Well, once again access to the wide web world has been completely non-existent over the last few days. Really though, it is a blessing. Forcefully discomnected  from everything makes these days longer and that much more intense. 

From our ferry to Cebu we spent one night in a room the size of the average American kitchen pantry. Had a nice whole fish together in a pretty ugly, dirty city.  Got up and out as quickly as we could and took a twenty minute flight to Bacolod on Negros Island - another in the Visayas group. 

Anyone who has flown like us to Australia and England will know just how fantastic a twenty minute long flight is. Tee hee hee, it is like cheating. You get up in the air, the captain says you can unfasten your seat belts and then - I kid you not - he says "prepare for landing".

From Bacolod it was an awesomely beautiful ride on another local bus to Sippalay through mountains and rice fields. The locals forcing these huge black bullocks with enormous horns over carefully irrigated fields to churn the mud for the hand-placed shoots of rice.

From the bus on the main road we took a tricycle to the sea and the outlet of a small river. We walked to the river's edge as more and more school children gathered around us, asking lots of questions and laughing at our alien entities.

We hailed the small outrigger and a sinewy, shirtless, smoking, mute of a Filipinno paddled us across the river for 20p (40 cents) to a beach nestled between two small forested mountains of molten rock. The sea has eroded a rim around these mountains that makes them look as though they are floating five feet above the earth. 

We disembarked on the other side, walked through the gorge and beheld a pristine beach about half a mile or so long. Bordered on both ends by these awesome mountains and dotted with small boats. We wandered up the beach past a couple of small resorts to Driftwood Village.  We met Babe, the manager, she immediately introduced us to the staff and they all learnt our names. We checked into our cabin, ran down and had a swim in the warm sea and then spent 3 days totally relaxing. Well, when we were not taking part in volley ball games with the staff and other guests on the beach or being royally whipped playing pool tournaments at the beach bar, or just wandering and exploring the rocky bluff.

Driftwood Village really was the most fun we have had so far. It was hard to say goodbye.  What made it really hard to say goodbye was the promise of a whole day in transit and a MASSIVE HANGOVER.

So we couldnt get the bus we needed due to the high tide cutting off tricycles from the river so we walked in the hot sun with our packs on.

Waited for ages for a bus which only took us from Sippalay to Hinnoba-an where we had to wait two and a half hours for the next bus. During  that time we were serenaded by a hermit woman who could not really sing but had a fantastic impression of a homeless woman and we played a lot of cards.

The next bus dropped us at yet another terminal at Bayawan and a mad dash into another bus that we needed a shoe horn to get into. It then continued to pick up people until children hung from the open doors!

Unfortunately the next bus was not only a much longer trip but the bus driver was terrible! Then we got to the hotel and it was fully booked so we had to wander about and find another place to stay.

So we are finally here. If the weather suits we will take a day trip snorkelling to Apo island after the awesome Swiss couple from Driftwood told us it was the most amazing snorkelling in their nine months of travelling.  Then Sunday is off to Palawan Island for 7 days of more random huts on deserted beaches. Ho hum.

As always, we miss you all and are LOVING EVERY MINUTE!!

1

written by  Groovespook on July 23, 2010 from Dumaguete, Philippines
from the travel blog: Nuttter and Groovespook go Philippine island hopping
Send a Compliment

---

...so sad you guys are having such a crap time. You can now see why travel is such an utter waste of time...

written by  Pawl Andersen on July 23, 2010

comment on this...