The Philippines- Cebu

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Uhhh! The Philippines!!!!

When I came to the Philippines I wasn't super duper excited because I don't like water and being such a water based destination I was kind of dreading it a little but I just had to come and experience the Philippines!

After a long journey from Singapore to Manila to Cebu I finally arrived! I got to the airport and immediately went to the kiosk that said "free SIM card." Before I talked to the ladies with the sim I connected to wifi and looked up both companies and their data packages. I decided to go with Smart and I don't know if the girl at the airport tried to scam me but she asked me for 600 pesos for a SIM card that I knew was way cheaper. I immediately asked for a brochure and she said she didn't have one so I got my phone out and showed her the prices online and she ended up selling me a 300pesos SIM card with 2GB valid for 30 days.

Once with a SIM card I downloaded the app Grab (like Uber) and got myself a car to take me to the hotel!

I stayed at Tropical Hostel, a very basic hostel but the help I got from the staff made up for the lack of the facilities. The boy working the front desk was super knowledgeable about all the touristic stuff to do around Cebu and gave me detailed info on every thing I needed to know for the places I wanted to visit!

Whale shark watching!

This is why I came to Cebu! To be able to snorkel and see the whale sharks!

I left my hotel at 1:45 am and headed in a taxi to the south metro station where I got the 2am bus to oslob.

I had done plenty of research to know exactly where to get dropped off and the fact that the bus would drop me off in front of a resort and I shouldn't get in, instead I needed to go straight to the beach.

At exactly 5am and pitched dark out I was dropped off in the middle of the road and told to go "there" (inside the door of a resort.) I walked back a couple of meters and went down to the beach where the boats leave. I had to wait for an hour until they opened to go on a boat but I enjoyed a beautiful sunrise by the water!

Look... a whale shaped cloud!

At 6am they started doing the debriefing and we were able to go in the water after paying the 1,000 pesos fee (around $20).

I thought we were going to go on a proper boat far from the shore to see the whales but to my surprise we went in tiny boats not even 400 meters from the beach.

We stopped and I saw a guy on a canoe throwing fish down, and right under him were some whales!

Time to jump in...

To be honest it was kind of crazy! Even at 6am there were at least 100 tourists in the water, all wanting to see the whales. We only had 20 mins to swim from the moment the boat stopped so I really wanted to take advantage of all my minutes but to be honest after 10 minutes I was over it. It was nice to see the whales but with the whales came the tourists and the hundreds of go pros and selfie sticks and people trying to get their pictures taken!

I had a great laugh looking at a girl from my boat trying to get a picture; one of the guides was holding her go pro and another guide was pushing her down so she could be underwater with the whale behind her.

Once I was done with the whale watching I went back to the street and waited for a local bus to take me to kayasan falls. The street didn't have any assigned bus stops, people are just supposed to wait on the side of the street and signal the bus with the arm for them to stop. While I waited I was being harassed by motorcycle drivers who wanted to take me to the falls, i kept saying no thank you and telling them I wanted to take the bus. I was standing next to an older lady and even she started to tell them off and saying that I wanted to take the bus. I could understand a little of what she was saying and she told them that the bus had A/C and was cheaper haha I loved her!

This or a bus with A/C?!?

Finally after a long wait the bus arrived and in I went. After several stops some tourists came in and when they entered I looked at them and the girl said "Hola!" I immediately asked "De donde son?" (Where are you from?) and she said "Argentina." The conversation ended there and they walked to the back of the full bus.

In one of the stops the lady screamed "Andrea, this is your stop, change busses to go to the falls" so I got off, and so did the Argentinians! I started talking to them (Guada and Horacio) and the rest is history!

Well... actually, the rest was a fun 2 days! We decided to stick together and took the next bus to the falls.

Once we arrived to the falls we were bombarded by guides who wanted to give us a guided tour of the falls! We obviously said no and went our own way. The path to the falls was easy to follow and from the beginning of the walk we were able to see a stream of clear water. I think I have never seen such a clean stream, the sand on the bottom was white and it looked beautiful.

Once we reached the fall it looked so fresh and blue! I am not a fan of water but this was just irresistible!

Before going in the water the people there let us know that we needed to pay 300pisos to rent a table and leave our stuff. We thought of sneakily leaving our things somewhere and go in the water but at the end we decided it was just easier to pay for the table.

Inside the "pool" there were 2 bamboo platforms and we figured that for 500pesos you could rent one and they took you for a ride! Haha we didn't do it but most of the people hanging out there did; it super funny to watch!

With the weather being so so so sooooo HOT, it was super refreshing to go for a swim!

Can you spot me? haha

After a couple of hours at the falls we decided to take the bus back to Cebu but before I found my favorite Philippino food... Smashed and fried bananas covered in sugar! ha!

About Post Author

Andrea

Hi! It's me... Andrea! In 2016 I decided to drop everything and take a year to enrich my life and travel around the world. It turns out the world is just too big for 12 months! Still on the road and sharing my experience as a solo female traveler around the globe!