Tabang Mo, Tabang 'O, Tabango

Happiness is when and where you opt it to be.

I felt just that, while entering the otherwise sleepy town of Tabango! That was of course and obviously because of the engagingly hilarious nomenclature of things I saw on the road, like Campokpok Bridge!

But my mood easily shifted (once again) to being enthralled by remnants from our charming past - the beautiful big old wooden houses. Tabango is a small town, but yes, there are old era houses here too!

Compared to how small the poblacion is, the number of such houses in Tabango are quite admirable a percentage. Fewer than what you'll see in Villaba, but enough to fill your day of just admiring them.

Some residences are impeccably new and nice, like this one (and its neighbors) near the munisipyo.

Am not sure, but I think, what attracts me most to provincial residences, old or new, even 'rich or poor', are the enormous lot areas. They're almost always wide! How I wish I could someday live in one such!

Oh, I said the above house is near their municipal hall, right? Here it is, after another nice house..,

Of course, without me asking, my driver already knows 'the drill', we went near the building..,

As if to contradict my comment above (about wide lot areas), here comes their municipal hall building that does not have the familiar big wide front yard - which, incidentally, is quite unusual in this country!

In many municipal buildings, the front lawns would even be any kind of theme park or well-manicured architecturally-landscaped vast gardens, right? While in Tabango, look, vehicles must park diagonally!

Here's front of the building, on closer look.., and I asked my driver "what do you think?"..,

"Parang high school building na nasa gilid ng kalsada", that's what my driver had to say hehe! Oh well.

I was curious and requested that we drive towards the water's edge, and we saw this..,

That's the Tabango Public Market. Fish, meats, vegetables, fruits, rootcrops everything under one roof!

There is an ample extra space between the market building and the water..,

That probably means vendors are not free to just throw their trash out unto the sea. Hopefully! That by the way is already part of Tabango Bay. And I liked looking at that still lush and green mangrove area.

After the public market area, we turned back to leave town, but first, circling around this..,

A building that looks like it is the biggest and widest commercial structure in the very middle of town.

Indeed it is, but I did not easily recognize that it is a sports center and/or social activity center..,

In one glance, and without seeing the name, you would not think it is "hollow". Especially that the left side ground floor wing is lined with commercial stalls just like a mall. Uncommon for a rural location.

Yes, unusual but an interesting "approach" to building multi-purpose gymnasiums! Even the backside wall is lined too with 'informal' establishments like the ukay-ukay, sari-sari stores and turo-turo eatery!

I did not see, but let's just hope it is air-conditioned or at least well ventilated inside the sports and/or activity areas. Have you been to Ormoc's Superdome or Tacloban's Astrodome on a day time? Mainit!

Near the sports center, after another row of commercial establishments is this..,

A land transport terminal. However, what interested me is that thing in the middle, below the flagpole.

It's a rendition of how this town got its name "Tabango", (story on that wall in the background)..,

But, in my personal non-artistic uneducated opinion.., they could have hired more skillful artists to do that "sculpture" of a man being bitten by a crab. The face, physique and proportions are nakakatakot! Even the hands were unrealistically rendered. Look at the left hand, why would the "thumb" be there?!

Anyway, I like it that there's a public display of how a town got its name. This one is a plea for help!

Sana all!

Oh, okay, we exited going to San Isidro, and I saw more of the beautiful big old wooden houses!

Note: as in other towns I visited, I did not choose which of these old houses I wanted to see or take a photo of. Anything that appears in my blogs are just the ones along the way as I roamed around. That said, there is a big chance I may have missed other more beautiful, memorable, historical old edifices.

Oh, My Travel Notes Trivia!
Of the 40 municipalities and cities of the province (not the island) of Leyte, Tabango lies somewhere in the middle (27th), in terms of land area. So it's not that big a place (compared to other towns). BUT, it is bigger than the entire country of Portugal. So, sleepy town yes, but it's not a small piece of earth!

Let's go to San Isidro?! In my next story :)