Hello everyone.
I hope you guys are fine and you enjoy your life just like I am.
I’m coming to you, today, with the new post from our trip to Philippines.
What’s that gonna be about, you are thinking?
So...I have done a lot of research,about the places we are going to visit, before we have started our Big Asian Adventure to make sure we are prepared for everything or at least as much as possible to avoid troubles. Quite a lot of the information I found in the internet was right but not everything and today I would like to tell you what is a true and what you don’t have to worry about, planning your trip to Philippines.
Lets start:
1. Are they really checking if you have got the ticket back to your country (or at least another country) ?
One of the main think you have to know before visiting Philippines is that you have to show the return ticket or the proof that you are leaving in the time (for polish and english people: you can stay in Philippines 28 days as a tourist, without the visa). So if you are planning just pack your stuff and go make sure you will buy the ticket to the next country before entering.
They are asking for it even if you haven’t got a big luggage to check-in, so there isn’t a possibility to skip it.
2. Can I rent a bike without the license?
It was very important for us to have some sense of freedom so I have been looking for the information if we could rent a bike in Philippines even if non of us have got a full driver license.
I was pretty upset when I found that is not possible because of very strict road law...Just imagine how surprised have we been when the manager of the place we have stayed in Puerto Princessa ask as if we want to hire the bike and he doesn’t asked for any kind of ID or driver licence! You can find a link to the Blessies garden (the name of the place we have stayed) in the previous, English post.
I think it’s up to the person you will ask for a bike if they will hire it or not without the driver license. If you are driving and you feel comfortable enough you should try your luck. Just be careful, the traffic in Philippines is crazy!
3.Are they checking if you have got enough money for your stay?
I found this information very often in the internet. Everyone was making me aware that someone, somewhere will check if we have got enough cash to stay in the country. We have been prepared, we changed the money before the trip but it wasn’t necessary. Nobody asked us how much money we have got or anything like that.
4. Hand luggage checks in Cebu Pacific and Air Asia.
We hope to stay away for about 4-6 months but we really didn’t like the thought to pay for additional luggage every time we would change the plane or country (just to fly from London to Manila we have changed plane 4 times) because it would cost us a fortune. We decided to keep everything down to minimum and carry only hand luggage. We bought nice backpacks and we hoped we will be fine. European airlines allow you to have up to 10 kg plus sometimes you can have another small bag with you. Unfortunately Asian airlines aren’t so generous. 7 kg limit! I was shocked. I couldn’t imagine how can I pack myself for such a long time in 7kg? We tried, we really did but we was nowhere near to this magic number. 9-11 kg. Did anyone checked it? NO. Don’t be worry if your luggage is too heavy, just have in your mind what can you get ride off in case if someone will be more pedantic than they usually are.
5. Rain in June?
Our original plan was to visit Philippines in July, but I have read that it’s storm season there so we changed and we have been there in June. Everywhere in internet you will find the info about heavy rains during this month. My experience? Short, heavy rains in Manila. In Puerto Princessa we only had one, 5 mins, very light rain during our 5 days stay there. The worst rains were in El Nido. Very strong and very long, sometimes a few hours lasting but it’s not every day. I don’t know about other islands but the weather wasn’t too bad for us in Philippines. It wasn’t too hot or too rainy.
6. How much is the bus from Puerto Princessa to El Nido.
I tried to book us a ticket online and that would be a biggest mistake because we would pay 500 pesos/ person instead of 450. I know is not a big save but the bus was actually more comfortable than the van (you can do it for 400 peso/person) and we paid 100 peso less than we thought. Whoa.
Another thing: the journey took us 4,5 hour- not 7!
7. Is it possible to camp on the beach in El Nido?
Yes! You can camp in your own tent in El Nido, just not on the main beach. The best what you can do is ask local people which beach they recommend. We slept on Nacpan beach. It’s a huge beach, very long. You can easily find yourself a spot far from people, where you will be able to just spend some valuable time with your other half or friends.
My advice: don’t use tricycle as a transport. It’s cheaper to book a van journey (basically half price for a return trip).
8. How bad is liquid control in Asia?
I think just European think about liquid control. In some Asian airports they didn’t even ask you to take the liquids out from your bag. They won’t allow you to get in with the bottle of water but they won’t throw your perfume away too.
That’s a long post but I really want to show you guys that the devil isn’t that scary as they draw him (polish sentence) and you should visit Philippines if you only want to see this beautiful place. I’m not an expert but I hope I helped you to understand some of the information you can find in the internet and clarified it.
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