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 ...

Boarding We ended my previous story with this picture: That's as we boarded OceanJet 3 @10:05AM. And as I said, this was one "great ride" again, because it was "not full"; with "great views" - because this was on a bright sunny morning! Views while boarding Oy, while lining up, that above, wasn't the only pic I took. There were other views. Like these: I think I already said this before.., but no harm repeating.., that this is one reason why I'm not a fan of evening trips , midnight rides or red eye flights - since I love watching where I pass by. Imagine kung madilim, what will I see? Eh 'di rin naman tayo nakaka-tulog ng mahimbing. So, daytime travel is more fun when hopping between our many islands in the Philippines! I apply that to all types of transpo, mind you! And I also already said: even if it's a repetitive ride from Point A to Point B, there will always be something interesting for us to encoun...

“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...