Farewell Philippines!

Well, I’ve made it back to Manila from Palawan, waiting to head out to Thailand in a few hours. I’m on the mend, feeling much better, just a pesky cough left, thanks for all the love and God bless antibiotics!

I have really enjoyed my time here in the Philippines.  It’s a very beautiful country, friendly people, excellent customer service and hospitality, and great food. I would highly recommend visiting here, especially for those who are wanting to come to Asia, but maybe are hesitant. I felt safe here, as a good rule of thumb, always be mindful of your things as people will steal, but I feel that in most places. As well, it’s quite Americanized here, lots of English spoken and on signs. There’s the odd squatting toilet, but most are your standard toilet. But I do recommend having your own wipes, toilet paper and hand sanitizer in your bag as not all bathrooms have what you need. Overall, I don’t think there is much culture shock. So keep this gem in the back of your mind.

Here’s the rest of my pics in Palawan. I’ll start with Karen’s 30th Bday. This is why I came to the Philippines. She invited me last winter over breakfast after a night shift.  She gave me the invite and I instantly gave it back saying, yup, put me down as a yes. I’ve been talking about travel for a while and thought, here’s my sign, I’m going for it. From there I thought, since I’m in that part of the world, I might as well see more places. Racine accepted the invite as well and made her plans to join me on the rest of South East Asia, we both made an exit strategy on quitting our jobs, and here we are! So thank you Karen for a wonderful first leg our our journey! Karen and her family and friends were so welcoming and were wonderful hosts, really made this trip memorable.

Sabang, Palawan

                                        

We explored the underground river, which is on the list of The 7 Wonders of Nature. If you google it, there’s quite a few 7 wonders lists. It’s a cave, lots of bats flying around and hanging from the ceiling. Little freaky at first, but I adjusted. I was told to keep my mouth shut when looking up. That was solid advice.

      

  

    Bats

  

  

  

There are some wild animals kicking around, I saw a few sea turtles but couldn’t get a good pic. But cool to see.

  

Monitor Lizard, they are harmless as long as you don’t bother them, they are a predator to the sea turtle. These signs were all over the resort we were at for Karen’s bday. But I personally didn’t need a sign to tell me not to pick it up lol.

  

Amazing Race stop for the Philippines and Ukrainian editions. Cool to see a little monument left. I hope the American or Canadian come to this part one day.

  

  

Of course no trip is complete without trying the local cuisine. There’s a lot of new foods I tried and liked. Lots of pork, chicken, seafood and rice. Not spicy which I like. And of course I had a few meals at the most popular fast food restaurant Jollibees, it’s bigger than McDonalds. It’s everywhere, i can see why.

  

It’s 10:30 pm, Now to catch a few zzzzz’s before leaving for the airport at 3 am. See you in Thailand!