Steve visited Tokyo over 20 years ago, for a long weekend en-route to Australia on business, and found it to be the most difficult place he’d ever travelled to. We had our fingers crossed that the intervening years had made things easier for Western tourists who didn’t speak or understand a word of Japanese. We had a stay of 4 nights and 3 full days booked but no firm plans other than Sumo on day 3 – let’s just…
Coron is part of Palawan Province but is a separate area of islands around 100Km North of El Nido and the Palawan ‘mainland’. It CAN be reached by plane from El Nido, but there’s definitely still luggage restrictions on this route, so ferry was our only option. The reason for our visit to Coron was the fleet of 8 WWII Japanese ships sunk near Coron in 1944 and their remains apparently offering some of the world’s best wreck diving….
Organised tours, or private boat charters, are the only way to see the delights of El Nido – it’s all about island hopping in the surrounding area to explore the white sand beaches, lagoons, turquoise waters and underwater beauty. We did 2 day trips – Tours A & C, the ‘best’ apparently. Highlights included kayaking into the gorgeous Big Lagoon (and getting a tow back as we were tired and Debbie’s shoulder isn’t really up to kayaking), great snorkelling…
A very large island 2 hours by ferry from Siquijor, Bohol (like most of The Philippines) also has pristine white beaches, blue sea & good diving but we were heading there for the inland attractions. Our short stay included visiting the Chocolate Hills, Quad Biking, Zip Lines, Cable Cars and visiting a Tarsier sanctuary.
Pronounced Seek-ee-hor, this up-and-coming island destination on the tourist trail was to be our destination for 6 nights and our most ambitious travel plan so far in The Philippines. Originally we were aiming to take a trike to Moalboal town, a 2 hour bus ride to Bato, another trike to Liloan Port (on the Southern tip of Cebu island), half hour ferry across to Sibulan on the huge island of Negros, trike to Damaguete Port, 1-2 hour (depending on…
On the West coast of Cebu Island, Moalboal (pronounced Mowl-Bowl) is a diving mecca due to the Sardine Run just offshore where millions of fish congregate daily for one of the biggest displays in the world. Obviously it was on our itinerary for that very reason.
Pronounced Mal-a-pask-wa, this tiny dot of an island off the northern tip of Cebu is famous for being the only place in the world where you are pretty much guaranteed a Thresher Shark sighting. As the white sand beaches and perfect blue water didn’t look too shabby either, we thought this would be a good place to start our exploration of The Philippines.
After a hectic 17 days back in the UK to meet our new grandson, check up on the oldies, meet up with friends, collect our post and get our China visas (more on that another time), it was time to resume our adventures.
Agra is synonymous with the Taj Mahal and what a stupendous monument it is. Commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan (r. 1628–1658) to house the tomb of his beloved third wife, Mumtaz Mahal at a modern day cost of over US$800 million it took 22 years to complete. By that time Shah Jahan had been deposed by his son and imprisoned in Agra Fort, so he spent the last eight year’s of his life looking at…
Next stop Sawai Madhopur, for Ranthambhore National Park, the best place to see Bengal Tigers. Despite failing to book three months in advance, when the pre-order tickets sell out, we were lucky to get last minute tickets for two safaris, and even luckier with the wildlife we saw.