beachThis was my tour groupThe boat was fullTime to leave. Alright boys, jump!Not too long after we set off, dark grey skies appeared in our direction. Dammit!None the less, a short ride later, we were at some coral garden not too far off the east end of White beachTime to go snorkeling… with an underwater camera The photos from the AGFAphoto camera produced a heavy green-ish hue. Instead the waters were very blue.I adjusted the colours on these photos as much as possible to bring out the bluesLots of fish! Even if the fish were mostly Scissortail SergeantsI followed the steps mentioned here to bring out the colours of the fish more accuratelyAlthough it wasn’t the brightest and sunniest of skies above water, I was still happy to capture all this on cameraUnderwater selfie!
Here’s a brief video I took underwater:
I went back on board the boat once it was time to leave.
Want ice cream at sea? They’ll come to you Next stop on the tour was the private Crystal Cove islandIt was here we were told there is an entry fee of ₱200 if we wish to enter the resort and check out the two covesI didn’t want to laze around on the beach, so I paid the ₱200 and went inI went to find Cove 1 firstCrystal Cove island may look like a resort, but they don’t have rooms to stay in. They offer camping though.
This is the entrance to Cove 1A cove is nothing but a small cave-like entry to an islandI decided to pack up my Canon 7D and take the underwater camera back outYou have minders/staff at the cove who will help you take photos and watch over your stuff while you go swimLooks calm, but we were told not to swim too farTime to go inImmediately saw this school of fish
Here’s a brief video I took:
Although it was very clear under water, not a whole lot of corals or fishParrotfishYou can tell it was getting sunnier
I left cove 1 and came back upThey had a few caged birds on displayNot sure how I feel about thisIt seems they have two islands
I went leftOur guide was resting here on this tree houseNice watersThis is how to get to Cove 2First you go downThen you go through this tiny tunnelAnd then you get to Cove 2I didn’t feel like getting in the water because it didn’t appear as though I would experience anything different. So the minder here just took this one photo and I left. (Kinda looks like I’m floating, doesn’t it?)
Each stop on this tour lasts around 45 minutes.
When we landed back on shore at another beach on the main Boracay island for lunch, this boy came along for the ride until we docked. I envy their swimming abilities :-/This was Tambisaan beachIt was time for lunchIt was your usual buffet lunch included in the price of the tour. Also included were free beer and soft drinks — although it was clear by what was on display they rather have you drink the (cheaper) soft drinks more.I ate light, as I intended to swim againThese boys jumped aboard the bamboo poles to ask for money when we left. I didn’t want to join the few who threw coins and see these kids dive down to collect them. Kinda sad.Our guide told us this was a bat caveBats were aplenty up in the trees (yes, I know the quality is shit; took this using the underwater camera)Our next stop was Puka beachPuka beach is on the western side of Boracay islandMost people from our group just sat under a shade as it got pretty hotPuka beach is pretty big, and yet, not crowded at allThe water looked amazingI just had to get inBut I couldn’t resist taking the underwater camera with me because I was having too much fun with it Puka beach is one of the best swimming beaches I’ve been to. The water was warm, clear, relatively calm and for a good 200-300 metres from shore, not too deep.Definitely one of the best beaches I’ve been toI didn’t find many hotels or resorts on Puka beachMaybe that’s why Puka beach appears as beautiful as it does
Puka beach was the last stop on this short tour. At ₱700+₱200, this was priced quite high compared to past island tours I have taken before.
Our boat left Puka, and went around the island back to White beachThis is the impressive Shangri La Resort & SpaObviously very expensiveI forgot which resort this wasWhite beach is where you have several water-based activities on offerOn the opposite side of White beach is Bulabog beach, popular for wind-surfing and para-sailing. I planned to do all that tomorrow.Our tour officially came to an endThe boat dropped us at station 3 (Taken using the underwater camera)
Given I had to walk back, I chose to take photos of all the beachfront properties beginning from where I was standing, all the way up to the very end of station 1 and White beach. I’ll make a separate post for it as I feel it would be helpful for those seeking hotels right on the beach. (Because a lot of hotels claim online to be ‘very close’ to the beach or right on it — but aren’t)
After I took a quick shower and dumped my camera bag at the hostel, I went back to White Beach to resume my walk until I reached the end of the beach.
I resumed making a note of all the beachfront properties on White Beach as I headed north
That’s Willy’s RockNo, this dog wasn’t going to pounce on the otherI reached the end of White beachThere’s a narrow path to get to those stepsI used to think Filipinos love their corny poses, but they got nothing on some East European women and their ‘Diva’ poses! It was a fairly long walkway, and I wondered what was on the other sideWhat’s this hole in the cliff?Oh look, a mini-beachThis is Diniwid beachThis is what was inside the small cave/tunnelIt was time to go back:-/White beach getting ready for nightfall
It was getting dark, and I was getting hungry. I already had an eatery in mind back on station 1, but I passed by Boracay Terraces and one of their staff kept insisting I sit down for their happy hours. the restaurant wasn’t too crowded, but I was tired from the walk and was feeling thirsty.
I ordered some food as I figured I might as well have an early dinner. The service was not the greatest, but when the food came… ugh. It was terrible! The battered shrimps were obviously the frozen farmed prawns and tasted so artificial. And their chicken burger… I don’t know what the patty was made of! It was just bad!
The food sucked! The Red Horse beers, they didn’t make, so that was the only thing I enjoyed. To think I wasted ₱530 here!
I gave them my feedback and just left the place. I was upset over wasting money on a totally unsatisfactory meal, but alas, what’s done was done. Never again.
Completely dark, but they have lamp posts on the beachSome people were still going in to the water. Not the best idea.White beach was lighting upThese types of sand art are done by local boys who charge money for photographs if you wish to pose next to it
We began our day in hilly Thekkady and by nightfall we were in Ernakulam city. We took a rickshaw to Fort Kochi, and once there we took a room at Sonnetta Residency.
It cost over Rs. 1000 a night, but it was the nicest room we stayed in on this trip. We didn't mind 'indulging' as we were on the last leg of our journey.When we felt like having a drink, we sat at this rather nice-looking restaurant
I liked the place's interiors (but I don't remember the name of the club, sorry)The food was alright and it wasn't too expensiveWe then sat at another restaurant for our main course dinner
Date: September 1st, 2009
The next morning, we had breakfast at the famous Kashi Art Cafe.
It was walking distance from where we were stayingIt's got 'Art' in its name because Kashi is also a trendy art galleryBut I was more interested in the 'Cafe' partIt was 8:45am
While we waited for our breakfast, I went through our day's planThe food was alright
After breakfast, we hired an auto to take us to Jew Town, the first sight on our to-do list.
We were dropped by the port sideThat's Cochin Port, on the other side (Panorama comprised of 5 shots)We didn't have a perfectly sunny day, but we just hoped it wouldn't rain
We first entered an old building, which I believe was Mattancherry Palace. It housed artifacts and had several murals, but there was a lot of restoration work going on while we were there. We were in and out very quickly.
We walked to Jew TownPlenty of handicrafts and other art for sale hereThis area is home to the only Pepper Exchange in IndiaWe walked towards the Paradesi Synagogue
The Jewish synagogue is to the left
Unfortunately, they don’t allow photography inside the Paradesi Synagogue, but from what I saw, it isn’t very big. The tale of Cochin Jews is an interesting one, dating back centuries. It was at this point, reading about how Jews ended up Kerala (and even the Syrian Christians) that I began to realize how Kerala has always had a historical connection with the Middle East.
We left the synagogue and walked backThe shops here look very old
The wall exteriors reminded me of ice cream I saw an old lady, who seemed to be just gazing outside her door at passersbyMrs. Selam her name was, and she was Cochin Jew herselfShe told us how many of the Jews went back to Israel and some even chose to move to America (unsurprisingly). The Jewish population in Fort Kochi now number less than a hundred, and the Cochin Jews could very well be an extinct ethnicity in a few years time.
I guess it was a privilege to meet someone like Mrs. Selam, one among the few remaining Jews of Kerala. (Read the story of Yaheh Hallegua, she’s apparently the last remaining Pardesi Jew of ‘child-bearing’ age)
We left Jew Town and returned to the promenadeIt was lunch timeThe cool thing here is that you can buy fresh fish from the fishermen, then take it to select restaurants and ask them to prepare it as you wish
I bought a few tiger prawns and a small lobster for myself (if I remember correctly, both together cost less than Rs. 300). As they were getting grilled nearby, we went for a quick stroll along the promenade.
I don't know what these were
Despite being an island, Fort Kochi does not have a whole lot of sandy shores
The famous Chinese fishing nets, still being used by fishermen in Fort Cochin
We sat by the fish stalls and had our lunch.
Well, I got my seafood lunch. The others waited until I finished so that they could have their vegetarian meals elsewhere.
Post lunch, we went for a stroll.
We walked all the way to the Dutch Cemetery, which was closedThen some time on the beach nearby -- which wasn't even a good beachWe went back to our hotel, checked out and made our way to the ferry terminal which was a few minutes walk from hereWe took the ferry to nearby Vypin islandIt was 4pm and we still had some time to kill before leaving Cochin at nightA short walk from the Vypin ferry terminal and we arrived at this stretchThought it would be a good time to record a video demonstrating how these fishing nets work
So here it is:
We walked a bit further upCherai beach was an auto ride away, but somehow we didn't feel like bothering to check it outSo instead we headed back, but this time to Ernakulam
Cochin has quite an amazing and varied history, it's no wonder why it remains a popular tourist stopWe reached the ferry terminal after a pleasant 20 minute rideWe decided to check out the Marine Drive promenadeThis walkway is one of the most popular hangouts for Kochi's residents and visitors alike
After sunset, we all had something to eat before parting ways. Ramesh and Anand were heading back to Bangalore, while I took a bus to head up north to my hometown in Kerala.
It was Onam* in Kannur for me!
*Onam is the biggest festival in Kerala and one of the celebratory highlights include making pookkalam (a floral creation)
Planning a trip to the Philippines began with the most unlikeliest of inspirations — an e-mail forward from my father. Not even a good official one, but one of those e-mails that had numerous ‘fwd: FW: Fwd:’ before the actual subject line of ‘can you believe Philippines has such beauty?!’ followed by numerous exclamation marks.
I usually disregard the images I find in such e-mails as they’re usually not from the country they claim to be but upon checking up some of the names of the places they showcased, I was quite surprised about how little I knew of their existence!
It dawned to me I knew very little about Philippines, this despite having grown up in the Middle East where (just like Indians) millions of them come to work. As a kid, all I knew about Filipinos is that a lot of them work in fast food joints or play in a band — and they don’t have the letter ‘F’ in their vocabulary. So I would often hear “500 pils” instead of “500 fils” when asked for change.
I learnt of Banaue and its famous rice terraces, the beautiful beaches of Boracay and Palawan, but the place that made me wish I was there was the remote island of Batanes. It was then, early 2010, I decided to consider making a trip to Philippines.
It was quite challenge really, because trying to study the geography of Philippines wasn’t easy.
(Image source: Wikipedia)
Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands. Sure, many of those thousands are really tiny to even identify on a map but still, getting around the country isn’t easy. It requires some learning beforehand. Since it’s not a landlocked country like most of Thailand, you have to commute via road, ferry, and airlines just to get to certain places within the country.
I initially thought of clubbing Philippines & Thailand last year but it was proving to be quite expensive. So I decided to give Philippines it’s own time.
That time was early this year, when things weren’t looking too good at my workplace. We all knew what was coming our way with the fate of the office and so, instead of prepping up my resume and looking for another job, I researched more on Philippines instead When things became official in March and we all knew we were going to be laid off, I booked my tickets!
I tried Air Asia first but at around INR19k, it wasn’t as cheap as I thought it would be. Plus the timings were inconvenient. I land late at night and my connecting flight would have been at 7am the next morning. No way I was going to spend that long at KL LCCT! So I checked all the usual Indian travel websites and got the best deal from Travelocity for a Malaysia Airlines flight at Rs. 26,153 ($584/€411) return. Yes, it was more than Air Asia, but it was going to be convenient, so I didn’t mind paying a bit extra for that. Also, I would get proper meals, land at KLIA and not the present warehousebudget terminal. More importantly, the time I had to wait for my connecting flight was lesser.
Philippines Airlines had just launched their direct flight service to New Delhi (only), but it was quite expensive, so flying the Philippines national carrier was not a possibility.
Next came the visa. When I researched on the tourist visa, I was happy to find out Philippines offer a 21-day visa-on-arrival for a 147 nations! Great, I thought… until I scanned down the list and couldn’t find India one among those 147 countries -_-
So I ended up at the website of the Philippines embassy in New Delhi and found out I have to pay Rs. 2320 for a tourist visa (and for just 21 days). Since I couldn’t fly to Delhi just to get a visa, I had to get it done through an agent. Some agents wouldn’t even do it, and one moron even asked for Rs. 10,000 as service charges! But I walked into the nearby Thomas cook office in Koramangala (inside Raheja Arcade) and got my visa processed by paying their Rs. 1000 service charge. At Rs. 3320, this was the most I had spent on a South East Asian visa so far, and that too for a single entry visa. My multiple entry Singapore visa for 2 years cost just Rs. 1800 and my 1 year Malaysia visa cost just Rs. 1500. Thailand was free visa-on-arrival the two times I went.
My travel period was from 16th April to 4th May and I chose the dates keeping in mind the main focus of my trip was to photograph the Easter crucifixions in San Fernando. The rest of my itinerary would see me visit the largest American war cemetery outside of the United States, traverse throughout the Ifugao province for my fix of rice terrace farms, see coffins hung on hill sides, Cebu, see odd-shaped hills in Bohol and finally enjoy the natural beauty of Palawan island. I was looking for ‘interesting’ with this trip, so I ruled out Boracay — the nation’s most popular island destination, and the most touristy. Unfortunately, Batanes was out of this trip plan as well, simply because it was too expensive to even get there. No budget carrier (and Philippines has enough of them) flies to Batanes and even those that do only fly if they get enough passengers. Batanes is that remote an island.
As days passed by, I felt a bit nervous and kept having second thoughts about spending a lot of money during uncertain times. Sure, the Philippines currency value was the same as the Indian rupee, so that really helped! But still, here I was, going on vacation when all my colleagues were busy job hunting. Plus, I was going to be visiting a new country, one that like Thailand (to the eyes of the ignorant) has a sketchy reputation. I knew what I was going to see, and I was looking forward to see if they live up to the hype, but still…
One ray of hope that eased me up a bit came my way two weeks before my departure date when one of my readers left me a comment telling me how much she appreciated my website and that I “should visit the Philippines sometime!”
That blessing of a reader couldn’t have come at a better time and after we got in touch, she would be of great help to me, even helping me out with some bookings. I felt much better knowing I had a local contact, which always helps!
Now I was ready to fly!I had pre-booked a seafood meal for a change and while the tuna and veggies were good, I couldn’t help but envy my co-passengers with their ‘regular’ meals enjoying their creamy desserts and chocolates when all I got was cold fruits. It’s as though Malaysia gimped on the rest of the meal given how much fish costs. Sucks Selamat pagi* Malaysia! (*Good morning)I landed on time and took this around 7:45amThis was my first time in Kuala Lumpur International airport as last year I flew Air AsiaThere’s a mini-Harrods (Impressed with how sharp this photo came out)They have an exclusive Cadbury store here tooI loitered around the Duty Free for a while
Post loitering, I found my gate and sat in front of it. I tried to catch some sleep but ended up going online to kill time for the next 4 hours.
It was grey skies even until noon in Sepang
I boarded my second Malaysia Airlines flight for this trip in the afternoon and I was now en route to Philippines.
Selamat tinggal Malaysia!
Leaving Malaysian shores…… and flew over the South China Sea for the first timeWhich was a welcome pleasant change of scene for me
I took a break from staring outside my window to eat some peanuts.
Well… duh Back to staring out into the blueBeautifulAwesomeOkay, break time. Lunch had arrived!Seafood meal again. Tuna steak and veggies again. ‘Regular’ meals came with Cadbury chocolates besides pudding for dessert. I got dried raisins. Seriously -_-Meal done, back to blue
Submerged?
Needless to say, I really enjoyed this flight
Hello moon…
It got cloudy after this, so I lowered the shades and caught up on some sleep.
Woke up an hour later to the announcement we were approaching ManilaHello Philippines
Manila cityManila portMetro Manila is the 8th most populous metro in Asia
It was nearing 5pm in PhilippinesThe flight was a bit early… which is never a bad thing (as long as the traffic control clears it)About to land
Ninoy Aquino International Airport
So after nearly a total of 8 hours of flying, I was finally in Philippines. Phew, long journey!
How’s the airport? Quite old and in much need for an upgrade. Well, at least Terminal I was in.
I got my passport stamped, got my bags rather quickly, converted some dollars and I was out in around 15 minutes. The first thing I wanted to do was get a local SIM and fortunately Globe was handing out free SIMs (though they were mostly for OFWs*).
I hired a pre-paid yellow taxi (which would later turn out to be a mistake) and asked him to take me to Kabayan Hotel in Pasay, which was close to the airport. I chose Kabayan as it was a popular recommendation online. Plus, I didn’t want to spend too much time in traffic just to get to touristy Makati.
But despite how close the hotel looked on the map from the airport, getting there still took nearly 45 minutes in evening traffic. It cost 250 pesos ($5/€4) which is far more than what I thought it would cost. Anyway, I went to the hotel reception, booked a single room for myself and checked in.
My A/C single room, PHP950 per night ($22/€15)
Kabayan is pretty cool. They have rooms ranging from dorms all the way up to deluxe rooms and from prices starting as low PHP610, they are very popular. And get this, you get complimentary breakfast and lunch! They also have free wi-fi among other great amenities.
The toilets and shower rooms are down the hall and in between (clean and well kept)
Oh by the way, they don’t use the word toilets much in Philippines, instead it’s ‘Comfort Rooms’ or ‘CR’
I stepped out again because I needed to buy some credit for the Globe SIM so that I could inform my family of my safe arrival. Since I was out, I decided to grab dinner early. It soon struck me just how much fast food Filipinos eat. Mc Donalds and homegrown Jollibee was everywhere — and they both had multiple branches within meters of each other — and all of them were doing brisk buisness! As the fast food chains are too chicken to sell beef burgers here in India (due to religious politics), a good ol’ cheeseburger was what I was craving. I picked up a burger from Jollibee, a doughnut from 7-11 and some water.
The area I was in was quite a busy part of town as it was a major hub for transportation, so you get everything you need as far as convenience stores, supermarkets and eateries go. It’s also a very noisy area, mostly because of the jeepneys.
But Kabayan does a good job of cutting out the noise once you’re inside the hotel. I took a nice warm bath and then had my dinner. I called my aforementioned reader (whose name is Aimee) and we spoke for a while. She told me the pre-paid yellow taxi at the airport are priced way more than the usual taxis I could have gotten had I just walked a bit further out. Also, there were frequent airport buses that drop people to Pasay and back. Oh well, rookie mistake.
Unlike many hotels in this price range, Kabayan has a good selection of channels which even included Zee TV (the only Indian channel though)
Given that I hadn’t slept properly in nearly 24 hours, I called it an early night.
I couldn’t wait for tomorrow to begin!
——–
Please note: In this series of posts, I won’t be mentioning conversion rates for Indian rupees as both Philippines Peso (PHP/₱) and the Indian Rupee are more or less on a 1:1 value ratio. So Rs. 100 is like PHP98. Therefore only US dollar and Euro conversion rates will be mentioned.
*OFW = Overseas Filipino Workers; similar to NRI (Non-Resident Indian)
