Philippine Travel Notes

Let's continue my walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon. Immediately after lunch, we strolled to cross the road from Quan Ngon 138 (Ngon 138 Restaurant) to the Independence Palace (Dinh Độc Lập). For a location reference, you can look back at the lower left quadrant of the map in my previous post . This is an interesting place, not just the building and/or its physical surroundings but also the history of how it came to be and how it ceased to be. I was grateful I visited with a knowledgeable tour guide. You will notice, sa simula at sa ending ng story nila eh, aba me eksina ang Pilipinas! So keep reading! Like all that I saw earlier on this walking tour, this palace is a 'must see' for Saigon's visitors. This is it: K-pop ang bagets na yan. Natawa kami ng aking tour guide bakit ganyan ang tayo niya. Mahirap yan a! FYI, I didn't click to take his pic. Nainip na lang ako, antagal nya nakatayo, eh agawan mag-pose dyan! Ayos din di ba? Unique ang Gra

We just passed-by earlier today, and we saw that the Guiuan Municipal Hall is still in progress... Oh eh... pasasaan ba at matatapos din yan, di ba? I am now imagining, if Yolanda did not wreck havoc on this part of earth, Guiuananons wouldn't probably have even dreamed of erecting a new munisipyo! Blessing in disguise na rin, kumbaga. Sabi nga nung isang kaklase ko "blessing in the skies"! Anyway, by anybody's account, of course it looks bigger and better than this one, that I took in 2010 : Of course everything everywhere else is better in Guiuan, than what I saw when I visited after Yolanda ! Okay okay.., blessing in the skies nga!

Done with the ' makalaglag-baga ' challenge that is Tinago Falls, we proceeded with my unique itinerary. How? Well, the 'commute tour' continued. And you'll see later (below), this just got even more exciting! From the "Iligan side" entrance/exit of Tinago Falls, my guide hired 2 habal-habals. They wait just near the little store. There are not so many like at the "Linamon side", but there are even tricycles and jeeps! This "leg" of our commute was a ride from Tinago Falls to Mimbalut Falls. Oh ha?! Falls nanaman! And I realized, the route goes out to the national highway, turning south towards Linamon. Again? Da! But it veers left here, at Brgy. Buru-un, Iligan City, before reaching the boundary (Linamon Bridge). As we turned left (where the jeep is), I saw that arch of the gate to an elementary school, which I think, is one of the, if not THE, longest elementary school name I have ever read in my long life! The name is: Sgt.