Assertiveness Training?
In most of South-East Asia, haggling, in its various shapes and forms, is part of everyday life. And I’m really impressed by how Z has...
Yearly Archive: 2010
Full Fathom Five…
There is a sepulchral magic to a shipwreck. Viewed from underwater, with russet filigrees of sea ferns flourishing on the fractured edges of a shell...
Learning to Dive
We are still in Coron. That’s Coron Town, the meandering if unbeautiful little port of Busuanga Island, not Coron, the island, across the way. As...
Kirche Kuche Kinder
Every so often, while eavesdropping — or, perhaps, a more polite term is, err, “people-watching” — one comes across conversations that one, quite literally, couldn’t...
Cargo Boats and Commandos
I’m a great fan of authenticity in travel. Travelling, where possible, as the locals do, which, given the wealth divide in the Philippines, means either...
A Serpent in Paradise
The labyrinth of reef-fringed karsts around El Nido, Palawan, must be one of the best island-hopping destinations in the world. Whether above water or under...
El Nido
After a few weeks in the Philippines, one becomes almost inured to beauty. Almost, but not quite, for El Nido, in the north of Palawan,...
Sweet Madeleines
It’s a wonderful thing, being a child. Who would have thought a palm tree could have provided pretty much an entire day’s amusement? Scaling it....
Maritime Woes
There are many things unique and wonderful about the Philippines. But the boatmen here are phenomenal in many of the wrong ways. Right now, sat...
Here Comes the Rain…
Maybe it’s El Nino. Maybe it’s climate change. Maybe we’ve brought the English summer with us. But it feels like the rains have come early...