Lombok - From Gili T to Kuta L

After a few marvellous days in Ubud, our small group found itself on the road to Gili Trawangan.

Our mini bus to the coast was late (what a surprise...) and the boat ride was smooth. I was a bit concerned since you hear a lot of bad experiences on the boats connecting Indonesian island. All good eventually. There is no pier when you get to Gili T, the boat leaves you on the beach and picks up a new bunch of people for the route back.

Arriving in Gili T.

Our 4 nights stay on the island could be summed up by an quest to catch the sunset. We were not so lucky with the weather unfortunately as it rained most of the time. We were using the time on hand to play a lot of card games. The rain-free time was spent on the beach. This is pretty much all there is to do on the island. Then there're so many water sports activities - this archipelago is a world class diving area. Snorkeling was not too bad either. The crystal clear water, the white sand beaches make it a perfect location for doing nothing :D and we did just that :)

Well not exactly... but the lack of consistent nice weather did not push us to do more. Nice and relax some would say.

On my side I did go for an early morning run around the entire island (6.9km only).

West coast of Gili T with Bali landscape in the back.

In our quest for sun, Max and I decided to head to Lombok a few kilometres on the East of Gilis, hence leave our travel buddies for the past days. What a great time we have had and what an amazing bunch of people.

Happy people. We spent a bit more than a week together.

Instead of booking a fast boat we took the so called "public" boat... for 1 euro (15000 rupiahs). It felt like being on a nutshell and therefore no so safe. It was crowded with 60+ passengers compare to the 41 persons capacity of the boat... Safety first as they say!

We made it to the shore and hopped on a taxi to our hotel for the night north of Senggigi.

Bali from Longok (Senggigi). 

From a sunset point of view, this was almost as good as it got for us... not very lucky but nothing to complain about really. 

Max and I had to make a choice: North to the waterfall, or South to the beaches...

Since the weather forecast was better south, we decided to head there early morning and enjoy the (for once) sunny day burning on the beach.

Tanjung Aan beach in the south of Lombok

Mandalika beach in Kuta Lombok.

It turned out to be such a great idea as we bumped in friends on the beach in Sean and Chelsea. We had met with them on the beach in Canggu 2 weeks before this day and were stoked to catch up.

We made plans for the evening to watch the opening day of the 6 nations. Sean and I were really happy with this, despite the poor results of Ireland and France. 

The countdown until the day we were to leave Indonesia was ticking and showed 6 more days... We decided to come back to Bali the day after and discover the south of the island. This time, the ferry trip was like riding a rollercoaster and a lot of people on the fast boat found themselves sea sick. Throwing up everywhere... I slept like a baby - lucky me.
In what felt like a blink we around on Bali and 2 hours later we were checking in in a hotel close to famous Uluwatu temple.

New location, new friends, new adventures :)

Bali - more beaches around Uluwati and South Bali

Everyday was the more of the same: Food, Beach, Food, Beach, Food... Repeat!

All this shared with amazing company.

Besides Max, we had the lovely privilege to spend time with Frida and Anna our 2 new friends from Gothenburg.

A few things are worth mentioning:

- we saw a cobra crossing the road in front of us... I still have shivers in my spin just with the though of this. 

- monkeys are everywhere in South Bali. 

- police is corrupted in Bali. We got stopped on the side of the road and were ripped of around 20 euros for no good reason. While being "detained" were passing by next to us entire families without helmets ridding their bikes (imagine 4 human being going 60km/h without helmet... Safety first right!?

- the waves are BIG in South Bali and there is a lot of current, so we did not surf there. It is still possible to find beginner and intermediate level waves. We were happy to just enjoy the sun for once since we were not really lucky on that aspect throughout our adventures in Indonesia.

- beaches are amazingly beautiful in that part of Indonesia. We manage to see quite a few. Pandawa, Melasti, Nusa Dua, Uluwatu, Padang Padang, Thomas beach and my personal favorite: Green Bowl beach.

- I thought I had the best ever dessert in Ubud when I tried fried bananas with cheese... I was so wrong... The best dessert ever was to be found in Warung Lima close to the Uluwatu temple. This restaurant are cooking Spring rolls stuffed with bananas, chocolate and cheese.

Green Bowl Beach.

Sunset in Uluwatu.

Banana/chocolate/cheese spring roll.

Last night was great. Since Max and I were leaving Indonesia we decided to book ourselves a double room in a 4 stars hotel close to the airport. Needless to say the service was quality special, the swimming pool very much appreciated :D

Friends in the pool, doesn't get any better than this...

A bar in the pool is better :)

Reception woke us up as requested at 5am, transfer service took us to the airport at 6... it was time to say goodbye to my partner in crime Max. We had 3 wonderful weeks travelling together. He will be travelling 5 more months but I am sure that we will finally be playing Tennis this summer in Switzerland. 

For me, this was back where it all started a bit more than 2 months back, in Kuala Lumpur.

A last night in the same place I had my first night in Asia, a few new "last minute friends", one last "I met you 2 weeks ago in Canggu, isn't it", one last kebab, one last beer with great conpany (a very very odd Kronenbourg!!!), one last Taxi ride. It is time to go home and be thankful :)

What goes around, comes around. Last night in Bukit Bintang food market in Kuala Lumpur.

Ubud - Waterfalls, rice paddies and temples with new friends

After a small week on Bali with the feeling that I hadn’t seen any of the island or of the people, we headed Maxime and I to Ubud. Ubud is located right in the center of the island and his most known for its temples and its surrounding nature and volcanos.

Max and I are avid fans of Tennis and he is probably one of the most emotionally engaged fan I have ever met in my entire life… This became especially true when we arrived in Ubud, exactly during the Federer - Wawrinka semi final of the Australian open. Being Swiss, Max was proudly watching the match, supporting the incredible comeback of Roger into the highest spheres of the world of tennis. With Federer winning and Nadal on its way to the final, we were set for a nerve wracking match on Sunday afternoon! Since I am a massive Rafa supporter, the match was intense on court and off court in our local bar in Ubud. Max’s love for Roger, hate for Rafa and swearing during the final cannot possibly be matched and I was very happy for him that the outcome came his (and Roger's) way otherwise we were in for a moody, borderline sad few days… Anyway :) you have to give it to Roger thought. I don’t remember him turning things around like that in the 5th set being 3-1 down to win the match outplaying Nadal, aggressing him with raw class scoring some points that can only leave you wondering how long this guy is going to be able to pull out that kind of magic.

Of course our stay there were not limited to being in bars watching sports… far from it!

Our first full day there was probably the fullest I had so far during my holiday. We rented some scooters and went on to discover Ubud’s surroundings. We dragged a few new friends in our adventure: Sophie from London, Libby from Barcelona, and Sarah H. from Atlanta. Our small group made the most of the local highlights. In chronologic order we managed to visit Tegenungan waterfall, the hidden canyon Beji Guwang, the waterfall of Kanto Lampo, and the temple of Pura Tirta Empul.

Hidden canyon.

Small waterfall in the canyon.

Kanto Lampo waterfall.

Monster in Pura Tirta Empul

Hot spring in Pura Tirta Empul.

Pura Tirta Empul.  People queueing to be in contact the holly fountains and present offerings to the temple.

Back in Ubud I was dreaming to try again the amazing fried bananas with cheese (!!!) we had on our first diner in Ubud at the infamous Warung Ijo (a warung is a typical local restaurant - usually both good and cheap). Unfortunately for me and for the group it would have to be postponed to the following day since the kitchen had close before we could order dessert.

The next day was equally nice. Good company and my first ever yoga practice. Sarah was kind enough to introduce us to Yoga for an hour private lesson. The experience was great and I can’t wait to show you the timelapse I made out of it (I’ll share it either when back in Europe or when I find a good enough internet connection). 

Yoga!!! It was an amazing experience for me.

We went on to visit the Monkey forrest, a place full of … monkeys quite obviously. I learnt a few things along the way: 

Never Ever stare a monkey in the eyes as the little fella will perceive this as a sign of aggression.

Never touch a monkey… your little buddy can touch you and jump on your shoulder but do not touch it… This is a wild animal and not a pet. We witness an overly enthusiast Chinese tourist that learnt that the hard way.

Be careful with your belongings… Monkeys are smart little fuckers. One reached out to my pocket and managed to get away with my entrance ticket. I observed him helplessly tearing apparently the piece of paper.

These little creature are fantastic to observe. Their social interactions are so close to ours. I loved it.

Angry little monkey that just jumped off me trying to steal from my pocket.

Playful monkeys.

Daddy wants to play to.

That one did succeed to take my entrance out of my pocket. Happily tearing it appart.

We have faced few other species of local fauna: lizards of all size (from a few centimetres to more than half a meter), an emerald green snake, a lot of ducks (a local delicatessen), and countless colourful birds during our time walking around Ubud and its rice paddies. What a lovely photogenic place this is!

Scenic walk in Ubub.

Trail in the northern part of Ubud.

Our 5 units group decided to head East towards Lombok to go to the Gili Islands, an archipelago of 3 islands. Gili T (trawangan) will be our first stop.

Happy days!

Wandering in the streets of Ubud.
Libby, Sophie, Justin, Chad and Sarah :)

Sea, Surf and Sun (sometimes...) in Bali's wave heaven of Kuta and Canggu.

Here I am, the final country on my trip: Indonesia.

I had very little expectations whatsoever before coming as the only information I had on Bali was a few "it was awesome" from some friends that had travelled here and the memories of the movie Eat, Pray, Love I watched ages ago. The little I expected was a relaxing and spiritual atmosphere you get in the kind of places where there are waves to surf and temples to pray in.

From the airport, I decided to stay a few days in Kuta just a stones throw away of the airport. This is a surfer's town: you surf during the day and you party at night. My hostel; the Funky Monkey was located in a very small street in between the beach and the main road of the city. The swimming pool was really much appreciated and the constant flow of people made it entertaining: I was always with different people sharing travel experiences and tips while having loads of free pancakes offered by the hostel.

Kuta at sunset. One of the only pictures I took in 3 days.

While this is not exactly what I was expecting, I was lucky enough to meet and hang out with amazing people. I am going to mention here couple of guys I was lucky enough to meet: Sahel an inspiring broker from London with Afghan decent and Maxime a tennis addict from Switzerland.

I spend the first 3 days surfing and partying with both before Maxime and I headed north towards Canggu (pronounced Chan-Gu) while Sahel moved with one of his friends towards the center of Bali to more mystical lands.

Beach in Canggu with perfect wave for my low level.

Canggu is much quieter even if the parties there can get insanely wild. The day basically follows the rhythm of the waves. Max and I stayed 4 nights in another great hostel (with pool and again great company). Sharing our dorm, a funny dutch guy that happened to be my neighbour when I was living in Hilversum (!!!) and Charly a Belgian citizen. The world got even smaller for our small crew when Charly and I were speaking about music.

Charly loves acid, a kind of music I have close to no knowledge of.... The only information I know about Acid is that it is very popular in Belgium and there is quite a large audience in Antwerpen and Brugges. This I know from my friend and ex-colleague Luca... Luca is a DJ known in the industry as Acidolido. Well, Acidolido happens to be Charly's favorite artist! 

Mind. Blown. Instant friends just like with Max and Sahel before.

We spent time hanging out and got to meet Sean and Chelsea, a lovely couple teaching English in China, discovering the area and the infinite party options dancing on the beach until the early hours of the morning.

The pretty poison bar in Canggu with its skatepark in the middle of it!

A week has gone by in south Bali in a blink. Time flies when you are having fun. To be honest I did not do much besides surfing and meeting people (mostly around a Bintang, the local beer). But this is what travelling is all about, isn't it? 

I saw yesterday a brilliant post card that sum up perfectly my mood these days. It said:

Never blame anyone in Your Life

Bad people give you Experience

Worst people give you a Lesson

Good people give you Happiness

&

Best people give you Memories.

I am so lucky to be piling up so many memories. It is going to be hard to keep them all in my heart.

I was so busy having fun and relaxing I took very little pictures... I managed to find 3 okish ones to illustrate this post.

I will take so many more in Ubud, where Max and I are heading next. Stay tuned!

Kuala Lumpur (again) and Singapore for a couple of days!

Philippines has been something, that the least to say.

The people, their kindness, the beaches, the underwater world, the island, the parties...

After saying goodbye to Ronnie, I found myself in another airport on my way back to KL.

In the airport I got to speak to a Malaysian that happens to have twin boys. I guess the world do connect people based on commun characteristics, you just have to find out what it is.

In Kuala Lumpur I managed to visit one of the highlights I did not have time to see the first time around: Batu's Cave.

Batu's cave is this massive stairway to a big... cave.

The site is accessible by train and welcomes you with a massive golden statue.

That day was pouring rain, which makes the whole experience unbelievable: I had the site almost on my own and the rain gave a very chaotic and dramatic note.

After the visit I went to the bus station to head to Singapore, a 6 to 12 hours ride from KL (depending on traffic). My first bus got cancelled, the second one was delayed 1 hour. I left at 11pm.

I arrived in the city state very early morning. I had made an appointment to meet my friend Florian at 8 am and I was happy to have a walk in the empty city at sunrise, wandering through the business district and chinatown on my way to the cafe we were set to meet.

It was amazingly nice to meet Flo and Jackie, get to spend time with them and get some priceless advice on what to do in the city.

Tradition meets modernism in Chinatown.

For the first time since the half marathon in Cebu I went for a run. Even if Singapore is such a humid city, this is so nice to run around the bay and this amazing skyline.

Besides spending much of my time next to Flo's apartment in Chinatown and eating Chinese food in the food court (230+ food stalls to choose from - including a Michelin star restaurant where you can have a meal for around 2 euros... no jokes!!!) I went on to visit the ArtScience Museum.

The building is amazing! It is shaped like a hand open to the sky or a blooming lotus and composed of 3 levels hosting the 3 different exhibits:

- A Space oriented exhibit that takes you back to the race to space between USSR and USA.

- A very complete M.C. Escher expo where you can almost find more of his work that in his museum in The Netherlands

- An entire study / reflexion on where Arts meets Science. This part was very interactive and recreative.

This museum is more than a must to do in Singapore. I had so much fun and inspiration. That Crystal Universe is a thing of ultimate beauty.

The bay with Marina Sands on the right and the ArtScience Museum in the back.

It eventually reflected my entire stay in Singapore. Meeting incredibly nice and talented people (Flo knows how to surrender himself with this kind of human being). I am glad I had these 3 days and couldn't be more thankful to both Jackie and Flo for sharing their lives with me during my stays. 

Puerto Princesa and Back in Manila - Last couple of Days in the Philippines

Puerto Princesa is the door to that paradise that is Palawan. You often enter the island by its airport and you leave by this airport. And like a door the (almost) only point of it is to go through it. In that sense Puerto Princesa feels pretty much like door to me. No much to do or see in that small city. After 4 days in El Nido it takes a LOT to amaze oneself and Jeroen and I are at this point only looking forward to head back to Manila.

A nice cathedral, a WWII memorial, a nice (and empty) river side walk are among the things we saw in our hours spent there. Let’s not forget the mall here. We spent lunch time and I shopped in that local mall… This is probably the most Filipino experience we have. It seems like they love malls.

Another Filipino experience for me was to play some basketball with local kids (thanks for that amazing photo of live action Jeroen!). It was real nice to play with locals and I was probably happier than they were. We played 2x2 for a short time. It took just seconds before I was sweating like a pig while these kids looked fresh, as if it was not 30 degrees but 15 and there were having a walk in the park. Basketball is the national sport and I am glad I had that moment for myself.

Playing some hoops with local kids. Thanks Jeroen for the awesome picture.

We returned to Manila that night where we shared a succulent diner and drinks with Ronnie. Across the road we found ourselves dragged into the Ring Side, a place where we were to witness midget wrestling, midget boxing and midget dancing. Curiosity is bad but you have to sometimes feed it. This is all I am going to say about that business. I will rather encourage you to go see it for yourself and make yourself your own opinion. I preferred the bar we went to next - the rooftop bar of the Z Hostel.

After a few drinks it was the sad moment when I part ways with Jeroen and Andres.

They would both return to Switzerland.

Here is a picture of my Swiss gang in Chocolate Hills. Travelling will not be exactly the same without you guys. I am very thankful having your company for this time.

For now I will follow my adventure alone! 

My last day in Manila was cultural as I went on to discover the Intramuros part of Manila and mostly the Fort Santiago. This is a pivotal place in the history of the Philippines as it witness the execution of José Rizal a key person in the fight for this country's independence.

Dr Rizal is here portrayed in his cell the day he was executed.

A path of golden foot print pave his last walk toward his death by the Spanish colons. 

Paying tribute to this hero was a nice way to say good bye to this amazing country and the best host there possibly is over there: Ronnie. Thank you buddy, hopefully I can be as much of a good host when you visit Europe next time around.

Palawan - Discovering El Nido

I was not really inspired to find yet another title with bragging adjectifs qualifying the infinite beauty of a place. Palawan is - likewise Boracay - another regular member of rankings such as “Top 5 most beautiful islands in the world”.

While I can now say I have been in Palawan and stay on this island, the 4 days I had there and the very limited places I have seen have to be put in perspective. It was yet again the experience of a lifetime and I feel lucky to having wandered the beaches around El Nido.

El Nido is probably the most known corner of this island (in the North-West part) and it is naturally there that we headed from Puerto Princesa, where our flight from Cebu landed. I have been regularly writing about long commutes - that one was nowhere different from the others. Although there are “only” around 250 kilometres from Puerto to El Nido it took more than 5 hours to get there despite the driver of our van slaloming comfortably between the Jeepneys, the motorbikes and the tricycles overpopulating the roads. Thankfully our pension was on the side of the main road 3 kilometres from the village of El Nido and we where dropped of there already late at night.

We couldn’t see much from the hotel room and sleep was most needed when we arrived. We would get our reward from all the commuting when we woke up by discovering the view.

Of course it is impossible to compare one location to another, one island in Thailand in the Caribbean or in Polynesia to its filipino cousin’s without loosing any kind of objectivity. It is definitely a matter of taste and often depends of one’s experience in a given corner of the planet. My experience in El Nido together with the great time I had there made it very special… And man that view!

And the greatest part is that it is at least as beautiful under the over than on (is)land.

I won't say much more about El Nido besides that it was the first time since The Challenge in Ko Pha Ngan (22nd of December) that I was going in the water (more than the time of a shower obviously). Jeroen and Andres enjoyed the wonderful big blue world for  a few dives and I join them on the boat to snorkel in the same areas. 

I spend to much time in the water that I got burnt real bad on the back... This is the risk you are less expose to when diving... or wearing sun proof clothes or sun protection.

Here are some pictures I took with the GoPro. No filters or adjustments made only cropping and rotating the pictures :D Amazing time that was.

I got to swim 10 minutes with this buddy.

Coral and fishes. Zoom in to see the little blue ones in the Coral.

The Table Coral, one of my favorite underwater picture.

Angry Nemo coming at me, protecting his little one.

Sunset in Las Cabanas Beach.

Cebu - the oldest city in the Philippines

Jeroen and Andres were supposedly getting to Cebu on the 8th… However the second typhoon of our time in the Philippines is capricious and have them stocked in Panglao. Not a single boat is authorised to leave the pier.

I spent the entire day of the 8th resting. The muscle in my legs are starting to hurt due to the awkward movement I had to endure not to stress too much my left ankle.

Since my friends will be arriving in Cebu the 9th in the afternoon only, I am taking my time to explore what is of interest in the area. They are finally free to come over and arriving late in the afternoon the same day.

In the meantime I manage to witness the early moments of the biggest festival of the year: Sinulog. This is a week long of celebration of the baby Jesus ended in epic partying fashion the week end of the 14th and 15th of January. While this is making it impossible for me to visit the Basilic, it is nice to observe what is going on. Thousands and Thousands of locals are standing outside to watch on flat screen the Mass going on inside the Catholic edifice.

That left me with 2 other highlights I had planned to visit:
- The Magellan’s cross.
- The Fort San Pedro.

Inside the fort of San Pedro.

Magellan's Cross.

The city is pleasant and a bit more human size than overwhelming Manila. Our last morning, full of motivation we wanted to go to a view point and visit the Taoist temple next by... Unfortunately the rain decided otherwise. The typhoon is giving us its last tears and we prefer a warm coffee than risking a pneumonia.

Palawan is our next destination for which we needed to take a taxi to the airport (1h in the trafic and now heavy rain) and board for an hour flight... hopefully for more sun.

Cebu - Running the half marathon!!!

I collectedly race number and my singlet at the last possible moment, on the 7th at 6pm after yet again countless hours in public transportation from Panglao to Cebu.

The race starts at 4am the following morning. Thank god I did not subscribed for the full marathon that kick off at an early 3am. After a diner at the local fast food chain Jolibee I head back to the hotel for an early night. I have decided to give it a shot.

When I woke up at 3am, I am not so sure anymore of the feasibility of my objective. It is impossible to put on my socks without feeling pain in my still recovering ankle. I decided not to put any and head towards the start line.

The atmosphere is electric between the oppressive humidity and the energy of the large crowd. I am so excited. I am not sure yet I will be able to run - I have not worn shoes for almost 3 weeks and have not run for exactly as much. The finishing window for the half marathon is 4 hours which basically means I can walk the entire race and get to the finish line getting my finisher medal and kit. The start is very typical of such an event: I walk the first few hundred meters with the back of the pack evaluating the elasticity and response of my ankle. I have almost not solicited it for the last 20 days. When the runners are starting to spread around the route I eventually start to run. Running is a very big word though. I am more limping than anything. But I am happy and it feels good.
I would take it very easy throughout the all 21.1 km, taking time at the numerous water point to rehydrate myself. The humidity is quite hard to cope with and water or gatorade is very much appreciated.

2 hours and 13 minutes after starting, I was back to the initial point crossing the finish line. It is very hard for me to describe my feeling at that point of time. Even though this is far from being my first race or the longest one I have participated in (I have a couple marathons under my belt and numerous runs with my brother that were much longer that this one) I simply am overwhelmed. I have come a very long way since Xmas and my stay in the hospital.

I collect my finisher package consisting of a medal, a finisher shirt and couple of other goodies. It is not even 6:30 in the morning and definitely time to go back to sleep.

The final result is quite astonishing to me: 2h13m06s for a ranking of 215 out 1598 runners taking part of the half marathon. Would I have been normally fit and ran the time I had set myself, I might have finished in the top 30… but with ifs you can change the world and I am happy enough to be a finisher and to have pushed myself to compete. I’ll break my PB in the near future for sure!

A well deserved selfie :)

Bohol - Discovery nature and local wildlife

On the 6th of January, Jeroen Andres Delphine and I took on a private tour to go on the main island of the area: Bohol. The schedule ranges from hiking up the Chocolate hills to feeding monkeys.

Our first stop takes us to a Tarsier sanctuary. The tarsier is a very small animal that mostly lives at night. Its main peculiarity is mohave eyes 150 times bigger than its brain. It feels like the little buddy can see through you when staring at you.

A Tarsier.

Bohol is a rather large island located in the center of the archipelago and it takes us quite a ride to head toward the main attraction of the day: The Chocolate Hills.

Before getting there however we find ourselves hoping on a cruise buffet ship on the local river. The ride is beautiful and we get a glimpse at the local culture. Autochtones are bamboo dancing while we stuff ourselves with delicatessen from the region.

We got back to our car to get to the very center of the island and finally get to the infamous Chocolate hills. these hills get their name from the browny color of the burn grass in the end of dry season. Nothing remotely brown for us. The place is as green as it gets. The area is enjoying more than 1200 of these perfect domes that look more like camel backs than pill of chocolate to me.

A few of the hundreds of "chocolate hills".

It is already the middle of the afternoon and a few more stops are schedule. Chronologically we went:
- monkey feeding
- posing with pythons
- photographing some rise plantations
We skipped the butterfly park and preferred having a ice coffee in the city close to our resort.

My new friend is very curious with the GoPro.

I look rather relax. Let's be clear... I am not.

We were back to Panglao right after sunset.
Time for me to head to the local hospital for a great great piece of news: I would get ride of all my dressing and be freed from that daily time consuming activity.

I am truly stoked by the relative freedom and increased confort I am feeling all of a sudden.

The next day I decide to go back to Cebu to collect my race package for the Cebu half marathon taking place on the 8th of Jan for which I have registered for couple of months ago.
I will decided at the last moment if it is reasonable for me to actually run the event or take it easy discovering the city.

Alona beach - little gem on Panglao island and its little rural medical center.

The experience of our previous day did took Jeroen and I quite some energy and we both decided to take it easy and enjoy the resort the following day on January 4th.
But before anything, it was time for me to discover yet another hospital. After querying the reception, it turns out there is just one hospital on the island located in Panglao city. We got there Jeroen and I riding a tricycle (basically a motorbike customised with a passenger cabin where you can fit 2 persons of small size - great fun to ride!) to the infamous Rural Medical Center, located right next to the Firefighter brigade.

My little rural hospital in the background.

The hospital was packed and it took me a few seconds to locate the reception. I explain my case to which the receptionist point out to what I believed was a corridor. After correcting me, she was pointing a very old iron chair lying in the middle of all these local people waiting. Was she offering me a seat? No no… This was where I would be attended, my wounds cleaned and my dressings changed!

This is normally a process that can be a bit painful and I have so far appreciated the relative privacy of a curtain at least or of a room at best. The nurse is going to take out the old dressing (the compress is ALWAYS stuck in the wounds making it painful), clean the wound with Bettadine, apply some anti bacterial cream and put back a new dressing… all this in front of maybe 50 locals that are looking at me like an alien at first.
But because sharing is caring - and everybody else seemed to be waiting for something (an appointment? a consultation?) or someone (the local doctor? a patient?) - they all looked at me with a lot of compassion as if they wanted to share and take away a bit of the pain I was feeling.
Not a single person complained about me “jumping” the queue (were there a queue?) even if it look like they have all been waiting for a moment already. It took me only 20 minutes from the time I entered to the time I left the place.
I was moved by the experience. This is unbelievably heartwarming to see the relief in the eyes and the smile on the faces of people you don’t know after the nurse was done with me.These people are so kind and so human.

Me at the rural medical center of Pamglao

Jeroen and I left the Rural hospital and walked towards Panglao beach located a kilometre away. No much happening here for us tourist. No beach, just a large central square with a church, a school and a basketball court (basketball islands down the national sport and 1 person out of 2 wears a basketball jersey, either of a local or an NBA star).
We hoped back to the more touristy Alona beach for lunch.

The beach is beautiful, much less crowded that Boracay but still offering plenty of option for our hunger.
We sat down randomly and ordered. What a better place that a beach and a fisherman’s town to have fish, I was thinking. turned out they did not have fish!!! Nor mango that was supposed to be used for the shake I ordered. I changed to vegetarian option, it will be steak night at the Resort and I did not wanted to stuff myself before that.

The rest of the day outside eating was a succession of siestas and time reading.
We enjoyed our nice piece of beef for diner and Jeroen decided to go for couple of dive the next day. I would be waiting on another friend arriving from Zurich the 5th.

These days and since it is unfortunately not possible for me to go in the water, I dedicate myself to resting and making sure I recover quickly. How sad would it be if while spending 3 weeks in the Philippines I cannot go even once in the crystal clear water of its seas or a swimming pool.

From one paradise to another - Trying out each and every transportation system in the Philippines

TL;DR
Took us 12 hours to go from Boracay to Alona Beach using every possible mean of transportation the country has to offer. In order we rode: Taxi, boat, bus, plane, taxi, ferry, uber. Funny and tiring experience.

Now, for the longer version of the trip.

Leaving Boracay meant couple of things to us: 
- firstly we would leave the craziness of the island heading to a much quieter place.
- secondly we were in for another long day in the amazing networks of transports of the Philippines (there are just so many options to go from one place to another). 

On the 3rd day of the year and after our light (free) breakfast at the hostel (Instant coffee, ice tea, 1 egg served scrambled, 2 toasts and a tiny bit of jam and butter that are not enough to cover one of the toast) we took a minivan to the pier, a small ferry to Catitlan and a bus to the airport.
3 hours later we discovered the madness of this local airport. The queue outside Kalibo airport was a solid 200m. We have  heard by now stories from countless travellers that had their flights rescheduled, cancelled rerouted at the last minute (it turned out that our coming flight from Cebu to Palawan was reschedule by one day…). Thankfully my crutches are acting like a magic pass and we easily skipped the queue (the advantages of being a Passenger With Disabilities).

Leaving Boracay on a tiny boat.

Our plan was foggy when we boarded... Not very reassuring. 

Arriving in Cebu international airport. we had to find out how to get to Alona beach, located around 60km Southwest on Panglao island. Jeroen got the information right before exciting the airport at one of the tourist information desk. We would need to get to Cebu passenger pier, hope on a ferry and take a taxi to the Resort.
The taxi we got at the airport took us to the pier through Cebu, the oldest city of the Philippines. We will be getting there the 7th or the 8th of January, where I will or will not run the city’s half marathon - that should be decided last minute.

And we were in for yet another ferry. The terminal is MUCH bigger than in Boracay where it only takes 10 minutes for a boat to make the small ride across the sea. The experience of taking a larger ferry in the Philippines is quite procedural and structured as you need to:
- buy a ticket (at the local office or at the counter located outside the passenger terminal, most probably on the internet as well)
- pay terminal fee to get access to the boarding gate
- check in for your ferry
- wait at your gate
- board the ferry
The experience is exactly like in an airport, no more no less.

The ferry ride was 2 hours and it was already night time outside when we got to Tagbilaran city on an island called Bohol. Outside the small harbour it is chaos. Exiting the passenger terminal we had a dozen of tricycle, taxi or minivan drivers offering their services to get us to our final destination for the day.

Jeroen give me the lead to choose from the many possibilities.
We quickly found ourselves in a large SUV (uber!?) with 2 Norwegian travellers going in the same direction. After dropping them off, we finally arrived at our resort: the Bohol Subside Resort.
I think we were both very happy to have a private twin room for us and could rest after diner at the resort bar.

Bohol Sunside Resort. Great choice Jeroen :)