PHILIPPINES - fiesta is in the air!!!

First impression
...this is how I had imagined South America could feel like...very promising welcome message in the airport at 1 am "We go the extra smile"....fiesta still going on at 4am...little children patiently hanging out with their parents in the bar...music all around...feeling relaxed...really few "organized" tourists...even real few backpackers..

Philippines is a happy place for happy people!

Interesting history....impressive Spanish heritage...very Christian...language that sounds almost like Spanish...fiesta...smiles...singing.... And they have also taken the best USA has to offer: brownies ;) ..and everyone speaks English (which makes travelling so easy!)!

Filipino Language is also fun...as they mix English into Filipino language (which sounds a bit like Spanish with a considerable amount of Spanish loan words)....so sentences like: "Pero you better..." are very common...and it`s fun to listen how English words pop up during local conversations!


2 week adventure route:
Manila -> Cagayan de Oro (on Mindanao island) -> Camiguin island -> Bohol island -> Panglao island -> Manila






Top 10 experiences:

1. Snorkeling for the first time off Balicasag island...under water world is amazing!!! (no underwater camera for now, so just some blue sea-stars photographed from the boat)



2. Perfect beaches: White island, Virgin island and a dreamy beach on Pangalao island




3. Floods & showers! We managed to be soaked wet on numerous occasions and experienced flood twice!





4. Always singing Philippinos :) ...and the coolest airport experience -> 2h concert waiting for the plane in a tiny waiting room in Tagbilaran airport on Bohol island.



5. "LOST" feeling of the volcanic Camiguin island referred to as the Philippines’ “Garden of Eden.”




6. Cock fights - real bloody national sport!




7. Visiting cute tiny Tarsiers in the Tarsier sanctuary - tribute to an endangered species!




8. 2 Legendary boat rides.
1. First time in my life saw dolphins in the open sea from the ferry going to Camiguin island - quite many of them....so amazing that didn`t take my eyes of them to look for photo-camera!!! :)
2. Wavy boat ride from Camiguin island to Bohol island that I will never forget! I was broadening my horizon & feeding fish for almost 2 hours...and was happy to step foot on the firm ground...



9. Jeepneys phenomenon!!! Probably the most fun public transportation invented!




10. Chocolate hills...natural Herhey`s kisses :)



To be continued... ;)