Last Friday, I arrived in Manila just after 10pm. I quickly got off the plane and arrived at a booth where everyone was showing their phones to an officer. Confused, I went up to the counter to see what they were asking for – I specifically remembered reading that I wouldn’t need a visa to enter the Philippines. Apparently, I still had to apply for an electronic travel authorisation and show them the QR code. They pointed me to a corner and told me to apply on my phone. I wish I had known about it earlier, as it took so long to fill everything out! Once I finally finished, I was able to pass through the counter, and then I had to wait in the long line to go through passport control. Even though I had renewed my passport in 2019 (when my last passport had filled up), and despite this being the fourth country that I’ve been to since that time, this was the FIRST stamp that I got in my passport! By the time I finished everything, it was already after 11pm and I was exhausted. I bought a SIM card with unlimited data, and requested a Grab (the Philippines equivalent to Uber). As soon as I got to my hostel, I remembered how superior most Asian hostels are compared to Australian and New Zealand hostels (and for a quarter of the price!). My hostel had a privacy curtain, a shelf with my own plug-in, and lockers to put all of my stuff in. At some of the Australia hostels, we were lucky to get one plug-in to share between 6 or 8 people, typically never got a shelf, and rarely got a locker, AND paid minimum $40 for it. I think I got to my hostel just after midnight, so I had a shower and went straight to sleep.
The next morning, I got up and went to have breakfast at the hostel. One thing that I didn’t do at the airport (because nothing was open) was exchange some of my money. Since the hostel wouldn’t accept US dollars, I had to walk around looking for a currency exchange. As soon as I stepped out of my hostel, I was overwhelmed with the sights, smells, and noises. I had forgotten that Asia was complete sensory overload! A lot of places weren’t open yet and wouldn’t open until 10 or 10:30, but I was finally able to find a place that could exchange my money. And of course, someone was outside waiting for me so that they could ask if they could have some! I HAVE noticed that a lot of the people here are quite in-your-face. I feel like other places in Asia were like that, and maybe I’ve forgotten about it. Or maybe my patience and tolerance levels aren’t as high now (thanks, teaching!). But there seems to be a lot more people who want to sell you stuff, whether it’s a ride on a tuktuk, or food and drinks. My most common words that I use everyday are, “No, thank you!” Anyway, I went back to the hostel to have breakfast, which as soon as I said I couldn’t have toast, they suggested a salad. I was staying in an area further out from the city centre (Makati), but I made the brilliant decision to walk to the city centre. It was ONLY an hour and a half, and surely I’d see more if I walked, right? That was true, but I also didn’t realise that it was “feels-like” 39 degree weather, and that my body was still used to dry weather with zero humidity. I started off strong! Everyone was quite friendly, and if I had to estimate the amount of ‘hellos’ that were said to me, I would say about 83. My first stop was (of course) Tim Hortons. I ordered an iced latte and holy smokes, was it ever sweet! It was good, but I’m still not used to the amount of sugar that is included in some of the food and drink here. I continued my walk, but I noticed that as I got closer and closer to the city centre, the ‘hellos’ became less frequent, and there were more people who just wanted to sell me stuff. After an hour, I was sweating and felt slightly nauseous, so I stopped at a McDonald’s to get some fries and a cold drink, and then I continued on my way. I walked through the Intramuros area, and then I walked to Binondo, which is apparently the oldest Chinatown in the world (since 1594). I stopped to get a bubble tea and enjoy some air-conditioning (again, SO sweet), and then I tried to decide what I was going to do for dinner. Already, I knew it was going to be a struggle to get gluten-free food. No one seemed to know what gluten was. I could say I can’t eat bread, but how was I going to avoid soy sauce, noodles, oyster sauce, etc.? I decided that I was just going to test it that night, just to see what would happen. But if I was going to eat gluten, I wasn’t just going to get ANYTHING to eat. I was going to get my favourite dumpling, xiao long bao, which I haven’t been able to eat in years because I’ve never been able to find any that were gluten-free. Not only was I going to get xiao long bao, but I was going to get the BEST xiao long bao in Manila. So of course, I researched and I settled on a place called Cafe Mezzanine. I got there and the line-up was going down the stairs from the second floor. But I was determined. So I waited and waited and waited. In a hot, humid staircase with no air conditioning. And started to feel more and more nauseous and more and more dehydrated. But I finally made it to the front of the line and was able to order my xiao long bao! They said the food would still be about a half hour wait, which was fine as long as I could chug some water – I wasn’t going to change my mind now. I finally got them and my mouth gladly welcomed the taste. It was completely worth it! It was so nice to finally have my favourite dumpling again! I decided to head back to the hostel, but this time, I took a Grab home (I wasn’t about to walk an hour and a half again!). After about an hour, I started to feel a bit itchy but I decided to hold off for as long as I could. Ideally, I wanted to see what would happen if I didn’t have a Benadryl. But after two hours, I could physically feel a rash on my chin and I was so uncomfortable, so I took the Benadryl and went to bed. I felt okay the next day, but the rash was still there. I realised I wouldn’t be able to eat everything that I wanted… I felt lost, as I had never done a trip to Asia without gluten before.
The next day, I was going to the airport to fly to the island of Cebu. I had only decided to stay in Manila for 2 nights/1 day, which was more than enough for me. There was a girl in my dorm that was also going to the airport at around the same time (but to a different terminal), so we asked our accommodation if they could book us a Grab to drop us off at our terminals. The Grab came and told us he’d go to her terminal first, so off we went. We stopped at the terminal and she confirmed, “This is terminal 4?” He said yes, so we wished each other well, and she left. Then he drove ten minutes to my terminal. As soon as we pulled up, I instantly knew that he had switched the terminals around because I saw a big sign that said terminal 4. I got out anyway, asked if there was a shuttle to terminal 3, and was told that they never know when it comes. So I booked another Grab to take me back to terminal 3. I still got through security quite quickly, looked for something to eat, and decided to pass on eating since I wasn’t sure what would be gluten-free. The flight was only about 45 minutes, and we actually left a half hour early and arrived a half hour early. Once I got to Cebu, I walked to the buses, and hopped on one that would take me to the North Bus Terminal. I was trying to get to Moalboal, which would leave from the South Bus Terminal, and the only way to get there would be by taxi from the North terminal (so confusing). Since the North Bus Terminal was connected to a mall, I decided to get food there. Sushi seemed like a safe bet since I could say no soy sauce. I got a salmon and cream cheese roll but interestingly, they also added mango and raisins. And I was unexpectedly delighted with the flavour! Who would have thought that all of those flavour combinations would be so good?! By the time I finished, it was after 3pm, so I figured I should hurry since I still had a 3-hour bus to catch (which had no set times – it just leaves after the next one comes). I went to use the washroom, but the line-up was so long, so I just requested a Grab to take me to the South Bus Terminal. When I got there, I asked where the bus to Moalboal would be and coincidentally, it was JUST passing by (leaving the station), so everyone yelled at me to jump on. The bus cost me 209 pesos ($5.05CAD), and even though it was only about a 90km journey, it would STILL take 3 hours. After 2.5 hours, the bus stopped for a bathroom break. I was so relieved since I still hadn’t gotten to go, and I ran off the bus. However, I saw that there was a man collecting money to use the toilet and it would be 5 pesos. I only had a 100 bill with me and asked if he had change, but he said no. I then went to the food vendor to ask and they said no. I later realised (after 3 days of being on the island) that everyone was VERY reluctant to give change and break their bills. They wanted exact change for everything, which made it extremely difficult to buy things since most of us would only have 1000 peso bills from the ATM. I went back to the bus after I realized I’d have to wait to use the washroom at the hostel. So note to fellow travellers: always use a toilet if there’s one around, and always carry around change just in case. I finally got to Moalboal and was hounded by people asking if I wanted a tuktuk. I agreed to take one to my hostel and he charged me 150 pesos ($3.62), which I realised later was pretty steep. I got to my hostel (Pig Dive Hostel), and it was honestly one of the best hostels I’ve stayed at. The staff were so friendly, the place was absolutely spotless, and it was only about 12 bucks per night! I walked towards the town to find somewhere to eat, but since it gets dark by 6pm, I was pretty much walking in darkness due to a minimal amount of streetlights. Surprisingly, the first restaurant (Thailicious) I passed had a sign that said “Gluten free options available” so I went in. I asked what the gluten free options were and they said Pad Thai, but with sweet and sour sauce. It was interesting! Not quite pad Thai, but it was still good. I then walked back to my hostel and got ready for bed.
On Monday, I got up quite early and had breakfast at the hostel. I wasn’t too sure what I was going to do that day, but when I went to the front desk, I saw that 3 people were signed up to go canyoning in 20 minutes. The trip was 1500 pesos ($36) for a 6-hour day (lunch included), which seemed like a pretty good deal to me. I asked if it would be possible if I joined and they said yes, so I quickly went to get ready. A vehicle came to pick us up at 9am and there were already quite a few people in it. In total, there were 6 girls, and I think 4 or 5 guys. We drove for quite awhile and then stopped at a tiny building, where we would drop off all of our stuff. We were all kind of lost, wondering what we should bring. We were told not to bring anything (“Even water?” “No.” “Even sunscreen?” “No.”) So I just took my camera, and we were given helmets and life jackets, and told to get back in the car. They drove us to the beginning of the trip, where we were told we could take a zip line for an additional 600 pesos, or we could walk 45 minutes. Five of the girls opted to walk (including me), while the rest of the group opted for the zipline. This was when all of us started regretting not bringing any water or sunscreen. The walk ended up only taking about 15 minutes (they must try to scare you into paying for the zipline), and we actually beat all of the people who were doing the zipline. They told us to wait at a table, and all of us were sitting there, sweating profusely – the humidity was something none of us were used to. I think the guide sensed that he might have 5 girls passing out, so he asked us if we’d rather go wait in the water, and of course all of us were more than happy to go. When the final girl finished her zipline, they separated us girls from the guys (which was fine with us!), and we started. In my group, we had Annik and Hannah from Germany, Daniella and Cecilia from the US, and Jadene from the UK. The water was so refreshing, and had such a beautiful blue to it, and the sights were gorgeous! We started by going through some caves and then we got to our first jump, which was 4 metres. I was already nervous, and got even more nervous when I was told that it was the smallest of the jumps. I survived, but I inhaled quite a bit of water multiple times throughout the day haha it was such a fun day, and I had a great time with my guides and with the girls! One of the guides basically just took my GoPro from the beginning and became our personal photographer for the day. I didn’t get my GoPro back until the end! The last jump was 11 metres, and we were told that we wouldn’t get our lunch if we didn’t jump. I saw some people hesitating when they went to the edge to jump, and I saw some people just running for it. I decided to run for it because as soon as I saw how high it was and I questioned doing it, I was already in the air and I couldn’t turn back. It was much easier to jump when I didn’t have to know what I was jumping into – I should have done that for all of the jumps! We also did a rope swing, which was so fun! It was a great day exploring Kawasan falls, and I’m so glad that I made the last-minute decision to do it! After the long walk back to the building, they served us lunch. There was a lot of fried chicken, noodles, and spring rolls, so I was kind of concerned, but I didn’t want to make a fuss. Plus I was incredibly hungry (it was about 2:30 by that time) so I just ate. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel anything from this meal, so I wondered if the more gluten I had, the less that I’d react to it. We shall see – I’ll continue to experiment! We went back to the hostel and showered, and then I decided to walk into town. I caught the very end of the sunset, and then met up with Jadene, Daniella, and Cecilia for dinner at a place called Venz. I tried the chicken sisig, which is a sizzling Filipino dish with rice, but I don’t know what kind of sauce it came with. However, I DID start to feel itchy after eating this, so my body must just pick and choose when it wants to react. After dinner, we walked back to the hostel (which is about 20 minutes), and then just hung out until going to bed.
On Tuesday, I knew I wanted to check out the sardine run. I found out that Daniella and Cecilia were planning to go as well, so I joined them. We found a place that did snorkel rentals and they charged us 200 pesos ($4.83) each – so cheap! I was so shocked when I finally got to where the sardines were. There would have been millions of sardines swarming together – it was really quite magical! It was so cool watching them swim in different shapes. However, the current was quite strong so we kept getting pushed down the beach. When we tried to swim against it, we just kept wearing ourselves out, so we swam back to the beach and got mango smoothies (obviously). We decided to go back to the hostel for a bit, then went out for lunch. We went to The Three Bears, and I got a chicken curry. It was probably one of the best curries I’ve had in a long time – it was different from other curries as it was really creamy. It was almost like they put a can of mushroom soup in it – I loved it! After lunch, we took a tuktuk to White Beach. It was quite a long ride and when we went to pay our driver, we were surprised when he told us that we could pay him when we return – that he would wait for us at the beach! We met up with Jadene there and enjoyed a few hours in the sun. Compared to the Western Australia beaches, I didn’t think it was THAT great – the sand was a lot coarser and unfortunately, there was a lot of litter surrounding the beach and in the water. There were also stray dogs everywhere. But it DID beat the beach that was in town, and it was just nice to be by the water. We headed back to town right before 6, walked back to the hostel to shower, and then looked for a place for dinner. We found a place that looked amazing and served seafood, but they said that they had an hour and a half wait time, so we settled on somewhere else. There, I tried the Chili Garlic Shrimp, which was quite spicy, but it was still really good! After dinner, we walked back to the hostel and then chilled before bed. Conveniently, we were all planning to go to the same island the following day, so we prebooked our breakfast for the next morning and booked the shuttle for 8am. And that was my time in Moalboal! So much to see and do, and I loved it! Love always
Prairie Girl Abroad 