The Philippines part 5: Welcome to Puerto Princesa

Hi Everybody! Yesterday I got back from Palawan by plane.

We visited a lot of different places there, but I'm going to start with some pictures from Puerto Princesa, it's close to the airport.

This isn't really a season for dolphin spotting but we were lucky to spot a group,

thanks to the fishermen that gave hints where to go. 

 Entrance of one of the places we stayed (Jungle Flower).

On the left: Stroll around the baywalk. On the right: Traditional Filipino food.

Crocodiles at the Crocodile Farm.

Drinking at Microtel. We didn't stay here lol, way too expensive.

My uncle says it's cheaper if you stay at the top of the palmtree hahahaa.

View from the bay.

Rio and dad eating Balut. It's a Filipino delicatesse.

You can try different crocodile recipes here (legal),

I haven't tried it though.

Cacoons at the butterfly garden.

The Philippines Part 4: Welcome to Moalboal

After a LONG drive by bus we finally arrived in Moalboal.

 You can spot a lot more tourists here especially at Panagsama.

Everything is more expensive here also, but it's all worth it as you will see in the pictures.

 Sleepy dogs <3.

Mantayupan Falls near Barili. You also have Kawasan Falls in Moalboal that's

more well know, but we've already been there 8 years ago so we went to Mantayupan this

time. Here you won't see as many tourists as in Kawasan. Mantayupan is more narrow than Kawasan but higher. Both places are beautiful.

Philipino tourists also started making pictures of me, tourists making pictures of another tourist LOL. I felt really awkward so I just smiled and then they also started to smile and took even more pictures with no shame hahaha. You don't always see foreigners in most of the Philippines so when you'll visit the less touristic spots 

you will surely hear 'HEY AMERCANO!' a lot.

Sumisid Lodge (in Panagsama). Rio went diving here

and got her diving license. There were a lot of Dutch and Belgian guests here because

the owner is Dutch and he owns the diving place. Dutch people are everywhere when you go on a holiday whahaha.

White Beach. 

      

Bamboo House Resort. 

We stayed here for a few days, after the Sumisid Lodge. It had just enough room for a double bed and you have to share the toilet, but it's also a lot cheaper than Sumisid

(around 12 euro a night). The owners (husband and wife) are very kind and you can request a bbq served by the couple, which I can really recommend.

One of the neighbors from the Bamboo House Resort invited us to his place where we could

watch some of his animals. Pigs, puppies, chickens and birds, so cute!

He was really kind and such a happy man haha.

In Moalboal you can also find the first training ground for archery settled in the Philippines.

I really wanted to go here and me and my father thought it was really close to

the Bamboo House Resort so we went walking in the heat. How we were wronggggggg!

We had to walk such a long way and we didn't bring any water and I only had a 500

peso bill (10 euro) which is too big for the little local shops here to give some change.

Luckily the owner of 'Asia-Archery' was friends with the couple from the resort and

he brought us back. We made an arrangement for the next day and it was a lot of fun!

His wife made the animal targets hahaha. 

 Before we left Moalboal we visited an old colleague of my mom, Glenda.

She owns a restaurant and serves European foods. We will travel to another island tomorrow where we will stay for a week so my next blog will also have to wait a week
because I can only update it in Compostela where we always rest for a few days before we visit a next place. Also: excuse me if I make a lot of errors in my writing, because we're always on the go. I'm also a slow writer but I have to write fast here
and I can't always use the internet. See you next week!

The Philippines Part 3: Welcome to Tabuelan

After Hagnaya we went to Tabuelan for 3 nights were we have a private family beach.
Here we go to just sit, watch, relax and go for a lot of snorkeling. I will post all the underwater pictures at the end of the vacation in 1 post, so it will be easier to upload from the underwater camera.

Entrance to the beach.

A lamp one of my uncle's made out of a big water-bottle.

So creative haha.

And the result at night.

An example for lunch: Fish, seaweed and pancit.

I think I have been eating fish everyday for the last 2 weeks.

We usually bought the fish the fishermen just caught at the beach where we stayed. 

Can't get any fresher than that :D.

And this... Seacucumbers and Salpo.

They look awful, but the taste isn't that bad.

The texture reminded me of squid. Can't call it my favorite though LOL.

Some Sea Urchins our neighbor just caught. There is a little bit of meat in the inside

and when you wash away the seawater it tastes kinda sweet. Rio likes them a lot.

 Our sleeping place, there's enough space for 6 persons haha.

There's a little hut too but it's too hot inside and the mosquitos always have a secret

gathering there. Also: there's isn't that much light pollution here 

so the stars are really bright at night!

If Japan is called the land of the rising sun then 

the Philippines definitely is the land of sunset.

How our food is prepared at this place. My uncle who is also driving us around is a great cook. He has worked as a chef on a boat before and he makes the best fluffy scrambled eggs! I love his food.

 My niece Angeli is holding a Fugu fish here. The neighbors caught it,

 but it's really poisonous (deadly!) if not prepared well.

In Japan you actually need a few years of training and a license to serve it. 

I guess the neighbors can cook though :').

Haven't heard any complaints (or maybe that's not a good thing?)

We went for a walk a few times. It was so hot all the time, but definitely worth it.

We took way too many nature pictures so here's a selection. 

You can click on them to enlarge.

A cave in Tabuelan. It was like a sauna

inside and really narrow and dark, we couldn't go too far.

Some more funky birds (most of the bird pictures are made by dad of course).

Satisfied mother and baby goat along the way.