Off we trotted from Boracay in search of an island with the same natural attributes but a bit less crowded. A boat, followed by a couple of hours in a minibus, then a 30 minute flight, taxi ride, stupid long time in an old bus, both of us on the back of a moped with all of our belongings and a driver who smelt of rum, overnight in a port town called Maya in a hotel which I think had shut down before we arrived, then another moped ride and the final boat journey - and we arrived in Malapascua, as easy as that. This is the kind of island I had been looking for during our trip, beautiful, remote and quiet (getting old I guess). In fact it was so remote that the nearest bank was a 5 hour round trip away, and yeah we didn't take that much cash so ended up leaving a day earlier than we planned, nevermind. We enjoyed our stay, chartering a boat and crew for half a day to go around the island and talking to local dudes about cock rearing and cock fighting (cock fighting is the only other industry on Malapascua apart from fishing and tourism). The couple which ran the Guest House on the beach that we stayed in were from Germany and had sold up their European lives to live in Paradise instead....now there's an idea.
Pictures:
1. All the Filippinos refused to step from the shelter of the airplane boarding staircase and into direct sunlight for the 100 yard walk to the terminal, that is until an airport official turned up with a stack of green umbrellas. Light skinned Asians dislike the sun as much as ginger people should.
2. Move over Keith Richards.
3. Our chartered boat for the afternoon (8 quid including snorkeling equipment hire).
4. Me.
L'ile de Malapascua est notre derniere destination plage des Philippines. Pas facile d'y acceder je dois dire, il faut etre arme de patience, mais bon ca vaut le coup. Petite parenthese sur notre vol (photo 1): les gens ne descendent pas de l'avion sans parapluies, apportes par le personnel de l'aeroport; remarquez qu'il ne pleut pas du tout, c'est juste qu'ils ont autant peur de la lumiere du soleil que les cafards. Bronzer? Quelle horreur...Bref. L'ile est assez simple, une belle plage de sable blanc mais pas tres large, quelques bicoques assez luxueuses pour accommoder les quelques touristes de passage, qui viennent surtout faire de la plongee pour rencontrer une espece de requins tres speciale (pas moi). Le reste de l'ile consiste en un gros village borde de mini plages pas toujours tres propres, et des locaux sympas qui bien-sur nous servent de la San Miguel et jouent au basket a cote de l'eglise. On a sympathise avec les gerants de notre hotel, des allemands/philippinos. Ils ont achete un bout de plage il y a deux ans et ont fait un business hotel/resto etc et ont decide de s'installer la-bas; pas mal comme vie. On a inaugure leur tout nouveau bar en forme de coque de bateau, fraichement peint la journee meme ou on est arrives. Du coup on avait de la peinture collee sur les genoux, mais bon c'etait sympa. On a reussi a faire le tour de l'ile en a peine 2 heures, interrompus par quelques series de snorkeling, un jour ou il faisait pas tres beau (photo 4). On avait un bateau typique de cette ile, juste a nous, tranquille (photo 3).
