Easter in the Philippines

Hallihallo or how not to say in the Philippines: Aloha.

Laura has Easter holidays. Normally we would go to our families, look for Easter nests, eat together and spend time together. But this year everything is a little different.

The flights were booked on Tuesday and at 1:30 a.m. on Thursday night we went first to Manila and from there to Cebu City. We landed around 11 a.m. and after a 3-hour bus ride we finally arrived in Moalboal.

Moalboal

The bus driver asked everyone on board which hostels, hotels or resorts they wanted to be dropped off at. We rented a hostel in advance that gave us a taste of camping. Our tent was a bamboo hut with two windows, a raised bed and a small terrace with two chairs. There were shared showers and toilets and a reception that also served as a moped rental, kitchen and guide service. It was great.

We wanted to stay here for 3 days and then continue towards the south of the island or even to another one. But as is often the case when you're on holiday, Laura got sick. I don't know if it was the air conditioning on the plane or the stress from work, but she was sick in the bamboo hut for about two or three days.

We then decided not to do any major island tours and to give up backpacking in the Philippines. We spent our time in Moalboal and the surrounding area. We booked other accommodation, went on a truly breathtaking canyon tour where you could hike, swim and jump from rocks, snorkeled and swam with turtles and schools of sardines, were on the highest mountain on the island for sunrise and ate pizza and burgers for the first time.

We went to lots of different beaches. Some were rocky or stony, but a couple had loooong white sand, crystal clear water and were exactly how you would imagine the beaches in the Philippines to be. Very nice.

Maybe interesting side facts:

• Take sunscreen with you, otherwise you will get the sunburn of death in the Philippines
• The Catholic Church is very widespread here, at Easter people have been nailed to the cross
• If you sleep in a bamboo hut, ask beforehand if something like a mosquito net can be put up under the half-open roof... Otherwise you could have hand-sized spiders in your bedroom
• If you wake up in the night and something flies onto your arm, it's usually not a butterfly. As Laura discovered, cockroaches can fly.
• And finally, people here LOVE One Direction, Taylor Swift and Katy Perry so much that they play the same music every day