Philippine Travel Notes

In my  earlier story I said "as always, let's start from the very beginning - my departure from Tacloban". This was it. Rare funny and fun! You see the long line of yellow umbrellas by the side of the building? Those were passengers walking to their yellow plane parked to the right of our PAL plane ready to go. They were walking on the tarmac, but were "driven away" and asked to walk by the side of the terminal because my PAL flight was ready to pushback. And I quickly txtd " alisin ang mga alipin sa daan, lilipad na ang aking kamahalan" ! The reply was " iroy "! Hahaha, one of those in yellow umbrellas was a friend I was earlier joking with as we waited for boarding - we weren't sure which of our planes would go first! Eh nauna kami heheheee! Oist! 'Di nyo naitatanong, magaling din ako sa pang-aalaska, aba at kahit pang-aalipusta! I sent these: Yep, I sent that to the friend who was in that line. And my caption was ...

“Jay, fasten your seatbelt and behave… stop complaining” so said the mother. “Why does he always get to sit by the window?” retorted the kid. “He’s still a baby, you’re a man now. Make your brother happy, okay?” replied the mom. So “Jay” was silently pouting all throughout take-off as he was seated on the aisle, beside me. This was a very short 20 or so minute’s flight from Cebu to Tacloban. Being a small ATR plane, the seats are two abreast on each side and the mother was traveling with her two sons. So younger kid of about 3 years old and mom were seated 16AB while “Jay” and I were 16CD across the aisle. He was silent but I knew he was veeeery disappointed so I tried to ‘salvage’ the situation. Yeah yeah, when it comes to kids, I don’t know why they affect me so much. “Hi, your name is Jay? How old are you?” so I opened up. Still pouting, he glanced at me and said “I’m 5 years old, my name is Jason”. “SIR?” added the mom loudly as if to reprimand the kid for not using the wor...

This was planned. Though I had no clear idea on how to do it, I wanted to leave Camotes by going to Danao City so that I would arrive there in time to watch the Caransa Festival. Note I am now talking about the City of Danao. Not the lake anymore, okay? The lake was two days ago. Fortunately for me, the crews at My Little Island Hotel are experts in everything Camotes. I just had to mention I wanted to go to Danao City as early in the morning as possible and they arranged everything for me! There are ways to approach Danao from Camotes and I listened to them discussing my options. The JUNMAR (boat) leaves Poro at 0630H but it still passes by Puertobello in San Francisco before proceeding to Danao. Plus they heard it was still undergoing repairs and might not sail tomorrow. The RJR would be a better option as it leaves 0600H from Consuelo. But that means my leaving the hotel very early as it takes at least 30 minutes to even more going there. This was still the better and sure option. T...

This is not literally a 'beach resort'. Rather, it sits on a cliff above a beach. From Mangodlong we forded southwards on a good road that circles the island of Pacijan. The road seemed to be climbing uphill with good views of the sea. Just a little over 5 minutes at leisurely speed and we were already at the entrance of Santiago Bay Garden and Resort. Mangodlong, the Green Lake Park and this resort belong to one owner. Entrance to this resort is generally beside the road that is way high up on a hill overlooking the sea. Parking is across the road from their entrance gate. And mind you, for choices, there are other resorts or accommodations just beside Santiago Bay Garden and Resort. A guard ushered us in and everyone seemed to know my pilot! I asked about rates while other crews chatted with Randy. Ah now there were guests hehe! I counted at least 3 different sets of guests. Plus those curious day trippers like me. Two couples were having meals or snacks at the restauran...

Approaching the resort from Lake Danao is via the well-paved highway that comes from San Francisco town proper circling the island. When we veered right from that highway towards the resort though, the area seemed cluttery with fallen coconut leaves strewn all over the area, the parking area is beside some houses, the gravel path turns to wherever and everything just looked haphazard. There is a dilapidating archway made of bamboo to welcome guests of a previous suroy-suroy sugbo activity. Unattractive actually. But when we entered the main area of the resort, the picture radically changed! And I said… wow! The gate or archway is concrete and made to look like two coconut trunks. Atop is another coconut-trunk-looking concrete with the word “welcome” painted in pink and white! To its left is the reception area / front desk, while to the right is a big and colorful fish (concrete) that seemed to be feeding via an oxygen tube or dextrose hehehe! Well, okay, you can imagine that as the ...

From Timubo Cave we drove on good concrete roads amidst farms towards Lake Danao. And take note, I was still on Camotes, so this is not Lake Danao in Ormoc nor anywhere else of the many lakes in the country named Danao, okay?! This Lake Danao is still part of San Francisco town, which is actually the whole island of Pacijan. From the main highway, there is a dirt road that goes 1.35kms to the lake. Oh it’s a park! Wow! What a serene breezy place! Nature at its ultimate in tranquility and beauty! Beauty I said? Well, I meant the beauty of nature. However, and am not joking, when we drove into the entrance of Lake Danao Park, an excited beauty (a woman) waved and greeted us with “hellooooo”! Randy whispered to me that she was/is a prostitute who seemingly mistook us for some “client”. She seemed to know Randy and asked “ikaw diay?” He answered a defiant “di oi!”. And I overheard her say that her expected “client” is also Japanese. And referring to me he said “he is not”. The girl gig...