I left Bohol and took the ferry back to Cebu where I had the full day as I was leaving for Manila the following morning. I had spoken with a few guys from Boracay and they didn’t think there was anything to see in Cebu. Maybe so, maybe no, but I had seen a golf course from the plane coming in from Boracay and wanted to see if I could play there that day.

Cebu Golf & Country Club

Turns out that the golf course I saw was Cebu Country Club and they were open for public play. So I booked a tee time and wen’t out to play golf in Cebu and 33 degrees celcious. Man that was HOT! But it was absolutely GREAT! I got a friendly caddy who had worked at the country club since he was 14 (and I believe he was around 50) so he knew the course very well.

Thomas My Golf Buddy From Cebu

After the first three holes an Australian gentleman named Thomas asked if I wanted to join him for the rest of the round and I hapilly accepted. He was a really neat guy who had been living in Cebu for 24 years so he had many entertaining and informative stories.

I finished the round with a score of 84 which was 12 over par. Considering all the factors like borrowed golfset, new greens, new putter, hot as hell and I lost 4 balls I think it’s an ok score (see how I’m finding all the excuses possible hehe).

I had a fairly long travel day leaving Boracay by plane to Cebu and then from Cebu to Tagbilaran (Bohol) with a fast ferry (2 hours). I started at 08:30 and arrived at Alone Kew Beach Resort around 16:30. I was tired and hungry so that night I had a quick swim in the pool, dinner on the beach and a few beers playing 4 in a row with the bartender.

Next day I went on a long trip to see various attractions on Bohol. That included a statue of the spanish making a blood pact with the natives, a 450 year old church, the tarsier, a dinner on a river boat, the chocolate hills, a man made forest and crossing two bamboo hanging bridges. It took us 7 hours completing all that and boy was I tired.

The Tarsier From Bohol

The tarsier is one of Bohols most famous attractions. This tiny nocturnal primate is so wierd you almost have to see it to believe it. The place where I met them was pretty much as I had expected it to be, but I was hoping to see them in a more natural environment. Would have been super cool if I had visited at night when they are really active cause they hop instead of crawl which looks really funny. But still it was a great experience.

Alona Beach Sunset - Panglau - Philippines

I also did some snorkeling of the Alona Beach which was pretty good. The water was really shallow so I did feel a little too close at times. I also got my 5km run in on Alona Beach which was a little painfull as there where lot’s of crustaceans, shells and stones in the sand. Allthough there was no sunset over the horizon it was still very pretty.

On my last night I got an hours massage on the beach and they even convinced me to get a manicure and a pedicure! It was great fun tho. Each night I had seen a man walking up and down the beach shouting something I didn’t understand. So I asked the girls giving me the massage and it turns out he is shouting “Balut”. Here is a description of this from the wikipedia:

“A balut is a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell.”

Well they convinced me to eat one and I must say it was absolutely horrible! Thank God I can say “been there, done that” now cause I very much doubt I’ll ever do that again. I did however get it on video and I’ll be posting the balut video dare when I get back home to Denmark.

I absolutely love this place and I don’t want to leave! The beach is breathtaking and the people hare are so kind and helpful. I’m staying at a place called Alice in Wonderland and it’s just perfect! I have a nice bungalow right down to the refreshing pool. It’s 19:22 and I just came up from a night swim

I forgot my brothers digital camera at Malcolms place in Singapore (don’t worry Jules I’ll pck it up on my way home ) so I’m stuck with my iPhone 3gs camera. I still think it did ok with this picture of the sunset at White Sands Beach:

Sunset on White Sands Beach, Boracay, Philippines

It’s my last day tomorrow as I’m leaving for Bohol. Have a couple of days there for snorkelling, visiting the Tarsier (hopefully) and seeing the chocolate hills.

But I have to say Boracay has been GREAT! I’ve gone sailing, snorkelling and waterskiing. I’ve also had some really good nights out and met some cool people.

Manila Airport Queue

I got the morning flight out of Manila around eight o’clock. I figured two hours at the airport would be enough time to catch my flight and have time to eat.

Turns out a LOT of other people were flying that day and there were queues everywhere. I found myself in the wrong queue for airport security when a lady told me I was in the female queue

So my two hours were just fine as it took me about 1½ hours just to get to my gate. There were many other people rushing and panicking, but I could just relax and enjoy the experience.

Cebu Pacific Airlines

This was my first time flying in a propel powered airplane and what a thrill that was haha.  They didn’t have any in-flight entertainment so instead the stewardess hosted a short quiz kinda thing

It was a fun flight but the landing was crazy rough! The airport is soo small the pilots have to turn the plane around and go back up the airstrip to get to the airport. Never tried that before.

The White Sands Of Boracay

Boracay has the most amazing beaches! It might just beat the beautiful beaches on Koh Samet in Thailand! The sand is incredibly soft and the water is clear and cool! Just like Samet there are no stones and no sea weed. You can just run out into the cool water without worrying about stepping on normal beach stuff

This is my third day here and I really don’t want to leave! Everything is clean and everyone is smiling here. I found the perfect bungalow with a lush garden and a nice pool even. I need to plan the rest of my journey tonight so I can get as many days as possible here on Boracay!

A few days ago I landed in Manila, Philippines around ten at night. I should have arrived at seven in the evening, but AirAsia had pushed their flight from Bali to Singapore 1 hour 20 minutes forward, which meant I had no chance of catching my flight from Singapore to Manila. Had to order a later flight since I had already booked hotel in Manila and flight the next morning to Boracay. I knew I was pushing it when I ordered the flight on the first place. I only had 2½ hours to get from Terminal 1 to Budget Terminal in Singapore, but it would have been doable with no delays.

I got a nice room at the Atrium Hotel in Manila. It was on the 21st floor and since the room had a balcony, I got a good look at Manila by night. I could spend hours just watching people from above, it’s almost relaxation for me

Oh yeah, it was quite lucky that I had already ordered my flight back from Philippines to Singapore or they wouldn’t have let me checkin on my flight to Manila!

I landed in Bali and it was actually raining! Matter of fact, it rained every single day I was there which was 5 days. There was sun once in a while but predominantly rain. Spent the first day walking around Kuta and Legian and I was almost in shock when I first saw the beach …. it was filled with litter! There was trash everywhere! Apparently they throw their trash in the rivers and when it rains the trash gets swept out to sea, where it unfortunately gets brought back to the shore.

G'day my surfing instructor (yep that's his name)

My second, third and forth day I spent mostly learning how to surf. I had a cool local instructor who helped me get up. It was MUCH harder then I had thought. On top of that it was extremely demanding physically as there were big waves continuosly pounding me and the current was quite strong dragging me around. It was a fantastic overall experience, and I think I’ll plan one surfing vacation every year from now on

I’ve really never experienced the rush of being pulled towards a wave due to the insanely strong current of a wave building up and then just watching as this wave gets higher and higher! What a rush!

I’ve had 3 absolutely fantastic days in Singapore with Malcolm and Fiona. Friday night I went out with Malcolm to meet many of his friends. We had such a great night and lot’s of fun during out massive 3 bar 150 meters pub crawl haha! Here is a picture of the whole gang just before we executed a good ol fashion jäger bomb train:

Singapore Pub Crawl Crew

Saturday was a nice and chillaxed day. We hung out at the pool with our hangovers and in the evening we went out for dinner and cocktails with a couple of Malcolm and Fionas expat friends.

Sunday morning we ordered KFC for breakfast and had it delivered! Fancy that KFC delivery I loved it Later we went to visit ISS (International School of Singapore) where Malcolm, Fiona and I went to school many years ago. It was truly a wierd sensation to see it all again!  I have some video which I will upload once I get back to Denmark again. In the evening I went to the airport and flew to Bali, Indonesia.

Thanks Malcolm and Fiona for a wonderful few days in Singapore!

So I landed in Singapore at 5 in the morning and had a really nice cab ride to Malcolms apartment. The cab driver was very jolly and chatted away telling me how Singapore has changed since I was last here (10 years mind you).  He also told me to get my hands on a Chilli Padi for my chilli dare video as he thought that was the most spicy chilli in Singapore.

Malcolm greeted me at the entrance to Heritage View and we had a good chat about the old days. You see Malcolm and I went to school in Singapore back in 1990 so it’s been a while. He had to go to work later that day so I was just chillaxing at the 4 swimming pools here at Heritage View – absolutely fantastic! I love Singapore weather We did have time to look through some of the old year books from International School of Singapore. Check out this funny picture of our class:

My Class At ISS

After swimming and sun bathing for hours I took a cab to Holland Village where my family and I used to spend a lot of time! It was really wierd seeing the place again after 20 years! The shopping center hasn’t changed a bit, but pretty much all of the surroundings have. I managed to find my purple Yakult drinks and a watermelon, which I’m enjoying as I write this on Malcolms terrace.

We’re going out tonight to meet a bunch of his friends here so really looking forward to that! On the way we will try and pass one of the places where I used to live.

It’s been a great first day of my holiday!

As I’m writing this there’s only a few more days until I depart for my vacation I’ve decided to take 3 weeks off work and go visit Singapore, Bali and the Philippines. I can’t wait!!!

Singapore

I will be visiting a very old friend of mine who I went to school with at the International School of Singapore (ISS). It turns out that he’s married a girl that also went to ISS and that she now teaches classes there … what are the odds! She’s promised me the grand tour of ISS and I’m really looking forward to that! I’ll also try to visit some of the other places where I lived with my family some 20 years ago.

Bali

I’ve decided to take surfing lessons on surfers paradise. I’ve never tried surfing before, but I have done  a little wind surfing and I’m an old skater so I think I’ll do okay. I’ll be booking a 3 day surfing school and can’t wait to hit the waves of Kuta beach.

Philippines

Not sure why I chose the Philippines for my last destination, but I loves islands and beaches and with itøs more then 7.000 islands I’m surely in for a treat. The plan so far is to visit Manila, Boracay, Cebu and Bohol. I would love to meet the local tarsier on Bohol island – they are so freaky haha.

So that’s the plan anyways. So far only my ticket to Singapore is in place so the plan could easilly change. I’ll try and do some posts here while I’m on vacation and if that fails I’ll be bringing my video camera with me to shoot some videos