Hidden coves and craic.

From my previous post you would think this backpacking malarkey is all beaches and blissful sunny days. Well as I write this post from the back of a tiny hot minivan with, wait for it, 23 people crammed around me I can assure you it is not. We have been on the road now for 3 days in a what now seems gargantuan effort to travel from Coron town to yet another fellow backpacker tip off, the sunny seaside town of Puerto Galera on Mindoro.

Coron town itself is set up on a little hillside. Sounds idealic right? Not so much! This place is a strip of ramshackle housing and business' clearly thrown up after the start of a tourist boom a few years ago. It seems in Coron planning permission, health and safety and any other regulation has been thrown out the window. Right in the middle of town, down a crumbling set of concrete stairs, along a randomly twisting and turning boardwalk of wobbly driftwood that led out into a water village of hastily built traditional bamboo houses was our place, Coron Backpackers.

We first found this place on Google and seeing it was the first obvious place for any travellers to visit we grabbed our bags from the boat and quickly hailed a tuk tuk to rush straight there. We didn't have a booking but the ever helpful manager, a Filipino lady called Celine helped us with our first nights stay and gave us the last available room with two double bamboo beds for only a little more than the regular rate. For that cheap rate we soon found out we had a room just next to where the village kept their pigs, the room also had a family of rats living in the wall and the bamboo slatted floor let the low tides tremendous stink hang thick in the air. All the same it had a charm and a good vibe is something sometimes so hard to find. We had found it and for the next 5 nights, 3 in our room, 1 in another and even a night living in the attic we spent our time there meeting new friends from near and far, having lots of fun... even if the rats fancied an occasional nibble on our things. 

At Coron Backpackers we met these guys.. 

...and used our base to see some of the most amazing islands and other natural landscapes I have ever seen. 

Coron port is just a stones throw from the town itself and is centrally located to hundreds of deserted islands with perfect white sand beaches, mountainous landscapes, hidden coves, lakes and caves that most days we explored by rented boat with some of the people that we had met. 

On our "days off" from Island hopping we spent time in local resorts and because of the lack of major top end tourist development we found each time we had these amazing 5 star spaces almost all to ourselves for a few dollars a day. Coron seen us enjoying awesome times in amazing places with pretty rad people in the sun. 

To Mindoro...