#40 Snorkelling, bingo and the most beautiful waterfalls in Maolboal

Cebu island

From Puerto princessa city we left Palawan and flew with Cebu Pacific to Cebu city. The airport in Puerto was pretty manic and small with no screens just signs being held up and announcements when each flight was boarding. When we got to Cebu airport we were met with an even more manic taxi queue that would take at least three hours (no one warned us about that)! We tried to order a grab taxi (same as uber) and finally managed to book one however they cancelled it last minute (we weren't sure why...maybe they found another fare). By this time we had been waiting for nearly two hours and were getting ready to rejoin the extremely long taxi queue when three French guys we had met in El Nido and who were also on our flight told us to get the bus (for only 0.50c) with them, we then got taxis for $2 to our hostel from there. The next morning we left Cebu city with the three French guys, taking a jeepney to the 'van' terminal. We paid $3 each for the three hour van journey to Maolboal. The journey was pretty uncomfortable even with AC as they packed the five of us and 13 Filipinos into the small van, all squashed and sharing seats. While we were waiting for the van we tried some 'iced candy' (basically condensed milk frozen into an ice lolly) and some sweet rice wrapped in a banana leaf. Everything is heavily sugared here. Even their bread had so much sugar in it. Apparently it is cheaper than flour so it is commonly used a bulking agent in their food.

The five of us checked into Emoks hostel in Maolboal town. Emoks is a small family run guesthouse with a small swimming pool, turtles, random dogs and beautiful little kitten we called Molly. The town itself is not touristy at all with most backpackers opting to stay at pagasama beach about three kilometres out of town. We took a cart straight to white beach about 5km out of town, Mohammed one of the French guys loves bargaining and makes friends with the locals wherever he goes. He quickly befriended the driver Dennis who lived in Maolboal and got his number to arrange canyoning the next day. We got to Whitebeach and were actually pretty disappointed. Every beach we had been to so far in the Philippines was pristine but white beach was covered in rubbish both on the beach and in the sea. Some tourists on the beach told us it wasn't like that the week before. We spent a few hours there sunbathing and watched the sunset before getting a cart back to Emoks. The grandmother in the guesthouse made us local fish, rice and egg that evening for dinner for less than $2 each and we spent the night drinking beer and playing cards.

Squeezing into Dennis tricycle 

Early the next morning our new driver Dennis came to pick us up to bring us to Kawasan falls for canyoning. I was apprehensive about the canyoning with my shoulder but after talking to the guides at Happy Wanderers they assured me I could go to and not do any of the big waterfall jumps. Mark Anthony, our tour guide was so funny and made sure I was careful. He also was happy to set

Mohammed up with one of his single friends living On another island. The kawasan waterfalls were truly stunning. I had seen pictures of them online and they even surpassed those. The turquoise  water cascaded down around the cliffs and ran through the beautiful jungle. It was quite busy when we were there but it still blew me away. I think it maybe one of the most beautiful places ive ever been to.

Kawasan falls 

Later that day we wandered down to the docks where the fish market was in Maolboal town. We walked past a large yellow shed with signs for bingo around it. We got chatting to the family there and laughing with them when they tried to offer us their puppies and a family members baby! One of the daughters was hilarious, her name was Vanessa and she was 28. We couldn't believe it when she told us she had already been married for ten years! She told us bingo was on that night and invited us to come, reassuring us they'd help us with the bingo calls! One of them, a tricycle driver, then brought us down the four km to Pagasama beach for the locals price of 10 pesos each. Foreigners usually get charged about 50 pesos each!

Traditional Filipino lunch of rice, squid, noodles, fried fish and sugary orange 

Pagasama beach is where most of the backpackers stay, as you drive down the street is lined with hostels, vegetarian restaurants and cafes. The beach itself was really disappointing but it is popular because of the snorkelling. As we sat at the beach we started chatting to an English guy from Nottingham, his name was Jolien. He told me he was an ex-army and had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, after which he showed me his gunshot scars and lent us his snorkel. The snorkelling was very good, thousands of sardines circle around you only a few metres out from the shore.

Later that night the five of us and a girl, Megan from Canada we met in Emoks went for dinner and beer in Maolboal. After which we bought some rum and went to bingo. The bingo was so much fun. We arrived at about eight o'clock and the bingo was underway. All the locals and Vanessa and her family instantly made us feel welcome, showed us where to sit and slowed the bingo calling down for us. It was mostly in a mis of Spanish numbers and English to thankfully after my South America stint I could keep up with the numbers. I could believe it when I actually won two round of bingo aswell! (although Vanessa's sister did have to point it out to me as I was still grasping the different ways you could win). After about three hours of bingo and lots of rum we all went to karaoke...in true Filipino style and (regretfully) sung the night away to the Spice girls and Whitney Houston. Oh the shame!

Bingo fun 

Next stop: Dumaguete, Negros island
Stayed: Cebu guesthouse fuente, $8 each for a private room with AC. Emoks hostel, $6 each for family room with AC
Food and drink: traditional fish, rice and egg at Emoks hostel. Rum at bingo.