Our last days in The Philippines have come and gone…

Before we officially end our Filipino chapter and jet off to our final destination that Gien & I will explore together, I wanted to let you in on our last week here and of course I have added another Bridget Jones’ diary.

We spent our last week on the island Siargao. This place is every beach lovers dream & millennial heaven. Everywhere you look you will find all sorts of palm tree’s, the waves are perfect for our surfer dudes & dudette’s out there and each restaurant has a very chilled and relaxed vibe.

Beach vibes here flow through everything, every store, every clothing item, every dish to even the people with their surfboards clung to the sides of their scooters.

We reserved a resort for our last week, a little bit of luxury instead of constant hostels in which you share just about anything and everything. A little privacy goes a long way and our rain-shower was the best part. A definite 9 out of ten. (Yes we still are scoring the showers of every stay).

Our first day, well more like evening as we arrived late afternoon, we chilled and wandered about General Luna as we had our first rainfall. By rainfall I mean heavy, full on torrential downfall. It was nice for a bit but after an entire evening, night and morning full we were kinda done with it so the following morning we headed out for a relaxing massage.

Once the rain stopped, round about noon, it was time to spend our actual proper first full day properly and so we rented a scooter and scootered off around the island without any plans. Always the best way as we ended up visiting a palm tree you could swing from into the river, this was more George of the Jungle style than Tarzan as it was more clumsy than anything else.

Neither of us did it as I didn’t feel like going over my boundaries and pushing myself again and Gina didn’t feel too comfortable doing it as it was extremely busy. And so we headed off again down the palm tree lined roads.

We came across a cave which we decided to visit. Having no idea what to expect as we saw people go in on one side of the road and other coming out soaking wet on the other side of the road. But apparently you had to swim through it. It was absolutely terrifying and awesome at the same time. The water came up to our chests, there was rope going through that you could hold on to and our guide had a flashlight to shine our way through along the rocks. We were in the cave for about ten to fifteen minutes, swimming and half climbing in and out of the water, across rocks and the jagged walls of the cave.

In one part of the cave, near the middle there were hundreds of bats just chilling & of course pooping in the water… Mouths were kept shut (as you all know this is a slightly more challenging thing for me but luckily I passed with flying colours or should I just say; no poop in my mouth) and we hurriedly made our way out of the cave. Just outside the entrance we found ourselves in a small lagoon type of pool where you could cliff jump. If you’re wondering whether I jumped? Nope. My heart was already suffering quite enough so I did not need the extra adrenaline haha.

It was an amazing experience and the cave was stunning. I wished I could have taken my own photo’s but as we were swimming it was not possible so I put in a few photo’s from Google to hopefully show you what it was like. No credit taken for these pictures.

We did scooter off afterwards to the rock pools where we could take some photo’s.

The rock pools are natural rock pools formed on the beach. They are surprisingly deep and such a gorgeous clear blue.

From cliff-jumping to diving from the edge, to just simple swimming in them is a delight for all. We had a good look around and enjoyed the view before heading back to our favourite Italian restaurant 😍

This is now our fifth time eating here and it is just as delicious as on the other islands we have tried it.

I wish we had this chain in NL… it is sooo good that we promised each-other that we will be eating here on our last day in the Philippines because how else would we end our month here without a mouth watering pasta or pizza?! 🍕

The next day we had surfing planned, great way to burn off the pizza and i’ve always wanted to do it.

Might also come in handy before I head over to the proper surfers paradise in Australia. I wanted to get a head start on how to actually surf before standing next to all the pro’s at Gold Coast… i’m already embarrassing as is 🙈

As a beginner we obviously did small baby waves, I will admit that they felt way bigger than they actually were. Even so, within two times of trying I was already standing up on the board.

Maybe not as gracefully as I would have liked and falling off was a proper laugh but I did it and continued to do so!

I did ride a massive wave and managed to stay standing all way back to the beach which was awesome and at the same time hell as the paddling back takes forever. It’s a brutal workout.

Surprisingly though, I loved every second of it.

Not once was I scared. All I worried about was where the board was when I hit the water in case it hit my head but that was all.

The feeling of being free and riding the waves was awesome and I can’t wait to do it again! 🏄‍♀️

Our fifth day we decided to again do some surfing. Getting the workouts in and hopefully become better at it. Plus it made us feel better about getting another Italian pasta again soon haha.

Nerves did hit me immediately that morning though even though I loved it the precious days… Nether-the-less I still went out there and again I loved it and have even gotten better. I was standing for longer and can sort of turn, sort of not really but attempting to and mostly only to my right but hey, it’s still a sort of – not really – kind of turn-ish.

Our arms and shoulders ached from the paddling and our midriffs were bruised from the laying down on the board.

Loving every second again even though I was drained at the end from all the getting up after falling, the paddling and the balancing.

I can’t wait for Australia to go out again and hit the waves.

Although I did thoroughly enjoyed myself, there were still some moments that I realise that I am still way too hard on myself than I should be. This is again something I have been discussing during therapy. My forever need to always excel and to never fail, even I know it is so very unrealistic is extremely tiring and does make me a “Debby downer.”

Even though my mind knows fully well that it is ridiculous and also not achievable, still my feelings in those moments where I do fail are such heavy emotions that both my mind and emotions are not aligned.

It sucks that I still have this fear of failure when I so desperately wished to have gotten over it and for a moment I thought I actually had, but once again these are one of those things that travelling is teaching me.

I asked Gina’s take on it and learned a beautiful thing as she said the following with a laid back tone: “I can indeed not yet do it because I have never learned before. I don’t fret or worry as it’s normal that I won’t be able to do it but i’m here willing to learn it.”

This is a mentality that I hope I can learn to have as my own and stick with it. And if any of you also struggle with fear of failure or always find that you’re being too hard on yourself, I hope that this might help you too in whichever way you interpret it.

After chilling out and recharging our energy on the beach, it was time to head out for dinner.

The next morning we started it right with a yoga session. Hardcore but somewhat a soothing work-out for the day ahead. Feeling stretched and zen it was time for lunch before collecting our stuff for our last beach day.

Gina did some more surfing and I hung back and caught some rays.

Knowing we needed some more cash we then went to the ATM machine but unfortunately it still had not been filled up since the previous day and so we jetted off to the capital city of this island: Dapa.

But to no avail, every (there were only 3, told you I like to make things dramatic) ATM machines were all empty.

It was on the way back that Gien suddenly realised that she still had some euro’s left and ten minutes before closing time we found a money changer and were thankfully able to buy our very last meal (and a t-shirt) in The Philippines.

Our last Italian Altrove pasta was worth the scootering all over the island for cash.

After our Italian we decided to also end the evening with a crêpe avec Nutella. 🤤

This is another tradition we have kept since Thailand and believe me, it’s a real good tradition to have. Maybe not for the scales but who cares when you’re on holiday?! Summer-body is overrated 🤭😜

After our delicious, sickly sweet and sticky crêpe it was now definite time to pack up and leave the Philippines…

Since we’re here now, closing this chapter off, i’ll let my inner Bridget Jones lead the way in finishing it properly….

What I have learned about the Philippines is that it is a place with divine nature.

It is so stunning that none of my photo’s do it any justice and the places I have visited shall be forever imprinted in my memories.

I have also learned that while most men are a little pervy… the Filipino’s really are nice people. They are helpful and friendly and the children all say hello and are never shy.

The Filipino’s are also extremely talented. Every single person I have met can either sing or dance, play various instruments or surf etc.

They are very humble people who are happy with what they have and enjoy the simple life.

They also have a high regard for nature and want to battle climate change. Nearly everywhere we have been they are no plastic straws only bamboo or metal ones and even some places have banned plastic bottles and plastic bags.

This is something I think Europe should have done ages ago, even though that yes I know they are trying to ban plastic throw-aways like bags, forks, straws etc but by the time that thats an official law, i’ll most probably be 30 🙄

Anyhow, I have also learned that I too enjoy the basic life. Yes I do still like the finer things in life such as having wifi or a nice bag and clothes but when it comes down to it.. I love being in nature with only the necessities such as a bed, shower (even if it is a bucket one) and a loo. Having food of course would be nice too haha.

I have noticed that I tend to live the fast life, always planning the next step which here I have tried to let go as much as possible since being away.

The Philippines has been the country where I have been winging it since day one but also has been a place where it was possible to do so.

I will admit, that doing it with someone has made it easier for me instead of doing it solo as we all know how easily stressed I can get.. my spirit animal might just be the Tarsier now I think about it haha but no holding my breath guys, don’t worry.

Trying to really be in the moment and enjoy life is my goal for this trip but also to hold on to afterwards.

Yes I do tend to worry about the little things instead of the big things and I tend to worry a lot, like a lot – a lot. BUT I am learning how to control the fear by acknowledging it, letting it in for a bit and rationalising if the fear is needed to then trying to calm down and let the worry go.

It’s not the easiest but i’m getting there.

To be honest, I think that I will always be like this even though I might hate it. It makes me human and somewhat who I am. As long as I have my head on straight when something bad actually does happen, which surprisingly enough I do most times, I will be fine. At the end of the day what is the worst that can happen?

I have survived this thing called life which no-one can plan or map out in details. We are all navigating in the way we know best and up till now I think i’ve been doing pretty well.

Yeah there will be days where i’ll feel poopy and just want to give up but giving up isn’t and has never been in my nature so i’ll get over it. Dramatically and theatrically though just to make it a little more interesting 😉

As long as I keep on smiling and stay positive then I can overcome everything.

After all this reflecting and learning I would also like to give a shout-out to my girl Gina for travelling with me through the Philippines and our next stop Bali.

I honestly could not have wished for a better travel buddy who has let me grow, vent, laugh, cry and most importantly completely let me be me on this journey.

She has given me space to grow from my pain and issues that I have been dealing with. She has helped me when I have been feeling down by listening and giving me the needed kick up my ass or pep talk.

She has always been honest with me and made me laugh on so many occasions.

She has been an absolute gem and even though we both lost someone and something important to us both at the time, I am so grateful that our friendship lasted through it all and I got to experience this with her.

These memories will never be forgotten and will always be cherished and I cannot wait until we do this again in ten years time.

And so my final chapter of The Philippines comes to a close, but not for definite as I will be back.

Thank you for again reading my blog. I shall write to you from our next destination » Bali!

Lot’s of love,

G.