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furilia · 7 years

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Where to Go in The Philippines: The Perfect Itinerary

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Where to Go in The Philippines: The Perfect Itinerary

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It’s tough to think of a more beautiful corner of the world than the Philippines, with white sand beaches, bath-temperature water, and incredibly friendly locals.

These islands, 7,107 of them to be exact, are worth a departure from the typical banana pancake trail in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam! The beaches are regarded as some of the best in the world, as are the diving opportunities, and the welcoming nature of the Filipino people is unwavering.

But with so many islets to choose from offering up various culture, adventure and culinary delights, where do you even start to plan an itinerary and figure out where to go in the Philippines? Well luckily enough, Charlotte and I have spent roughly two months in the Philippines and have wrapped up our experiences into one neat little package below. Let’s get to planning your perfect Philippines itinerary:

Manila

It’s likely that you’ll begin your journey in the capital, Manila. A city bustling with people, Spanish colonial architecture, street vendors and Jeepneys. Many travellers use Manila simply as a gateway to other destinations in the Philippines but we would recommend spending at least a day there in preparation for the rest of your adventure. It will also give you enough time to purchase your bus ticket to the North of Luzon, acclimatize, and sample street food like quack quack (battered quail egg) and caramelized bananas.

Quick Tip: Take a Jeepney ride for as little as 10PHP to a random destination in town. Just get off where you feel spontaneous!

Stay: Book your Manila stay here.

North Luzon (Banaue / Batad Rice Terraces)

North Luzon is very much overlooked in the Philippines with travelers opting for pristine white beaches and crystal cobalt seas instead. However, we would highly recommend a trip into the mountainous region for a glimpse into the World of the local rice farmers and stunning craggy landscapes. The UNESCO Banaue rice terraces are a key highlight of any trip to the North.

Top Tip: Most travelers visit Banaue due to the UNESCO title stamped across its name, however just an hour up the road (or up the mountain) lie Batad rice terraces which are just as beautiful and have far fewer tourists.

An overnight stay will allow you to live like the locals in a traditional stilt house built into the terrace. A trek to a neighboring waterfall is also on the agenda here and highly recommended! Wear a bathing suit and take a dip!

How To Get There: Overnight buses such as Ohayami run from the Sampoloc area of Manila for $19, which can be purchased a day in advance or on the day of (subject to availability). They leave at 9pm.

Stay: Batad Transient House (traditional stilt house) for just $11 with a delicious breakfast!

Sagada

Home to the infamous hanging coffins, the Igoret tribes of the North have long practiced burying their dead in coffins nailed against the side of cliffs, believing they will be closer to heaven.

This tradition is slowly dying out, so this is a rare chance for a deeper glimpse into traditional tribal life. You can hop off at Sagada on a return bus trip to Baguio from Banaue.

Quick Tip: Sagada has VERY limited ATMs and the one we did find had zero money, resulting in frantic phone calls home to wire money to Western Union Transfer! Take enough cash for your trip to Sagada.

Stay: Book your Sagada stay here.

Baguio City (Mount Pulag)

No trip to North Luzon is complete without visiting its highest peak at 2,926m above sea level. If that sounds like too much trekking for some then do not fear! Most of the journey is done by Jeepney to a mountain village where you stay overnight in a local house before taking on the summit in the early hours. In total the trek takes approximately 4-6 hours after reaching the village with a couple of rest breaks before reaching “the sky of clouds”.

Quick Tip: Most tour operators will drop you back at Manila providing you advise that you want to be dropped off here INSTEAD of returning to Baguio. If you follow this itinerary chronologically, this is ideal as we’ll be flying down south next.

Go With: Mount Pulag Adventures

Stay: Book your Baguio City stay here.

Boracay

A small island in central Philippines, Boracay is the top tourist draw of the Philippines, and for good reason! White beach takes center stage framing a 4km slice of paradise, once voted the best beach in the World (check out our guide to the best beaches in the Philippines)! An array of restaurants, resort accommodation and bars feature heavily along the main beach stations, while the back beach offers perfect conditions for water sports. Bar crawls, cliff jumping and ATV tours are all on offer here!

Quick Tip: We recommend spending 3 or 4 nights in Boracay. Once you have partied your way through the island it will probably be time to move on anyway!

How To Get There: Fly or ferry. We took the overnight ferry to save on accommodation and boarded from Batangas (reachable by 2 hour air conditioned bus from Manila). Ferries should be booked a few days in advance with 2GO Travel and they depart from 9pm and sail overnight to the port of Caticlan for $19 arriving at 7am dependent on sea conditions. From here passengers take a 10 minute boat across to the island.

Stay: Hostel Avenue is the only beach front hostel in Boracay opened 2017 for $17, located on White Beach.

Coron

Located in the province of Palawan, Coron is where you will find those Insta perfect dragon-esque landscape rock formations that penetrate the skies and inhabit turquoise lagoons below them. THIS is one of the reasons we first put the Philippines on our bucket list and trips to Barracuda Lake (fresh water lake), Kayagan Lake and the small and big lagoons are an absolute must on your visit here and can be booked one day in advance in the main town. Coron is also dubbed as the shipwreck capital of the World due to a large number of sunken Japanese vessels all within a 20-minute boat ride of the main town.

Quick Tip: The town is quaint and buzzing with other travelers. In our experience, we preferred to avoid the crowds and booked a private charter with another couple to take us to the best snorkeling spots when the hundreds of orange lifejackets had already left. This also means you can hand pick your sightseeing spots and all for as little as a $25 increase on the popular tours!

How To Get There: For approximately $90 we opted to fly from Caticlan (Boracay) to Coron and boy was it worth it! Boarding a small 12 seater Air Juan plane from Boracay you can swoop across the archipelago of the Philippines marveling at the tiny, Maldives like islets beneath you. A highly recommended way to see the Philippine landscape in all its glory!

Stay: If you’re confident in speaking with the locals by now, a cheaper alternative to a hostel on the main strip is to walk the quieter streets of the town and find a friendly local who will offer up his spare room for free or for half the cost of a hostel. Still to this day staying in ‘Sheila’s’ room while she was away at University was one of our favourite stays of all our travels!

El Nido

Sticking with Palawan, El Nido is the next obvious destination to go to in the Philippines to get your jaw dropping landscape fix! The town is a traveler’s paradise, housing an array of budget accommodation, charming restaurants and bars and also ample diving opportunities. Take an island hopping tour, inclusive of small and big lagoons, 7 Commandos Beach, Snake Island and Cudugnon Cave. Tours start from around $26 inclusive of three or four destinations, oh and lunch is included too. Sold!

Quick Tip: If your budget allows, we would highly recommend putting some money toward an island hopping expedition from Coron to El Nido. Sailing in and around some of the smallest and most remote islets of the Philippines was truly breathtaking. Sandbar slices of paradise, camping on secluded beaches and snorkeling in some of the clearest waters in the World were some of our favourite moments from the whole of our Philippines trip, not to mention singing Karaoke in a locals home with only the local villagers and rum to keep us company! For us, this was THE way to see the real Philippines at its most authentic.

Go With: Buhay Isla run 3 and 4 night expeditions between Coron and El Nido ports.

Stay: Book your El Nido stay here.

Cebu

Our visit to Cebu was mainly focused around one sight in particular, Kawasan Falls. This picturesque waterfall that plummets into the turquoise lagoon below has quickly become an instagram favorite and when you see it, you’ll understand why! We would highly recommend getting there early to avoid the crowds.

The falls can be easily accessed from the main entrance. Take a tricycle from your guesthouse and they will already know where you want to go!

Quick Tip: For the more adventurous traveler and for an alternative way in to the falls, opt for a canyoneering experience where you will be thrilled with 2-10m cliff jumps into the azure waters below. Taking a dip in such mesmerizing waters is highly recommended in any case, but to do it all with a rush as you jump and jolt from the limestone cliffs above is all the more exhilarating! Your experience ends at Kawasan Falls; the perfect end to such an adventure.

How To Get There: Vans regularly leave from the town of El Nido to Puerto Princesa every hour directly to the airport. You can choose to either explore Puerto Princesa or fly directly to Cebu.

Go With: We opted to canyoneer with Highland Adventures and found them to be reliable with all safety measures and equipment in place.

Stay: Book your Cebu stay here.

Oslob

It has always been a dream of ours to swim with whale sharks in a natural environment. We are so jealous of Kristin’s authentic experience with whale sharks in Mozambique and as avid divers we await the day until we get to see such a rare moment!

Although we were not 100% happy to swim with whale sharks while they are being fed, we did in fact get to swim with them in Oslob as part of a tour we were doing. They are some of the most beautiful creatures we have ever laid eyes upon as they graciously swoon in the waters collecting fish that are being served for them. We caved into the experience here as we justified the experienced based on the sharks being allowed to come and go as they please, but we await an authentic experience with much more excitement!

Be My Travel Muse generally does not support animal encounters like this that alter the animal’s natural behavior, but it felt remiss to leave this off of the itinerary since many people do want to have this experience. It is here to provide information rather than encourage you to participate, however. More ethical alternatives where the sharks are not being fed include the Bay of Los Angeles in California, the Maldives, Mozambique, and many others depending on the season.

Bantayan Island

An off the beaten path island that is often overlooked by many taking the main tourist trail but conveniently located north east of Cebu. Still a hidden gem, locals will welcome you into their guesthouses with open arms for you to explore powdery, undeveloped white sand beaches, local cafes, fish markets and of course skydiving! Yes, you read that correctly, Bantayan island is home to the only place to skydive in the Philippines and of course we had to try it!

Quick Tip: Although we were there largely to skydive, Bantayan ended up one of our favorite destinations in the Philippines due to the untouched landscape, local food, secluded sands, and of course the friendly Filipino people. Take a bike ride between Santa Fe and the neighboring village and stop off at the local cafes (which are essentially villages houses) and take in the local life sipping on cheap, cold beer. You can thank us later!

How To Get There: Take a taxi to Cebu North bus terminal. Board a bus to Hagnaya (3 and a half hour from Cebu City for $3.62). At the Hagnaya terminal boats to Bantayan island leave every hour up until 4pm and cost $3.85.

Stay: Book your Batayan Island stay here.

Visa Requirements

Always check your visa requirements before entering the country but for most, you can enter the Philippines without a visa for up to 30 days, providing you have evidence of onward travel.

Extending your visa is a simple enough procedure however. You can apply to do so at the Bureau of immigration to allow 59 days. We would recommend not doing this in Manila and opt to extend on one of the smaller islands such as Boracay as the procedure is much more simple and a lot quicker.

Getting around: Luckily, travel in and around the Philippines is relatively inexpensive, though may require some forward planning.

Buses: Many destinations within provinces can be reached by bus, especially in the North and at short notice too should there be availability. All are air conditioned, cheap and some even provide a snack! We recommend an overnight bus as the perfect way to save on accommodation while getting from A to B. What’s not to love!

Jeepneys: Do take a Jeepney when possible! Not only is a good way to sample local transport in a pimped out American armored vehicle but it is also cheap too.

Boats / Ferries: Given the Philippines has some 7,000+ islands, this should be no surprise. Many online agents provide bookings in advance (1 or two days is sufficient) and overnight ferries in particular are comfortable and air conditioned depending on class. You can also buy tickets directly at the port to save on fees, but during holidays expect to have to wait a few days to be able to book!

Flights: Flying between provinces isn’t actually as expensive as it first sounds, should you fly at the right times and between the right destinations. It also allows you to see the archipelago from above too! We think that’s worth the money all by itself.

Taxis: Many city provinces such as Manila and Cebu have taxis, however the cheaper alternative is a tricycle (motorbike with side cart). Tricycles are a great way to zip around and are also considerably cheaper than taxis. Always ask to journey on the meter and it is always worth researching how much they should charge per km to avoid overpricing.

So have you fallen in love with the Philippines yet? These secluded white slices of sand, the clearest waters in the world, the culinary local delights, and the spirit of the Filipino people all make this country one of our favorites in the world. All this, coupled with the relative cheapness to many other similarly beachy destinations and ghe ease of getting around makes it an absolute must visit!

We hope this helped you put together an itinerary and figure out where to go in the Philippines, but please feel free to ask any questions you have in the comments below.

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About the Authors: Charlie and Charlotte are the wanderlusting couple behind The Wanderlovers. They have swapped their city life in London for an action packed journey across the globe. Hand in hand, they’re taking on one country at a time and creating a life they don’t wish to escape from! Through their couple’s travel and lifestyle blog they hope to inspire future travellers that anything is possible if you just buy that one way ticket … Go Live!

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lendoco · 7 years

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What do whales focus on / A new strategy for finding profitable ICO’s / SpankChain review

Re-Cap: In this series I discuss my top 3 picks for ICO’s. These are highly risky investments with potentially extremely high returns but also potential high losses. As I previously mentioned I am doing a PhD in Applied Physics, however recently I’ve just been spending all my time researching cryptos and ICO’s. My supervisors are not very happy about it, but the blockchain revolution is just too exciting to miss!

(In my first post)[http://ift.tt/2iMBTrd], I talked about Chainlink, Blackmoon and BitDice. Chainlink peaked at 5x, Enigma.. BitDice turned out to be one of the most stable-price token and it peaked at 4x of the ICO price already. I think BitDice has an incredible amount of potential which we will see during the next year as they start fullfiling their roadmap. Blackmoon didn't do that well.

(In my second post)[ http://ift.tt/2zEfReZ], I talked about Wanchain, Cindicator and LA Token. Cindicator peaked at 2-3x of the ICO price, LA Token turned out to be a bad investment so far, but WanChain is looking very good. The hype around it only seems growing. I am looking forward to it starting trading. Overall, this is a pretty good track record. In both cases it was 2 wins vs. 1 loss The wins however strongly outweighted the losses. I have been regularly contacted for more advice. The ICO situation has cooled down a little bit, however there are still very good ICO startups coming out and people speculate more than ever before. Here I bring you 3 new tips that I personally believe in.

My Top 3 ICO tips, a.k.a. how to get a lambo in a few months time

Spankchain

What are Whales doing - Micro Cap ICO’s

Other ICO’s worth looking into

1st TIP = SPANKCHAIN Deadline = 10AM (PST) Today November the 13th, about 4 hours left

Blockchain-based infrastructure for the adult industry. SpankChain wants to liberate the adult industry and re-distribute the means of wealth-generation in it.

SpankChain is basically an infrastructure for CamSites, Content Marketplaces and Partner Sites. However, the SpankChain ecosystem does not only provide a way how to run websites such as online webcam performances. SpankChain also provides the whole platform all the way down to age verification, payment system, performers’ registry etc. Such a vertical structure will provide an opportunity for a complete decentralisation of the business. Decentralisation would help make performers more independent of their companies and intermediaries, thus lowering the fees. Since there is a natural incentive for the performers to look for more self-independence and lower fees a blockchain technology based on the Ethereum network such as SpankChain has a high chance of a success.

Intro videos by Janice Griffith and Kayden Kross Kayden Kross

tech demo with Janice Griffith

Whitepaper

Reasons why they are disrupting the market 1. The adult entertainment industry drives revolution in tech such as VR, IOT etc. (check out teledildonics lol)

Intermediary payment processors such as CCBill take a 10-15% cut of performer’s earnings. Most camsites take between 30-50% cut of performers’ earnings. Adult content marketplaces such as ManyVids take a 40% cut or more.

If they pull this off they will decrease the performers’ cut down to 1-5% ! In addition a decentralized system can make all the expensive middlemen obsolete.

This will obviously drive a large demand from the performers for the platform. It puts control in their hands and let them receive higher percentage of the revenue.

They can actually ensure a proper age verification – check out their white paper. Current platforms get unintentionally misused for under-aged performances.

The webcam payments are already tokenized in most cases. It only makes sense to use blockchain for a decentralised tokenization.

They use Channels that allow for micropayments by minimising the GAS fees per transactions. This is one of the first application of the channels technology.

One of the best thought-through roadmaps.

Potential for growth 1. Market cap will be 5-69M

Everyone gets the same token price determined by a blind dutch auction

They target a massive $100B business.

If they start with high market cap of $50M and capture as little as 0.1%, the token price will go at least 2x, if they start will low, $10M cap, and they capture 1% of the business, the token price and business will go up 100x.

They only started promoting SpankChain a few weeks ago, however they already hundreds of models signed up!

They are already partnered with Janice, Kayden, Johni Darkko, Kendra Lust and others.

All these models, directors and producers have thousands of followers, allowing them to build up their user base very fast.

Personal reasons why I like them 1. There is already a lot of hype and expectation for an adult industry blockchain tech. This is because there has already been a several pathetic ICO attemps of other not-as-experienced teams. People were waiting a long time for a team as legit as Spankchain.

They have Janice Griffith and Kayden Kross on the team… I would bet that literally every guy who invests in cryptos knows them or at least has seen them at some point haha. On top of that, they are actually pretty good at their businesses.

They seem to the right contacts to penetrate the business via influential figures.

Besides the famous actors/directors on board the team is basically a bunch of ultra-nerds with a vast experience both in coding and in blockchain. These guys do understand what a challenge this is and take it seriously.

They actually get their token sale audited twice as well as bug-checked.

They are partnered with District0x and Aragon in order to create the Red Light District Marketplace.

These guys are used to building pretty complex products, having experience from Google, ConsenSys, ZEFR etc. The whole team is very experienced in coding in Solidity.

These guys really believe in Ethereum, independence and inclusivity.

Lastly I would like to recommend Jeff Lambert’s interview with SpankChain’s CEO, William. Jeff knows his stuff and I highly recommend you watch this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzKUT7QgSbc

2ND TIP = MICRO CAP ICO’s To start with, please have a look at the price development of Confido (CFD). The price went up to 20x within the first two days. Do you think this was a natural price development? No, this is what the big boys are doing now. I know this because I am a part of a few whale groups. We look for <$2M ICO’s that have potential and can go up significantly. The more restricted the sale is the better (e.g. max cap per person). Acquiring a significant portion of the tokens, let’s say 30% drives the price up. It is not really a pump and dump because in a lot of the cases the whales actually keep holding a portion of the company and help the founders start a proper business. It’s more of an angel investor behaviour. However a small flip can of course provide 10-20x gains! So how do you as a small fish play this? It would be hard jumping in all small cap ICO’s. However you should look intensively for them. You identify the ones that have whale-interest potential. Wait for after the ICO price action on EtherDelta. If you see gains, it might be worth jumping in and riding the pump up to 20x ICO price. If you want to help me do research on Micro Cap ICO please contact me on [email protected]

3RD TIP = Other ICO’s to pay attention to Here I just wanted to give you a list of current ICO’s I am looking at so that you have a chance to do your own research. Zilliqa – Next-Gen High-Throughput Blockchain Platform. Basically a Super Fast, Scalable version of Ethereum. I am seeing an incredible amount of hype around Zilliqa. GoNetwork – A Highly Scalable, Low Cost Mobile First Network Infrastructure for Ethereum. Basically, a decentralised e-commerce platform for the virtual goods marketplace (purchase and sale virtual goods across game ecosystems). Since Ian Balina is an advisor, I think he will use his influence to hype this up to the max. QLink– They are building the world’s first decentralised mobile network, aiming to create P2P WiFi network sharing and lower costs on data consumption, enable quicker content distribution, create new revenue channels other than data, and establish a new data clearing platform among carriers.

This is all just a personal opinion and my own research/experience. Do your own research to see if I am right! See you on the Mo0N! :)

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