We kind of messed up our journey to Jeonju. We knew it was a fair distance—around three hours by train—but what we *didn’t* factor in was that it was a Saturday, and unsurprisingly, a lot of the trains were fully booked. We ended up spending most of the day hopping on slower buses or sitting around in train stations waiting for a later train with seats available. Not our finest travel moment!
On the plus side, we got to try a “meat donut” while waiting. It was exactly what it sounds like—a sweet, fried dough filled with a spicy pork and onion mixture. A very strange combo of flavours and textures, and I’m still not entirely sure if I liked it or not… but I finished it, so I guess that says something.
We arrived at our hotel quite late and tried to order takeaway, but had no luck without a Korean phone number. We even tried asking at reception, but after a lot of back-and-forth using Google Translate, we gave up and walked to the McDonald’s around the corner instead. Sometimes, you just need the easy option. Then it was back to our room for a bit of Netflix in bed—a rare and welcome hotel luxury!
The next morning, we were determined to make the most of our only full day in Jeonju. We started off at the Hanok Village, a traditional area filled with beautiful old-style Korean houses and narrow streets lined with little craft shops, cafés, and photography studios where you can have photos taken around town in traditional clothing. It’s a big tourist spot for locals, and it was buzzing with people. We kept being offered cake and eggs by friendly strangers—possibly because it was Easter, or maybe they’re just really enthusiastic about eggs here?
Grace got her fortune from one of those popular coin machines—they’re everywhere here—and apparently she will “find adventure in the east and be betrayed by a friend.” The first part definitely checks out, and as for the second… we’ll see if she manages to annoy me enough to fulfill the prophecy!
We tried to visit the calligraphy and paper museum, but it turned out to be closed on Sundays. So, in what’s becoming a bit of a trend, we decided to get another portrait drawn instead. This one actually resembled us a bit more than the last one, so we’re improving! After that, we wandered around the shops and ended up buying personalised stone stamps with our names written in Korean—such a cute little keepsake and a new way to sign off our postcards.
Next, we made our way to the mural village—an area filled with colourful street art, with everything from nature scenes to famous faces and cartoon characters. We had a relaxed wander, taking photos and just enjoying the creativity on show.
From there, we headed to an old stretch of disused train track where you can ride along in modified pedal carts. It was a fun, 30-minute cycle in the sunshine—nothing too scenic, but it was a quirky experience and a good way to enjoy the nice weather.
Our final stop for the day was the launderette. Sadly, the days of cheap laundry services are behind us, and in Korea, it’s all self-service. It took a little time (and some creative app translations), but we managed to figure it all out and got our wash and dry done—emerging victorious and with clean clothes in hand.Next up: our final stop in South Korea—the capital, Seoul! Don’t worry, this time we’ve *pre-booked* our trains.
Getting around South Korea has been super easy so far—everything in tourist areas is really well signposted, and most signs include English translations. One thing that surprised us is that Google Maps doesn’t really work here, as the Korean government doesn’t provide mapping data to foreign companies. Instead, we’ve been using a local app called Naver, which has been brilliant. It’s mostly in Korean but has decent English translations and works really well for directions and transport.
That said, our journey to Gyeongju was a little more adventurous than usual. We needed to take a series of intercity buses, which aren’t commonly used by tourists, so everything was entirely in Korean. It felt a bit like a puzzle—matching up the characters on the buses with those on the app and just hoping for the best! At one point, we were walking along the edge of a motorway trying to find a bus stop, wondering how on earth we’d manage to match the right symbols in time to flag down the correct bus. But Korea, being as efficient and well thought out as ever, came through—there was a small kiosk by the roadside with an attendant and a self-service machine. The attendant kindly switched it to English for us, helped us buy our tickets, and even stopped us from getting on the wrong bus by making a cross with her arms every time we got too excited and tried to board the wrong one. Very helpful!
After about six hours of buses, we finally arrived in Gyeongju around 4pm and after checking in and unpacking headed straight out for dinner. We found a place serving delicious ramen—Japanese food here is surprisingly good too.
Gyeongju is a city steeped in history. It was founded in 57 BC and was once the fourth largest city in the world. It served as the capital of the ancient Silla kingdom, which ruled over two-thirds of Korea from the 7th to the 9th century. History is everywhere here, so after dinner we went for an evening walk to see some of the historical sites beautifully lit up at night.
We visited Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond, a restored palace complex from the Silla period. It was absolutely stunning—reflections of the lantern-lit pavilions dancing on the water. On the walk back into town, we passed the oldest surviving observatory in Asia, which was just casually standing there along the path! Back at the hostel, we spent the evening in the bar chatting with other travellers, including two Indian guys on their first trip abroad. They’d come to Korea for a Coldplay concert and decided to turn it into a holiday. They were so excited about their travels and full of questions about where else to go in Asia and Europe—it was lovely to chat and see how much they were enjoying their first adventure and how quickly they had caught the travel bug!
The next morning, we continued our history deep-dive at the National Museum. It was fascinating—free to enter and full of artefacts from Korea’s ancient past, especially the Silla period. We learnt about the royal tomb mounds scattered across the city and the treasures found inside them. You’re not allowed food or drinks in the museum, and while there are lockers, most people just leave their bags and belongings on benches outside. It felt strange to see at first, but it says a lot about how safe people feel here.
After the museum, we walked to a reconstructed bridge built using traditional techniques where an ancient bridge once stood. From there, we wandered through a traditional village filled with historic homes still in use today. One had even been turned into a little bagel shop, where we stopped for lunch and shared a very sweet garlic and cream cheese bagel. It was a bit of an odd combo, but not unpleasant!
Next, we explored the royal tomb mounds—huge grassy hills where Silla kings and nobles were buried. The burial process was fascinating: a wooden chamber was built in a dug-out hole, filled with treasures, and sometimes even a sacrificed servant, then buried under stones and earth. One of the tombs has been excavated and turned into a small museum, so we went inside to see how it had been constructed.
We spent the afternoon wandering through the mounds and the surrounding woodland, admiring the cherry blossoms. We saw lots of Koreans dressed in traditional hanbok taking photos.
While we were watching one family’s photoshoot, some older women helping with the outfits started chatting to us, and the husband of the family translated—they wanted *us* to dress up too. Apparently, it was a free service, so we gave it a go. They dressed us in beautiful gowns, and then one of the women took charge of our photoshoot—marching us around, posing us, and making sure we smiled *a lot*. If we didn’t show enough teeth, she shouted at us in Korean, so we quickly got the hang of it! It was such a funny and wholesome experience, and they were so pleased when we thanked them in Korean afterwards.
That evening we went out for sushi—my favourite! I even convinced Grace to try my favourite spicy tuna rolls. She said they weren’t too bad, which is very high praise considering she usually avoids anything fishy or seaweed-y. I loved them so much I ordered a second round and ended up waddling home, completely stuffed.
On the way back, Grace stopped for an ice cream at a convenience store and I tried one of the fun lemonade drinks you can get here—you buy a cup of ice and then choose a flavour pouch to mix into it. I went for a peach lemonade and it was really good.
Back at the hostel, we met a Korean man in his early 40s who’d just checked into our room. We ended up chatting for a while using Google Translate. He told us he lived in Busan but had come to Gyeongju to visit the graves of his father and grandfather. He was so sweet and curious about what we thought of Korea, asking all about our trip so far. We reassured him that we were absolutely loving it.
Our next stop was Jeju Island, just off the southern coast of Korea and famous for its natural beauty. The island is crisscrossed by a series of scenic walking routes known as the Olle Trails, which together form a circular path around the entire island. The hostel owner recommended sections 6 and 7 as her favourites, so we decided to tackle those first.
She was absolutely right—they were stunning. The trails took us along dramatic coastlines, through peaceful forests, past pretty houses and hidden waterfalls. At one point we stopped for a homemade lemonade and sat down to enjoy the view… only to realise we’d chosen metal chairs that had just been painted. So we spent the second half of the hike with fresh chair imprints on our bums. Not the most fashionable look, but it made us laugh, and it didn’t spoil the walk at all. The weather was lovely—bright and a little warmer than Busan, though still breezy.
As usual, we shared the trail with lots of elderly Korean hikers, who all greeted us cheerfully as they passed. At one point, two older ladies stopped us and, to our confusion, began showing us some drawings they had done. We told them the pictures were lovely and tried to hand them back, but they insisted we keep them as a gift. We’re still not entirely sure what it was all about, but it was a very sweet interaction and definitely a highlight of the day.
That evening we treated ourselves to another Korean BBQ, this time trying Jeju’s famous black pork. We weren’t quite sure what made it special, but apparently it comes from a breed of black-haired pigs unique to the island. Taste-wise it was pretty similar to other BBQ pork we’d had, but still absolutely delicious.
On our second day in Jeju, we visited a “wellness forest,” a kind of peaceful woodland area designed to promote mental and physical wellbeing. There were scenic walking paths, quiet spots for meditation, and even beds for “forest bathing” (which basically just means lying on sun loungers and soaking up the sounds of nature). It was incredibly relaxing—until we realised the trail gradually led us uphill to the top of a surprisingly steep mound. After the long hike the day before, we were definitely feeling it in our legs! But the forest was beautiful, and we enjoyed following the trail, which was marked by colourful ribbons tied to trees. It turned into a bit of a game, spotting the next ribbon and making sure we hadn’t lost the path—especially since there were warning signs everywhere about the dangers of wandering off-trail due to wild animals. Thankfully the only wildlife we saw were a few deer.
In the afternoon, I attempted a mission to the local post office to send home some clothes I wouldn’t need for the rest of the trip—shorts, dresses and swimwear mostly. It ended up being a much more stressful experience than expected. Between the language barrier and some very confusing paperwork, it took over two hours of miming, pointing, and hopeful smiling before I finally handed over the box. I *think* it’s now on its way home, though there’s a slight chance I just paid £35 to lose a random box of clothes somewhere in Korea.
The rest of the evening we spent relaxing—chatting with other travellers at the hostel and turning in early ahead of our flight to Gyeongju the next morning.
After a long day of travel, several delays and not much more than three hours’ sleep, we finally landed in South Korea at around 8am. First challenge was figuring out public transport while half-asleep, but thankfully a kind newsagent took pity on us and helped us top up a Korean T-card and pointed us in the direction of the metro. Once we were on the trains, it was all surprisingly easy—everything is clearly signed in both Korean and English, and there are handy indicators showing where the train is, which carriages are full, and even what side the doors will open. We had to take three trains to get to our hostel, but it all went very smoothly considering how tired we were.
Our day got even better when we arrived at the hostel and found we’d been upgraded to a private room and could check in straight away. We gratefully went back to sleep for a few hours before heading out to explore.
First stop was a nearby shopping mall—perhaps not the most cultural choice, but necessary! We’d gone from 32°C in the Philippines to just 11°C in Busan, so we spent a few hours buying jeans, jumpers and coats. Not sure how we’re going to fit it all in our bags, but we’ll deal with that later. Obviously we also stopped to admire the sweet treats and treated ourselves to a very pretty strawberry and cream croissant.
Once we were sufficiently layered up, we went in search of a proper meal and found a restaurant serving kimchi and beef hotpot. It came with loads of side dishes and was very tasty—meant to be for two people, but we still couldn’t finish it all. We also realised metal chopsticks are so much harder to use than wooden ones, so we’re basically back to square one on that front. It was an interesting eating experience we had no idea what pairs with what, or how to eat certain things, and I even managed to nearly blow my head off by not recognising wasabi and adding a big blob to a mouthful of food.
After lunch we headed to a park that was supposed to have lots of cherry blossom trees. We’d just missed the main season of them but there were still a few blossoms hanging on. We also found a cool samurai statue and plenty of stray cats for Grace to befriend. Later we found out why all their ear tips are clipped, it’s to show they’ve been neutered/spayed, which was interesting to learn.
On the way back to the hostel we popped into one of the many claw machine arcades (they’re everywhere here) before calling it a day. We’d planned to go to a drone show on the beach that evening, but it was cancelled due to extreme wind and rain, we even got warnings about it on our lhones, so instead we went back to the warm hostel, had gloriously long hot showers and brushed our teeth with tap water! Such a novelty after so long without it. Then it was straight to bed.
For our second day we took the train up to the town of Beomeosa, in the far north of Busan. After a bit of miming with a helpful shopkeeper we discovered there was a nice woodland walk to the temple, so we decided to follow it. It was a peaceful hour-long stroll and we passed lots of older locals out for walks or stretching—it seems the older generation here are very active.
Beomeosa Temple is still an active Buddhist temple, and since it was the weekend, there were no guided tours running and about 100 people were there to worship. We were still allowed to explore and wander through the beautiful old wooden buildings, all strung with colourful paper lanterns. It would have been nice to know more of the history, but it was still a lovely visit.
We stopped by a street market on the way back and picked up a pot of sticky spicy chicken to share —absolutely delicious, we regretted not getting one each.
In the afternoon we visited Gamcheon Culture Village, a colourful, coastal neighbourhood filled with art shops and cafés. We wandered the winding streets taking photos and enjoying a hot chocolate before deciding to get a little portrait done by a street artist. We’d seen someone else get theirs and it looked amazing, so we paid ₩35,000 (£20) and sat for ours. The artist spent ages measuring our faces and even stared deep into our eyes to get the colour right. Unfortunately, despite all of the inspections, the final result didn’t look much like either of us—maybe she wasn’t used to painting Western faces—but we still liked it and it makes for a fun keepsake.
That evening we joined a little hostel group for a Korean BBQ—one German woman and two Swiss guys. It was great fun, grilling meat at the table and trying different side dishes. I also decided to try the rice wine, expecting something light, but it turned out to be more like a small bottle of vodka. Apparently it’s common to mix it with beer here, but I went for coke instead, but the others said it was nice in beer too. After dinner we ended up across the road in a cocktail bar and had a really fine evening staying out until 1am! One round we all ordered drinks for the person to our left with the rule that it had to be something they hadn’t tried yet. I got a super sweet candy one, while Grace got a cocktail that was proudly described as tasting like “soil.” We assumed it was a mistranslation. It wasn’t.
Understandably, day three started a bit slower. We spent the morning writing postcards before heading to a traditional market for lunch. We shared another sticky chicken dish, a tempura squid stick, and some pork and kimchi dumplings. All delicious.
After lunch we headed to the beach, though it was too chilly for sunbathing. We strolled along the promenade in our coats and watched people building sand sculptures for an upcoming competition. It was a strange but cool contrast to see skyscrapers right next to the sea.
We tried to ride one of the cute two-person train pods we’d seen on overhead tracks earlier, but being the weekend they were all booked up. Instead, we grabbed seats on the slower coastal tourist train which left in about an hour and a half. We filled the time with hot drinks and I tried mochi in the form of — a chocolate mochi -covered strawberry it was a bit chewy and didn’t taste of much. Probably won’t get it again, but not bad as a one-off try.
The train ride was just a slow plod along the coast and there wasn’t loads to see, which was probably good as we both fell asleep for the first half of the train ride, which the Korean ladies next to us found hilarious. At least we saw the view on the return journey!
For dinner, we stopped at a little restaurant on the walk back to the hostel. It wasn’t in a touristy area so there was no English menu and the staff didn’t speak any either. We attempted to mime “whatever you think for two people” to the very patient waiter, and ended up with another BBQ and a selection of sides. There was also a jug of mystery liquid we assumed was water, but it tasted very sesame-y—possibly oil? Not entirely sure if we were supposed to be drinking it or not, we played it safe and ordered cokes.
On our final morning in Busan we got up early to squeeze in a few last sights before our afternoon flight. First was another seaside culture village, which looked very cute in the early morning light even though all the shops were still closed. The chilly weather and quiet streets made it feel a bit like an English seaside town out of season.
Next we took the cable car ride along the coast, which was fun and gave us a great view of the city—though the glass-bottom floor over the ocean was a bit unnerving! At the top we had a quick walk around the sea walkway before catching the cable car back.
Our last stop was the fish market, which I was dreading slightly (based on past experience of smelly fish markets). But it was actually fine—cool weather plus live seafood meant no terrible smell! We had a fun wander nosing around the tanks of fish and octopus before heading back to the hostel to grab our bags and head to the airport for our flight to Jeju.
Our last stop in the Philippines was Bohol. Getting there—surprise, surprise—involved more trikes and ferries, but the journey wasn’t too bad. We were greeted by a lovely private room in a hotel (with a working shower!) and decided to splash out a bit (£20pp a night is splashing out here!) for our final two nights in the country.
For our first full day, we had a few places we wanted to visit, so we booked onto a day tour. It was £40 each—which is pretty steep by Filipino standards—but the reviews were glowing, so we figured it’d be worth it.
Sadly, it was a bit underwhelming. Our first stop was a man-made forest planted by students about 50 years ago, filled with towering mahogany trees. We’d hoped to walk through the forest or visit the eco centre, but instead we just pulled up at the side of the road for a quick photo stop.
Next was the tarsier sanctuary—the only place you can see these tiny mammals in the Philippines. That part was genuinely cool. The part of the sanctuary open to the public is small, to avoid disturbing the animals, so the visit only took about 15 minutes, it started with a very sinister looking tarsier puppet but thankfully the tarsiers themselves were less creepy and very adorable—about the size of your palm, with babies no bigger than a thumb.
After that, we tried some coconut milk ice cream served in a crispy, prawn cracker-style cone, which was actually pretty tasty.
The final main stop was a viewpoint over the Chocolate Hills, a cluster of around 1,500 limestone hills that turn chocolate brown in the dry season, giving them their name. Again, it was cool to see, but we were only given 15 minutes to enjoy it before being ushered back into the van.
After just an hour and a half of sightseeing, the “official” tour was over. The rest of the afternoon was spent being shuttled around to “optional extra” attractions—basically overpriced tourist traps. We checked the reviews for each one and found they barely scraped two stars, and each cost around £15 extra per person. After each attraction the group opting in slowly dwindled until eventually we all agreed to skip the last two stops and just head back.
Looking back, we definitely would’ve been better off hiring a trike and doing it ourselves—but you live and learn.
The weirdest part came later. That evening, our tour guide started WhatsApping me, asking for a 5-star review. When I said we didn’t feel comfortable doing that, she sent screenshots of her and her boss slagging off us and other guests. When I told her I thought that was inappropriate, she told me she’d be fired and wouldn’t be able to feed her kids unless we left a 5-star review. So that’s how the tour ended up with such glowing ratings! In the end, I told her we didn’t want to leave a misleading review or get her in trouble, so we’d just leave no review at all. A very bizarre customer service strategy!
After a disappointingly expensive day we decided to just spend our last full day in the Philippines relaxing around the pool, making the most of the sunshine and doing some planning for our next stop of Busan, Korea.
We had another long travel day to get to Siquijor: a trike, a bus, another trike, a ferry, another trike, another ferry, and one final trike. Seven hours in total! But we finally arrived on another island, this time off the coast of Cebu. It’s bigger than Malapascua and might just be our favourite place we’ve stayed yet.
You can circle the island on its main road in about two hours, but the attractions are pretty spread out. So, after arriving in the early evening, we headed out to rent a scooter. Once that was sorted, we dropped off our laundry and grabbed a very un-local tapas dinner—then straight to bed.
The next morning, we set out to explore the island by scooter. Our first stop was Cambugahay Falls, a series of stunning turquoise waterfalls with four levels to swim in. We climbed up to the top level—it took a bit more effort, but it was far less crowded, mostly just local kids. They were very curious about us, asking where we were from, whether we were married, if we had a baby, etc.
They were especially fascinated by Grace’s snorkel, which bought us a brief moment of peace while they took turns playing with it. Then they spotted our Kindles and insisted on learning how they worked. One little girl even asked if she could read aloud to Grace—her English was excellent! She told us she was ten and that she and her cousins live in a nearby village and visit the falls on weekends. Then came the question she’d clearly been dying to ask: she pointed at Grace’s face and asked, “Why is your nose so big?” We explained that people from different places look different. Grace asked her, “Do you like it?” and the girl looked horrified and said a very blunt, “No.”
They asked for a selfie and made Grace add them on Facebook to send it over. We’re a little worried she’s now on a watchlist somewhere for adding random children on social media, but they seemed happy enough and finally let us leave!
Our next stop was an old monastery from the 1800s that had been beautifully restored. We wandered through the stone and woof buildings and peaceful gardens before heading to see the island’s oldest tree. It was pretty impressive, and you could sit with your feet in an artificial stream underneath where tiny pedicure fish nibbled at your toes.
After a late lunch, we spent the afternoon at Little Boracay Beach—another postcard-perfect white sand beach with palm trees and clear water. It was the perfect chill spot to end a busy day of exploring.
That evening, we freshened up and went out for sunset drinks and dinner at a local place with live music. A really fun way to wrap up the day.
The next morning we were up early for a boat trip to Apo Island, about an hour away. It’s designated as a marine sanctuary, so no boats are allowed near the shore and commercial fishing is banned. We were split into groups with local guides who swam with us to make sure people respected the rules: no touching wildlife and no stepping on the coral. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop some groups—especially some Korean tourists—who crowded around turtles, dove down next to them for selfies, and stepped all over the coral. It was heartbreaking to see, especially knowing how slowly coral grows.
Our guide tried his best—he shouted at the groups and even told off their guides. He later apologised to us for getting frustrated but explained that the turtles have started avoiding the area when it’s too busy, and he worries they’ll soon stop coming altogether. That would mean the locals, many of whom have lived on the island for generations, might eventually be forced to leave as their main source of income disappears. We totally agreed—it’s amazing to see the turtles, but this isn’t a theme park, and people should respect the wildlife.
Luckily, we found a few turtles away from the crowds and watched them from a respectful distance. It was just as magical, and way more peaceful.
Back at the hostel, we showered off and met a couple of Dutch guys in our room. We ended up going out for dinner and drinks with them—another not-so-local spot, this time an Italian place. But the food was incredible and it was my first pasta in weeks, so I had zero regrets. Filipino food is nice, but the variety can be a bit lacking, so we’re branching out when we spot something good.
After dinner, we went to a bar with live music and taught the Dutch guys a drinking game called “Higher or Lower Squared.” We weren’t drinking ourselves since we were driving the scooters, but they didn’t seem to mind being the only ones! It wasn’t a late night anyway—still so hot here even after dark, 30°c with no breeze, it felt like sitting in an oven. By 11 PM we were back at the hostel, grateful for the sweet relief of air conditioning.
On our last full day in Siquijor, we decided to make the most of having a moped and complete the full loop around the island.
Unfortunately, it rained for most of the morning, so our first stop ended up being a nice breakfast spot where we had bagels and cream cheese. Can you tell we’re enjoying the availability of good Western food on the island?
Once the rain cleared, we headed to a marine sanctuary to do some more snorkeling—but sadly it was closed due to poor visibility caused by the weather. We did, however, spend some time giving water to a very sunburnt-looking puppy. It’s heartbreaking how many stray dogs and puppies there are here, and how many seem to be neglected.
After that, we drove past some rice fields and into a beautiful forest. Unfortunately, I still hate being on the back of mopeds, even though we were only going about 35 km/h. I didn’t feel confident enough to get my phone out to take pictures, so you’ll just have to take my word for how lovely it was.
In the afternoon, we stopped at Salagdoong Beach and spent a few hours lounging in the shade and chatting. There wasn’t much else we wanted to see that day—and honestly, the heat and humidity in the Philippines are so intense that the only way to cope is to stay in the shade and dip in and out of cool water!
On our way back to the hostel, we stopped for some sunset drinks—which I was very happy about, because after an hour of bumping along on the back of the scooter, my backside was really starting to feel it. At least it was our last ride! We dropped off the bike and walked the rest of the way back, hot and sweaty, only to find there was a power cut… and no working showers.
That meant we had to take another classic Philippines special: the bucket shower. Not glamorous, but better than no shower at all.
After dinner, we returned to the hostel hoping the power would be back on—but no such luck. It was 32°C in the room, and without aircon, it was a pretty miserable start to the night. Thankfully, after a few hours of trying to sleep in the heat, the power kicked back in, the aircon came on, and we finally got some rest.
As beautiful as the Philippines has been, we won’t be too sad to be heading to much cooler South Korea soon! But first, one more stop: Bohol. I’ll tell you all about it soon.
We woke up early to catch the first ferry from Malapascua to Cebu Island. The boat was packed with locals, giving us a more authentic experience—and introducing us to our first “chicken boat” moment when one of the passengers brought along two fighting cocks.
We also made friends with a little boy, around five years old, who was on a determined mission to get some sweets. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any, but a South African couple on board gave him a piece of chewing gum. He popped it in his mouth, immediately declared it “too spicy,” and spat it straight into his brother’s hand. However, as soon as he saw his brother happily chewing away, he felt left out and asked for another. This time, he spent the entire journey licking off the sugary coating like a lollipop.
At the docks, we watched a group of children playing in the water, floating on makeshift rafts crafted from old fridge doors—turning scraps into adventure.
It was supposed to be another long and exhausting travel day—first a busy bus ride back to Cebu City, followed by another bus to Moalboal. But after a string of never-ending travel days, we decided to splurge and spend £60 on a taxi, cutting the journey down to a direct five-hour drive. Once we arrived at the hostel and heard other travelers’ horror stories about their 12-hour bus ordeals, we knew we had made the right call—£30 each well spent!
By the time we arrived, it was already afternoon, so we took a walk to explore the town before heading back to freshen up for the boodle fight dinner. A boodle fight is a communal meal eaten while standing around a table covered with banana leaves, with all the food spread on top. It originated as a military tradition meant to build camaraderie by having everyone share the same meal, regardless of rank.
It was a nice idea in theory, but the staff took ages to set up the table and then insisted we all introduce ourselves with fun facts before eating. This wasn’t exactly Grace’s idea of fun as an introvert, and to make matters worse, the rice and other food sat out in the heat for about 40 minutes. Given our past stomach troubles in the Philippines, we decided to give the food a miss. But we still had a great time chatting with the other guests and later joined them for drinks at a nearby food court.
The next day, we opted for a more relaxing pace after all the traveling we’d been doing. After a well-earned lie-in, we made our way to White Beach. It was absolutely beautiful, but we found ourselves constantly shifting spots to escape the incoming tide. By around 3 PM, there wasn’t much dry sand left, so we decided to head back to town.
Just off the town’s promenade is the famous sardine run—a shimmering stream of small fish just above the coral drop-off into the deep ocean. Naturally, I had to snorkel out to see it. It was incredible, like a flowing river of tiny, glistening silver shapes moving in unison. It was so so cool to see, sadly we don’t have an underwear camera but I’ll link a video below so you can see what it was like. On my swim back, I even spotted a turtle, the cherry on top of a very cool experience.
Unfortunately, I got stung by sea lice again. Luckily, I don’t seem to react as badly as Grace does, but it was still an unpleasant prickling sensation. That was enough to put Grace off from swimming out to see the sardines herself.
On our last day in Moalboal, we went canyoning. We were picked up at 6 AM and driven to the starting point, where we were fitted with water shoes, life jackets, and helmets. They advised against taking phones unless they were waterproof, and since we only had Grace’s with us—and it already had water damage—we decided to leave it in the lockers. We assumed there wouldn’t be much to photograph anyway. Unfortunately, we were very wrong! Luckily, someone who did bring their phone kindly shared some photos with us.
At the start, we were given a choice: a 40-minute hike or a 5-minute zipline over the forest. Naturally, we chose the more fun and less exhausting option—the zipline. It was amazing to soar over the dense jungle on a tandem line, taking in the incredible views. From there, it was a short walk to the river.
The river itself was breathtaking—crystal-clear turquoise water winding through lush forest. Each of us was assigned a guide, and mine introduced himself as “King Kong” because he could make incredibly realistic monkey calls. Throughout the trip, he would call to birds and monkeys, and they would actually respond! At first, he waved at me, and I waved back. He kept communicating with hand gestures, so I assumed his English wasn’t very good. It wasn’t until we reached the start point and I spoke to Grace that he looked completely shocked. Her guide explained that King Kong had thought I was deaf and mute! No idea where he got that from!
Grace and I were the first to set off in our group. We made our way down the river, wading through the water, stepping over rocks, and floating through sections while the guides held our hands like toddlers being carefully led by their parents. The guides showed us where we could jump off waterfalls, which rocks we could slide down, and even dragged us along in some sections where the current was strong.
One particularly fast-flowing section required us to sit and let the current pull us over a small waterfall. As I looked up, I saw Grace spinning helplessly, her legs flailing in the air as she was swept over the edge! Luckily, it was only about a meter high, and she came out of it laughing.
At one spot, they had us stand with our backs to the water, and I got to kick Grace off the ledge. Then they did the same to me—it was terrifying not being able to see what I was falling into! The final jump was the most intimidating—a 10-meter drop. The guides told us, “No jump, no lunch,” which put me in a tough spot as someone who loves food but hates heights. In the end, my stomach won, and I took a running leap. The fall felt endless before I finally hit the water, but we had done it—we completed the course without skipping any jumps!
At the end, while waiting for the rest of the group, we swam under waterfalls and lounged in the pools, enjoying the peaceful surroundings. We chatted with others as they arrived and found most of the boys hadn’t done the last big jump but all of us girls had, some brave ladies!
Lunch was waiting for us after everyone arrived—delicious noodles and spring rolls—and I was able to get some of the photos and videos the rest of the group had taken. After such an adventurous day, we had a chilled evening and an early night. Another long travel day awaits us in the morning as we maje our way to Siquijor. I’ll tell you all about it when we get there!
Our next destination was Malapascua, a tiny island off the coast of the bigger island of Cebu. It turned into our longest travel day yet—we were up at 5 AM for a taxi to the airport, where our flight to Cebu was delayed by four hours. During the wait, Grace started feeling really rough, and a rash she had developed after snorkeling on our boat trip seemed to be getting worse. When we finally landed in Cebu at midday, we decided to stop at a pharmacy since Malapascua, being a small island, wouldn’t have many medical supplies.
What should have been a simple errand turned into a frustrating ordeal—because it was a Saturday, none of the actual pharmacists were working in the pharmacies. We trudged around the city with our heavy backpacks, searching for one that could help. When we eventually found a pharmacist, she took one look at Grace and suggested she see a doctor because her symptoms matched monkeypox—terrifying.
Cue another wild goose chase. It took visits to three different clinics before we finally found one that was open. After an examination and a blood test, the doctor confirmed it was just a rash, along with a bacterial infection. She prescribed antihistamines and antibiotics, and we were finally on our way.
After some Googling, we now suspect Grace’s rash was caused by something called “sea lice” While snorkeling here, we often feel an itchy, prickling sensation—like brushing against nettles—which usually fades quickly and is just plankton irritating the skin. But on our last snorkel, it was much worse and lasted longer. It turns out it was probably “sea lice” which aren’t actually lice but jellyfish larvae, which can cause nasty skin reactions. Grace’s body seems to have reacted badly to them. But at least it’s not monkey pox!
With medication in hand, we caught a bus from Cebu City to Maya, the port for Malapascua. It was supposed to take four hours, but thanks to rush hour traffic (which in the Philippines is no joke), we were still in the city two hours later.
Five long hours later, we finally arrived—only to discover we had missed the last ferry. Despite our bus driver speeding along like a maniac. So, we had no choice but to stay the night in a hotel and catch the early ferry the next morning. We were the last ones on the bus and driver asked us where we were staying and kindly drove us right next to the hotel and took our bags in for us. So at least it was a 5* experience even if it took a long time!
Unfortunately, our bad luck wasn’t over yet. The ferry ride should have been about an hour, but 30 minutes in, a massive storm rolled in—dark skies, heavy rain, thunder, lightning, the works. By the time we reached Malapascua, the island was practically flooding, and we had to wade through murky, muddy water to get to our hostel. The rain was so intense that even pulling Grace’s phone out for a few seconds to check directions caused water damage.
Our accommodation was a bamboo hut high in the air so we were safe from the flooding at least even if I did constantly feel like I was about to fall through the floor!
Needless to say, sightseeing was off the table, but at least we got a lot of planning and booking done for our next few countries. Thankfully, the next day brought sunshine. Grace was up early for scuba diving, where she got to see thresher sharks and some amazing octopuses. I, on the other hand, had the much less exciting task of booking hostels and planning our next stops.
At least I got to do it in the sunshine—I went to a nice café and ordered a tuna sandwich, which turned out to be more of a mayonnaise sandwich. There were about three flakes of tuna in the whole thing. When I asked the waitress why there was no tuna, she pointed at a single flake and said, “Yes, is here,” as if I was blind for not spotting it. I gave up and just ate it.
In the afternoon, I had a stroll around the island and saw the cockerels that had woken me up that morning, apparently cock fighting is still a big thing in the Philippines.
Grace returned, and we spent the evening on the beach, chatting over drinks. Malapascua is beautiful, but unless you’re diving, there’s not a whole lot to do. We did however try a mango float, the best way I can describe it is a cross between a cheesecake and a tiramisu without coffee and with added mango, very tasty!
Next up is Moalboal—hopefully, it’ll be a bit more exciting to write about (and to experience!). I’ll tell you all about it soon. Love, Alice x
On our first night in Coron, we met up with the group from the boat trip—everyone except the German couple—and went out for dinner.
As we chatted about our plans for the next day, we found that we had all struggled to find boat tours that didn’t include places we had already visited. Frederico, who had been to the Philippines before, enthusiastically recommended some of his favorite spots. Unfortunately, none of them were included in the standard tours. He was so disappointed that we wouldn’t get to see them that he suggested hiring a private boat to visit them ourselves.
Grace had already looked into this, but even split between the nine of us, it was a bit too expensive on our backpacker budgets. Then, in an incredibly generous gesture, Frederico offered to pay for the entire boat, saying we’d only need to cover the environmental entry fees. He insisted he had plenty of money and simply enjoyed spending time with us as a group—so he was happy to make it happen.
The next morning, our boat crew picked us up and took us to a local market to buy food for the day. I couldn’t even step inside—the smell of fish in the heat was overwhelming—but Grace and the other English girls braved it and picked out some chicken, rice, and fresh fruit.
While waiting outside and watching the other boat crews gather their supplies, I had a realization about the pork we’d been eating on our El Nido-to-Coron boat trip. We had been wondering why it had so much cartilage, and I suddenly put two and two together—it was probably pig’s head. I decided to keep that revelation to myself. Oh well, at least it had tasted good!
With our food sorted, we set off for our first stop, a viewpoint overlooking the island and a stunning lake where we got to swim. The lake was full of tiny fish that were so used to tourists they had no fear—you could actually scoop them up in cupped hands of water.
Next, we explored some breathtaking lagoons and went for another swim. The towering rock formations looked so dramatic and unreal, it felt like we were on a movie set, as if they were made of polystyrene and craft materials rather than actual rock.
For lunch, we stopped in a quiet cove and had BBQ chicken, rice, and fresh fruit. The fruit was incredible—the mangoes and pineapples here are unbelievably sweet and flavorful. I can’t get enough of them.
After lunch, we visited another lagoon, this one only accessible by swimming through a narrow tunnel in the rock. Again, it was stunning. One of the best parts of the day was how relaxed the pace was—we weren’t rushed from place to place like on the typical tours. We could actually take our time, swim, explore, and enjoy the scenery without feeling like we were on a schedule.
Our final stop was a snorkeling site. At first, we weren’t too excited—we’d already spent three days snorkeling—but the boat captain assured us it was worth it. And wow, he was right. The coral and marine life were unbelievable; it felt like being dropped into an aquarium.
At one point, we swam around a rock and came face to face with a barracuda. Given that we were wearing jewelry and barracudas are known to go after shiny objects, it was a little nerve-wracking. Thankfully, it seemed just as startled as we were and quickly swam away. We also spotted a triggerfish, which aggressively defends its territory in a cone-shaped zone extending from the seafloor. Luckily, we kept our distance and didn’t provoke it.
Puffer Fish, Barracuda and a turtle
The rest of the marine life was far less intimidating—needlefish, starfish, pufferfish, parrotfish, and even a sea turtle feeding nearby. It was an unforgettable experience. That evening, we all met up one last time for dinner before heading our separate ways. The next morning, Grace and I had a flight to another island—Cebu.
Our time in El Nido didn’t start of great, we turned up at our hostel, the one with the best ratings in the area, to find it dark cramped and dirty looking. So we immediately headed back out into the town on the search of a different one, the only one that still had space was double to price, but thankfully this trip were no longer penny pinching and unemployed so we decided to splash out on the much nicer hostel, still unsure how the other one had such high ratings.
After we had moved all of our stuff over and showed we went out for a lovely Italian dinner sharing a pizza and a salad. But yet again I had vomiting and diarrhea about an hour later, which is no ideal as we only had one more day in El Nido before we were supposed to be doing a three day boat trip.
So the next day, sadly our only full day in El Nido, I spent the morning in a local clinic trying to get to the bottom of what the issue is. After a fun stool sample in a dubious looking toilet and some waiting around for results I was told I have a parasite infection, probably from a salad or contaminated water. Luckily 10 says of antibiotics should resolve the issue and the doctors visit and medication only came to around £50, well worth it to be on the mend!
Thankfully the next morning I wasn’t feeling as weak and tired and had managed to keep some food down, so we decided to go ahead with out boat trip. We had booked a two night, three day excursion from El Nido to Coron, we were luckily on one of the smaller catermerang boats, there were 11 travelers; A Dutch couple, A Swedish couple, A German couple, tow other British Girls and an Italian man. Along with four staff on the boat.
It was a super fun three days, we visited sand bars, snorkeling spots and beautiful beaches. We lucked out on our first day when we found a brand new looking snorkel and goggels at a snorkeling spot somone had obviously dropped and left without as we were the only people there. The snorkeling spots were amazing we saw so much cool corral and so many cool fish, we also saw some turtles. The group soon cottened on that Grace was the girl to stick close to when snorkeling and I lost my private guide, but she was showing us all the cool stuff in the ocean and stopping us getting attacked by trigger fish and a large Barracuda at one point!
We also got very spoilt with three freshly cooked buffet meals each day. In the evenings we docked up on small islands and ate on the land, the first night on of the English girls was feeding some dogs all our leftover chicken adobo and we’re getting very grumpy looks from the boat staff, only afterwards did we realise the food was for them too and they just waited for us to finish before they ate. Woops!
We slept in basic wooden huts with mosquito nets, and showered in water collected from rain, somehow even in this most basic and isolated of places we still couldn’t escape the Filipino love for karaoke and there was a battery powered machine, which made for our evening entertainment, the first night we had a karaoke off with the other boat staying on the island, they claimed it was unfair because I was too good a singer which may have been the best compliment I’ve ever had and I would of been very happy with it except it made me a bit too confident and it all came crashing down with a rather lacking attempt at Adele! Ohh well I guess I’ll stick to my normal day job when I get home! The boat crews were also joining in, singing their hearts out even if they didn’t always know the words, we particularly enjoyed the captain’s rendition of ‘You take my breath bread away’
The group was super fun and we all really got on playing dice games and chatting in-between stops. The Italian guy traveling on his own turned out to be an Actor and director apparently he is a main character on the netflix series ‘White Lotus’ which was lost on all of us, we had all heard of it but none of us had seen it. But he was telling us the cast are waiting to hear if they have won an oscar they have been nominated for.
It was a fun three days, except for some light to moderate sun burn for everyone on the last day when we seemed to be driving in a way that gave zero areas of shade, even our factor 50 suncream couldn’t seem to save us, but luckily we were the ones who got off the lightest and it’s already turned brown!
It was a great way to travel to Coron, even if we are knackered now! Can’t wait to tell you all about Coron soon, lots of love, Alice x
