We headed south once more in the direction of Manila to visit the archipelago of small islands off Luzon’s coast.

The drive was a long one, not helped by not being able to locate our remote hotel.

After a delicious home-cooked fish meal we slept well in readiness for our morning out on a small motorised boat to visit some of the islands.

The Hundred Islands National Parkis the first Philippine national park and are located in Alaminos, Pangasinan.

The islands, totaling 124 at low tide and 123 at high tide, are scattered in Lingayen Gulf covering an area of 16.76 square kilometres.

We visited four of the largest islands (Quezon Island, Governor Island, Children’s Island, and Pilgrimage Island) by motorised banana boat.

Speeding across the water was exhilarating as the cooling sea spray hit our faces. We were rewarded with some great views and a dip in the ocean.

After a quick lunch back on the mainland, we set off for the Mount Pinatubo National Park. Pinatubo is an active volcano with its last eruption in 1991 being the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th Century (after the 1912 eruption of Novaruptain Alaska).

We were staying pretty much as close as you could get to the volcano, in a village called Santa Juliana. The Alvin Bognot Guesthouse was named after the owner – a chilled place, very comfortable and at £19 each a night it was a huge bargain.

Alvin’s was geared up to offer tours to the volcano crater. This entailed a 5am set off, a bone crunching off road 4wd journey and a long upward hike. We were both feeling a little weary so decided to give it a miss.

Although I probably regret this now, we instead had a leisurely day wandering around the area instead, encountering tented settlements with happy children and beautiful scenery.

Coming next – back to Manilla.