SLACKPACKING: 101 IN SIARGAO

And we decided to head back to the Philippines barely a month after we left. Back on Cebu Pacific. KL-Manila-Cebu all in one night. Not one wink of sleep. Disoriented. layovers and finally we are back in the same hotel/crashing. Back eating the same pizza. Meeting the same traveler who was passing through Cebu a month ago. Sleep a few precious hours and its back to the Airport to catch the morning flight to Siargao. 

La Bella Napoli

Landing in Siargao was the scariest/worst landing of my 32 years on this earth. I don't think Jan or Daniel would argue. The small propeller plane totally overshot the already tiny runway and because of the dense palmtree forest at the end he couldn't speed up and take off again so he slammed the brakes on and we endured what felt like minutes of skidding/slidding sideways and turning almost off the runway burnt rubber permeating the plane until it skidded to a halt with 1 meter of runway to spare. The whole crew/passengers let out a collective sigh and clapped violently at the fact that we were still alive. I don't think my heart could take another one of those. An American guy next to us said he had flown here dozens of times and that had never happened before. Oh well.. 

We managed to get a ride to 101 guesthouse, found cheap accomodation on the first floor which unfortunately was right above the restaurant, but beggars can't be choosers. The next spot of business was to eat some food and play pool. They had hired an 18 year old chef to comandeer the kitchen, our scepticism rose until the food came out and was utterly tasty. Some of the best food we had eaten in the Philippines. This kid had a gift, and that also settled the nerves about staying more than a week on the island.

Motorbikes were rented, island explored, 9 Days of Paradise, managed to buy some clams, shrimp, tuna and strange looking molluscs at the local market and took them back to the chef who turned out the most amazing Kinilaw we had ever tasted. Met a few of the local girls who worked there (who we were sceptical at first because we didn't know their intentions) but they ended up being a barrel of laughs and the days fled by playing pool with them, sitting by the water and listening to music on the grass.

Siargao really was epic. The friendliest locals on earth. Beautiful views. Hammocks. Villages to die for. Fresh seafood. Games of Pool. 101 Bar (which almost killed us because we got given shots with speed in them and danced like idiots for 2 hours, morning came and we could not even walk). 

The last night was upon us and we headed to sleep early, having to get up for the tiny propeller plane again. It ended up being one of the worst nights ever due to a severely shitfaced American who was downstairs in the restaurant until 4am shouting "TEQUILAAAAAA TEQUILAAAAAAAAA". His frantic girlfriend was shouting at him to STFU but to no avail. Lucky us they ended up being on our plane the next day.