Tero Pikala

Right now I’m sitting in Easyjet flight to Helsinki. I’m on my way to spend a weekend in Helsinki and 2 nights in Turku, my hometown.

I’m really looking for seeing my friends since it’s been too long since last time. 2008 I went to Finland only once for midsummer (Juhannus) after some 6 trips in 2007. Of course some have made it to London and some are in regular contact with me trough Skype and IRC.

Days in Turku are little bit more emotional. My mother was diagnosed breast cancer early this year and she went to surgery week ago. Doctors are giving good odds at 95% but something like cancer is always a reminder that your loved ones are not going to be here forever.

I think important lesson for all of us from this is to live our lives fully every single day. There isn’t really a good excuse to wait for some future day to do something you can do today!

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I came back to London 4 weeks ago and now it’s good time to review my time in Philippines.

First things first: I really liked Philippines and most Filippino people I had pleasure to meet. Most of the time I compared everything to Thailand where I’ve been many times - too many some could say.

In many ways Philippines is easier than Thailand in my opinion. Almost everyone can speak decent or good english thanks to history. Everything is written in “normal” letters - but to be honest I think Thai script is more beautiful.

Most important thing for me was honesty and fairness of Filippinos. It was just quite typical to be quoted “anything you like” for motorbike rides and one hotel manager changed room price from PHP1500 to 1300 for almost no reason. I did encourer some ridiculous prices but way less than in Thailand.

Other big difference was Filippinos attitude towards their country. It seemed that they don’t really like their own country too much and would rather move out. I can understand that Philippines is poor and opportunities are limited but compared to Thais they are from different planet.

Filippino food is challenging. I had some excellent meals but also some not so special experiences. Beefsteak Tagalog was good as was Adobo. Seafood was excellent. I didn’t try eating dog - I promise to do that next time though. (I’m dog lover but I see no difference eating pork and dog reared for meat)

I know I’ll be going back to Philippines. There are so many places to explore. So many dives to dive. Boracay is high on my list as is Palawan. And I will go back to Puerto Galera as well.

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I wasn’t planning to stay at Manila at all but changed my mind after Lorna said that she could show me around there.

Almost everything that I thought about Manila was true: bad traffic, scamming cabbies, mostly ugly buildings and too many bars where guys spend time with local girls who could be their daughters. Big shopping malls that look all the same everywhere in the world.

I did visit fortress by the river and it’s definitely interesting but nothing to tell stories about.

So Manila has been added to list of cities I will never visit again. Others are Jakarta, Salt Lake City and Washington DC.

Since my flight was from Clark at 7am I had to take a taxi there at 2500 pesos. And I wanted to make sure I have plenty of time and ended up there at 3am with airport closed and spent 2 hours at Angeles bar. Then local cabbie charges me 300 pesos for 5 minute trip to airport - normal daily salary for locals.

Next time I know better - I will never fly to Clark again!

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My summary of different beaches and places to stay in PG:

Sabang

Center of nightlife. Place to be if partying is important. Most diveshops are here. Beach is not really suitable for swimming and bar scene could be too much for some even though naughty parts are behind curtains.

Little La Laguna

Just next to Sabang (5 min walk). Some bars and restaurants there and you can always go to Sabang.

Big La Laguna

Small beach little but more away from Sabang. Nice walk but bit much to do many times a day. Nice beach and would be good place for families who like spend time swimming lot.

White Beach

Some 14km away from Sabang. More of a traditional beach which is something I don’t like too much. Popular with Filippinos. I was there for only few hours so no idea about nightlife.

Coral Cove

Isolated place with 2 resorts. Sabang is 25 minute walk or 5 minutes with motorbike. Very beatiful place and good value for money. Staff seemed to be happy to look after kids while parents were away so this could be perfect for families. Not bad choice for honeymoon either specially if budget doesn’t allow something fancier.

Coral Cove dive center is run by a local guy who is very professional and has over 3000 dives here. He has also worked abroad and speaks very good English. Dives are more expensive than in Sabang but at least I dived as a sole customer and so had full attention.

Puerto Galera town

Very nice harbour and place where peope come with their boats. I can’t think of a reason to stay here in hotel though but make sure to visit this place for lunch or dinner because of the views.

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Getting to PG from Talisay was reasonably easy, just 45 minutes with jeepney, 2 hours with bus and 1.5 with small boat. Immediately when I arrived at the pier I knew this is nice place. Imagine harbour from Pirates of Caribbean and you are getting close.

And my resort at Coral Cove is just perfectly isolated from other beaches but still close enough to walk to when it’s time enjoy nightlife.

Resort facilities include own dive shop, restaurant and bar, spa with sauna and of course very inviting hammock.

Almost everything is perfect and room price is still very reasonable £20/night. That’s less than my rent in London!

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We took advice of our lovely host Gloria and spent evening at Tagaytay town. Compared to Talisay where we are staying it’s very lively town with plenty of up scale resorts and restaurants.

Tagaytay also it some 640 meters above Talisay making travel between these places somewhat a challenge. Road is easily steepest one I can recall travelling ever!

We first went to Peoples Park but they just closed it before we could get in. Quite a shame since it’s in highest peak and sunset was awesome.

Then it was dinner time and trough lucky accident (or my lazyness?) we ended up in Leslie’s which is described as “institution” by LP. Food was really good indeed and place was packed. I guess I’m starting to like Filippino food bit by bit.

Coming down from Tagaytay was little bit of a challenge. Local tricycle guys were all quoting ridiculous P600 and didn’t haggle at all. Finally we found one guy willing to take us back for P300.

Ride down the hill sitting in a back seat of tricycle sideways was dangerous, fun and made all muscles tired. Girls were in the “cabin” but even they complained sore butts in the morning!

I need to say thanks to two new friends, Australian and Filippino girl, who I had pleasure to spend a day with. One of best aspects of travelling alone is meeting some other travellers so easily. In past i’ve stayed in touch with some of them and even met them again.

Overall it was nice evening, most likely best so far in Philippines.

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Weather didn’t look too promising in the morning but cleared enough so that we felt comfortable taking boat ride across Taal lake to volcanic island in the middle.

It was quite windy and we were quite wet once 45 minute crossing was done. No problems with that and after we explained maybe ten times that we would rather walk than use their horses we proceeded on the path towards viewing platform.

Path is covered in horse shit. It’s no wonder considering number of horses taking trip up and down every day but I still felt they could put more effort into cleaning it. Just throw it into bush every morning!

After some 45 minutes we reached top - roughly 500 meters above starting point. View is good and contrary to Lonely Planet advice there is shaded areas and people selling drinks, beer and naturally t-shirts.

After coming back to hotel we had nice fish for lunch. Overall pretty nice day and we are planning on going to Tagaytay to see views from this evening as well.

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I’ve been lazy until now and have taken easy transportation options with taxis and minibusses. From Subic I’m now going to Manila with normal bus - it seems that I’m only foreigner here.

Bus is actually better than I thought. Airconditioning, spacious seat and not too noicy. 120km journey will take forever but what’s the rush?

I should be in Manila / Pasay around 11am leaving plenty of time for quick lunch and then next leg to Tagaytay.

Fortunately I learned this morning that all banks will be closed from 25th until 3rd January so it will be impossible to get cash. I really need to stock up some pesos before that!

Update:

Trip to Manila was 3 hours and it seemed that first 25km took half of that. And then it took about an hour in ring road going around Manila to Pasay.

After quick lunch I found bus going south to Tagaytay. Being Friday afternoon traffic was bad and we were stuck for some 2 hours before actually starting to make some progress in 45km journey.

After all Tagaysay wasn’t best possible way to get to Talisay. It’s very close but road is nice mountain serpentine coming down maybe 500 meters over some 12 kilometers. And it’s mostly gravel. Anyway some guy promised to drive me down with his tricycle and at least scenery was really great.

Tomorrow I’ll take a boat ride with two girls staying at same hotel to Taal volcano.

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It’s time to move on from Subic Bay. I ended staying day longer than I thought but still this place isn’t going to get too high on list of my favourite spots.

All huge tankers in the bay just prevent charm of a nice beach destination. Beach is ok but not great - there are just too many buildings in bad repair.

Diving is adequate but nowhere close to world class. And since volcanic ash in the bottom and shipping traffic makes visibility low and has killed most corals only thing to dive are wrecks. I would dive in Ko Tao instead any day.

One thing that’s lacking is services. I would really need to get a haircut but I haven’t seen any hairdressers here. Or small corner shops to get some basic tourist things. I could take jeepney to main town but it’s too much of a hassle to get some sun tan lotion.

All businesses seem to be run by foreigners. I would much rather give my money to locals instead to support some fat German guys! Is it so that Filippinos are less entreprenial than their Thai cousins who are always opening new shops even though it sometimes fails?

Other thing missing is young backpackers. Most of the other people I have met here are well over 45 and always male. There are few families and couples but I prefer place with mainly young people and vibrant nightlife without girls selling themself.

Tomorrow I’ll take a bus to Manila and then other one south to Tagaysay. Lake Taal should be quite interesting and then I’ll be closer to Puerto Galera where I should be in 4 days.

Tags: Travel by tero
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My first dive at Subic was USS New York. It’s impressive war ship with main gun and 5 meter propellor still in place. Most exiting part of the dive was going quite deep inside the wreck - definitely much deeper than I would have gone without experienced guide.

Next dive was El Capitan, little bit smaller boat but easier to dive in. I think we dived some 40 meters through it and came out from other end. It’s wide enough for 2 divers side by side.

Visibility in the bay isn’t that great - maybe 7 meters. This is due volcanic ash and also constant shipping traffic. Actually it’s slightly disturbing to start dive with huge oil tankers only some 250 meters from you but I guess locals know what they are doing…

Tags: Diving, Travel by tero
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