My new favourite place...

...has got to be the Philippines.  We arrived in "Manila" (flew Asian equivalent of RyanAir, thus were deposited in a cow shed several hours from actual Manila) and from there we had a connecting flight straight down to Cebu.  Having a few hours to spare, we decided to grab a beer and chill out, only to discover that said cowshed did not have beer for sale.  Major international disaster was averted when the little coffee shop owner promised us some black market action and got his mate who worked back in the duty free shop (the wrong side of customs) to bring us some beer: our first introduction to the fact that everything is for sale here...at a price, of course.

We arrived in Cebu late at night and although there was no room at our first choice of inn due to a local festival winding down, we were able to find somewhere decent close by.  We spent the next day exploring the town, which I found to be reminiscent of South America (despite never having set foot in the place in my life).  I found it to be a weird mix of Catholicism and other religious practices - women dancing with candles by holy statues and the like. 

Whilst sorting out our visa extension, we met a rather nutty Norwegian chap (he'd been in Cebu city for 75 days and hadn't travelled around at all) who directed us to the tourist haven of the Crown Regency hotel.  I discovered a new love of heights - you can do a 'sky walk' on the outside of the building up on the 38th floor and there's also a ride you can do, which tips you at a 55 angle so you're looking down at the little tiny people on the ground below.   They've also got a rather amusing 4D cinema, where elephants not only feel like they're about to hit you with their trunks, but you do actually get water in your face when they splash you.  The 4D rats running around were not the highlight at all - lots of screaming!

From Cebu we headed to Bohol and despite my previous 'never again' protestations, I found myself in the jungle once more (after a taxi, fast boat, tricycle, jeepney and small bangka boat journey!).  We stayed at a place called nuts huts and it seemed more remote than the last place in Sabah: complete with unidentified critters that went bump in the night creeping into our room.  Our huts were right at the start of the jungle, on the river and we spent our three nights there clinging to each other in abject fear! 

After the jungle huts, we decided we needed a bit of a beach (we're in the Philippines after all!) and so headed to Panglao Island and Alona Beach.  There may have been a spot of rum drinking until 4am on the beach with some Australians and Fijiians but I couldn't possibly comment....

The next stop was Siquihor (pronouned 'sicky whore'), the island associated with witchcraft by the locals.  We didn't find any witches, but we did find a little bit of island paradise and a nice quiet place to chill out for a few days after the festivities on Alona.  We're currently in Dumaguette on Negros and have been here a couple of nights.  Yesterday we went to Apo Island for some snorkelling where we did not see turtles, despite strong rumours of their existence.  The coral and fish are amazing though and it's apparently one of the top dive/ snorkel sanctuaries in the world.  

Tomorrow we're off to Sugar Beach, about 4 hours on the bus from here, which my guidebook describes as "a gorgeous beach and a western orientation that makes every sunset one to remember..one of Negros' best-kept secrets".  Aaahhh.....you've got to love those Filipino beaches/ sunsets.  How's the winter working out for you all?

Highlight: seeing Tarsiers at a sanctuary on Bohol - so cute!  And apparently the inspiration for yoda and the cute gremlins.

Challenge: convincing ourselves that the weird scratching, scuffling and bangs we heard in the room were merely due to the lizard that lived outside and most definitely NOT from anything jungle related coming into our room....