Philippine Travel Notes

After my Digos City Tour , I hopped on a bus to Davao City. This is a short trip of about an hour, so I am guessing, it's probably only 50 kilometers or so. But the views are worth remembering for us travelers. Lucky day! This air-conditioned bus I hopped-on-to was new, and noticeably quite clean than others. Let's not talk about the TV monitors since that's common among Philippine buses, right? Not even the curtain at right edge of the photo which is the 2nd door (the 1st one is up front) - also common, right? But look at those two backpacks below the TV monitor at right. If you are not familiar, they are resting atop the ceiling of the bus toilet . Yes, that is not (yet) common in Visayas and Mindanao, even if some buses from Metro Manila to Ilocos already had them years ago (i.e., Maria De Leon to Laoag in 2008)! I actually asked silently "why this kind of bus on a mere 50km trip"? But I realized, this bus could have originated from the far west, like T...

This topic started with this article There are 6 and all are towns. Whew! Still in the province of Ilocos Sur (you probably have noticed, almost all towns in this province are named after saints) is the town of Santa Cruz. A farming fishing community with a long coastline, this town does have a waterfall frequented by tourists and residents. Next there is the town of Sta. Cruz in the province of Zambales (Region 3), and like above, also faces the south china sea not to be outdone in terms of beaches. There are even the Hermana Mayor and Hermana Menor Islands each having its own airstrip! This town has a cave, a cold spring and a fish sanctuary while they remain in the Guinness book of records as having the sweetest mango in the world. Hmm. Then there is the big town of Sta. Cruz in the province of Laguna (Region 4A) by the southeastern edge of the Laguna lake. Being the provincial capital, this town is more of a commercial center where folks get supplies going to the various tourism so...