Malaysia, Layang Layang

After a quick stop over in KL (our home town in Asia) to wash and repack, we were off again. And it is not a typo, place is really called Layang Layang. If you are a diver you may have heard of it, if not – not a chance. If former, it has to be on your bucket list, if later don’t really bother. This place is very remote – only one (very expensive) flight from Borneo, about one third way towards Vietnam. It is a tiny island (partially reclaimed from the sea) that hosts mostly Malaysian marine forces and one hotel (guessing not a cheapo, right?). What is it famous for you ask – well, sharks of course! But not any kind of sharks. This is where scalloped hammerheads come to perform their mating rituals and swim in large schools. Yes, this is one of the best places in the world for schooling hammerheads (if you are not a diver, just a quick note: this is one of the holy grails of diving experiences that can make anyone drool). And it happens only once a year, in mid April.

This trip was practically ten years in making. We wanted to go on our first Pelican, but left it too late to book – it was sold out. On our last big trip we had other plans in April. So, this time, we planned in advance. Let’s put it this way: even before we had our plane tickets, we had this holiday booked. And to be on the safe side, we re-mortgaged the house and booked for two weeks.

But first, a stop-over in Kota Kinabalu, Borneo pearl capital. No need to guess why we were here, right? Only thing left to say is that Nives' endurance in pearl buying was matched only by Dejan's expectations of a night out in his favorite restaurant in the world (as a promised reward). Seven St Georges, here we come!

We came to the dive resort with big expectations to face a crude reality. Not a lot of people saw sharks. One or two here and there, but no schools. Disaster! That missed chance on Apo reef seemed even worse now. Nives crying for not seeing them at all and Dejan for not swimming harder to see closer up – very sober mood in our hotel room indeed. But then a miracle happened. After twenty or so years of bad luck with hammerheads (note: we have been filmed with them swimming behind us and not seeing them!) something changed. We were the lucky ones for a change. So much so, other people kept copying Dejan’s underwater footage! And we were there for the golden week as the dive-masters kept referring to it.

In the end how was it? Magical. Amazing. Unique. Absolutely fabulous. Sharks were breath-taking (literally sometimes, as you do have to swim a lot!), but there was so much more: manta rays, tuna... To describe diving in this place with one word would be exciting. You never know what is going to happen. Yes, you do have occasional dives when you spend most of the time in the blue and see nothing, but that is magical as well. Surrounded by blue water everywhere, just floating. Like space in some ways. We absolutely loved this place. So much so, that is now firmly one of our top three favourites (in no order: Palau, Tuamotus in French Polynesia and now Layang Layang).

Let the movie and few more photos speak for us.

Philippines, Apo reef

Now, don’t confuse Apo island with Apo reef (which, incidentally also has an Apo island). They are very much two different things (and very much apart from each other). But with 7500 islands to name you can’t really blame the Philippinos to have ran out of ideas. But why Apo? Well, no wonder really with family being central to life here, as it means the grandfather in English. And without giving much away too early, this Apo really is the diving grand-daddy.

But let’s start from the beginning. Getting to Mindoro and a starting point for diving safaris to Apo reef was a demanding task. Or so we thought so. But it only took a tricycle, bus, taxi, flight, van, overnight on the bench in the harbour (sounds worse than it is, it had toilets), ferry and another van and we were already there. Really getting the knack with this travelling. Suitcases or no suitcases!

Our resort (and diving starting point) was a total surprise. A pleasant one! Pool with sea views, lovely room and absolutely amazing food (damn it, again!). Sand-flies were there as well, but hey, these are Philippines and we have a bit more deet to go through. Beer was expensive thou (1.50 $), but we are on the self-imposed abstinence, so all fine. Instead we splurged on €1 fresh coconut and had it in the pool overlooking the sunset. Life could be tougher…

As for the diving, we were just ourselves again. Like Thailand, we also booked two trips here – some people just never learn. At least these were two short two day trips. Easy on the ears and body we thought. But we didn’t really count that these were not so touristic areas and the boat was basically a youth-hostel on water. Just matrasses one next to another (literally, absolutely no space between them!) under the stars on the rolling sea. First trip was mostly people in their forties and fifties, so a lot of moaning around. But the seas were calm and we slept pretty well. Well, that would be the two of us, our neighbours kept complaining about the snoring (Nives didn’t hear a thing, years of adjustment…). Second trip was slightly different – less people (eight instead of 14), mostly young girls (very hard on only two guys aboard), but the sea Gods decided we were not to have a good one. Most of the night boat was rolling violently like a rollercoaster. Another one of those…

But it was all worth it. Warm blue waters, gin clear visibility of 30 – 50 m and good fish life (this coming from us is pretty good!). We had best giant tuna swim-byes ever (literally counting teeth here!), lot of turtles, bumphead parrotfish and some sharks. As nature (and those damn ears) does it, it was better for some than the others… Dejan saw three hammer-head sharks and Nives is still green with envy. Arguable, as the sharks were not close and the sighting was compliant with “no video – didn’t happen” rule as judged by all other divers on the boat. But still…

So, our judgement on Apo reef? It is far, hard to get to, not a luxury one (well, you still have a bed, place to sit most of the time and there is still one toilet for all on the boat), but if you are a diver so worth it! One of the few remote places left in the world offering really good diving. Keep in mind that you can get here with airlines not blacklisted by EU and there is no malaria really (which is really a good thing for Nives). In Philippines, this place is only topped by UNESCO protected Tubbataha reef national park.

After diving it was like ducks to water as we hit the pool and cocktails. This time fresh coconut topped with copious amounts of local rum and consumed in the same lovely pool overlooking the beach. Makes us wonder why we ever left…

But it was time to go and relax for a few days. Destination Boracay. Mainly because everyone asks us all the time if we have been there and because it is the most popular holiday destination in Philippines. We brazed ourselves for hordes of tourists, but nothing could prepare us for the reality. Yes, it is beautiful. White sand beach with turquoise see stretches from one side of the island to the other. But the amount of people! We have never experienced anything like this before (or maybe we were still adjusted to tranquillity of Mindoro). Tourists (manly from China) are only topped by numerous offerings of one activity or the other. Mobiles on selfie-sticks and drones constantly taking pictures. One shop after another, vendor after vendor. Total sensory overload, so much so that we escaped to our room with some cheese and crackers on the first night. But the biggest disappointment was that the people are not as friendly as elsewhere, price of globalisation probably.

Sort of happy to have seen Boracay (but determined never-ever to come back!) we were on the road again. It was time to conclude our Philippines adventure. Final verdict? We were and still are in love with this country. For us, it is the most beautiful place in South East Asia. Granted, you probably need to be a diver to share our opinion. But this was probably last visit for a while. We dove what we wanted to, have been to the places we wanted to visit. Even manged to escape Manila this time (really is a dump!). Other parts of the world are calling to us. But before that, a few days of R&R and some more planning in KL is what the doctor ordered (we might even buy a bottle of wine or two).

Apo reef and / or Boracay pictures. Choice is yours.

Philippines, Apo island

Last time we were here we only managed one trip to the arguably best dive spot in the area: Apo Island. The weather was bad and it was not the right season (recurring theme?). Most of all, with our memories rivalling that of a clownfish, we needed a refresh. So, we decided to come again.

A moped, ferry, van, taxi, another taxi, bus and tricycle ride is all it takes to get to Dauin from Malapascua. Well, two days later and about 300 km to the south, dusty and sweaty we were finally there. In our minds Dauin coast was just a long, long stretch of beach with dirt road access and no resorts. How things change in few years was all we thought off while stuck in traffic jam and rush hour madness. Philippines are changing…

As our resort was only about 800 m (according to our friend Google) from the main road we were toying with the idea of taking a bus from Dumaguete and asking the driver to stop on the crossroads. With two coffin sized suitcases advertising our arrival into bus station, it’s no wonder that local tricycle owners swarmed over us. Half-heartedly we started negotiating for the ride, but couldn’t come to an agreement (we are tough customers after all). So, decided to go for a lunch instead, no point of travelling on empty stomach is our new Philippine motto. But after lunch and a few beers we succumbed to the couch potato attitude and agreed to take a tricycle. The best decision of the month! 800 m turned into endless dust infused high Himalayan lookalike path to the resort. We would probably still be there now… buried under the suitcases…

The resort was a rather nice surprise. Lovely beach cabanas, big pool and cocktail happy hour in the bar (with cocktails ranging from reasonable 1.50 € to extortionate 2 €). Don’t really know what the staff expected, but we took to it like polar bears to ice.

Some things never change thou. Beach was jet another breeding ground for sand-flies, but this time we had an option to keep away. And used it. Pool next to the bar was a better idea anyway. Especially when our friends arrived. We had a really good time. Floating in the pool enjoying lovely pina-coladas and marguerites. Life could get worse… The bar bill at the end was a cold shower and medical miracle at the same time. So we opted (our bodies did) for self-induced abstinence until after we finish with diving on Philippines.

Diving was the only disappointment really. The coral gardens are still amazing and probably one of the best in the world we have seen, but there is far less fish than it used to be. And more sea-snakes. With dive guides instructed to lead us the other way (well, Nives really) we found a lot of turtles and enjoyed the corals and other lovely marine creatures. And some less lovely – jellyfish. Not to elaborate further, one of us (yes, Nives again) left the resort looking like a failed experiment in the sci-fi movie. No pictures of that, thank you very much!

As the plans go, ours was to take the over the land route to our next stop, but after spending a lot of time on the public transport we started thinking about flying. Especially after we heard about the big shoal of sardines in Moalboal. Plans were changed (again…) and we were back on the road. Another tricycle, ferry, tricycle, bus and final tricycle and we were there. And all of it in one day! We are getting so good at this.

When booking Moalboal we decided to stay in the same place as the last time we were there. Mainly as the dive center was recommended and because it was on the right side of the beach. And yes, you are guessing right, we were in for a surprise. Moalboal is now changed to a youngster party town. Scene is more like Koh Tao than Philippines we remember! Damn we decided on a ten days abstinence after Dauin! But proud to announce we stuck to it and resisted the calls of beach bars and the cheapest beer on Philippines.

Diving was alright, nothing really to write home about, but coral was nice and sardines were amazing. Millions of them! We did diving and snorkelling. It is an amazing feeling to swim into the big blackness moving towards you and suddenly be surrounded by millions of small fish swimming around you as if directed by this exquisite choreography that can be done only by the nature itself. We kept going at it until our ears gave up on us. The experience was slightly spoiled by jellyfish (again!), but something we will definitely remember. This was a short stop, as we are now on the way to the jewel in the Philippine diving crown – the Apo reef.

As always, 4 more pictures click here.

Philippines, Malapascua island

We decided to start off the trip in Visayas (a group of islands in the central Philippines). Idea was to visit some old favourites. It took a bit of planning as we wanted to hook up with Slovenian friends Primoz and Natasa on their honeymoon (in our defence, they were not against it. Really!). So after many considerations it was agreed on Bohol and Dauin. But did not turn out that way…

Malapascua island is one of the few places on earth where Thresher sharks are seen regularly. We have been there. And have seen the sharks, but sightseeings were not the best as we were told it was not the good season (see a pattern here, Folks?). Didn’t really plan to come back, but some divers we met in Thailand told us that that locals have discovered a new spot with better sightseeing chances. And this is enough for Jugs to change the plan and Bohol was briskly replaced with the Malapascua. Pretty late in the day we sent off emails to various dive resorts and went for one of them. As luck is with the stupid simple folks we stroke lucky (well, kind of). Upon arrival we noticed that our resort is located on the whitest of white sandy beaches. Postcard material.

But honestly, it should stay there. In reality, you are talking hordes of flies (with tight connections to extremely annoying Australians variety) and sand-flies. The later, for the lucky ones who have not encountered them, are mozzies on steroids. You don’t feel the bites, but end up in agony for at least a week after. We ended up either feeding the local fauna (yes, Nives) or covering ourselves in deet to a point of internal organ failure (yes, Nives again).  But on a positive side, our resort had an Irish pub! With endless beer on tap (when not diving!) at extortionate price of 1 € we managed to put sand-flies aside. To our defence, all that beer drinking was for medicinal purposes – you have to help the kidneys get rid of all that deet from the system! (At least Nives has an excuse)!

As for the diving, we have also been lucky. Very lucky, actually. This time we saw the sharks really, really well. Up close and personal would be the best way to describe it. And it was so worth it! Even the wake-up at 4:30 am as you have to be in the water just as the sun is on the horizon. Few days turned into a week and then it was time to leave. For Dauin. And meeting the friends.

More white sand and thresher sharks here.

Philippines, again...

So, back to Philippines. Again? we hear you say. In our defence, it was not the plan. Actually, we even said this time we will miss it and be inventive, different, go somewhere else. So, we talked about Myanmar (still mostly called Burma in diving community), Sri Lanka (not called Ceylon), Indonesia… And after days of googling, discussing, weighing pros and cons, we went for Philippines. Maybe because we really liked our trip here eight years ago, or wanted to relive our honeymoon (not really, but that’s another story), or because we just really loved the diving. Guess it’s all of them, but mostly it’s the people. In our opinion, the most welcoming, helpful and nice in whole of Asia. And thankfully, this part has not changed (mostly), but some other things have.

It was really a pleasant surprise that Philippines are developing a middle class. On our last travels it was just horrible how poor the country was. Don’t mistake this for no poverty, there certainly is and too much of it, but there is progress. And that is nice to see. Cities are bustling with locals, holiday resorts are not for foreigners only anymore and there are decent numbers of private cars on the roads on remote islands. Progress is there.

On the other hand, to our horror, there is good food everywhere now. Alongside the roads there are restaurants and vendors selling delicious Philippino and western food. All our plans to shed off that extra weight in Philippines were destroyed by smoky and juicy chicken and pork bbqs. Disaster! There is supposed to be only boiled rice here. Our resolve to stick to the diet held for about half a day… Still cheap and very good San Miguel beer (yes, it is a beer brand) didn’t help either. And you can judge by how much people like their beer here by just comparing it to the pizza slice size.

There is even a new kind on the block (for us anyway) – cocktails. Now don’t confuse them with stuff back in Europe. Bottle of tasty local rum costs only a fraction more than a beer and way less than coke or any other soft drink. Guessing proportions in the drinks already? Add fresh coconut (found in abundance here) and we have our 5 a day sorted. Yup, our kind of place. We even thought that this country is getting big into wines as well. As we were traveling people were carrying wine boxes and taking really good care of them. We exchanged knowing looks and winks as we were securing our dive gear. Until the boxes started moving. Yup, not wine. Roosters! Their fighting is still a big sport in this country and taken seriously judging by the amount of travelling birds – from tournament to tournament. Breeding them is a big business as well. We reckon probably the lone reason no sane person needs an alarm clock in this country. You are guaranteed not to sleep past the dawn.

Infrastructure is also building up: roads, the Internet (ok, not the super-fast, Dejan even dropped as low as measuring speed in KB, not MB) and ATMs are pretty standard (they do rip off you, but as they say, whatever you do, the bank will win…). And not only that, there are now vans as a means of transport and most busses have aircon. Tricycles and bikes are still there and thankfully still sticking to the sacred rule: there is always place for one more person. It is even more amazing to see construction material and household appliances and furniture transported this way. Jeepneys are still there. For ones who do not know, these are open vans with amazing decorations and no schedule or stops, just agreed (relatively short) route. You are supposed to stop them as you go. And all works like a treat. And off course we went for a ride. Total fun!

But luckily, Philippinos have only changed the means of transport and not the attitude. Buying a ticket does not equal to reserving a seat on a vehicle. Result is various members of the family piled on top of each other, depending partially on the size, but mainly who gets motion sickness first. It was hilarious to see westerners learning this rule, now that we have spent so much time here and are almost like locals. In fairness, due to our size they mostly leave us alone occupying almost two seats.
Not so good side is the traffic. Varies from really bad to horrible in cities, and manageable on the bigger islands. Even the remote places are not spared any more. Only it is so much more fun there as the most of the vehicles on the roads are tricycles and mopeds. With no one really obeying any rules, traffic is a cacophony of horns, yelling, screeching tyres and squeaky brakes. In fairness, we haven’t seen any accidents (and we have covered some ground!), so it obviously works!

So, travelling in Philippines is more convenient, but less colourful these days. It is actually pretty comfortable. We didn’t not expect this! In retrospect, probably best, as we are lugging two huge suitcases with us this time. And if you are wondering – yes, we are the attraction among younger travellers. And local drivers as well – we negotiate for rides as if we are actually able to go anywhere really with the suitcases. But we are also the sad folk who now hires porters to get our luggage from and on the boats and sea side resorts. No way can we carry 25 kg on our shoulders. To be honest, amazed as locals who do it, and they are practically the size of the suitcases!

But let’s talk about the main reason we are here. Diving. First stop Malapascua island and thresher sharks...

Some more Philippines out and about pictures here.

Thailand, Similan islands

Last time we dove the postcard pretty Similan islands we were there in the wrong season (heard this so many times by now, we are wondering how is anyone supposed to guess that weekend a year when conditions are perfect!). A repeater, we made a decision last time. So much so, that in our eagerness we booked not one, but two dive trips. Just to make sure. The fact that your euros will take you further here than most other live aboard diving destinations has absolutely nothing to do with it. Nothing at all!!

But as the luck is with the bold (or stupid?), in the end we had two very good diving trips. And a few challenges along the way…

On the first trip we were honored (yeah, right) to dive the area at the same time as Thai Princess (the real deal, not the boat). So, naturally the authorities closed off half of the marine park to cater for her royal needs and left the other half to 50 odd boats filled with people with once in a lifetime chance to experience the thrill of diving in legions of divers. Most observed specie under the water on that day was Homo sapiens in a various stages of distress. In retrospect, it actually was hilarious. But all rectified in the next day as the park reopened again. And in addition we saw manta rays (some happy tears in our… well, her eyes…).

We also somehow managed to forget that these boats have shared toilets. Add to that fact that you need to be very well hydrated when diving, so you just keep drinking water. Think Donald Trump would have been impressed with our self-inflicted water-boarding skills. So, we were climbing up and down the flight of stairs in the night, multiple times. Not funny. Especially if you take into account that another theme of both trips was side waves rolling the boat on all the overnight moorings. Thank god for seasickness pills! We kept moving around that narrow space called bed in the same direction the boat did all night long. Every night. On not one, but two trips. As diving doesn’t mix with alcohol, we couldn’t even drink ourselves to sleep. Yup, so proud of our decision making sometimes…

But in the end we managed to see all the best dive sites in their pride and glory and all the troubles were forgotten. We would still say that Thailand is more about travelling (drinking and eating mostly) than diving thou. But it is a great experience to merge the two, hence hordes of people that constantly flock to this tropical paradise. Be warned thou! The postcard pictures of quiet tourist free areas are all decades old. To experience it you either party until or get out of bed at sunrise..

But time to travel (again) to our favorite diving South-East Asia country: Philippines.

Blue water and sandy beaches found here.

Thailand, Koh Tao

If we thought Koh Tao was busy almost ten years ago, than it is bursting at the seams now. There is even more people flocking to this little island. You end up with a crazy mix of youngsters on their gap years (as always), young families on their holidays (parents are our generation trying to recapture their youth) and hippy geriatric crowd (usually visiting second or third generation now living on the island). And all of them on scooters. You can judge the age of a driver from afar just by checking if they have their helmets on (or not) and Koh Tao tattoo. Wondering what that is? Crashing the scooter and ending up with a pattern of scabs and scars for life. Helps that every fifth house is a clinic and every shop sells first aid kits. But in the end, it all works! It is still place with amazing feel to it, relaxed atmosphere and beautiful sunsets (fuelled by numerous beach bars). We were immediately captured by the spirit of the place. Again. No wonder we are back!

And then diving. Koh Tao is a dive mega-factory. All is about dive courses, you could call it dive nursery and hit the post. But they still have a few nice dive sites. One of them we missed the last time and had to come back for it: Sail Rock. And it was worth the trip. Probably one of the best in the whole of Thailand, if not the best. The rest are really overcrowded. All larger marine life is gone at this stage, replaced by eager new divers. But hey, everyone has to learn somehow. And as we said, this is the dive nursery.

With diving taking less time than we thought, we managed to immerse ourselves into religious side of Thailand. Not talking about elephant rides and touristy temples. We actually observed a Buddha day and abstained from drinking beer. Fine, it was mandatory for everybody, but nevertheless we have been caught out without a secret booze stash in the room. One more thing to check for future travels…

After of week of a little bit of diving and a lot of eating and partying – possibly not in that order – we took a taxi, ferry, bus and another taxi to the other side of Thailand. And all the way we were wondering why didn’t we stayed longer in Koh Tao. But, on the other side, time to dive the Similans!

As always some more pictures just a click away.