After the Himalayan effort it was time for some flatter riding with palm trees and tropical sea.

This was to be a CTC tour circling the island of Mindanao well of the tourist trail. Turned out to be one of the best experiences I've ever had. Basically, the Island is split into Christian and Muslim parts, this being a considerable source of conflict between the islanders. Army, tanks, that kinda thing. All the locals we met were kind.

7 of us, from the group of 10, decided we would not go south, so turned away into "safer" areas going North and Island hopping to Leyte, Bohol and Cebu. We developed a rough plan, not having any "comfort" in having details, places to stay, etc.... Turned out to be really good:- "Making it up as you go along" & "landing on your feet". Too much of life is spent with fine detail, trying to predict and control the future.

The 7 of us still meet up and organize trips together.

Bla bla bla

Here we are, well of the beaten track, no other tourists around, now i know what it feels like to be a movie star, all the locals are friendly, and we get crowds staring at us. Getting on well with the others in the group.

Mountains are good fun!

Really is good out here, nothing like how i imagined it would be, women are very nice and friendly. Food is good, esp the mangoes and papyao.

Weather is gloriously hot, landed on our feet today and a found a hotel with a swimming pool, play tennis and air conditioning too. Yesterday, we stayed in negative star accommodation which was kind of fun, went into the local town/village, where a crowd of people gathered outside the restaurant to watch us eat. Wow, friendly locals here.

First day, cycling along chatting to a geezer on a moped with an AK-47 on his shoulder.

Also, there has been a mutiny within our group. I'm in the group of 7 who decided not to go into Muslim territory. The other group are going through, possibly with an army escort! We've detoured to the north east of Mindanao and we're now at Cabadbaran, heading north.