Swapping Tuk Tuks for Tricyclyes

7000 tiny islands make up the tropical Philippines. Often this unique paradise is missed by travellers due to its location in the North East region of South East Asia. It’s not the easiest of places to get to.
To sum up the entire place - unique.
Reaching the capital you feel as though you are on the continent. It has one of the biggest malls, all the buildings have a Spanish twist, there are no temples or mosques but instead grand cathedrals and forts. It’s as though we flew into South America with the shanty towns across the river and instead of tuk tuks are men with tricycles with a slight Spanish lilt. It’s also very Asian – the food, the people, the same dirt roads, the atmosphere.

Manila, South Luzon
The capital, and due to the uncertain political situation it is not advised to go there. We, however, spent a few days in Manila. It was rich in culture. You can visit the Fort Santiago where national hero Rizal was put in prison.
Poverty is everywhere, yet it has some of the nicest and most expensive places to eat and shop.
I’ve never seen so many men carrying guns, it seems as common as women clutching handbags! Signs are dotted around outside shops asking for weapons to be left outside, which is quite daunting. Every security guard carries a 30inch revolver! I’m not sure whether I felt more safe or threatened.
After a couple of days we decided we’d seen enough and wanted to head to a beach.

Mindoro – Sabang and White Beach
Beautiful sandy and tranquil beaches make up this island south of Luzon. We were there during a religious festival, so there were live bands marching round. We barely saw another backpacker. The island did however have older white men with young Filipina girlfriends.
Sabang, the busiest beach has a spiralling close knit centre of lanes, similar to Phi Phi island. This place is the livelier of the two beaches, with clubs, bars and restaurants. White Beach has the nicer beach. Tricycles are one of the best ways to get from beach to beach.
We found the locals to be very friendly here and the beach huts to be nicer than anywhere else. They even included a kitchen which was a novelty for us!

We didn’t manage to get to Boracay the party island. We will definitely have to go back and explore further. Two out of 7000 islands is as good a start as any!