Philippine Travel Notes

Whatta day! Whatta find! Whatta dog! Oh... My...Dog! He was doubly a surprise to me and the rest of the arriving passengers at the conveyor belt of NAIAT3 luggage carousel: 1) He is not the usual big German Shepherd K9 dogs that we often see, 2) He rides the conveyor belt as if it was nothing! But yes, this little cutie sniff-dog was hard (if not bored) at work! Of course I shot a vdeo, even if short! Had to capture the cuteness! Paano ba naman kasi... Checked-luggage from our Tacloban-Manila flight were just starting to flow. The rest, the bulk of them were still in there. So, Mr Little Cutie Doggie-dog Sniffer was not busy yet. There were lull occassions he was being asked to sit. Eh conveyor belt eh! When he sits down to rest, he flows away hehe! So he would come back up running towards his master when the belt brings him far and away hehehe! Aliw! Don't we wish all days are like this?!

I knew Garawon is a coastal barangay of Hernani, I even knew some residents here succumbed to Yolanda's big coastal wrath, but I did not know there was such a beautiful beach here, with cottages! A resident pointed me to this place when she overheard I was asking my driver where we could while time away as we waited for our next activity in a nearby barangay. She said they have new cottages... Whoa! I whispered to myself: that is a grand view of the Pacific Ocean and the Southern tip of Samar! We easily found the cottages, there are five of them I think... And I was delighted to find that some partners from humanitarian groups were in one of the cottages. Aside from noticing that white sandy beach, I of course recognized the roofs of all cottages... I didn't think those materials they used as roof would have been willfully provided by humanitarian aid groups for the purpose of building beach cottages! So I asked both residents and aid groups around. They readily told me...

This is the third time I'm posting about these boats, after this (first) and this (second) . Let this be the last post from me, whilst giving you an explanation of how they came to be, and a laugh! After this, I won't care what else is going to happen about these unfortunate green boats! They're now so popular! I came from Tanauan, passing by the DENR offices across the MacArthur Landing Memorial... I could see the boats where they had been for a time now (right), but I got curious about those people crossing the road. My heart seem to have jumped to my neck! Are they finally distributing the boats?! Driver seemed to have picked what I was interested about, so he braked to stop right there... Whoa! Some of them boats were already "standing upright" and now literally by the side of the road! We stopped, but driver cautioned me "sir sir.., ayaw paglusad" [don't get off the car]... I thought that was OA, but yes I heeded when I saw those faces he...

Because I liked the impromptu visits to the resorts in MacArthur and Dulag, I thought of being on alert for road signs that announced resorts along the way. Here is one in Tolosa - "Aguillon Beach Resort"... Driver doubted, but I said "it could be good, me Norway flag eh" hehe! So we went forth looking for it! Like in the previous resort we went to find... the road also seems deserted... But I like the greens on both sides of the road - but that overgrowth makes my driver a little bit uneasy. And... hehehe... also like in the previous resort, the concrete road was only enr the highway... "Ano sir, tutuloy pa ba tayo?" asked the driver. And I said "sige, ayun o me nakikita na akong blue flag"! We thought that one straight ahead could be the resort, but the signage says turn left... O eh turn-left kung turn-left! Especially that I sensed the sea (of course the beach) was still a little far! There oh dear! My heart pounded fast again... my f...

Because I have been passing by this place, and I saw that this "development" had been inching along, now that it already has a name, even if not yet done, I dared peep, perchance learn more. Atrevida ba?! I know what a "skimboard" or "skimboarding" is, but I was curious about the "camp" portion. Curious if this site would be a place where they teach skimboarding or where skimboarders camp in, or both. I wondered too why this thing is up a hill when skimboarding is down at water's edge... Okay alright, there's already a path albeit temporary or still in the making, so I walked up there to ask. Ohhlalala, I got no definitive answers to any of my questions. But I got a slew of other information, I think was awesome enough and worth knowing anyway! That this house is going to be a restaurant; that the men building this house (who I bothered with my questions) are volunteers - being sons and husbands of the members of a women's organiz...

Have you ever been lost during your travels, and you felt happy about it - not on hindsight but while you were in the midst of being lost? It seldom happens, right? But that was just what happened today! After that delectable lunch at Baybay, off we went for the long drive to Tacloban via Mahaplag. In no time we were already cruising the road past Abuyog, the skies still sunny. Still early to be in Tacloban. Hmm, I saw signage that said "resort"! Thus, I asked driver to go back a bit, so we could check it out! This was that signage, pic taken after we have made a u-turn. We were facing Abuyog this time! We followed the arrow by making a left turn unto some narrow roadway - concrete only at the start! A little distant, but I said let's keep going, it should be there somewhere, in no time... hopefully hehe The trees and the greens were a wonderful sight. And, no traffic! We haven't even seen any vehicle! But driver started to worry we may have already been lost....

Whatever type or kind of vehicle you have, you are only as slow as that pedicab in front of you. That is the reality in this our dear country! I have long accepted that, and I have long despised pedicabs when they're allowed to ply routes where motorized vehicles pass. Lately though, my attitude is 'a changing'! Like on this one kanina, my driver started honking on this pedicab, and I said "stop that"... What can that old man do anyway, right? He can't swerve any further to the right to let us through. And it's not as if he can revv up his feet any faster! Since there were vehicles on the opposite lane, we just better also crawl until we find an opportune timing and enough space to overtake, so I said, resigned! And we started wishing donor companies considered "age" before doling out pedicabs after Yolanda! Many of these pedicab drivers are too old to pedal, they should have been given different livelihood options. These donor organizations ...

We were driving back to Tacloban from some activity in Quinapondan. I was (as usual) bored sitting on a long trip with nothing to do since I cannot always be sleeping, right? And they started appearing in front of me... Like this manong contentedly perched on that motorbike facing towards the back! I've seen this done by kids in some of my sightings, but for a manong, I wondered ano bang trip yan! Good my driver readily educated me: it's harder to sit facing front because those boxes will get in the way of his thighs. Then he will have to curl up with his feet on top of those boxes. Oo nga naman ano? Then I saw these cute little piglets being transported going somewhere in Basey (lechonan?!) It's a similar contraption as the first picture above, but the manong is not facing backwards! Without me asking, my driver readily pointed to me that the rider was seated on top of the box, so high up than the motorbike driver. True, I could see that motorbike driver's left kne...