Arriving, driving, eating and swimming in Bohol

Another early start for our flight to Tagbilaran. By now we'd worked out you didn't need to get a taxi from our accommodation to the airport - it took 10 minutes in the taxi last night, but its about 500m as the crow flies, because he doesn't need to worry about crossing motorways. Our host had told us about the 'Runaway' overpass - a5 storey high walkway complete with baggage scanners at either end and a lift. And what could you see from the walkway? Another of those Filippino restaurants and a massive church.

Breakfast at the airport with the world's smallest 'American big breakfast' then a one hour flight to Tagbilaran. A brand new airport where the road markings don't yet match the signs in the car park. So after about 10 minutes we managed to get out of the car park, which doesn't sound unusual until I tell you that there wasn't any traffic and the car park was about the size of the one at Richmond station!

We drove to the most famous beach here - Alona Beach - but discovered that there's nowhere to park so we drove on. Eventually we found a beautiful beach where we had a dip. Very hot and bright sunshine.

We then drove around trying to find somewhere to eat in Tagbilaran City. Driving here is far less crazy than in Manila - based on my sum total of 10 minutes spent in a taxi last night. So far I've only driven on the wrong side of road once. No one drives over 60, especially the motorcycles with side cars and trailers, with all sorts of passengers.

'... home home again jiggety jig'

There are lots of motorcycle side-cars that operate as taxis, many of them with Bible verses like 'the Lord himself watches over you' and 'whoever believes in the name of the Lord will be saved.' I was particularly impressed by the truck driving towards me on my side of the road with 'in God we trust' in large bold letters.

Hamish did a great job patiently navigating for us with his patient but sometimes unreliable friend Google maps. Finally, we found a great wood-fired pizza place with a family of kittens.

We had been trying to ring our local Compassion contacts but the phone number seemed to be wrong, so we emailed the Australian office, and they asked them to contact us. We eventually realised the problem wasn't that we had wrong numbers. Instead, for some reason we had assumed that the prepaid mobile sim card we purchased included the old-fashioned option of making phone calls. It turns out you can receive calls but you can't make them - but who'd want to do that! Thankfully we've now sorted out the directions for seeing our sponsored child, Raine, on Friday. Tomorrow we'll talk to the Project Director at the child centre we're visiting on Saturday.

We've certainly been struck by the poverty here - makeshift houses and lots of rubbish and poor roads. Right amongst this are the tourist hotels ...

Eventually Hamish and Google maps, together their mutual friend 'U-turn', found our accommodation, which is a very pleasant (and cheap) new hotel with a lovely swimming pool. Elijah and I enjoyed a dip.

Then some down time getting ready for some sightseeing tomorrow. We're looking forward to seeing the Tarsier - a unique mammal with the world's largest eyes (proportional to its body) and a head that can rotate 360 degrees! Plus the 16th century Baclayon church and the Blood Compact Monument - possibly the world's only monument celebrating two men drinking a cup of each other's blood. Chat with your friend Google about each of those - or wait for tomorrow night's blog.