Philippine Travel Notes

Just 8 or so minutes drive from Allen, here I was entering the town center of Lavezares... This is that famous corner I mentioned yesterday . Where some of the big old houses are. First to see, the municipal hall, which is just a few meters from that corner above... Jose Rizal looks like his usual face. Or does it? Well, it's unlike  Bontoc or Saint Bernard ! It's a bit of a challenge trying to capture a full frontal shot of this munisipyo... It's right by the side of a busy narrow highway with many vehicles passing every second! It's small, but bigger than that of Allen . Plus, there's a big newer building to the left, after that blue colored police station. A plaza / park is behind all these, just before the church. So I went there! The church over at the end of this little street. On the right is that big newer building. This fenced building at left is the town's health center, fire station and other buildings. Nuestra Señora De Salvacion (Our Lad

On the road again, on a lovely bright morning! Yehey! This time I was on an easy run from Catarman for an 8AM meeting at Allen - the north-western edge of Samar Island. We knew it takes about an hour (50kms?) but we left early at 6AM, so we'd have enough time for the morning traffic (kids going to school) as many schools are by the highway. Then, still ample time for a hot 'tinola' breakfast at Allen, and be cool until the meeting! We opted to pass by the (fairly) new road at the end of the runway, instead of the usual (a street that crosses it), as we knew the PAL flight to Manila departs at about a few minutes before 7AM - where that street would be temporarily closed to land vehicles. Nice plan. All set. And here we go! Let's start with this corner going out of Catarman towards the west.. Going straight is back to where we came from yesterday - Lope De vega, and onwards to Calbayog if you like. While my route today goes rightwards to the end of runway 22 (or