Manila

Manila is a city that people told me to leave as soon as I arrived. The city has the largest population in Asia. Many of its inhabitants come from all over the country and end up living on the street and under bridges.

It is difficult to go out in the city because locals told me that by taking a simple taxi ride I run the risk of getting kidnapped. I have tried to spend the least amount of time possible in Manila. But it's the hub of the country and spending a couple of nights there is unavoidable. However I ended end up having a good time in the city.

While I was there I went pearl shopping at Greenhills. There were just stalls after stalls and strings of pearls hanging from every one. My eyes hurt from examining them trying to find ones that match. If I couldn't find matching ones the vendor would pull out trays of pearls to find a mate and then make the earrings right in front of me.

Pearls everywhere

My last night abroad I met three students at a restaurant near my hostel. We ended up going to a nearby bar for drinks and karaoke - a popular pastime in the Philippines. We ate traditional Filipino pub food which includes Sisig, deep fried pork innards.

Karoke is a Filipino's favourite pastime

It was a great ending to a great trip.

Puerto Galera

For my last couple days abroad I headed to the beaches of Puerto Galera, on the island of Mindoro. From Manilla it was three hours by bus and then a really rocky boat ride. On the boat I ran into travellers I had met in Sagada and ended up sharing a room on Small Laguna Beach.

Puerto Galera at low tide

My first day there I decided to try diving. I did a fun dive since I didn't have a license. First I needed to learn how to breathe under water. The dive master took care of the boring things like inflating and deflating the vest and checking oxygen levels.

Learning to dive in the pool

After about an hour of that I was ready to go out into the Philippine Sea. Puerto Galera is known for it's diving and there are a lot of shipwrecks to see. However, that was beyond my level.

Resurfacing after jumping over the side of the boat oxygen tank first

Once underwater I saw coral, tropical fish and clams that opened and closed as you went near. It felt like discovering a completely different world. I had such a hard time moving around under water with all the gear on, especially with the flippers. I was afraid to kick too much because I thought I would hit the coral. We dived 10 meters and stayed under for 40 minutes, the longest amount of time possible before the oxygen ran out.

The nightlife in Puerto Galera consisted of mostly girly bars. Good for all the older men that go there for that reason, but so much for 20 something year old females. In many places the bar girls outnumbered actual patrons.

On my last day I soaked up as much sun as I could before I going back to Canada.

Mt. Pinatubo

I'm reaching the end of my trip and I've been trying to do and see as much as possible. After I left Sagada I went to Mt Pinatubo. Mt Pinatubo is a volcano that erupted in 1991. When it erupted the top blew off and is now a crater filled with water. It's located outside the town of Santa Juliana. When I arrived in the town I was dropped off at the travel agency that organizes the trip up the volcano. From there the president of the company picked me up and took me to a place to stay that night. When I asked about an Internet cafe he took me in a tricycle (a motorbike with a sidecar) to someone's home to use their personal computer. Later the restaurant I went to was in someone's garage. I guess the town doesn't have too many overnight guests.
The gorgeous view of crater lake at the top of Mt. Pinatubo

The next day I went up the volcano. First there was an hour long 4x4 ride where I was able to see a desert terrain covered in ash and rivers that were orange from sulfur.

Water stained with sulfur

I had to hike to the top to reach crater lake. It's not recommended to go swimming because the water is so deep the depth has never been measured. Nevertheless I went swimming with a life jacket. Afterwards I was able to get a massage at the spa that ran the trips up Mt. Pinatubo. I'm the one swimming in the middle of the crater

After a tricycle ride, Jeepney, bus and taxi ride I arrived back in Manila. The next morning I headed to Puerto Galera for a couple days on the beach.