I'm back

[Englishman2010]

I've been back for a couple of days and thought I should check in;)
As per my previous posts, the weather in the Phil's was pretty awful, I was there for 12 days and it rained every day apart from the morning of my last day:rolleyes: From a tourist point of view it was probably the worst vacation I've had for a long time - crap weather, and I didn't rate Bicol in the closed season. However, it was worth it to see Elaine again. I honestly didn't see the attraction of Bicol, sure Mayon is a big pull and is a truly majestic sight:xxgrinning--00xx3:, but it was hidden by rain clouds for most of my time there, and you cant climb it anyway. Even if you pay 200 USD and organise a trip yo can't go above 2000 metres. As a tourist, the Taal/Tagaytay area offers far more and can be done on a day trip from Manila and for a lot less money. (in fact we spent my last but one day in the Tagaytay area and it was far better than Bicol). I don't want to put people off Bicol, as I know some of you really enjoyed the area, but from my own experience, I found Camsur and Caramoan lacked any infrastructure, they had no knowledge of how to cater for tourists (not just western tourists, but Filipino tourists too), the taxi and trikes are a complete rip off and the taxi drivers work on a closed shop basis whereby they all gang up to rip off the puti/kano. My judgement may be clouded by the fact that it rained non stop for a week when I was in Bicol, and as an outdoor person, it meant I was unable to do the things I wanted. Albay province was slightly better than Camsur/Caramoan and I found that in Legaspi the people didn't try to rip me off at every opportunity, as they did further north. There probably are some great things to do in the area, but not in the rain. We spent our last day in Legaspi with one of Elaine's friends/colleagues who was back in town for the holiday weekend. We had a good time as he gave us a guided tour in his 4WD and took us to some interesting places - including go-karting and ziplining at Lignon Hill.
All in all, I didn't really enjoy Bicol and won't be going back there. Palawan, Bohol, Panglao, Mindoro, Boracay and Batangas offer me far more of what I'm looking for.
Back in Manila I did the usual tourist things that i've done many times before, but still enjoy - Tagaytay/Taal, MOA, Ayala/Greenbelt and Taguig.
My stopovers in HK at the beginning and end of my journey were completely different to Bicol. I had a brief 3 day taste of HK about 6 months ago and wanted to go back to explore the new territories. I love HK, the mad pace of life in the city, the melting pot of cultures in Wanchai, Nathan Road and Jordan districts. The architecture of the city. This time I managed to get out to Lantau island and took the cable car up to the Giant Buddha and temples. I also took a tour out to the Land between. This was stunning with fantastic Chinese temples in the Yuen Yuen institute, breathtaking mountains and scenery on the borders with China and my highlight was the Brides Pool Waterfalls.
I really loved HK and after 2 trips I still haven't seen everything I want, I'll have to arrange another trip to the Phil's taking in a stopover in HK sometime next year.
That's another trip to the Phil's over and done with, time to start researching what I can do in Coron on my next trip at the end of December:D

[stevewool]

seems like many have been with you on this trip Ian, with facebook :icon_lol:, rain does stop play where ever you go i am afraid, but you did do your best to do lots it seems again,Tagatay Teal i must agree is a wow place, the trip down to the lake on a motorbike is a must,Coron is a place to see i agree, but we are torn between there and panglao for our trip

[Terpe]

Welcome back. Although I'm sure you'd rather be somewhere else.

Although the weather may not have been what you'd have wanted, you still managed to pack in plenty of interesting times.

As you say, time to plan the next one.:xxgrinning--00xx3:
Yep, even I'm looking forward to seeing that plan.:icon_lol:

[Englishman2010]

Coron or Panglao - what a choice? You won't go wrong with either Steve:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Doc Alan]

Welcome back Ian, thanks for taking the time to post an interesting and helpful account of your trip :xxgrinning--00xx3:.

[Englishman2010]

Welcome back. Although I'm sure you'd rather be somewhere else.

Although the weather may not have been what you'd have wanted, you still managed to pack in plenty of interesting times.

As you say, time to plan the next one.:xxgrinning--00xx3:
Yep, even I'm looking forward to seeing that plan.:icon_lol:

Yes Terpe, I'd still much rather be over there, even if it is the wet season. Upon re-reading my post, it appears rather negative. I don't want to come across as a whinging Brit tourist, as I've had many great times in the Phil's, it's just my last trip didn't quite live up to expectations, largely due to the dreadful weather. Anyway, I've seen enough of the Phil's on my trips to know what it's about and am certainly looking forward to 16 weeks and 4 days time:D The plan will start to come together in the next few weeks, Flights to Coron were booked many months ago when Cebu Pac had a promo on, now I need to research what to do there, where to stay and more importantly how to get to El Nido, my brief searches on the latter have so far drawn a blank:Erm:

[Englishman2010]

Welcome back Ian, thanks for taking the time to post an interesting and helpful account of your trip :xxgrinning--00xx3:.

Thanks Doc:xxgrinning--00xx3: I hope that you enjoyed the photo's, there were rather a lot to get through:icon_lol:

[stevewool]

what did you pay for your flights to coron

[grahamw48]

Welcome back Ian.

Good thing you never took the old nightmare (17 hour) train ride to Bicol then.:laugher:

Here's them test-running the shiny new one though.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uozyh39GE0&feature=related

[steve monty]

Alright Ian, Welcome back!!

Sorry to hear that you didn't have a great time because of the weather. Rain seem's to stop play in the Philippines like Wimbledon tennis tournamant. :icon_lol:

It's not good also when you are getting ripped off by the locals. I have experienced that on occasions, :furious3:. This annoys my wife also.

I'm sure you were happy though being with Elaine! :xxgrinning--00xx3: Roll on the next holiday. You'll be back before you know it and with better weather for you in Palawan.

When are you going to venture down to Mindanao? or does that not appeal to you? You have been to nearly everywhere else in the Philippines :icon_lol: :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Englishman2010]

Alright Ian, Welcome back!!

Sorry to hear that you didn't have a great time because of the weather. Rain seem's to stop play in the Philippines like Wimbledon tennis tournamant. :icon_lol:

It's not good also when you are getting ripped off by the locals. I have experienced that on occasions, :furious3:. This annoys my wife also.

I'm sure you were happy though being with Elaine! :xxgrinning--00xx3: Roll on the next holiday. You'll be back before you know it and with better weather for you in Palawan.

When are you going to venture down to Mindanao? or does that not appeal to you? You have been to nearly everywhere else in the Philippines :icon_lol: :xxgrinning--00xx3:

Thanks Steve:xxgrinning--00xx3: I'm sure it will be much better weather in Palawan in Jan, and the experiences of this trip haven't put me off the Phil's, I've seen enough of it to know the good outweigh the bad. As for the locals ripping us off, on one occasion a native trike driver in Caramoan had a go at Elena for being a bad Filipina because she wouldn't let a Filipino rip off her puti boyfriend:cwm23:
Mindanao is definitely on the cards at some point later in 2012 or 2013, the areas around Davao and CDO seem to be the most tourist friendly:)

[Englishman2010]

Steve, i bought them during a Cebu Pac promo back in Feb, total price was 3700 inc tax for a round trip for both of us:D , so thats about £28 return each:D:D

[Englishman2010]

Welcome back Ian.

Good thing you never took the old nightmare (17 hour) train ride to Bicol then.:laugher:

Here's them test-running the shiny new one though.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uozyh39GE0&feature=related

Great video Graham:xxgrinning--00xx3: I've done similar journey's in India, back in 2001 I made the 18 hour train journey from Margao (Goa) to Cochin (Kerala) in a 2nd class AC Sleeper, it was actually a very pleasurable journey:xxgrinning--00xx3: Im March next year I'm doing Singapore to Bangkok on three different trains, going via KL and Penang, its a 1200 mile 48 hour journey

[grahamw48]

Manila - Naga on the old train was definitely NOT a pleasurable journey...by any stretch of the imagination. :NoNo:

[Englishman2010]

Manila - Naga on the old train was definitely NOT a pleasurable journey...by any stretch of the imagination. :NoNo:

I did a 5 hour trike ride from Tigoan (Camsur) to Santo Domingo (Albay) along the coastal road via Tiwi and Tabaco, it was neither pleasurable nor comfortable, but it was certainly memorable and I wouldn't have missed it. It was one of the highlights of my trip to Bicol

[sars_notd_virus]

Welcome back Ian , lovely pics on all your trips:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Englishman2010]

Thanks Mari, glad you enjoyed them, but sorry there weren't many decent shots of blue skies:rolleyes: but lots of pics of delicious food and dishes:D

[sars_notd_virus]

Thanks Mari, glad you enjoyed them, but sorry there weren't many decent shots of blue skies:rolleyes: but lots of pics of delicious food and dishes:D

not too many blues skies but the view still looks spectacular:xxgrinning--00xx3:
and yes the ''chillies'' in all those foods inspire me to cook hot curry for dinner tonight:hubbahubba:

[Englishman2010]

not too many blues skies but the view still looks spectacular:xxgrinning--00xx3:
and yes the ''chillies'' in all those foods inspire me to cook hot curry for dinner tonight:hubbahubba:

Yum, spicy food:D That's something Bicol is good for:xxgrinning--00xx3: Now you've mentioned curry, I feel like a nice spicy Jalfrezi:D

[Arthur Little]

:welcomex: back, Ian. :) As always it's a pleasure to read about your experiences ... even if they were marred to some extent by the :raining: weather on this occasion.

[grahamw48]

Agreed Arthur.

Sometimes in the rainy season you can feel like bloody King Canute though. :cwm3:

.
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/47/negs6029.jpg

[Arthur Little]

Agreed Arthur.

Sometimes in the rainy season you can feel like bloody King Canute though. :cwm3:


http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/47/negs6029.jpg

Or 'Master of all you survey' ... Graham, I also always enjoy looking at those high quality photos of yours.

[grahamw48]

Thanks Arthur.

Although to be honest, a lot (like that one) were taken from mucky old negatives and then digitalised and saved using my little 'Ion Film 2SD' negative scanner. :)

Clever little thing though.

[Englishman2010]

:welcomex: back, Ian. :) As always it's a pleasure to read about your experiences ... even if they were marred to some extent by the :raining: weather on this occasion.

Thanks Arthur:xxgrinning--00xx3: As I've said before, I've been to the Phils enough to know what it can be like when the weather is good so this experience won't put me off:) I'm already counting down and starting to plan for my next adventure in Coron in approx 16 weeks time:D

[Dedworth]

Great write up :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Jimbojac]

Thanks Steve:xxgrinning--00xx3: I'm sure it will be much better weather in Palawan in Jan, and the experiences of this trip haven't put me off the Phil's, I've seen enough of it to know the good outweigh the bad. As for the locals ripping us off, on one occasion a native trike driver in Caramoan had a go at Elena for being a bad Filipina because she wouldn't let a Filipino rip off her puti boyfriend:cwm23:
Mindanao is definitely on the cards at some point later in 2012 or 2013, the areas around Davao and CDO seem to be the most tourist friendly:)

CDO is pretty boring in my humble opinion. Dipolog City's beautiful surroundings are fantastic and the beaches around Surigao City and Tandag are great if you are looking for a quiet holiday but there again i am biased! My business interests are there!:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Terpe]

........beaches around Surigao City and Tandag are great if you are looking for a quiet holiday............

A small group of us took a drive from Davao to Tandag. An adventure in itself. We stopped here and there to stretch etc but overall took us 16 hours.
The beaches we experienced were just fabulous. I recall that at times the ocean looked like a surfers paradise and we all thought would be a great surfing place. Especially with the very sandy beach and shoreline.
I haven't been back since, but what would be the easiest way to get there from Davao?