I'm really amazed at how everything has worked out so perfectly on this trip so far. When I got to the airport in Coron, which I really can't even call an airport because the entire building is probably 2,000 square feet big with 1 room and 2 gates, I ran into a whole bunch of people I had met throughout my trip. We all happened to be taking the same flight from Coron to Cebu. My original plan was to take a taxi from the Cebu airport to the bus station and then take a 3-5 hour bus to my hostel. The group I ran into didn't have anything booked or any kind of plan so I gave them the name of my hostel and they all booked it. We ended up all getting a van to the hostel which was a lot nicer than the public bus. We arrived at the hostel around 6:30pm and made plans to go swimming with whale sharks early the next morning. We caught the bus at 6am and headed to the bay where they feed the whale sharks.
It was an absolutely unreal experience. The sharks are about the size of a school bus and their mouths are big enough to easily swallow a whole person. However, they have no teeth and their throats aren't even as wide as an apple so they live off plankton by filter feeding which means they're perfectly safe to be around.
At the bus stop to the whale sharks, I met 2 German guys and when I ended up losing my original group afterwards, I spent the rest of the day with the German guys. They rented motorbikes, $15 for 2 bikes for 24 hours. I rode on the back since I don't know how to drive them. We drove about an hour to a mountain peak and did a bit of hiking to find an amazing view. The road we took there obviously doesn't see many tourists because everyone we drove by stared and waved at us.
After the mountain, the guys wanted to go to a cock fight happening near our hostel. I wasn't the least bit interested in seeing it because I do not like violence, especially with animals, so I hung out at the hostel for a bit. Afterwards we went snorkeling at the coral reef literally on the beach of our hostel and then drove to an amazing waterfall 20 minutes away. We had a bit of an adventure trying to find a gas station and running out of gas as soon as we pulled into the station but luckily we made it. We found a local market where they were barbecuing meats so we had dinner there. We were once again the only tourists there and it was awesome. I got 4 pieces of chicken freshly cooked for $1. Yep, $1.
Yesterday, I went canyoneering with the same group of people I got the van with. Canyoneering is basically a combination of swimming, hiking, climbing, and cliff jumping through a river canyon full of waterfalls. It was definitely another one of the coolest things I've ever done.
I'm very sad that today is my last full day in the Philippines. Tomorrow, I fly to Bali but I first have a 19 hour layover in Singapore. I scheduled it like that on purpose so I have time to see the city and don't just have to sit in the airport the whole time. However the Singapore airport is the #1 airport in the world so I'll definitely be spending time exploring it also.
It was an absolutely unreal experience. The sharks are about the size of a school bus and their mouths are big enough to easily swallow a whole person. However, they have no teeth and their throats aren't even as wide as an apple so they live off plankton by filter feeding which means they're perfectly safe to be around.
At the bus stop to the whale sharks, I met 2 German guys and when I ended up losing my original group afterwards, I spent the rest of the day with the German guys. They rented motorbikes, $15 for 2 bikes for 24 hours. I rode on the back since I don't know how to drive them. We drove about an hour to a mountain peak and did a bit of hiking to find an amazing view. The road we took there obviously doesn't see many tourists because everyone we drove by stared and waved at us.
After the mountain, the guys wanted to go to a cock fight happening near our hostel. I wasn't the least bit interested in seeing it because I do not like violence, especially with animals, so I hung out at the hostel for a bit. Afterwards we went snorkeling at the coral reef literally on the beach of our hostel and then drove to an amazing waterfall 20 minutes away. We had a bit of an adventure trying to find a gas station and running out of gas as soon as we pulled into the station but luckily we made it. We found a local market where they were barbecuing meats so we had dinner there. We were once again the only tourists there and it was awesome. I got 4 pieces of chicken freshly cooked for $1. Yep, $1.
Yesterday, I went canyoneering with the same group of people I got the van with. Canyoneering is basically a combination of swimming, hiking, climbing, and cliff jumping through a river canyon full of waterfalls. It was definitely another one of the coolest things I've ever done.
I'm very sad that today is my last full day in the Philippines. Tomorrow, I fly to Bali but I first have a 19 hour layover in Singapore. I scheduled it like that on purpose so I have time to see the city and don't just have to sit in the airport the whole time. However the Singapore airport is the #1 airport in the world so I'll definitely be spending time exploring it also.