Feb 2007

After extending our stay at the watersport complex for 2 days (people, wakeboarding and all was just too much fun!), we went to Donsol to go snorkelling with whalesharks.

Normally at this time of year there should already be enough of them around to almost certainly be able to see some - well, ... almost certainly ... we kept on waiting and circling around with our bangka for about 6 hours but we didn't see a single one : (

- nuff said

Chasing the whalesharks was somewhere between boring and annoying because of the constant loud and monotone sound of the boat's engine. Still it is yet another reason to come back here at some point in another vacation - the Philippines are really worth more than one visit!

On Our way back to Legaspi however we were able to catch a view on the perfectly shaped Mayon volcano. This one is still active and erupted only some months ago, followed by a devastating taifun. Unfortunately it all ended in a couple of thousand people who didn't survive the landslide that came down the mountain and covered them in ash and mud.

At the moment we are in Bangkok, mainly for shopping, as you might have guessed.
We first stayed in Hotel Atlanta, a Bangkok original from the fifties with a strict no sex tourism policy (they must be very proud of it as you can read the 'don't does' basically everywhere).
Just today we moved to a nice hotel right in the middle of Khaosan Road - bit more live here!
Below a view on Khaosan Road as most of you might remember it ...

Just a little add-on to the cable park ...

The party on Saturday was exactly as promised - free buffet, live band, dancers and free booze for the entire night! The funniest dance was to jump between two poles which were banged together to the rhythm of the music. Hurts a bit if you miss the tune and the poles hit your ankles - definitely a thing we will teach you when we meet again!

If you ever wondered how the little province of Camarines Sur is able to spend this amount of money on all the partying, don't look any further - it comes from governor - 'you want a table football? .. okay, I'll order some!' Lray who we met in person.

Quite a funny guy, who came over to us saying 'fick dich' (fuck you), some German words he just learned - he thought it meant 'hello'. On special request from some Austrian wakeboarders he ordered some Jaegermeister for the last party (Austrians obviously - they probably could have asked for champagne or any liqueur you could actually drink as well - but hey)

Below you can see the governor at his welcome party (the guy in the grey t-shirt and the beer bottle at his balls - no shit!).

In the end Frank at least learned how to ride almost three rounds on a wakeboard as well (you might have guessed it, the guy on the picture one blog earlier wasn't him ; ) - and he really enjoyed it!

Julia, on the last day, however banged her head on the water and had to stay calm for some days suffering from a light concussion : (

In between wakeboarding we spent most of the time hanging out in the sun or giving daft comments on other people's skills - or went to the hot springs, next to a dormant Isarog volcano ...

Day before yesterday we arrived in Naga in the province of Bicol. The town itself is nothing special at all, apart from a super new wakeboard cable park. This is the first time during our stay in the Philippines when we suddenly felt like being in a western country again.

The facility is only a year old and seams to be the governor's baby. The mainly Eurpean tourists are treated as young gods, especially at Saturday nights when there is a welcome party every week - with dancers and all! As it is Saturday today, we will see what is going on : )

Tuesday and Wednesday we will spend in Donsol to see if there are any whale sharks around to snorkel with ... we will keep you posted!

As a little stopover and a kind of must see, we decided to go to Lake Taal and the vulcano situated on an island within the lake.

The vulcano was worth seeing, however, all in all, it was a rather touristy happening:

We first had to take a bangka to the island. Once we arrived there, we were hassled by masses of horsemen who tried to convince us to go to the top of the vulcano by horse. They didn't stop following us until we were half way up the mountain.
After about 40 minutes walk we arrived at the top of the vulcano, where again we were hassled to take a horse for our way back.

Apart from the annoying horsemen and around a hundred other tourists passing our way up the mountain (mainly on a horse back), the vulcano itself was quite an impressive sight. Unfortunately we weren't lucky with the weather this time and it was raining on our way back ... maybe we should have taken a horse?

After a 8 hours journey by plane, bus and bangka (local fisher boat) we arrived on Pandan, a small island off the west coast of Mindoro. This privately owned island is a real tropical paradise with its crystal clear water, white sand beach, surrounded by beautiful coral reefs and only one resort on it!

On his first dive at Pandan Island, Frank saw sea turtles grassing the bottom of the beach right in front of our resort, in shallow water. So right after his dive we went snorkelling at the beach and were impressed! Full grown sea turtles (approx. 1.2m/4ft tall), trigger fishes in abbundance and even blue spotted sting rays, all only a few meters from the beach!

Our main purpose was that Frank could go diving at nearby Apo Reef with hammerhead sharks. No hammer heads though but the under water wildlife there was just amazing!
At a visibilty of around 30m/90ft (crystal clear water that is) and to be able to swim with some pretty impressive fishes at beautiful coral walls, which descend to 90m/270ft, Apo Reef made it probably Franks nicest dive so far. Also, diving with sharks was quite a thrill, even if they were harmless reef sharks of only about 2.5m/8ft length.

Unfortunately we don't have pictures of Apo Reef yet. However Frank went diving with a bunch of Czech semi-professional photographers (every second of them has had a pretty nifty under water camera), so photos should be coming at some point.

Our accomodation was very basic here though. The walls were so thin and front doors to the rooms basically non existant, that we could hear our neighbours making all kind of s.ounds during the night ; )

Anyway, the dinner buffet made up for the budget accomodation. We feasted on all kinds of grilled fish in a French-Philippino cuisine style - delicious! And we don't have to mention that especially Frank enjoyed the all-you-can-eat buffet : )

Some turtle videos...