Arrival to the Philippines

Inka and the first hammock of the trip in Puerto Princesa

We're in the Philippines! Holy shit. It is extremely hot, colourful and chill, this trip will most likely be superb.

The beginning was not too pleasant though. We arrived to the Clark airport around midnight and had no plans about where to sleep or what to do. Quite randomly we took a van to a bus station and then a bus (3 euros, maybe 1,5 hours?) to Manila. I felt very far away from home when sitting on the floor of a full local bus, having no clue what is about to happen or what kind of place we would arrive at. At the same time I got some strong flashbacks from three years back when traveling in Laos and Vietnam in those similar local buses in the middle of the night, it was somehow scary and awesome to be in that situation again. During the flight I had been crying because of leaving Hong Kong, but after arriving to a new country, the travel and being on the move just took all my thoughts away from what I otherwise would've been missing.

We got off in no-idea-what-part-of-Manila and took a taxi, trying to find a place to sleep around 1AM. We couldn't find anything cheap, it was pouring this warm Asian rain, we were extremely tired, and the taxi driver seemed dishonest, so around 2:30 in the morning we gave up and took a room which cost 13 euros per person. Quite expensive. At least I slept like a baby that night.

It was surprisingly hard to get out of Manila, since we did not want to fly. Ferry would've been nicer, but all the ferries we wanted to take were leaving on Monday, so after two nights in Manila we just took a flight to Puerto Princesa. I had heard a lot of bad things about Manila, and to be honest I didn't like it either. The poverty and all the homeless people and kids on the streets were quite a lot to handle, it was one of the strongest culture shocks I've ever got. Even in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia I didn't feel this bad anywhere. Of course it is good for people from the first world countries to see how bad the situation somewhere else is, but at the same time it makes me so hopeless and anxious in a bad way. It is so easy to live my little comfortable life in my little bubble without thinking how tragic and unhappy lives other people are living somewhere else... Just so much easier to close my eyes and try not to think about it. I have such a lucky life I can't even believe it.

And the first beach during our trip - Puerto Princesa, local kids swimming and playing around

So now we're happily in Puerto Princesa, and the atmosphere is completely different. This is a nice small village with happy people shouting “HELLO!!!!” to us constantly, tricycles driving around, shops closing early. I know it sounds stupid but I really thought Manila was scary. Puerto Princesa is more friendly and cozy. We've spent our days here making new lyrics to a rap, eating cheap food, sleeping, chatting with ladyboys, shopping second hand clothes (this is a second hand heaven), planning what to do next. Inka and Jenny are so good to travel with, I've got a really good feeling about the next 1,5 months. :)

Local bus style, leaving Puerto Princesa