Northern Philippines

departure from venice to paris and paris to manila

for the first time I was able to try one of the most renowned airlines, AIR FRANCE. I bought the electronic ticket online, and a great thing is being able to check in quietly without a ticket, just showing your passport and credit card.

The plane from Paris to Manila is an Airbus A340, very big and fast, the seats are quite comfortable and all in all the food was decent. The flight attendants were truly friendly and nice (French) and the flight was a real blast, as I met some really nice people and we quickly got acquainted.

arrived in manila in the late afternoon

The flight from Paris to Bangkok for the stopover was rather tough, about 12 hours, and then from Bangkok to Manila another good 3 hours or so.

After moving the clock forward 8 hours, once I arrived in Manila I immediately felt better and ready to do another 6-8 hours of bus to reach the north of the country. But luckily I found a SHORT TIME hotel, which means short stays (you can pay in 6-hour blocks), of excellent quality and friendliness.

the hotel is in Cubao, a town just outside Manila, which I reached to find the most renowned PARTAS bus station, with the most departures to the biggest cities in the Philippines.

I waited for about an hour in the waiting room and then off with the bus heading north... even though I knew that on the bus, day or night, it's really cold, air conditioning blasting (typical Filipino), I was wearing a skimpy t-shirt and I really suffered from the cold.

Once I arrived at the legendary BALI HAI BEACH RESORT, everything feels very familiar and the people remember me (I was there two years ago)

I met my beloved gurudeva (spiritual master) and afterwards I greeted all my friends and it's time for a nice swim in the calm ocean with temperatures nearing 35° C at the shore, what can I say, a broth.

see you soon

freediving

yes, I like deep water, and today I did a bit of freediving with the digital camera at hand. the boat took me a little way out, about 1 mile from the coast, where at a depth of about 8 - 10 meters you can see some nice little things. In the north of the Philippines, where I am right now, the seabeds are very different from the south, where you can easily find hundreds of species of fish and the underwater nature is very varied and colourful. in any case I found a nice scorpion fish that I photographed, took some footage here and there underwater. p.s. freediving without weights makes it a bit hard to focus because you tend to float up to the surface.

see you soon with new photos

san huan

north of san fernando, not far away, there is the spot SAN HUAN where surfers can find the right waves; San Huan Bay, under the right conditions, can offer leisure and fun to those who make surfing their religion. According to experts, the waves are the right ones for novices and skilled surfers; experts would be better off heading to one of the Australian beaches.

it's time to go home

the last few days flew by, going back was really hard!

the return trip was very quick; I caught the bus at 7 in the morning, I arrived in Manila around 2. I stopped at a megamall in Manila, in the Makati district, truly immense, and there I ate a really good pizza at an Italian fast food place "BARRO." From there I headed for the airport and set off to say goodbye one more time to my beloved Philippines. I slept the whole flight—13 hours!!!!! Arriving in Paris and Venice, the fog and the cold welcomed me once again in the countries where summer only lasts a few months a year. See you soon with a new trip, bye