Not much going on really

Days 29 to 30 - Mactan (Cebu)

Just a couple of lazy days at the Shangri-La resort on Mactan Island, so not much of note to write about.

Each morning we took advantage of the nice (though incredibly busy) buffet breakfast. The first day we ate in the main restaurant and had to queue for about 15 minutes just to get a table. The second day we went to the smaller breakfast in the Ocean wing, which was more relaxed and overall more pleasant.

M did a little bit of exploring, walking along the main road and then down to the Hilton ferry port where you can get a ferry to Olango Island, but when the sun was out it was very hot and humid so his exploring was limited.

We walked around the nicely manicured grounds and checked out the shops and cafes at the resort. We did notice that there were a lot of children around, also that 90 percent (or more) of the guests were Asian, and we had read that the Philippines is a major destination for South Koreans.

Each day we'd go to the beach bar for happy hour, it closed at 6pm which seemed a little on the early side to us, though as the sun was setting around 5:30pm it kind of made sense. 

$200 for "free" drinks?

Day 28 - Boracay to Mactan (Cebu)

Our flight wasn't until 12.30pm  but we were told we needed to leave by 9.30am, so after a leisurely breakfast right by the beach we jumped into a van followed by ferry followed by van,  the time taken to get to Caticlan airport was about 50 minutes.  

The airport wasn't much more than a big shed but we were grateful that it was air-conditioned, it actually wasn't too bad a wait. The boarding process started an hour before takeoff, we were loaded on to buses which sat there until given the all the clear to drive in a convoy along the only runaway to our plane. The plane taxied back down the runway past the holding shed and did a U turn to take off on the very short runway. 

It was only a 45 minute flight but there was enough time for the flight attendants to run a short trivia game complete with prizes.

We hopped in a Grab at Mactan airport and arrived at the Shangri-La resort, our home for the next three nights. The girl who checked us in tried very hard to upsell us, suggesting we purchase lounge access ("free" drinks and snacks for about $200 extra per night), or move from the Ocean wing to Main wing, but we'd done our homework and knew what was being offered wasn't worth it. We did accept a move to a better room, what was weird was that it cost us nothing extra, plus there was already a welcome card in that room with our name on it.

We settled in and explored, having a couple of drinks at the beach bar for happy hour, followed by a buffet dinner where the staff confused us with somebody else and almost gave us free drinks.    

Washed Out

Days 25 to 27 - Boracay

Day 25

Oh dear, this wind and rain doesn't look good! We had thought about visiting the Philippines in other years but were concerned about typhoons, this year we thought we'd be OK by the end of November, but climate change is bringing more frequent and stronger storms, extending the typhoon season.

It poured rain overnight but by the time we finished breakfast it had subsided a little. M decided this would be a good time to go for a walk ... two hours and one completely destroyed umbrella later he made it back to our hotel, though he did manage to walk the length of White Beach up to Lambros Point.

We both went for a walk later in the afternoon, but we were caught in another massive downpour and had to shelter at a coffee place and a bar on our way back. We had dinner at the hotel, there wasn't much point in going too far in this weather.

Day 26

We only found out this morning that all flights to Boracay yesterday had been cancelled and visitors had been stranded on the island and in Manila, we were fortunate we'd arrived the day before that.

The weather had improved so M went exploring along the beach to the south, stopping when rocks prevented further progress. That part of the beach was even quieter than where we were staying. 

The sun came out and the Filipinos are so used to cyclones it's as if it never happened. The sand near our hotel is lovely and soft and the sea was calm and a beautiful blue so it was a great day to swim in the warm water then relax on the island while sipping cocktails.

That evening we watched as yachts took people out on sunset cruises, all in a line along the horizon.

Day 27

Another sunny day, so M went off on another walk along White Beach (no umbrella required this time), while K decided on another swim. 

At breakfast we had seen people reserving sun lounges early by placing their towels but then not using them. It seems the stereotype that it's Germans that do it is somewhat true as it was a German man that demanded K move when she sat on a lounge that had been unoccupied for two hours! 

Sandy white beaches ... and lots of rain

Day 24 - Manila to Boracay

The flight from Manila to Caticlan airport was only 45 minutes, but our ultimate destination of Boracay was on a different island. We had arranged a transfer so we were met by some very helpful staff from My Boracay Guide who drove us to the Caticlan Jetty Port. They then gave us our ferry tickets and helped us with our luggage as far as the stairs to the ferry. There are a lot of porters offering to carry our luggage onto the ferry (for a fee) but M decided he'd do it himself, nearly tripping and dropping a case into the water along the way.  

The sky was dark and ominous, we were a little surprised by the wind and rain and was told it was due to a typhoon expected to arrive later today! This was news to us, we'd been keeping an eye on Cyclone Kalmaegi and the deadly Super Typhoon Fung-wong which hit the Philippines five days later. We'd been keeping our selfish fingers crossed that the worst would be over by the time we arrived. What we had missed was that Typhoon Verbena was on its way! It was due to pass over islands well south of us but Verbena's wide reach meant Boracay was also copping the rain.

It was a 15 minute boat ride to the island of Boracay, then at the other end it was more porters (which M avoided) to get the luggage back onto dry land, then another van for 10 or so minutes. We then parked on the road and our luggage was carried along the sand to our hotel Villa Caemilla. We had definitely done the right thing paying for the transfer, we could have done it on our own more cheaply but it would have been more stressful and taken a lot longer.

The west side of Boracay called White Beach is made up of three stations/sections. Station 1 is the luxury resorts, Station 2 is shopping and nightlife while Station 3 where we were staying is  quieter. 

A few doors down from us was a Thai restaurant facing right onto the beach which is where we had dinner. It reminded us a little of  the times we stayed at Bang Tao on Phuket, before the post-covid crowds changed the beach and it became crowded and commercialised.

Clean at last

Day 22 - Bangkok to Manila (Philippines)

It was an early start but airport lounge access made it a little easier to handle! We boarded our flight to Manila just after 7am, a few hours later we landed then caught a Grab to our apartment on the 27th floor of Seda Residences in the business and residential suburb of Makati.

After a few weeks on the road an apartment with a washing machine was just what we needed, while our clothes were drying we stepped out and visited a nearby supermarket for some provisions. Then it was back to the hotel for a couple of drinks at the rooftop bar as we watched the striking sunset.

Day 23 - Manila 

After a filling buffet breakfast we caught a Grab to Intramuros, the 16th century, walled old city of Manila. There were lots of touts trying to get us to take a ride in their horse and carriage, definitely the wrong tourists for that! 

We wandered the streets for a while amongst the Spanish colonial styled buildings and churches before paying the entrance fee to to visit Fort Santiago. It was quite warm and very humid, not the best weather for wandering, so after we finished exploring the fort we headed back to Makati and our high-rise home in the sky. A couple of drinks at the rooftop bar then a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant on the ground floor finished up the day. Off to the island beaches tomorrow!

Two sleeps in one day

Day 21 - Bangkok 

The flight to Bangkok took about four hours and we were able to stay awake for the duration, landing around 6am local time. We checked in to the airport hotel and went straight to bed,  waking early afternoon then heading to the café for (finally) a decent coffee.

Our visit to the hotel restaurant on our trip over had been disappointing, but we didn't feel like venturing too far so we hit the hotel's sports bar in time for happy hour, satisfied with a couple of drinks and some bar snacks.

The good thing about the hotel we stayed at is that the stay is 24 hours from check in, which meant we were able to get in a second round of sleep and adjust a little better to the time difference before our flight the next day.

Is your husband Pakistani?

Day 20 - Lahore to Bangkok 

Our tour was officially over and we weren't leaving until almost midnight so we had a day to spend in Lahore. We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before we battled the streets, negotiating the roadside motorbike parking areas on our 20 minute walk to a nearby government handicrafts store for a few last minute purchases. 

We found that the shop (Pakistan Handicrafts Shop) had the best range of all the shops we'd visited, however it didn't have the tiles K had missed buying earlier in the trip.

We hung out at the hotel for the afternoon, had dinner there and then took the hotel car to the airport around 8:30pm, the trip taking about 40 minutes in dense traffic.

Lahore airport was chaotic and normal rules at passport control like waiting your turn were not in play, instead of a normal queue people were squashed around the desks. Security was heavy and thorough with multiple check points (probably for the best as a suicide bomber had killed 11 people in Islamabad a week earlier). K had to go through separate women's checkpoint, for some reason they asked if her husband was Pakistani.

We found that the upstairs dining area was quiet so we waited there until we boarded our flight to Bankgok around 11:30pm, getting away pretty much on schedule.

Links to the Taj

Day 19 - Lahore

Another early start to see the old city of Lahore. We stopped briefly for a quick look at the Lahore Railway Station before heading to the huge grounds of the Tomb of Noor Jahan. The mausoleum was built in the 17th century for the Mughal empress Noor Jahan, with the marble centotaphs of the empress and her daughter side by side inside the main building.

 

It was a short drive from there to see the tomb of Noor Mahal's husband Emperor Jahangir, also set inside a large garden along with some other smaller tombs. Jahangir was the father of Shah Jahan, who along with this tomb also built the Taj Mahal for his wife. Similarities can be seen between this tomb and the Taj, with heavy use of semi-precious stones (like lapis lazuli) inlaid in the shape of flowers in white marble.

Next was a visit to Lahore Museum. It was quite busy so once again we attracted a bit of attention, what was amusing when we first arrived in Pakistan was starting to wear on us a bit! The exhibits were quite varied, ranging from a section on different buddha statues, a big (and not particularly flattering) statue of Queen Victoria, and odd things like a piece of the Berlin wall. After we'd seen enough we found a seat away from the crowds to enjoy some peace and quiet! 

Lunch was at Yasir Broast on Tourist Street near the Anarkali Bazaar, and in a very busy part of town and as we walked along the street had a glimpse of daily life in Lahore.   

From there it was back in the bus to the Delhi gate, walking along the busy street and then past a spice market to Shahi Hamman, a Turkish bath built by Shah Jahan in 1635. It had received awards for the quality of the restoration, with baths being excavated and highly decorated frescoes uncovered. 

Not far from there was the Wazir Khan Mosque with its detailed painted frescos and as well as the underground tomb of a Sufi saint. This was the most "touristy" part of Pakistan we'd seen on the whole trip, with a few shops just outside the mosque selling souvenirs and artwork.

The walk back through the bazaar and the wait for our bus on a very busy corner had us all choking on the fumes and smog of Lahore's chaotic polluted traffic.

Back at the hotel we had a last dinner with our travelling companions as they were all flying home in the early hours of the morning, while we still had another full day left in Pakistan.

You spin me right round

Day 18 - Lahore 

A busy day today starting with a visit to Lahore Fort. We entered via the gate right next to Food Street, which in the past was part of the red light district but now contains restaurants and shops. 

The fort covers an area of more than 20 hectares and contains twenty one notable monuments. It has been a residence for Mughal emperors and features a blend of Mughal and Sikh architectural styles.

A local guide joined us to provide useful information as we visited sights which included the Picture Wall, the Sheesh Mahal, Summer Palace, Naulakha Pavilion, and the Badshahi Mosque.

By the time we made it to the mosque it was starting to get quite busy, K had to put her scarf over her head so that people wouldn't approach her asking for a photo!

We then visited the Shalimar Gardens which covers 16 hectares, and is arranged in three terraces with water features and multiple buildings. Construction of the gardens was completed in 1642 during the reign of Shah Jahan, at the peak of Mughal architectural and cultural achievements.

After lunch we drove to the Wagah border crossing. We had previously seen the border closing ceremony from the Indian side in 2009, but with the border being closed due to the recent border skirmishes between Pakistan and India we were here to witness the flag lowering ceremony.     

The border was quite different from our earlier visit. Last time we felt a bit sorry for the Pakistani side as they didn't seem to have much of a grandstand and the crowd was a lot smaller than the Indian side. This time in Pakistan we were sitting in a huge newly built grandstand, they had people to rev up the crowd (including a one legged man dressed and spinning like a dervish), with massive video screens and an extremely loud sound system showing videos about the Pakistani armed forces - there's nothing like clips of missile launchers and planes dropping bombs to get the crowd in the right mood! 

It was still a fun show, the choreography hadn't changed much from last time, soldiers were still doing strange high kicks and silly walks and standing at the closed border gate shaking their fists at the other side, and on our side the crowd were really excited, shouting "Jan Jan Pakistan".

After the ceremony finished we headed back to Food Street, which was quite busy and we spent half an hour or so checking out the action along the street. There were food stands, shops, even a goat balancing on top of what looked like an upturned vase. We then had dinner at Haveli restaurant, sitting outside with a great view of the fort.  

No more police!

Day 17 - Multan to Lahore

A lot of driving today, with just one major stop at Harappa, the site of an ancient civilization from around 2600 BC, existing around the same time as the one at Mohenjo-Daro. 

We started the visit at the museum which is quite modern compared to others we've visited in Pakistan, with exhibits more like the style we'd see in museums at home.  

Then we walked through the site along some well defined pathways. It covered a large area and it was apparent that it hadn't all been excavated. The buildings were all made from the same sort of brick we'd seen all throughout our trip on old and new buildings, showing how the construction materials used back then are still in use thousands of years later. 

We had a little time to ourselves to explore after our guide had explained the main features of the site, but at all times we still had police escorts with us, one of them introducing himself to M as the man in charge and telling him he would give him a call some time! 

That was the last of our escorts as the police didn't follow us for the the rest of our drive to Lahore. We arrive in the bustling city after dark, battling very heavy traffic on our way to the Luxus Grand Hotel. 

Would you like to say a few words?

Day 16 - Multan

We started the day with a visit to the Tomb of Hazrat Shah Rukn-e-Alam, the mausoleum of a 14th century Sufi saint. The building resembled those we had seen at Uch Sharif, with its octagonal shape though with not as much of the distinctive blue tilework. The tomb inside was surrounded by garlands of artificial flowers of many colours.

We then walked through the Fort Kohna Qasim Gardens to reach a building to get some good views of the city. The gardens we walked through were covered in rubbish from the previous day and evening, our guide was quite critical and thought it had probably been done by school groups like those we'd seen yesterday. We reached a building that had a few old paintings on the wall depicting historical Multan events, as well as lot of disconnected solar panels. We climbed up the stairs to the rooftop finding it very busy with a large group of local tourists. We were all asked to pose for photos, M found that most of the people were from a "Discover Multan" tourism group celebrating the group's birthday, for some reason they were quite interested in hearing what M had to say, even asking him to say a few words to the group, which he declined!

Next was another mausoleum, the Tomb of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya, a 13th-century shrine dedicated to the Sufi mystic Bahauddin Zakariya. This one had a lot of pigeons, along with a man selling corn to feed to the pigeons, though he wasn't doing much business when we were there.

We visited a very busy bazaar in one of the oldest parts of the city, with old hindu temples and other historic buildings. We stopped at one of Multan's famous confectionery shops to try some halwa, a milk based sweet similar to fudge.

Shahi Eid Ghah Masjid is very large and beautifully restored mosque, with elaborate painting. There were no worshippers when we visited, but there were some students from the nearby madrasa (islamic religious school) who walked with us as we explored and took photos.

After lunch we visited a pottery factory, famous for it's blue and white pots. We were able to witness most parts of the process, including the free hand painting and colouring. K was a little disappointed in the quality of the workmanship, but did buy a few souvenirs to bring home.

One Shoot, One Kill ...

Day 15 - Bahawalpur to Multan

Today's first stop was the Bahawalpur Museum which had a small but varied collection, including old cars, railway engines, intricately carved temple doors, examples of traditional weaving, and a model of Derawar Fort. 

The notable library building next door was in the last stages of being renovated. All the old bookshelves were up around the outside of the building, but as the front door was open we snuck in to have a quick look.

We then travelled to the centre of town to the Fareed Gate. We walked through to the bazaar though as it was still early many shops hadn't yet opened. Back near the gate we stopped at the government handicraft shop where a few souvenir purchases were made.

We then went on to Noor Mahal, a grand old building owned by the Ministry of Defense, which included a small museum and was still used for formal occasions. The grounds were extensive, and as it was a Saturday it was very busy with lots of groups of school children and families, there was even a jumping castle. We all attracted a bit of attention, regularly being approached by the locals. K and the other fair English woman in our group had become weary of the asking for selfies and felt that they had just a taste of what being famous might be like. At one stage they found a bench behind some bushes and tried to lay low out of sight.

We followed our police escort to quite a modern hotel in the city of Multan, our stop for the next two nights. We could see the logos on the shirts of our police, the back of one with "No Fear" while the other had "One shoot, one kill" and a picture of a person shooting a machine gun - I don't think that kind of work wear would go down well back home!

Of course, we were told we were not allowed to leave the hotel, even though there was a normal looking KFC opposite and some nice looking shops just down the road.

Uniformed hitchhikers

Day 14  - Bahawalpur 

No police car escort this morning, today we just picked up a policeman standing on the side of the road, he sat in the front seat of our van for about 20 minutes before swapping with another one.

We stopped along the drive to watch some women picking cotton. They were fine with us taking photos though most of them tried to hide their faces. Our guide told us these were nomadic workers, who would travel between farms to follow the different harvesting seasons.

We continued through the Thar Desert and  reached Derawar Fort, built in the 9th century and once a stop on the pilgrimage route between India and Mecca. We stopped outside the fort to get a view of the whole structure with 40 circular bastions in total, with different patterns built into the bricks on some of them. 

Once we entered we found a number of buildings in various stages of disrepair, though some renovation and reconstruction work was underway on the royal family quarters above one of the corner bastions.

Next to the fort was the Abbasi Mosque, made from white marble and with only a caretaker there apart from us.

   

A short bus ride away was a well preserved royal graveyard with mausoleums for the nawabs who had ruled the area from the 18th century to the early 20th century, including one for the last nawab's English wife. 

From there it was on to lunch and then back to our hotel in Bahawalpur for a second night.

Making a racquet

Day 13 - Sukkur to Bahawalpur

It was an early start as we briefly gave our police escort the slip to run across the road from our hotel to get a good view of the Sukkur Barrage, used to control the largest irrigation network of its kind in the world. It looks like a bridge but is a long series of gates that can be used to control the flow of water from the Indus River to the many canals built to support the surrounding farmland. Built in the 1920s it is quite an impressive engineering feat, especially considering its size and location.  

A couple of minutes further by bus found us at a viewing point where we hoped to see an Indus river dolphin. K was lucky enough to see one come to the surface of the murky brown water, M had wandered off to see what else was around the area so missed it. 

It was then a long drive (stopping along the way for an icecream while the bus was being refuelled), our police escorts changing every hour or so as we left one police district and entered the next. We left Sindh province to enter the Punjab region and arrived at Uch Sharif, a historic city founded by Alexander the Great. 

We visited the Shrine of Hazrat Syed Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari, devoted to a Sufi saint and missionary. 

After leaving the shrine we walked a short distance to a monument complex that included the very Tomb of Javindi Didi. From one side the building was very impressive, octagonal in shape and decorated with distinctive blue tiles from the city of Multan. Walking around to the other side of the monument showed that it was really only half a building, as some of it had been washed away in floods in the 1800s.

The complex contained a number of smaller tombs and mausoleums, all impressively decorated with blue tiles from the city of Multan. We later found that the complex wasn't that easy for foreigners to visit after we met some workers from the UN who hadn't completed all of the correct paperwork beforehand and were denied entry.   

From there it was a late lunch then a drive to Bahawalpur where we checked in to our hotel around 4:30pm, a little earlier than normal. As it was still daylight and we were once again confined to the hotel grounds, M took part in a game of badminton on the lawn with our British travel companions while K looked on from her vantage point in our hotel room.