Philippine Travel Notes

Day 5, Friday. We barely made it again, but this time the flight was on. After the check-in staff gave us our boarding passes, they put the “closed” sign. One of them monitored s through the terminal fee and security check until we reached the gate as it was on its final boarding process. Wohoa! The flight was uneventful. I like flying on those smaller crafts as they don’t soar way up high above all clouds and I can see the land, sea and everything below. We arrived at Caticlan on a very hot sunny noontime. We liked it that there is no more haggling for tricycle prices. All passengers pay at a booth – P25 each for the trike ride to the wharf (even just P50 for three pax) plus P50 each for “environmental fee” whatever that is! My companions were wondering why the boat did not seem to be heading for any of Stations 1, 2 or 3. They were not aware that this time, all boats head for the pier. I explained that yes, there is already a pier on the island and that passengers will still need to ...

Day 3, Wednesday. Waking up early at Bohol Tropics, we just had time for breakfast and voila, Jesse the driver together with his boss (Ned) were there to fetch us for the 7AM trip. We were whisked to the pier and they gave our boarding passes inside the van. They did everything for us. All we had to do was enter the port and board. Yey! Thanks to Ned. I am no master of sea transport but the trip from Bohol to Cebu was on calm waters I do not anymore know what a stormy sea is like. Gosh, as if I want to experience it hehe! On arrival at the Cebu Pier, our driver from ‘Cebu Trip’ was waiting for us. We rushed to my humble abode just to get things. We all knew we barely had time for our noontime flight. BUT… as we were rushing things at my house, we got a call from PAL Express that the flight was cancelled due to the same typhoon that apparently was now in the western part of the country therefore affecting Boracay! Aaaaargh! And we had to rush from Bohol only to find out we were not goin...

Day two, Tuesday, there we were… barely able to catch Ocean Jet for Tagbilaran. Seldom that I panic very early in the morning. Good that ‘Cebu Trip’ already pre-purchased our tickets for us, together with the tour arrangements on Bohol. It was a huff huff thing as we were the last passengers to board the fast craft that departed 6AM. It was a bright morning and the trip was uneventful. Nearing Tagbilaran, there was a light shower but the ride was as calm as we dreamed it to be. On arrival however, our tour operator and driver/guide, met us with a little bit of bad news. The return trip of the craft we arrived-in was being cancelled and that our trip later that afternoon could also be affected depending on how the weather behaves. It was signal number one in the Samar provinces. But when we looked to the skies, it was a bit gloomy yes, but it did not seem like a storm was anywhere near. And I overheard employees saying that the captain of the fast craft was fuming mad why we were allowe...

Not all is well if you take things rigidly and seriously. But all will not be ill, if you accept that nature, man and machine can sometimes altogether act unknowingly against your will! Let’s see another of my long stories! The (planned) tour Boasting that I am a new resident of Cebu, I announced that my friends can come and visit me, stay in my humble abode and that I can be their tour guide. Whew! So three of them bit the bait and a plan was conjured: a tour of Cebu, then Bohol, back to Cebu so we could take a flight to Caticlan and visit Boracay. Interesting, right? Yey! The friend from Singapore took charge of booking our Boracay accommodations. She did them mostly online. A friend from Manila took charge of booking our air tickets. I prepared for the Cebu and Bohol trips and another from Manila would be coming late to become manservant, dishwasher, photographer, videographer and lover on the side to one of us! Great plan and all were booked ahead. Day One: Cebu Tour – Success w/ s...

He was inaugurated January 20. Its only June, and even as far as Boracay, his name is catching fire. I took this photo yesterday as we were having lunch at Andok's. Curious, I crossed that street and looked around this new resto-grill. Promising new place eh! The finishing touches were not yet all done but they already had their menu and are open for business! I wonder if this place will close down or change it's name when Barack ceases to be president. Yes he will, folks. He is not like your little woman whom you swore in as 'substitute' and now wants to stay there for the rest of her life. Oh well, the cute signs of our times!

Ah, I don’t know… I think there is a better way of 'phrasing' that one. Do you? Especially that this is what the foreigner immediately sees when he goes out of Caticlan Airport’s arrival area. Well, the ‘English’ signs of our times…

Suroy Suroy Sugbo 2009: Explore the Midwest – Tabuelan Tabuelan was the last of seven towns in the itinerary of the Suroy. What a grand finale! On entry to the first barangay alone, we were already awed at how Tabuelan handled this leg of the tour. So the local tour guides in costume joined our bus and started the briefer – just as it was in all towns we visited anyway, right? But hear this… motorcyclists in the hundreds, sporting their uniform color per club came to fetch all the vehicles in the convoy! Wowowow! Each group of about 30 to 40 (I think even more) motorcycle riders would position themselves in formation, front each bus van or car and move forward like we were in a grand parade! Whew! Sirens incessantly sounded from police cars and motorbikes. Children in their festival costumes performed on both sides of the highway while residents and students waved with flags to welcome us! There was even some unnecessary logistics like making the opposite lane of the highway stay at a ...

Suroy Suroy Sugbo 2009: Explore the Midwest – Tuburan I am running out of superlatives for indeed all the towns we visited had a great show. And Tuburan was another grand experience. Per schedule, we were to have lunch at this town though no one seemed to be interested. We had been partaking of food almost every two hours since morning! So my attention was on what was to see in this town and OMG what a place! On arrival, we did not enter town. The buses instead veered left from the road to enter a resort called Molobolo Springs. We were already told about it by the local guides Ofel & Lucy during the bus ride as we approached town. The interesting thing is that this spring is so near and actually empties its cool waters down to the ocean. And everyone in the bus was saying, why don’t we hear about these in the media! I told myself… that is precisely why we all are here… that is the objective of this tour – so that the world will know the yet undiscovered beauties of the island! Oh ...

Suroy Suroy Sugbo 2009: Explore the Midwest – Asturias Another world. That is all I can say of this little town that I hope won’t urbanize anytime soon. It has its own unique rural charm making it easy to fall in love with. The local guides, Jona and Catherine joined our bus at the very first Barangay of Asturias as we said goodbye to Balamban. From this time, I readily noticed that what Asturias wants to be proud of, is not the presence of fantastic things but just the serenity and abundance of nature, for indeed it has! First to amaze us, was a wide expanse of connecting rectangular ponds that I readily thought to be fishponds. These ponds line the side of the road and wide enough into the fields. Everyone noticed that there were big sprinkling mechanisms in many of the ponds. Almost like fountains in fact! But there were no plants or gardens to sprinkle water to! In fact, everything was water in all of the ponds. Thus explained Jona, that we were passing by a prawn farm. Hmm, I now ...

Suroy Suroy Sugbo 2009: Explore the Midwest – Tsuneishi June 13, Saturday, a jolly bright morning and we were all eager for a rolling tour of the Tsuneishi ship yard. Ah yes, we were still in Balamban and this was where the town recovered. Last night’s cancelled affair due to heavy rains will be relegated to secondary memory until forgotten!! Well, for one thing, Tsuneishi – big as it might be, is a very secured private entity compound that not just any tourist can visit pronto without the prior hassle of arranging things. So everyone in the tour were quite excited to see how these folks build those ships bigger than any of the biggest 20 buildings and houses in Balamban combined. Whohoo! Yes yes, though minimal, they do have work on Saturdays so we saw some activity! Upon entry of each bus, three engineers would board to act as local guides. On our bus, the one who grabbed the microphone was himself the head of training in this shipyard and he shares that the very first thing he does ...

Suroy Suroy Sugbo 2009: Explore the Midwest – Balamban Oh dear! The dark skies were not as cooperative when we entered the town of Balamban :( It was not just raining … it was raining heavily hehe! Nevertheless, the trip had to go on. I could hear the drops tap on the bus window like little stones. It was a real bummer of a downpour! The skies went crazy. Lightning was all over the place and the roaring thunders sounded like it wanted to devour our bus! At one of those loud thunder-and-lightning duets that seemed to be too near us, an electric post was hit. I saw that big transformer atop the post emit a very bright spark. Then all the houses we passed by were a total darkness. OMG! I silently prayed that my assigned hotel had a back-up generator. The bus stopped on our way to the plaza and tour guides announced we would turn back and be brought straight to our assigned hotels instead of the big big reception that the town has prepared. Damn rain! Not that I wanted to eat again… but ju...