Philippine Travel Notes

Is there such a thing? None! But it can be done via connecting flights, without touching MNL, which is what I did! Travel time was about 9hrs, including transit time. My calculator says this would have been about the same duration if I traveled by land. But this time, flying was more comfortable, and cheaper! Here's how it went.., I took the Cebu Pacific early morning flight from Tacloban to Cebu. This photo taken at 0538H! If at 5:38AM I already clicked this photo, imagine what unholy time at dawn I must have awoken.., and what time I must have taken a bath, left home and so on! Hmm, what time did I sleep last night? Did I? At 0616H, morning still misty, my plane was already on a take-off roll. Of course I was still groggy! Oh, if you notice a pinkish glow on the left edge of the pic, it was a sleepy Mr. Sun attempting to shine! Hey, it's late at night now as I write this, and I laughed at seeing my video clip during this take off run! I will put that somewhere here wh...

After entering town , having visited the church and the municipal hall of Saint Bernard, it was time for me to move on with my joy ride ! It was getting late, and the day's final stop was still some 50kms away. But first, I made a fly-by at their downtown commercial area. Just for nostalgia's sake really. I was last here about nine years ago, and those were grim times. This here is the busiest street of Saint Bernard - actually originally four lanes, the opposite direction is supposed to be the other side of this tree-lined island on the left. This place now looks new to me. They have converted that other side of the road into some kind of a 'tiangge' or 'ukay-ukay' row of temporary stalls (I hope they really are temporary). Beyond that is their transport terminal, then there is a park, then another big commercial building. Their municipal building of yesteryears was located in this place. By the way, in these articles I wrote about Saint Bernard (this is...

No camera tricks, no digital manipulation. That picture is as it was taken. But can you guess what that man is doing? Do you see a broom? Do you see a rope or scaffolding? Why is he up there seemingly above the trees and the houses? Scroll down to discover! Hehe, this below, is actually the original picture. I just zoomed the portion where that young man was caught in mid-air jumping from the bridge unto the river. But do you know where on earth this place is? Oh yes, Catarman, Liloan, Cebu! Probably the cleanest body of water in a populous community I have so far seen in this country. And Liloan is a first class municipality at that - meaning "urbanized". And this place is even only a walk away from the Market, Municipal Hall, Church and gymnasium of the town. Yet, there are even resorts on both sides of the river, one with a very long zip line crossing to an islet! Yep, I already jumped from that bridge in...

I heard about this thing on the news some days ago. But it never got so hyped up it easily escaped my lowly memory. The biggest Philippine Flag, spread over at some sports field or vacant lot in the town of Liloan, Cebu! How did I know? I just accidentally saw it as my flight for Manila was taking off. I was not even looking for it (for I did not know it’d be there), I was looking at my ‘future home’ and admiring my future neighborhood (though this time still has got no houses)! Hey, on this trip, I was on the way to MNL, but I was not going home just yet! I was just transiting at NAIA 3, on my way from Cebu to San Jose (story later). Thus, while I waited for that connecting flight at Terminal 3, I browsed the web about that big wide flag and learned some things… This was the same flag unfurled in Aritao, Nueva Ecija (2006), then in Israel (2007) by a certain Grace Galindez Gupana, setting a Guinness World Record. Well, whatever! At least I got to see it. From far up in the air, t...

Ironically, this is at a place where the matriarch was/is most famous so as to put not only her brand but even the whole town on the map of must-haves when visiting Cebu. Yep, Titay’s in Liloan! Mind you, whatever pack of rosquillos I buy, wiped out just the same - in one sitting hehe! Howdy Mayor?! Well, the titillating signs of our times…

This topic started with this article Pronounced “le-loo-an”, there are two towns with this name and both are Cebuano speaking towns. First is Liloan town in the island province of Cebu (Region 7 – Central Visayas). Well, this town is in between the cities of Cebu and Danao, so Liloan is practically still in the metro Cebu area. There are other attractions in this town like the church and the lighthouse, but I am fonder of the fact that Titay’s, the producer of those delectable rosquillos etc, is based in this town! Hmm, it won't hurt if I get to live in Amara too! The other Liloan is just across the island in the province of Southern Leyte (Region 8 – Eastern Visayas) which is the cebuano-speaking area of the island. This fishing village is awash with fine white sandy beaches and a good jump-off point to diving and snorkeling sites. Never miss the Panaon Island for big time diving that’ll widen your eyes to as big as your goggles hehe! They say this is already part of the Philippin...