The Travel Thread

[Misanthrope]

Anybody who has been to the Philippines have any good beach resort/accommodation recommendations? Flights there are by far the cheapest over Chinese New Year, so trying to scope out a good place to relax by the beach for a week or so before I do the backpacker thing.

 

[TeamSatan]

Anybody who has been to the Philippines have any good beach resort/accommodation recommendations? Flights there are by far the cheapest over Chinese New Year, so trying to scope out a good place to relax by the beach for a week or so before I do the backpacker thing.

Go to Barrio Barretto near subic.

Stay at the Arizona resort.

Drink at the floating bars.

Dive on WWII wrecks.

Party like you will never party again...

Never tell any Australian woman what you have done.

 

[Misanthrope]

Ha! Thanks for the tips.

 

[Jono078]

Oh traveling... It is the way to live life while being young and healthy.

I want to do so much of it over the next 5 years. My job should allow for it too. Hope the tourism industry booms

Come to think of it, I haven't seen many posts from your blog page on facebook CWB. You still doing that stuff?

 

[Misanthrope]

Oh traveling... It is the way to live life while being young and healthy.

I want to do so much of it over the next 5 years. My job should allow for it too. Hope the tourism industry booms

Come to think of it, I haven't seen many posts from your blog page on facebook CWB. You still doing that stuff?

Yeah, mate. Page has been down a week or so while D10 did some redesign work for me. Should be back up and running with new posts tomorrow.

 

[Jubileeboy]

Mis, probably not in your plans and I'm not really sure of the costs. About 20 years ago, I went to the island of Saipan, via Guam. Great history and relics of WW2 and amazing scuba diving. The place is torn between a cultural divide of the local Chamorrons and the late coming Japanese. Not sure if that's your thing but it was a great holiday and superb to experience the culture of what Saipan and surrounding islands offer.
Just a thought...but really couldn't tell you of the costs associated.

 

[Misanthrope]

Mis, probably not in your plans and I'm not really sure of the costs. About 20 years ago, I went to the island of Saipan, via Guam. Great history and relics of WW2 and amazing scuba diving. The place is torn between a cultural divide of the local Chamorrons and the late coming Japanese. Not sure if that's your thing but it was a great holiday and superb to experience the culture of what Saipan and surrounding islands offer.
Just a thought...but really couldn't tell you of the costs associated.

Sounds bloody interesting to me. Something to consider once I'm settled in to Thailand later this year.

 

[Jubileeboy]

Sounds bloody interesting to me. Something to consider once I'm settled in to Thailand later this year.

Seriously, there were damaged tanks just left on the shoreline and you could snorkel out maybe 10 mtrs from shore and be above a Japanese Zero or a sunken ship. Google the Saipan Grotto, that was awesome and being a Caucasian male, I was considerably taller than most. I had been an experienced scuba diver and the Grotto presents you with a 70ft drop down from inland and you are then under water in the open ocean.
As I said, I had considerable dive experience and on many occasions was taken on my own with the local dive masters. This particular dive at the grotto saw me on my own swim to the bottom of the grotto and swim amongst the sleeping black tip reef sharks.
Funniest thing...I will never forget, as I was grabbing these sleeping 4-6ft sharks by the tail and dorsal fins, I could hear the Japanese tourists 'screaming' underwater, from above me. They were so freaked out that I would do this and you could hear them underwater going off their heads in disbelief.....fkn funny, I tell ya.

 

[Misanthrope]

Haha, that sounds amazing. I haven't dived since early 2011, so am hoping to do a refresher while I'm in the Philippines in preparation for more dive opportunities while I'm based out of Thailand next year.

China and South Korea don't offer a great many good dive opportunities, and those they do have tend to be overpriced and polluted.

 

[Jubileeboy]

Haha, that sounds amazing. I haven't dived since early 2011, so am hoping to do a refresher while I'm in the Philippines in preparation for more dive opportunities while I'm based out of Thailand next year.

China and South Korea don't offer a great many good dive opportunities, and those they do have tend to be overpriced and polluted.

Get your dive masters ticket ?
Hand feeding barracuda was pretty freaky and at first I wasn't so sure. These firkers are close to 5 ft long with teeth my dogs would be happy to own. Yet, they are happy to be fed food scraps by hand and seem relatively tame. Good times but the diving off the Barrier Reef is like no other in the world...purely from a colour aspect.

 

[Misanthrope]

Get your dive masters ticket ?
Hand feeding barracuda was pretty freaky and at first I wasn't so sure. These firkers are close to 5 ft long with teeth my dogs would be happy to own. Yet, they are happy to be fed food scraps by hand and seem relatively tame. Good times but the diving off the Barrier Reef is like no other in the world...purely from a colour aspect.

Just my Open Water. Getting my Dive Master's is on the agenda though.

 

[Beeker]

Bags are packed. Now to check out of my apartment. Catch a train to Shanghai for a night or two...
Then to Yunnan Province for 3 weeks. Then drop down into Laos, completing SE Asia of everywhere but Myanmar. Before hitting Northern Thailand a bit before Mis and setting up shop in Chang Mai.

What do I have booked? Not a damn thing.

 

[Drew-Sta]

Will you and Mis reunite in Thailand?

 

[Misanthrope]

Will you and Mis reunite in Thailand?

That's the plan. We're hoping to work on a web series as well as our own writing projects, so plan to rent an office space to base ourselves out of. Beeker has his own website he's hoping to monetize.

-----

Booked three weeks in the Philippines for the end of the month. A week in Boracay with my brothers, Hoggmaster, and my brother's girlfriend; a few days in Bohol, and a few days in Palawan. Should be amazeballs.

Any tips from those who've been before?

 

[Drew-Sta]

That's the plan. We're hoping to work on a web series as well as our own writing projects, so plan to rent an office space to base ourselves out of. Beeker has his own website he's hoping to monetize.

That sounds awesome And will make the adjustment heaps easier knowing someone.

Booked three weeks in the Philippines for the end of the month. A week in Boracay with my brothers, Hoggmaster, and my brother's girlfriend; a few days in Bohol, and a few days in Palawan. Should be amazeballs.

Any tips from those who've been before?

For Boracay - snorkelling, kitesurfing are great. From memory, there's a small boat tour which is interesting. The island tour is good (when you get away from the beach its quite interesting). Generally though its rest, relaxation and a lot of parties.

How much time in Manilla do you have? Visit Fort Santiago, wander through Intramuros, definitely check out San Agustin church (historic and kooky; the Cathedral is nice but San Agustin has some real character to it), have a look at Rizal Monument. That would take up a full day if you have it.

For Palawan, where specifically are you going?

One of my highlights of the Philippines was seeing the (supposed) interred body of Ferdinand Marcos, the dictator of the Philippines. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but I swear the body was fake :lol:

Also, wasn't Bohol where they had the massive earthquake?

 

[Drew-Sta]

Oh! Nearly forgot. Have a coffee from this shop, and take a picture with you in it Will bring me good memories and I guarantee the coffee is quality when I had it. Not sure about now :lol:

 

[Misanthrope]

Some great tips there, Drew. I'll definitely look into some of your Manila tips.

I'm not sure where to go in Palawan. Any suggestions?

-----

In other news, London is a merkin. $936 return just to get to a city where I have to pay $50 a night for a f**king bed in a hostel. What a gyp.

 

[Different kind of Rabbit]

And you'll be lucky if your bags make it out of Heathrow. That place is the worst airport ever for theft. I reckon they don't actually pay the handlers there, instead they just let them rip off as much as they can carry.

 

[Beeker]

Guangzhou is a worse airport.

Meanwhile in Kunming, I'm staying in a gorgeous hostel for 40RMB a night (~$7) and in a province that dips to 75m above sea level to 3500m, there are soaring rice paddies, epic hikes and over 30 ethnic minorities. Mis... let's live here?! Oh... and direct flights between Chang Mai and Kunming. I might get a certain young lady to visit us in Thailand.

 

[Misanthrope]

I'll definitely make the trek up to Yunnan from Chiang Mai later this year.

I agree on Guangzhou airport. I cannot imagine anywhere else being as bad. Such a toilet.