I have quickly come to realise that living and working in Australia is much like living in and working in any part of the world. It’s the same shit. You wake up, go to work, come home and get ready for another day in the office. Whether you are living on the beautiful beaches of Sydney or living in a manic concrete city like Toronto – it’s the same shit.

Travelling is really where my heart finds joy and awakens my sleeping soul.

I had planned a huge Asian trip this year, complete with Filipino cock-fighting, Vietnamese killing fields, Laotian temples, and Thai girls with ping pong balls. But my plans were thwarted when my sister and her boyfriend got engaged in Vegas last August. Their wedding date was set for 2009, so all my annual leave (vacation day,s for you Canadians) and my resources (money) was allocated for this trip instead. Asia will always be there, but your sister’s wedding is a once in a lifetime thing, so it was a no- brainer for me.

After carefully examining my financial situation and annual leave hours, I decided to do a 3.5 week trip to the Philippines. Timing had it, so that I was able to meet up with my folks, who in their retired years, was chasing the summer and living on their newly built farm in Calamcam, Mindanao. So, on the afternoon of March 23, I boarded a Qantas plane to awaken my sleeping soul.

The last time I was in the Philippines, I was a pimple faced 18 year old . So, needless to say, travelling to the Philippines as an adult certainly gave me a whole new perspective and appreciation for the country of my ethnic roots. This was also probably the last time that I had travelled anywhere with my parents on holidays. So, this trip was already shaping up to be something really fantastic, or something really agonising. I was hoping for the former but expecting the latter.

Let me tell you people, if you ever get a chance to travel with your parents at an adult age – DO IT. Not only was everything FREE, old people are actually fun to travel around with! I had such a good time with my mom and dad. We laughed, we reminisced, we talked, we toured, we discovered, we even roughed it at times but more importantly – we did all this TOGETHER. It was truly a blessing.

Day One – The Arrival

The plan was for my mom and my Aunt (who is a nun, whom we adoringly call ‘Aunty Madre’) to pick me up at the airport. If anybody knows anything about Filipinos, they know that when it comes to travelling to the Philippines, they get scared for you. It’s like they think that every kidnapping attempt will be made on your life at that particular juncture. Trusting us to our own devices, is not an option. So, there they were, my mom and my aunt waiting with big smiles at the gate at NAIP (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) embracing me with open arms.

Day Two – The second Arrival – Cagayan de Oro

My dad has been quite elusive the last couple of years. Very Polkaroo like. Everytime I am in Canada he’s in the Philippines. When I go back to Sydney, he goes back to Toronto. In the last 3 years, I probably saw my dad a total of 2 times. He’s been very busy building his dream farm in his home town province. So needless to say, when I saw my dad at the Cagayan de Oro airport he was definitely a sight for sore eyes.

After a brief moment at my Tita Lucy and Mila’s place for breakfast, we began the 2 hour trek east of Cagayan de Oro to my dad’s hometown of Calamcam, Talisayan. The winding roads and the warm provincial air was reason enough to fall asleep in the passenger seat, missing the whole trek to the farm. When I finally managed to open my eyes, we found ourselves  on this uphill driveway that lead to this enormous, giant green gate with the words ‘Villa Estrella’ prominently displayed in fantastic white lettering. Joey (our driver) honks this horn and within seconds 3 guys appear from across the street opening the gates for us. The rock laiden driveway lead to the house, circling at the door (quite reminiscent of our family cottage back in Canada). It was a spectacular site, and an anomaly at that. You have to think – where did this beautiful house appear from? It came out of no where! Here in the quiet, little township of Calamcam, emerges this gated little ‘Villa Estrella’ that looks and feels like paradise. Quite astonishing.

I got out of the car and introduced myself to the guys who had opened up the gate for us. They were - my Uncle Motie, who I haven’t seen in ages. I gave him a big hug and felt the lump in my throat as he hugged me with welled eyes. Bernard, who is my dad’s helper in the house, with his limited english, was able to say hello to me. Finally, Loloy, my dad’s gardener who just lives across the street with his wife and 7 children.

After taking a quick tour around the house, I took a much needed shower and rest before hitting White Beach with my dad as we spent the hour floating, soaking in the warm sun, talking and catching up on things.

Day 3 – Sipaka, the next big thing?

When I was writing these notes for my blog, my dad said (on numerous occasions), “Make sure you write about Sipaka in your blog! That way everyone will know about this beautiful place!” Well, he wasn’t lying. It really was spectacular and one of Talisayan’s hidden gems.

We hired a boat and crew to take us out to the island of Sipaka, a volcanic island just off the coast of Talisayan. The tall, cascading trees, climbing vines and grandios rock face gave this island a Jurassic Park feel to it. I was convinced that somewhere in the jungles of Sipaka, lay the tyrannosaurus rex awaiting its next visitor prey. We were it and I was going to be his next chicken adobo.

We docked the boat on this secluded beach and stationed ourselves by some rocks that we used as a table. My mom - fully dressed in a fisherman’s hat, long sleeves and pants – so as to avoid getting dark, planted herself by the rock and cooly laid her feet in the water. My dad and I on the other hand, dove straight into the water with our goggles and snorkelled the coral reef. We then got out and with the boat crew, Bernard and Loloy, ventured along the coast of the island finding water holes, crabs, and finding rock faces that we jumped off of into the blue water below. I even managed to convince my dad, who has vertigo to jump off the cliff as well! Ha!

The heat was pretty intense as the afternoon sun was above us. We had our lunch back at the beach and drank some coconut liquor on the beach then headed back to the mainland. On the way back however, the boat broke down and if it weren’t for my dad’s brilliant idea of bringing his mobile phone, I reckon we would have been drifting out into the open sea like a refugees fleeing their country. We called in another boat to tow us in, and thank god – only 2 days into my vacation and I think I already turned 2 shades darker!  I was turning bleck.

Day 4 – Enroute to Camiguin

One of the greatest things about the Philippines is their leniency (or lack) of rules and regulations. In Canada, alcohol can only be served at 11am. Here in the Philippines, I had a beer for breakfast at 6:30am! Love the San Miguel beer.

Day 4 had us travelling from Talisayan to Balingoan, the port of entry to the island of Camiguin. From there we jumped on a ferry headed to Benoni Port. We hired a mulitcab with Jeffrey, our new driver and pseudo tour guide. He suggested we check into these cottages by White Island beach. We agreed without even looking at other alternatives as we were just tired of travelling on the bus and ferry. We just wanted to sight see. In making that rash decision, we missed out on the opportunity to stay at Paras. This newly developed resort just down the street from where we were staying, had everything from parasailing to all night swimming pool facilities. Instead, we got a 1 bedroom shack with a toilet shower.

In any case, we didn’t care – we were in Camiguin! Whoo hoo! What’s so exciting about Camiguin you ask? As it happens, Camiguin was one of those places whose history was so fascinating that I couldn’t be helped being drawn to it’s alluring story.

The island is made up of a series of volcanoes, one still active today but showing no signs of busting a nut. The first stop on this tiny volcanic island was the Stations of the Cross. Carving through the side off the mountain are giant sculptures of the Lord’s journey on that fateful day. Larger than life sculptures line this winding trail until you reach the pinnacle at the very top of the mountain. Unfortunately, the heat and rough terrain hampered my quest of seeing the final station. But it’s okay, I know how it ends!

From there we made our way to the Sunken Cemetery. Once upon a time there was a cemetery by the sea. One day, a giant earthquake rocked the island and the cemetery sunk to the bottom of the ocean. All that remains of this cemetery is a lone cross, piercing out of the water, reminding the world of what it once was. The end.

All joking aside, this was one of my favourite discoveries. I hired a boat to go the lone cross that stands out in the middle of the sea and on the way there, was able to see through the crystal clear water, some fallen tombstones. A hundred years in this watery grave gave way to new coral, covering some of the old epitaphs etched on the headstones of the deceased. It was quite surreal and spiritual at the same time.

Another historical site at Camiguin, are the church ruins. One of the oldest churches in the Philippines, this church was built in 1871 only to be destroyed by hot ash from the eruption of one of the island volcanoes. Some say that the eventual fate of the church was no coincidence. Islanders believed that the church met its doom simply because of what happened there for many years. Apparently, (and this is all speculation, but I seriously wouldn’t put it past them) Spanish priests used the church as a place for their sexual escapes. The whole Sodom and Gammorah thing was totally happening back in the old church and the big G wasn’t going to have any more of that nonsense. So he blew a gasket and just like that, the volcano burned the old church down.

Other notable highlights of Camiguin are the cold springs and hot springs where we spent most of the afternoon relaxing our muscles from all the sight seeing. We ended the night by beautiful sunset with, of course, a cold San Miguel beer in hand.

Day 5 – Camiguin – Giant Sandbank and Giant Clams

We woke up at 4am the following morning to catch the sun rise on a beautiful stretch of beach (well, really sand bank) off the coast of Camiguin. The U-shaped sand bank is a 5 minute boat ride out and a wondrous sight first thing in the morning. Everything just seemed so vibrant at that time - the sand so white, the water so blue, the sunlight a warm and gentle orange. Everything on that island was as beautiful as the moment we had there. Then because of all the beer I had the night before, I could feel my stomach yearning for a toilet. We called for the boat to come pick us up and I asked my dad if he could if they had a speed boat to send for us instead.

Before heading back to the farm, I had one last tourist stop on the list that came highly recommended by the manager at Paras - swimming with the giant clams at the Kibila Giant Clam Sanctuary. And that I did. Honestly, I felt like Arial and Sebastian were going to come swimming out of these giant clams singing ‘Under the Sea’ – that’s how massive these clams were! Then I thought to myself, that these things probably have giant pearls in them and if I could somehow pry one of these clams open, I could be rich! It was the daughter of the sanctuary manager who quickly corrected me, “Umm, sir, clams don’t have pearls – oysters do!”

I hate smart kids.