I am very happy to announce that a short story I wrote is being included in an exciting new anthology published by Western Legends Press.
The Grimorium Verum is a collection of 26 short stories in the dark fiction and horror genres, edited and compiled by Dean M. Drinkel. The original Grimorium Verum, or ‘The Grimoire of Truth‘, was an 18th century textbook of magic attributed to Alibeck the Egyptian and coveted by ‘The Great Beast’ Aleister Crowley for use in his Magick ceremonies. Taking this inspiration, twenty-six dark fiction authors from around the world each take a letter and use their unique voices to weave magical stories of horror and the fantastic.
The Grimorium Verum is the third instalment to Dean M Drinkel’s Tres Librorum Prohibitorum series. The story I contributed is called ‘Glana’s Basket’, and it is a dark fairytale-style fable about a young girl overthrowing a repressive regime in a strange, imaginary world.
Authors include: Christopher Beck, Adrian Chamberlin, Mike Chinn, Lily Childs, Anthony Cowin, Raven Dane, Chris Dougherty, Tim Dry, Jan Edwards, John Gilbert, D.T. Griffith, Amberle L. Husbands, Lisa Jenkins, Emile-Louis Tomas Jouvet, Amelia Mangan, Tracie McBride, Justin Miles, Christine Morgan, Martin Roberts, Dan Russell, Sylvia Shults, Phil Sloman, Andrew Taylor, Tej Turner, Mark West, and Barbie Wilde.
Getting to Romblon Island was a bit more of an ordeal than I thought it would be. On the map it appeared to be only a short distance away, but when one is at the mercy of public transport you are often forced to take a route very different to how the crow would fly.
But, as far as transit days go, the journey from Boracay to Romblon was a fairly enjoyable one. It began – as it so often does in the Philippines – with a boat, sailing north, to an island called Tablas.
Tablas Island
We were dropped off at a town called Odiongan, and a friendly local who was queuing with us when we were alighting pointed us in the right direction. Less than an hour later, we were aboard a rickety jeepney making its way along a wonderful coastal road and then through some of Tablas’s rugged, mountainous interior.
By the time we reached San Augustin – a little port town on the eastern coast – we had already missed the last public boat to Romblon Island so we thought we were going to have to stay the night. This would have been far from a disaster, as it seemed like a charming and quaint place, but by some stroke of fate there just happened to be a small cargo ship about to leave, which offered us passage. I took it as a sign and got on.
It was possibly one of the rockiest sea journeys that I have ever taken, but that just made it all that more exciting. Well, for me at least. James – who suffers from sea-sickness – wasn’t so impressed. He and Pedro took shelter down in the hull while Chloe and I went up onto the top deck, where we held on tightly to door frames, ropes, handles, whatever we could grab, and watched the captain navigate his way through the waves as water splashed over the bow.
Romblon Island
Just over an hour later we arrived in Romblon. It was approaching evening by that point so we didn’t waste any time and chartered a tricycle to take us to San Pedro Beach Resort, which had a collection of lovely beach cottages perched over the rocks. We arrived there just in time to catch an amazing sight of the sun setting over the silhouette of Tablas Island.
The following day we hired out motorcycles so we could do a loop around Romblon.
It took us about five hours, in all, and that was including plenty of stops along the way to take photos of Romblon’s lovely coastline. A particular highlight for me was the the lighthouse on the eastern side – the lighthouse itself, was pretty naff, but it was surrounded by green hills, had a sandy beach, and there was a small island just offshore.
Lots of the villages dotted around Romblon are populated by miners and crafters of marble; a resource which is plentiful across the island, and for which it is famous for across the Philippines. Many of the workshops we passed had such impressive works-in-progress we felt compelled to stop and admire them for a while.
We finished the day off with a quick walk around Romblon Town. The first thing I saw when we drove in was an old church built from stone which looked nice but was unfortunately locked so I couldn’t get inside. We also walked up the hill to have a look at San Andres Fort, which wasn’t all too impressive in its structure but had a great panoramic view of the town – a few young couples were sat on benches, staring out at the bay, and there was a wonderful atmosphere there.
The next morning we took a quick trip to Bon Bon beach just before Pedro and I had to hand the bikes back in, but unfortunately we couldn’t cross the sandbar to reach the nearby Cobrador Island because the tide was too high. I went snorkelling around the reefs near San Pedro Beach Resort and saw a turtle, a massive school of millions of tiny fish, and a bright purple boxfish. I also got stung quite badly by a jellyfish, so I was forced to come back to shore and apply lots of vinegar to my arm. I spent the rest of the afternoon lounging in a hammock.
For more photos from Romblon Island, click here. One of the photos from this blog was kindly donated to me by Chloe.
For Part 1 of our time in the Visayas, click here.
Apo Island
Apo Island is only one and a half kilometers long and seven hundred meters wide, a tiny dot in the hundreds of islands dotted across the Visayan Sea, but it sparked upon on the tourism radar a few years ago, and there is one particular reason for this:
TURTLES!!!
James, Chloe, Jody (my three travelling companions), and I arrived there in the afternoon and, after quickly checking-in to our rooms at Liberty Lodge, we were eager to jump into the ocean. The first thing I saw when I put my head under the surface was a banded sea snake swimming up to get a breath of air. I watched it, but maintained a wary distance, remembering being told by someone once that they are poisonous.
Shortly after, I saw my first green turtle – one did not have to go very far: the four of us merely swam in the shallows that afternoon and we found five of them, all munching away at the algae growing upon the seabed.
James and I ventured out a bit further out the next day and found some very beautiful coral gardens, but we were unfortunately not allowed to go into the Marine Park as it has been closed off for a few years after the damage it suffered during the typhoon which occurred in 2013.
In the afternoon we went for a walk around the island’s hilly interior and discovered that there was much more to appreciate about Apo than its turtles: we found other gorgeous beaches, a mangrove forest, and a couple of charming villages.
Dumaguete
Dumaguete has a young and hip vibe, for a Filipino town, which is probably due to its large student population. We stayed at backpackers’ guest house called Harold’s Mansion and decided to go on a day trip to Twin Lakes.
The road there was windy and steep, and our tricycle driver struggled at times, so we occasionally had to jump off and walk parts of it. Aggressive hable-hable drivers trailed us for over an hour, trying to get us to jump onto the back of their bikes for the rest journey, but we told them that we didn’t mind walking. Their persistent pestering only fuelled our determination to not give in. The views, along the way, were fantastic.
We eventually reached the park headquarters, and ate a quick lunch at a café before we made our way down to the lakeside.
We discovered that it was actually quite cheap to be taken out on a boat for a couple of hours, so we hopped on and our boatman rowed us to a waterfall on the other side which was surrounded by jungle and had clear waters. We were also taken to the nearby Danao lake, Balinsasayo’s twin, which was very picturesque.
The couple of days which followed were spent mostly on buses. We made our way across the mountains of Negros and over-nighted at a town called Bacolod before we caught a boat out the next morning to reach Panay. After another day on a bus we reached the port of Caticlan, where we caught one last final boat to Boracay.
Boracay
Often when places become famous destinations, as frustrating as all the things which come with its fame (such as inflated prices, hassle from the locals, and overcrowding), one can usually scratch beyond the surface and see why these places are popular.
But sometimes, you really can’t.
I have seen much better beaches – whiter sands, calmer waters, and much, much better scenery – and I didn’t even bother snorkelling, because even the travel guide admits that it is a bit naff. We spent three days in Boracay, in all, and I can honestly say that I still don’t have a clue why so many people go there. If you want a short, uneventful holiday, on a mediocre tropical beach, where you’ll mostly meet the same kind of people you would in bars back at home, while enjoying all the comforts of the western world such as McDonalds, pool tables, shopping malls and swimming pools, you might have a good time, but if you’re quite well travelled you will probably find Boracay extremely underwhelming. The only reason the four of us stayed there was because it was conveniently placed by Kalibo airport and Jody was just about to fly home. She is being replaced by another friend of ours – Pedro – who will be accompanying James, Chloe, and I for the rest of our time in the Philippines.
After an evening of drinks to say farewell to Jody and welcome Pedro, we left the following morning.
More photos from Apo Island and Dumaguete can be found on my Flickr account. Underwater photos from this blog were donated to me by James and Chloe. James also owns a DSLR and he has his own photography website which is worth a browse.
I am very happy to announce that a short story I wrote is being included in an exciting new anthology published by Western Legends Press.
Tej Turner 