Philippines

What a beautiful country! The beaches and islands are out of this World. There are a ton of islands to explore and I have to come back here! God has created one amazing World and I only wish I had time to explore it all! Hope you all enjoy the update! I am doing good and cannot believe only 10 more days in SE Asia....crazy! Pictures to come soon as I figured out the problem but not able to transfer the photos yet.

2/13 - Manila

We arrived around 5 am and got a cab to the hostel. Luckily, they let us check in and get our beds. I slept until noon but Jordan was up early as she was headed to the India Embassy for her future visa. We went out with a group from the hostel to local bar. We got to try the local beer which was really good.

2/14 - Manila

We booked our Donsol trip! And the whale sharks should be there. We also went to a 5 story mall to walk around. Sorry for this one boys but don't want to forget it.....I was at the supermarket (in the mall) and needed to buy some tampons. The male clerk saw me and pointed right at the only tampons along the row. I paid about $3 for 8 tampons! Steep but they are just not common here! We headed to a the park for a free concert with a guy from Mexico and a guy from Jersey Village ( high school class of 2003 - small world!). The concert was no good but the people watching was great. I think a lot of the locals were watching us too! There were a ton of people in the park and everyone was enjoying the valentines holiday. We walked back to the hostel pretty early. The smells and the amount of people selling things on the sides of the streets is just amazing. It is like nothing I have ever seen in the Western World. Manila is one of the largest cities in the World and I only explored a few streets within.

2/15 - Donsol

Kayla arrived around 12:30 am at the hostel. She had to be a big girl and make her way from the airport to the hostel...one day she will stop giving me crap about it! We flew out around lunch time to Legazpi and got a van to Donsol. We checked into our sweet hostel for the next three nights. The pool was right on the beach. It was beautiful and what a wonderful treat for us backpackers. We checked out the ocean and went for a swim in the pool. We also order fresh fruit smoothies and maybe added a shot of local rum to them! We also signed up for whale shark finding the next day. For dinner, we had an amazing piece of fish and watched the sunset from the hotel.

2/16 - Donsol

We left at 7 am for butanding or whale shark finding. We drove around on the boat for three hours and without spotting one. We got to work on our tans but headed back a little sad. We had lunch next to the tourism center. Jordan went back out for three more hours but Kayla and I had sore butts from sitting on the wood boat for so long. We went for a massage right on the beach! Wow, it was awesome! I was not feeling well as the Philippines has been a little tough on my belly so I went to bed early.

2/17 - Donsol

In the morning, we went to the internet cafe to book some additional things for our trip but it was full. So we walked around the little town and got to see them opening the market. We took the tricycle to town which is like a tuk tuk and fun for us all three to fit on. We headed out for butanding around 11 am. As soon as we got on the boat, the guide was like get your snorkel equipment on. There was a baby whale shark in the bay. Yes! We put our snorkel gear on and we jumped off the side of the boat. They yell at you to look down and when you do, there is a 6 meter whale shark swimming under you. Yes, I swam over the top of his head and was terrified his fin was going to hit me. It was the most surreal moment. The coloring and spots are beautiful. Swimming with the whale sharks has always been a huge dream for me and I am happy to say I jumped in seven times to swim along side this amazing fish! We were on the boat for about 2 hours. We had a great dinner at a restaurant right on the beach.

2/18 - Puerto Princesa

This was a travel day. After riding the local bus from Donsol to Legazpi, we flew back to Manila. The ride was a little long and in the back of a GP, local truck. We had lunch in Manila and headed back to the airport for our flight to Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan. Both flights were about an hour and we upgraded from the last row of the plane on the first flight to the first row on the second flight!

2/19 - Puerto Princesa

We woke up early to try and go to the longest underground river in the World. We were not able to get a permit until February 25th so we got one for then and planned to stop on the way back to Manila.

We went to Honda Bay. We went to three islands with three locals and one French man on our boat. The first stop was at a floating dock right over the reef. We jumped in to snorkel and got to see a few fish. The colors were not great because the sun was not out. The water was nice and warm. The second stop was on Starfish Island and I am happy to say we got to see so many starfish in the water. We got some amazing photos of them! We also found a ton of whole sand dollars lining the beach. It was so cool! I have never been able to find so many! The third stop was at Isla Pandan. The water was incredibly clear! It was beautiful and the mountains in the background just made it a wonderful place. We had a really great dinner at a local restaurant.

2/20 - El Nido

We took a 5 hour van ride El Nido on the north end of the island of Palawan. It was a long ride but we learned to sit in the front so you have leg room. The vans are not made for tall Americans! It was raining when we arrived so we got the first hostel that Lonely Planet recommended. Well, the people and restaurant were ver nice but the room and bathroom were horrible. I thought Kayla was going to die after her first visit to the toilet. We had booked two nights so we had to make it work. In El Nido, the power goes off from 6:30 am to 2 pm everyday. When your room just has a fan, it makes it a little hard to sleep in with the warmth.

2/21 - El Nido

We headed out on an island hopping tour. The sky was still a bit grey but the sun started to pop thru along the way. The wind was blowing and the water was a bit choppy. We were pretty much getting soaked every time the boat moved! We snorkeled to a small lagoon. It was beautiful and we were the last ones in so pretty much had it to ourselves. There was also a small cave that Jordan swam right into. The second stop was at a beach but the water was to rough to swim. We had a BBQ lunch that included salad, rice, fruit, grilled pork, fish and squid. It was yummy! The third stop was at a big lagoon. It was beautiful. We jumped off this floating dock and took fun photos with the locals that were on our boat. We then crossed the bay to a beautiful beach. It had the softest white sand! We headed back to El Nido and had a girls night out! It was fun!

2/22 - El Nido

We had a chill, relaxing day as the weather was still not very good. We moved to a much nicer hotel and had our own bathroom. We just strolled around town and ate! Town is right on the beach and had lots of restaurants and little shops. We found our favorite place to eat and went back the next day for breakfast.

2/23 - El Nido

We signed up for more island hopping. We snorkeled on the way to snake island. We got to see quite a few fish. There were a ton of blue ones and I got a pretty good photo of them! Snake Island is awesome. It connects two islands by a sand bar that you can walk all the way along. It is a site to see the two oceans meet on the sand bar. The mangroves were all around and the water was crystal clear. Wait till you see these photos! We had lunch on the island and then headed to two different caves and one more island. These places are amazing and some times we were the only ones around while other places we were not. I like the Philippines because you meet so many people traveling who are from the Philippines and they are incredible nice! And they always want to take pictures with you. Even if you don't know them at all!

2/24 - Puerto Princesa

We headed back to Puerto Princesa around 1 pm. It was a long ride back in the back of the van but we made it. I was fun to just chat and catch up with Kayla. It has been so great to have her here! It made me so excited to see my family so soon!

2/25 - Manila

We woke up early to be picked up later by the tour company for the Subterranean River Tour. We were headed to the World's longest underground river (8.2 km). We had a two hour drive to the boat dock and then a short boat ride to the entrance of the river. The national park only allows 900 guest to enter the cave each day so we are lucky to get to have experienced the cave. We were in the cave for about 45 minutes and traveled about 1.5 km into it. It was dark! Kayla and I were the main light holders but it was hard to hear where the guide of our 10 men boat wanted us to shine the light. They had names for all the funny stalagmite and stalagtights. There were bats everywhere and bugs! Not sure I ever thought I would see something like that. We drove back and got our baggage. We headed to the airport for our late flight back to Manila. We arrived late and I packed a few things for Kayla to take home for me.

2/26 - Manila

Kayla left at around 5:30 am.....sad to say goodbye but I hope she had fun. I really enjoyed having her visit and hope to have passed the travel bug onto her a little more! I got to Skype with my mom, Melissa and Kendall today. It was great to talk to so many people who love and support me! Jordan and I headed to Market! Market! for lunch and ended up shopping in this huge complex! It was nice to just walk around and be girls for a little while. Jordan's India visa got approved with a little mess up on the exit date but now she has her passport for the next two countries we will be visiting!

2/27 - Manila

Plan to hike a volcano! More details with the next update!

2/28 - Flight to Brunei late at night!

A quite transfer to the island of Borneo and flight to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. More details with the next update also!