The rest of our week followed in a very similar fashion, morning beach walks, exploring the island via motorbike, and hours spent at the beach (dodging the pushy souvenir vendors). We did sign up for a snorkleing trip, although this too was not quite what I had expected, and failed in comparison to the one I had done in El Nido years ago. The tour was supposed to las 3 hours and included three stops: the underwater cave, snorkleing in a coral reef, and viewing of a giant clam shell. The boat was much smaller than I had expected, although that added a bit of character to the trip. The cave was really cool and easy to navigate, despite locals trying to sell their guide services upon arrival, but the two snorkeling stops were frustrating. Both of our snorkel masks were continuously fogging up making it difficult to see much of anything, and we both experienced a few stings which we were later told "probably small jellyfish, no problem!" I don't know about you, but Jellyfish of any size do not fall in the "no problem" category in my book, between that and the shoddy goggles I was ready to jump back on the boat. We drove a bit further to stop #3, the giant clams; I was a bit hesitant to jump back in, but thankfully this area seemed to be free of our jellyfish friends. It was continued frustration fighting with the snorkel masks though, as mine would occasionally fill with water and endlessly fog up, leaving it difficult to see much of anything. I was able to spot one giant clam shell, but I was more entertained by the giant schools of fish swimming around us. Honestly, the ocean is such a huge mystery of (to me) unknown creatures and plants, and I find it equally terrifying and beautiful. Likely due to our shorter than planned time in the water the tour only lasted around 2.5 hours, but I was okay with heading back to land and figuring out the rest of our day. As much as I was eager for a shower and change of clothes, we instead decided to catch a tricycle ride back to White beach and spend some more time at the beach. I had completely forgotten that we promised an old man we would come back to buy one of his coconuts that morning, but we made sure to follow our word as soon as we arrived. I always forget how delicious a fresh coconut is, nothing you can buy in the US or Korea even comes close to comparison, but I'm glad Seohui was eager to try so I could enjoy it as well. Realizing we were at a loss without a motorbike we called a number I had seen on a poster that morning and scored ourselves a 24 hour rental, giving us mobility for the evening and our last full day in town. With wheels we decided to head back to the bungalow for a shower and change of clothes before exploring our options for a beachside dinner. There are so many restaurants lining White Beach we were unsure of which to chose, but ultimately were charmed by the host at Yego's. Not only was he entertaining but the food appeared to be reasonably priced and not catered only to tourists. The food was good, as was the atmosphere; it's hard to complain when you're seated a few hundred feet from the beach with palm trees and a gorgeous sunset on the horizon. I'm a sucker for dessert so we made a quick stop for ice cream on the way home, but I was unfortunately not as impressed as I had hoped with the Ube cone we found, but it did the job. For our final day in Puerto Galera we didn't really have anything on the agenda. Massages and/or a kayak rental was one option, but having a motorbike we also wanted to ride around a bit more to explore. We drove to the second ferry terminal, Sabang, on the northeast end of the island and I quickly realized I was smart not to book our accomodation here. It was quite literally a mini Korea town, every restaurant and shop lining the road had a sign written in hangul, and even if the restaurant was not exclusively Korea they had options on the menu. This area was clearly catering to those interested in diving, but it felt like every tourist was a 50-60 year old Chinese or Korean man, much different from the local vibe we felt at White Beach. We enjoyed lunch along the boardwalk, paid 200 pesos for illegal parking and then spent the bulk of the afternoon at a beautiful cafe with amazing cliffside views. I knew told myself that swimming the day before leaving would be a poor decision, traveling back to Korea for a day and a half with wet laundry in our bags, but beach beers and kayaking also sounded like a great last minute decision. We had bought a large Red Horse a few days prior so from the cafe we went home to change, grab the beer and some snacks and then once again back to White Beach. The water was actually perfect and I was glad to return to one of the men vendors we promised "tomorrow". I was intrigued by the clear kayaks, really more of just big plastic tubs, and the price was much more reasonable than the jet ski, so I was happy to appease Seohui on this one wish. We were smart and timed our rental with the setting sun which made for a phenomenal last evening at the beach. Our final dinner we chose to visit the grill restaurant we had seen the night before to fulfil the desire I had for a grilled fish. Unfortunately, expectations were let down with the quality, but I had by then given up on high hopes for dinner. We couldn't leave the Philippines without trying Halo Halo at least once, but again we chose wrong here. It wasn't bad, but as we walked to the main road and saw the same thing for half price, I wondered about the quality of the sugar we had just poured down our throats. All in all in was a good final day, finally one where I let my mind do more wandering than planning, but I knew that would all go out the door the following day with our tricycle, ferry, boat, grab, flight itinerary. The ferry's departure schedule from the island was obnoxious for our schedule, either 7:15am or 10:00, one too early and the other too late, so in an effort to avoid afternoon stress we (I) decided to catch the early boat. Shockingly, everything was on time for us and we were able to catch a bus to Manila straight from the ferry terminal at Batangas, a fact I was unaware of, saving us a good 30 minutes. With everything on time I realized we easily could have taken the later ferry, but with my luck things would have then been delayed. We killed some time shopping at the PITX terminal, drank coffee and had one more meal at Chowking, likely the culprit of my soon to follow food poisoning, so I'm not sure I could call that a great last meal in the country. Regardless, it was an easy enough day, that is until our last moment of panic in our Grab ride to the airport. A bottleneck and congested roads made for a few moments of anxiety, thankfully our driver was accommodating and reassuring that we'd make it, and we did. I'm still unsure if this vacation was the rest I needed, but it was an adventure nonetheless. I made Seohui promise he'd do all the planning of our next one - but that lasted 1 weeks until I was scrolling the internet and booking flights. Oh well, so much for that delegation I'm working on.
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AsiaPhilippinesOver 7,500 islands of pure bliss. I've been twice, both times arriving with a "what am I doing here" hesitation, but weeks later resisting my departure. Forget about being on time, or eating lots of vegetables, but welcome beautiful sunsets, gorgeous beaches, and welcoming, friendly locals. Categories
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