Markets and Piers

My little retreat

If you cannot afford a tricycle you have to load your stuff on the public jeepney

A cattle truck

Do you think they have insurance?

Candy floss, penny arcades and kiss me quick hats! Oh! Wrong country! This was a busy private pier on Negros Island, built out from silos holding coconut oil and coconut rum with many boats coming and going to transport the goods around the Philippines. I would like to think it is due to the lovely overspill of coconut rum rather than the detritus discarded from all the boats that gives the life to all the weird and wonderful things that live beneath the pier, but I think I would be kidding myself. I had been told that the dive beneath the pier should not be missed, and I wasn't disappointed - schools of catfish, lion fish, nudibranchs, pipefish, frog fish and sea horses all living on the 20m pillars buried in the sea bed supporting the pier. A great dive, though a little disconcerting at the end of the dive when I saw a severed dog's paw - yuk!

Downtime from diving and I treated myself to a lovely place to stay for a few nights, where I could rest my cold filled head (I suppose I was unlikely to go for a whole year without catching a cold) - not extravagent at US$50 per night, but way more than my usual $10-$20. It was worth it as I spent two days in bed just reading and resting, though not too ill to make it to the local market and watch the bidding for water buffalo and the usual hubbub of markets.