Small village of Sabang, Philippines 1-27-10

Cam and I didn’t know where to go after Donsol, we only had 5 days left in the Philippines and wanted to make the most of our time. The only problem with the Philippines is that you have to book your airline tickets more than 24 hours in advance, so in order to get anywhere by plane we’d have to wait in Donsol for a couple more days.

Alan was telling us about an island he had heard of / researched and wanted to get to, Caramoan. The French Survivor is being filmed there at the moment and the island is said to be very lush and secluded with beautiful beaches. Instead of flying there (which would take us a couple days), we decided to leave early in the morning and get there the backpacker way.

In order to get there we had to take a 1.5 hour van from Donsol to Legaspi, 3 hour public bus (that stopped constantly) from Legaspi to Anayon, 1 hour public bus from Anayon to Sabang, 20 minute tricycle to the Sabang Port, realized the last boat had left so we had to find accommodation over night and then take a 2 hour boat to Caramoan in the morning, a 20 minute tricycle to the center of the city (to realize there was no beach in Caramoan and we needed to go to Panaman), and finally a 40 minute tricycle ride to Panaman. The entire trip (25 hours) cost us $13 each including nice accommodation in Sabang.

The port town of Sabang is very small, one main street with houses (shacks) on either side, and every family lives off their land and sea. Fathers and sons fish every day and can be seen casting out lines from the shore. They throw out a line with a baited hook while holding a wooden stick or can (or whatever piece of trash the line is tied to) as they wait for a fish to bite their bait. Even the tiniest catch is good eating to them and they toss the catch into a pit in the sand before casting out their line out again.

The little children in the village play on the sand beaches all day and we had a lot of fun playing with them and taking pictures. They got SO excited looking at our cameras and seeing themselves on the camera screens; they started charging at us each time we took to picture so they could be the first to see the shot! Pretty much, we were being trampled on by these little kids; but in a way it was still fun.

Our accommodation, a little bamboo cottage, had two floor mats as a bed, a stand fan, and a window that looked out to the quiet ocean. At any time during the day we could hear the ocean waves crashing, it was very relaxing.

Cam and I had dinner at our hotel (I call it a hotel, although none of these hotels are like the hotels back home) and then hung out as the staff came out into the dining area / entertainment room. The staff are all friends or family and told us about their Karaoke machine as the brought out a huge book of songs. Karaoke is HUGE in the Philippines, almost every household, bar, and hotel has it and the Philippinos love to sing horrible American songs loudly. It’s great entertainment... but only for so long before your ears start to bleed.

I figured I needed to do Karaoke at least once while in Asia, so Cam and I did a duet and then I sang a solo. The ladies loved that we were singing too and when they played “Dancing Queen” and didn’t know any of the lyrics or melody, they passed the mic to me. After each song the women handed us shots and by the end of the music fest we were all feeling pretty good and the ladies were kissing my cheeks, cupping my hands, and telling me they loved me.

At 8:00am Cam and I packed up and walked along the beach (with our big bags) to get on our morning boat to Caramoan. The boat was anchored offshore and the local men in Sabang picked me up and threw me on their shoulders to carry me to the boat. They carried Cam and all of our bags too! That’s the way they do it here in Sabang, the locals carry everyone to the boat and expect a little tip for keeping you dry. My favorite part of this “shuttle” was watching a few nuns get carried on the shoulders of these shirtless, wet, Philippino men. Their expressions were priceless!

Two hours of cruising along blue water and passing the lushest green mountains, which looked as though they fell into the water, we made it to Caramoan. We were devastated when we heard there was no beach nearby; but after asking around, we were told Panaman was the place to go.