It's more fun in The Philippines

Backtrack to the month I spent in The Philippines for Christmas and New Year's
December 2014-January 2015 

Merry Christmas!

Having decided to not go back home for the holidays (for the first time. Ever), Kristina and I chose to be in The Philippines. Two reasons: the population is mostly Christian (Catholic, actually) and we have former colleagues/friends who invited us to spend the holidays with them. This country starts prepping for and celebrating the holidays in September (no Halloween and Thanksgiving interference). They get very serious in their decorating and shopping, which I found out by staying at a hotel in Manila directly across from a mall (actually three big interconnected malls. very much like Jakarta. meh). The bonus of being in The Philippines was the potential for some awesome diving (yes, I'm still doing that).

My favorite public transport, the Jeepney

We spent a week hanging out in Manila. We did some site seeing, had fun riding around on the many forms of local transport and hung out with our awesome friends. It mainly reminded me of Jakarta.

In trying to be less homesick about missing our families, friends and the holidays, Kristina and I bought a tree and decorated our hotel room. Even though there was no snow, we made (no bake) cookies, drank hot chocolate and exchanged gifts.

At least there were really beautiful sunsets,
even though we couldn't dive.

From Manila, we headed south to Sablayan to begin our diving. The plan was to dive around the Apo Reef for a few days. Unfortunately, due to rough waters and weather conditions (*cough*typhoon) we were unable to get to the reef. After being stranded at the resort for longer than we had intended to stay, and still not having the chance to dive, we headed out to the next destination. In an attempt to steer clear of the previously mentioned storm (*cough*typhoon) which was going to the south western islands, over Palawan, we flew the the south eastern islands. There are more friends in this area, as well, so that was another bonus!

We made our way to an island called Malapascua, famous for its Thresher sharks. We found a great dive shop, stayed and dove with them for the better part of a week. We decided to leave there to our next destination as soon as we heard weather reports of another bout of bad weather (*cough*typhoon) coming directly for that area.

Thresher Cove Dive delivered. We saw the Threshers!

Chocolate Hills

We headed to Bohol, an island famous for its 'Chocolate Hills' and the Tarsier, the world's smallest primate. It was quite rainy for a couple of days, so we decided to poncho up and drive a motorbike to see the famed Chocolate Hills'. They weren't brown in color at the time we were there, but it's still pretty cool that they were formed by the sea in those shapes.

Bike zip line

On our way back, we stopped by an adventure park, where we did a bicycle zip line. I definitely didn't know that even existed. It was easy, (as long as I didn't look down), fun and offered the best view of the Hills.

Freediving. Looks a bit different than the full scuba gear.

Enough 'site seeing'. Let's go diving! So far, in meeting other scuba divers throughout my travels, I've heard enough mention freediving to make me curious. Alona Beach just happens to have a shop run by one of the current world record holders in freediving. If you don't know anything about freediving, it's basically diving down, headfirst, with only a weight belt, fins and mask (no air tank). I signed up for a course with an instructor to tell me about the basics of the sport as well as teach me a few of the techniques for holding my breath. The biggest challenge, for me, was how to best equalize ('pop') my ears as I swam down headfirst. I made it down to ten meters, but only once. I had to try it mostly out of curiosity. Some people do it for the challenge and others simply because there's more of a sense of freedom with less equipment and no air tank. I definitely crossed off professional freediver from the list of possible future careers, but it was fun to try something new.

Relaxed in my hammock and enjoyed the sunsets.

We moved on to our next destination called Apo Island (not the same as Apo Reef). The beach was tiny, but the weather was gorgeous, I had a shady spot to hang my hammock and there was plenty of diving to be had. Overall, a very small, relaxing place.

Not surprisingly, we heard again that another storm (seriously, that's the third, if you've been counting) was on its way. We headed back to Cebu City early, so that we could fly to Manila for our flight out of the country. We just happened to be there during the Sinulog Festival, a part of the Santo Niño celebration. This involved our, unintended,  participation in the street party as our friend showed us around the city.

Street Party fun!

As the streets became more crowded and the taxis were fewer by the hour, we realized it was time to get to the airport to catch our flight to Manila. To keep it easy, and not stand in the taxi queue for hours, we decided to walk the 10 km to the airport (that's a little over 6 miles). That may sound like a joke,  but we seriously followed the Google map directions, out of the busy city center on foot. Luckily, our bags were already left at the airport earlier in the day. We had all intentions of getting far enough away from the crowded area so that we could find an empty taxi, but we ended up walking nearly the entire way (things turned dicey at the end, and we got in a taxi for five minutes, because the Google maps kept leading us to walk through a military airbase, which apparently is around the airport. Needless to say the security guards didn't let us through to the airport). While we were having a great chat (with a San Miguel to toast) and enjoying our last evening in The Philippines, we even watched a few fireworks displays from the street and the bridge to the airport island.

Last, but certainly not least. We slept overnight in the Manila airport. In the morning, we were stuck with no taxis, a closed airport road into the city and all flights canceled/changed (we had gotten prior notice from the airline, so it didn't affect our plans or anything). This was totally worth it, as we got to wave to The Pope as he rode by in his Pope-mobile on his way to catch his flight out of the country.

No big deal. 

Unexpectedly saw The Pope drive by.
That has happened to everyone, right?

So, I left The Philippines with a blessing and plenty worth going back for, thanks to all of the changes in plans due to the rain (*cough*typhoons). There is still spelunking (caving) to do in Sagada in the north and plenty of unexplored dive sites throughout the entire country, just maybe in a different (not typhoon) season next time.