So I guess I left off last time at Boracay. We left Boracay a few days ago and made our way down through the island of Panay to Iloilo City. Something I ate didn't agree with me and I ended up throwing up in a plastic bag on the bus ride to Iloilo. Luckily all I had eaten was a mango and a saltine cracker, otherwise it could have been a major crisis. I never thought mangoes would betray me, but I guess I was wrong. I felt fine after that incident though, and six hours later I was eating fast food rice with sweet and sour pork at Daniel's Tea House in the SM City Mall of Iloilo. Our stay in Iloilo was pretty uneventful, and we continued on to Cebu City the next day.

Cebu is quieter, cleaner, and more easy going than Manila. We found a few restaurants, got some more money from the ATMs, and took care of a bunch of other stuff we'd been needing to get done. Oh, I also bought a new battery charger because I broke my nice one the first time I tried to use it. The Philippines run different electricity levels than we do at home, and I'm an idiot, so I forgot to use my transformer and plugged the charger directly into the wall. It only took 30 seconds for me to realize my error, but by that time, it was too late. I found poor quality one for about $12 at an electronics store, and figured it would at least get me back to Manila.

From Cebu we went north to the little island of Malapascua. Our guidebook described it as "Boracay without the crowds" so we figured it might be a good place to spend a few days relaxing. I guess in retrospect it was a nice place. Good beaches, palm trees all over the place, only about 7km around the whole thing, but there was just something discomforting about the island. The girl at our hotel told us it was the low season (and gave us a 50% discount), but I felt like it was more than that. Many of the places listed in the book were closed and falling apart or being torn down, the people were less friendly, and all the restaurants and bars were deserted. I know it probably sounds nice, but there was just a strange feeling that the whole place was one big ghost town. Strangely, although it seemed completely dead, Malapascua was white person central. There were probably around 15 other white couples, even a few americans. The Chinese and Japanese also showed up in loud groups. Once again, I was astonished by the rudeness that they showed towards Philipinos and everyone else around them. I won't go into it, but you guys need to show some common decency. I mean, I hate people as much as the next guy, but it doesn't hurt to be polite every once in a while. Anyway, we felt that one day on Malapascua was enough, and we continued on our way in the general direction of Manila.

I'm trying to post some pictures up here, or at least get them off of my camera's memory card, but the last three internet places I've visited haven't had working usb ports. I'll see what I can do in the near future.