Philippine Travel Notes

Exit time! Time to leave the Pacific towns of Northern Samar. I wish I had more days. In fact, I even wish I could live in this place, at least for a few months, years, or kahit forever! Anyway, leave I must ! Now, this was a trip full of learnings - I dedicate to you, fellow commuting roamers! Planned itinerary for this day was: 1] walk to the highway in Potong (~100 meters) ; 2] hop on a vacant 'anything' going to Lapinig town proper (~3kms) ; 3] roam around Lapinig town proper; 4] take a bus or van going to Oras (~65kms) ; 5] stay overnight. There were other alternatives I considered - like going via Catarman, then Calbayog, down to Catbalogan and finally Tacloban. But I remembered: avoid the ' holy roads '! Flying out of Catarman, Calbayog or even Borongan were also options, but I already had a ticket out of Tacloban. So, reversing how I came was the best option this time. However... (eto nanaman ako) things do change. What actually happen...

A wonderful encounter.., in one of my morning-walks, I found a beautiful new friend. Can you see her in this picture? Wheh, malayo pa lang I already noticed her alindog! At 6:26AM, I was walking to a sari-sari store (upper left corner of pic, beside red gate, sarado pa kasi ang sa Momoy), and there she was on a sidewalk, confidently seated. She knew I was there though she was busier looking at a cat by the opposite house. But I just said "Good Morning Mingming" once, and she immediately walked to me! First it was curious about my phone. Maybe she thought I was giving it to her as my hands were outstretched. When I said no, she sat by my feet. I said now what? hehe! Oh eh, di tumambay kami sa gitna ng kalsada. Baka magalit pag iniwan hahaha! At nag-usap kami. OMG kinausap ko! I talked, she wagged her tail or bunt my feet! My most important question was "mingming, bakit naman white ang eyeliner mo, 'di ba pwede violet or green man lang"? Hahaha, wal...

This is a beautiful beach, still a daily tableau of the "rural life-and-recreation"! Potong Beach , is not (yet) that much publicized, thus, not in the bucket-list of many a traveler, and I think I like it that way (greedy ba?) , but by-and-by, it is getting 'found'! If not yet widely-known, how did I know about this place? Ah eh, I have my ways, let me count the ways... hehehe! Honestly, I saw this last year, while at Sunrise Resort. By my guesstimate , Sunrise Resort will probably be somewhere at that yellow arrow, or probably even nearer. My green arrow points to Momoy and Sinulog resorts area. Learning about Momoy and Sinulog, I bucket-listed them. After a year, here na me ! Oy it looks like, and very similar to other beaches, like Binogawan for one. The sand here is just lighter in color. But another place, another experience - that's the essence! The essence of "travel pa more", di ba?! Oh, what I loved about this visit was the reali...

Potong, Lapinig, Northern Samar . This was my next destination on this 'tour' of Northern Samar's Pacific Towns . And I stayed at this barangay's busier place (dadalawa lang naman sila!) - Momoy's Resort ! Not sure about the "correct nomenclature"! That billboard says Momoy Beach. Then I heard some friends call it "Sinulog Beach". But, the only two resorts in this location are beside each other - they are "Momoy Resort" and "Sinulog Resort". Ta, nga linop! Nano ngaran san beach?! Pending any "official clarification" (why do I sound so legal-minded today), why don't I just call this Potong Beach , since this is at Brgy. Potong, Lapinig, Northern Samar ! That way, in this story, I can say Momoy Beach Resort and Sinulog Beach Resort at Potong Beach . But I stayed at Momoy's, so my stories will mostly revolve around it. Fact check: that is Momoy's Resort behind the signage. Sinulog Resort is to ...

Here is one story that would probably be my first on the convergence of us Humans (our curiosities) , Nature (the unadulterated world around us) , and, AI (new technology) . As I walked on the beach at Mika's Beach Resort, fascinated, I took this picture... Right there, I uploaded it to my AI Chatbot and asked " What is this crab-art called? " The reply opened with "indeed it is crab art" parang tao rin, trying to pull my leg! And went on to tell me that it has many names depending on the speaker or the location. I learned anyway that those are called (any of the following):     ☺ sand balls     ☺ sand ball patterns     ☺ sand pellets     ☺ sand pellet patterns     ☺ feeding pellets     ☺ crab feeding pellets     ☺ sand wreaths     ☺ sand rosettes     ☺ crab tracings and many more, depending on who's talking! So, oo nga, the names are descriptions. And dependent ...

This was it pusit! My roam of Gamay's central area - with no itinerary! I like doing this kind of walk, where I don't know which way to go, what to see, what to expect. Come what may or where my feet lead me to . Here I said: "which way now" ! Natawa ako sa sarili ko, as if I was asking St. Michael for directions! Eh on that shot I was standing at the church door , facing outside. That, is where I came from earlier. That big building is their municipal gym (or whatever it's called nowadays). I started my walk there going leftwards as I earlier saw a row of big houses both old and new. Ancestral Houses I was certain some would still be made of wood and old-era-style. Like this one: Still big and beautiful, right? But as we said in many past stories, they are difficult to maintain, mainly because wood is expensive and even by-and-by already prohibited. I went closer. Oh, the big doors are still made of wood, but the walls are 'corrugated galvanized...