Day 97. Batad, Philippines. Semi-skinny dipping.

Mark was outraged yesterday to learn that the landlady at our guesthouse had upped her room rates for the season. Our double, with balcony and uninterrupted views of the 8th wonder of the world, had rocketed to 3 quid a night.

Funny. It seemed quite reasonable to us. Rita's B&B if you're ever in the area, and
Went on a fairly hard core hike today. Firstly climbing to the highest point of the terraces before dropping into the next valley to visit the largest waterfall in the region.

Rapidly losing count of how many waterfalls we've seen on the trip, but this is certainly one of the most impressive. Of course we both forgot our swimsuits, so Mark and our German hiking buddies, Dirk and Claudia, were treated to the sight of the Smiths in their undies as we plunged in.

Lucky people that they are.

We then retraced our steps but took a different fork through the village which led us a mile or so into another creek where some gentle rapids proved too tempting to resist and it was underpant time again. How lucky can 3 people get?

Shattered by the time we returned to the guesthouse, so we only had time for a quick game of scrabble before hitting the sack. This time receiving a good spanking from Jenny, an academic from Colorado, who we later found out lectures in English composition at Uni.

Pah.

Worse was to come though, as I was beaten into last place by a joint German/Philippine team who only had a rudimentary grasp of our mother tongue.

Seriously thinking of packing the stupid bloody game in for good.