Just Random Stuff

Well since I have decided to sit still for a while. I thought I would post some of the things I see on a daily basis that makes me go hmmmmm?

This is a restaurant on Alona Beach. It is clear that the owner chose the wrong name when he decided to build years ago.

Now I understand it is costly to change the name of your business. But seriously should you be making shirts for your staff that read I love ISIS! 

Talk about being out of touch from the world.

Just one of the many nightly visitors I get (Praying Mantas). 

Welcome to the tropics.

Here I am getting a puncture fixed at a local Vulcanizer. I love the ingenuity of developing countries. Why remove the whole tire to fix the puncture......Just pull the tube out while still attached.

Apply patch with adhesive and press with heated iron contraption and let sit until cool down.

Had to buy this for the pure sake of curiosity. Tooth paste in pouches rather than a tube.

One of my not so good purchases while try to cook at home.

A couple of pics of my home away from home at the moment in the Philippines. A traditional Philippine style house called a Nipa Hut. 

Of course with some Western upgrades.

Look mom....... I made my bed 

My outdoor kitchen

View from my front door during a tropical rain storm.

And of course no Nipa Hut is complete without your very own guard dog. Meet the fearsome Yogi! Protecter of the community.

And finally a few shots of my local swimming hole.

Alona Beach on the Island of Pangloa.

Chocolate Hills (Bohol)

Another must see visit when in Bohol are the chocolate mountains.

They are named so from the brown colour they take on when the dry season hits. But as you can see they are still al lush green being part of the rainy season at the moment.

My latest ride is a Honda Beat. Here seen on the man made forest? Yup, not really sure what that is but a sign indicated i was entering the man made forest. 

Once you start to enter the centre of the Island which is more tropical you start to see the rice fields. 

These may look like homes but it is actually a cemetery. I have seen this in other countries as well where the graves are above ground and on a hill. This is due to the high water levels during the monsoon season. All graves would float to the surface if buried.

Just so flora on route.

Bohol Island

It was time for another ferry ride to another Island. This time I decided on taking the later ferry from the town of Larena on Siguiqor to the island of Bohol. The ride would last about 3 hours and arrive if all went well at around 10:30pm.

First things first though I needed to get a ticket. My thinking was the early bird gets the worm. So if I showed up a 9am to get a ticket it should be no problem since the boat does not leave until 7pm. Plus they only sell the tickets on the day of departure.

Talk about class separation

  There are three levels of seating: the first being basic (just a seat), the second economy (a sleeper bunk no air) and the third tourist class (sleeper bunk with air con). All I wanted was a basic since it would only be 7pm and I was not planning to need to sleep on the voyage.

My bunk for the next three hours

Now remember this is only 9am in the morning and as I waited in a very small lineup I was able to strike up a conversation with a Tourist policeman. During our conversation he asked where I was going and said "no problem getting a ticket it is never full". So when I approached the window and asked for the basic I was told "sorry sir all those seats are sold out" Seriously? How is that possible there is know one here. Fine I will take the next priced level of economy "oh, sorry sir that level is sold out as well, but we do have Tourist class left". 

Seems the only way I was going to get a ticket was by paying for the most expensive TOURIST CLASS ticket. I will let you guys make your own judgement on why this happened. And as expected I barley stayed in the room since the aircon was jacked up to sub zero temperatures. Plus I truly enjoy hanging out with the locals in the open air of the back deck.

There are actually two Island which are connected by a causeway. The Island of Bohol and it's neighbour Panglao. Bohol contains the capital city of Tagbilaren while Panglao is famous for its Alona beach resort area.

One of the reasons to visit Bohol is to get a chance to see the rare Tarsiers. These animals are only found on a select few Island throughout Southern Asia.

They are an endangered species but are now protected in the Philippines. 

If you are a Star Wars fan you will notice where the concept for the character of Yoda came from.

I am not sure how well the picture shows it but I am completely soaked. One of the common things when heading out and about is to remember that you will probably get caught in a tropical rain storm sometime throughout the day. 

Siguijor Island

A two hour ferry ride from Dumaguete brought me to Island number five. 

The Island of Siquijor is not overly large but it seems to be an island visited by most.

As I mentioned to friends on Facebook I am now the proud owner of a selfie stick. Damn I never thought I would buy one haha. So now you can expect many pics of my ugly mug.

After a walk along the beach it was time to settle in my ocean view cabin. 

As with all the Islands I have been too so far the lack of people around is mind numbing. They call it the start of the high season but there is just no people around. Resorts are dead.......

At the moment of this writing there was a typhoon (Lando) in the norther part of Lazon. I was in the southern Philippines, but I was still catching the edge of the storm. Many ferries were canceled due to the high seas.

When its in your blood to ride you do what you got to do. As I tell many people it I meet it is not what you ride but that you ride. I do sometimes question that line thinking after riding one of these machines. 

Another Island and another set of waterfalls to explore. This one came with an interesting caveat though.

The first set of falls were just so so and could not touch the ones in Moalboal.

It seems that no matter where I ride in the world I naturally end up finding dirt tracks to ride. Cutting across the centre of the Island I took a round that went up and over a mountain. The little Honda wave handled it like a real trooper.

So far I have rode a Honda XRM 125cc, Honda Wave 100cc and now I am going high end on a Scoopy scooter for a day. 

Fully automatic and it actually has some padding in the seat!

It seems it is time for the rice harvest. Many homes are drying the rice on the road which I have seen in other countries as well. I also know that there is more than one harvest a year when it comes to rice. Explaining why it is such staple for their diet.

Some roads good and some not so good.

Another stop in between waterfalls was to go find the 400 year old Banyan tree. 

There is a natural spring that comes from beneath the tree. The spring is full of the cleaner fish that love to eat the dead skin off your feet. You pay big bucks in fancy spas to have this done. Here it is just 5 pesos and you can sit and enjoy the nature for as long as you like. There were some surprisingly big cleaner fish as well.

Final stop of the day was a much nicer swimming hole than the first. Also no bandits of child thieves to worry about. All in all the Island of Siguijor was nice but just to isolated for me. Time to plan which Island to hit next.