Tomorrowland Siquijor, A weekend not to forget soon!

Music, sun and sea. This are the three very important ingredients of a great weekend, but the most important one is friends of course. With fellow steemian @Jhezontheroad, Zakatell and Jovain it couldn't be different than a great weekend!

The face expressions perfectly describe the vibe of the festival

After a night of barely sleeping and waking up at 3:30 AM, we started our travels on our way south. We took a bus from the southern bus terminal to Liloan, to take the boat, an other bus and an other boat before we finally arrived on Siquijor, the place to be this weekend.

Tonight was a big date for the islanders, the biggest music festival of the year would happen in Siquijor town. Previous time when I visited Siquijor in the weekend, the excited locals asked me already if I wanted to go to the bar in the evening. They are every Saturday excited for the small party and this biggest party of the year party made the locals even more excited. Many people of other islands and country's traveled to the small island to create a great party together!

The first thing we did when we arrived on the island was renting a scooter, the best way of transport on the islands. We were with three. Jovain would arrive later since he lives in an other city.
Unfortunately, Zake and Jhez both didn't own a driving license and neither did I, but since I had still a picture of mine and the scooter rental recognized me since I am one of the tallest renters they have had, they give me the permission to rent one and even gave me a little bit discount so we paid 300 peso/$6 for 24 hours. We gave Zake the position of our driver.

Our mission by the beach was to find accommodation first. We asked JJ's backpackers Village but the owner told us the guest house was already fully booked because of the festival. But we had our tents with us so we could camping on the beach while using their bathroom and they would secure our belongings. A great deal for 150 pesos!

The first thing I wanted to do was sleeping and saving my energy for the festival. I saw an empty hammock and decided it was mine for the next few hours. Jhez is the best holiday planner I know, but leaving so early in the morning was maybe not the best decision, or maybe sleeping at 1 AM was not the best decision. But even while I was so tired of traveling and not sleeping, I still couldn't sleep in the hammock. Maybe I was too tired to sleep.

In the evening when we headed to the festival, my tiredness was replaced by excitement. We arrived around 10 o'clock in the evening and there were already many people. The whole road was full with motorbikes. Probably in a few hours, there are no drivers anymore who don't have any alcohol in their blood on the entire island. It's more fun in the Philippines they say..

We met Marbara, Kagen, Dexter and two of his friends on the festival. Unfortunately, I forgot their names but we had a nice time and many drinks together, and how much does a name matter? We were drinking red horse beer, enjoying the music by one of the tables on the festival terrain. People passed by and some stayed and started talking with us. I met a Dutch couple, always nice to meet people from my country and practice my Dutch skills a little bit and they were both very kind!

After a while, we made our way to the dance floor. We managed to find a spot in front of the stage, a good spot! The festival terrain is quite big and spacious, so even in the front it didn't feel too crowded. In the Netherlands, there is mostly no space left around you on a festival. Too many people on a too small area. This is so much better!

Still early and quite empty

Later on, plenty of people enjoyed the music while dancing

I was dancing until I had to go to the toilet. When I came back, I had to pass by some security guys from the army who just took their break until they had to work again. They offered me a drink and they started talking to me. I think the Philippines is the only country where the army can drink during duty on a festival. They told me ''It is a festival, we also have to celebrate''. Siquijor is definitely a laid-back, chill Island. I love it!

With my good friend Jovain

Back with my friends, I enjoyed singing with the music, dancing and talking with old and new friends before we went home around I guess 3AM. Zake managed to drive us home safely, while I had a hard time not to fall asleep on the motorbike. While I felt super energetic on the festival itself, I started to feel the tiredness a lot. When my head touched my pillow, actually just my bag with clothes as pillow, I fell asleep immediately.

As you already can guess, we woke up quite late the next morning. But I felt quite okay since I had the best sleep in days! And that without matras, blanket or real pillow in a tent on the beach. People don't need that much luxurious stuff.
It still took us a while before we felt ready to do a tour around the island. Since we were with 4 people, Marbara, Jhez, Zakatell and I, Marbara decided to rent a Habal-habal since she couldn't drive.

As we started the tour, it figured out that Marbara's driver took all different ways than most people do, passing by the most beautiful views. Ricefields, mountainous landscapes, we saw it all on the way to the waterfalls we wanted to visit.

@jhezontheroad made this shot of me while enjoying this stunning view

The highest point of the island, a view over mountains and you can even see the ocean!

When we arrived by the waterfall, I felt very tired and was shaking a bit. Maybe eating only one apple on the entire day wasn't enough. A small store sold Barbecue and eggs, so since I don't like meat too much, I decided to buy an egg before we had to hike down. The hike down was not so bad, but when we arrived by the falls, my legs started shaking a bit. A great reason to buy chocolate before taking a dip. We went inside the water and relaxed under the rocks, behind the waterfall. I understand why Siquijor is well known for magic and witchcraft. This place seems like it comes from an movie with it's blue water, green surroundings and different levels of falls.

The majestic waterfalls, the proud of Siquijor

After the falls, I dropped the others off on the Larena port to get their boat to Cebu. I decided last minute that I did not want to leave yet, Siquijor is too nice to leave after just two days!
Unfortunately, the others missed their boat and had to wait for two hours. We decided to get dinner. On the journey from the port to the restaurant and back, we lost the motorbike key! It was already late so I decided to fix the problem the next day, and rented an other bike before I went to my new hostel, the hostel one of my friends, Jovain was staying.

I arrived in the new hostel, Sunnyside bed and bar. The place is just opened and they are still developing the place, but the good vibes were already there! When I came inn, the guests were all eating together and they had drawings on their faces, lines, dicks and other stuff. Thats how the card games are working here :p

Not much later, I joined them with the game called 21. It is not an card game but you have to count all together until 21, and can point the one at the left or right to give over your turn. At the start, it is an easy game with two rules, but every 21th person has to drink or get a drawing and has to make an new rule. But we did not even finish the game cause the people came up with rules everyone forgot. It was a lot of fun, and at the end of the evening, we were all little art projects.

Good games, bad pictures!

The next morning after breakfast, we went to the beach before I had to go back to Cebu. It was low tide and the sea was so quiet. We could walk very far without need to swim. It is not the best for cooling down, but great to relax for a while. And we did. I got the feeling I never wanted to leave this island anymore.

White beaches & palmtrees

The sea is full of stingless jellyfishes, I really love to see them swimming around the clear, undeep waters. I wish I could be here everyday, just like the jellyfish.

Making friends with an Jellyfish with still some leftovers of the game last night on my arm

With Jovain and two dangerous Germans. Maybe it is true that you are in danger whenever you are in the Philippines

In the evening, I left the magical island called Siquijor. I did not take anything but lots of good memories with me, back to Cebu. I missed the clean air already, the clear ocean and the white beaches. I did not feel ready to go back to the polluted city called Cebu. Siquijor, I hope to see you soon again!

Why do I have to leave this beautiful Island?

Love,
Sha