Finally seeing the rest of the Nordic NationsSince Sri Lanka we’ve been doing a bit of easy and indulgent travel. We have finally entered the phase of our trip when we are splashing out on dreams we never thought we could afford to do on this trip. We started off returning to Thailand with my (Riv’s) Mum and taking her to some of our favourite places as well as Petchaburi (we can highly recommend this as an off the beaten track but close to Bangkok stop). We were due back in the U.K. for friend’s weddings and the cheapest flights I could find had a stopover in Almaty, Kazakhstan. If you are looking for a cheap, decent airline and a new stopover destination try out Air Astana. We had three days on our stopover in Almaty and this was just enough for us to explore the city and get a nice taste of Kazakh culture. When booking our flight and stopover we took advantage of a package they offered which included airport pickup and drop off, as well as a very nice hotel at a discounted rate. This may not have been the most economical way that we could have visited Kazakhstan but it was still a very good deal and one we were willing to splash out on for ease and convenience. Kazakhstan is an interesting place to visit as well as being extremely budget friendly once you are there. From the U.K. we indulged in one of Dani’s big travel dreams by booking a cruise to Greenland. We had tossed up the benefits and costs of independent travel versus and cruise and established that to see more than one place and to have a better chance of actually visiting (a friend recently had multiple days cut of his trip due to flight cancelations) the cruise was actually by far the better option. Now that we have actually been it turns out this was even more of a good decision than we had initially believed. Once on the ground day-to-day expenses in Greenland are more expensive than you imagine ($4.50 for a cucumber) and even eating once a day would have blown any budget. If you would like more information on the cruise that we took in terms of cost, itinerary etc feel free to contact us at [email protected] Also on the expensive travel bucket list were the final two countries in the Scandinavian/Nordic band. On our previous big trip in 2013/14 we had visited Iceland, Norway and Denmark and having recently returned from Greenland we were both desperate to see what the last two had to offer. We flew into Helsinki in Finland and were immediately pleased to find that it continued our beloved Scandinavian trend of being eccentric in the best possible way while also being incredibly warm and welcoming. Helsinki is a beautiful city and has a lot to offer. Surprisingly the tourist card for exploring the highlights of the city actually offers very good value (€48-68/$77.60-109.95 AUD/54.60-77.35 USD for 1-3 days). It includes several interesting museums, public transport, a hop on hop off bus tour, a harbour tour and discounts on restaurants and souvenirs. Taking advantage of the card we took the harbour trip, visited the photography museum (strange), the restaurant and hospitality museum (amusing) and the theatre museum (fun) which are all in the same building at the cable factory in the Tallberginkatu district. We also spent time wandering round the beautiful city (check out the Art Noveau architecture in the old town) which is surprisingly easy to navigate on foot and has a range of options for self guided walking tours depending on your particular interests. After three days in Helsinki we went up to Roveneimi in Lapland. As we were travelling with Dani’s Mum this again would fall into the more luxurious bucket list category and wouldn’t necessarily fall into the essential travel list even if you were exploring Scandinavia. This being said we had a wonderful time really enjoying what the town had on offer. If you are interested in the official home of Santa Claus there are daily flights offered by Norwegian Air from Helsinki to Roveneimi (ours cost £98.20/$179.80 AUD/127.45 USD per person) and direct flights from London Gatwick. If you’re on a budget, the much cheaper option is to catch the overnight train from Helsinki, which would then also save you the cost of a night’s accommodation. While we were in Lapland we took advantage of all this region had to offer. We were there in autumn, which is a bit of a shoulder season for the area in terms of its main attractions but there is still plenty on offer to enjoy. We went to Santa Park to visit Santa Claus, took a husky ride (on a wheeled trailer rather than a sled as the snow had yet to fall) and went out to a boat to go aurora hunting. As it is on the Arctic Circle this is a great place for aurora watching but unfortunately for us luck was not on our side and all we saw was a few grey/green wisps before they disappeared behind the clouds. This was a bit of a shame but enjoyable nonetheless, and as our guide pointed out, it is called aurora hunting for a reason… Our next stop was dipping out of Scandinavia across the Baltic Sea to Tallinn, Estonia. We flew back to Helsinki the night before and stayed at Eurohostel, which is a great hostel in the old town (€71.75/$116.25 AUD/82.35 USD for a private triple room). Tallinn is only a 2hr ferry ride from Helsinki, which makes it very accessible. The ferry cost €23 ($37.40 AUD/26.40 USD) per person on Tallink Ferries and is a really well equipped with duty free shops, bars, restaurants, free hot water taps and lockers for you to store your belongings in. At the right times of year you can get deals for €1 each way, so keep an eye out for these deals! Tallinn is a surprising place. I know we both expected it to have a real eastern European feeling to it, but until you head out of the old town and into the suburbs it definitely feels more Scandinavian. The old town is beautifully preserved and it feels magical wandering through the twisted alleyways and cobbled streets. We spent one day aimlessly wandering around and then on the second day we did a tour of the old town as well as the Presidential Palace, which was fantastic. This was quite an expensive private tour but there were 3 free walking tour companies available and they all appeared to focus on different aspects so pop into the information centre and see which one interests you the most. Tallinn is well worth the visit and is much cheaper than its neighbouring countries across the sea. If you are considering Helsinki it is well worth tacking this on to your trip or even visiting it in its own right. Also if you are looking for a great local watering hole check out Hells Hunt in the old town. It has good food and great beer at reasonable prices and it is still very much frequented by locals so hasn’t lost its charm. From Tallinn we were saying goodbye to Dani’s Mum and sailing back across the Baltic Sea to Stockholm, again on Tallink. This is a fantastic option to get to Stockholm as your ticket price includes a cabin for you to sleep in on the 15hr ferry journey. We paid €44.50 ($72.10 AUD/51.05 USD) which included a small upgrade to a quieter cabin and a buffet breakfast in the morning. Great value all around! From the moment we stepped foot in our last Scandinavian nation we were hooked. We both have a deep love for Scandinavia but very quickly we realised it seemed we had the best till last (sorry to our friends in the other five). Stockholm completely won us over. The wonderful people we met through another travel friend in part helped this. A Swedish friend we had met in Thailand was unfortunately going to be out of the country when were visiting so she put us in touch with some of her friends. They turned out to be a fantastic bunch of people and staying with them really showed us a different side to the city. Stockholm is a stunning place with incredible waterways that can be explored by commuter ferries and the transport system is cheap and easy to use. The daily and weekly passes are really cost effective if you are moving around the city a lot or the weather is bad (24-hour travelcard: 125 SEK/$18.85 AUD/13.85 USD) adults, 72-hour travelcard: 250 SEK/$37.75 AUD/27.65 USD) and a 7-day travelcard: 325 SEK/$49.05 AUD/36.25 USD) Information regarding the different options are available at all big transport hubs and everyone speaks nearly perfect English so are able to help and guide you) One particular trip definitely worth taking is the ferry from Slussen (Near Gamla Stan/Old Town) to Allmänna Gränd and walking around this very pretty island. It is home to many different museums including the Nordic Museum, Vasa Museum (The Swedish Titanic) and the Viking Museum as well as Grönalund Amusement Park. But even if you aren’t interested in any of that it is still worth just walking around. We also did a fantastic walking tour that explained some really interesting things about the city like the origins of Stockholm syndrome. We also went to the Nobel museum in Gamla Stan but unfortunately for us most of it was closed for refurbishment but this did mean there was no entry fee (usually 120 SEK/$18.10 AUD/ 13.30 USD) After three great days in Stockholm, we moved on to Gothenburg (I found the Goeuro app the best way to see all the options and booked tickets on the train for $50 AUD/36.75 USD). Gothenburg has a very different vibe to Stockholm. It is much more student focused and has a big nightlife scene. That being said it is also very pretty. We were staying near Haga at Slottsskogens Youth Hostel which was great and cost 500SEK ($75.05 AUD/52.75 USD) for 2 people in a 4 bed dorm. One of our favourite buildings was the fish market on the river which was designed by an architecture who actually wanted to build a church so that’s what he did…he built the fish church. Gothenburg is a great walking city. There are few things that can’t be explored by foot. If you are interested in a great green space then the Slottsskogens garden is perfect to walk around and has free animal enclosures to visit such as seals, moose, elk and penguins. Near to this you also have Haga area, which has the most amazing cinnamon buns in a variety of sizes in the local cafes. They are particularly famous for their extra large varieties of these and I can vouch that they are totally worth it if you have a sweet tooth! You may not be able to consume a whole one alone in one sitting but snacking on one all day is no hardship I can assure you! A lesser-known museum worth checking out is the museum of world culture, which has free entry. It is located next to the Universeum and it currently (September 2018) has an amazing exhibition about migration and refugees. It is not only moving but very well put together and very much worth a visit. Obviously there are also the hot spots like Universeum, which we are sure is fabulous and worth the visit but on the day we planned to visit there was a school children’s open day scheduled at the museum and that seemed like it might be a little…intense! From Gothenburg we were heading to our favourite retreat with friends in the South of France for a relaxing 9 days and while trying to find the cheapest flight it turned out that heading 4 hours south to Copenhagen, Denmark would be our cheapest option. BUS TRAVEL DETAILS As Copenhagen is not only a capital city but also a Norwegian Air hub it makes it a cheap and viable option for visiting western Sweden. As we had a morning flight we opted to spend the night in Copenhagen first and found a wonderful hostel not only close to the bus stop but also the main train station to get to the airport in the morning. Urban House (242.80 DKK/$52.30 AUD/36.75 USD for 2 people in a 6 bed dorm with private bathroom) was a great find as it was clean, comfortable and had not only great facilities but also fantastic location. Having finally seen the last two Scandinavian countries (which is something that we have wanted to do since our last big adventure) we can definitely say that we love this part of the world. There is something about it that has captured us both and will always hold a special place in our hearts. Yes it is expensive and there is no getting around that but if you’re willing to self cater and sleep in dorms these nations will reward you for your efforts. LGBT: Kazakhstan is a little seperate from the rest of the nations above. Homosexual and Trans idendities are legal in Kazakhstan but that is about as far as it goes. It is a conservative but realtively accepting country and we did not face any issues even when reaffirming we wanted the double room we had booked (It was a wedding anniversary treat trip). Nordic nations Finland and Sweden have been leaders in LGBT rights worldwide and are open, friendly and accepting. As for Estonia they have been unfairly lumped in with their ex-soviet neigbours. They are the leading nation on LGBT rights from the ex-soviet block and they are also more culturally leaned towards their Nordic neighbours than say Russia and Latvia.
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After some consideration between Trincomalee and Kandy we decided we were after something a little different after all our recent beach time so started to figure out the best way to get to Kandy. Knowing that 9 hours on a bus sounded hellish (the Sri Lankan buses are fine they’re just cramped for long journeys) we instead decided to hop on a train to Kurunegala (Rs290/$2.45 AUD/1.80 USD - 6hrs 3rd Class) and then catch a bus the rest of the way to Kandy (Rs78/$0.65 AUD/0.50 USD - 1hr). This takes almost as long as the bus but is a much nicer experience. At Kurunegala all you have to do is walk from the train station up to the main road, cross to the other side and flag down any bus with Kandy written on the front. It really is that easy. Once we arrived in Kandy, Dani set off to find us somewhere to stay while I waited with the bags and after 45 minutes she was back glowing with excitement. She had managed to negotiate us a beautiful room at Lime Grove Inn for Rs2000 a night ($17 AUD/12.60 USD), which was Rs1000 less than the initial price she had been quoted. Sri Lanka is a minefield of negotiations but its possible on pretty much anything, from food to accommodation, gifts and sometimes even local transport (not trains). Our plan for Kandy was a simple one. We wanted to learn how to cook some of the delicious food that we had been living on over the last few weeks and the only way to do that was to sign up for a cooking class. We had been tempted to try a new shared economy website With Locals and with €30 credit to spend on your first trip this seemed perfect. We signed up for a class to learn how to make 5 dishes. Dahl, yellow rice, devilled potato, egg curry and eggplant salad and we were served traditional buffalo curd with treacle to finish. This was really not the hands on class we were hoping for and was more of a demonstration but we did learn a lot about the cooking of Sri Lankan food and actually the surprising amount of flavour that can be imparted within a short timeframe. In Kandy we decided to avoid visiting the Buddha’s Tooth temple as although I understand the huge significance to Buddhists the $15 USD ($20.25 AUD) entrance fee seemed unreasonably high. It does however look like a beautiful temple to visit so if you don’t mind the steep fees it might be worth the visit. After the cooking class, a few trips to the markets and some lovely walks around the lake it was time to take the train to Nanuoya to return to Nuwara Eliya. This really is a stunning train ride but there is certainly no reason to take the fancy 1st class observation train. For Rs80 ($0.65 AUD/0.50 USD) you can get perfectly adequate 3rd class ticket which gives you the exact same view (but without the aircon or a cushion in your seat). On arrival at Nanuoya we ignored the calls of the taxi drivers and walked the 200m up the hill to the main road. There, waiting just to the right was a bus to Nuwara Eliya. It cost Rs28pp ($0.25 AUD/0.15 USD) and took about 30mins to reach the centre of town. We had booked our room in advance so headed off out of town in search of it but in hindsight this was totally unnecessary as just behind Victoria Park were a number of guesthouses that looked great and reasonably priced. The number 1 thing to do in this pretty colonial town is to visit tea plantations. We decided on 2 while we were there. The first one, Pedro’s is close enough that we decided to walk there and the other Bluefields is a 45minute bus ride on the Kandy Road (this should cost you Rs60/$0.50 AUD/0.35 USD on any Kandy/Colombo bound bus but they will try and charge much more - I was quoted 220Rs one way by one driver!!). Pedro’s Tea Estate is also close to Lover’s Leap waterfall which is an easy, 30 minute, signposted walk from the factory. Pedro’s cost Rs250 ($2.10 AUD/1.55USD) for a quick tour of the factory and a cup of tea over looking the plantation. At Bluefields an almost identical tour is free. As Dani believes that tea is more essential than oxygen we were pretty happy to do both tours but it probably isn’t necessary for the non tea drinkers/enthusiasts out there. From here it was time to head somewhere new again. So, back to the train station by bus we went and then on to Haputale by train (Rs40/$0.35 AUD/0.25 USD 3rd Class) which was actually even prettier than the last train journey. It’s only a 2 hour ride so we were there by early afternoon ready to find somewhere to stay. This was where we seriously lucked out and met Ali. Haputale turned out to be our favourite destination in Sri Lanka and Ali probably had a lot to do with this. Dani and I don’t always shy away from touts at train and bus stations as we have found some of our best deals on accommodation have come from them, it’s just a bit of a case of knowing who you can trust. Ali was someone we definitely felt we could trust. After listening to the pitches from a few other guesthouse proprietors we decided to followed this strange man with his bright orange beard down to what looked like the most out of our price range hotel we’d seen. Knowing that if we were too enthusiastic we may loose all bargaining power we had to seriously contain ourselves when he offered us a beautiful ensuite double room with the most glorious view out over the hills and tea plantations for only Rs2000/night ($16.90 AUD/12.55 USD). Sri Lak View turned out to be one of the Lonely Planet picks and it does offer some seriously good value. The only downside is the mosque perched behind the hotels annexed wing that will wake you up briefly at 4am with its call to prayer. This being said if you get one of the rooms close to reception you can’t hear it (we had to move rooms during our stay so experienced both). Haputale offers a lot in terms of a travel location. It still isn’t on the main tourist trail so prices are fairly reasonable and locals are less likely to take you for a ride. It’s in a pretty location and there is a lot that’s accessible from there. We had chosen it to go to Lipton’s Seat. Not really wanting to get up at the crack of dawn we decided to risk not having the view at the summit. We discovered there is a bus you can take from Haputale all the way up to near the ticketing booth for Lipton Seat (Rs60/$0.50 AUD/0.35 USD) cutting out the need for a pricey tuktuk. It drops you off 2km from Lipton Seat meaning you have a smaller walk than the hike from the tea factory but a nice enough one to make it worthwhile. When we reached the top there was no view to be had at all but the ascent through the plantations had been stunning so we were not bothered at all! We both agree that if we’d just taken a tuktuk from Haputale to the top (1500Rs wait and return) the whole thing would have felt a bit pointless but because we walked it was actually one of our highlights of the whole country. Knowing that we had almost 2 hours before the bus back to Haputale was due we decided to walk as far as we could back towards the factory. We took another path back from the summit that took us through the plantation village which was really quite beautiful and then along the main road back to the factory. We made it back before the shuttle bus arrived so we were able to take one of the normal buses back to Haputale (Rs33/$0.25 AUD/0.20 USD). From Haputale you can also access trips to Horton Plains as well, so it makes a great alternative base to Ella if you want to avoid the tourist trail a bit! We had stopped in Ella for a soda when we were on our safari tour and we already knew we weren’t going to like it. I’m really sorry if you’re reading this and Ella was your favourite in Sri Lanka but to us it represented everything that is wrong with a place once it’s “discovered” by people. Food costs 3 times what it should and is dulled down for the tourist palate, accommodation is the same, the hustles become more evident and the calls for taxis, tours and souvenirs become more aggressive. The only reason we were coming to Ella was to attempt another cooking class. We were lucky again when we got off the train (Rs25/$0.20 AUD/0.15 USD) and jumped in the back of a touts tuktuk, this time to be taken to his sister’s guesthouse. Walkers Nest was good value at Rs1750 ($14.80 AUD/11 USD - down from Rs2000) for a double room with private bathroom and was set in a nice location close to the station. The cooking class while more hands on than Kandy still left a lot to be desired but wasn’t expensive at Rs2000 ($16.90 AUD/12.55 USD). We noticed about 5 different signs for cooking classes here so I’d shop around and potentially avoid Ella Rocks, which was the one we had chosen. Our month in Sri Lanka was coming to an end and we had decided to round it off with a trip to Galle. From Ella we had 2 choices...we could either catch the overnight sleeper train to Colombo and then another train to Galle or we could catch a bus from Ella directly to Galle during the day. The funny thing was we actually chose the train but tickets in sleeper class were all sold out. This left us with the only other option of the bus. In fairness, despite my misgivings about this option, it turned out to be much easier than anticipated. There are 5 direct buses (7.10, 9.35, 11.30, 12.10 and 21.40) that go a day to Galle, taking between 6-7 hours and costing Rs400 ($3.40 AUD/2.50 USD). To catch the bus you go to the bus stop (it’s fairly obvious) just beyond the Ella-Passara Road (outside the Ella Gap Hotel). From here you can also catch the bus to Matara, Trincomalee, Kandy, Nuwara Eliya and to Monaragala or Siyambalanduwa Junctions to carry on to Arugam Bay. If you are heading to Arugam Bay from here it is worth while banding together with other travelers and bargaining for a taxi for the journey. With some good negotiating you can pay Rs8000 ($67.65 AUD/50.25 USD) for 6 people which although more expensive than the bus seemed worth the money to forgo the 2-3 buses and a tuktuk it would take otherwise. Having left on the 9.35 we arrived into Galle a little before 4. The immense heat was immediately evident as we stepped off the bus and our initial attempt at finding accommodation in the Old Fort quickly showed us this was not where we were going to find reasonably priced lodgings. For a reduced rate of 2000Rs/night we were offered a glorified bedsit room complete with broken window, dirty bathroom and a single poorly functioning fan, not a great start! A little tired and grouchy now we headed out of the fort and into Galle proper where we were lucky enough to stumble across Home Living Unit. This was a full apartment complete with living room, bathroom and kitchenette and Dani managed to negotiate it down to Rs2000/night ($17 AUD/12.60 USD). All sense of dread about making mistakes heading to Galle lifted as we walked up the stairs to settle in. Galle fort is nice to wander around and has some great architecture but I would definitely recommend staying outside of the fort walls as it is not far to walk and you get significantly better value for money. It also comes with loads more local places to eat and they aren’t hiking up their prices because of the tourist dollars. We really enjoyed our last few days chilling out in Galle, wandering around and filling up on delicious Sri Lankan food while we still could. Our time in Sri Lanka was almost over but one thing was for certain…we would be coming back. Our final leg was taking us back to Colombo on the train (Rs100/$0.85/0.60 USD 3rd class train ticket) for our final night. We had chosen to stay quite close to the bus station (near Colombo Fort Train Station) at City Hotel (the owner gave us local rates which are Rs3000/$25.35 AUD/18.85 USD) so that we could catch the bus to the airport in the morning. We had read some seriously conflicting messages about this bus and I was filled with anxiety as we arrived at the bus station mid morning on departure day. It turned out I needn’t have worried. The information counter directed us to the bus, which is an airconditioned private bus that has 187 on the front and states that it uses the highway route. This bus, contrary to reports does go from the actual bus station, doesn’t stop a 100 times along the way and does drop you off at departures all for only Rs150pp ($1.25 AUD/0.95 USD). We absolutely adored our time in Sri Lanka. Both of us are aware it’s taking off as a backpacker destination but are astounded that it’s taken this long. It really does have it all. You can visit it all year round due to its unique weather pattern of having two seperate monsoon seasons on opposite sides of the country. It has beaches, wildlife, tea plantations, surfing, hiking, culture and cuisine. There really is something for everyone here and best of all it is amazingly cheap. I would recommend travelling there before everyone finds out how incredible this place really is. LGBT: Sri Lanka was a hard one for us. There was never any time we felt unsafe or unwelcome but at no point did we ever feel that we should share our true relationship. Homosexuality is still illegal in Sri Lanka (no one has been prosecuted for over 60 years) and never was an assumption made about our relationship being anything other than friends (except when people mistook Dani for my son... not as funny as it seems). The hardest time we had was on our 6 day safari where we felt uncomfortable coming out to our driver who would then make up his own story as t o why we were traveling together and I got to say it got hard not to scream... "She's my wife!!!". It feels as though Sri Lanka is definitely a don't ask, don't tell kind of place and due to the illegal nature and general non acceptance it's probably safer to stay quiet. Budget Time $$$Budgeting in Sri Lanka was an absolute dream, in fact, for the most part, spending money in Sri Lanka is the difficult part. We went in with a very reasonable sounding $25USD ($33AUD)pp/day. This would have brought it in at slightly under out general South East Asian target of $35AUDpp/day. As you can see below we came way under this! However, it is worth noting that they sum we spent overall did not include entrance to any of the majorly expensive national sights (Sigiria, Horton Plains etc) nor did it include safari park entrances, both of which are major attractions in Sri Lanka and can really eat into a budget. These were all included in our very indulgent safari trip. However, I have costed that up for you in the safari break down so you can have a better idea of what that would cost in addition to basic expenses on the ground.
Entertainment expenses are more than likely going to be the biggest part of a standard backpacker budget in Sri Lanka. The entrance fees for certain attractions are inexplicably high so if you want to keep your costs down then you need to really think about which ones you want to do and what you consider to be good value for money. In other words, do your research before you come. Transport in Sri Lanka is unbelievably cheap. Local transport on trains and buses will literally not even be noticed in a budget and if you want to go first class or hire a driver or take a long distance taxi these are all affordable options on a backpackers budget! Accommodation costs, like everything else is always up for negotiation, the longer you can guarantee to stay somewhere the more likely you are to get a discount. Again, don’t always accept the first offer and have an idea of what a reasonable amount should be or what you are willing to pay per night or for your total stay. Tips for Sri Lanka in terms of budgeting are fairly simple. Haggling everywhere, for nearly everything is essential! That’s just the way the culture works. Prices of accommodation, day trips, souvenirs, food…are all up for negotiation! If you don’t haggle, you will be likely to pay too much. If you think the cost of something is unreasonable then just walk away and look elsewhere for the same product/service. Locals will almost always try to get a bit more out of you than something is worth. The trick is to find a middle ground that you both agree on, it might not be the exact value but if you think what you are paying is reasonable then everyone’s happy. 99% of the time they are willing to play the game with you and they are willing and happy to be reasonable. If they aren’t then someone else will be! Before considering paying for ANYTHING make sure you have an idea of what it should cost and/or what you are willing to pay. Sometimes the difference in your own money may be negligible but there is no reason you should be expected to pay four times the price for a short local bus journey than a Sri Lankan would. This policy goes for eating in local restaurants too. If there isn’t a menu with prices on it (which is rare – and if there is one you may find it has inflated tourist rates on it anway!) always ask how much something costs before you order it and total the cost of things up in your head as you go. In spite of following this method throughout our time in Sri Lanka I had to question the bills we were given after meals almost daily! Like I said before, this is rarely done out of malice and more out of a sneaky little hope that they can make a little extra out of the foreigner, but in local places for local products/services this wasn’t something we were willing to put up with. If we had agreed a price before hand, that was what we were going to pay. Overall, Sri Lanka is cheap, amazingly cheap, unbelievably cheap. Backpackers can live there best life for almost nothing. Luxury is also attainable for much less than you would pay almost anywhere else in the world. Yes, some things like major attractions can quickly push up daily expenses, but savings on food, accommodation and transport can easily cover this! What it actually cost: $760.35AUD for 22 day (doesn't include our 6 days on safari) Accomodation: $334.48 Food: $127.11 Drinks: $89.19 Entertainment: $85.43 Souvenirs: $66.76 Transport: $45.84 Miscellaneous: $10.31 Bribes: $1.24 This works out at $17.28 per person per day. We had been looking forward to this for so long that we weren’t sure what to do when we finally touched down in Sri Lanka. After some fairly swift moving through the Philippines, Timor-Leste and a brief stopover in Malaysia to catch up with friends we finally had a month to spend somewhere with only a small amount preplanned. It was strange because we’ve always been the sort of travellers who don’t really plan too far in advance but by this stage we were coming out of nearly 5 months of fairly tightly planned travel and it felt so good to have some freedom. The only thing booked was a 6-day safari trip around the country that would be starting 2 days after we arrived. As part of this package was the most welcome addition of airport pickup…as a backpacker, haven’t you always wished (as you get onto that dodgy looking local form of transport from the airport after a long flight) that it was your name on one of those signs as you exit customs. Well today was our day because there was the man with a sign that had my name on it! With a quick stop to get money from the ATM (no ATMs appear to have bank fees in Sri Lanka) we were on our way to our guesthouse in Negombo (actually a lot closer to the airport than Colombo). The first thing that struck both of us was how green everything was. Here we were on the outskirts of a major city and all you could see was green. Green fields, green banana leaves, green rice paddies, green coconut palms… just green. Check in at our guesthouse was a breeze and we were soon wandering around our local streets looking for our long awaited (we are massive fans of Southern Asian food) first Sri Lankan meal. The only thing nearby looked more like a convenience store than a restaurant but the smiley and enthusiastic gentleman who ran it seemed excited to whip something up for us so we agreed. For 620Rs ($5.25 AUD/3.90 USD) we had 2 large portions of fried vegetable rice, 2 vegetable stuffed roti and 2 parata bread. This was the dream! It turned out that this was on the more expensive side of things, because the next day we managed to get 2 large plates of rice and curry for 240Rs ($2 AUD/1.50 USD) but you can’t really grumble at $2.50pp for a freshly cooked and very sizable dinner! Now, our safari tour was expensive by backpacker standards (in fact, it was just expensive) and with the amount of time we had in the country it may not have been necessary to indulge in the expense, but we had a wonderful time. Because this a backpacker blog have to acknowledge that this absolutely isn’t the cheapest way to visit the national parks and explore the ‘highlights’ of Sri Lanka but it was a great way to see a lot in a short amount of time with minimal hassle and effort. Our tour cost $950USD per person including transport, activities, breakfast and dinner everyday and 1 lunch. During this time we covered a significant amount of ground and saw the most amazing wildlife. Here’s a breakdown of what we did and saw to maybe help you choose what you would most like to do.
This trip was definitely one of the most expensive ways of doing this and as backpackers it would be a lie to say that this was the cheapest way of seeing the most, as it really wasn’t. All up the entrance fees and safaris that we went on would have cost us a total of around $700USD ($942.10AUD) for two people. Obviously on top of that we got all of our transportation, meals and accommodation (which was seriously luxurious) but you can see there is definitely money to be saved! There are guaranteed cheaper ways of seeing all these national parks but I wouldn’t take back this experience for anything. I would however say that it isn’t necessary to visit all of these parks. For leopards Yala and Wilpattu are the best so you can just pick one. For elephants Udawalawe and Minneriya are equally good but for different reasons. Udawalawe is best for up close encounters and Minneriya is better for herds. I would say overall our best wildlife experience was at Yala but the least amount of respect for the animals and environment was shown here. For the amount of respect shown Wilpattu (followed closely by Minneriya) would be my pick but we saw the least here. The end of our 6-day tour saw us finishing up in Anuradhapura, which is part of the ancient cities circuit. This was our first actually independent location and we were really ready to get back into traveling on our own. This city has a large variety of ruins you can visit but unfortunately most fall into the expensive list as part of the $25USD ($33.75 AUD) day pass. Everything we read said that you cannot see everything in a day even if you do hire a three wheeler (tuktuk) so you either have to pay this fee twice or be very selective about what you choose to see. We decided to skip the pass all together and just visit the few cheaper sights instead. The first sight of real interest was the Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi tree. This tree is over 2000 years old and has been constantly guarded throughout the centuries, even through colonial periods and civil war. There is apparently a charge but we did not encounter anywhere to pay this on the way into the temple. This is also an easy walk to Ruwanwelisaya, which is also worth checking out and gives you good views of Jetavanaramaya. Jetavanaramaya is part of the day pass but we found the views from both the other temples and the main road sufficient for us. After a rest day and a day exploring we were ready for a trip to the north. We had both found Anuradhapura trying as there was a lot of overcharging and willingness to scam you which we found more prevalent here than anywhere else in the country, so it was off to Jafna on the train. There is a direct train from Anuradhapura to Jaffna which takes 4-hours on the slower cheaper train. We booked in advance and the tickets cost us 700Rs ($5.95 AUD/4.40 USD) each for a 2nd class ticket but we learned that there is definitely no need to book in advance. It costs a lot more to book, tickets never sell out and if you really want a better chance of a seat buy a 2nd class ticket on the day. This journey without booking should cost 280Rs ($2.35 AUD/1.75 USD) for the same 2nd class seat. To be honest there is so little difference between the classes that we chose 3rd class from this journey onwards. The train journey was beautiful and I really do recommend taking as many trains in Sri Lanka as your adventure will allow. Once in Jaffna we managed to find a simple guesthouse (1800Rs/$15.30 AUD/11.35 USD – negotiated down from 2000Rs) really close to the station, but a word of warning you should really consider upgrading to aircon in the north, because wow does it stay hot all night up there! Jaffna was a breath of fresh air when it came to pricing. Here everyone gave you a fair price, from room rates to transport to food. It was here we were able to learn what we should be paying for meals etc. rather than having to navigate and negotiate the minefield of inflated tourist rates. Rice and curry will set you back a hefty 120-150Rs ($1-1.30 AUD/0.75-0.95 USD), vegetable roti cost between 30-50Rs ($0.25-0.40 AUD/0.20-0.30 USD) and chickpea and lentil snacks cost between 10-30Rs ($0.08-0.25 AUD/0.05-0.20 USD). Jaffna itself is an interesting place to walk around. It is a lot greener than you would expect given its proximity to the salt plains and if you look past the shiny facades of the newer buildings you can see the old abandoned ones pock marked by both time and bullet holes. This city in no way feels left behind or recovering but it does feel different to the rest of the country.
We didn’t feel the love we expected to feel for Jaffna but we are glad we had visited. We spent our 2 days wandering around and visiting the main sights like the pubic library, Jaffna Fort and Nallur Kandaswamy temple. Our favourite sight would be the temple and try to go around 10am when there are prayers happening as the music is lovely and it is very peaceful to observe. Having not fallen hard for this hot city we cut our stay short by a day and jumped on a train southward for some cooler weather. The road less travelled…more like the road not travelled at all! So, we had made the decision to come to Timor Leste in the full knowledge that this was certainly an off the beaten track destination. South East Asia’s newest country and still one of the youngest in the world having only gained official independence in 2002. We came knowing that this was not going to be the easy and efficient travel we had become so accustomed to in eastern Asia and nor was it going to be the almost down-trodden path of the banana pancake trail throughout the rest of South East Asia, however, I don’t think either of us were prepared for quite how unprepared Timor Leste felt for visitors who were not members of the peace corps, or international aid agencies! The first thing worth noting is that the Timorese people are some of the smiliest and friendliest we have encountered anywhere in the world. Walking down the street you are frequently met with waves of stern and serious looking faces that almost instantly break into beaming grins as soon as eye contact is made. This warmth unfortunately lulls you into a bit of a false sense of security however, when you ask for assistance with pretty much any basic requirement of a visitor to an area and the response is almost always blank and helpless shrug! Upon arriving in Dili and having done all of the research it was physically possible to do (given the almost total absence of information regarding Timorese travel) we set about making our plans for our two week stay on the ground as we figured this would be easier and likely more efficient…how wrong we were! What actually transpired was us spending the better part of 5hrs walking 14km all around Dili trying to find information about…well anything really! We wanted to know where we could buy ferry tickets to go to Atauro, how we could get to Cristo Rei, if it was possible to get a bus to Mt Ramelau and if so where the bus station was…or in fact if there was a bus station at all. We had read that there were bars and dive shops all along Avenida de Portugal where one could find other travellers and all the information one needed about exploring the country. Turns out, not so much. What was actually there was one dive shop with an adjoining bar that was empty and the Hotel Esplanada, which housed the Timor Adventures tour office which was unmanned and shut. There were a few other travellers in there but it certainly didn’t feel like the information sharing hub we were hoping for. Upon returning to our guesthouse, tired, sweaty and with more questions than we had initially left with we were delighted and elated to discover that our hostel owner was in fact a pretty good source of information about what to do in Timor and how to do it. In order to save you time and stress we have decided to provide a little list of the things that we learnt in Dili in terms of the kind of information tourists might need when landing in this lovely but very alien land. Arriving at the ‘airport’:
Accommodation: There aren’t a huge amount of options available in Dili and even fewer on the budget side of things. We stayed at Casa Minha which is an incredibly basic but very functional backpacker place conveniently located about 10mins walk away from the port, right between the city and the seafront (just next to the New Zealand embassy). The family who run it are absolutely lovely, the owner speaks very good (nearly perfect English) and like I said can provide you with very comprehensive information about travel around Dili and Timor Leste in general. We paid $20USD for a double room with aircon and shared bathroom and shower. Like I said, this is the epitome of basic but considering the prices of other places in Dili it’s very good value and in a good location. Tickets to Artauro: Things regarding travel to this nearby island appear to be changing at a rate of knots, but this is where things stand now (May 2018). The public ferry goes twice a week from Dili port. One company goes on a Saturday morning (Nakroma) and another goes on a Thursday morning (Laju Laju), both leaving at 8am. The Saturday ferry costs $4pp and the Thursday ferry costs $5pp. There is also a ferry run by a company called Dragon Star that goes everyday except Wednesday, is slightly faster and costs $13pp (see picture for timetable and details). Gone are the days of only being able to travel between Dili and Artauro once a week or having to catch the hotel transfers at a cost of $35-45pp.Buying ferry tickets: From what we gathered it is only possible to buy your tickets for the public ferries the day before (and possibly on the day as well – although I’m not sure I’d risk this). The process of doing this is a bit unorthodox, but it works. You go to the port (we went at around 8.30am on Friday for the Saturday ferry) and wait by the gate with locals and potentially some other travellers – we met three foreign students, all of whom were on internships. At the gate the process is to wait until an official from behind the gate acknowledges you, when they do you are to hand over some form of ID (driver’s licence, proof of age card…I’d avoid giving them your passport, although they did all seem incredibly trustworthy) and the cost of the fare. Our experience showed us that exact money meant the whole process happens a lot faster. The official will then take the ID and money away and will return within about 5-10mins with your ticket with your name on it and any change you are due. Every ticket needs it’s own accompanying ID so you can’t just go and buy 10 tickets for a group of you without these. We had heard that foreigners are allowed to enter the port around the back and buy tickets in a more conventional way, although it was unclear to us how this would have been possible and also didn’t exactly seem fair when this is the process that locals have to go through. Like I said, it is pretty unconventional but it is definitely legitimate and it works. Getting to Cristo Rei: From central Dili this is surprisingly easy. The microlet number 12 goes all the way there and it’s actually the end of the line so there’s no need to figure out where to get off. The 12 can be picked up along the main road that runs along the waterfront and you simply flag it down to stop it. For ease of landmark definition we noticed that the route goes past Burger King on the corner of Rua de Be-mori and Rua 30 de Augusto (see picture), this is next door to Cheers Bar which you will see marked out on almost every Dili map you can pick up around the city. Because the 12 just does a continuous loop from the city to Cristo Rei this would be a good location to pick up and drop off from if you’re heading to Cristo Rei. The journey takes about 20mins and costs 0.25c (as do all microlet journeys anywhere in Dili). Getting around Dili: If you have an interest in visiting some of the towns/cities around Dili like Dare, Liquica and Emera these are all very well connected by micros and buses. Lots of buses (e.g. for Liquica or Emera) leave from the Tasi Tolu bus terminal, which is at the end of the number 10 micro line (about 20-25mins outside of Dili centre). Micros anywhere in Dili cost 0.25c per journey and the mid distance buses cost from 0.50c to $2. It seemed a bit daunting taking transport out of Dili to more remote areas at transport seemed so sporadic and disorganised, but everywhere we ventured there was always an option for getting back…even if it looked like it might just be jumping in the back of a truck. The locals are so friendly they would always find a way to help get you where you needed to be! Food: There are an abundance of supermarkets in Dili and a reasonable amount of nice looking tourist orientated restaurants. Most of these restaurants can be found along the Avenida de Portugal and dotted around the centre. These all looked like they had a good variety of food and the average cost of a dish in these places was $7-10. We were very lucky to find a little local place called Restaurante Tavirense on Rua 30 de Augusto (about 5mins walk from aforementioned Burger King, going towards the centre). This place opens at 9am until the evening and serves food canteen-style where you are given a portion of rice and then choose from a range of meat, fish and vegetable additions. We ate here multiple times and the cost of our plates ranged from $2-3.25pp. Money: There are tonnes of ATM’s all around Dili although a lot of them do not accept foreign cards. If you have a Visa card then you need to look out for any machines with the logo ‘Loos 24’. These ATMs accept foreign cards and do not charge a fee. If you do not have a Visa card then your only other option to get money out of an ATM will be the ANZ machines, which unfortunately charge a crippling $7USD fee!! If you arrive with cash, either AUD, IDR…and potentially other currencies too, there are plenty of legitimate money changers on the street corner of Rua du Palacio du Governo (see picture bellow). LGBT: Timor is a developing nation only 16 year in to developing it's identity as an idependent country. As a conservative Catholic(ish) nation it's LGBT rights are a little lacking but on the ground we found people warm and welcoming with very little judgement. Considering their recent history of being invaded by Indonesia which is considerably more conservative they are doing well. Homosexuality is legal and in 2015 they held their first pride march with and among the participants of the pride march were LGBT citizens, nuns, religious ministers, indigenous leaders, students, and government officials. For a little nation still finding their way they are the leaders of Human Rights protections in Southeast Asia including LGBT rights. Budget Time $$$So here's what it really cost:
$1,089.07 AUD for 13 days Accomodation: $679.42 Food: $141.55 Transport: $86.59 Miscellaneous: $79.93 Entertainment; $39.97 Drinks: $36.30 Souvenirs: $25.31 This means an average daily budget of $41.88 AUD per person, per day. We bid farewell to Guam and our new friends with heavy hearts only to discover our plane was delayed...yet again! This meant we really weren’t going to be arriving into Manila till really late. After what transpired to only be an hour long delay and an uneventful flight we ended up in an inexplicably long customs queue on the other side...this wasn’t starting very well. On advice the advice of Jose we had already downloaded the Grab app (Asian ‘Uber’) so as soon as we were through we jumped in a car and could finally head to our hotel for some much needed sleep (P305/$7.80 AUD/5.70 USD). Worth noting if you don’t have the app already or you can’t connect to the airport WiFi there is a Grab stand where a guy with multiple mobile phones will book one for you...just follow the Grab signs close to the taxi stand outside the airport. Manila is a strange mix of extremely modern and very poor. Driving along the highway it’s all flashing lights, fancy hotels and large shopping malls but as soon as you start winding through the back streets the poverty is starkly apparent. We had booked a hotel near the port as we had an early morning ferry to catch but we may as well have stayed at the port for the night with the amount of sleep we managed to get. I have never heard so many different sounds through one wall...including all night construction, prayer groups, cats, dogs, roosters and bad karaoke!! As soon as one noise would stop another would start and by the time we had to be up we’d managed about 20mins sleep between us. Walking to the port took us through what would normally be a no go area of town in other cities. Makeshift slum houses made from corrugated iron wound through street after street but one thing that is striking about the Philippines is how friendly everyone is and not once as we walked through this part of town did we feel threatened or unsafe. Hot and sweaty, we arrived at the port about half an hour later, ready for our long journey to Coron. We were taking the 15hour 2Go ferry (P) but had read on our tickets that we needed to be there 4hours before our departure time. Although I wouldn’t push it too late this was definitely excessive and you could easily arrive 2hours beforehand with no problems as all beds in all classes are assigned beforehand. The only thing being they do change the departure times with very little notice so be warned it is best to check your departure time on the day if you don’t want to arrive so early. The cheapest tickets (P1550/39.30 AUD/29 USD per person) give you a bunk on the deck and a basic meal, tourist class is inside with aircon. When we booked tickets in advance there was very little difference in price. If this is the case go for tourist class as it gets very hot on deck. If not, you’re in for a long but not too unpleasant night. We managed to befriend 2 other couples (both British) along the way who helped while away the hours. The ferry was actually early arriving into Coron and suddenly and quite unexpectedly we found ourselves out on the street and piling into a trike at 4am heading into Coron Town (P50/$1.25 AUD/0.95 USD but it should only be P20/0.50 AUD/0.35 USD). Having spent the last 3 months in Eastern Asia where booking in advance is essential we were excited about being a little more flexible again. Now, having extensively traveled through both Southeast Asia and Central and South America we have our system down and not once has it failed us! Leave one with the bags and the other goes to check out what is available. Dani headed off in to the dark while I hung out with Sophie and Josh who we had met on the boat. About 50 minutes later she appeared again with a face like thunder. 15 guesthouses she had been to and not one had any room. Very dejected and slightly concerned, we decided to take a risk at head with Sophie and Josh to their guesthouse Maritonies which was quite far out in the hopes that even though they had no rooms online they may have some space. We could have kissed the woman when upon enquiringly desperately, she smiled apologetically and said “we only have fan rooms, is that ok?”(P800/$20.55 AUD/15 USD). After discussions with not only Sophie and Josh but other travellers in the guesthouse it transpired that Southeast Asian travel has changed. People no longer show up and search for a room on the ground, they book in advance online. This apparently means all the good, cheap places are booked by the time you get somewhere which spurs more people to book ahead meaning more guesthouses are getting online and so the disappointing cycle continues! I’m not sure what this means for the carefree traveller but I think it’s sad because the whole nature of backpacking is the beauty and freedom of waking up one morning and deciding to go to another town, city or even country on a whim and if you’re booked in for the next 3 nights maybe you won’t follow your new friend to the next place etc. Having at least found somewhere decent to stay it was time to find some food. There’s not a lot going on when it comes to Filipino food but we found some cheap meals in the market on the way to the port (there are two markets in this area and you actually want to head to the souvenir market not the local fruit and vege market). Our next task for the day was to book a tour to see what Coron is really famous for, it’s surrounding islands and marine life. Dani managed to negotiate a trip for (P1200/$30.80 AUD/22.50 USD) which included snorkel gear and lunch but be careful as a lot of companies try to charge extra for the gear but don’t tell you this when you book. We chose this package because it took us to all the major highlights The next day the 4 of us set off for our excursion and it was this trip that really showed us we were back in Southeast Asia. We had gotten used to the organisation of Japan and Korea and it was a bit of a harsh reality check when we were suddenly jumping from boat to boat to get to ours at the end of the line as well as having a tour guide who showed almost no interest in guiding us what so ever. In hindsight it was exactly what it said on the tin...transport to Siete Pecados, Kayangan lake, Beach 91, Skeleton Wreck, Malwawey Coral Garden, CYC Beach, and Twin Lagoon, safety equipment (actually more than a lot of countries) and a good lunch. While the spots you get to visit on this trip are incredibly beautiful, the sheer number of boats and tourists in each location makes it almost impossible to appreciate this. There appears to be no limit on the number of people allowed in each place at one time and all the companies seem to follow exactly the same itinerary so there isn’t even a steady flow of people in and out. This made it hard to really enjoy the trip as we spent most of our time battling with other tourists or boats to get to where we wanted to be or see what we had set out to see. That being said it’s not an unpleasant trip, just uncomfortably busy. Coron Town itself leaves a lot to be desired. It’s dirty and dusty as well as personality-less. The town almost entirely caters to tourists and most of it is overpriced and underwhelming. Due to this we felt it would be better to head to El Nido earlier than we had initially planned. After 3 nights we headed back to the port for the fast ferry to take us to El Nido. Having booked online (P1848/$47.50 AUD/34.60 USD and playing totally into the new culture here) we needed to swap our reservation documents for tickets at the office approximately 50m from the port back towards Coron Town on the right hand side. You only need to be there an hour beforehand but also make sure you check that the boat is leaving at the scheduled time on the day as this changed. Pre booking online does cost a tiny bit more than the set rate you are offered in the travel agencies throughout Coron Town but they can only be purchased a day in advance and if the once daily boat you want to catch gets booked up then you’re stuck there for another day. The journey has a reputation for being pretty rough at times but we were lucky and it was smooth sailing the whole way (good news for me who gets sea sick). From the moment we sailed into the entrance of El Nido harbour it was clear we had made the right decision moving on. Although it has the same ‘cater only to tourist vibe’ it is a much prettier place. It’s a sheltered harbour surrounded by soaring cast cliffs and scattered with coconut palms. Everything is walking distance from the port so we ignored the calls from trike drivers, bid farewell to Sophie and Josh who were staying outside of El Nido and headed off to find the guesthouse (that yes we had booked online). The place we had chosen was the cheapest place ($15.70 AUD/11.60 USD) left and had some fairly hit and miss reviews. We found while it was nowhere near luxurious it was definitely a lot better than most of the reviews made it out to be. Again (like in Japan) we had found that booking online via Klook (we’ve found this a great booking website for Asia) was cheaper for the standard trips in El Nido. We had booked on to tour D ($25.80 AUD/$19 USD) which we knew was not the “must visit” spots but having seen how crowded everything had been in Coron we felt it might be better to go to some lesser visited sights. We had this tour booked for our first full day and waited eagerly downstairs a good 30 minutes prior to our pickup time...and we waited and we waited. Finally after calling numerous times we were whisked down to the port not really knowing what was going on. Once there it was explained to us that our guesthouse had our names wrong and had told the tour company that we weren’t staying there. Due to this we had missed our chance to go on a trip but that they actually weren’t running tour D due to lack of demand at the time and offered us places on want of there other trips for the next day instead. It made sense to choose the most expensive tour so we decided on tour A. After reading reviews it turns out they never seem to run tour D so it’s a great way of saving money on doing the more expensive tour by booking D through Klook and then choosing tour A! This actually turned out to be a really good day despite 10 minutes in, it pouring with such heavy rain that you couldn’t see more than 3 or 4 meters in front of the boat. It was quite scary being on a fairly rickety boat with bamboo stabilisers being lashed with rain but none of the crew seemed in the slightest bits phased by it and within 20 minutes it was blue skies and sunshine again. The crowds actually felt a lot less offensive on this trip and the snorkelling was a lot better than it had been in Coron. It’s not quite the stunning coral reef it’s made out to be (everything is damaged or dying) but the fish are really beautiful. El Nido is quite a nice place to chill out and relax. We didn’t feel any pressure to go on any other trips or explore the surrounding area so we spent our spare days just walking out along the beach and having a few San Miguel’s at sunset along the waterfront. After 4 relaxing nights it was time to head to our last stop in the Philippines, Puerto Princesa. We had booked one of the minivans in town (P500/$12.65 AUD/9.35 USD) and understood that we needed to make our own way to the bus station (which is definitely walkable from town) to start our journey. Our problems began when we arrived to be told our minivan wouldn’t be going, but that it was ok because they would happily buy us a ticket for the bus instead. Now, the fact that the bus is cheaper, slower and arrives 7km out of town meaning we would need transport on the other side, meant we really weren’t happy with accepting this offer of a bus ticket in exchange without a refund of the difference (P120/$3.05 AUD/2.25 USD). After about a 20minute stand off (and almost missing the only bus) the man grabbed our tickets and sped off on a motorcycle muttering something about a refund. Pretty sure we’d lost our money and resigning ourselves to having to pay for the bus as well, the man arrived back at the station with a full refund just as the bus choked into life ready to leave. What we learned from this was that an earlier minivan is a better choice and you would be best getting to the bus station and getting on the next one that is leaving rather than prebooking a specific minivan through a specific company. We saw 4 other sets of tourists in the same boat as us and only us and one other couple got on the bus so hopefully the others found alternative solution. The bus is painfully slow but it gets you from A to B. We were told that the road quality was terrible but from our experience it’s now well constructed the whole way. It’s the constant stopping that makes this bus so slow. When we arrived into Puerto Princesa we found ourselves a trike (P120/$3.05 AUD/2.25 USD) and set off for our guesthouse Fanta Lodge. Now, this place is functional enough and walking distance from the airport but the basic rooms ($8.15/6 USD) are literally concrete cells under tin roofs and are roasting hot. The nicer rooms with private bathroom and aircon were well worth the sneaky upgrade for our second and final night ($12 AUD/8.85 USD). Puerto is a town really only good for transiting through. We were flying back to Manila from there and we hadn’t wanted to spend 3 days in transit (El Nido - Puerto - Manila - Bali - Timor-Leste) so had opted for a rest day in Puerto. We did our best to explore what it has on offer but that isn’t a lot so I wouldn’t recommend spending any more time here than necessary. On our final day in the Philippines we walked to the airport and checked in for our flight. Surprise surprise we were delayed again but luckily we had plenty of time between our 2 flights for the day. We were also flying into the right terminal in Manila so wouldn’t even have to change. Our flight landed an hour after it was scheduled to meaning we now only had 5 hours to kill at Manila airport before boarding our flight to Bali. It turns out that there is a pretty decent food selection for reasonable prices here but we ate back at our newly discovered favourite Chow King. The time passed surprisingly quickly and soon we were on our 2 leg of 3. Because you can only fly to Timor from Bali, Singapore and Darwin we would be spending the night by Bali airport before getting on our final leg. We actually were really stoked by our airport accommodation Chillin Kuta Homestay which had only cost $17AUD (12.55 USD). It had comfortable beds, good WiFi and a decent ensuit bathroom. Best of all it is only a 3 minute walk from the airport (you can see the airport from the balcony). Definitely a great deal if you happen to have an early flight. It was time for our next adventure in Timor-Leste which would be the last country in Southeast Asia for us to visit. Overall, we had enjoyed our time in the Philippines but both left wishing we had explored it when we were on our big Southeast Asia trip in 2013. Back then the Banana Pancake trail hadn’t hit the Philippines and it was still a little undiscovered. That being said the people are wonderfully friendly and very chatty and I bet there are still some wonderful undiscovered gems but Palawan certainly isn’t that. LGBT: The Philippines is a conservative Catholic country but overall we found them to be pretty accepting. There was a lot of misgendering of Dani which got frustrating at times but it was never with malicious intent. The Philippines has also been ranked as one of the most gay friendly nations in Asia. The marriage equality debate is currently being argued in the Supreme Court and they have a female openly trans politician serving in congress who was elected in 2016. Budget Time $$$The Philippines was an interesting location in terms of setting a budget. Prior to going I had looked at a couple of backpacking blogs which stated that if one was to island hop around the area then a much more generous budget than the average South East Asian norm would be needed. Seeing as we were going to be in The Philippines for less than two weeks we decided to punt for a higher daily budget than our standard $35AUDpp/day. Knowing that we didn’t need anything too extravagant once we were on the ground in terms of accommodation and food we agreed on $45AUDpp/day, which gave us flexibility in terms of how we would get around but didn’t push us out of a backpacker’s spending power. As has become a bit of a trend for us, we came in under this. In fact, as you can see below we only very very slightly came outside of our standard South East Asia zone.
Unsurprisingly our greatest expense was transport and accounted for nearly 50% of our total spend – something which has never been the case before. All of the blogs out there are absolutely right; ferries/flights between the islands in The Philippines are not cheap. As we have said in the main blog, booking in advance stands to save you a really decent amount of money! Obviously the name of the game when visiting the islands is to go out and explore and that means organised trips. What we noticed about these trips on both Coron and El Nido is that the prices within the budget range are pretty much standardised and what you get for your money is all much of a muchness. They go to the same places and pretty much include the same things – boat, ‘guide’, lunch (watch out for snorkel and mask hire extras). You don’t need to do much shopping around or haggling if you’re just going to follow suit and do the standard day trips. All of these trips are reasonably priced and can easily be fitted into a basic backpacker budget. Food throughout the country was inexpensive but also generally pretty uninspiring. We paid $3-5AUDpp/meal at local places and this got us satisfactory portions of rice/noodles with meat, fish or eggs and veggies. Budget accommodation throughout the country was fine. It was in Coron that we discovered that pre-booking is almost a necessity in parts of SE Asia now which I find incredibly disappointing, but fortunately this does not appear to have affected the price too much, as long as you get your booking done in time to catch the budget options. We paid an average of about $15AUD/room/night and this got us comfortable and satisfactory rooms every time. They didn’t always have en suite bathrooms, or aircon, but they were always acceptable for the price. The jump to get all the real comforts in the Philippines is pretty significant, so on a budget you really can’t expect it all. Overall the Philippines was not as expensive as we had been lead to believe it would be on the basis that we did island hop and we weren’t there for very long so we crammed a lot into a short time. You definitely don’t get as much bang for your buck as you do in certain other SE Asian countries, but it is absolutely doable on a reasonable backpackers budget! What we actually spent: $781.82 AUD in 11 days Transport: $358.09 AUD Accomodation: $147.14 Entertainment: $123.67 Food: $97.17 Drinks: $42.29 Souvenirs: $7.30 Miscellaneous: $6.17 This works out at $35.53 AUD per person per day. |
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November 2018
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