Rainy Season

Hey my dudes.

It's ages late, I know. I haven't been in the right mood or atmosphere to write for a while but now I am so settled in Chiang Mai, Thailand that I can write comfortably about my stay in Cebu City and Moalboal. As the title might suggest, I unexpectedly had run into several typhoons over the course of the first 3 weeks of my trip, and though the rain and wind wasn't conducive to sightseeing, it forced me to experience the places I'd visited in a different way. Every day when travelling comes with it's challenges and thankfully, those challenge were just a few inconvenient raindrops.

Cebu City

I arrived to this wild and bustling place late at night on a flight coming from Seoul to encounter my first problem... I didn't have any pesos. I tried and tried to withdraw cash at the airport ATM only to have my card blocked. Ooops. I guess that's how it goes when you don't use a pin number for a full year. Thankfully I always travel with a backup! After figuring out that situation, I used the Philippines' equivalent of Uber (on a scooter) to get me safely to my hostel in the middle of the city. I checked in a slept well for a few short hours.

I awoke to a nice message from my dearest friend Mr. Michael, who had arrived in the city a few days prior, saying he was waiting for me with some fruit and juice for breakfast. Though it had only been a few days since we'd seen each other, I was glad to see him in all of his "tarps-off" glory playing cards in the common room. We shared our morning snack before heading out for a walk around town to a place I heard was popular for street art. With (Google) maps in hand, we found it wasn't so much a sightseeing stop but rather a local neighbourhood with some spray paint. Regardless we were greeted by small kids waving and poking at each other to talk to the foreigners. It was of course a warm day, as they all have been so far, and we decided our failed efforts were deserving of a morning beer. We could see the clouds forming above us, so upon returning to the hostel for a quick shower, thought that we should check out a brewery in town.

We played countless games of cards, and ended up having such a fun day running from one place to the next in between crazy rainfall. We stayed perhaps a few hours too long playing cards, pool, listening to a live band, and finally dancing with some locals at a strange club on a Monday night. All is well when with friends, I think. Though it was unexpected, I had such a good night out in Cebu!

The next day we walked through our new neighbourhood after a hotel change. Got a well deserved massage, and for the first time, Mr. Michael missed his flight to Vietnam. New flight booked and all sorted, we headed to a neat food court to fill our bellies and entertain the servers while we played a few more animated games of cards.

Truly an exhausting day of travel for the both of us, we called it an early night and went back to watch a movie in the hotel. The next day would mean a goodbye to one of my closest friends, and I was dreading it! I know I travel alone usually, so I wasn't expecting to have this goodbye be so difficult. I choked back tears as he hopped in the taxi to the airport, not knowing when we would see each other next after spending literally every day together for the past year in Korea! Miss you, nerd!

Moalboal

After saying goodbye, I myself headed to the bus terminal to make my way south of the island to visit Moalboal! Famous for it's snorkelling, waterfalls, and whale sharks, I was excited for some tropical vibes!

I checked into a really modern hostel along the road to the beach, and was thankful for the aircon after the 5 hour long bus ride down south. It was a tiring trip so I decided it would be an early evening after eating at a local restaurant, but once I got there I got talking with the auntie who owned it, the young employee, Christina, and the french man who had been staying in town for the past 7 months! The power went out for an hour, so we played cards and listened to music together enjoying the darkness! When I told them the name of my hostel, they insisted it was too far away to walk to in the night, so Christina drove me on her scooter with the promise that I would go out dancing with them the following night. Meeting such sweet locals gave me a bright outlook on my stay in Moalboal!

The next day I met 4 new friends, Farah, Cordi, Wan, and Ken from the hostel and we decided that we would all brave the typhoon together and head to a restaurant for lunch, which turned into early afternoon drinks, which turned into dinner and night time drinks. When the weather doesn't cooperate, you just have to change the plans! We danced, drank, and sang until the late hours of the night at Chili Bar, and ended up having so much fun together.

The weather apparently wanted us to step outside of the bar for a while the following day, so as the sun poked through the clouds, we grabbed our new friend Shuyi (making us a group of 6), and we made our way in a tricycle to White Beach where the boys had a small photo shoot, and I watched the sunset for the first time in the Philippines.

Of course we followed up the trip to the beach with some dinner back in town, and some drinks to cap off a lovely day outside.

I broke off from the group the following day as I had made a local friend the night before who insisted the weather was going to be clear in the morning making it perfect for a tour of the sights around Moalboal. James messaged me at 8 am saying I had to wake up and get ready so we could see everything before the rain in the afternoon. I agreed to let him drive a little faster than usual so we could reach Osmena Peak, the highest point on Cebu Island, and still catch a view, and let me tell you I was holding on tight. I trusted him as he had probably been driving a scooter since the age of 10, but I have seen so many scooter crashes in my travel time that I was still nervous! The ride was longer than I expected as well, as we snaked our way up the mountain I took my time to take in the views of lush greenery below. James laughed when I could have sworn I saw a small deer (he told me it was just a brown goat), and I exclaimed "COW!" every time we passed one on the side of the road. We drove through so many small villages as we worked our way to the top, and I was in amazement that people could live in such a difficult to reach place. Almost to the end of the bike road, I felt the first drops of rain which I was hoping to avoid. Osmena Peak is usually a place to see the ocean and all the green valleys along the way, but when I got to the top, well...

... there wasn't much to see but I was still glad to have gone on the tour and see a different piece of the Philippines that I wouldn't have seen on my own. Next up were the famous waterfalls of Moalboal which I was excited about since I worked up a fair sweat walking the trail into the clouds. We hopped back on the bike and rode toward one of the mountain villages and stopped for lunch of rice, veggies, and soup at a local place along the way. James and I ate, shared stories, and talked about friends and family while the Disney Channel played weird cartoons in the background. The sky of course started to clear as we were eating and though James wanted to bring me back to the peak, I was content to head to the waterfalls when the weather was on our side.

It was properly hot and I was so happy to hop into the cool waters for a swim as James climbed around and jumped from different ledges surrounding the pools. He tried his best to guilt me into jumping too, but I know my clumsy self well and didn't feel like testing my luck that day considering I had already fallen up the rock face and scored myself a solid bump and bruise on the shin. Properly cooled off, we trekked out of the falls and jumped back on the bike heading to the famous Kawasan Falls. This is where the rest of my new friends were spending the day canyoneering, and it was such a nice coincidence to run into them there and hear about the exciting day they had while overcoming their fears and jumping from one pool to the next. I was a little disappointed in myself that I hadn't listened to them and joined their tour for an adventure filled day, but I just didn't feel like pushing myself that far out of my comfort zone.

I had such a nice time during the first week of travels through the Philippines, and though I would have liked to see a little more sunshine, the friends I made here made the experience so fun, and I wouldn't change it for the world.

안냥!

-Sasha