Our flight from Seoul to Cebu in The Philippines was an uncomfortable one. I had a mum next to me with an oversized baby with extra long limbs on her lap who was borderline at the stage of requiring it’s own chair. After a huge tantrum with ear piercing screams the baby fell asleep, along with the mum who decided it was acceptable to use me as a cushion. The long child’s legs dangled over the mums and invaded my space the entire flight and he kept having tantrums and kicking me until we landed in Cebu at around midnight. I’m not a fan of kids on the best of days so that flight experience really grated on me.

We were wiped out when we arrived and headed for a white taxi as the yellow ones charge way more but you’re not to know unless you research it before. We managed to also get the driver to divert to an HSBC bank which is supposedly the only one to offer free withdrawals. A security guard was stationed at the atm 24/7 which was a bit of a shock after travelling to so many ultra safe countries. Our hotel room was a bit of a joke as the bed was basically a large single bed where we spent the night kicking each other…but it was better than that screaming kid kicking me on the flight.

I’d of loved a long lie-in but we had a big travel day ahead so we headed downstairs for the included breakfast which was just rice, boiled egg and some suspicious meat for Craig before hopping in a taxi to the bus station. We’ve changed a lot since our early days travelling because the station was only 1.5km away which we’d normally walk to save money but I couldn’t bare to walk in that heat so a £1 taxi ride it was.

Our plan for today was to travel to Siquijor Island so the first step was catching a bus to Liloan on the southern tip of Cebu island. The driver really sped up towards the end of the 5 hour journey and we realised it was because a boat was due to leave for Sibulan any minute now. I don’t know if the bus called ahead and asked the boat to wait but we arrived 15 minutes after it’s departure time and managed to get on, although it was very frantic with men ushering us to ticket booths and running along the jetty. It would have been an hour or more waiting if we’d missed it so that was very lucky. The journey was only 30 minutes and then we had to travel from Sibulan Port to Dumaguete port and while there were tricycles (a motorbike with a side car) eager to take us we opted for a jeepney. These are classic Filipino modes of transport, imagine a sort of miniature truck, painted in a kaleidoscope of colours, two long benches inside and the back section is totally open so you can easily jump on and off. They’re so much fun and we have fond memories of our last time in northern Philippines where you’re allowed to sit on the roofs, it was like a funfair ride with rice paddies and cloud inversions below us. So, this jeepney we were on was already very busy so there wasn’t space for us to squeeze in with our luggage so the driver helped us put them on the roof which didn’t have any barriers or straps to hold them in place and prevent them falling off the roof so I spent the whole journey keeping an eye on the road behind us incase our bags fell off. Luckily the bags survived and a nice passenger told us the best place to get off near the port where we had a rather hot walk to the ticket office.

We now needed to pick a ferry company as there were about 5 different ones sailing to Siquijor. We ended up opting for a slower ferry, taking an hour and a half but costing less than the fast ferry which left latter so in the end we’d arrive at the same time but pay less which seemed like a good option. The ferry left at sunset and we sailed (chugged) towards the island. The journey wasn’t over though, we now needed a trike to take us across the island to San Juan where we’d be staying and after 10 long hours and 6 different modes of transport (taxi, bus, small boat, jeepney, car ferry, tricycle) we finally made it to the little guesthouse which had just 4 rooms. It was the cheapest room we could find and we opted for the ultra budget fan option for just £9 a night…so I guess we haven’t fully lost our budget instincts. The room was extremely hot and the cold shower even felt warm but it was all clean so I was happy.

After a very sweaty night getting blown by hot air we made our way down to the beach which was just a 1 minute walk from the guesthouse. It was a very shallow area but lovely and calm, almost like glass at times with a mix of clear turquoise patches and dark areas of seaweed. The beach continued for miles and palm trees leant over the entire stretch, it was picture perfect! Our first stop was breakfast at the popular Shaka cafe which sells delicious smoothie bowls, served in carved out coconuts and decorated with mangos.

For our first day on Siquijor we decided to walk north along the coast to Paliton beach, roughly 4km each way. The island doesn’t really have much in the line of public transport and seeing as we were just strolling along the beach for most of the way it seemed like a better option than paying for a trike. The walk was lovely anyway and when it became too hot we’d head into the water which was extremely shallow so it actually felt like bath water, although still cooler than the air so it helped a little. On the route we diverted onto the road for a delicious Italian pizza which was so tasty. We eventually made it to Paliton but we opted to sit on a smaller beach near a private resort. It was strange because it was a private beach but it didn’t include the edge which happened to be shady so it was perfect for us. Craig headed up to the main beach around the corner to buy a coconut followed by two happy hour cocktails while I relaxed with a couple of adorable stray dogs who laid down next to me.

It was quite a long walk back and we arrived to our neighbourhood just as the sun was starting to set so we just grabbed a bottle of beer and sat on the beach to enjoy it. I don’t know why or how some countries have better sunsets than others but wow, the Philippines offers endless dreamy sunsets. We watched as whispy clouds turned from amber to pink and then as twilight approached the horizon was still stained red and sun beams pierced around the distant mountain.

Seeing as we had a big pizza for lunch we just wanted a small dinner which came in the form of a Nutella and banana pancake. Being an adult is tough but I do love being allowed to have a dessert for dinner just because I fancy one. To end a lovely first day on the island we headed to a little massage parlour and got an hour long Swedish massage for £5.50. It was probably the best massage I’ve ever had, I can’t handle the pain and torture of Thai massages anymore so this was a complete contrast and so relaxing I didn’t want it to stop.

The following day we walked south of our neighbourhood all the way to Tubod beach where there’s a marine sanctuary which is said to be a great place to snorkel. There were some nice clusters of coral, not much colour to it as usual but some life at least. Plus there were plenty of anemone and each one was home to clown fish, aka adorable Nemo’s. They’re so damn cute and it was fascinating seeing how they all varied a little in looks and shades of orange. Some were absolutely tiny and being protected by their brave parents.

Suddenly I spotted a sea snake slithering below me but it was bigger than any I’d ever seen before. It elegantly meandered it’s body up to the surface and yet I still couldn’t see the end of the snake, it must’ve been almost 2 meters long. These black and white striped sea snakes are highly venomous and an adult has enough venom to kill 10 humans!! However they’re known to be very docile so I’ve always enjoyed floating above them and admiring them swim along the sea floor. This experience was a little different though because he was fucking massive and he swam to the surface which meant I couldn’t quite see which direction he was going to swim next so I just carefully backed away and swam like an Olympic swimmer back to shore. On our walk back we stopped at a cute little seashell museum displaying all sorts of shells and taxidermy sea creatures found in the Philippines. As seems to be the theme on Siquijor we ended the day with a fabulous sunset.