Nathalie and I left Boracay as quickly as we could get out. As mentioned in previous posts, we talked about our desire to get away from crowds and into the serenity of nature as our motivating factor to come to the Philippines. We transferred into Cebu and within 18 hours of arriving there, we had our sites set on the next destination: the small coastal town of Moalboal
Cebu was nothing too special. Given, we didn't stay in the center, but there was nothing too impressive from what we had seen. We were in the university part of the city, staying in an apart-hotel. I haven been to central America (yet), but I got the impression that Cebu probably resembles a city south of the Rio Grande: modern apartment buildings walled off from the poverty surrounding it; chicano shopping malls selling American goods with US-style restaurants and heavily armed private security everywhere. It was interesting to see, and I had the best burger I've had so far on the trip (made with US black Angus beef), but a half day was enough and we left at noon the next day to make the 3-4 hour trek out of town.
Moalboal is located on the western coast of Cebu island about halfway between the island's capital and the southern tip. Getting there required us to simply take a bus out of town and after arriving at the terminal, we quickly hopped on one heading south. The ride down was largely uneventful, other than we got our first real taste of the Filipino country side. Where Boracay played host to the country's burgeoning middle and upper class, the rural parts of Cebu exposed us to the abject poverty that still entraps a large part of the population.
We were riding on a non-air conditioned bus (I'm still not sure why I was wearing my jeans) and as the bus could only move slowly through the tight mountain roads, we immediately felt taken into another world. Gone were the comforts of modernity and here was a reality that I have rarely been exposed to. Throughout the ride, we saw the old country side with bamboo shacks. The small town centers were defined by the main road passing in front of the one school, town hall and Spanish style church built during Spain's colonization of the region. Again, the thoughts of what central America must look like kept returning to me.
It took us nearly 5 hours to do an 130 Km/75 mile bus ride; a trip that only cost 2 dollars a ticket. The ride was so slow that the pedometer in my phone thought I went biking for two and a half hours and congratulated me on a job well done...I should probably delete that entry from the log.
After the unexpectedly long journey, we arrived in central Moalboal in one piece. Once again following our last minute spirit, we didn't book any place to stay in advance and were intent on showing up and finding a place to stay. As it would turn out, the beach head, where we wanted to stay and where we were planning on doing some diving, was 4 Km/2.5 miles away from the town center.
Once we got off the bus, Nathalie and I wanted to take a minute to orientate ourselves and collect our bearings. However, as is the case throughout much of southeast Asia, as soon as a group of westerners hop off of a bus somewhere, there will be local taxi drivers swarming them to offer them an overpriced ride. Out of our principles, we declined every offer we were getting (the drivers wanted us to pay double what it cost us to come all the way from Cebu city) and instead started walking off towards the beach front to get away from the bus stop.
The drivers didn't care for this and continued to follow us. We were about ready to really tear into a more harassing one when a Jamaican woman, riding a decked-out tricycle, yelled at the guy in a thick Caribbean accent telling him that we don't need a ride and to go away. Our savoir!
We started talking to her, and as it would turn out, she was the wife of the manager of a dive resort. We spent the next five minutes telling her our story about how we were there to dive and were looking for a place to stay. She called over to the center and told them that we were coming and that they'd be glad to help us find accommodation. She then flagged down a trike and told the driver that we wouldn't pay over one dollar for the trip to the dive center. I'm not quite sure if it was a cunning business plan on the dive resort's part or if it was just pure luck and kindness, but whatever it was, it worked.
Once we reached Cebu Dive Center, the staff went to work helping us find a place. They were extraordinarily welcoming and had that uniquely laid-back vibe found amongst scuba divers. After visiting a few different places, we settled on a small bungalow for one evening and decided we'd look for something else the next day, after diving.
We wound up finding a small place that offered wooden cottages with gracious terraces out front complete with couches and a hammock. We were able to secure three nights there and spent much of our time between diving, sitting outside and disconnecting from the world. It was probably one of the most relaxing experiences I've had so far on this trip and it probably couldn't have come a moment sooner.
After searching and searching, we finally found the slow down we were looking for and took every moment to enjoy life and to unwind from the past few months of non-stop moving. The scuba diving was unique as we were mostly diving along sea walls, something we hadn't done before. After diving, we'd spend time at the center's bar, located right on the shore. We got to know a lot of the staff and hung out with our fellow divers, sometimes even going out to eat. In all honesty, it was perfect.
After our three days in the cottage were up; we were faced with a dilemma: do we stay in Moalboal or do we move on to another town within the Philippines? Compounding the problem was the upcoming long weekend created by the May 1st world labor day holiday. Most of the hotels and guesthouses were booked with people coming down from the city for the weekend. We realized that if we were to move and head somewhere else, we'd probably be faced with the same accommodation shortage and instead decided it would be better to stick around in a place that we were familiar with and see what we could find.
After spending a morning searching, we found a small guest house on the coast within our budget and booked two nights to get us through the weekend. While we didn't have a private cottage like before, there were only three rooms in the entire complex. There was a shared garden complete with lounge chairs facing the sea that we were free to use, and as the guesthouse was a bit away from the main stretch of road, we were treated to the serenity of the sea.
We took advantage of our extended stay to do a few more dives. Again, we spent the down time relaxing and doing a whole lot of nothing. After being there for a week, we finally packed up and headed out of town.
It was great to finally get the peace that we were looking for. Additionally, we got to see what underdeveloped tourism looks like. As mentioned earlier, the beachfront, where the dive centers and resorts are located, are 4 km away from the main town. However, there aren't any cash machines in the beach town and almost no business takes credit card.
That meant that we had to trek into mainland to not only grab cash, but we also had to take large amounts. We're not really big fans of this system as I don't like walking around with a huge wad of pesos in my pocket and it made us be much more budget conscious than we probably wanted to be. Not that it was a bad thing as we did save some money, but it certainly wasn't helping the hospitality sector to maximize revenue.
Funnily enough, this theme of armed private security persisted even in a sleepy beach town. In the evening, the main drag is closed off to traffic via a gate. This gate is opened and closed by a guard who for some reason required a twelve-gauge shotgun to do his job. I'm not quite sure what to make of it as I couldn't possibly image there being much crime there, but I took it as part of the culture and got a chuckle out of it in the process.
We certainly were happy with our stay in Moalboal. It helped us slowdown and it seems that only now, we're really able to relax. Prior to arriving in the Philippines, we were constantly on the go. Now, we're constantly on the chill. It would be a lie to say the life style isn't mildly addictive, which probably explains why we looked to do more the same after we left.
 |
| Looking out to sea from dive center |
We were riding on a non-air conditioned bus (I'm still not sure why I was wearing my jeans) and as the bus could only move slowly through the tight mountain roads, we immediately felt taken into another world. Gone were the comforts of modernity and here was a reality that I have rarely been exposed to. Throughout the ride, we saw the old country side with bamboo shacks. The small town centers were defined by the main road passing in front of the one school, town hall and Spanish style church built during Spain's colonization of the region. Again, the thoughts of what central America must look like kept returning to me.
It took us nearly 5 hours to do an 130 Km/75 mile bus ride; a trip that only cost 2 dollars a ticket. The ride was so slow that the pedometer in my phone thought I went biking for two and a half hours and congratulated me on a job well done...I should probably delete that entry from the log.
 |
| View from the bus on the ride in. |
Once we got off the bus, Nathalie and I wanted to take a minute to orientate ourselves and collect our bearings. However, as is the case throughout much of southeast Asia, as soon as a group of westerners hop off of a bus somewhere, there will be local taxi drivers swarming them to offer them an overpriced ride. Out of our principles, we declined every offer we were getting (the drivers wanted us to pay double what it cost us to come all the way from Cebu city) and instead started walking off towards the beach front to get away from the bus stop.
The drivers didn't care for this and continued to follow us. We were about ready to really tear into a more harassing one when a Jamaican woman, riding a decked-out tricycle, yelled at the guy in a thick Caribbean accent telling him that we don't need a ride and to go away. Our savoir!
We started talking to her, and as it would turn out, she was the wife of the manager of a dive resort. We spent the next five minutes telling her our story about how we were there to dive and were looking for a place to stay. She called over to the center and told them that we were coming and that they'd be glad to help us find accommodation. She then flagged down a trike and told the driver that we wouldn't pay over one dollar for the trip to the dive center. I'm not quite sure if it was a cunning business plan on the dive resort's part or if it was just pure luck and kindness, but whatever it was, it worked.
 |
| Hanging out on the cottage terrace |
We wound up finding a small place that offered wooden cottages with gracious terraces out front complete with couches and a hammock. We were able to secure three nights there and spent much of our time between diving, sitting outside and disconnecting from the world. It was probably one of the most relaxing experiences I've had so far on this trip and it probably couldn't have come a moment sooner.
After searching and searching, we finally found the slow down we were looking for and took every moment to enjoy life and to unwind from the past few months of non-stop moving. The scuba diving was unique as we were mostly diving along sea walls, something we hadn't done before. After diving, we'd spend time at the center's bar, located right on the shore. We got to know a lot of the staff and hung out with our fellow divers, sometimes even going out to eat. In all honesty, it was perfect.
 |
| Filipino beer: San Miguel Light aka Diet Corona |
After spending a morning searching, we found a small guest house on the coast within our budget and booked two nights to get us through the weekend. While we didn't have a private cottage like before, there were only three rooms in the entire complex. There was a shared garden complete with lounge chairs facing the sea that we were free to use, and as the guesthouse was a bit away from the main stretch of road, we were treated to the serenity of the sea.
We took advantage of our extended stay to do a few more dives. Again, we spent the down time relaxing and doing a whole lot of nothing. After being there for a week, we finally packed up and headed out of town.
It was great to finally get the peace that we were looking for. Additionally, we got to see what underdeveloped tourism looks like. As mentioned earlier, the beachfront, where the dive centers and resorts are located, are 4 km away from the main town. However, there aren't any cash machines in the beach town and almost no business takes credit card.
 |
| Sunset in Moalboal; each day it was something different |
Funnily enough, this theme of armed private security persisted even in a sleepy beach town. In the evening, the main drag is closed off to traffic via a gate. This gate is opened and closed by a guard who for some reason required a twelve-gauge shotgun to do his job. I'm not quite sure what to make of it as I couldn't possibly image there being much crime there, but I took it as part of the culture and got a chuckle out of it in the process.
We certainly were happy with our stay in Moalboal. It helped us slowdown and it seems that only now, we're really able to relax. Prior to arriving in the Philippines, we were constantly on the go. Now, we're constantly on the chill. It would be a lie to say the life style isn't mildly addictive, which probably explains why we looked to do more the same after we left.
No comments:
Post a Comment