Panglao Island: Trip and Treat in Bohol

10.30-11.2 09

My parents dropped us off to NAIA terminal 2 around 6am on a Friday morning. They kissed their grandchild goodbye for a 4 day beach trip with me. He and I have been waiting for this getaway for sometime now. It’s going to be a long weekend for us, 4 days and 3 nights at a beach resort in Panglao Island. Enzo can’t wait to see a starfish again and I can’t wait to wear my new green swimsuit and tan away to the sound of waves.

PAL flight took off just in time and in just one hour, Enzo and I are already inside a white car with a driver from the resort chatting his way to get a tour package out from us। Unfortunately for him, it’s my 3rd time to visit the Bohol, and I’ve been to all the tourist spots।

As soon as we walked our way to our resort, I could already feel that familiar smell, that familiar feeling. The beach salty air becomes thick, and like the rim of a margarita, I can taste it on my own lips. But this trip is all motherly bonding. I can’t have alcohol nor dance naked (it’s not like, I can…but) the point is that, this is a trip for my kid to enjoy the beach.


As this trip was travel agency prepared, I checked us in smoothly at Isis Bungalows and we went to our room, changed, with camera in hand, we went straight to the famous Thai restaurant in the resort. I ordered my first Thai food, Enzo had carbonara pasta and we both finished it up with mango shake. Most of their food ranges from Php200-350, some serving can be good for sharing, some are not. As soon as lunch was over, Enzo ran towards the beach shouting “wuhooooo!!!!” “wuhoooooo!!!!!” I was afraid he would take off his clothes like a crazy guy….i waited until he finally made his big splash....no butt showing. Good. When I checked that he’s fine, I went back to my beach chair with my book. For full 4 days we would be doing such as Enzo sings “no chores, no sleeping early, no school…I love it” But in our 3 nights there, he would usually retire by 7pm due to exhaustion from playing by the beach and swimming.

Our first evening, I was excited to try on their Tom Yung, Thai food. Isis Bungalows offers Thai food with their very own Thai chef, of course she looks like a Filipina, but you would know that she’s not when she starts talking, her accent is very different. Enzo ordered buttered chicken fillet, which he loved. Tom Yung was a success, it wasn’t too spicy though, as I forgot to request but all in all it was great.
We hang out on the beach chairs and took several shots of us fooling around. It was windy that night, Enzo and I decided to take a walk, but we didn’t go too far as I was feeling a little tired and fighting a cold that could ruin my vacation. We went back and settled in to our big bed, cuddle up, turned on our tv, turned the air condition up and went to sleep.

The next morning, up by 6am, my little boy was kicking and excited to be in the water again. We had our breakfast by the beach, I enjoyed the deluxe breakfast (bread, ham, sausage, bacon, butter & jam, coffee and fruit slices) while he tried their Filipino rice, dried fish (danggit), egg and mango juice. Of course, knowing my kid, he took my bacon and happily had his breakfast. That particular morning was windy, there were waves and it wasn’t the calm water beach we like. We took a walk after, we went to North side of the beach which is where the Alona Palm Beach Club is located. The sand bar is way, way, way better than in Isis. So for catching up the sun, to just lay down, enjoy a book, enjoy your music and relax, it’s the perfect spot. I love wide sand bar, it’s just beautiful. Enzo and I settled down, I let him play with the sand, while I watch our things and get back to reading Anthony. Before it hits 10, I told him we should get back for lunch and rest, he hates it of course. But he gathered his snorkeling gear and came to me while we walk back to our resort. We stopped by at Ooops Bar and treated ourselves with banana split. After lunch, we stayed under the coconut trees in front of our resort, I enjoyed having my new phone with me, as there was wi-fi around the resort, so that was a good thing. Enzo played his gameboy and I catch up with some friends online.

That afternoon, we went for a swim in front of Alona Palm Beach, less rocks, less seaweeds. We stayed for few hours and went back to Isis just in time for shower and dinner.
On our 3rd day, we were blessed with calm water and just baby waves. We could see fishes swimming around on shallow water. So after breakfast, Enzo and I immediately changed and bathe ourselves with sun block and pulled a beach chair and enjoyed our morning swim. That night, I decided to treat us for a nice dinner…enough of Thai food. We went for a walk through the small and big lined up restaurants and bars along Alona Beach, it was a mixture of Boracay and Puerto Galera scene. Dinner time, we had baked oysters, Enzo’s favorite chicken barbeque, baked potatoes, kilawin and sweet and sour pork. We didn’t stay outside for long, Enzo was dozing off already after we ate. That night, I scared the shit out of me while I lay in our bed watching horror movies.

Our last day, we woke up just the same and went for a stroll along the quiet bars of Alona Beach. The bars and restaurants were still closed, no tourists, the locals were up and were seated along the stretch of white sands, they greeted me with a smile and I politely smiled back. Enzo was trying to catch those little white crabs while I walked along and shoot every corner of the beach to make sure I take home with me the beautiful scene of our last morning on the island.
Finally we reached the far end of the beach, we walked back to our resort and on our way, I saw this local little girl, probably about 5 or 6 years old. She was running her way towards the water…naked. She was giggling and she had this expression on her face like it was her first time in the water, no clothes, no shoes, no problem. I took a couple of shots and I was a bit hesitant at first cause I might scare her away. She saw me clicking at her and she gave me a very innocent child smile, I smiled back at her…all this time Enzo was trying to ignore that his mom was taking shots of this naked little girl, he felt shy and covered his eyes most of the time.
For the whole morning, we enjoyed the beach one last time, had breakfast and lunch and packed our stuff and ready to go home. I could see from Enzo’s eyes that he is tired and he just wants to go home. We waited for more than 2 hours for the car to take us to the airport…over those hours we waited, Enzo was frustrated with just waiting there. When we got to the airport, the most unfortunate thing happened (well, at least for my kid), our flight that afternoon was cancelled due to mechanical problem of the aircraft. My 8 year old couldn’t started crying out of frustration. I calmed him down and got ourselves into the hardest part of our trip...lining up to be accomodated for the night. PAL took care of us and sent all the passengers for that flight to the nearest hotel that night, paid for our dinner and breakfast. When we got to hotel, Enzo, who cried his eyes out…was finally himself again…jumping from one bed to another and enjoying his cartoon network shows.

The next morning, everyone was up and early for the special flight. We boarded the plane and took off 7:30am from Tagbilaran and reached Manila an hour after. My mom was there waiting for her “apo”. They had my work clothes and I changed on the way to work.
My Panglao trip was such a relaxing time for me and Enzo…just a little bit of hassle in the end but it was nothing compared to what the island gave us, a vacation.

For more info about the resort: http://www.isisbungalows.com/

Baguio City: In the City of Strawberry Jam and Peanut Brittle

8. 29-30.09

Famously known as the City of Pines in the 80’s but as I looked around over Mines View, all I could see are houses over houses. Baguio was still breathtakingly beautiful to walk around, a place in the Philippines where you’re allowed to wear fur coats and boots anytime of the day. Over the weekend my roadtrip group and I decided to drive to up north to Baguio to spend a pre birthday getaway for me and Jun (Ina’s fiancé).

The last time I was there, I was with my bestfriend Mich, (both single at that time, Mich now married and on her way to delivery room for baby no.2…I’m still single, obviously) we were being spontaneous as we packed our bags for a day trip to Baguio. Leaving Manila on a public bus at 12 midnight and arriving Session Road at 6am. Mich and I got crazy as we went around to tour the city for a day only and even crazier for buying sacks of vegetables (mostly baguio beans and potatoes) and dragging our sacks to bus terminal with all other shopping bags. It was one of my unforgettable roadtrip ever.

This time around, I was sitting comfortably at the back of Jun’s car, with my son Enzo, Pin and Ina on front. We decided to take a road trip, stay for a night and take loads of pictures as Ina requested prenuptials pictures for their wedding next year.
My dad drove us to Alabang at 2:00 in the morning to meet Ina and Jun (Pin stayed at our place the night before). The couple arrived 30 minutes late but we’re still on time, it was Saturday morning we’ll be smooth sailing across SLEX for sure. Enzo fell asleep half way through SLEX and we stopped at the last gas station in NLEX before entering SCTEX (Subic Tarlac Express Way). We thought we need to pee as per advice to us there’s no gas station yet in SCTEX…this is another case of “PEE NOW or FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEE”.
4 cups of coffee, a carton of milk and Julie’s cheese streusel pandesal bread, we had our first meal together outside the gas station’s store listening to Bob Marley. After stretching our legs and few shots, we went back on the road. The drive through SCTEX was fast, before I knew it, we were driving through towns of La Union already at 6 in the morning. We had another restroom break and bought “taho” for much needed sugar to keep us up. Another hour and a half…we were already driving through Marcos Highway. As per researched, we found out that most travelers recommend to take Marcos highway than Kennon Road. The latter way was more steep and narrow, and I would recommend for all to take Marcos highway too. The drive was a breeze except when we were almost there, I could feel kuya’s car crying. We need to stop gas up, but this time we were already in Baguio, you could tell by the breeze, it was not the usual cold breeze…it was cold, cold Baguio breeze.

My mom, a regular Baguio traveler, told us if we were on a budget trip, we should stay at Teacher’s Camp. A place handled by the Department of Education where obviously teachers stay when they have out of town sessions. I’ve been to Baguio several times but I have never stayed at the camp. I have heard and watched a couple of spooky stories about it. Teacher’s Camp is one of the haunted places in the City of Pines. We parked inside and got off to check the room. We reached the lobby and someone guide us to 2 nd floor of the White Hall. Our feet creaked through the old wooden floor, a musty smell caught us and immediately send some creepy thoughts in our mind as we looked at each other. The caretaker unlocked one of the rooms through the dark hallway, 4 old beds lined up like hospital beddings with one pillow each, the room was dark and the only light was coming in from the big window on one side of the room. The girls and I gave each other the nod that translates to:

Ina: “I’m very much open to another option”
Maui: “I don’t want to die here”
Pin: “Moving on…NOW”

We basically flew out of the place and right back along the road of Baguio city. Leaving us with no plan or reservation, our hunt for a place to stay for a night began. We went from mid-range hotel to rent-inn private house to room only. The girls and I split into two, Pin and Ina went downhill, and I went on the other side, Jun and Enzo stayed in the car parked in front of a 3-star hotel that was too expensive. I found one, called up the girls and they found one too. I went straight to where they were at. It was a private house that has 2 floors. I found Pin waiting at some sort of lobby area while the owner cleaned up the last vacant room. Finally an old lady showed up and led us to some sort of a basement, she told us it’s the only vacant room available. From the look outside it already didn’t look good, inside…it was worst. There was no word to describe how awful it looked like and she was even charging us more. I didn’t even have to think about it, I gave it a look and off I go, I waited for the girls to come out of their senses. The two girls were being polite, as they told the old lady they will think about it and will call her. We went to the place I found, Medrano’s Apartelle. It looked nice outside, very modern. We went inside and checked the room and we all agreed that it was the best place and we couldn’t waste anymore time as we only have 2 days to explore the city. We negotiate with the price and we got the unit that has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen with refrigerator, chairs, dining table for 5, it was perfect for us (room rent P2,500 a night). We immediately unpacked and settled in, Pin and Ina (both perfect homemakers) got busy in the kitchen cooking lunch. Enzo was in bed playing with his gameboy, Jun was on the other room, resting and I was sitting on one of the chairs watching cable tv. I didn’t bother to help my girlfriends for some reasons:

1. The place was too small for us 3 women to work around.
2. I am not really the “homemaker” type.
3. I was feeling extremely tired (the next day I got my period).
After lunch of adobo (chicken and pork) and laing, the girls (again) cleaned up and off we went to explore Baguio City. We took a cab to take us to the Mansion, the place where all the first family spends their vacation when they are in town. We took pictures and I also took few shots of Ina and Jun for their pre-nuptial wedding photos. I was excited to do it, I really like photography and I was hoping to develop if ever I have talent for it (I’m planning to buy enlarging lens this year). Although I only have the lens kit from my Canon 1000d (18.55mm) I tried hard to capture best shots of the couple.

We took few more pictures and decided to walk from The Mansion to Mines View, when we heard some sort of a weird sound like there’s a huge march of people coming toward us. We looked at each other and in 2 seconds, Pin realized it was a heavy rain coming, we could see the clouds and the downpour like a black carpet covering us all. We ran to the nearest waiting shade along with the other vendors. We got stuck under that shade for 30 minutes or so. I told them either we take a cab and bring us to Mines View even with the rain, at least we’re already at our next destination or we just sit and wait for the sun to come out and waste another minute in our overnight stay in Baguio. They agreed and we hailed another FX. In Mines View, the sun was coming out slowly, I covered up my precious son and my dear camera and hurried to the nearest store. We stop by for some shots at this one store that has sunflowers on one side for picture taking. We took several shots and went on to see some sights!
Over Mines View, we posed with a beautiful gentle giant St. Bernard dog, famously known as Douglas, but the photographers were calling the dog “PJ” (a nickname perhaps?). There were few around Mines View, Douglas was the most expensive stardog in Mines and its P50 per group picture with 3 shots.
As we moved on we went over the edge to enjoy what we went for…the view. Enzo hold on to me trembling, he’s afraid of heights. I tried to calm him and let him know I got him and need not to worry but to just smile at the camera. He tried…but he still looked constipated on his pictures…poor baby.
After going around some stalls for pencils made from pine trees, Ina and Pin stopped by a grilled dry squid. I let Enzo tried it…he finished it but gave me the last piece.
Next stop, pasalubong On our way to Good Shepherd to buy some goods to bring home, there was fog on the road, we could hardly see our way and amazed at the same time of what we were experiencing at that time. Baguio at this time was indeed very much different to Manila.
In Good Shepperd, it’s where you can buy all the goodness of jam, strawberry and ube, it is also the best place to buy peanut brittle. With all list done, we took a walk by the view and took more shots of the coldcoldcold fog. It started to drizzle so we decided to go back to our place as we cannot go walk with all our bottles of jam with us.
Back at the inn, the rain hasn’t stopped. The girls and I went to the market and we left one little boy and one man who’s trying to catch some much needed sleep.
Pin, Ina and I went off to buy some vegetables for tonight’s dinner. We still had some leftovers and Pin took charge of cooking some veggies. We retire early that night as Baguio’s temperature turned cold.
The next morning, we got up early except for Enzo who was still in neverland. The girls (again…im not included) prepared breakfast and boiled water for coffee, we settled for some leftovers (again), as long as there’s caffeine mix…I’m cool with leftovers.
For our 2nd and last day, we went to Wright Park hoping to catch some sun for our photos. I’ve been to Baguio a couple of times but I could not remember the park, I remember the horses when I was a kid…but when we arrived that morning, it was a stranger to me. The horses’ hair was colored pink, periwinkle and other gay colors. Enzo was of two minds about riding a horse, but then after giving more time to think, he decided not to.
We walked around the park and enjoyed the cold air and horses’ shit smell for few more minutes before heading out to Botanical Garden just few walks away from the park.
Basically, a large garden with souvenir shops inside. As we tour around and take pictures I began to squeal like a piglet when I eyed a dead snake few feet away from me. A small dead snake.
The rest of the group, including my 8 year old son took a closer look at the scary dead snake…while they keep saying “poor snake”.
We took another fx to take us to Pink Sisters church. My mom reminded me to visit them and pray inside and wish. They have a petition box where we can put our prayers in.
The pink little church looked just like any ordinary small churches, but inside, there was a gate that divides the mortal and immortal. The pink nuns were seen kneeling and praying on the other side and the public would have the space on the door side. Then one by one, the nuns came in and the church was full of pink sisters praying and singing a tune that sent me to bliss. It also made me feel like being on the set of the old movie Sound of Music, I could hear myself humming “how do you solve the problem like mariaaaaa” listening to their voices was like being high and nothing but pure calmness.
After a blissful trip we thought we’d walk from Pink Sisters to another church, the Baguio Cathedral. Not even halfway there, we decided we needed to take another fx. We got off and we heard the mass from the outside, it was in Ilocano…and although I can understand a little I can’t go on and translate to others the rest. Pin and Ina went to peek inside the church and I took a picture of it from outside.
The last stop was to buy our vegetables at Session Road. Pin and Enzo decided to camp inside the comfort of Mcdonalds while, Ina, Jun and I went inside the wet market for the last time.
After packing up our stuff inside Jun’s trunk, we settled inside the car and we got ready for another long drive back home. We were shocked on what we saw on our drive to Marcos highway, a zigzag road of nothing but thick FOG. I asked Jun to open his headlights for safety, we drove through thick white smoke and we opened the car window and enjoyed the cold air. Pin took out the video camera and I took the camera for some shots. We even have to stop somewhere to get a close encounter with something that we don’t usually experience, for few minutes we just stayed there.
We got back on the road, stopping every once in a while for bathroom break, eat and let Jun stretch his legs, 4 hours later we’re back on Edsa. We took Pin home first, and then Enzo and I were dropped off in front of our house. After greeting each other “happy birthday” Jun and Ina went off home. Enzo and I were tired, sleepy with bottles of jam, peanut brittle, fish sauce and vegetables. Baguio was a trip! it was great that we were able to enjoy it with that kind of weather, damp but it met our expectations, cold, foggy and worth road tripping to.

for more help on your Baguio trip, try this link: http://www.gobaguio.com/

Biak na Bato: Dark caves, mud-nation, and the time I almost peed my pants

7.11.09
One Sunday morning, as I was looking for something to occupy my mind (after an embarrassing incident) I was flickering the remote control for the tv, a sports local show with two men exploring the caves in Bulacan. I got interested as I saw them struggling from one cave to another. I immediately texted my road trip sister Ina, “we need to go and see this”, her reply “im in and so is kuya” (we call her fiancé kuya). We texted another road trip friend, Pin and as expected, it was another trip for all of us.
We decided to go the following week, I met up with Pin and Kuya in Alabang junction, sipping my Dunkin Donut brewed coffee. A very quick 30 minute drive from Alabang to Edsa where we’ll meet Pin. We parked thru a gas station across Dusit Hotel and SM Makati. For the next few minutes our jaws dropped as we stare at some luxury cars parked outside Starbucks. Every 5 minutes another one will arrive. From Audi to Ferrari to something that looks like the bumblebee character in the movie transformers, they were all parked side by side. The owners having a laid back Sunday morning coffee inside Starbucks. They all looked like middle aged men to me…maybe early 50’s to late 60’s. Finally Pin arrived. As I took one last picture through the glass window, kuya started the car and off we went up North. The morning started with a beautiful weather, but as we approached NLEX, it started raining for few minutes, by the time we got ourselves in the highway, it was sunny again.
At 8am, we exited Sta. Rita Bulacan. We thought about good breakfast, fried rice, tapsilog, maybe goto or daing....we found ourselves a “carinderia” along the way, parked right outside, and had a big breakfast. After paying for our bill, we asked the owner for some directions, told us we need to drive for another 2 hours to reach Biak na Bato. Just as we parked, we were greeted by a woman named­­ Ate Dory. According to her for the first timers its advisable to have a tourguide as the caves can be very very dark and it is a compulsory that all group should be assisted by a staff accredited by DENR . We settled with her charged for P150 per cave. We first went to 4 caves about 800meters away from the national park of Biak na Bato. We crossed a very cold, knee deep running water, a rice field, nipa huts, and vegetable plantations before we got to our first cave. It was raining last night as we were told, the mud made everything slippery. The rocks were full of moss, for the not so adventurous people, this is not a weekend fun thing to do. It was dark inside, good thing we found out from the internet that we have to bring our own flashlights for some caves can get very dark.

The first cave we went to according to Ate Dory was called Ospital (Hospital) as it was used as the hospital by the guerillas during war, the injured soldiers would stay in that cave to either die or get better. Some of the passage to where you can head out were so narrow you have to walk on your sides. The next cave, was a bit bigger than the last one, where I shot one of my favorite cave structures. A light was coming from the hole, the rock formation looks astounding from afar. As I was taking pictures of every corner, I could barely keep up with our guide’s story telling but when she said “there was a snake and a huge lizard that came through that hole and it landed on one of the caver’s head one time” I stopped and looked at her…I heard the word snake and all of a sudden I realized I completely forgot the only animal I couldn’t take to look at or even touch. I was traumatized and scared when I got so close to a snake who sneaked inside our kitchen, I was watching Princess D’s burial and the snake caught my attention as the strikingly green crawled about 5 meters away from me. When I was a child, I was afraid of worms and leaches. The thought of them crawling on my skin gives me eeeky feeling as I got older, I couldn’t stand even snake stuff toys…let alone the real one. After hearing the story, I asked our guide if we would encounter snakes, her answer “possible since its been raining, they like it when the weather is cold, there could be snakes inside the caves, as the stone caves are cold” I shivered. I had to shake off my mind from the thought of crawling snakes….and back to beautiful sceneries and remind myself, this whole Bulacan caving trip was my idea.
As we walked through muddy grass, we passed by a Guyabano tree. The fruits were all over! It was harvest time. Ate Dory, went closely and got us one big Guyabano, asked if its okay to just pick fruits around, she said no, told us every part of this land is owned by someone. So we asked her if she owns the Guyabano tree…you guessed it right, she said “no, im stealing it” We passed by a muddy part with above the knee grasses, I was behind our guide when she stopped. I looked over why, and I saw a greenish long snake swerving inches away from Ate Dory’s feet. For a moment, I could feel my hands shaking, I THOUGHT I PEED MY PANTS RIGHT THAT VERY MOMENT...then I hold on to our guide and couldn’t move, she was telling me it wouldn’t hurt us since the snake already had a frog on its mouth. The snake went off to the grass and I could see the grass moving as it crawls through. When they told me its gone, I still couldn’t move. They had to push me and hold my hand just for me to stop shaking. We finally got to cave three and I finally calmed down. The third cave was called “tanggapan” (hiring place) the cave where they hire new soldiers to join the group. For the last one was the most interesting cave so far. The outside looks just another cave, muddy, and rocky, we took a shot as per our guide’s advice as we may never get a proper picture inside. As we went inside, we had to walk in a squat position, it was pitch black inside, and the way was just too narrow. While our guide talks about history, I was trying to get some shots, she then caught my attention (again) by saying “I suggest for us to turn off our flashlights for even just 5 seconds, to feel the calmness inside this cave” Me and my friends went “oh, you know, we’re fine, I think I can perfectly feel the calmness with the lights on…” But she insisted…and I said “okay, we’ll do it, as long as you promise us that you’re not going to transform into anything” I held to Pin’s shoulder, Ina was lucky enough to have her boyfriend with her at that time. More or less 10 seconds, I finally said, “okay, calmness gone…panick on the way in 3 seconds” we turned back on our flash lights and went our way out of the cave.

We walked back to where we parked the car, we were muddy, tired, hungry and looking forward to explore the other side of the place…Biak na Bato, but first…lunch. We had packed lunch from home, we had a lot so we asked our guide to join us. We drove back to the main entrance, settled near the parking lot with trees and vegetable plants around us. Right after a lunch of ham, hotdog, dinuguan and huge amount of rice, we head off to our next adventure.
Now for some historical background, a hundred years ago, katipuneros, this area at the foot of Sierra Madre became their headquarters. It was the shelter of the group against Spanish military forces. The walls of the caves have been the witness to the signing of the pact of Biak-na-bato. On November 16, 1937 the place was declared a national park by Manuel L. Quezon in honor of the republic. In 1970, Ferdinand Marcos issued an order guiding mineral prospecting and exploitation in government reservations. On April 11, 1989, Corazon Aquino issued a proclamation which re-defined the boundaries of the Biak-na-Bato National Park (facts from Wikipedia and geocities). We were able to go to Aguinaldo Cave which according to our guide became Aguinaldo’s office and the amazing Paniki Cave (bat cave!) The Paniki cave was huge, outside it looks like a mouth opened widely, we could hear running water coming from the inside. After taking pictures we walked for about 10 minutes to get inside the cave. When you look at it on a nature way, the place was stunning, you look at it in a scary different way…its not the place you want to hang out. After taking pictures, we headed back to finally relax on the running water. Excited to wash up our muddy self, the guide suddenly stopped and looked at me…she was grinning. First thing on my mind…a snake! I was right. I, again froze, couldn’t move but I just wanted to get out of there. The brownish snake was not as big as the first one we saw, but it definitely gave me another goose bumps. I shake it off as we approach the running water. We settled in and went in, the water was freezing cold!

We enjoyed the breath taking beauty of nature as Pin, Ina and I sat on a rock while we feel the freezing water through our legs (while Kuya Jun takes our picture from another rock positioned few feet away from us). We stayed for few more minutes after finally getting back to our feet and heading back to the car. We paid Ate Dory and thanked her for the adventure she gave us through caves, mud and snakes. It was 3:00 in the afternoon, we all settled in the car, the traffic wasn’t so bad, I couldn’t wait to tell Enzo about the snakes, show him the pictures, to get a decent shower and just be home where I know there’s no snakes to rattle me.

For more info about Bulacan caving, you can visit this website: http://www.bulacan.gov.ph/

Coron : A little paradise called Sangat Island resort

May 2009

Summer was almost over, a typhoon came in the country just 2 days before our flight to Busuanga. A threat for everyone but me, nothing and no one will stop my little getaway come typhoon or shine.

I arrived in terminal 3 on a perfect sunny morning at 7:00am (my friends were joking around the night before doing the sun dance…I guess it worked!) We boarded the small plane on time and everyone was a bit scared as they are used to airbus plane type. Again, I was not rattled even for a bit, my dad was a pilot and I grew experiencing riding smaller than the one we boarded that day, my dad would fly cesna planes when he was still at the service and he would always tag me along with him…I would be literally strapped at the back of his chair, it’s a 2 seater plane (for my dad’s co-pilot/trainee) and that’s not the highlight of it…but the fact that the plane has no door and believe me I enjoyed it!
It was an hour flight, we arrived in a very small but very clean Busuanga airport. We got our things and met with our van service as we went on to a 30 minute land trip to the port. I saw road construction on the way, obviously the town of Busuanga is getting ready to be a tourist friendly spot, and it’s a good thing, I just hope the ambiance wont change. The road was surrounded by mountains, trees, green grass, and I saw a ranch with cows and horses, if it wasn’t just with the people I was with on the van, I would rather have the trip with open windows.
The port was also under construction, but I still noticed the beautiful place as it is like its been placed on a middle of pure nature, Coron is definitely one of the amazing places in the Philippines.
We were told that it was going to be a 45 minute banca ride. I didn’t mind, the weather was still blazing hot and I just couldn’t wait to reach our little island.

On the way, there are still little islands that looks untouched, so it was very serene for me and never mind the 45 minute ride.
Finally we saw our island, I could see few people standing like they were waiting for us…as we came closer, I was right, the welcome band wagon! I first saw a bald white guy, wearing nothing but his white linen pants, he looked uber cool as I see him smiling from afar. He turned out to be the owner of the resort. He welcomed us together with his local staff and 2 huge dogs (half Doberman half Rottweiler) named Shadow and Anina. The dogs started to sniff around us and in our bags, the owner Andy Powland joked that they are just checking for bombs and drugs. He was very friendly and accommodating, if its all part of the PR, then its working, the man is very good at it.
We went straight to the dining place and we were welcomed by fresh buko juice with gumamela flowers on top, pretty nice. I scanned the place for a quick look around…I fell in love with it immediately. In front of you there’s the beautiful white sand and the light green and bluish sea water, at the back, a rocky hill with trees and vines surrounding it, a very well maintained resort with bermuda grass, the best part of the place….I could spot hammocks everywhere. I thought…my vacation has begun.

After drinks and chitchats and quick photo opt with the friendly guard dogs, we went to our rooms. I was assigned to stay with 4 girls in a separate villa. Separate means, really separated from the rest. As the rest went on to their rooms in front of the beach, 4 of us girls were lead to a wooden bridge.

As I learned in their website, the only way to our villa was the hanging foot bridge or by kayaking your way through it. The bridge was made from bamboo and lumber jacks and if you’re not brave enough, or not up for the adventure, the room isn’t for you. It’s actually not safe for kids because they can easily fit in the side railings and they can fall off on rocks and water beneath the bridge and not just any rocks, they look like they can slice you in half if you ever fall hard on it.
The Lambingan villa assigned to us is a three story nipa hut, it also comes with your own private beach, and 2 beach bamboo lounge chairs.

View from our villa and thats our private beach

The villa has an open air bathroom, it was like going inside a cave, 5 steps to go down to shower, if its wet it is very slippery, so always, always watch your step. The first floor has a dinner table, 3 hammocks, one swing made of wood, a mini bookshelf (wasn’t able to check on the books but later on by the bar, I saw books about diving, Philippine islands and some German books). Second floor is a bedroom and a private bathroom with only a sink and a toilet bowl (clean bathrooms and I’m pretty particular with bathrooms). There are two beds, one single and one double, a dressing table, a refrigerator, a set of instant coffee and chocolate powder, and a hot water thermos on top of the refrigerator.

On the third floor, there’s a closet, a double bed pulled together so it fits 4 people, a flat screen tv, but there’s nothing on it, I guess they are still working on getting a cable connection and of course there’s the view. The view from the windows on the top floor was just okay, you couldn’t really enjoy it, dark screens covered most it, but it was still pretty nice. At the back, there’s nothing but a cave like stones that surrounds the back of the villa. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the stagnant water beneath the cave so yes, it can also be called mosquito villa and also the fact that you have to walk maybe 5- 10 minutes or so just to be with your friends or go to the bar.
After settling in, we changed to our bikinis and put on our hiking get up. We were scheduled to go on a hiking by the mountains that afternoon, but first…lunch. The food was great, since it’s just you and the nature, the island offers a full board meal, don’t worry cause you won’t be sorry as every meal we had was just perfect and oh so delicioso!
Right after a hearty lunch, we rested for a while to get ready for a hike. Except for another girl from work and I (we’re both sporty, competitive and adventurous…I wonder why we don’t get along that well…) all the people who joined in the trekking are first timers. I used to go mountain climbing so I know what was in store for us, especially the hike would mostly be on a rocky hill. The weather that afternoon was like a confused gay, not sure if he’s coming out or not, one minute sunny, next minute its drizzling.
I walked through one of the tables and chairs in front of the resort, got my camera and take few shots.

Around 2 in the afternoon, the sun finally came around. The trek group gathered around as we waited for our guide…I was expecting a young local man instead we were introduced to "manong" (old man in tagalog). We were told to speak louder than the normal tone, Manong’s suffering from old age deafness. At first look, you’d feel sad that Manong is still doing that kind of job, I mean, he is old and I was a bit worried but when he started climbing those rocks…man oh man! He could swap jobs with spiderman any day! The old man can jump from one rock to another like a pro rock climber…and he was only wearing rubber slippers all the way…now that’s pretty impressive!

We started the climb right from the back of the resort. There’s no trail or safety guide for climbers, just climb at your own risk. We were laughing and joking around while manong leaves us behind, he would even stop to wait for us, pretty embarrassing for the young ones. Only few rocks at the start, I could feel my heart pumping already. The rocks were steep and sharp, you have to be careful where you hold on, you have to make sure it’s strong enough to carry your body weight before you lift yourself up through the rocks. Just few feet from the bottom of the hill, it started to drizzle. Everything became slippery, the rocks we hold onto, the mud, even the leaves on the ground. It was hard to climb, but for me it was one of those adventures you wouldn’t want to miss. I was wondering if every one of us were feeling the same way, I was second online on our trail, I looked back at the girls and the three guys who were trailing behind us, they seem to be struggling but also exchanging jokes on each other and it seems everyone was having fun.

While the two of us in front (both girls) seemed to be cool about the rain and the slippery trek…not even minding the muddy hill and the mud all over our precious shoes and legs.
As it continues to rain, I became worried of leeches and snakes. I wasn’t prepared and will never be when it comes to that. Just as I about to shake off what was on my mind, I almost touch a frog, it was on a rock that I was about to grab on, good thing the frog blinked! It was just there! Peacefully positioned on a rock and having the same color as the rock made it harder to notice. When I saw it, it was only an inch away from my face (hmm…come to think of it what if that was my prince charming? And I let it passed! What if?!!!!anyways…) Every rock I step on I could see huge black ants and leeches, I have to ignore all my imaginations of leeches, im not really fond of something eeky on the skin, I could touch a cockroach, but don’t give me a leech or worms or snakes!

We passed through swamp like with only coconut leaves to hold on, I could hear everyone’s shoes squeaking with water, it was like going through flood and mud…I looked at my dear Nike…the white and blue shade of my shoes now looked like army shoes…lovely!
After rock over rock over muddy spots and snails and mosquitos, Manong stopped to tell us it won’t be possible for us to finish the trek. We stopped and he pointed us broken lumber on the ground, it’s been raining for days and some of the man-made stairs that were connected to some areas were broken. We went back as we left manong behind as he told us he would still pick up some vegetables (not sure what kind but he let us went back to the resort without him guiding us)
The boys were now leading us, but they would always stop to check where we were, and they never asked the girls if anyone knew the trail (men do have issues about asking for directions) I went forward and took lead of the group. I climbed up so fast, I left the group behind, I didn’t realize until I couldn’t hear the jokes and whining behind me. I even have to shout where I am so they can trail behind me and I have to wait for them.
We got back on the resort ground safely, no casualties, good!
The group then decided to swim for the afternoon at the lambingan’s private beach! Took some crazy pictures with the girls (the non-stop 8 shots, 9 here on the collage)

After few more shots, it started to drizzle, I ran for the safety of my dear camera. The girls then went back to their own rooms to shower. By 6pm we were all looking forward to dinner. As I mentioned before, every meal I had in Sangat was superb. After dinner, some of us stayed for cocktails and few beers by the bar. It was pretty laid back as we listened to Jack Johnson songs, played pool (some played cards), drink cold beer and enjoyed an evening with the very pleasant owner Andy, he had few beers with us before he retired for the night and said good night to all of us. That’s another thing I love about the resort, the owner and the rest of the staff are just too friendly. They’d treat you like an old friend so even if you’re alone and you visit the island, you’ll be fine.
The next day, Lambingan camp, 2 girls on both floors, the 2nd floor girls were up early. Ina and I who usually get up early (in every trip we made, we never had a problem about waking up together). We heard someone walking on the 3rd floor, maybe one of the girls upstairs heard us. On our first night, Ina and I were able to sleep soundly in the villa (we learned that the girls upstairs didn’t do well). I fixed us up our morning caffeine and went downstairs on the second floor to enjoy a cup of joe on a hammock, it was one of those mornings where you just want to extend morning for the whole day, but time was running. We decided to hit the beach for some wakeup shots. Ina and I walked through the cold morning by our private beach, the sand was still damp, but the morning breeze was just amazingly fresh knowing you have the best of nature and you’re on it. We could hear birds chirping at the hill just right beside our villa and the serene water of the beach, it was beautiful, just beautiful.
We then walked to the rest of the group on the other side, we found them already walking around the beach and also taking pictures. A perfect weather for our scheduled activity for the day, island hopping.

took a nap after this shot

Everyone went straight in the dining area, excited as the rest, we packed up real good for breakfast. During the banca ride, I settled on the netting stretched over both sides of the banca (it can hold up maybe 5 adults) I grabbed my cowboy hat and I had the perfect spot to rest, enjoy the ride and sunbathe at the same time (on the other side, I think there were 3 people doing the same thing). Our first stop was at the Kayangan Lake.

We were told that we have to climb up the hill to reach the lake. It was muddy, slippery and steep. After more whining we finally reached the top with a splendid view of Coron and I took lots of pictures. After taking pictures I was looking for the lake…the lake was down right on the other side of the hill…so now we have to go down. Pin slipped but I was able to grab her and she got hold on to the bamboo rail (good thing she didn’t take us both down). Few more steps…I saw the lake and it was beautiful! Just beautiful!

the water was too deep so it’s not for everyone, but if you put on your lifevest and brave enough you’ll be able to go around the lake. The water was warm and clear. We hang out around the lake for a while before we headed off to our next stop. It was almost lunch and the resort had our food packed.

see those nipa huts...thats where we had lunch

We went to another small island with only 2 or 3 nipa huts where we can eat our delicious lunch. They served us the ultimate Filipino dish…it was just too much to describe, every time I try to remember that trip…my mouth salivates not just because of the experience I had but also the food was just to die for. It was worth all the travel. For our next island stop, the place was called the Twin Lagoon. The water was a bit high so most of the girls stayed in the banca. I went down to check what was on the lagoon. Underwater you can feel that the temperature would change from warm to cold. According to our guide, that’s because they are different layers of the water, lake and sea water. After I’ve gone on the edge of the lagoon, there was nothing much except for the beautiful hills that surrounded it. I went back to the banca and waited for the rest who went down. For the last destination, it was just a typical beach where people could swim without the lifevest. This time I didn’t bother to go down, instead I grabbed a cold can of mango juice. The island trip was worth it although as I’ve researched there are still other islands that we were not able to visit, so maybe next time.
That night, after dinner, the girls and I stayed to play pool, drink German beer and I flirted my last night on the island.

On our last day, the girls and I played with underwater shots courtesy of Marge’s water proof camera. Ina and I also spent some time kayaking on the other side, the water was just high enough for us to go farther. It was just beautiful. There were vines hanging from the trees and we could clearly see the corals underwater.

Sangat Island Resort

We left the island before lunch, it was heartbreaking...Andy thanked the whole group, waved at us as we boarded the motorized banca to take us back to reality. Leaving the little paradise was a bit depressing for a beach junkie like me, cause it’s like leaving home, over the next 3 days, the Sangat people treated us so well, it feels like a little family. Andy and the rest of the people in Sangat Island resort are living my dream life and I will for sure come back to visit again…maybe stay a little longer this time.

For more info, please check out this website: http://www.sangat.com.ph/

Bantayan Island: (and a quick city tour in Cebu City)

November 2008

Still in need of sleep and good caffeine, I arrived at the new airport terminal 3 at 3:45am. Armed with my new Canon EOS 1000D and pack light baggage (as if…I swear I loaded about 10 kilos of beach wardrobe over my back on that trip) I got in and found my about-to-get-married couple/friends, Ina and Jun with sleepy look on their faces sitting on the waiting lounge. Just after few seconds, the last member of the Cebu crew arrived, Pin.
We decided to check in one bag for our liquid needs, lotion, night cream (of course, we cant survive without ‘em), tanning lotion, skin toner, our very own shampoo (just to be sure, you’ll never know what kind of shampoo they freebie on a middle class resorts and our facial wash (we’re women, we have double standards to live up to) After checking in and after we passed all the brouhaha in the airport, we took few minutes to take pictures.
Even it was our first time in the newly built NAIA Terminal 3, we were able to find our gate exit and was in time for boarding.

Pin, Maui and Ina

Cebu City

We arrived in Cebu at exactly 6:00am, the morning sunshine was almost there, the morning air was just perfect and we were still hoping to find a coffee vending machine. We got out and a police man approached the 4 sleepy looking travelers, asked us where we need to go. He was kind enough to direct us to a cab parked outside the airport and told manong driver to take us to North Bus Terminal and to use meter for our ride (every airport should have that kind of security) The ride wasn’t that long (or maybe because we were early and the traffic was still good)

We arrived at the terminal with one bus leaving. We approached the drivers who were standing and reading newspaper in front of their busses. They informed us there’s no aircon bus traveling to Hagnaya port that day, we just have to ride the non-aircon...we looked at each other and knew that our adventure starts there.

Bus terminal to Hagnaya port

the bus that almost gave me a heart attack...they drive like a suicidal man out there!

The bus was still empty, we bought food and sat near the bus door. Pin and I, while Jun and Ina sat behind us, had our little breakfast inside while waiting for it to leave. After few more minutes, the bus left and we were in for a ride.
It was a grueling 4 hour ride, the bumps, the heart stopping driving around the corner of the cliff, and not to mention the dust. In that 4 hour ride…we knew, we're too far away from the city.
Hagnaya Port
We arrived in Hagnaya around 10am. We were told that there’s no fastcraft traveling to Sta. Fe for some time now. They only have Super Shuttle Ferries that travels for an hour and 15 mins. while the fastcraft only takes 30 to 45 mins. We almost felt that our trip was not going well the way we planned it when the porter told us that it was a free ride. They were celebrating a thanksgiving thing for the previous typhoon that hit Cebu but fortunately there were no casualties. We were okay with that, but we felt our stomach grumbling for food.
Pin and I saw barbeque street food, I couldn’t resist the smell, I just have something to eat.
We took our seats on the side near the railing of the ferry, it was a nice spot. After taking pictures, Ina fell asleep and so did Pin. Jun and I had our own iPod to thank for the one hour boat ride.

Sta. Fe Port

Finally in Sta. Fe! For this trip, we got our tips from the website wowbantayan.com, on that site, we were warned about the porters, although travelers, we are still Filipinos and we thought we could handle it. As soon as the ferry docked we heard voices of men calling as they ran towards the passengers, we thought the ferry was on fire! We figured them out as the porters when they stood inches away from us. We looked at each other and looked back at them waiting what they’re going to do as we hold onto to our dear backpacks. We told them politely that we could carry our bags and went our way to the exit.

Finally!!! Sta. Fe port

As we approached the exit gate of the port, more porters came to us, this time even if we told them we’re good they wouldn’t leave us. It became annoying and we felt for few minutes like Hollywood stars and they, the paparazzi. We couldn’t walk properly, they were all over us, on our sides, in front, and walking behind us all suggesting a discounted price of resorts and tricycle rides. We finally got to one of the tricycles and surprised to see two men jumped on the back of the tricycle telling us they were from the resort. Turns out they’re not. We gave them P20 for that ride and finally left us when we got inside our resort.

Kota Beach Resort

As recommended in the website, Kota Beach was beautiful. They have coconut trees and plants around the resort.

Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we took our backpacks in the restaurant and ordered our most anticipated lunch! The first decent meal of the day and it was almost 1pm.
The price was reasonable for the meal was good for 4. Except for the huge flies docking on our food, drinks and everywhere else, the lunch was pretty great (or maybe we were just starving to death)
After lunch, room was ready and it was nice, we were 4 adults and with the size of our room, 2 more can actually stay with us. The bathroom was small but clean, the water was so-so, the shower wasn’t working well but with the room price, we can be patient about it (we rented the Superior cottage aircon for P1,700 a night)

our room

We settled in, changed and in just few minutes we were officially vacationers.
We took our spots on the beach chair few meters away from the water. The month was November and the resort was almost empty, it was like owning our very own vacation house. It was pretty quiet and we could only see maybe 2 or 3 tourist near our area. We took a walk to see what’s around near our place. There was nothing actually, very far from the image of Boracay. No shops, no ferris wheel, no bars or clubs, no peacock people (you know, the type of people who walks like “oh look at me, look at me and my so gay abs! that goes to both sexes and you can find them in Boracay) Bantayan Island, is a pretty quiet island, the people are friendly, and most of the locals are actually European. They visited, they fell in love and they stayed.
We went back to our resort and I felt thirsty. The crew ordered fresh Buko fruit (straight from the tree around us). The feeling was just too beachy.
I noticed that there were a lot of seashells around so I decided to collect some to take it home with me, together with my sand (my only collection, sands I got from islands I’ve been to and put them in a nice bottle and labeled them, the sand beach are now sitting pretty in our living room table with my son’s greenback turtle)
It was almost 6pm when we decided to go for our first dinner and yes, we were so looking forward to it. One of the great things you travel with adventurous people is that they always look forward to new food and explore it. They won’t hesitate, they won’t think about waistline or cholesterol. They will just dig in.
A couple of blocks away from our resort, we saw restaurants. There were two restaurants facing each other, D’Jungle which according to the website offers cheap buffet on weekends only, and the other was a Portuguese restaurant. We went for the latter, tomorrow night we planned to go cheap buffet. Restaurants there are not first class like in the cities, these are just small places but spacious enough for few tourist who come and visit the island. The owner was of course, a Portuguese, he came to our table to greet us, asked us about our orders. The menu was fusion, we were expecting Portuguese food…there were maybe 2 or 3, the rest was Tom Yung soup (Thailand), samosas (India) and there were even a couple of sandwiches and pasta. We ordered a little bit of Thai and Filipino, for drinks…the couple ordered San Miguel Draft beer, a beer mug of draft for myself and Pin stayed healthy…mango juice.

My verdict: Tom Yung soup was just full of curry not even spicy enough, not recommended. Kilawin tanigue (raw fish in vinegar and lots of spices!) it was so-so (the best kilawin I had in my life was in Davao), and the pork barbeque was just okay too.
We walked back to our resort, it was only 9:00 but the streets were already quiet. We stayed by our nipa hut veranda and enjoyed the night. The cold breeze by the beach was cold and the coconut leaves sounded like rain because of the wind.
Times like that…romantic.

2nd day

On the morning of our second day, all four of us were up by 6am. I went out and took a picture of it, it was beautiful. Another thing I love about this group, they don’t stay in bed, they’re up as early as anyone, it's like everyone's excited about the whole trip.

We were hungry (again) for coffee and good breakfast by the beach. I ordered danggit (salted small fish originally from Cebu) my choice of egg (2 scrambled egg…2 not one, its part of the meal), and garlic fried rice. The coffee was instant coffee…although I was expecting more than that…brewed coffee or kapeng barako, meal also includes juice and coffee. Ina tried the Continental breakfast, toast bread, jam/butter, with juice and coffee. Pin and Jun ordered same as mine, but Pin tried the corned beef instead of salted fish while Jun had Cebu longganisa.
The meal was great, except again for the extra sociable flies.



It was our schedule to visit the nearby island called Virgin island. Locals recommended it for snorkeling telling us it’s the best spot. We’re all geared up, even brought with us our own snorkel, mask and got extra goggles.
The roundtrip banca ride was P3,000, of course it depends on the size of the banca you’re renting, but with a budget trip like that, we thought, we’ll be okay and the price was pretty much bargain too.
After breakfast, we saw the banca…a very small banca. For a moment, I thought I’d ask them if they want to upgrade. But they all looked fine, besides, I am swimmer…well I havent tried swimming in the middle of the sea. Fingers crossed and praying, we got in to our small banca. Jun and Ina in front while Pin and I sat behind them, the captain manong was at the end of the banca.
But before we left, a set of dark clouds came into us with quick shower, we all ran back to a cottage near us. The rain shower lasted for about 10 minutes and alas! The sun came to us.
They told us it was going to be 15 minutes, we were okay with that, but we didn’t know that it would be the most scary 15 minutes for all of us. I only found out that they were also thinking of backing out when they saw the small banca later that day. The waves were smashing against us and just maybe after 5 minutes in the ride, all of us were already soaked.
I was a swimmer for 7 years and still swimming from time to time, but at that moment, I was praying so hard, we were all holding on to our dear lives (but in between we would exchange laughs and smiles trying to play cool while we re-enact a scene from the movie The Perfect Storm).
After praying for some time…I finally saw the island, the white sand and the coconut trees. I began to really smile. We got in and the water was just so clear! We could already see the fishes even when were still in our banca.

the beautiful Virgin Island

i do a lot of silly things...

We paid P200 for the chair and table under a hut, there was also a small hammock (or as we call it duyan in tagalog) right beside our hut. It was perfect although the sun was coming in and out of us that day. The snorkeling part in Virgin Island was just amazing, better than Boracay, the reefs was just there and every kind of fish were swimming around your legs, your hands, it was so close you could actually touch them if you’re fast enough. We took a walk from north to south of the beach shore. The island was indeed a Virgin Island and I hope it stays that way. The beauty of it will be ruined if they place hotels and malls, the place itself is breathtaking.
We left the island after lunch, we were hungry and again, nervous about the 15 minutes ride back to our resort, but manong told us, the waves are now okay, so expect a smooth sailing. It was still a bumpy ride, but not as much as first one, so we gave manong a tip for bringing us back safely and paid him for the ride.

We decided to go to Sta. Fe market, which was about 30-45 minutes tricycle ride from our resort. We were told if we want to buy salted fish, the market was the right place to buy it. And I think all of our families had one thing on their mind, for us to buy them Danggit and other salted fish from the island.

We got there starving, we asked the tricycle driver to bring us to any seafood restaurant. He brought us at the back of the market, it was like street food style with tables and chair and yes…the extra sociable huge flies.
The lunch was horrible, we ate 45 days (or more) barbequed chicken, a different type of squid and rice.
After the not-so-nice lunch, we hurried inside the market since the sky was getting dark, and we’re not equipped for that.
We happily bought kilos and kilos of salted fish until we can’t carry them anymore.
Back in the resort, it was raining, we went to one of the cottages near the shore and enjoyed the afternoon…it was gloomy but it never killed our beach mode…after all that night was the buffet night at D’Jungle.
As per the locals advised, we went there early. The place was still empty but we were excited for the cheap rate, we started as early as 6:00pm.
There was Italian, Filipino, American, Chinese and seafood on the buffet. For P295 per person its inclusive of bottomless iced tea. Not bad, right?

D'Jungle cheap buffet

Only after 7:00pm, the place was packed! And we’re so glad to be there early.
The food was so-so, the only thumbs up was the grilled seafood, back ribs and barbeque, the rest were just the usual filipino food (that I can even cook at home...naks!) but of course, if I go back again, I will do the cheap buffet at D’Jungle.

you gotta burn those calories by camwhoring in our room veranda

The next day was our last day in the island, we go back to Cebu city to go around for a day.
That morning by the beach, the weather was perfect, I stayed under the sun until I can feel the heat on my skin.

BAKING with Ina

We were on time to catch the ferry back to Hagnayan port. We arrived to Hagnaya with the same scene as what happened with the porters at Sta. Fe. This time, totally ignored. A rented van was available to take us back to the city. The ride was shorter this time…or I guess because we were more comfortable with our sitting position, we got to take a short nap and the van was air conditioned.

Cebu City

We stayed at NS Royal Pensione Inn in Juan Osmena. The rooms were small but clean enough to stay for a night.
For dinner, we took the van driver’s advice to try Triple A restaurant, he said, its cheap and the food is good. As soon as we settled in, we hopped in to another cab to have dinner.
Triple A was not again a first class restaurant. It’s open air, chairs and tables are monoblock but the waiters were uniformed and we were well served so kudos to them! We ordered fresh seafood for cooking. We got seashells for soup (halaan) and tanigue for kilawin. We also got chopsuey (vegetable mixed) and grilled pork spareribs. For drinks we tried their iced tea shake, and man oh man!i so LOOOOVE the iced tea ! I will definitely go back there even for just the iced tea. The meal was delicious! It was so good we couldn’t believe our bill was only about P700…for 4 hungry adults, that was really cheap!

the super refresing, not to mention..cheap iced tea (the best for me...)

That night, Pin, Ina and I were trying to note our expenses, Jun was alone on the other room. The three of us were sitting on the bed, it was raining so hard we could hear thunder and we thought we were lucky enough that we're already in the city. Ina was telling us that their room looked weird as the bed was facing the door, she was in the middle of talking about how the scary saying goes when the lights went off! Imagine 3 girls, screaming all together at the same time! Ina and Pin jumped on each other to be close...while I was left alone. And yes! I freaked out! After maybe 5 seconds, the lights were back...and it was one of the highlights of our trip. Getting scared out of our wits!

The next day, the crew got up early to have breakfast on the Inn’s restaurant. Breakfast was part of the room rate, it was nothing special, it was the usual, fried rice, eggs, your choice either egg, sausage, danggit, ham or meatloaf.

We were ready to hit the road after, first stop was the oldest and famous Sto. Nino de Basilica church. It was Sunday so there was a lot of people, we got inside and it was huge! But so full of people, we said our little prayers and got out since we were wearing shorts and sando. Outside the church was the museum, we got in for P10.00 each. We saw old church things that were used in the old days, scriptures, Sto.Nino statues, Sto. Nino clothes, old rosaries, old priests gowns and more. Camera was not allowed inside so I wasn’t able to take a picture.

Basilica de Sto. Niño church (oldest church in Cebu)

At the side of the church was our next historical stop, Magellan’s cross. The original cross was covered by a replica. It was just inside a gazebo type. We took pictures and we went off to our next stop, The Fort San Pedro, where the Spaniards stayed during the war. The place was just similar to Fort Santiago or Intramuros, so for us it was very normal, but for foreigners it’s an attraction.
Shopping!!!

After that, we were so hungry and tired, but there’s still one more Cebu City attraction, the Taoist Temple. My parents reminded to see the place since they once visited it when they were just newly weds. The place was a bit far from everything else, it was at the top of the hill. We got there almost 12 noon, the heat was just too much, it was obvious on some of my pictures, I had heatbitchystroke.
After we explored the temple, we were ready to go for lunch, but first we need to check out from the Inn. We finalized our bill and left our bags in the concierge. Triple A lunch was also great. It was just delicious and cheap so I very much recommend it to anyone who visits the city.

After lunch we hurried to the nearest pasalubong store, we got the local goods and went back to our Inn to get our bags and off to the airport.
It was still early when we checked in, but we’re just exhausted and ready to go home. I miss my kid so much, I couldn’t wait to see him.
The Cebu trip was tiring, but it was pleasurable too, the beach and the food was something I’d like to do again.

info about bantayan island: http://wowbantayan.com/wowhome/