Settling into Philippine life in Kanbankalan

We were lucky enough to get a day of rest on our first full day, and after intially settling in to get over our jet lag by the pool we got chatting to a young school girl who had the afternoon off after finishing her class project.  Diarene gave us plenty of information about the area we were staying and what life was like for her, explaining how her family live and her feelings on the recent earthquake.  We then invited her to join us for some lunch and she returned the favour by taking us to the local mall so we could stock up on essential toiletries. 

Walking to the mall almost everyone who drove by shouted hello, with Diarene explaining that we were famous as they only get tourists to the town about once a year. Walking back to the hotel we bumped into Jundad leaving work at the hospital.  He was very suprised to see us as people dont walk around much here, a tricicle (motobike with sidecar), costs around 20 pence per trip and so far we have counted over ten people riding in a single one!