Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Port Barton 26.12-29.12

Yet again, picture overload!
Okay so after Puerto Princesa, we took a death ride to Port Barton, a small and relaxing fishing village that just started to have tourism as its second income. There are only small lodges, almost no electricity, and the tourists that come there are, well, backpackers
Port Barton was one of my favorite places we visited in the Philippines.

From the bus station in Puerto Princesa.

We changed from a van, in Roxas, to a jeepney. And there was no room in the jeepney. Or the philippinos don't know the term "no room", in their mind, there is always room. (Maybe that's why they are so tiny...?) Anyways, we had to sit on the roof, together with 15 other travelers, all the luggage, and the poor poultry packed in boxes under all the luggage.
Seats? NO! View? YES! :)

Roxas. View from the roof.

And yes, we had to watch out for branches and other stuff that might scratch the hell out of our legs, faces etc...

View of the countryside. The greenest country I've ever been to!

In the middle of the day = perfect karaoke time. Well in the Philippines, every time is karaoke time.

The roads through the mountains were in such bad shape that a) the  mud was so severe people had to get of so the jeepney could drive through, b) the road was so steep that people had to get off so it could make it up the hill, or c) the road was so rocky and uneven people had to get off so the jeepney could pass without falling appart. It took the jeepney 2 hours to drive some 35km. Beat that.

The luggage with the chicken underneath. Thank god it only rained for the last 2 minutes of the ride :)

Finally our room at Green View. Recommended! Small, cosy, cheap, and RIGHT by the beach.

Our cottage from the outside.

The view from our terrace.

Our mosquito eating friends.

Our other anything eating friends.

On the beach.

The beach where we lived on, seen from the boat, the boat that took A diving and me snorkeling.

Fishermen houses.

The dutch dive-master.

Someone's crib!?

The surrounding archipelago of Port Barton.

A fisherman village.

The first dive.

The bay we ate lunch at. 
Screw Thailand! It was so stunning, that if it was me living there I would NEVER move!

Me loving the place.

Me showing off the shells I found on the beach.

Mandatory sand writing.

The other side of the island.

Truly my kinda paradise!

The next day we took a hike through the jungle/forest to see a waterfall. This lead to amazement and later severe dehydration on the way back. Note to self; ALWAYS bring lots of water when in jungle with +30C!

It took us 1,5 hours to get there. And another 1 hour to get back.

Creatures along the way.

We hiked through rivers. Note to self; next time, NO converse shoes...

Unwanted creature trying to catch a ride.

Final destination.

Me swimming in the cool water. That place was magical, very movie-like.

Finishing the day with a fresh coconut!
Me: I would like to have a coconut.
Waitress: Okay, someone climbing tree, get coconut for you, 5 minute okay? 25 peso ma'am.

FYI; 25peso = 0,40€ / 3kr.

Monday, January 31, 2011

CIFF

The Copenhagen Fashion Week has officially started! Well not "officially" (the opening is on wednesday), but for me at least :)
I have this year, like I did last year, signed up to be a helper/dresser backstage at the CIFF trend show at Bella Center, and we had our first rehearsals today. My model is a young danish/brazilian beauty, whom I will be dressing for 4 looks, for the next week. I look forward to seeing how the show is going to be with all the hair and makeup in place. More on that later.

The product so far:

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Puerto Princesa part 3 - Sabang

We took a one day trip to Sabang, where the world's longest underground river is located. We had a two hour drive there. At Sabang we took a banka (=boat) to get to the bay where the underground river stars. There we waited for an hour for the boat ride in the mountain. After the underground river we took a hike over 3 mountains, 6,2km, and finished off with a walk on the beach all the way back from where started. There we ate lunch, I fed the homeless dogs, I searched for my lost phone and we drew home.
A Successful but exhausting day!
 
The beach on Sabang where we took the banka to get to the river.

My fellow touristtrappees.

View on the way there.

On the beach where the river starts.

Dangerous jungle life.

And his friend.

 The underground river opening.


In the caves.
 
 Aggressive food seeking monkeys.

 The Philippine peacock.

 From the trekking in the mountains.

 A lot of stairs = a lot of work. 
What goes up...

must come down!
Imagine doing this in muddy slippery wet rubber flip-flops. Thought so... I took mine of and walked barefoot.

Can you see what this root is :)?
 
The beach on the way back.
 
Me.

A's friend.
 
Street dogs.
 
The bus station at Puerto Princesa, where we took a van the next day to get to Port Barton.
Stay tuned...