bahala na - whatever will be will be

Posted by Audrey Paige January 16, 2016

bahala na - whatever will be will be

Merry late Christmas and Happy 2016 everyone!

This holiday season was one of missing home but being grateful for the good friends that surrounded me here! They were also missing home so we were all in the same boat. I spent Christmas Eve drinking wine and hanging with one group of friends from outside of work and Christmas day playing cards, a game of Dirty Santa, and enjoying a filling Christmas dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, veggies, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie (not at all like home but not half bad for China!) with another group of friends from my school.

The day after Christmas, my roommate, Pascal, and I jetted off for 10 sun and fun-filled days in the Philippines!

Our flight out of GZ left at 1:40 a.m. for Manila...long night ahead of us!

You know when you see a professional photo of a beach or an island and the sand is as white as can be and the crystal clear and blue water seems unreal? The Philippines is that picture. But it wasn't a picture - just perfection. Of all of the beaches I have seen firsthand before, I give the beaches I visited in the Philippines the number one spot.

Boracay. It doesn't even look real. I'm sitting at my dining room table in my apartment in China wondering how I ever left...

These photos were taken with only my iPhone5 and they are filter free!

Our first destination was the island of Bohol.

Bohol is best known for the Chocolate Hills and the world's smallest monkey, the Tarsier, that regrettably I did not see. We finally arrived at our first hostel on the Loboc river where we would stay for all of one night after traveling by metro, two planes, a taxi, a ferry, and what became my favorite mode of transport in the Philippines, a tricycle, for a total of 15 hours. It was a short stay inland but we fit in a trip to the famed Chocolate Hills, a much needed good night's rest after traveling all night and day (we crawled under our mosquito nets to catch some sleep at about 8 that first night), and a morning of paddle boarding on the river.

I always say that one of the absolute best things about traveling is the food. This is still true. But, in the case of the Philippines, I think one of the best things about traveling is the actual traveling! I decided quickly that I really enjoyed the fun, colorful, and perhaps questionable trikes that are inexpensive and commonplace on the islands of the Philippines. Not a choice of comfort but definitely of excitement for first-timers like myself. In addition to the trikes, if you find yourself in the Philippines you will most certainly encounter a jeepney. I don't know who came up with this idea of a jeepney but they, like the trikes, are entertaining to those of us that are not use to seeing a form of transportation quite so outrageous. Lastly, there are the public buses. You don't need a bus stop, just stand along the road and know which bus to flag down. If you are as lucky as we were, the bus will be crammed to the brim, the locals will eye you with smiles on their faces, and hurriedly point to the skinny ladder on the back that leads to additional open air seating on top of the bus! Just watch out for low power lines and tree branches and you'll be good! We rode for about 40 minutes with the locals atop the bus for all of 30 pesos (about $0.60) and however simple it may sound, this bus ride was one the my highlights from my 10 days spent in the Philippines.

This is a trike! (Photo from http://www.xdayv.com/tricycle-philippines/)

And this outrageous thing is a Jeepney! (Again not my photo - how I didn't manage to capture some of my own pictures of these I don't know).

Our most enjoyable ride atop the bus!

After our ride atop the local bus to the city of Tagbilaran, we caught a trike out to Panglao Island where our second night was spent at Coco Farm. Panglao was supposed to be our stopover to catch a boat out early the next morning to the town of Oslob on another island where we would swim with whale sharks. Sadly, the boat that was meant to take us on this three hour journey broke down the day before. So, there were no whale sharks for me this time around. I was disappointed by this but what can you do? Since we had a morning free that we weren't anticipating, we took the opportunity to soak up the sunshine on the nearest beach (what we would be doing a lot of over the coming days). And guess what?! I saw hermit crabs! Now, most people whom I told our misfortune about missing out on the whale sharks laughed at me (and you may be laughing too) when I said we didn't get to swim with the whale sharks but that I did get to see hermit crabs. But, I was genuinely excited about the hermit crabs. I mean they are like whale sharks but only on a smaller scale. Plus, I used to have hermit crabs as pets and I thought it was so cool that I was meeting some of Claude and Shelly's distant cousins on their home turf. Aside from almost whale sharks and a chance encounter with wild hermit crabs, Coco Farm and Panglao Island served as an excellent place to meet several other travelers that were all headed in the same direction as we were...to celebrate the New Year with a party on one of the most popular islands of the Philippines...

Boracay.

We departed Coco Farm on a trike - again I'm telling you these things are fun, they look even more so, and they should totally be brought to the states. Jumped on a ferry back to Cebu island where we spent one night before our early morning flight from Cebu to Boracay.

Unfortunately...or fortunately...some parts of my time spent on this fantastic little party island that really is the prettiest beach scene I have ever laid eyes on either can not or will not be revealed on this blog. To make up for it my only suggestion is that you take a trip there yourself - you may very well depart paradise with the same sentiment. Bahala na (in the local Tagalog language)...whatever will be will be!

We landed in Caticlan on the morning of the 30th. From the Caticlan Airport we took a shuttle to the jetty port where we caught another ferry to Boracay island (too small for an airport) and then took another shuttle to our hostel. We stayed at MNL Boracay Beach Hostel and keeping with the theme of many things in the Philippines - this hostel is one of the best that I have ever stayed in. Cleanliness is important and this hostel had their cleaning products, and cleaning personnel for that matter, on full display. I was impressed. Moreover, a breakfast of toast, fruit, and eggs any way you like was included each morning and their was a cool rooftop terrace with beanbags for enjoying a starry night with karaoke, beer, and new friends from around the world. My fellow travelers included a few other Americans, several Canadians, quite a few French and English, a Nigerian girl, a couple of guys from Uruguay, a Brazilian, a Spaniard, a Russian, and a whole lot of Aussies.

Thanks to Snapchat for the MPH - coming in for our landing in Caticlan!

It looks like we are going to land right on the water! The island you see in the distance is Boracay.

On the ferry from Caticlan to Boracay - gonna get there eventually!

Getting the party started! Happy New Year's Eve Eve!

Aside from another paddle boarding adventure (this one was more challenging and included waves, wind, and a few boats to dodge) and a day spent island hopping, our days included soaking up the sunshine, relaxing and just generally enjoying our holiday, and eating delicious Western food! (I lost count of the number of cheeseburgers I ate..ooooh and there were these delicious quesadillas from a place called Two Brown Boys that was right down the street from our hostel - highly recommended!) Our nights included still more delicious food, drinks or "dranks" as we like to call them (but fewer of them after the New Year), bars (a word of caution if you ever find yourself at Cocomangas...), clubs (EPIC - that's the name of the club), dancing, more food - living it up!!!