Philippine Travel Notes

Intrigued by the buzz among FB friends.., today.., once and for all.., I went with a hilarious group of fun loving jump-shooting friends, to see and experience what this fast-getting-popular island has to offer! Well.., not really all of the island. Quite literally, just the shifting sand bar! Why? Eh, the play in our 'very young' hearts persisted. This was quite a contrast to the usual 'see and feel everything in one sweep' solo backpacker mindset of your aging Pinoy Traveler! We dropped at one end and forgot about time! So here's my story... This is not an easy destination. Even if/as you prepare. First, there's only 1 regular commuter trip a day from Naval, the Biliran province capital. That happens only at 12 o'clock noontime! Well okay, that would actually technically be two trips, since there are two boats. BUT, according to their published regular schedules (parang ang dami 'no?), that they of course follow, they leave at exactly the same ...

Homeward bound to Tacloban. This was some 100km ride via Leyte Leyte, Capoocan etc., and it took us more than two hours, as there were random interesting things to see along the way, some of which also became "yosi breaks"! This was fun too, and equally full of learnings and realizations! Let's go! First off, the sitting position of this man in golden basketball jersey was not a whim but a necessity! He is a "third man" - meaning the second back-rider behind the driver. That means (as we can see) he sits at the very rear edge of the motorbike. However, there is that iron bar that supports the roof, and it gets in the way of his sitting properly! If he did so, that iron bar will be right on his crotch to beat eggs! This was next. I was busy trying to take a shot of that barangay marker about to fall off the road.., I heard my driver ask "sir, kilala mo si Fe Marcos"? I knew this, so I said "wheh, that is F.E. Marcos as in Ferdinand Edralin Marc...

To round up my joyride of the north-western Leyte towns, from San Isidro I proceeded to Calubian, the northern-most town center of the island of Leyte. I say "town center" because that's just where I went, since the real (as in physical) northern-most coastal tip of this big island is Brgy. Caroyocan, which, is actually still about 20kms more to the north of the town center, on a not (yet) 'that comfortable' road! Oh, let's start with the name. Calubian is pronounced [ka-lu-bi-an], and not [ka-lub-yan]. The root word is "lubi" which is the Visayan term for coconut (whether it be the fruit or the tree). That word Calubian means "the place where the coconuts are" OR "the place where there are a lot of coconuts". A phrase! Alright. San Isidro to Calubian took us half an hour traveling on a good mountainous road across the island, except for a number of road slips where drivers must slow down or give way to one another. Gutosan ...