The Philippines.

We knew we were in for one hell of a trip to our first destination, Boracay, but we had no idea it was going to be this rough!

We were travelling on a serious budget and so our flights were the cheapest we could find, at the most awkward of times! We arrived into Cebu airport in the early hours of the morning and knew our onward flight wasn't for another 10 hours, but we figured it's an International Airport, there will be cafes, shops at least some chairs to sleep on while we wait it out...... No chance. There was a big tiled room with a baggage carousel and that was it.... OK, so we will go outside, see whats there....maybe we can walk to the beach and catch the sunrise? Nothing. Just a lot of nothing. And we were advised not to walk anywhere with our cases at night..... And so the 10 hour wait began.

After getting massively ripped off with our suitcase ("No sorry, we've changed our baggage allowance so you have to pay a stupid amount to get your bags on - oh and we charge departure and arrival tax") we made it on our flight to Kalibo, arrived and after an arguement with a taxi driver who told us a taxi price and then demanded almost double, we were approached by the sweetest local man and his wife who happened to be going home to Boracay and he told us to go with him and share a cab and we began the two hour drive to Caticlan. He also got us on one the the locals boat and eventually we made.

We were staying at Trafalgar Cottages and were met by one of the owners at the port and taken to our accom.

All the travelling and being ripped off was worth it. It was BEAUTFUL.

Our accomodation was great for £8 a night. We had a comfy double bed, an ensuite and our own little terrace complete with hammock. We ditched our bags, wandered through the Talipapa markets (huge markets right on our doorstep selling all sorts) and onto the beach, just in time to catch the most gorgeous of sunsets. In our rush to crack on, we left the camera behind and so didn't get a chance to snap the big red ball dropping behind the horizon, but no panic, theres an amazing sunset every single night.

The next week was pure chill, we spent the days lying on the beach, drinking the super cheap San Miguel, wandering the hundreds if market stalls, watching the entertainers on the beach and eating a lot of amazing food. 

Boracay is split into 'Stations' 1, 2 and 3. Station 1 is the crazy party area gradually easing down to Station 3 which is a little more chilled. 

We stayed in Station 2 - The happy medium and that was fab! The people in our hostel were great, we would often head to the beach together or have a BBQ and some Boracay Rum (£4 a bottle!) and then wander down to the bars.

Everyone is super friendly, a couple of times we would be in bars, start chatting to complete strangers and end up in Station 1 on the dancefloor with them - and quite often a midnight dip.

The locals are great, they get involved too, such friendly people (when they're not trying to squeeze some extra cash out of you!). 

One trip we made was up to Puka Beach. This was so great. The beach is famous for having Puka Shells washed up onto it and then is made into jewellery, decorations... allsorts.

It was an easy tuk tuk ride to it and we spent the entire day here ( there are one or two small cafes which serve lunch and drinks - and they are even cheaper here too!!)

The beach is gorgeous. The water was insanely blue and it was so quiet - I don't know if we happened to get lucky, but it was mainly local people swimming and fishing and not many other tourists in sight!

We also got to chat with some of the local fisherman who showed us their technique and of course, the results!!

An amazing week. Now to do the trek back to Cebu and hop on a Ferry down to Siquijor.

We had heard about Bohol and the Chocolate hills, but we only had a few days left before we need to fly back to Hong Kong for the connecting flight to Australia, so we skipped Bohol and headed to the lesser known island of Siquijor.

We had read about the island previously and it's string connections with witchcraft and how even some Philippino people are nervous to travel here, and so we had no idea what to expect.

We had booked accomodation at 'Hambilica' which are rooms in a Firefly Sanctuary in the San Juan area of the island and it was amazing! We arrived tired and hungry and although it was gone 10 in the evening, the lovely lady cooked us up some dinner and sat with us and told us what to see and how to get there and even rented us her little scooter for a tiny price.
It is situated right next to the sea and in the mornings, she would bring our breakfast out to us on a little terrace and we would sit in the gardens and wake up.

The island itself was incredible, on the first day we took the scooter to Cambugahay Falls. Amazing. The waterfall is made up of little pools that all spill into one another and the last one is big and deep meaning you can jump right into it.
We then followed the roads up into the mountains for spectacular views and fantastic scenery.

The next few days were spent doing similar things, stopping in the small towns to grab snacks and supplies then checking out the scenery, beaches and waterfalls. Another great visit was to Lugnason Falls, it's tucked a little out of the way down a side road and then a short walk down, but its well worth it! We saw no one else and spent an hour os so just bathing in the water. Bliss.

And also a little visit to the local hospital which made for an interesting experience!
I had managed to get a tiny bug in my eye and instead of my eye watering and getting it out, I reacted and it swelled up and left with in pain and partially blind, and so a trip to the hospital was needed. I was taken into a room, full of other patients being looked at told to lie on the bed and she proceeded to get the bug out with a mini torch and a bic pen lid...... Hygiene at it's best!

Just down the road there is a small backpackers 'JJ's' which is right on the beach and does great food and cold beer and this is where our evenings were spent with other backpackers (although in total there was probably about 6 of us!)..... Even better, just next door is a 'Mamas Kitchen' kinda setting, where a Philippino lady opens up her home and cooks up several pots of food and you can go in and help yourself to whatever and get authentic Philippino cooking for  a bargain price! I think we paid £3 for the two of us and we ate A LOT. This was definitely a highlight.

May - Hong Kong.

Trying to update from just over 6 months ago isn't the easiest of tasks. However, thankfully I have my hand scrawled journal to remind me!

I have decided that after a year of neglect it's finally time to update - I often get emails/faceook messages asking me to update people or help people out with their travel planning and so I am once again putting it all in one place! 

Also, it's nice to give something back! I spend hours reading strangers blogs about places that I am planning to go and its so helpful with my planning, I figured I would help someone else in return!

So, back to it.

May 1st, we landed completely shattered in Hong Kong airport, one of the most incredible airports ever. Situated on almost an island off the main Hong Kong, flying into it is spectacular!

It was late afternoon and just starting to get dark, so we grabbed our bags and headed out the rather confusing process of finding a bus ticket and then finding the right bus to get into. Eventually we got there and once you figure the public transport system out - you'll find it's actually incredibly easy and incredibly efficient.

The difficulty is knowing where to get off......

After asking a few locals on the bus, we find the right place-ish - thankfully Hong Kong is one giant free wifi zone, and so the trusty iPhone map lead us to our room in the 'Oi Suen Hostel' located in heart of busy Mongkok.

After living in a gorgeous wooden chalet in the beautiful snow topped mountains... this was a shock. Located in a fairly grim high rise building, our room had no windows just pale green tiles from floor to ceiling, two bricks to sleep on and our shower was a hose above the toilet.

Thankfully the excitement of being in a new place meant our depression was short lived and taking on the thinking of 'bugger it, we've just booked for two nights' we headed out onto the streets to spend as little time in the box as possible.

Our first stop was the Mongkok ladies market, quite a culture shock. The streets had all been closed off to accommodate hundreds of markets stalls selling literally EVERYTHING, tons of street food vendors and street entertainers. The place was rammed. But it was incredible.

After a few hours of browsing and watching a man bend a steel rod with his neck, we found a little, super cheap restaurant. The owners didn't speak a word of English and so we attempted through mime and hand gestures to tell him we wanted something vegetarian (Pete had already declared himself a vegetarian for the duration of the trip - except the occasional Big Mac)..... We were served bowls of soup and noodles (with a strong resemblance to dishwater)...... with pink meat balls floating around. In an effort to be polite, I managed to finish most of mine off - Although Pete was having none of it and sticking to the green vegetable side dish - only to be greeted with another bowl of the stuff from the owner. Yuk. Then trying to help me enjoy it further, he gave me some sauce to put in it. Chilli sauce. And that was the first of my near death experiences in Hong Kong. Time to return to the room.

The next morning we awoke in the pitch black room unsure of whether it was midday or midnight and set about our first full day in Hong Kong. We had decided to tick a few of the major tourist spots off the list today and so headed off on a walk down Nathan Road to find the famous Hong Kong city skyline.

Nathan road is enormous and stretches on forever. It has the majority of the hostels, hotels, shops and restaurants along it and is always super busy no matter what time of day it is.

We eventually made it to the view we had been searching for and it was pretty special.

We paid a tiny fare of 20 pence and took the boat over to Hong Kong Island and wandered around the city for a while checking out beautiful parks hidden amongst the high rises. The first place I've been to where you can walk into a city park and find flamingoes in the pool! And decided to take the vertical tram up to 'The Peak' for views across the city.
The views were incredible - Although it was a little misty, it was still fab! The photos don't do it justice at all.
And there is a big, tacky heart where you can write (not so) heartfelt messages to people and tie them onto this giant heart.

Although staying in Mongkok was amazing - it feels more authentic and rather than office looking buildings, the place feels more like 'Hong Kong', we decided that we had spent enough time there and decided to move across the water to Hong Kong Island and so relocated to the 'Hong Kong Hostel' in Causeway Bay. It was luxury in comparison! We had a window, a separate shower, comfortable beds, a common area and even AIR CON! Amazing. And all for the same price all made for a fantastic nights sleep!

The next day brought sunshine and we had read about a hiking track at the edge of the Island called the 'Dragons Back' and wanting to ensure we saw every side of HK we hopped on the MTR Subway right to the end of the line and we greeted with this to climb. 

After trekking up this in 30 degree heat I was about ready to die as we made it to the top, but the rows and rows of gravestones certainly made for an interesting view. 

And so the 'Dragons Back' begins. 

To start it was easy, flat, shaded.... what was all the fuss about? And then we hit the first peak - apparently it's called the 'Dragons Back' for a reason. 

And so we walked the unshaded up and downs with our complete supplies - one small bottle of Vitamin Water. Genious. Talk about unprepared. 

Although both of us were exhausted, dehydrated and a little grouchy, the views more than made up for it! And we probably saw around 5 other people in total on the walk and it seems that pretty uncommon in Hong Kong. 

It was an incredible walk and I'ld recommend it to anyone - just take a lot of fluid and some snacks!

And probably a phone as it's kinda difficult to get back once you reach the end! We managed to flag down a few buses and eventually got one headed in our direction!!

And so back to the city for a well deserved bottle of water and Pete's obligatory Big Mac meal. 

Time for a chill out day, we took the scenic bus ride down to Repulse Bay for a day of sunbathing and swimming - a well needed rest on a gorgeous beach.

Further along the bus route is the Stanley Plaza which has a shopping centre and also huge markets which are amazing. 

We stocked up on our fake brands and off the back of a lorry jobbies and a tacky oil painting of the Hong Kong skyline that Pete decided he needed as a souvenir and then headed back to the Hostel for our last night. 

Hong Kong was completely amazing. It had never really been on my 'Wish List' but I loved it and I still need to go back and theres so much I'm yet to see there!

The highlight? Every night Hong Kong puts on a light show where they light up the buildings on the skyline and sync it with music. And every night we went down to watch it. It's just brilliant.

Next stop. The Philippines.