SIQUIJOR - PHILIPPINES

Siquijor island turned out to be the highlight of the Philippines despite arriving at a different port from the one on my map and getting very lost for several hours on the first day. I stayed about a mile east of Siquijor town.



On the first days exploring I got talking to a group of locals who were very friendly. Most tourists tended to visit the dive resorts and go around on motorbikes. Walking around was obviously the best way to meet the local people. After going into town for food I met up with them and spent the evening in a makeshift karaoke bar.



The following day there was a disco in a village about 10 miles up the road, I met up with the same people and I was taken there on the back of a motorbike. The "security" consisted of a load of army people with big guns !!!!!!! It seemed most of the island was there that night. Things were just beginning to liven up then the power went out so we were back before midnight instead of the expected 3am.

Got invited round the houseof one of their relatives and had my first experience of Philippine hospitality. It amazed me how these people who obviously had very little would offer you food and drink and wanted nothing in return,

One thing I noticed was how they found it difficult to believe what I did for a living. In the Philippines a bin man or garbage collector is a very low paid job where as in the UK its one of the highest paid unskilled manual labour jobs there is.

I got a guided tour of the whole island from one of the girls in the village that included the waterfall. She was related to the group of people who I went the disco with above.

I was invited round for dinner again this time with some obviously more well off people who lived in the biggest house in that area. One of the bad points was when I was questioned about religion (or in my case lack of). I was faced with some stupid and ignorant statements (of the Hitler was an atheist type).

In any other situation I would have struck back with a counter argument but since I was a guest in someones house I had to steer the conversation away to something a bit more acceptable. Boxing was one of the topics of conversation I came across a lot in the country............a clue why???



Cockfighting is a national passtime in the country and they are everywhere. I was asked to go along but wanted nothing to do with it. I was told by other tourists that it was horrible!!!!!!



On the last full day I went on a big walking tour of the island. If I had have been looking the other way I would have missed this snake at the side of the road.





A few locals at the next village stopped me for conversation and a drink. These were putting a lot of hard work into harvesting these coconuts for which they only get about 11 pesos per kilo for !!!!!!


I mentioned the snake I had seen earlier and they shown me one they had killed earlier that day. They described it as "deadly" and it was only just across the road from where their kids were playing........

I headed back to Dumaguette with the group from the village who were visiting relatives.