For those who are looking for new destinations and adventures you should get to know a new area: the Bicol Islands in Eastern Philippines. This is a popular tourist destination for travelers from around Asia, but less familiar to the European and Israeli tourists. Most of us already know the wonders of the Philippine islands: Boracay, Cebu and especially the El Nido beaches Of Palawan Island, but the Bicol Islands are considered "terra incognita" for Israelis. I recently took part in an introductory tour conducted by the Philippine Ministry of Tourism. I returned excited and fascinated. Now I do not call these islands by their name "Bicol" but… Be Cool

A local proverb goes like this: "In the Philippines, the land is very beautlful and the people are very pleasant, so God created the typhoons in order to balance some of the outstanding advantages". I have seen with my own eyes that the country is indeed very beautiful, and the people are very kind. Every year from August to November, they suffer from around a dozen typhoons that blow the rooftops of the houses, and also destroy and flatten some of the straw houses, cause floods and a lot of damage. The locals accept these destructive typhoons with kind of a peace of mind. Everyone is trained already before the typhoon reaches them, they know where they have to go to and where the sheltered areas are. After the typhoon passes, they hurry to build a new straw rooftop for their house within a day or two

Here is a description of the Bicol's most beautiful and exciting places that I encountered on this trip

 The Mayon Volcano

An active volcano near the capital Legazpi, which can be reached by one hour flight from Manila. Upon landing one can already see the volcano in all its beauty

Incidentally, it erupted about two hours before we landed there, as if it was welcoming us. The mountain erupts every two or three years. During the last eruption in January 2018, all the inhabitants of the city of Legazpi within the danger zone were evacuated, and even during our visit they were on evacuation alert in case the level of the eruption worsened

The word "Mayon" in the language of Bicol means "beautiful." Indeed the mountain is magnificently beautiful. Its slopes are straight and high, as if drawn in an equilateral triangle. It rises extremely high above a flat area, just like our Mount Tabor stands out in its surrounding. However, Mount Mayon is ten times higher than Mount Tabor. Most volcanoes in the world are part of a mountain chain. From a distance, it is hard to notice that this is a volcano until you reach its crater, yet Mount Mayon is one of the few in the world to which there is no doubt. There are more active volcanoes in Bicol, Bulusan and Iriga, but they are not as beautiful and don't stand out like Mount Mayon

There are a lot of look-out posts on Mount Mayon. Some of them are along the length of Legazlft ocean promenade

Another tourist observation post is in the courtyard of the Daraga Church. This church that was built in 1772 from basalt stones of lava that dried out together with white sea sand. The walls of these stones are very strong and well-preserved, along with an artistic engravings. Yet Mount Mayon is still prettier, visible from the stairs of the entrance and from the parking lot

Swimming with Whale Sharks

In the Donsol bay, you can find whale sharks between the months of March to June. They are quiet and gentle, and are not dangerous to people, as long as they are not touched. Some tour companies offer a cruise to the bay, during which you can get off the boat and swim near the whales. This is a very intense and exciting experience. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the world. Some of them reach 18 meters and weigh more than 35 tons. The dive next to them gives us perspective and helps us examine our lives with new proportions. They illustrate to us how little human beings are compared to the acts of creation. Swimming beside them is like riding a bicycle beside a truck. I have described this experience in a separate article which can be found in this link

For me, the whale sharks and Mount Mayon are good enough reasons to go on a trip to the Philippines. All the other attractions listed below are just a "bonus

 ATV Tour to the Lava Wall

One Of the special experiences is a self-driven ATV trip on various routes up Mount Mayon. We set off and follow the instructor on the route that goes through a ravine. There is a flow of shallow water at the bottom of the ravine, sometimes we cross the flowing water, sometimes we drive in the water. A pleasant experience. After around half an hour drive up the mountain, we reach the refreshment station. For us this is the last stop, because of the eruption of Mount Mayon, it is forbidden to go any further from here toward its crater. But when the mountain is dormant, it is possible to continue driving up the mountain, almost to the crater

From the station we continue walking for about 400 meters in the ravine. We suddenly see a huge black wall. From a distance it somewhat resembles the Western Wall in Jerusalem, only it is black. When you reach the foot of the lava wall you can see that it is higher and wider than our Western wall. It is about 40 meters high (more than twice the size of our Western Wall) and is about 500 meters wide (compared to the 60 meters of the Western Wall plaza). The Western Wall is built from chiseled stones, and the lava wall is a collection of large boulders resting sharply on each other, but the wall is not vertical. There's a steep path to climb the wall all the way up to the top

This wall was created in 2006 in one of Mount Mayon's big eruptions. For about two months, lava burst from the mountain and slid down its slopes. Everything was burning with heat, and the lava was in shades of red and bright orange. The Lava river descended and flowed slowly for two months, and stopped in this place, about six kilometers from the crater. Over time the red lava cooled and became large black rocks. The front of the Lava river is the wall on which we climbed. From above we can see the immense height, because below us are the tops of tall coconut trees, and we realize that even under our feet there were trees covered with boiling lava. Suddenly we realize the power of nature, the lava river was not a small stream, like the stream we crossed on the way to here, less than half a meter deep. The lava river was the height of a 5 floors building

From above we see that the stream channel is also covered with black rocks all throughout the horizon. One of the photographers in our group flew a drone into the air and took a video of the lava path for several kilometers. The sight is amazing. You can see clearly the black lava that cuts down the forest down the mountain, like an interurban highway. However its width is not a just a few paths, but about half a kilometer. It is hard to imagine the size and the magnitude, food for thought for those who attribute great importance to themselves, and here we see and feel how small human beings are compared to the power of nature

Going down from the lava wall, you can go by foot down the path we came up in, or using a long Omega zip-line that reaches the refreshment station where we left the ATVs

 The City of Legazpi

Legazpi, the capital of Albay Province lies on the shores of Albay Bay. Named after a medieval Spanish explorer Juan Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, who came to the Philippines after Ferdinand Magellanl. The area is characterized with the colors of green and black. Green from the coconut, banana trees and the rest of the jungle foliage, and black from the lava stones. There is some resemblance to our Golan Heights. Most of the houses are one-story, most streets have no sidewalks for pedestrians, and the few sidewalks are very narrow. Electricity and telephone lines run along the streets and connect to the houses, just like we used to have in the latter half of the previous century. The city looks like it fainted from the heat, many people walk around with an umbrella, for protection from the sun, not the rain

Legazpi has many beautiful churches, some of them are ancient. There are also plenty of monuments that commemorate heroes from the Philippine history in the main street

I was struck by a monument of a statue of a beheaded man, kneeling on his knees. A local man explained to me that this is in memory of the victims of the Japanese occupation, who occupied the Philippines in the early 1940s. Up to this day, the Filipinos hate the Japanese for what they had done to them and for their cruelty. "Your suffering, the Israelis, from the cruelty of Hamas and ISIS is child's play, compared to what our parents' generation went through by the bloody Japanese, who shot innocent people in the streets, decapitated the heads of dozens of people in the middle of the day for no reason. This is why we placed this monument, so that we will never forget". He adds another horrifying example: "The Japanese soldiers had a twisted form of amusement: they would forcefully take a baby out of his mother's arms, throw him up in the air, lift their bayonets, and the soldier who managed to spear the baby while he was still in the air, would have the newly bereaved mother. In case the soldier didn't find her attractive enough, he was entitled to choose any other beautiful girl on the street instead

In the three years of Japanese occupation, they killed more than a million Filipinos, including half the family of the mother of Mr. Nathaniel Imperial, the Philippines Ambassador to Israel

The city garden of Legazpi contains the remains of an ancient church, what was left of it are only the ruins of the bell tower and the lower part of some of the walls. This entrance was built in 1587. During those days, this area was a separate town called Cagsawa. On February 1st 1814 a great volcanic eruption of Mount Mayon occurred; it buried the city and its houses. Only a few who came to the church to pray were spared, but the thousands of residents who  sought shelter in the streets perished. The church was also damaged, the bell tower was restored and the place became a public park and a memorial to one of the deadliest eruptions of Mount Mayon

A quarter of a million permanent residents are living in Legazpi. Mr. Noel Rosal, the Mayor of Legazpi, says that there are another 100,000 temporary residents, most of them are Americans who have come over to work there or foreign students, a few of them are American Jews and some Israelis. Any person who is staying in the Philippines for over two months is required to register for security purposes. The registration form contains their place of residence and religion, this is how he knows about the Jews and Israelis. In Ticao there is a research station in which a marine study of Tel Aviv University is being conducted. The head of the Israeli team of researchers has been living there for two years, and his research assistants come from Israel for periods of two to three months

 Tour of the Exotic Islands

The Philippines consists of more than 7,500 islands. Most of them are less than a square kilometer, and some are so small that they are not even named. most islands are uninhabited

We arrive at the island of Misibis with an exciting resort in one of its bays. From the window of each of the rooms you can see a pristine beach, with a scuba diving club and a snorkeling area among the lovely colorful fish. Once I reached that place, I did not want to leave, yet we were forced to continue our program to other islands as well

The first island we visit is Catanawan, a small island with a steep rock that protrudes above the surface, and in the front of the island there is a narrow strip of soft white sand for walking barefoot. It is really like a dream

The second island in our tour is called Catanawan Grande. It is even more beautiful because of the vegetation. Six fishermen families live on its shore. it's like they live in paradise. They live in straw huts that they built themselves, with a common water well they dug inside the island. Their huts have large, spacious windows that are not covered with glass. They do not have air conditioners, because there is no need for that here; they have great weather throughout the year. There is no electricity on the island, and the water does not flow through the pipes to the faucets in the houses, instead it is pumped in plastic buckets from the well. There are no computers and Internet here. Their food consists of fresh fish that they catch themselves daily, and coconuts that are abundant on the island. At first glance they seem to live in poverty, but you can also see that they lead a happy life. To me, this is how heaven looks like. I told my friends to continue the tour without me, since I wanted to stay there forever

Every island we visit is more beautiful than the one before. The third island is called Matukad. It has two mountains rising high, which are covered with tropical trees, and between them are golden sand bays, with clear turquoise water. Several colorful fishing boats with bamboo scales hanging on their sides dock on the beach. We see such beautiful sights and landscapes only in postcards, on TV and in screensavers on our computers

However, what we see in reality surpasses what we feel there. A faint swirl of wind caresses the face, plays around with our hair and clothes. The faint distant smell of mildew and seaweed from over the sea's direction. When the wind changes direction and comes from the jungle, it carries with it delicate aromas of sweet fruits, such as pineapple and mango, that grow naturally here. We hear the sound of small waves breaking softly to the shore. From time to time, the quiet and tranquility is disturbed by the sounds of the engine in the distance. There are no words to describe this pleasure and beauty

These are the islands we visited, but you don't have to visit the same ones. Different tourism companies offer a different selection of islands for cruises of half-a-day up to three days. You can choose whatever suits you

 The Jungles in the Sorsogon

We end the day on the island of Gota, where they shot the popular TV series 'Survivors'. Television crews from Israel and around the world come there to film this series, not just for viewers in Israel. The staff members and photographers stay at the same resort as we stay, while the competitors stay in a nearby resort. There are 130 cabins in this resort up the mountain. Each cabin has two rooms, a living room and a bedroom, and a bathroom and shower

In the Israeli TV show we only see the tropical environment of the jungle, and think that the competitors live in conditions of lack of civilization. On television they do not show us the resorts and hotels where the production staff live in conditions of comfort and luxury. The natural scenery we see on television is not really far away in the jungle. Only a few minutes' walk from the hotel. The production is based on the facilities set up by the hotels in the jungle near the hotel, with the goal to attract producers of the series, followed by tourists who love the series. Part of the local tourism industry is based on this. They constantly renew topics and competitions, and offer the television companies new ideas for the upcoming seasons

Only in rare cases do the competitors sail to isolated islands, like the small island that appears in the show's logo, it is so small that it is not even named

The reality is less challenging and frightening than what it looks like on our televisions

However, the scenery is stunning. Steep rock formation rising above the water, topped with tropical vegetation, mainly coconut and banana trees, and a variety of other trees and bushes. The sunsets at Sorsogon are amazingly beautiful

 Sumlang Lake

One of the most beautiful lakes in the Bicol area; the Sumlang Lake is surrounded by green rice fields, other vegetation and also high coconut trees around its edge. There is a tourist center with a non-Kosher restaurant on the lake shore. However, the restaurant also offers activities for tourists such as raft boating on the beautiful lake. It is a real pleasant experience. The rafts are Wide, each of them is equipped with comfortable seating chairs. The lake water is tranquil and smooth like glass, there are no waves to shake us. This is the ultimate tranquility and relaxation for travelers who are looking for a break from the busy schedule. Great relaxation

The Japanese Tunnels

A short drive from Lake Sumlang is Quituinan Ranch, with its picnic areas and a horseback riding ranch nearby. There is spectacular view of Mount Mayon from the ranch, from one side of the Albay bay to the other. The ranch is down hill above canals and tunnels that are worth visiting. These channels were dug by the Japanese in the middle of the last century, in order to hide from the American soldiers patrolling the area, and to attack them whenever they passed over them. In order to see the tunnels we have to go down a path with about a hundred steps on the side of the mountain. The entrance to the tunnels is Well hidden with vegetation. Inside the caves we can walk along the tunnels and see bedrooms, dining and command rooms. It is warm inside and damp moss is filling the air. This is an experience especially for us, to have a bit of a feel of what is a military operational tunnel. The Hamas in Gaza did not invent anything new, they only copy from others, even the tunnels

Solong Eco Park

A beautiful park great for R&R and picnics. A neat, steep path emerges to the mountain ridge above it. This path is suitable only for hikers. When we reach the top you can see a gorgeous view that justifies the effort of climbing all the way up there. On the summit there is no forest to block the view, so we can look out over Mount Mayon in all its glory. If we look closer, we can see the other lower ridges, among them "Chocolate Hills". This is how they call the hills that were created by volcanic activity and are covered with vegetation or earth in shades of brown, which resembles chocolate balls. Although the famous Chocolate Hills are on the island of Bohol, these hills here can be a good substitute

Bulusan Nature Reserve

Bulusan is a volcano that is still active from time to time. Its slopes are covered with trees and vegetation, and there are also two lakes. The lake is about 3 km in diameter. We can rent various types of boats, with oars or pedals, kayaks, and also surfboards

A folk tale tells of a love story between a young warrior named Bulusan and a girl named Avinay, the daughter of a very rich man. The father was angry with the relationship of his daughter and the young man, because he came from a lower class family. The father murdered Bulusan in this place, and his tears created this lake. The next day Avinay came to the new lake, saw her lover's body, and burst out crying. Her tears created the second lake up the mountain. She committed suicide by jumping into the lake, drowning in her own tears

A lot of "Turquoise Jade Vine" trees, scientifically name: Strongylodon macrobotry, grow on the banks of the two lakes. A rare plant with a beautiful flower. When two leaves are attached to one another, it makes the shape of a heart, which is a reminder of the love of Bulusan and Avinai

It is recommended to go on a pleasant cruise on one of the boats, and anchor on the other side of the lake. There is a route with a suspension bridge, 350 meters long. This bridge stretches between five stations built on tree trunks, in the height of a 5-6 story building. The distance between each station is about 80 meters. The bottom of the bridge is made out of planks, and the sides are ropes with a net. The bridge is unstable, it moves from side to side according to the movement of the people passing on it and the wind blowing. This is a scary experience at first. It is recommended only for those who do not have a fear of heights. Anyone going up on the bridge must harness himself to a safety cord, the harness is a rope, like a belt, like the "Gartel" of the Hassidim

The guides warn us not to look down, only straight ahead. Nevertheless, I recommend looking down and around, to witness the beauty of the lake and the jungle in which this bridge passes. This bridge runs along the steep bank of the lake, and ends at Our point of departure. You do not have to worry about the boat you came in, as the reserve employees will bring it back

 Surfing in the Shores of Gubat

In one of the areas on Sorsogon Island there are bays with high waves, which attract the surfing enthusiasts to the area. It is one of the new places in the world for surfers. There are also plenty of accommodation and culinary options for all the price ranges

12. Public Transportation

Public transportation in the Philippines is different from the West, and we should try to travel with it just for the experience. The buses are called "Jeepneys". Originally they were jeeps from the American army surplus from World War II. It was not worthwhile for the American army to transfer the jeeps back to the US, so when they left the Philippines they sold them cheaply to the traders. The traders had too many jeeps, So they found new uses for them. These jeeps have been driving for 70 years, the drivers paint their buses in spectacular colors, contributing to a special atmosphere in the Philippines. The Jeepney does not have windows. In long distances routes, sometimes the jeeps are full, so passengers sit on a roof top. Amazing

Most of the taxis are a motorcycles with a "boat", as we used to have in Israel. They are called "Tricycles". It's amazing to see how on a motorcycle like this two passengers are sitting behind the driver, and another four crowd into the "boat". Try and enjoy. There are areas where taxis are bicycles with an attached "boat" like the Tricycle

Part of public transportation is sailing. To reach the houses in the small Islands, as well as the villages on the shores of the big islands, they use boats of various sizes. Most of the boats are balanced with bamboo scales. There are also speedboats, as we used on the trip, to get from the village of Guta to the town of Sababang. Both on the island of Sorsogon on the shores of the same ocean. But because of the steep mountains of the island, driving on roads takes about four hours, while in a speedboat we crossed the distance of 70 kilometres in only an hour and a half. There are also villages and towns that do not have paved roads that reach them. It is worth experiencing this aspect as well, in the life of the locals

About 20,000 Israelis have traveled last year to the Philippines. Approximately 200,000 Israelis visited the neighboring Thailand. Ten times more. The landscapes and prices are quite similar, so how can one explain the gap? This is probably because Bangkok has direct flights from Israel. Ambassador Imperial says that direct flights to Manila will soon open as well. There is no Kosher restaurant in the Philippines except in Chabad house, you can read more about Judaism in a separate article in this link. In spite of this, travelers who keep Kosher will not find it difficult to get by. There are many stalls with fruits, vegetables and rice dishes on the sides of the road. The Rabbi told me that there is no problem with steamed rice, just to be careful of the cooked rice. The supermarkets also have Kosher products

If you are a person who likes to discover new places, and tell yourself and your friends that you were among the first ones there, then Bicol is the right place for you. But please respect the place and the local residents. A local proverb says that God created the typhoons in order to balance the beauty of the place and the inhabitants. We do not want them to say that God created the Israelis for the same reason

Photos: Uri Magnus Dotan, Guy Pribes, Bastian Hansen, Yaakov Maor, and Golan Yosifon

Translated by Neta Shermister