Budget travel - Whale OF A TIME
Island hoppers and marine life lovers are making a beeline for
this turquoise wonderland where people love to eat and make merry. Literally.
As students, you are short on money but high on time and energy.
You don't mind taking long bus rides rather than flights, hop on to ferries in
place of cruises or trek it out instead of driving. It trains you to be a
hassle-free traveller for life. If you espouse my senttiments, you'd understand
why I extended my two-day dash to Philippines by couple of more days. In
hindsight, great decision.
AFFORDABLE
LUXURY
You can enjoy up to a month in Philippines without burning a
hole in your pock et. And, no, you don't have to per form on streets to crack
that. Till re cently most tourists went to Singapore, Thailand or Malaysia for
a quick east-Asian break. But now with a growing breed of adventure travellers,
the new favourites are Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia. They are
spectacular, yet inexpensive. Philippines has introduced to the world the
irresistible combo of `cheap luxury'.See turquoise lagoons, powdery white
beaches, ancient caves and the `most perfectly formed volcano' in the world... all
for a modest sum. The country is a collection of over 7,000 islands, only 1,000
of which are inhabited, and an extraordinary collection of natural wonders. A
simple research online and basic planning will equip you to explore all the
prominent places here for less than US$ 1,000.
BACKPACKING FUN
Since I was in Manila, one of the best options to explore the
city was in a jeepney. These colourful public transport vehicles, known for
their quirky décor, are as much a part of their culture as autos are to Indian
cities. Jeepney tours are a great way to explore the nook and corners of
Manila. If you are in a big group, you can have an entire jeepney to yourself
as one vehicle can seat up to 20 people! For travelling between cities within
one island, one can opt for cheap -but not the best -bus service or go for
Roll-onRoll-off (RORO) ferry service. This is one place where you would be best
advised to have RORO schedule handy as you can decide on which ferry to hop on
and go from one destination to anoth er for as little as 750 peso or a little
under `1,000. Even the stay options across the country are quite reasonable
with room rentals for some villa resorts available for as low as `2,500!
HAVE A PLAN
This destination needs planning.You need to know which cities to
take flights between and which to cover by ferry or bus. A lot of places might
offer similar experiences, so you need to decide which ones to opt for.
Dumaguete, Puerto Galera, Coron Island, El Nido, Puerto Princesa, Albay and
Boracay are known for their white and black beaches, coral reefs, scuba diving
and whale shark sighting. Manila and Cebu are two of its biggest cities
offering Spanish colonial landmarks, while Bataan, Bohol and Banaue are great
options to trek and explore. Best is to know which places are best connected to
bigger cities from where you need to catch international flights.
TROPICAL TREATS
There's a joke about Filipinos that eating is their favourite
hobby and locals usually have six meals a day! Popular meats include pork,
beef, chicken and sea food. What is really amazing is the availability of
tropical fruits specially mangoes through the year. Apart from mangoes,
pineapple, orange, papaya, pomelo and coconut are best companions on road
trips. Street food picks are not the most hygienic options and food courts and
restaurants are usually the best place to enjoy your meal.
Oct 01 2017 : The Times of India (Mumbai)
Nausheen Tareen
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