Philippine Travel Notes

Same with the previous story - everything I took with the low-grade phone camera, as the car moved, was blurred. And I discovered many of these just now as I write my story. Blurred pictures notwithstanding, memories of this wondrous trip remain in my mind... On this part of the trip, I was already circling the south-eastern tip of the island of Leyte. Just about 11 or 12kms from the Anahawan town center to the town center of San Juan. And the wonderful breezy views continued. We even shut the car's aircon off and opened the windows to savor the fresh smell of green earth. No worries, few cars on this hiway! I noticed there are a lot of mango trees on this stretch of road, not as plantations, but probably just planted by the residents for the shade it brings and a few sweet fruits for consumption! And hoa, I saw at least one dive resort in one of the beaches we drove by! Hmm, we breezed thru (but I read the signs clearly) a barangay named "Agay-ay". What a curio...

As has been said in many of my notes, I am more of the beach type than for the boondocks. Thus, I got naturally attracted to the kilometers of white sand that lined this part of Siquijor. And my tour guide obliged. First, we negotiated some kind of a walk path from the highway towards the water. Whoa! There we were on a stretch of white sandy beach with no nothing but just the sand, the sea, shrubberies, grass and trees. There were even no houses or any structures. I asked Charles if the place had an owner and the ready reply was “yes, foreigner”. Ahhh! I walked on this beach for a bit of stretch until Charles told me that we had to go. I thought it was actually bye bye time to this beach, but I was wrong! Coco Grove Leaving that secluded part did not mean leaving the beach when my tour guide said let’s go. I did not realize he was to bring me to Coco Grove Beach and Dive Resort – the most affluent of Siquijor’s resorts so far. The entrance by the road side is an imposing edifice ...

On with my tour around he island! Am not sure why I expected this, but the tour did go on a counter-clockwise run. My tour-guide-cum-driver Charles (though I preferred to and was allowed to call him Charlie) started explaining and pointing things as we moved along. Now I had proof I was not wrong in picking him. As we moved on, he would ask if I wanted to see this or that and I would readily respond. It had to be this way, since I was chopping off some destinations (even if important) so that I would catch my 4PM return ferry to Dumaguete – which I have already paid for. My informal rule was, let us stick to destinations near the main road. First stop, the town of San Juan On a Sunday, this town was eerily silent. I couldn’t even hear blaring radios or TVs amongst the houses we would pass by. As is expected, the tourist (that’s me) was brought to the town center for a closer view of their famous natural swimming pool with water coming from an underground spring. They officially ca...

This topic started with this article San Juan. There are a total of seven in this country – 6 towns and 1 city! First of course is the famous city and the turf of the Estradas/Ejercitos – that is the City of San Juan right in the very middle of Metro Manila. Did you know it is almost the smallest in the metropolis? Well, Pateros is the smallest! Mind you, I dream of living in San Juan City because it is in the middle of everywhere and come to think of this, it is not as bustling as the other areas in the metropolis! Now San Juan is not all about Erap or Greenhills. There are more like the first battle between pinoys and the kastilas happened in this city that is why there is the Pinaglabanan Shrine. Hey, one of the few remaining boys’ school in the country (Xavier School) sits in San Juan. That school is managed by priests but that is where the son of a friend learned how to speak Chinese! Of course you all know that unless traveling in a closed vehicle, one must avoid any part of this...

Who said you can’t roam around town on rainy days? It’s just a myth, really! For anyone interested in seeing various places, you may like to know that there are a lot of things to discover during the rainy season. Of course, as with any travel on any kind of weather, there are necessary precautions that one must consider. And I have discovered wiser ways of roaming this country during various moods of our dear inang kalikasan! Technique: when the monsoons are a blowing in the Luzon area, head to the western and southern islands like Palawan or Mindanao. While some parts will be cloudy on some days, rains will usually be sporadic. Then again it’s always wise to check weather underground or weather.com or even the local PAG-ASA! Example: last August 1, some colleagues were surprised when I appeared in the office with a skin darker than usual cuz I literally burned under the sun in Samar during the weekend. That was a weekend where rains were pouring to the max in Metro Manila! But going ...