Philippine Travel Notes

I went to Allen but not to roam yet. I just needed a ride to Calbayog from Victoria - best way to do this is to depart from Allen which is only 5 minutes away from Buenos Aires - even if it backtracks! Why so? Because vans (fastest means) are usually already full when departing from Allen - the station of origin. So it will be 'luck in a million' for you to catch a ride along the route. Besides, Grand Tours is a terminal-to-terminal kind of service, the fare is still P100 to Calbayog, whether you ride at Allen or Victoria. Original plan was: the 1PM Grand Tours van would pick me up at ‘Spice of Life’ at Buenos Aires beach (this was pre-arranged as early as yesterday via a friend in Allen). How does that work? Well, the reserved seat (paid) is left empty on departure from Allen - where reserved passenger joins 5-mins later along the way. Now you know. Convenient, right? But I could not find lunch in Buenos Aires where I was supposed to wait for the van! So, as mentioned in th

This was my real destination in Victoria . I’ve heard from some friends that this place has a fine white beach, not as long as Boracay’s though wonderful enough they say! I even already knew where to go from Victoria town center: ride a jeep, tricycle or habal-habal going Allen, and get off at Spice Of Life Beach Resort! Oh ha, prepared! How easy? Well, I was not even at that intersection yet, as I walked from the Victoria Park , and I already saw a tricycle that stopped to wait for me. I ran so as not to keep his other passengers waiting and I immediately took the seat behind Manong Driver. When he asked where I was going, I just said “Spice Of Life”. He nodded, off we went! This is a picturesque run. The highway traces the northwestern Samar shoreline... San Antonio can be seen along the way. That haze of an island at the back is Capul ! And hey, I even knew if "I was there yet"! As the trike made its final right turn from the main barrio of Buenos Aires, I h

Victoria who? Or Victoria where? Definitely not the one in British Columbia (Canada) and not even that populous state in Australia. I have had enough of Melbourne during my younger years hehe. Those places cannot be here – see this blog’s title! This Victoria I visited is a seaside town in Northern Samar that is the most common jump-off point to/from the Islands of San Antonio and Capul. And, I just came from San Antonio (I passed here 2 days ago), now about to end my 3Days2Nites lalaag! Alright, not that I have wanted to see this place (center of town) for any particular reason but I was already there, so I told myself, maybe I should roam a bit and see whatever. I already saw the roof of their church even as my boat from San Antonio approached, so I thought I’d go see it – who knows, it could just be another Capul! Well, I reached it, and this is their church as seen from the street: That’s why I saw its top portion from the sea, because this church is on some kind of a mound o

So this was goodbye San Antonio, and I was ready to be back at mainland Samar! 8:58AM of a Tuesday, I was already at the beach area to catch a boat back to Victoria. One has just left, and I still saw it pushing back, loaded with many passengers. I missed it by just a few seconds, I guess. But I was in no hurry. I may have opted not to take that very boat if by chance I arrived at this area earlier. Why? Because, I wanted to observe how things transpire in this place, and, happy I did! Looking around and asking around, it turned out I was one of just three passengers who needed to cross to Victoria. One was an older lady (probably a businesswoman) who was incidentally beside me on a makeshift “waiting bench”, and the other was that sexyish urbanite of a girl w/ a backpack. Okay, so I observed the lively goings-on. Like… I heard it again here (as I've heard while still in Victoria coming to this place), that boats must have a "minimum of 13 passengers" to go . Or e

For quite a time, this place had been in my “to see” list that for an abundant number of reasons I could not easily tick off. Lately, I often told myself "so near, yet so far" each time I remember this island - since I have recently been doing my kind of work in this region. But here was one chance I specifically wrote “go to San Antonio” at the end of my official itinerary. I did a convention in Calbayog, and this was like my nth assignment in the area – this time, I said “I won’t go home without visiting San Antonio first”. So, I did. I had to! Why San Antonio? Well, envy. It is such a good word after all (at times) especially for the insatiable roamer. I have friends and family who had been to this island a number of times, and their pictures and reviews seemed all the more to have pressured me into “why don’t I go and see for myself”. Touted as one of the better places to go for an island/beach vacation in this part of the country, many say so. Thus, I had to go and s

This topic started with this article Finally on same names… there are 4 plus 1 that use the name Victoria! Why the plus 1, we shall tackle at the end of this article! One is a town of Victoria in the province of Tarlac (Region 3 - Central Luzon). This is a big town just next to Tarlac City and sits with the province’s boundary with Nueva Ecija. This is more of a suburb of Tarlac City though since its just about 15kms away and residential villages have been on the rise. Then there is the town of Victoria in the province of Laguna (Region 4A - CALABARZON). This one is on the southern edge of the Laguna Lake and is undoubtedly the biggest “quack-quack” town! Yeah, duck raising and “balut” production is the biggest industry of this town that their welcome monument is an interesting sight of gigantic happy ducks! They even have the Itik Festival which means Duck Festival. Quack! Next is the town of Victoria in the province of Oriental Mindoro (Region 4B - MIMAROPA). This Victoria also