Closing out the Philippines...
and we picked some place to end it in - Siargao. It's an island over on the east side of the country renowned for its surfing, and as a friend of Stu's put it, is the place to go if you want to "see what Bali was like thirty years ago" (cheers Kieran!). It's definitely still catching up to the tourist buzz around it, but that's part of the charm - there's no chains of global shops, and it's not built up whatsoever, but the island life vibe is all the stronger for it. All exemplified by its airport, quite possibly the smallest airport we've ever seen, and we've both been to the Isle of Man:
That's the runway out the doors ahead, and our backs were at the exit to the front. No security, just a conveyor belt. All seeming pretty chilled. It got even better, as we checked in to our accommodation for the first half of the stay, Lampara hostel, located between General Luna (main part of town), and Cloud 9 (surfing area). Quite possibly the most beautiful/well-designed hostel we've ever stayed in - brand new, located right on the beach with a sea breeze always blowing through, and an absolutely amazing set up in the common area - a hammock on the top floor allowed you to see down to the kitchen below where you'd have the best breakfast every morning. We wish we were getting paid to speak this highly of the place, but alas, we're not - it's just that good.
First impressions of Siargao were very, very good, and it just continued to impress from there. First stop for dinner was Sugba, a Filipino BBQ place again recommended to us (cheers Fui!), and we were absolutely blown away - we hadn't tried Filipino BBQ up to now (didn't even know it was a thing!), and we're devestated we didn't - BBQ chicken legs, veg skewers, garlic rice - an absolute feast for ~€4 per person. Another BBQ place we tried, Azuete, was just as good too.
Near to the hostel was Harana Surf School, which had a few other things to offer other than the surf...namely:
Leche Ice Cream, the best ice cream we've had all trip - salted caramel + popcorn. A little expensive, but worth it, enough for us to go back to get one more scoop before we left. Also not pictured is the coffee shop, Fili-beans Espresso (great name), which had local Filipino coffee and cheap brownies. Living the good life.
Finally getting a little further from the surroundings of the hostel, we signed up to do the whole island scooter tour, so a convoy of us set off for Pacifico, another surf area on the north side of the island:
First port of call was Lokal, a lovely little cafe with coconut milk coffee and vegetarian wraps, and local produce to take home. The mangoes in the Philippines are different gravy. Fill yer boots.
Our trip around the island had to take a little detour, as despite it being dry season in Siargao, a tropical storm of sorts descended upon us - we had to take shelter at Millionaire's View - could be worse.
As you can see the road conditions for the way home weren't ideal, especially given Stu is basically a 16 year old learner driver when it comes to scooters. We made it in one piece though, about 45 minutes after everyone else. Slow and steady wins the race.
No better way to come down from the monstrously scary drive home than to chill out on the hammock and enjoy a movie night at the hostel. Unfortunately, they decided on Insidious, so Stu's already frayed nerves were taken for another ride. Christ.
Sticking with the adventurous theme, we decided after the scooter driving, we were ready for anything - so on we went to go surfing. We bumped into an unbelievably sound German lad Tino, who had organised surfing through an independent instructor before, so we joined up with him and out we went to Secret Spot, where we were the only ones surfing.
Paradise, and Dani (who had never been surfing before) managed to get the hang of it quickly, poor Stu (who's been surfing 10+ times before) didn't quite get it. We'll blame the low tide.
Lunch was served the classic Siargao way, BBQ chicken+rice, fresh coconuts, no cutlery, served on a banana leaf over a surfboard. Living the good life.
Can't always live the good life though, especially when you don't take the necessary precautions. Surfing+no suncream = gonna have a bad time.
For the second half of the week, we had decided to head over to Salty Nomads hostel, as it was recommended to us (Cheers again Fui!) - and about half the price per night of our first stay. Dani also organised a paid beach yoga session with them, which was a great experience. Probably one of the best hostels we've stayed in for social atmosphere, but definitely a ...bit more basic after coming from the luxury of Lampara. We had an absolute ball there though, the people working there and all the guests are just in flying form the whole time. As were we, as already having fallen in love with Siargao, we continued to find more that the island had to offer. Now feeling like the "L" plates can be removed, we rented a scooter for the rest of our time here, and went exploring:
Of course, no stop in the Philippines would be complete without making it to Shaka, so up to Cloud 9 we went to get our favourite smoothie bowl and coffee. For the last time. Goodbye dear friend.
Outdoing Shaka on the coffee front was MA+D Siargao, which made a point of supporting Filipino coffee farmers and informing the public of the importance of supporting local produce. Great food too, so a couple of breakfasts were had here.
We made our way back to Secret Spot for an afternoon with a crowd from the hostel, before the evenings main event of a family dinner.
We somewhat took the easy path, as our contribution was ice cream & mangoes for dessert (the kitchen was full, honest) - but some people really went above and beyond. The red horse was flowing too, as was the rum (€1.40 for a 750ml bottle - madness).
Finding ourselves flitting between the our two hostels for things to do, we decided on the island hopping tour with the Lampara crew for the next day. The snorkelling/beaches/views of the Philippines have continuously blown us away:
Lunch wasn't half bad either. After making our way to a couple of islands, with a few drinking games along the way, we ended up on Naked Island for sunset, a sandbar with absolutely nothing on the island bar what you bring on (in our case, the last bottle of rum).
Dani managed to fit in some final yoga practice here as the sun set on one of the best days of the trip. The sun was setting too on our time in Siargao, and we knew we'd reluctantly have to say goodbye. We fit in a last surfing session at Cloud 9 with the hostel, where everyone was able to catch on and surf to a decent standard, and no sunburn to boot. Win-win. Our last two breakfasts on the island was the same: finally making it to Greenhouse Cafe on our second last day, we knew we had to return before our journey to the airport the next day. One of the Same Same but Different is enough for two. Delish.
And that was that! We think the glowing praise/enthusiasm throughout this post should be evidence enough that Siargao was one of our favourite stops on this trip, and in all honesty one of the nicest places we've ever been. If you get the chance, just go. You won't be disappointed!
The now obligatory photo of Stu outside the airport taken, and we say a very teary-eyed goodbye to the Philippines and a month of the trip we won't be forgetting anytime soon. Between all the snorkelling, smoothie bowls, surfing, and of course having family+friends over, we've had a blast.
Big love,
Dani & Stu.
and we picked some place to end it in - Siargao. It's an island over on the east side of the country renowned for its surfing, and as a friend of Stu's put it, is the place to go if you want to "see what Bali was like thirty years ago" (cheers Kieran!). It's definitely still catching up to the tourist buzz around it, but that's part of the charm - there's no chains of global shops, and it's not built up whatsoever, but the island life vibe is all the stronger for it. All exemplified by its airport, quite possibly the smallest airport we've ever seen, and we've both been to the Isle of Man:
That's the runway out the doors ahead, and our backs were at the exit to the front. No security, just a conveyor belt. All seeming pretty chilled. It got even better, as we checked in to our accommodation for the first half of the stay, Lampara hostel, located between General Luna (main part of town), and Cloud 9 (surfing area). Quite possibly the most beautiful/well-designed hostel we've ever stayed in - brand new, located right on the beach with a sea breeze always blowing through, and an absolutely amazing set up in the common area - a hammock on the top floor allowed you to see down to the kitchen below where you'd have the best breakfast every morning. We wish we were getting paid to speak this highly of the place, but alas, we're not - it's just that good.
First impressions of Siargao were very, very good, and it just continued to impress from there. First stop for dinner was Sugba, a Filipino BBQ place again recommended to us (cheers Fui!), and we were absolutely blown away - we hadn't tried Filipino BBQ up to now (didn't even know it was a thing!), and we're devestated we didn't - BBQ chicken legs, veg skewers, garlic rice - an absolute feast for ~€4 per person. Another BBQ place we tried, Azuete, was just as good too.
Near to the hostel was Harana Surf School, which had a few other things to offer other than the surf...namely:
This pug. His name now escapes us, but he was an absolute legend. Had a gold chain around his neck too - not sure he was holding up too well in the heat, but he looks like he's lived a good life. Legend.
Leche Ice Cream, the best ice cream we've had all trip - salted caramel + popcorn. A little expensive, but worth it, enough for us to go back to get one more scoop before we left. Also not pictured is the coffee shop, Fili-beans Espresso (great name), which had local Filipino coffee and cheap brownies. Living the good life.
Finally getting a little further from the surroundings of the hostel, we signed up to do the whole island scooter tour, so a convoy of us set off for Pacifico, another surf area on the north side of the island:
First port of call was Lokal, a lovely little cafe with coconut milk coffee and vegetarian wraps, and local produce to take home. The mangoes in the Philippines are different gravy. Fill yer boots.
Our trip around the island had to take a little detour, as despite it being dry season in Siargao, a tropical storm of sorts descended upon us - we had to take shelter at Millionaire's View - could be worse.
As you can see the road conditions for the way home weren't ideal, especially given Stu is basically a 16 year old learner driver when it comes to scooters. We made it in one piece though, about 45 minutes after everyone else. Slow and steady wins the race.
No better way to come down from the monstrously scary drive home than to chill out on the hammock and enjoy a movie night at the hostel. Unfortunately, they decided on Insidious, so Stu's already frayed nerves were taken for another ride. Christ.
Sticking with the adventurous theme, we decided after the scooter driving, we were ready for anything - so on we went to go surfing. We bumped into an unbelievably sound German lad Tino, who had organised surfing through an independent instructor before, so we joined up with him and out we went to Secret Spot, where we were the only ones surfing.
Paradise, and Dani (who had never been surfing before) managed to get the hang of it quickly, poor Stu (who's been surfing 10+ times before) didn't quite get it. We'll blame the low tide.
Lunch was served the classic Siargao way, BBQ chicken+rice, fresh coconuts, no cutlery, served on a banana leaf over a surfboard. Living the good life.
Can't always live the good life though, especially when you don't take the necessary precautions. Surfing+no suncream = gonna have a bad time.
For the second half of the week, we had decided to head over to Salty Nomads hostel, as it was recommended to us (Cheers again Fui!) - and about half the price per night of our first stay. Dani also organised a paid beach yoga session with them, which was a great experience. Probably one of the best hostels we've stayed in for social atmosphere, but definitely a ...bit more basic after coming from the luxury of Lampara. We had an absolute ball there though, the people working there and all the guests are just in flying form the whole time. As were we, as already having fallen in love with Siargao, we continued to find more that the island had to offer. Now feeling like the "L" plates can be removed, we rented a scooter for the rest of our time here, and went exploring:
Of course, no stop in the Philippines would be complete without making it to Shaka, so up to Cloud 9 we went to get our favourite smoothie bowl and coffee. For the last time. Goodbye dear friend.
Outdoing Shaka on the coffee front was MA+D Siargao, which made a point of supporting Filipino coffee farmers and informing the public of the importance of supporting local produce. Great food too, so a couple of breakfasts were had here.
We made our way back to Secret Spot for an afternoon with a crowd from the hostel, before the evenings main event of a family dinner.
We somewhat took the easy path, as our contribution was ice cream & mangoes for dessert (the kitchen was full, honest) - but some people really went above and beyond. The red horse was flowing too, as was the rum (€1.40 for a 750ml bottle - madness).
Finding ourselves flitting between the our two hostels for things to do, we decided on the island hopping tour with the Lampara crew for the next day. The snorkelling/beaches/views of the Philippines have continuously blown us away:
Lunch wasn't half bad either. After making our way to a couple of islands, with a few drinking games along the way, we ended up on Naked Island for sunset, a sandbar with absolutely nothing on the island bar what you bring on (in our case, the last bottle of rum).
Dani managed to fit in some final yoga practice here as the sun set on one of the best days of the trip. The sun was setting too on our time in Siargao, and we knew we'd reluctantly have to say goodbye. We fit in a last surfing session at Cloud 9 with the hostel, where everyone was able to catch on and surf to a decent standard, and no sunburn to boot. Win-win. Our last two breakfasts on the island was the same: finally making it to Greenhouse Cafe on our second last day, we knew we had to return before our journey to the airport the next day. One of the Same Same but Different is enough for two. Delish.
And that was that! We think the glowing praise/enthusiasm throughout this post should be evidence enough that Siargao was one of our favourite stops on this trip, and in all honesty one of the nicest places we've ever been. If you get the chance, just go. You won't be disappointed!
The now obligatory photo of Stu outside the airport taken, and we say a very teary-eyed goodbye to the Philippines and a month of the trip we won't be forgetting anytime soon. Between all the snorkelling, smoothie bowls, surfing, and of course having family+friends over, we've had a blast.
Big love,
Dani & Stu.
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