27 December 2013
Feeling adventurous, we took a walk one afternoon from Panagsama towards the Kasai Resort pier. We wanted to explore the coastline and possibly get to White Beach (although, we were totally oblivious to how far along the coastline White Beach actually is and the fact that it is not accessible except by the inland road).
We set off along the rugged coastline climbing over quite a few ‘private’ walls and jetties which separate each property from the next. The rocks were jagged and slippery and the rising tide was steadily making our chosen path impossible. We pushed ahead, over coconut dumps, a sewerage river, sharp rocks, half-built walls, private property and scratchy plants and finally, as we reached the Kasai resort pier, were unable to go any further. This was after climbing up and down rock faces and sliding on our bottoms in certain places.
Along the way we’d seen half-broken bamboo huts, a couple of goats, some naked children cliff jumping into the ocean, a kingfisher and a lot of crabs and cowrie shells!
Disappointed that we were still nowhere near White Beach and unable to go back the way we came due to the tide (and lack of motivation to repeat the rigmorol in the ensuing rain) we headed back to Panagsama on the inland road from the resort. It must have been at least a two kilometre walk back to Panagsama (in the lightish rain), which took us through lazy villages and groups of local children playing in the streets. The rain was a welcome change in temperature and it was great to get a taste of local life for an afternoon.
We never did walk to White Beach. Moalboal 1, Travelinds 0.
Funny moment:
A couple of children followed us for a while down the road asking us all the questions in their limited English vocabulary. Questions like “What’s your name?”, “Where are you from?”, “What’s your bride’s name?” etc
We’d noticed that this friendliness is present in all Filipinos we pass on the roads, but especially the toddlers who wave energetically and call out greetings as tourists pass by. We were busy discussing whether this is ‘just being friendly’ or if they ‘wanted something’ in return when one tiny mite piped up behind us, “Ok, give me money,please” at which all the others took up the mantra in turn to bring their point home.
(Unfortunately for them though, we don’t carry much money with us if we can possibly help it – safety first!)
