Philippine Travel Notes

The Legazpi airport is still the same as it has been that I remember from long ago. If there’s anything new, conveyor belt (yes there is hehe) is now laced with a lot of pictures inviting people that its an available ad space. And arrival was pretty straightforward with just a few men outside arrival area and virtually none of those that would mob you for a colorum “taxi” or such things. Not even people meeting their passengers! Hmm, maybe because this was a hot midday. But the parking area teemed with a lot of vehicles! So I merrily just walked outside of the gate and hailed a trike going to the “FX/Van Terminal for Naga City”. Wow! Just about a year since I last happened to be in this place and some significant improvement is already in place – at least as far as land transport staions are concerned. Hey, “GT Express, I already know” but “FILCAB” is new to my ears! And what a big and clean terminal! There are separate buildings for buses, jeeps and the vans. Now I think “FILCAB” is...

Who takes that flight anyway? Well, if Cebu Pacific operates that daily flight, then there is a market between Cebu and Legazpi. Am sure they could easily stop that if the route is not earning well. And good for me who is a trying hard Cebuano (am resident for almost a year now), I was able to grab a one-way zero-fare from Cebu to Legazpi, so I did not have to go home to Manila again just to come back down via another flight to Naga or Legazpi. Yey! VisMin folks, take note of that, there is a direct flight from Cebu to Legazpi. And it’s a wonderful flight! Why? It also uses the ATR (propeller aircraft that does not fly way high above the clouds), so we could see the places below as the plane cruises along! Just like flights from Cebu to Tacloban, Surigao, Siargao, Ozmais, and many other islands. What is there to see during such a flight? Ah, at the start, its like flying to Tacloban where you see the Cebu environs, the Camotes Islands, then the northern Leyte area with Biliran a haze...

I am sooo late at writing and posting many of my sojourns in the Philippines that many times, world events and calamities catch-up or overtake me to the extent that I have to revise what I wrote. Well, it is because something always gets in the way at my being able to finish my logs – and that is this thing called, WORK! This visit to Legaspi happened about 4 months before the area was struck with that calamity of overflowing volcanic mud that submerged many things into oblivion. Anyway… How did I know about this place? The news got me curious! First it was Mt. Bulusan. Every news source said it blew its top and was spewing lava and volcanic ash all over the place. Next came the news about Mt. Kanlaon also displaying some fiery activity. Then Mt. Mayon… slowly mildly erupting. Nothing violent but people were being evacuated. Ah, I just needed to satisfy my curiosity to see a volcano spewing lava or ashes or smoke! With all the media hype, the more I itched to go see how Mayon was doing...

There is that ubiquitous letter “S” again… this time (see item 3) attaching to an already plural world, aw word pala – ‘children’! Yun lang! I got more amused on item number two. Do you know how to do it? Well, I do now hehe. On that raft, anyone going for the john had to properly declare and excuse themselves – so the remaining folks could balance the thing. Yep, this was at the “Tago-Tago Food Garden” in the outskirts of Legaspi City. Ah, the complications of our times hehe!