Pic of the Week 10

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Philipp Dukatz
Islnd Hopping in el Nido, Palawan

Island Hopping in El Nido, Palawan

My new Pic of the Week is late as usual. This category is my problem child I have to admit – don’t even worry about the numbers on them anymore. Sorry once again for not administering it regularly.

So this time I am posting a pic of myself, I think it is the first one in this category so far. My Facebook friends already know this one – it was taken during an island hopping tour around El Nido, Palawan. We stopped at 5 different islands where we snorkeled, swam and just relaxed. We took a cooler of cold ones and had a great time with the other people on the boat. This here was taken at a place called Small Lagoon. The entry to this lagoon is way back in the background. Maybe you can tell. Chris’ fish eye lens works perfect on shots like that – thanks again to him for this one.

Categories: Photography, Pic of the Week, The Philippines | Tags: , , , , | 18 Comments

From white beaches to jungle clad volcanoes – Camiguin has it all.

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Philipp Dukatz

Camiguin-4705Coming back from beautiful Siquijor, our plan was to head straight to the island of Camiguin. It is part of the region of Mindanao and supposedly the island with the most volcanoes per square kilometer. Camiguin would be our last stop before going to Palawan which would also be our last leg of our shared journey through the Philippines. We hence planned to spend a few quality days with a mix of relaxation and adventure.

Once again we traveled by ferry including yet another stopover in Bohol. The ride on an old and rusty ship but over-friendly crew took about 4 hours. The weather was fine which made the ride enjoyable and diverting. We were even able to spot some dolphins and lots of flying fish accompanying our boat for a bit. Read more »

Categories: Diving, Motorbike, The Philippines | Tags: , , , | 45 Comments

No witches on the witches island Siquijor

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Philipp Dukatz

Siquijor-4603After our little island hopping trip around Biliran we had to decide where to go to next. We had a few different options and actually had a difficult time finding a compromise that everybody would be happy with. We finally decided to go to the small island of Siquijor –according to a lot of rumors a place of witchcraft and sorcery. We actually heard about that on a few occasions which made us even more curious to explore the place.

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Categories: Motorbike, The Philippines | Tags: , , , | 36 Comments

Islandhopping around Biliran and Diving Malapascua

Posted on April 16, 2013 by Philipp Dukatz

DCIM100GOPROAfter our full dose of tropical relaxation on Biri Island, we wanted to keep going and explore some more of the Philippines’ island life. Crossing Samar into Leyte, our plan was to make it over to Biliran Island. Recommended by friends again, the island is supposed to be non-touristy, very beautiful and more importantly, a good jump-off point to some of the smaller islands around.

Biliran Island – Our scenic base for island hopping
After a long journey we arrived on Biliran and went straight to the coastal town of Naval. We decided to live it up a little and got ourselves a nice room with aircon, tv and sea view. Every once in a while you just have to treat yourself. Being pretty exhausted from the long journey and having plans for the following day, we passed the remainder of the relaxing and walking around town for a bit.

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Categories: Diving, The Philippines | Tags: , , , , , | 34 Comments

Lazy days at the Tropical Getaway Biri Island

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Philipp Dukatz

Biri Island-4387After my devastating injury during the descent of Mt. Bulusan, I had to rest for a few days and also go see an orthopaedic specialist twice. The transportation to that doctor took long and I spent almost a day going and coming back. I was getting annoyed and frustrated having to spend so much time in hot, overcrowded jeepneys and minivans. Despite knowing that some more rest probably would be best for me, I just wanted to get moving again. Our plan was to head for an rather unknown tropical getaway named Biri Island. Glenda, who had been our host for the last few days, decided to join us, adding a female component to our group for the first time. An interesting start for an eventful trip.

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Categories: The Philippines | Tags: , , | 11 Comments

Pic of the Week 9

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Philipp Dukatz

I am way behind with the Pic of the Week. Having a great time over here in the Philippines, a stupid injury and the frequent lack of internet have kept me from updating this category. Sorry for that and I hope you can understand. I want to revive the Pic of the Week and keep it going with the picture below.

Biri Island-4441

This was taken during our recent stay on Biri Island. It was actually taken by Chris, so all the credit goes to him for this one. We were enjoying the sunset of our last day on the island with Peter from Australia and Ralph from the US living on the island. The atmosphere that night was tropical perfect and seeing this picture with the silhouettes just describes it best. More info on where exactly we stayed and what happened there will follow soon in the upcoming article on Biri Island. Stay tuned.

Categories: Photography, Pic of the Week, The Philippines | Tags: , , , | 13 Comments

Climbing Bulusan Volcano and facing my All-Time Low

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Philipp Dukatz

Bulusan-3874For Easter Saturday me and the guys got invited to join Emm, a fellow travel blogger from the Philippines (http://emmthepinaytrekker.wordpress.com), and her friends to climb Mt. Bulusan. 1565 meters high, it is the southernmost volcano in Luzon and one of the big landmarks of the Bicol Region, seen from almost anywhere. The volcano is one of the active ones in the Philippines with its last big eruption in February 2011.
With a climb promised to be more challenging than our assault on Mt. Pinatubo and some overnight camping, the trip sounded like another great adventure and we were glad to join.

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Categories: The Philippines, Trekking | Tags: , , , | 15 Comments

Sun, Surf and Buhay-Baboy – Living the good Life in Gubat.

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Philipp Dukatz

Gubat Bay-3380After our two rather mediocre experiences at Mount Pinatubo and the CWC in Naga, we were really hoping for our luck to improve. Thanks to a recommendation by a friend from Manila, we planned to go to the little seaside town of Gubat in the Bicol Region of the Philippines. The local surfer crew, the Gubat Bay Surfers (GBS), was supposed to host an Easter Surf Camp right at the beach with lots of fun, sun and surfing. This and the fact that the spot is still unknown to the crowds inspired us to check it out and spend Holy Week in Gubat. We soon realized that this would not only more than compensate for all the mess before, but actually be our best travel experience so far. Read more »

Categories: Surfing, The Philippines | Tags: , , , , | 53 Comments

Getting ripped off: Climbing Mt. Pinatubo and Wakeboarding at Camsur Water Complex

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Philipp Dukatz

Pinatubo-3767When travelling you will experience a lot of great and memorable things. It is fun, exhilarating and adventurous most of the time. But another part of travelling which you can’t avoid are the odd disappointments and hitting rock bottom every once in a while. It’s not all gravy when travelling and those moments are just part of it. After our great adventure in the Philippino mountains, we got a fresh taste of just that.
We left Manila with the plan to climb Mount Pinatubo, the famous volcano which exploded in 1991 taking a good 300 meters off of the mount and covering big parts of the area in ashes and lahar. With a big and crystal clear crater lake at the top, this seemed like another great adventure for the three of us. However, it soon became clear that it would be anything but that.

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Categories: The Philippines, Trekking | Tags: , , | 20 Comments

Exploring Northern Luzon – From the Grasslands of Sagada to the Ifugao Rice Terraces

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Philipp Dukatz

Phnom Penh-3244After only half a day in Manila, I made my way up to Baguio, a fairly big town in the North of Luzon, the main island of the Philippines. There I was supposed to meet up again with Dolf and Chris from Belgium whom I had traveled parts of Laos before. After an 8 hours bus ride I finally arrived and was greeted by the guys who had already arranged our accommodation. It was really nice to see both of them again and to know that some awesome adventures will await the three of us. However, Baguio was only the jump-off point to the Cordillera, the mountainous and remote north of the Philippines. After a few reunification beers, a hearty dinner and a good night of sleep, we took off to Sagada.

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Categories: Culture, The Philippines, Trekking | Tags: , , , , | 65 Comments