We have been in many countries where English is not the first second or even third language! Communication quickly becomes non-verbal and our imaginations are put to the test. In most languages we pick up a word or two, but unfortunately our Indonesian, Chinese and Mongolian hasn't been up to scratch these last few months! 
Surprisingly the interaction with people who have no clue what you're saying brings me great joy! Let me explain. We arrived at a bus station in the Philippines after some random pointing in the general direction from a local child. Stage one complete. At the bus station we badly pronounced the name of the town we wanted to get to. Blank faces was the reaction. Ooookkkkaaayyy. I pronounced it badly again and the bus man replied which something that sounded vaguely familiar, I went with it! I started laughing at the awkwardness of it all, and so did he. Our friendship had started to blossom. He asked where we were from, and I replied Ireland. Blank face again. I said U2? Blank face. Westlife? Blank face. Roy Keane? Blank face. I did a little jig, Aaahhh he said Riverdance! More laughing ensued. I indicated I wanted to go to the shop before the bus left in ten minutes. He said No no and took me by the elbow towards a dark alley, eeeehhhh..... We arrived at a small restaurant that can only be described as being in someone's living room. I had the most delicious chicken curry for €1. I was worried the bus would leave so was eating fast, no no my friend said, the bus would wait! On our return to the bus, we hugged out our goodbyes, and I'd like to think we both left smiling that day. 

For me these experiences are the most memorable. From trying to explain to street vendors that Sue likes a lot of spice in China and I only like a little to playing football with kids on the street in Nicaragua and the same kid calling you his amigo the next day. We once had a three hour bus journey on a local bus that was blaring westlife and boy band tunes. We sang along badly out loud surprising ourselves how many lyrics we remembered. The love for boy bands is universal however and soon the whole bus was singing along. We might not have been able to talk to each other but we could sing!  I like to think our Irish sense of humour plays a big part. A smile goes a long way when no one has a clue what each other are saying. Connecting with someone who lives thousands of miles from where I'm from who has a different culture, a different religion, a different lifestyle, yet we are still able to find common ground and share a smile to me is a special feeling. We are all the same but different.

Since completing our diving courses in Honduras last year we have been inundated with chances to snorkel and do scuba diving. We have dived in the Great Barrier Reef,Australia,  Poor Knights Island, New Zealand and Gili Islands, Indonesia, all of these are in the top ten in the world. In some of these places the snorkelling has outweighed the diving as the majority of tropical fish are right by the coral just off the beach, mostly on islands. We have been lucky enough to see sharks (sues favourite) stingrays, turtles (my favourite) and every size and shape of fish you can think of. 

For our first week in the Philippines we spent it on the touristy island of Boracay. We were lucky that a group of friends could join us and for that week we weren't travellers, we were just enjoying a girly holiday. We spent our days on the white beaches chilling out, doing boat trips, watching incredible sunsets each evening and enjoying the many bars and restaurants. We went diving and snorkelling which was pleasant if not a tad disappointing. 

For our second week we were back to being travellers but we are now a threesome, with Eimear our friend as the newest addition. We had planned to go to see the whale sharks but as with travelling it didn't work and we headed for the remote island of Pandan, off the coast of a larger island Mindoro. Pandan is incredible, it has to be here they take the photos for holiday brochures. White sand, palm trees, sunshine and only about 30 people on the whole island. We got the snorkelling gear on but not expecting much after our experience in Boracay and we didn't bother to bring a camera. Boy were we wrong!! The reef was beautiful, before we even reached a reef we had seen several turtles and stingrays. The reef was crystal clear and full of colourful fish, starfish, lionfish, stone fish, parrotfish, pufferfish and everything  we could have wanted to see. 

As we were swimming back, a triggerfish locked eyes on Sue and headed for her. I heard a scream from about 5m away followed by laughter as the fish swam away from her. All was good the fish was just curious. Or so we thought. We swam on, and a few metres later I spotted the same triggerfish. A triggerfish is about the size of a pillow and is quite flat, fast and has vicious teeth. The triggerfish spotted me and immediately hit the accelerator in my direction. I presumed he would retreat as soon as he got near me, but he wasn't slowing down. I screamed as it seemed the only logical thing to do! Sue and Eimear looked in my direction and watched the show. I started swimming backwards, still screaming, kicking towards the fish, as he approached my fins. He showed me his teeth and I kicked like a lunatic. He tried to come at me from the side, I tried to kick that way, gracefully of course! My fin fell off and I caught it with my hand. He spotted my bare foot and went for my toes. I swiped at him several times. So here I am trying to swim backwards with one fin, hitting a fish underwater, and still screaming! Tropical paradise, how are you!!

After I retreated a few metres he lost interest and swam off, after putting the fear of God in me! I swam to the shore, the girls didn't know whether to laugh or not. Neither did I! It turns out triggerfish are highly protective if they have a nest on the sandy bottom. They will circle the nest and attack anything within a 10m radius. Sue must have been on the edge of the circle, I mutt have been in the centre! I always thought if I seen a shark underwater I would be afraid, but no, a triggerfish attack scares me more..... Google it, go on I dare you!