AN INSTANT COFFEE COUNTRY, the philippines are indeed, but what is missing in terms of a local coffee culture the islands make up in the underwaterworld. while the land is a colourful mix of asian and american, maybe in nothing more visible than the famous jeepneys - american military jeeps, modified and beautified in true asian style - there are superferries, american style mega-shopping malls and inumerous fast food chains - actually everything comes in chains in the philippines, coffee, italian food, burgers, cakes, doughnuts, the lot -

and then not far down the road you find povertystricken slums, outrigger boats, and child prostitute, many of which one incidentially finds travelling with western tourists...

after 5 years in south-east asia the philippines resemble many other countries in the region, but, they are more christian, and speek more english, have more volcanoes per landmass than indonesia, and even more instant coffee than thailand, and the traffic in manila is crazier than in bkk, breed more fighting cocks than anywhere else in the world, but otherwise things are recognisably similar to the ones in the know ;)


but going back to the underwaterworld, as i experienced it in only two places, once diving in malapascua and then snorkeling in donsol - not that i am a fan of snorkelling in general, but when we are talking whaleshark then hey, bring it on :D - in short, malapascua was phenomenal!!! not only did i see the elusive thresher shark - the shark i thought i would never ever see in my entire life, the very shy, rare, longtailed one -

but also thanks to our fantastic local dive guide vic i saw mandarin fish - single and shagging (filmed in mid action, fishpornography so to speak) - giant frogfish, more seahorses than you could run in a race, pipefish, a seasnake, cuttlefish and, now get this, a 0.5cm round bottom sqid, or baby sepia :D


... not to mention the countless nudibranches, flatworms, whitetip reefsharks and of course the surprise butanding, the out of the blue totally unexpected whaleshark; a surprise that nearly got me to jump into the water with weightbelt yet without bcd, a small, yet usually fatal bounce into the unknown!!!!

and then, as if one was not amazing enough i went to donsol to see another 19 of the gentle giants.... which explains, even to the not-underwater-freak
why i make an exception when it comes to snorkelling at donsol :P hihihihi
but apart from the amazing encounters in the sea, i have also met the most amazing people, locals and tourists alike... in short, the trip was amazing, but like all good things in life, ended but too soon...