Traveling East Across Java

Dubbed the Big Durian, Jakarta is not an easy city to get to grips with. The national museum gives an excellent introduction to its tribal diversity and the shopping malls are world class but after a hot and sweaty day attempting to find my way around its somewhat disappointing tourist attractions, I was content to move on. A short train journey east took me to the city of Bogor, built around a vast botanical garden which plays an important role in agricultural and forestry research. The gardens are indeed a great place to while away an afternoon but it was the train journey there that really opened my eyes. I made a bit of a mess of the train connections and ended up on the slow train through the Jakartan slums, where beggars crawl along the dirty corridors of the packed commuter trains. Thousands more live alongside the tracks in tiny shacks where poverty is the way of life. The train line itself seems to act as a kind of economic artery and a whole variety of food vendors board the train at each minor station, desperately hawking their meagre wares. It was a sobering reminder that the Big Durian has a tough spiny outer shell for those struggling to get by. However, Bogor itself is definitely a one attraction town and once I’d seen the botanical gardens, it was time to move on.

I decided to get clear of the cities and set myself the ambitious target of getting as far as Pangandaran, Java’s main beach resort, the following day. This meant traveling through the busy city of Bandung (population 2 million) and the journey over the scenic Puncak pass through the tea plantations sounded interesting. Unfortunately my bus chose the longer, duller motorway route, depositing me at the western bus station. I then needed to navigate the city of Bandung by public transport to get to the eastern bus station. It was a real slog but events took a positive turn when I met a Canadian guy on the bus to Pangandaran. Ross, an English teacher at a South Korean university, was taking a three week holiday across Java to Bali and was great company. The conversation helped pass the six hour bus journey and we ended up hanging out for a few days in pleasant Pangandaran and then traveling east across the rest of Java. In truth, the towns grey sand beach was nothing special, but the place did have a laid back out of season vibe (it was actually approaching peak season) with some decent restaurants and bars. At the edge of town a peninsular of land plays host to the Penanjung Pangandaran nature reserve. Its mostly secondary rainforest but is home to a variety of wild animals. An afternoon stroll produced sightings of sambar deer, macaques, black leaf monkeys and even a rare mouse deer, which had come out to forage for food as dusk began to set in. For our last day, we hired some motorbikes to explore this stretch of the southern Javan coast. It was great to get out on the open road and visit some of the small bays and fishing villages. Suitably rested and relaxed, we got a bus and train combo ticket through to Yogyakarta, Java’s cultural capital.

Yogyakarta is the only province of Indonesia that can still be referred to as a Sultanate and the Kraton (the Sultan’s Palace) is one of its main tourist attractions. In reality your only allowed access to a few of the buildings and we both found the guided tour somewhat underwhelming. Equally disappointing was the Water Castle, where the royalty used to bathe and we spent most of our visit trying to give the would be guides who were pestering us the slip. One of Yogyakarta’s more unusual sights is its bird market, where a colourful menagerie of tropical birds are on display. Alongside a whole host of other animals that you wouldn’t really imagine would make great pets - bats, snakes, monitor lizards, wild cats, a mongoose and even a slow loris. The poor loris looked a very unhappy creature, which is hardly surprising as you wouldn’t expect these nocturnal tree dwelling creatures to take well to living in cages and being displayed in the bright sunlight.

The folllowing day we hired some more motorbikes and took to the busy roads to visit Borobudur and Prambanan, Java’s ancient monuments to Buddhism and Hinduism. Borobudur dates from the ninth century and was abandoned in the fourteenth following mass conversion to Islam. Its a giant six tiered rectangle with thousands of reliefs and some 504 Buddha statues. The central stupa is surrounded by 72 smaller stupas, each housing a seated Buddha. Its an impressive, yet somewhat exposed structure and the heat and humidity take their toll as you navigate the stone stairways. We moved on eventually making it to Prambanan as the sun was beginning to set and had less than an hour to visit the site. Its less impressive than Borobudur and suffered some significant earthquake damage in 2006. There are three main temples to the holy Hindu trinity - Shiva, Brahma and Vishnu and facing them, three smaller temples for their vehicles - Nandi, Hamsa and Garuda. Several smaller temples surround the main site but the damage is extensive in places and overall the site has a somewhat neglected feel. We were both left wondering how they can justify the rather expensive 10$ entrance fee as it seems like little restoration work has been done.

Continuing east, we joined a shared van for the long journey to Mount Bromo. The busy roads were clogged with traffic and we were both looking forward to East Java’s volcanic highlights, which promised an escape from the urban centres. Java has a very high population density, indeed its the worlds most populous island, packing 130 million people into an island around half the size of Great Britain. It was late evening by the time we arrived in the mountainside village of Cemero Lawang and we took one of the few remaining overpriced rooms and went out in search of dinner. A large tour party seemed to have taken over the hotel restaurant and most places were closed, but luckily a small cafe was open and they managed to rustle up some nasi goreng and a few beers. At 4am the next morning we took a four wheel drive to the Mount Penanjakan viewpoint and waited along with a few hundred other tourists for the sunrise. Mount Bromo is the most accessible volcano of those that share the much larger Tengger Caldera and the large crowd did detract somewhat from the early morning ambience. However the vistas were stunning, even though smoke from Mount Bromo itself prevented a clear view. We decided to walk down into the caldera and across the sea sands to Mount Bromo itself to escape the crowds. It took a few hours to get there, by which time most of the crowds had cleared. The crater rim itself was something of an anti-climax after the long walk and we then faced a long journey to the Ijien Plateau.

Things didn’t get off to a great start. The bemo to Probolinggo made very slow progress down the mountain stopping at regular intervals to ferry locals taking their cabbage crop or bedroom furniture to market. It didn’t inspire much confidence that the vehicle was soon overloaded, barely roadworthy to begin with and that the driver seemed about thirteen years old. It was mid afternoon by the time we had reached Probolinggo and our hopes of reaching the coffee plantations of the Ijien Plateau had been dashed. We took the bus to Bondowoso breaking the journey at the very pleasant Palm hotel, which came complete with swimming pool, where we got two superior en suite rooms for the same price as the awful shack we had shared at Mount Bromo.

The following day we caught the local bemo up onto the Ijien Plataeu staying overnight at one of the coffee plantations. The coffee was free but like most places across the country, its served unprocessed and unfiltered - just add hot water and allow the dregs time to settle and never drain the cup. Over the two months across the archipelago, I never really took a liking to it. Both robusta and arabica varieties are grown here but the factory was closed the day we arrived and a tour was not forthcoming. Another early start saw us on the mountain trail around 6am. Its an hours walk up hill to the crater rim, where you peer down into the turquoise blue acidic lake. Its then twenty minutes walk down a steep trail to reach the waters edge, a busy hive of sulphur mining. The miners make two daily trips up and down the mountain, carrying staggering weights of solid sulphur on a primitive hod. For this back breaking work they can earn around 5-8$ a day. Those also mining the seam with drills and pickaxes also have a tough job due to the intensity of the acrid gases emanating from the fumaroles, which dissolve in the lungs to form sulphuric acid. That aside, Ijien Kawah is visually more dramatic than Mount Bromo and I left feeling a great deal of respect for the locals who craft a living from it.

Its all downhill from the Ijien Plateau to Java’s Eastern coast where a ferry can be caught to Bali, Indonesia’s tourist capital.

Introducing Indonesia

Indonesia is a vast archipelago of over 11,000 islands that stretches out towards Australasia. Its the worlds fourth most populous country and after India can claim to be the worlds second biggest democracy, based on voter turnout. However there have only been three elections since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998 and politically the country is on a steep learning curve. The democrats, a rising force in Indonesian politics won last years elections, despite taking only 20% of the vote. Rivals Golkar and PDIP each took around a 14% share and the remaining votes were split across the countries many different political factions. Since the May 2009 elections, attention has focused on the race for President, where there has been much behind the scenes maneuvering between the main parties in an attempt to form a more powerful political coalition. Current incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyon retained the top job, having made promises to reduce graft a big part of his campaign. Public sector corruption is endemic and my own perceptions suggest that artificial price inflation within the private sector is worse here than most other places in South East Asia.

The archipelago was the jewel in the crown of the Dutch East Indian trading company, later becoming a Dutch colonial possession. Yet over the course of three centuries of colonial rule, the Dutch never really unified the islands. Following independence after world war two, the separatist struggles continued, with perhaps the most bloody conflict being the secession of East Timor. Whilst the countries many ethnic minorities form a rich tapestry of tribal cultures, the challenge for modern Indonesian governments has been to try to foster a national identity, whilst attempting to balance the countries vast population across its many islands. Transmigration policies were encouraged under the Suharto dictatorship, opening up the backwaters of Sumatra and Kalimantan to economic prospectors, whilst aiming to reduce overpopulation on the island of Java. However, this mass migration caused sectarian tensions to simmer in some areas and national unity remained an elusive ambition. In recent decades, independence movements in remote areas such as Aceh and Papua have further plagued attempts at Indonesian unity and whilst a fragile post tsunami truce has been brokered in Aceh, Papua remains a troubled area with much resentment directed towards the Javan elite.

Indonesia was perhaps the worst victim of both the 1998 East Asian economic crisis and the 2004 tsunami. Its islands arc along the join between two tectonic plates with volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and giant landslides all contributing to the difficulty of life in a country where many people remain subsistence farmers. Although Indonesia has not matched the achievements of the BRIC nations, it has been posting some impressive economic growth in places. Unfortunately this has been accompanied by environmental problems, as vast areas of pristine rainforest are cleared for oil palm and fruit plantations. Indonesia is the worlds third biggest CO2 polluter - largely because of deforestation. Alongside significant offshore oil, gas, mineral and metal reserves are the tropical cash crops which are amongst the countries main exports: hardwoods, palm oil, rubber, cloves, tea, coffee, cacao, durian and coconut are all big commodities. Java and Sumatra host a number of large industrial cities and ports that help drive this economy, whilst tourism plays a lesser role. Indeed outside of Bali and Lombok you won’t find too many foreigners and in places, the traveler trail that used to exist has gone distinctly cold. Thus it has remained South East Asia’s final frontier, a destination for those with time on their hands and an appetite for exploration. English isn’t widely spoken and quickly made friendships often falter due to lack of a common language. It helps to learn some Bahasa Indonesia, the national language. Its not a difficult language to get stuck into and a little Bahasa goes a long way. In some places, its easy to end up being the only tourist in town which can bring with it a chorus of welcoming, yet sometimes overwhelming “Hello Misters”.

The country does have a continuing problem with extremist islamic elements. The Bali bombs of 2002 killed 202 people and bomb blasts at two five star Jakarta hotels in July last year, will do little to calm fears or assist those seeking to attract more tourists to these enigmatic islands. I found there were a few places where Indonesian male machismo does rear its ugly head but overall the attitude was welcoming and its in the more remote areas where you get the warmest welcome.

Indonesia’s island territories include Papua (the western half of New Guinea, the worlds second largest island), Kalimantan (the largest of four states that make up the planets third largest island Borneo) and Sumatra (number six on the global islands by size list). Although my two month island hopping adventure bypassed these giants, I still covered a vast distance from the capital Jakarta on the island of Java, traveling east across Bali, Lombok and Sumbawa to Flores and finishing up on the remote island of Sulawesi. The journey across Indonesia was a great opportunity to get up close to some amazing biodiversity, both above and below the water and many of the highlights were experienced in off the beaten track places observing some unusual rainforest animal or tropical fish.

Borneo

Borneo is the worlds third largest island (after Greenland and New Guinea). Its split into four states across three countries - Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. Despite much deforestation in recent decades, there is still a lot to savour. But for how much longer ?

I began my tour in the modern capital of Kota Kinabalu (KK) and after a few days organising trips and a visa to Indonesia, moved on to the Sepilok orang utan sanctuary towards the islands east coast. The orang utans that are being rehabilitated here live in the forest and can be seen at feeding times. The numbers of apes who show up to each session varies depending on how much food they find in the forest and their level of rehabiliation. Thus you tend to see less apes if the rehabiliation programmes are working well. The amount of fruit available in the forest is seasonal and at this time of year, theres plenty of wild fruit nearby ! Thus you don't tend to see many apes. During the morning session, only two orang utans appeared, whilst the afternoon produced a total of five showing up (two mothers, with their babies and the dominant male). It seems the mothers like to show off their babies in the afternoons, so its worth trying to get to both sessions in the same day to maximize your chances. Pig tailed macaques join in the feeding frenzy and are certainly less shy than the orang utans. There are short trails leading into some intact rainforest where I was also lucky enough to see some red leaf monkeys. All things considered, a great days primate viewing and I headed back to Uncle Tan's place buzzing with excitement !

I had heard a lot about Uncle Tan's wildlife camp on the Kinabatangan river and was not disappointed with my three day safari. There is not much forest remaining alongside the river, just a thin corridor as its all been cut back to plant oil palm plantations. The unfortunate consequences of this are that its much easier to spot wildlife. From a boat on the river we saw wild orang utans, gibbons, proboscis monkeys, silver leaf monkeys, long tailed macaques as well as monitor lizards, saltwater crocodiles and birds such as hornbills, kingfisher and oriental darters. At night we also saw some civet cats and plenty of insects and frogs on the night walk. This place is probably the best way to see wildlife in Borneo but its sad to see so little rainforest remaining in this part of the island. Oil palms cover much of the island and are Borneo's biggest cash crop. Palm oil is used as a biofuel and in processed foods, as well as in soaps and detergents. Clearing the forest to plant oil palms is a profitable business. The hardwoods can be sold as timber and the oil palms grow quickly and fruit two to three times a year, making them more profitable than a typical fruit orchard. The rising price of palm oil (at least until its recent drop during the global economic crisis) has encouraged further plantations, creating a vast monoculture that seems to be taking over the island. Although the current fashion for biofuels is claimed to have its environmental benefits, the opposite is usually the case. More carbon is released following rainforest destruction, than is saved by replacing fossil fuels with palm oil. Luckily the islands many national parks protect large areas of primary forest.

Situated between KK and Sepilok, Mount Kinabalu national park houses South East Asia's highest mountain which rises to around 4100m. Its been the subject of some controversy of late. A private company have bought up all the accomodation within the park and hiked up the prices, making the trek much more expensive. In addition many people complain that places on the mountain are booked up for two weeks in advance. Luckily theres some cheaper accomodation outside the park and after a few days spent following the trails through montane forest around the park HQ, I joined a group to trek up the mountain. Its quite a challenge, beginning at 1800m, a steep 6km trail takes you through a variety of vegetative zones from mixed dipterocarp forest, through montane forest characterised by oak, laurel and myrtle and into mossy rhododendron forest to 3200m where you spend the night. The following morning you rise early around 2am and trek the final lung busting 3km to the summit, battling the altitude and the steep gradient as you traverse the steep rock face above the tree line. The spectacular sunrise comes just after 6am, lighting up a vast panorama over the Sabah landcape.

Moving onto the neighbouring state of Sarawak, I flew into Gunung Mulu national park. Set amongst lush primary tropical rainforest are limestone karst mountains and the worlds largest underground cave network by volume which houses some impressive show caves. The lowland rainforest here is dominated by giant dipterocarp trees which grow up to around 70m and make up the canopy layer. These are the tropical hardwoods prized by the timber industry and the best way to get amongst them is via the worlds longest canopy walkway. This takes you high up into the forest where wildlife such as tree squirrels and flying lizards are seen (both of which our group saw). Night walks around park HQ are another excellent way to see wildlife, especially an amazing diversity of creepy crawlies such as giant spiders and stick insects as well as tree lizards and frogs. A group of us trekked deeper into the park and up a steep limestone trail to the summit of the Pinnacles, a series of jagged limestone karst formations that rise out of the forest like giant daggers. I left the park via the headhunters trail, an old tribal warpath that takes you through more virgin dipterocarp rainforest and peat swamp. Its then an atmospheric four hour boat journey along the river back to civilisation. Well almost civilisation. The jetty we arrived at is actually a logging port - its shocking to see how much wood gets wasted here and the place is a real eyesore. Add to the fact, that the only place in Malaysian Borneo that you're likely to get malaria is if you work in a logging camp (most are poorly paid Indonesian migrants) and you're beginning to unravel the scale of the environmental disaster that is unfolding here. Not surprisingly the Sabah and Sarawak economies are booming but both the trees and the offshore oil are beginning to run out.

Two days bus ride took me to Kuching, Sarawak's laidback capital at the western end of Malaysian Borneo. A pleasant riverside walkway joins an interesting chinatown to its more modern shopping district. Its a great base for journeys into the surrounding national parks and the Semengohh orang utan centre. Bako national park protects a range of habitats: mixed lowland rainforest, mangroves, peat swamps and kerangas - a type of heath forest which grows on nutrient poor sandstone. Some excellent trails connect the various vegetative zones and some also lead to beaches. Amongst the plant life are numerous types of carnivorous pitcher plants which feed on insects. Wildlife, most of which can be seen around park HQ foraging for food includes proboscis monkeys, bearded pigs (a type of wild boar) and some very bold long tailed macaques which are quick enough to steal the food from the table right in front of you - much to the surprise of my Swedish room mate, who had a few frankfuter sausages stolen from his plate ! I was also lucky enough to observe a venomous Wagler's pit viper from a safe distance on a nearby tree. I highly recommend an overnight stay here to enjoy the best this marvellous park has to offer.

Borneo has been a real adventure but its time to move on. Tonights flight takes me onto the Big Durian - Jakarta, Indonesia.

Luzon and Palawan

The volcanic spine of Southern Luzon is certainly a beautiful part of the country. The near perfect cone of Mount Mayon is the highest of the volcanic peaks at around the 2500m mark. It last erupted in 2006 and continues to pose a threat. You can trek up the lava flows and get within a few hundred metres of the summit, if conditions permit. My guided trek up through the mossy forest took me as far as camp one, around 800m up, where you get a magnificent view both of the cone itself and the surrounding coastline.

My main reason for travelling through this part of the country was to pay the whale sharks of Donsol bay a visit. Sightings are virtually guaranteed from February to May (assuming the sun is shining as it helps spot the shadows of the worlds largest fish as they swim just under the surface). It was a cloudy morning and it took almost 3 hours for the sun to break through and the first whale shark was spotted. We swam four times with this amazing creature. I must admit, the experience was initially overwhelming yet ultimately exhilarating and once I'd got used to his presence, was able to snorkel alongside the eight metre male for about 10 minutes. The sharks can grow up to around 16 metres and live for 80 years or more, the one we followed was perhaps 30 to 40 years old. It was quite a unique experience and something I will never forget. WWF estimate there are around 130 sharks in the bay, although new ones are arriving each year (each whale shark has unique markings which allows their numbers to be estimated with some accuracy). Three of the creatures have been tagged and they have been shown to swim as far as Australia before returning the following season. The Philippines is one of three areas of the planet, where this activity is currently possible (the others being Ningaloo reef off Western Australia) and the Mesoamerican reef off the coast of Mexico and Belize. I would strongly recommend you give it a go, if you find yourself in the right part of the world at the right time of year.

Moving northwards by bus and directly through Manila, I reached Baguio, a cool mountain retreat where forested suburbs fringe one of the countries nicer towns. From here, the epic Haselema highway runs along a high mountain ridge, peaking above 2200m connecting the smaller towns and villages of the cordillera which are famous for their incredible rice terraces, carved out of the steep wooded hillsides. I spent a few nights in the quiet hillside retreat of Sagada, where the pace of life moves slowly, trekking around the nearby peaks and rice growing villages. Moving onto Bontoc, I visited the impressive Malingcong terraces which were yet to be planted and had a stark translucent beauty in the blazing sun. But most of the real action centres around the town of Banaue. The 2000 year old mud walled terraces here have often been called the eighth wonder of the world. However, the reality these days does not compare to the black and white photos taken decades ago. As the terraces are not reinforced by stonework like those at many of the surrounding villages, erosion has made them particularly difficult to maintain, they are overgrown in places and not looking their best. It seems the locals who have turned to woodcraft to make their money, have a real dilemma on their hands. If word gets out the terraces are no longer world class, will the visitors still come to buy their wood carvings ? Admittedly its not the best time of year to view them (they look at their best 1-2 months after planting, which takes place in March) but its also hard to believe they will ever look as good as they once did. UNESCO now list this site as endangered.

These days, the attention seems to be focused on the stone walled amphitheatre of rice fields found in the village of Batad to the east of Banaue. The village is not connected to the outside world by road, so you have to trek in, which for me, adds to the appeal. Its a pleasant 3 hour trek in via the scenic route around the steep sided valleys. A quite staggering sight greeted me as the sun reached its midday zenith. I shall aim to do this some justice by uploading a photo but recommend you try and see them for yourselves one day. Traversing the fields by the stone walled edges of the fields is a great way to best appreciate the geometry and feats of engineering here. I trekked back to Banaue along the trails that connect Batad with Cambulo and Pula. It was great to be out in the mountains, breathing the fresh air and enjoying the simple pleasures of life in these parts. A few hours tricycle ride from Banaue takes you to the Hapao spider web rice terraces, which are also very impressive and well worth a side trip. But I was beginning to experience rice terrace overload and the conservative nature of the locals made the place seem quite unlike the rest of the country. Indeed the cordillera seems caught in some kind of time trap. It seems odd to me that country music is all the rage here, (anyone for country music videoke?) Its how the locals pass the cold evenings here, although things do wind down by 9pm and most towns and villages have an informal curfew at 9 or 10pm. Anyway, it was time to head way out west to the remote thin island strip called Palawan, which seemed to be getting rave reviews from other travellers. Had I saved the best til last ?

I flew into Puerto Princesa a bustling mini-metropolis located halfway along the islands east coast and got an air con van share direct to El Nido without further ado. The road north goes through bamboo scrub, past roadside vendors and coconut groves, where virgin rainforest once dominated. Its not until the surfaced road turns to dirt and stone, north of Roxas, that you begin to appreciate the true beauty of the place as it cuts its way through a pristine wilderness. Our van bumped along, slowly counting down the kilometres to TayTay. Some five and a half hours after leaving Puerto and as the sun began to set, a wonderful coastal archipelago came into view. I had arrived in El Nido.

One hour later, I was feeling mildly rankled. The accomodation options along the beach, are overpriced and mostly of a poor standard. 800 pesos here gets you a run down hut with cold shower (when its working), mosquito net (thankfully) and fan (when the sporadic electricity operates). This is normally sufficient for me, I find air con is indeed a con and who needs luxury when you have paradise on your doorstep. However, in Thailand, this kind of accomodation would cost a fraction of the price, elsewhere in the Philippines it can be obtained for half that price and one can usually trade up to get something very decent for around this price. Here your twelve hard earned pounds feel somewhat squandered. Its a real shame, most operators here can't be bothered to maintain their beach huts and the pricing strategy feels like its being controlled by a local cartel.

However, this anger soon faded as I sat on the balcony reading John le Carre as Cadlao island (which dominates the bay here) faded to a silohette. The beach is nice here but the real attractions lay out to sea in and around the many islands that make up the bacuit archipelago, a series of limestone karsts and large jungle covered offshore islands. The following three days were to reveal many stunning vistas, white sand beaches, hidden lagoons, coral reefs to snorkel around, the odd token cave and a lovely sandbar joining two mangrove lined islands. These islands offer an amazing natural beauty that is difficult to beat. It certainly tops Halong Bay in Vietnam, its closest rival might well be the Whitsunday islands of Australia. Met some fun, interesting people on these boat trips and the evenings were almost as good, sampling the fine food at Squidos restaurant, washed down with a San Miguel or three. For me, the real backpacker vibe in the Philippines is split between Palawan and the Southern Visayas. Almost every day it seems, you meet an interesting character or two ! South of El Nido on the main land lies Corong Corong beach, set in a potentially nicer bay than El Nido, with better sunset opportunities. However, I'm sad to report, the best mainland beach appears to be set on a private resort that would price most people out of the market. There are similar resorts out on the archipelago that remain the preserve of those who prefer quiet, secluded exclusivity. I remain indifferent to these kind of places and would refuse to frequent them even if I could afford them.

Palawan is definitely gonna feel like paradise to most. Despite substantial logging of the central regions, there remain large tracts of untouched tropical rainforest which harbour some unique wildlife. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get directly into the forest here but suffice to say, many of the insects I encountered appear quite unique, from giant blue, black butterflies, to bright red dragonflies and unusual beetles. Its certainly something if you like creepy crawlies. Luckily the mosquitos were few and far between (its well into the dry season here), which was reassuring as the island remains malarial, unlike most of the rest of the country. Come prepared, especially if you visit in the monsoon season when malaria and dengue fever outbreaks are more likely. Both Port Barton and El Nido also have a bit of a sandfly problem and feeding time seems to start around mid afternoon. There is nothing more annoying than a persistent sandfly who refuses to leave you alone until its taken a bite.

Five hours boat ride to the south, Port Barton has a fine beach, in a protected lagoon like bay, which is great for swimming. There are also island hopping opportunities further afield, for those still keen to explore. Sunsets here have the potential to veer towards those explosive reds, oranges and purples that some places seem lucky to get under the right atmospheric conditions. I was content to pass a few lazy days here, reading my book and soon the time on my two month visa had run me down. I flew back to Manila and back into the urban anarchy.

Next stop Malaysian Borneo.

The Visayas Loop

Welcome to the Philippines, its an amazing country, that seduces you slowly and definitely leaves you with the impression that you'd like to return again soon. The friendly, curious, engaging people are rumoured to be amongst the happiest on the planet. This seems to me to be the case, even problems are shrugged off with laughter and as many people speak good English, its an easier country to navigate your way around than you might expect.

The Philippines is an archipelago of over 7,000 islands that spans most of the tropical range north of the equator. The main draws are the countries natural beauty, its fine beaches, diving and snorkelling around its tropical reefs, lush islands with tracts of pristine rainforest, glimpses of unique pockets of wildlife and biodiversity, picture postcard volcanos (many alarmingly active) and of course the famous man-made rice terraces of the north.

Firstly I will try to put a few things into perspective. Despite what you may have heard, it is a safe country to travel in, safer than in recent years when the occaisional tourist kidnapping shamed its reputation as a tropical paradise. Aside from the troubled southern island of Mindanao, off limits for most travellers, the main dangers seem to be the travelling around itself. Ferries are known to sink more often than they probably should and the beat up fleet of buses and jeepneys that ply the countries poorly maintained roads rarely reassure. Also, I might add, few of the cities and regional capitals are worth more than a nights stay, most are traffic clogged and lack attractions that capture the attention of the passing tourist and once you've realised that, you quickly travel through them and onto the real attractions.

The country has a terrible reputation for corruption and its daily newspapers are full of the latest scandals in the closely linked worlds of business and politics. The Philippines is currently ranked 141st of 180 on the latest transparency international index, alongside Iran, Cameroon and Yemen. The perception is that this problem is at its worst within government and in the larger cities. However, the phenomenon does often spill over into the transport sector and I have a catalogue of such stories, which I will not relate here right now. Much of it blatant dishonesty on the part of bus / jeepney conductors trying to make a quick buck.

My journey began in Manila, a chaotic, brash, often overwhelming metropolis of around 12 million people or more. Who knows for sure how many people live here ? Its crowded, noisy, polluted and fringed by shanty towns and there aren't many interesting must do sites for the would be visitor. The old Spanish colonial district of Intramuros was once the cities heart and soul but it was the target of heavy American bombing when occupied by the Japanese during world war two and it has never really recovered. The districts of Makati, Ermita and Malate are the main draws, Makati is the modern shopping and business district whilst Ermita and Malate offer up a plenty of places to stay alongside fine dining and pleasant strolls along the wide palm lined Roxas Boulevard, where the famous Manila sunsets can be witnessed.

Most visitors move swiftly on and I was no exception, heading south into the visayas region by road and ferry. The many tropical islands here, offer plenty of fine beaches to discover. White beach on Boracay island, is the countries most popular beach. Indeed it must rank as one of the worlds finest and has so far been spared the overdevelopment that has ruined fine beaches in other countries. Overall, the island feels well engineered, a beautiful 3km strip of white sand beach is lined by coconut palms, a walking path and the restaurants and shops that face the beach. Behind this lies most of the accomodation options. Despite attracting the international jet set, theres still room for the backpackers who make their homes in the reasonably priced nipa huts in amongst the commercial mele. I thoroughly enjoyed my five days here and it was only the temptation of getting deeper into the fabric of the real Philippines that made me want to leave.

A few bus and ferry journeys later, took me to the remote town of Sipalay on the west coast of Negros island. Just north of town, and cut off from the mainland by a river crossing lies the unspoilt Sugar beach. Whilst, not quite rivalling White beach on Boracay for sheer dazzling beauty, the golden strip of sand here has a more relaxed vibe and is a perfect swimmers beach. From the moment I pitched up at the collection of beach huts that make up the Driftwood Village resort (as usual with no advance reservation), I knew I was in for a pleasant stay. I was greeted with a warm welcome by both the staff and other travellers. The ambience here is just perfect and its easy to slot into the daily groove of laid back days chilling on the beach, socialising in the open air restaurant whilst sampling some fine filipino food with evenings spent drinking and playing pool, table football or even darts in the bar. I could have easily spent another week or so recharging my batteries but the lure of the other islands and the thought of a hotel room with tv for the 6 nations rugby opening weekend got me back on the road to Dumaguete on the other side of the island.

If ever you are in Dumaguete, I can highly recommend staying with Harold in his mansion. Its one of the best value hotels in the country. Harold (a filipino despite the English name) is a blast, a great host and is pretty knowledgeable about the attractions that surround this port / university city. Nearby Apo island offers up some of the best snorkelling you are likely to experience anywhere. A biodiverse coral garden of hard and soft coral is populated by a collection of colourful reef fish that had me mesmerized for hours. Of course, the divers also rave about the bigger fish you find underwater here too but I'm gonna have to take their word for it this time around. In addition, the seafood on offer in Dumaguete's restaurants here is a real treat for the tastebuds. Feast on grilled lapu lapu in soy sauce, tuna steak coconut soup or sample the excellent sashimi.

The ferry took me east to Bohol, another island paradise where tarsiers, white sand beaches, pristine rainforest and the famous Chocolate Hills top the billing. Tarsiers were until recently thought to be the worlds smallest primate. They are certainly an unusual animal. Large bug like eyes give out a curious stare and they are able to rotate their heads almost 180 degrees in each direction like an owl. The best way to get to see these creatures is by visiting the tarsier sanctuary near the small town of Corella. Its as good an ecotourism experience as you are gonna get anywhere, a guide leads you into a small enclosure pointing out the tarsiers who are nocturnal and spend their days resting in the trees. Your only allowed around 5-10 minutes and no cameras, which scare them. I saw four tarsiers and left feeling quite priviledged. Due to logging and hunting they have no remaining natural predators in the surrounding forest and their numbers here are thriving. Further inland lies the Rajah Sikatuna National Park, which although poorly maintained offers the chance to trek into some primary rainforest. Its a shame, the park seems unprepared for visitors and the only way to see the forest was to go it alone and keep to the trails. I had a closer encounter with a one metre grey / black snake than I had perhaps hoped for and although it probably wasn't poisonous you can never been too sure. Tropical rainforest continues to enchant me and its often the sounds of what you don't see that are as alluring as what you do.

My fave place to stay here is called Nuts Huts, set alongside the Loboc river looking out over more pristine rainforest. Its run by a charming Belgian couple who have the prime location for viewing the islands many sights. At night, the sound of cicadas lulls you off to sleep. Its one of the most atmospheric places I have ever stayed in. Its a shame the weather was not quite on my side during my stay here as the nearby Chocolate Hills really need the right season and weather conditions to be fully appreciated. Luckliy I got brief glimpse at the viewpoint, before the heavens opened, the clouds came in and a monsoonal downpour washed away the afternoons tourists.

Theres a definite buzz about this part of the Philippines. Cebu, the countries second city, acts as the hub for journeys onwards to Negros, Bohol and further afield to the volcanic islands of Siquijor and Camaguin, both of which have been earmarked for a future trip.

Pressing onwards, northwards and counter clockwise around my loop around the visayas, I caught another ferry and then the road overland across the islands of Leyte and Samar, taking me to the southern tip of Luzon, the countries largest island.

Madrid

My time in the capital turned out to be a weekend feast of fine art, plazas and parks on this final weekend of the rugby world cup. It was a difficult navigational exercise driving into central Madrid and by the time I had found my way to Atocha station, where the hire car needed to be dropped off, the game had begun. I found an Irish bar showing the rugby and settled down for the second half of the France v Argentina third place play off match. Argentina turned on the style and were again too strong for France, who walked off the pitch looking decidedly disappointed with fourth place in a tournament they had hosted. The following morning, I decided to start with the wealth of modern art on offer at the Reina Sofia. It does free entry on Saturdays, so it seemed the natural choice.

Picasso's Guernica is the galleries most famous painting, a huge 3.5m x 7.8m piece which dominates one room. Much has been written about this thought provoking piece on the horror of modern warfare. It depicts the Nazi bombing of Guernica during the Spanish civil war in 1937. It certainly draws the attention more than the smaller, more colourful pieces on display nearby. The sense of dislocation which is often Picasso's cubist trademark is fully realised here. The Reina Sofia concentrates mainly on Spanish art from the last century or so and as you would expect, Dali, Picasso, Miró and Gris all get plenty of space, alongside others who were influenced by the movements they inspired. Its one of the worlds modern art treasures, with colour and ambition permeating every corner of the building. Definitely somewhere to lose yourself for a afternoon of contemplation.

I took a leisurely evening meal, very early by Spanish standards and then returned to a bar, I had earlier earmarked near the Plaza Mayor as a good candidate for watching the World Cup final. Despite arriving some 30 minutes or so before the game was due to start, the place was packed to the rafters and there was an animated debate taking place outside on the street, in both Spanish and English, as to where the game could be seen. I fell in with an English trio, who seemed to know where they were going but when their venue turned out to be closed, I led them back to the Irish bar of the previous evening as it seemed certain it would be showing the final. As luck would have it, the bar wasn't too busy and some pleasant conversation was had, while the powerhouse packs of England and South Africa ground out an edgy but un-captivating performance. The Springbok's always had the upper hand and although England put up a much better show than they had against South Africa in the group stages, the outcome never seemed in doubt.

Sunday offered up what would be to most a tough choice between the Prado and the Thyssen-Bornemisza galleries. However, as I'm not really a huge fan of old masters, religious or renaissance art, the Thyssen got the nod. It did not disappoint, the galleries host one of the worlds finest private collections, principally spanning the major art movements of the last few centuries - impressionism, expressionism, cubism and pop art all get a look in. Most of the major art figures of the these movements all have a painting or three on display, its a richly rewarding experience.

In between visiting the galleries, there were the cities monuments and plazas to explore, the rather gaudy, over the top, royal palace and the beautiful Buen Retiro park. People seemed to be making the most of the fine autumn weather and there were still three more Spanish cities to look forward to as I made my way south and into Andalusia.

Castilla y Leon

Leon's principal attraction is its grand 13th century cathedral, a gothic masterpiece. It was beautifully lit that evening as I explored the town, looking for somewhere to eat. I wandered past Gaudi's Casa de Bontines and into the Barrio Humedo, the cities gothic quarter, eventually settling for a quiet place on a narrow street just off the picturesque Plaza Mayor. Inside the cathedral, the following morning, light was beginning to permeate its stained glass windows to reveal an equally impressive interior.

I continued south deeper into Castilla y Leon province, stopping for lunch at the ancient town of Zamora. Its cobbled streets contain some beautifully preserved Romanesque churches dating back as the 12th and 13th centuries. The remains of its castle and city walls delineate its western edge overlooking the Rio Duero. Another hours drive south took to me Salamanca, a city rich in artistic and academic history.

Sophisticated Salamanca revealed itself to be a real treasure and I regretted not allowing at least a full day to enjoy its charms. The elegant Plaza Mayor, with its splendid 18th century baroque facades, is very much the cities heart and an enjoyable place to pass the time. The beautiful old town is dominated by the hybrid of the old and new cathedrals, a fusion of romanesque, gothic, churrigueresque baroque and byzantine styles. There was just about enough time to appreciate its interior before being told it was closing, denying me the chance to climb the tower of the old cathedral. The sandstone facade to the universities entrance is another architectural delight, a tapestry of Renaissance scenes and mythical creatures.

My route to Madrid, the next morning, took me via Avila, which proved to be a lovely place to break the journey and enjoy a leisurely lunch. The old city is enclosed by a well preserved medieval wall and its a delight to wander its cobbled streets and quiet plazas. Highlights inside the city, include the gothic cathedral, the convent of Santa Teresa and the monastery of Santo Tomas.