Philippine Travel Notes

Hey I'm going to show and tell you one of my favorite areas in Leyte as of now - that would be the "government center" in Palo. Why? Because the buildings look good (already) except for that of DTI near the NFA warehouse over at the highway, and DENR of Leyte Province across the MacArthur Landing Memorial. Their offices are still in ruins. But speaking of DENR, that is where my "show and tell" can be found... many BOATS! Overwhelmingly ang dami, that's why I like passing by this place. It kind of re-assures me that indeed, government is helping fisherfolks! Where are the boats? Look at the arrows! Let's describe the arrows... The lower left yellow arrow points to MacArthur's landing memorial and park. All the rest of the arrows point to many many boats! The upper left arrow is best for photo-ops as the boats are just beside the highway. This is before (and approaching) Oriental Hotel. Here, I took a closer photo of those kids strolling on thei...

These are just some of them actually, as there had been many. But it is already more than 9 months after super typhoon Yolanda(Haiyan) and they're still here! This one named M/V Eva Jocelyn really made a very high climb up from the normal sea water level. Its nose now even touches the main road that trucks and buses must avoid it! It is a big and heavy metal thing in the first place, so even a heavy truck will probably easily crumble to pieces on impact hehe! Thus, better to avoid her, especially at night! M/V Eva Jocelyn is the most prominent amongst these big ships since she is the one that went a bit too high and far from the sea. I imagine that would have been some 400 or so meters from the water's edge, and the height is unbelievable! No no no no, I do not wish to discuss here how many houses this ship crushed or how many lives were wasted here. Look at the red arrow on top of the picture. It is not a street lamp. It is that of the ship! then look at the neon-green lin...

Here I go again. I have told you stories of traveling between Tacloban and Ormoc on my way to Cebu (yes plural, like here , here & here ) , and I won't ever get tired doing so. That's because, it somehow is different each time. There are even sights and scenes where I get to see (at times shoot pics and vids) , of what you might call a time-lapse ! Of course, as I've said many times, there are always new things, even if it is the very same road that I keep passing, on the very same mode of transport that I keep riding. So here I go (again) ... Ceres Bus Terminal in Tacloban? Exiting out of Tacloban, the Grand Tours van passed along its usual route - Avenida Rizal, to EVSU, to Holy Infant College, then out to the Maharlika Highway. Then this: Aha! The Ceres Buses! Yes yes, the bus livery says Bachelor Tours - that we know is Vallacar transport's line that goes Mindanao and/or Manila - that, we still call Ceres! And I said to my royal self: hmm,...

Emerging from that breakfast at DSI (that means Dahil Sa Iyo oy! ), I went on with my walk along Burgos St., back to Lai Rico to prepare for meeting uli at Hotel Alejandro. Beside DSI (just one house/building after), is an old house I wanted to see. This: I always liked looking at that old house ever since my youthful years. It was wooden and old-era-style. Well, it still is, though already concreted, yet retaining the old look. If you noticed, the structures on the sides and at the back are new (even unfinished) and bigger. They do not just seem to be 'rebuilding after Yolanda'. They are growing. And I have a "story" about that old house. It became Rosvenil Pensione , long before Yolanda came. Though I haven't stayed there, I already heard about 'what it was like' . Let's not anymore recount 'what it was like' basta something that wouldn't have been on my radar (before Yolanda) other than "one of the best-looking ol...

Let's continue from the previous story . Uneventful frastcraft ride from Cebu, on what turned out to be a bright sunny day in Ormoc. A Grand Tours van was at Ormoc port's parking lot, seats 1 and 2 available! So I climbed-in. Wow! Oops, then I asked if this was going to Tacloban hahaha! Yes it was, buti na lang. No need to walk about 500 meters on Rizal St., to their terminal! Noted for me and you me dear fellow travelers. Grand Tours (like many other VHires) are back to deploying some vans right at the port area - in time for fastcraft arrivals. Convenient! [it was stopped sometime ago, I don't know why, but good that they are allowed back] Off we were at 11:15AM. Yes odto na! But I didn't feel hungry - more of sleepy hehe! Yet, I still had the presence of mind to shoot pictures of interesting scenes like this: No no no, wala koy labot sa trapik as this is Bonifacio St., laging matrapik dito, ever! I was looking at that truck ahead, loaded with a humung...