Tefas - Panglao ~ Philippines

Panglao ~ Philippines

Arriving to Panglao was easy and painless without the fact that Mollie slipped getting of the boat and went for a swim with her backpack.. Well, she's always been the better swimmer of us cousins anyway. So why did we go here? Actually, none of us did know nothing about the Philippines when we decided on going here. We arrived to Manila without any future plan and started picking up recommendations directly. Mollies co-worker from Sweden had once told her that Panglao is a cool place, so when Mollie was done swimming we just found our hostel and decided on staying for three (I think) nights.

Panglao is a very small island in the north of Bohol sea and one of the main tourist destinations in the Philippines, which we noticed very fast. Compared to Moalboal we were now surronded by people from all over the world on the beach, in the hostel and actually kind of everywhere. The island offers good dive sites and great scenery but we just felt satisfied by walking around on Alona beach, surrounded by rich people and getting the feeling we were on some kind of fancy holiday.

The owner of our hostel arranged this big philippine dinner for everyone at the hostel for free. She set the table with banana leaves and then placed so much nice food there for us to eat with our hands, just like they do here. And this I found really hard. I missed my mouth almost everytime and had rice all over my face (even in my eyes) and a local girl sitting across the table laughing at me and trying to teach me how to eat properly. Struggeling with this makes you eat very slow, so if you have a problem with that, try eating fancy with your hands next time!

Can we just take a second and talk about the filipinos, because, as long as I have been eating breakfast on this planet I have NEVER met people as kind, warm and welcoming as the filipinos. They really make you feel like home and they always want to help you with everything, even if you smell like shit and are a stranger they will ask you how your day was. In a country as poor as the Philippines it is amazing to see that people have so much to give to each other and to all the people they meet. Honestly, it hasn't been a day that we haven't passed shantytowns. And also, it hasn't been a day that we've passed a shantytown and the families living there run out from their homes just to wave to us and say hi. They make me feel like I could stay here, eating rice with them forever.

Panglao was a really nice place to just stay at and relax for a while but you really notice that it's a bit tourist crowded. The prices aren't as low as they normally are in the philippines and there aren't actually that much to do in Panglao except for enjoying the white beach and the crystal clear water, drinking a juice and maybe go for a dive? The diving is supposed to be great there, and I must admit that I'm kind of sad I didn't try it, but still.. The Philippines has a crazy huge amount of good dive sites so I feel like I have to prioritate and only do a few of them. Sad, right? But don't worry, I'll survive.

Idita