30.09.18 - 06.10.18 Cebu City, Dumaguete, Siquijor Island

Time is passing by like a flash and the first week in the Philippines is already over.

With heavy hearts, we said goodbye to Singapore and were pleasantly surprised at the airport by the 24-hour food court with reasonable prices. However, we were also very curious about what to expect in the Philippines. We had read and heard a lot, but we didn't have a real idea. Over 7,000 islands, 100 million inhabitants, mostly Catholic, was a Spanish colony, then taken over by America, and they eat a lot of meat.

After a four-hour flight, we arrived at our destination - the island of Cebu, where we planned to spend the first two nights in Cebu City. Although we had repeatedly read to avoid Philippine cities, it was clear to us that this is part of the overall impression. And yes, the city is chaotic, loud, dirty, and there is not much to see - but we have been to worse places ;) So one day, we explored the city and visited one of the most important churches in the Philippines, which mainly focuses on a statue of the child Jesus - here we could observe the intense practice of religion for the first time. After a long time, we were surprised by a heavy rain shower, which briefly prevented us from visiting the Spanish fort and the market. The image of the city is dominated by fast food chains lined up next to each other. The Philippines also has their own, which are similar to the ones we know. And everywhere, there is meat, meat, and more meat. Fortunately, there are a few vegetarian restaurants in the city, so Lea hasn't starved yet. The humidity is really high here, and we are sweating profusely, so we are now following the locals and have bought two small towels for 60 cents each to constantly wipe ourselves off. Exhausted from all the new impressions, we spent the evening in our guesthouse and were ready to move on the next day.

We took the bus south and then the ferry to the next island, where we spent one night in the city of Dumaguete. It was noticeably smaller and not quite as chaotic, so it was quite nice and perfect for one night. Here too, we found a restaurant with vegan options. And Mathias was finally able to get rid of his curly hair. It was probably the funniest visit to a hair salon so far. The salon was nothing more than a hole in the wall - nothing unusual - two chairs, the floor full of hair, Techno music blaring from the speakers, followed by Shakira. At the entrance, a second man is sitting, probably preparing dinner. He slices vegetables on a mini cutting board, cooks rice in a rice cooker, repeatedly squeezes past the master hairdresser into a small back room, and in between, he sells bottles of some herbal elixir to passersby. Lea patiently waits on a wooden bench in front of the shop, amused by what she sees, and at the end, she applauds the positive reaction to Mathias' haircut from the next customer, who has also patiently waited. By the way, it cost us 1.60€.

The next morning, we took the ferry to Siquijor. We explored this small island over the next two days with a scooter, which fortunately only failed us one day. We stayed quite far out and took a tricycle (a motorcycle with a self-constructed sidecar) for nearly an hour to get there. It quickly became apparent how beautiful and peaceful this island is. For the next two days, we rented a scooter from our guesthouse and drove around a large part of the island, discovered waterfalls, a 400-year-old Bodhi tree, which attracts a lot of people mainly because of its free fish spa (fish that nibbles the dead skin off your feet in a pond), the greenest rice fields, mountains with great views, a beach that was not as beautiful during low tide, and one that was overcrowded with visitors and not very inviting. Unfortunately, we had a flat tire on the first day on the rear wheel of our scooter, and unfortunately, on this day, in this village, they were celebrating 'Fiesta', as every village does once a year here, so all the mechanics we encountered on the sweaty 3-kilometer walk were already busy getting drunk or attending cockfights. We met many people who wanted to help but couldn't really do much, and we listened to beautiful karaoke singing from the different gardens, as it is done on every occasion in the Philippines. It was all somehow funny, if only the broken scooter hadn't been there. After the 5th closed mechanic, we looked for a phone to call our guesthouse. Fortunately, the Grad family was in the same area with their Jeep and picked us up along with the scooter and drove us back to the guesthouse. It is quite exciting to see how calmly everything goes in the Philippines... On the second day, we set off again with the same scooter, which now had a new tube and tire, and this time, everything went smoothly, except that we got caught in a heavy rain shower, but it dried quickly. The discoveries on this island definitely make us want to see more, and we look forward to visiting other islands in the Philippines.