We arrived at Takayama’s old town on a cold, dark night but had the warmest of welcomes from our hosts at their traditional inn. The old couple that owned the place were adorable, the man who I’ll call Bob guided us through his spotless house showing us everything we needed to know and being totally…
Author: laurenwinslowllewellyn
Snow monkeys in thermal pools, Japan
We had the same problem looking for breakfast in this ghost town as we did looking for dinner. Thankfully we spotted a coffee sign so headed into what turned out to be a very old couples house. I don’t think they get many customers and the man literally threw his wife into a cupboard along…
First impressions of Japan
I can’t quite believe we decided to come to Japan. Two backpackers in Japan, what were we thinking? We randomly pointed at a map and picked it because it was en route to Alaska (it’s really not that en route) but it looked like a fascinating country. We knew it would be expensive but we…
Our 13 highlights of The Philippines
Our two months in the Philippines has flown by and we miss it already…although maybe not the food (sorry guys). Two months wasn’t enough time! We only made it to 21 of the 7000 or so islands so barely scraped the surface. It’s one of our favourite countries now and we had so many once…
Sabang’s underground river and our final day in The Philippines
We’re not really that interested in caves, but the underground river in Sabang is a UNESCO world heritage site and the longest navigable underground river in the world. It cost £20 for a trip from Puerto Princesa. We could have done the trip much cheaper if we stayed in Sabang or made our own way…
Village life and idyllic beaches | The Philippines
Time to head back to paradise! It was good Friday and we’d been asking everyone if the jeepneys would be running to Nacpan but no one knew. Craig decided to walk to the bus terminal the night before to re-ask…he came back to realise his money had fallen out his ripped pocket. Man we were…
Kayaking through paradise | Cadlao Island, The Philippines
Cadlao island is the closest island to El Nido so we bartered with a bubbly chap along the beach for a kayak rental. He was full of banter, offering us dry bags and giving us a bin liner instead. We plowed across the slightly choppy waters to the tip of the island where we were…
Finding another hidden gem in The Philippines
We hired a motor bike to visit some beaches around El Nido and headed north to Nacpan Beach. The last 5km were dirt roads and quite nasty but nothing my chauffeur, I mean Craig, couldn’t handle. Unlike some other backpackers we saw who toppled sideways on some soft sand. It explains all the bandaged right…
The most dramatic Island Scenery in the Philippines
We saved the best island hopping trip till last and it was time to explore Bacuit Bay near El Nido. We were on a boat with about 18 people and were hoping to get a good group with some westerners to chat to but we ended up with lots of Filipinos, some monotone chaps and…
Island hopping in Port Barton, The Philippines
In half a day we’d left the tranquil jungle and river of Loboc, hopped on a ferry and landed in bustling Cebu City which was a massive contrast with people everywhere and horrible traffic jams, not to mention the smell of sewage, especially in our hotel bathroom. Luckily we just had to hang around a…
NON STOP TRAVELLING 