The third world

End of March. The winter season is coming to an end and the last shifts at work are pushed.

Unfortunately, only Juli and I from our original travel team are left.

 Kevin broke his leg while skiing and is now home in Hamburg.

Lukas has fallen so in love with the beauty of the landscape in Hokkaido that he will spend the summer there. He will work as a rafting guide, which will certainly be a lot of fun.

The new, smaller travel team, which now consists only of WW-Dorf children, has decided that after all the snow and frost in Japan, a little heat shock would do them good and they booked flights to the Philippines.

The plan was to spend 3 weeks in the Philippines. Typically German, we chose 3 destinations and booked and planned the entire trip, which in the end was absolutely the right decision.

After just 24 hours in this country, it becomes clear. There is chaos. Traffic, shopping, bus stations, airports, chaos everywhere.
Before the first night, I was actually crazy enough to ask the hotel if you can drink tap water. Now I understand why the woman at the reception reacted so shocked.

After a night in Cebu, a big city in the center of the Philippines, we drive with Alfredo - our taxi driver - and then with a small boat to the island of Malapascua. A beautiful diver's paradise north of the big island 'Cebu Island'. We stay at the Hippie Hostel 'Villa Sandra', where Bob Marley plays all day and plastic waste is despised almost as much as hustle and stress. Pure relaxation. There are no cars or roads on the island, only small paths. The number one means of transportation for the islanders: The scooter. 
It is common to ride with 3-4 people on one of the scooters. Furniture, suitcases, and anything else can be transported easily if you're crazy enough. The beaches and landscape on Malapascua are breathtakingly beautiful. There are no big hotels and you feel like you have the island to yourself. The Filipinos are incredibly nice people. They live on Malapascua in very simple conditions but seem happy and content nevertheless. On this island, you definitely start to wonder if the things we - first world people - believe we need are really necessary.
After the long time in Japan, it's also nice to be in a country where the Christian faith is lived. Especially since we were here over the Easter holidays.

After the peace and relaxation on Malapascua Island, we fly to El Nido, Palawan. This place is supposedly the most beautiful in the Philippines and one of the few tourist hotspots in the country. We stay at the Outpost Beach Hostel, where something is happening every evening. A typical party hostel where you can easily meet a lot of people and make funny acquaintances. El Nido was awesome. Canoe tours, boat trips, hikes, parties, paddleboarding, ... etc. We enjoyed the 7 days here to the fullest.
Means of transportation here: The tricycle.
To get a tricycle, you basically only need a scooter and a few pieces of sheet metal that you put together to make a sidecar. And you already have a not really comfortable means of transportation for 3-12 people (3 if Germans ride along, up to 12 if crazy Filipinos travel).

Finally, we visited the small fishing village of Sibaltan in the north of El Nido. There is essentially nothing here. And a lot of it: there is no power grid, hardly any restaurants, no ATMs, no supermarkets, no bakery, no air conditioning, hardly any tourists, no noise, no hustle, no stress. We stay at Erlittop Garden, the paradise par excellence. Since the most expensive room category 'Superior' here costs only 12 euros per person and night, we naturally grabbed it, without expecting to end up in a 30 sqm bamboo hut with balcony and bathroom where we live as a couple. One could argue that the place is boring, but in the end, we had six absolutely relaxed days here, where we experienced a lot and gained insights into the life and work of Filipino farmers.

Now we're back in Japan and at the latest after a week in Tokyo, the largest city in the world, it becomes clear how far apart these worlds still are.

The interesting thing about the chaos in the Philippines is that the people there show no interest in changing anything. Things work here. Whenever we looked for a taxi, bus, boat, or similar for transportation, we immediately found what we needed. Ultimately, there is a functioning system in the chaos that can also bring a lot of joy and make things easier.

Nevertheless, it's nice to shower with clean water again.