The Philippines 2013 (landscape/seascape heavy)

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To add to the huge collection of photo threads that have just popped up.. I include my shots from the Philippines over christmas. I think, as I did my Africa shots in April (which I need to finish...) I'll post them in a few separate posts, along with a little text so it'll hopefully end up as a travel "article" rather than a wall of photos!

I'll also post the few photos I got of Qatar in a separate thread.

All photos taken with either the D7000 or an Nikon AW1 (basically all the first week) C&C welcomed (but I realise unlikely detailed due to the number of photos!)

After a number of setbacks and rearrangements my GF and I finally headed off on our christmas trip to the Philippines. We had two main reasons for going. Firstly it would be the first time my GF would see her brother in 3 years, he lives out there. Second we wanted to spend a week kayaking, just us, two kayaks and (hopefully) some stunning scenery and warm waters...

After a fairly brutal day including two long flights, a 17 hour layover in Qatar and a two hour coach trip from the hole that is Angeles, we finally arrived in the noisy, bustling metropolis of Manila. A short walk later and we were in the apartment we would be staying in the for the night, chose with great care... because it was opposite the airport... Dumping our bags we headed out to wander the streets of (privileged) Manila. The area we were staying in was built to stem the hustle and bustle of Manila proper and keep the well to do away from the rest, making it a bit... Boring... We found a nice mall and wandered round.

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As you can see, it certainly wasn't the most typical filipino mall, I doubt many had Cartier stores.. It did have a great exhibition of Jeepneys though.

Next morning we headed to the airport, through a metal detector at the entrance of the mall (due to a shooting the day before we flew out) and into the main building, where I promptly got accosted by a TV crew wanting to ask some questions. I just hope they shot my head only, or else I'll have become famous for being that white guy struggling with his crotch on national TV... I was putting my belt on after the Metal detector... Honest...

After a short flight we arrived at our first proper destination, the island of Busuanga. A fairly untouristy island to the south of the main island and to the north of the island of Palawan and resort of El Nido.

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It's an island with few roads and even fewer sealed ones, full of rural filipino fishermen and the occasional tourist (in Coron town at least).

Now everyone knows of Tacloban and the super typhoon that hit in November, unfortunately for Busuanga it was also in the way, being the last island to be hit in the Philippines. Luckily there wasn't as much damage, however 5 people died and up to 80% of the houses were damaged. You could see this damage throughout the area over the coming days with blue tarp and occasionally brand new silver metal roofs. Our first stop was to the relief centre where we dropped off some torches and cash our colleagues had kindly donated. After that was to the market, which was thriving with plenty of food (5 weeks after the typhoon and within a day of Manila so shipments returned to normal within days of the disaster). Then on to the kayaks and off for the start of the adventure.

Our first afternoon and morning were with a guide. We decided we would get the lay of the sea before we headed out on our own. Off we headed, into the waning sun, to Coron Island, a large limestone island with steep cliffs and "unexplored" interior.

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Next day, after doing the tourist spots round Coron Island we headed out on our own, to do the almost complete circumnavigation of Busuanga Island. For the next two days the sky was blue, the sea clear and the fish colourful. The day consisted of paddling along, interspersed with the occasional snorkelling trip to see the underwater life, ending with the boats being pulled up on a beach and the tent being erected. Bliss, even if you need to drink like a camel to stay hydrated...

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(Short sharp rain shower...)

Along the coast you could see signs of life, people fishing in their small trimarans, communities behind the trees and above all lots of repair work going on. Rounding the corner and seeing a village would invariably be accompanied by the noise of hammer and saw.

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TBC...

 

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Well you made me want to go visit it looks beautiful. I think you might want to number these so people can comment on them individually. The one in the middle with boats ocean and hills is stunning (9.8/10 -.2 for the tree trunk in the way

It's a nice place, definitely go before it becomes too touristy!

Oh and numbered for you...

Thanks. . That's actually one of my least favourite shots of that set, it's THE photo everyone gets when they visit. Just google "Coron" and see what I mean. There is a reason it's so popular, shame about the originality... and the tree trunk. I think it looks a bit lopsided if the frame is shifted left and I couldn't go any further left as you have to stand on a boulder to take the shot. Perhaps a 5:4 crop may sort it.

I think my favourites out of that set are 7, 9 and either 13 or 14, I can't decide.

interesting thread and impressive travel photos.

But I'm pretty sure #7 is just a screenshot from Crysis?

Thanks.

Do you mean the kayak one of the limestone lagoon (6)? The lagoon one reminds me of Farcry, before the boring mutant things start coming into the storyline.

Next set incoming...!

 

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Set 2.

Unfortunately the weather didn't last, a dastardly northerly wind started up. Normally the wind comes from the east and aside from some swell on the west of the islands it's lovely and calm, however as someone who brings the rain with him (seriously, even when I'm in the Sahara it rains...) I'm used to the rain... The chop and waves were another matter. We ended up doing just a few km on the 5th day as the waves were so choppy, not that it looks like it when you're standing on the islands.

South and North Cay and Pamalican Island were supposed to be stunning tropical islands to enjoy in the sun, the first three sand Islands, no rocks, just white sandy beaches and palm trees. After camping next to what can only be described as a stagnant swamp the night before and with the taste of stagnant water still in our mouthes we relished the chance of going somewhere that sounded so nice. Unfortunately as the thunder died down and we started kayaking (it had started getting stormy the night before) the weather just got worse and worse. We eventually got to the Cays, after battling through the head wind and waves 6 feet high only to realise the next legs would be in even more open water.

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A couple of photos of the islands and a quick breather later we were off again, covering 3km before getting to Pamalican Island and deciding to call it quits for the day, hoping it would be calmer in the morning. After a quick wander round the island (literally) we realised we truly did have our own deserted desert island all to ourselves. A positive spin on what had been a difficult day!

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After a quick dinner of rice we headed to bed hoping for sun and no wind the next day...

Our prayers had been answered. We woke up to a calm day with an oily sea. Determined to make the most of it we were on the water before seven, kayaking into the open sea.

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A morning of smooth paddling awaited us, first the crossing, then the small islands with a few small fishing villages along the way. Then what we had been waiting for after the day before, the mainland! No more crossings and no more rough seas... we hoped.

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Soon after that photo was taken we both capsized in the breakers...

Luckily it was in 4 feet of water and on the reef next to the coast. A bit of pulling kayaks and rescuing everything that hadn't been attached we ended up ashore to bail out the water we seemed to have collected... No major issues but it definitely made us more wary. Most of the paranoia was related to several thousand £ worth of camera kit in a waterproof bag in the hold, if the hatch opened that would all be at the bottom of the ocean pretty sharpish...

Anyway, we paddled along the coast, over shallow seas, with breakers crashing on the reef edge on our left and palm tree infused sand on our right. Bliss!

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A bit of jealousy of some of the people that lived there though. I'm sure their lives aren't as good as we liked to think but they were living in many peoples idea of paradise... Especially those living in the, frankly awesomely named, village of Ocam Ocam.

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That afternoon it all changed though. We got to the end of our protected reef and had to navigate a peninsular. After trying to get round we gave up and decided safety was the better part of valour and doubled back. The waves and swell were far bigger than the day before.

We needed to get round so managed to hire a fisherman from the previous village with a big boat to pull the kayaks round. While it was cheating at least we managed to get a nice (if not slightly worrisome) boat trip round to our destination for that night. It turns out the weather was rough to the point the fishermen hadn't been out since the wind started and wouldn't be out again for at least two more days.

Next day we started off from the Calauit Safari station, heading off through a totally different environment, mangrove rivers. Calauit island is interesting, not just because it is so close to the mainland it doesn't look like an island, due to the mangroves, nor because there is no road access to the island, everything is brought from New Quezon on the northern coast, but because of the wildlife. Giraffe, Zebra and various other African animals live wild on the island, a legacy of the dictator Ferdinand Marco who decided in the 70's to bring them over from africa. Unfortunately being a dictator things don't appear to have been as smooth as the tourist lines. It appears many people were removed from the island, their tribal home for hundreds of years, to make way for the animals. They are still trying to get back on to it today.

After a couple of false starts we managed to find the right river and started kayaking to the north coast of the main island. This is when it struck me, the place was silent.

Normally when you go through a mangrove swamp in any other place I've been to the noise is everywhere - birds, monkeys and even the noise of fish swimming away quickly. There was almost nothing. I think I saw two small birds and that was it. Some of it may have been due to the Typhoon causing the birds to flee but a large part of it is due to the Filipinos themselves. As the guy we hired the kayaks from said when we spoke to him about it, "if it moves, they kill it". I knew this wouldn't be a wildlife trip but I didn't realise quite how sterile the Philippines really are for wildlife. Of the many islands there are very few with a substantial population of monkeys any more, along with many other mammal species they are either endangered or close to it. You could see that in the seas as well, very few fish bigger than "nemo", at least outside the protected areas.

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Anyway I digress. That day was the last kayaking day. We got to the next town with a road, spoke to the locals about heading to our final destination and the definitive answer was it was way too rough to take kayaks due to the wind. At that point we contacted the owner of the kayaks and asked to be picked up. As luck would have it, after kayaking to and from another island to get phone signal - another legacy of the Typhoon, most of the masts had gone, the only signal being "on the 5th step of the building over there" (literally) - we met our guide with two girls paddling towards up.

They had started out two days after us with the guide but had been alternating between a motorboat and kayaks. With the girls having spent the first rough day solely on the boat due to the weather we felt slightly vindicated about giving up that day! After a (new) group discussion it was decided that as one of the girls wanted to stop and I wanted to carry on to our final destination by kayak rather than get a lift I would swap with the girl and the three of us, guide, second girl and I, would head out into the surf and hopefully get to base camp.

The fishermen were right, it was pretty rough, with 20+ft swells in places and an interesting time getting back onto the beach at the other end. The satisfaction of completing the whole journey by kayak (save the short boat ride) was good though. I would always have regretted not getting to BC if I'd caught that lift...

Anyway, a lot of waffle. Out of interest is anyone actually reading the text or am I barking up the wrong tree in writing it and instead I should just post the photos?

That was the end of the Kayak portion of the trip. Before we flew out we had one last thing to do (after cleaning the accumulated seawater off ourselves in the first showers in 7 days and a good sleep). Alongside the money and torches we had given to the relief effort in Coron we also had the same again, alongside a large amount of school supplies to give to the local high school. Two years after it was built, using donated and local, it was severely damaged in the Typhoon. The roofs and windows had been destroyed and the insides covered in rubbish.

After the handover, brokered by the owner of the kayaks, an Australian called Greg, we were off to the airport to start the next, more family oriented, part of the trip.

TBC

 

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I enjoyed the text and the pictures, it sounds and looks like you had a fantastic trip and I've got to confess to being more than a little jealous!

I've not really commented to much on the pics but they are a great record of your trip that I hope you having made into a book and not just leaving on the computer!

Cool, I'll keep writing then.

I plan on doing a photo book, with some text, along with possibly putting one of these (or one of my GFs) on the wall on a 30'x40" style canvas.

Wow that is an awesome holiday!

Sounds right up my street although apart from kayaking downstream from Ardeche, France I have no experience of the seas. Is it something you learned over here or did you just pick up some kayaks and off you went?

I am currently planning a 5 week trip with my wife in July. Want to do the whole backpacking thing but without doing it in the obvious touristy places.

We are currently looking at Indonesia, specifically Sumatra and Lombok/Gili Islands. However we have another 2 weeks weeks to fill and the Philippines look awesome. I take it you have done this kind of thing before? Camping on deserted Islands etc?

It was good. Definitely recommended. We kinda regret not having quite as much time as we initially planned (we lost a day and a half due to flight cancellations) and it meant we were in more of a rush than we wanted to be. We would have liked to have been able to spend more time wandering round the islands and villages. Busuanga island was superb though if you want non touristy, out of the way locations. The people very friendly (properly so, not "I want your money so") and everything was local oriented although there were a few of dive resorts on islands dotted around if you want a bit of luxury (the diving is supposed to be brilliant, the snorkelling definitely was).

We both had some experience from when we were younger flat water kayaking but neither had any experience sea kayaking. We ended up taking a two day "intro mediate" course in the summer in Falmouth to make sure we were up to scratch. TBH as long as you're fairly fit and confident on the water you should be fine. It's supposed to be pretty flat (more akin to the first 3 days than the latter) normally and the the coastline is easy to follow. Alternatively you can hire a guide for the whole time, they are pretty cheap.

The company we went with (Tribal adventures - I think basically the only company with proper sea kayaks to rent in the Philippines) are very flexible with duration and needs/wants. We decided to just hire the kayaks because we were both confident on and in the water and wanted it to be "our" trip. We had our own kit (do a lot of wild camping etc) but you can also hire the stuff there.

 

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Set 3

Ready for the culture shock? It seems a bit odd but the biggest culture shock was going from Busuanga, a quiet, stunning island to Bohol, one of the tourist hotspots of the Philippines. We were back in the hustle and bustle of civilisation, hotels/resorts and tourists... The cities in the Philippines seemed very western. No real surprise considering it is an ex Spanish colony with a major American influence since WW2 and the main religion is Catholicism. It does it with a latin flair though, which is always nice.

We landed in Cebu city and were by the GF's brother who guided us, via taxi and ferry to the island of Bohol. The western coast is awash with resorts and hotels and has apparently changed significantly in the last few years because of it. You could see it in the prices and pestering you immediately got from hawkers, taxi/bike/trike drivers and excursion sellers. Luckily with our local guide and his filipino GF it made it so much easier to cut through them and do our own thing, which did admittedly include several of the "big" tourist attractions.

We decided the best way round was to hire a van and driver for the further afield sights, at £40 for the day not something that would break the bank with four of us in the van. The first day of travel would involve the main sights on the island, the Chocolate Hills and the Tasier sanctuary. With our snacks packed we headed out into the centre of the island.

It wasn't long before we started to notice signs of the natural disaster that befell Bohol only a month before the Typhoon narrowly missed it. In October the island felt a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, killing over 200 people and destroying 15,000 buildings, not to mention collapsing most of the major bridges on the island and many of the old churches. All the bridges on the main road we were travelling along had been replaced by temporary metal structures and in many places the road had been diverted away from half ruined church towers which spilled on to the streets.

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Outside the towns and villages though the terrain was dominated by woodland and rice paddies. One of the greatest thing about having your own driver? You can ask them to stop for a photo opportunity...

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The Chocolate Hills were a bit of a letdown. While stunning the only place you can see them from "above" is a big concrete platform built on top of one, above a small restaurant/hotel that had been built to cater for the tourists. Unfortunately the building had half slipped down the hill and the viewing platform was 3/4 rubble. You got to enjoy the view with a few dozen other tourists on a significantly reduced platform,all trying to get photos of the view without getting the rubble in the photo. Not my idea of fun but ticked off the list. In all fairness it wasn't that bad, I'm just not a fan of heavily tourist friendly places concreted over to allow everyone access. It spoils the achievement of getting there and seeing it.

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Whilst I keep talking about tourists, it's also not as bad as I may be making it out to be. Most of the tourists are in fact Filipinos enjoying their own country. The number of "white" people we saw outside the main tourist town and island was practically nil. In fact the only places we went in the few days on Bohol that had either anyone at all or more than a couple of people were the islands (in the next post) off the coast and the Chocolate Hills.

That day, amongst other things, we also went to the Tarsier sanctuary. These small furry primates are prevelant all over SE Asia but on the Philippines are pretty much gone, except for a few on the Island of Bohol. They are night dwelling primates the size of a human hand and with huge eyes, with all the ingredients to be a very cute creature. At the sanctuary there was a large fenced off patch of forest where a number of them live, you wander round the paths and are usually see them when a watcher points them out, each Tarsier having a watcher.

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On one of the next days we hired the same driver and headed out to see if we could visit five of the main waterfalls on the island. Starting with the most well known we would work our way down the list, easiest first and then onto the ones that were harder to find and get to (if possible). There was also talk that several of them had been destroyed by the earthquake.

The first, Mag-aso Falls, the most well known was easy enough to find. The driver knew where it was, we paid our entry fee (the equivalent of around 50p) and wandered down the concrete steps to be greeted by a nice waterfall and some locals jumping into the water.

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After a swim we headed off back up the path to the van. Waterfall 1 - crossed off!

The second was slightly more challenging. The driver got to the right road but after travelling down a dirt track for about a km had to check with one of the locals if he was heading in the right direction. We eventually found our way to Camugao Falls, a nice single drop waterfall, much higher than Mag-aso Falls. Down the secluded, wood and mud steps to the waterfall we went, empty but for us and with no man made structures in sight. Perfect. There was a large rockfall at the base which may or may not have been caused by the earthquake. A quick dip and we were off up the path again, on to waterfall number 3.

The third took much more time to find. The driver ended up down a number of dirt tracks, asking locals where it was. We eventually found Can-umantad falls, unfortunately the damage from the earthquake was severe. The edge of the entire gorge had slipped down, trees and all. The waterfall was still there but any way of getting down to its base was scuppered. Hopefully they will rebuild something soon, or alternatively there may be a way of viewing the base by walking up the gorge.

By that time the day had worn on and we had to miss out the last two we had hoped to see. We had seen four of the waterfalls on Bohol however (the fourth we had seen when ziplining the previous day), unfortunately only the first came out well in photos...

What we did also manage to do that day was stop in several villages and wander round the markets and have lunch in the roadside cafes (boiled cows skin, or sheeps stomach with veg anyone? The latter was lovely, the former not so much... Especially when you only get a folk and spoon as cutlery).

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Interesting to note, the tubs/cans and yellow/red bags at the back of the stall are actually Christmas foods. Pasta and fruit salad are two of the major food groups in the feast of Noche Buena, on Christmas eve.

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We also found some hunters who had just raided a bees nest. The honey was very sweet and the first time I'd eaten it from the comb.

TBC

 

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Set 4

The last set were all take on a trip out to a couple of islands (Balicasag and "Virgin Island") off the west coast of Bohol. Having spend a lot of time surrounded by almost no one it came as a shock to the system the number of boats and people snorkelling in the area. At first we were very apprehensive about the trip. Would it live up to previous snorkels around Busuanga? Yes, but in a different way. The fish were better, coral certainly not.

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As you can see, quite a number of boats (and this was only a few of them). The way you were treated (cash cow, pay to "land" as well as for the boat alongside the obvious hard sell of everything you could imagine) but at least the fish were good. Probably in part due to them being fed regularly by the snorkelers...

The next stop was Virgin Island, a large horseshoe shaped Cay (sand island). No snorkelling but a nice walk around the thin crescent of sand to the trees.

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There were a huge number of starfish around so I decided to try something different to my usual landscape shots...

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Inside the crescent the water was so calm the reflections were lovely

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Overall the day "island hopping" was nice however it wasn't something I would do again. It's the type of day I don't like. A crowded area surrounded by lots of other european/NA tourists. It just doesn't seem right, but then that feeling may have been amplified by the massive contrast to the previous week. Would I recommend it? If you aren't going elsewhere then yes it's probably worth it. If you're travelling round a bit then I would recommend doing the snorkeling and "island hopping" somewhere else less touristy.

That afternoon and evening, our last on Bohol and pretty much our last proper night on holiday, we spent by the beach sipping cocktails and eating seafood. Even in the tourist locations the food and drink was very cheap (but then everywhere is cheap compared to London...). The sun decided to bid us farewell in a lovely show of light. I'd be interested to know peoples preferences on the next two images, I'm not sure which works best...

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After that night it was another morning and another train. This being the Philippines the airport wasn't just another boring queue however... It's the first time I've seen a **** in a terminal... This one was strutting around with many people staring at it. I'm not quite sure why it was out, although it may have been to check it was in good health before being put back in it's box and sent onto the plane...

Anyway, we fly back to Manila and coach on to Angeles, our final stop before boarding the plane back to Blighty. We had an entire day and a half to waste though. In Angeles that's a long time unless you're a sex tourist... The main claim to fame of the town is it's the sex tourism capital of the Philippines. Lots of middle aged white men and young Filipino women hanging around outside the bars/"karaoke" places. In fact we ended up playing a game, my GF would hang back and see how many cat calls I could get before they spotted her (fairly obvious, the only white girl I saw in two days...).

Anyway, what Angeles is though, ignoring all the sex, is a vibrant, noisy city. Possibly worth a visit for half a day. You can also do trips to Mt. Pinatubo and other locations, however expect to pay extortionate prices to get to them. It seems it's a korean hot spot and they, much like Americans, are willing to pay top prices for excursions.

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And that's a wrap!

Overall I'd definitely love to go back, to the less touristy locations only though! There are over 7000 islands in the Philippines and we touched about two dozen. There's the World heritage Rice terraces in the North, marshes in the south, stunning looking volcanoes all over and whale sharks to dive with in the east. Apparently there are many more places like Busuanga all over the Philippines where you can see what the Philippines are really about, rather than the sanitised tourist locations of western Bohol and Boracay. Perhaps that's just me though...

 

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Thanks guys

Wonderful pictures, and trip... makes me pine for sun and warmth... and somewhere more exotic than Devon

A little more exotic than devon... But then again Devon is one of the only places you get palm trees.

Any preferences for either photo 39 or 40? I'd be interested to know which people prefer.

 

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Nice shots, I'd love to spend a few weeks or longer in that part of the world, furthest I've been is north Vietnam, this looks a lot more tropical.

How did you rate the AW1, I've seen it on a few places mentioning it, I'd like something waterproof that has SLR image quality for these kind of trips.

Thanks

I've just posted a review in the AW1 thread on this forum. In brief... I liked it but not sure I could use a mirrorless camera over a DSLR! Great if you're active near/in the water.

True he-he... in the summer, if its a good one this part of the world is as good as any other... but right now

As for the two pics...

For me 40 by a whisker, is more pleasing to my eye.

Thanks. I prefer that one as well, but they both have their merits as you say.