Archive for October, 2009
Seeing the tarsier!
Leaving Crystal Lodge
How the cock fight rooster live…
Coron Island
For me the most amazing place in the Philippines are the Palawan Islands. I stayed in Coron town and the people are simply lovely. The town is small and quite and I picked a typical Filipino house on stilts to stay – the Crystal Lodge. You really sleep in one of the houses over the water what has it typical charm… I loved it.
The family was great and one day I bought a tuna to do Sashimi and I had so much that I could share. The family invited me and gave me some mangrove crab instead and we laughed a lot… Will always remember that night.
Another day I shared a boat cruise with two french travelers I met. The cruise was around Coron Island and to the Kayangan Lake. we had several stops and in between it even started raining. Since I was already spoiled with Palau no much could impress me anymore in the Philippines. Then I saw the view of the top of the hill on the hike to Kayangan Lake and I have to admit – it is amazing. This was worth climbing up. It put me a little off that even after paying the boat trip you had to pay for each spot they brought you and you get off the boat extra. Always keep that in mind. The lake was the most expensive place but the most worth it as well. Some of the spots are just nothing special. Just other beaches. I prefer then rather to stay longer at one beach than cruising to several ones and having not enough time to enjoy.
Crystal Lodge Read the rest of this entry »
Sagada and Hanging Coffins
I went to Sagada actually because I’ve heard about some Hanging Coffins. Sounds strange therefore I got especially curious! Supposedly there is a strange ritual in Sagada in the north of the Philippines. If someone died they had put up the coffin with some favorite belongings like cheers up on a rock formation. I really did not know what to think about it. So I had to see it with my own eyes. The time was tricky because the Philippines just have the worse typhoons in ages. So basically I went with two fellow travelers I met in Manila up north and our second destination was Sagada. The town is famous for 1. The Hanging Coffins, 2. The Weaving, 3. The civet coffee like coffee Alamid.
First of all a tip: To go to the coffins you really need no guide they are just behind the cemetery. Just cross it and walk 5min into the forest. And then you see the coffins hanging on the rocks. Really I was disappointed. It was nothing really special to me. I have seen more interesting graveyards. Some lose bones lay around from a coffin what broke down. On the way back I went to the . It is especially nice because you can watch the ladies weaving the material. Close by is a shop where you can buy lots of different seized bags and more. And then you are probably interested to know what is Coffee Alamid? It is the most expensive coffee on the world and it is made out of civet poo! Yes it is true. Basically the civet a nocturnal animal of the mongoose family eats the ripest and sweetest coffee cherries during coffee season. Later people collect the ‘leftovers’ after the animal excretes them out and make coffee with a special taste out of them. Weird but very true!