continued from Banaue blog... We decided to skip sleep even though we were still very tired from the long bus ride. We had a sunny day and knew that during this time of year that was something to be taken advantage of before the heavy rains came. We wanted to hire a driver to take us to the Batad terraces, said to be the biggest and most spectacular in the region. Little did we know that the trip was to be another hour and a half long drive into the jungle along...

Banaue, June 21 We left Boracay fully rested and ready to experience another side of the Philippines, the mountainous jungles of the north. We had heard about the ancient rice terraces of Banaue and were eager to witness these architectural marvels. The Banaue rice terraces are often referred to as "the 8th Wonder of the World" and are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Quick fact - the rice terraces are the only ancient megastructures in the world that wer...

Okay, so the previous blog was getting far too long so I've chopped it into two manageable entries so I don't scare you with a mini-novel. Our 11 days in Boracay have been the longest we've stayed anywhere in the past 5 months, so we've got a lot to say! (And the free wireless is an added incentive) One evening, about a week into our stay, we met up with an American named Keith who is teaching in South Korea. The following day we teamed up with Keith to hire ano...

Boracay...continued, June 17 Having spent the first few days on the island swinging in hammocks and lounging on the beach, we figured it was time to get out and do something different. When walking down the beach path you are often approached by several vendors waving a laminated card in your face saying, "Sir, Mam...Jetski? Snorkel? Parasailing? ATV? Sailing?" Typically, one has to tell them several times that you're not interested, but it isn't more ...

Boracay, June 10 Boracay is a small, beautiful tourist island located just off the northwestern tip of Panay Island. It is located in the west Visayas archipelago, off the Sibuyan Sea in Phillipines (see our google map for the geeneral location). The island is seven kilometers long and divided into three barangays, or communities. Yapak lies in the north, Balabag in the center and Manoc-Manoc in the south. Within these barangays are smaller villages such as Ango...