Philippines Part 1 - by diving priests, and bat-💩

Hello dear ones ♥️

Well, two weeks have already passed 🙈 My trip with the group through Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos ended on October 18th.

We drove about 11 hours by bus from Cambodia back to Bangkok and on the way there the big question was, What's Next?

Since I didn't have a plan and southern Thailand somehow didn't appeal to me at the time, I thought I'd just see what you could fly to from Bangkok. Quite a lot 🤣

The Philippines have been buzzing around in my head for some time and when I googled the departure plan, the Philippines popped up. Only 3.5 hours flight...

Phew, I think it's going to be a little more expensive than my budget... but I've heard so many good things about it that I thought, since I'm around the corner, I'll take it with me now.
No sooner said than done, the flight was booked in two days!

I use the two days in Bangkok to prepare myself. Unfortunately, because I was a stupid person, I lost my diving goggles in the Indonesian Sea because of the joy of seeing a shark and a stonefish in the last minutes of my dive, so I'm going shopping first.

I really want to go diving on the Philis because it is supposed to be incredibly beautiful.

So I'm strolling through Bangkok and accidentally fall into a "mall". 5 floors full of clothes, small mini stores everywhere, a maximum of 3x3m close together. It's like walking through SHEIN (if you know it) in real life 😅

Airpods dupes for 8€ (unfortunately I also lost one of my headphones 🙈), a new bikini and a great rain cape. Later I drive to a diving shop to get a new mask.
It feels a bit like preparing for vacation, even though I've been on vacation for 5 months 😅
On October 21st I'm on the plane to Manila. I land at 2 a.m., grab a taxi and go to my hostel. (This time booked in advance so that I don't start looking again at night😁) For a small fee I can check in and get a quick sleep. The next morning I stroll through the streets of Manila. I'm away from the center and it's stuffy and hot and super disgusting air.

But the people are incredibly friendly. Everyone meets me with a smile, a lady asks me where I want to go and we briefly chat. I should put my cell phone in my pocket and not in my pants where people can see it. You never know. OK, I'll say thank you and move on. I don't feel unsafe here, even though I read beforehand that you should be a little careful.

After over an hour I go back to my hostel, which is really great for €9 a night. I don't really feel like exploring the big city and I decide to only use Manila for transit and not do any sightseeing, so I lie down again.

In the afternoon I meet two other travelers while drinking coffee. We have dinner together and decide to share a taxi to the airport tomorrow. Since we all have to check out at 11 and our flights leave at almost the same time, we drive to the airport and pass the time together for 4 hours.

I'm starting to lose track of how many hours I spent at any airport 😅

At 3:30 p.m. the plane leaves for the first island that I chose based on recommendations (thanks Toni 🙏😁).
On the plane I sit next to a nice Filipino who tells me that after 8 months of working on a container ship he is going back home for a month's vacation. He gives me a few tips on what is worth seeing in Bohol.

During the entire flight, the crew jokes around, laughs and has fun. I already like the Filipinos.
After only 1.25 hours I arrived, grabbed a taxi and went to my hostel.
I'm super surprised, it's a bit off the main road, very quiet but beautifully designed. Under a bamboo roof, with a garden with hammocks, individual beds are separated into a room by large curtains.

I'm totally happy, this place is really cozy and it's a very relaxed atmosphere! I run straight to the beach to catch the sunset and have something to eat. The beach is quite nice, it's quite busy with Asian tourists and lots of restaurants and bars.

Tomorrow I'll see if there's a nicer beach nearby, I'm looking forward to riding the scooter 😁 One coconut and a very tasty wrap later I'm on my way back.

And then my joy about this beautiful urban hostel is a little dampened 🙈 Back in my room I discover that I have a roommate who I'm not so happy about. A disgusting spider is sitting on the outside of my mosquito net...

Pretty overwhelmed, I tell myself that at least she's sitting outside and you have to make sacrifices when you only pay €10 a night and are surrounded by nature 😅I try to tell the spider to please go to another room or at least should be useful and eat all the mosquitoes...

When I come back from the bathroom, the spider is actually gone, which to be honest is not a reassuring situation because I don't know where it is and whether it has moved into my backpack 😭🙈😅 Problems, I'll tell you 😅

I sleep great, even though there is no air conditioning but only a fan, but the bed is comfortable and I fall asleep contentedly.

The next morning I rent a scooter and go to a beach that the owner recommended to me. The beach section belongs to a resort, but if you have a drink you can just spend the day there on the loungers.
When I arrive there, a paradisiacal white sandy beach is revealed, lined with palm trees, in front of a crystal-clear turquoise-blue sea. Wow, it reminds me of the Maldives and I'm totally happy.
With a coconut in my hand, my feet in the white beach, I spend the morning lazing around in this oasis.

The sea is incredibly shallow, you can walk forever into the water and there are beautiful orange-red starfish in the water everywhere.

And then I discover a spot in the sand in the middle of the water that is bubbling. It looks something like quicksand. I carefully dip a toe into the spot and notice that it is cold water bubbling out of the sand.

I later find out that they are small springs that can be found everywhere due to volcanic activity.

As the sky turns grey, I quickly head back, as I left my beautiful new rain cape at the hostel 🤷‍♀️ I arrive at the hostel just before it starts pouring with rain. It's currently the rainy season, but 5 hours of blazing sun were enough for the day.

In front of my room, lying in a small hammock, I meet Laura from Switzerland. She is currently traveling alone until she meets her girlfriend next week for a vacation together. She shows me a really delicious restaurant and we spend the evening together.

The next morning, I drive to a beach again, this time a little further. I can spend the morning on a lounger right on the beach in a small restaurant at a resort. What a life - smoothies, palm trees, beach and sea.

In the afternoon I meet Laura again and we go out for dinner together, enjoy a cocktail on the beach and since we both had such a stressful day, we walk back to the hostel at 8. We sat down in the hammock and chatted a little. Until Laura asks me what that thing is on the floor next to me.

I take a closer look, I dunno, some sticky measurement. We joke around and I say maybe it's gecko poop. And just as I pulled my head back, a new brown spot splattered from the ceiling onto the floor. We look up and there is a bat hanging down on the roof😅

It was close, I tell you, almost getting shit on by a bat 🤣

We laugh at first and fall silent when we realize that we are defenseless against this bombardment from Bat-AA 🤣

Because the bat can easily choose a spot in the roof right above our beds.

And the mosquito net certainly won't offer much protection 🙈

We laugh and wish each other luck for the night😅
The next morning I am relieved to find that the bat has probably chosen a different spot🙏
I check out early, the evening before I discovered an island on Google Maps whose name I had heard some time ago.

Another birch tree from a guest. 🥰(6 months of birch trees and still after-effects 🙏♥️)
He was raving about a diving spot in the Philippines and I wrote down the name at the time.

When I found what I was looking for in my notes, I thought, well, I definitely have to go there, it also happens to be just around the corner.
You know mine around the corner, but for the Phillis it was really close 🤣

At the hostel I asked how I would get there - I should go to a harbor where there was a boat, then a bus and then a boat. OK. I don't have an exact plan where exactly I should go now, but it'll be okay. At least I have the first name of the port. It starts at 8:30.

The taxi driver takes me to the ticket counter, the boat leaves at 10:40.

I wait in a small restaurant and get a coffee first. After the waitress asked me for the third time if I wanted to eat something, I said yes. She recommends a typical Filipino breakfast - OK. No idea what's to come 🤣 So at 9:30 we have rice with some kind of pulled pork and a fried egg.

The waitress asked me where I was from, and when I told her from Germany she smiled and said the guests next to me were also from Germany.

Funny, I run towards the two ladies. They are two very nice women, born Filipinas, who went to Germany to work 50 years ago. They met their husbands there and stayed there - around the corner from Cologne - from Lohmar. The world is really small, I love these encounters🥰

I say goodbye and walk to the ferry. After about 1.5 hours of driving I land on the next island. There I grab a Trycycle, which is a moped with a large passenger cabin attached. A pile of metal that fills the streets of the Philippines with a loud and rattling sound.
The driver is super funny and asks me if I want to listen to music. Clear!

And then I was driven 40 minutes to the next port on a loud disco tin-cracking moped. I had to laugh so much. We covered the entire street with sound. I'm telling you, where did I end up here 😅 I think it's great!

I arrive at the next port with deaf ears. From there a boat probably goes to Apo Island.
Understood. When I get there I have to take a seat first. I have no idea what's going to happen now, whether there's a boat or not, but it'll be okay😊

The lady who seems to be organizing the whole process here asks me if I have a reservation. Well not exactly, I found 3 homestays on Google Maps and a phone number that I wrote to ask if I could get a room for 4 nights. So yeah, I would count that as a reservation at Mary's homestay... OK, she makes a quick phone call and I sit there and wait.

After 20 minutes a lady comes up to me, "Hello," she says, "I'm Mary, you probably wrote to my son, he didn't say anything to me, but everything's fine, the boat is ready to go, I'll take you with me. "

Wonderful, experience has shown that I'm wearing shorts🙏 luckily, the small boat is 5m in the sea. Thankfully, my huge backpack is carried onto the ship and I follow behind.

It takes quite a while, charging wood and two poor little pigs. And yes, pigs can swim 😅🤣 My two boat neighbors are for the fiesta in 2 days.

It's good that I'm coming now, my fellow locals say to me. There's a big fiesta with disco on Friday!

Great, I think, set out at the right time. The two little pigs are probably not that happy about the upcoming celebrations 🙈

After a 40-minute boat ride, we get off on the small island. I am warmly greeted by everyone on the way to the homestay. The people here are truly pure joy😍☀️

My room is simple, a bed, a fan, a chair, a non-flush toilet (just a ton of water with a bucket) and a shower, all pretty clean.

Mary explains to me that there is no fresh water on the island, but that rainwater is used for showering, washing and rinsing.

There is only electricity from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., then the generator is switched off. But she has a solar panel on the roof, so I'm lucky and I'm the only one who has electricity overnight 😁😊

It is now 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Mary runs with me to the diving school to introduce me to her son-in-law (on this island, as you can imagine, everyone has every relative... It has 1000 inhabitants, difficult for the singles market, I think 🙈)

I arrange two dives for tomorrow, Jerry is super nice, jokes around and instructs me that it's "Filipino time". So diving at 9 a.m. doesn't necessarily mean diving at 9 a.m., maybe 9:30 or even 10 😅 That's fine with me, after all I have the great luxury of time.

I make my way to the beach to watch the sunset. Incredibly beautiful, the sea and the sky burn in red colors. Then I walk a little helplessly through the small streets, they seem to have everything, no restaurants or anything like that. After 5 minutes I discover a small staircase that leads to a restaurant. I ask if it's open, yes, but there are only 3 dishes... OK, well that can happen in the next few days.

When I "booked" my accommodation via SMS, I only asked about the price, but not about breakfast or anything like that... well, it'll be okay 😊

I get a plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce and enjoy the view. Then I run back. In my homestay the whole family sits at the table, there is a lot of activity, someone is constantly coming and going, people are constantly laughing.

I already like it here, even if the room is so simple.

The next morning Jonalean welcomes me; she works for the family and helps when there are guests in the house. I get breakfast and coffee and am informed that a new guest is coming today, a family friend.

I'm going diving. I'll be ready at 9 sharp, it starts at 10:30 sharp 😅

We start at the house reef, although everything here is a house reef because the entire island is surrounded by a reef, but we start from the beach. (All the boats are busy carrying loads of food and stuff for the fiesta from the main island to Apo) The dive is absolute madness 😭😍😍

Incredibly healthy reef, soooooooo many corals in so many colors and shapes, fish in all kinds of colors and shapes and above all nudibranchs 😍 my absolute favorite. Tiny little sea snails in the strangest colors and sometimes with little tentacles on their backs 😍 A dream, I would like to be a mermaid 😅

Best decision ever to come here😍 and I'm getting better at diving, we've been underwater for 65 minutes and I still have a lot of air left.

The second dive is even more beautiful, this time along a steep wall. And then there is a small nudibranch with red fluorescent antennae, it shines incredibly beautifully from the coral. Only 3cm long and hard to find, these little wonder snails.

I hear Jerry laughing underwater as I do a little happy dance and squeal with delight (yes, that works when diving too😅)

In the evening it's time to go up the mountain, 321 steps up the island's small mountain. Up there it's the eve of the big fiesta tomorrow.

Mary still has a house there, I'm sat at a table and introduced to the rest of the family, cousins, sisters, in-laws - I've lost track and all the names 🙈

And then I am introduced to my new roommate. Father Charlie. He is the island's priest, but somehow isn't always there. He's incredibly funny, smokes IQos, opens a beer and talks non-stop. His laugh is super contagious, loud and warm. He jokes around with everyone. I like my new smoking-funny-pastor neighbor.

It is cooked over a small wood fire and the women prepare sweet sticky rice for tomorrow, which is wrapped in banana leaves.

I can try rolling the rice in the banana leaves. The women follow my completely overwhelmed hands under skeptical eyes - it looked easier than it is 😅

Father Charlie looks at me and starts laughing, "That won't make you a good wife here" 😅 Yes, certainly not 🤣 The evening is super funny and after dinner we go to the "disco". There is a pavilion in a small area in the forest and underneath it there are really thick speakers and a mixer. The islanders dance in front of it.

The Filipinos are incredibly good dancers, no shame, just dance and - gentlemen, they all have a hip swing. It's contagious! I'm pulled onto the dance floor, it's incredibly fun and I'm sweating wet after 10 minutes.

At 11:30 I am accompanied downstairs by Jerry's friend. I was given a personal bodyguard 😅 Joerene is 29, but speaks little English.

On the 321 steps down he explains that there is also fluorescent plankton here. And of course there was no stopping it. On the beach I jump around in the water like a crazy person to make the plankton glow.

It's soooooooo cooool 😍 I was able to see it in Cambodia and when you go underwater with a mask on and wave your hands wildly in front of you - I can't describe it any other way - it's like sitting in a spaceship, in the Millennium Falcon and takes off into hyperspace 😍 Simply breathtaking. Like swimming in stars 🥹✨

I fall into bed completely fulfilled by this day.

The next morning starts early, the first rooster starts at 5:25 and then a whole chicken concert begins across the entire island. After an eternally long half hour there is silence. But then the neighbors' music starts and they sing along. It doesn't bother me at all, there is so much lightness on this island☀️

I stay in bed and doze off. When I go into the kitchen, the family is already sitting there having breakfast. I sit down and I can see - 4kg more after a week here. There is rice and I watch, impressed, as Mary - who is just 1.50m tall - heaps a mountain of rice onto her plate. “Eat, eat” she says to me.
I'm now used to having rice at any time of the day. So I scoop two small spoonfuls onto my plate. "No longer?!"

Normally my breakfast consists of a coffee and a cigarette, I was proud of my portion of rice 🙈😅

Music is playing somewhere on the island all day long, there is always laughter somewhere, there is such a wonderful atmosphere on the island and in the house.

Today is the real fiesta, but yesterday was already wild 🙈 But as I know from my home and dad, the preparation days are usually the best (and worst 🍻)

I'm taken back up the mountain and lunch is being prepared there. Pastor Charlie puts a beer in front of me and tells and talks. He is also a passionate diver and gives me several tips for islands with beautiful diving spots.

Smoking diving priests, with a laugh that is contagious, wonderful. The island is something special. He takes me with him because there is also a wedding today. I can take a seat. Friends and family are sitting on the small piece of wood where the disco was yesterday. It is a typical Catholic church wedding and the bride wears a beautiful white dress.

Afterwards I am taken around the island, it is incredibly hot. The residents sit in each little house and eat and drink together. We stop at the first house, relatives (of course) of Mary. I get a plate of food and a shot glass of rum.

- It is very rude and considered an insult to refuse the food offered. So I eat again. -

The rum doesn't taste that bad but it's 12 o'clock and it's scorching hot. Luckily there is always a glass of water.

After a while we break up and continue walking. We manage a full 30 meters and then we're sitting in the next house. Another plate of food, another glass of rum. I understand, day drinking time 🙈

At the third house I'm almost bursting at the seams 😂 I refuse the liquor and try to pull back a little and run down to the beach. I meet some children there and I am brought a lot of shells and we stack the stones into little towers and play together for a while.

In the evening I will be picked up again and we will go back up the mountain. We walk past the small disco place, but everything has been dismantled. Why do I ask, I thought today was the main fiesta time.

- "All drunk" says Jerry - 🤣🤣🤣

No disco today, there was already too much partying throughout the day and yesterday. Hahaha I understand 😂

We go out to eat with friends of his and yes, everyone is pretty drunk 🙈🤣

I guess I came here at the right time. 2 days later there is another fiesta for All Saints Day. I sit in someone's house in the evening, they drink beer and rum, play the guitar and serve food. I talk to people, they laugh, joke and celebrate all the time.

My days are full, I decide to stay here longer. I get food every day at my homestay, help with cooking and dive as much as possible.

Halloween was celebrated here on November 2nd. It is a very Catholic island and the residents are firmly anchored in their faith. It's much more open, there are an incredible number of gay couples here, the church shows much more "tolerance" than I know from Germany.

However, Pastor Charlie doesn't want the children to dress up as demons or scary ghosts etc. on Halloween. At Sunday mass he probably announced that a competition was taking place. Invite the children to choose who they would like to be when they go to heaven. angels, etc.

And two days later, Charlie chooses me to be a judge for the competition. They did a great job of preparing a small wall as a background and the competition takes place on the basketball court. Participants present their costume and tell why they chose this person or angel.

Then another talent is performed, there is singing or dancing. It's screaming. There is a little “Maria Mother of God” who performs hip swings and dance moves from another world on “Despacito”.

It is wonderful. There are so many dogs here, they all have a home and spend the day on the beach, have their dog friends and are an integral part of society here on the island. I already have a lot of new dog friends 🥰😁

Every evening there is some celebration somewhere, the children come over after school to ask me to play, there was an election on a Sunday, where the mayor - or here "captain" of the island was elected.

My island family is not so enthusiastic about the election results. The captain's family and friends are given preferential treatment and advantages for jobs. Jonalean says there's a lot of corruption on the main island. But not like that here. Just a bit.

I ask her what she means. Yes, votes are also bought here. But with a lot less money than on the main islands, that's not real corruption if it's just a little money to buy the votes.

Okey, of course you can do it that way 🤣🤣😂

I've been here for 2 weeks now and will stay until Friday. I wanted to leave twice but I didn't really feel like moving around and spending the day on boats and buses. I'm also doing very well here, I feel very at home and even though I shower with rainwater and sometimes have food on my plate that isn't quite mine, I still prefer it to a hotel. Yesterday I extended my visa so that I can stay in the Philippines for a few more weeks and also visit other places, but without rushing.

Two days ago - after some persuasion and a lot of scared pee in my diving suit 🙈 - I finally did my very first night dive. Something incredibly beautiful. At 10 meters I sat in the sand with no light and Jerry shook a plant and then there were fluorescent plankton fireworks 🎆 It's simply unbelievable what this earth has to offer and what it has to offer.

Since my heart is now very attached to this island and I would like to give something back, as I am always invited by everyone, even if there is only a little food that day, as there are few visitors and little money is raised on the day, I have decided to join the school something to donate♥️

There are children here from families who can't afford all the notebooks or colored pencils and I would like to thank everyone ☀️ who supported me 🙏 The donation goes straight to where they put a big smile on the children's faces♥️ As well as to my diving instructor's family , whose wife became pregnant again at the age of 40 and has only had one ultrasound so far because it is so expensive. She had the appointment yesterday and the baby is up and healthy. You could see a strong heartbeat and I could see an overjoyed dad and an even happier mom 🙏☀️

Tomorrow I will hand over the things I bought ♥️

Today it's raining for half the day for the first time, I'm lying on the balcony and Christmas music is playing next to me from the neighbors' house on the left 😅

To my right, somewhere, a kid is singing karaoke to “Let it Go.”

I hug you ✨ and send you these wonderful vibes to Germany