Today was the day I had been looking forward to for months. Back in August when I was figuring out my travel plans following graduation from college. I was looking at destinations across the world. There was one region that kept coming to mind from the reoccurring posts on my social media feeds. South East Asia. Brilliant destinations existed all over the region including the Phi Phi Islands, Ha Long Bay, Kawasan Falls & many more. I decided to take a chance on Asia, a part of the world I had never been to before.

I certainly didn’t take the most efficient route but hey I’m here on a budget. I might as well get as much bang for my buck as possible. From Manila I flew to Caticlan (Boracay) to celebrate the new year with some friends. From there I made the trek down south using local transportation, I took a van with a family to Iloilo, stayed the night there then took a ferry to Bacolod & a local Ceres bus to Dumaguete. I decided to stay 6 nights in Dumaguete as this is where I would get my scuba certification. After certifying & making a few extra dives to Apo Island I was off towards Moalboal where I would stay to visit nearby Kawasan Falls.

It took me a couple days to get the hang of things around here but on my final day I made it happen. Rather than taking the traditional route of canyoneering the falls I decided to take the unknown route. Once again, I was on a budget & not about to fork over 1500-2500 pesos for a tour I knew I could make happen much cheaper myself. A couple of friends & I rented motorbikes from a local shop for 400 apiece. Having never rode a motorbike I was understandably a bit nervous. I wound up getting a pink scooter, I looked ridiculous but it got the job done. We rode through the jungle & along the coast stopping for gas at a local’s house where they gave us 2 liters each for 80 pesos. When we arrived at Kawasan a couple of locals directed us to a parking lot which I think was a public lot, but I was so excited to finally be at Kawasan so I happily forked over the 50 pesos to park. The actual falls are about a mile walk into the jungle & another 40 peso entrance fee had to be paid bringing my total to 670 pesos, less than half of what I would have paid for an organized tour. The falls itself were beautiful, they were actually as blue as the pictures. To be honest I was expecting to be disappointed, I expected the photos to have all been photoshopped, they were not, it was unbelievable. After swimming in the falls I had finally checked off Bucket List Item #136: Swim in Kawasan Falls. I wound up hiking up a bit to see the much less crowded upper falls where I had myself a shower in the falls & captured some more amazing scenery. 10/10 would recommend the trip to anyone who finds themselves on this side of the world.

To see what the experience was actually like check out the YouTube video I made of the experience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gilsbK4sDB4

Have you been to Kawasan Falls before? I want to hear what you thought of it!

Go Travel,

Ryan Wilson