Sands of Time

Nope, I am not referring to the video game of Prince of Persia but about the small sample of sands I have collected from various beaches that I've been to over a period of 9 years.

I love beaches. I love the waves hitting the beach or me while I swim near the shore. I love feeling the sand under my feet.

So, to remind me of the beaches that my family had been to, I've started collecting a little sand from each of them. Whether it's gray, black, cream or white. Coarse or powdery, I try to get some, that is if I don't forget to collect some.

Post-Summer Vacay in Boracay - Part 2

On our third day, we decided to start the day with a buffet breakfast at La Carmela. For P100, we upgraded our set breakfast to this. The spread consisted of pancit miki, chicken adobo, glazed pineapple and eggs (scrambled and sunny side up). There were also rice, toasts and butter with unlimited brewed coffee and what tasted like "Eight O'Clock" orange drink.

 

After breakfast, we went to the beach infront of the hotel again to take a quick dip.

We had visited the old talipapa during our first visit to Boracay and before it got burned. So we went to check out the place. It's now between Sands Hotel and another accommodation. It's not as busy as it was when we last saw it. Only souvenirs and clothes are now being sold.

Post-Summer Vacay in Boracay - Part 1

typical scene on white beach, boracay

On our third trip to Boracay, no plans were made except to just bum around. No adventurous activities. Just lie down on the beach, read a book, swim in the sea or pool, or just return to our room have a siesta or watch TV.

The trip to Boracay all started when I booked a flight from Kalibo going to Manila on the morning of 13 February 2012 with a 15 kilo baggage allowance for P1,500 for the three of us (P500 each).

I told myself that I will have to wait for another promo fare going to Kalibo since the trip is still on June 2012. That same night, I found an Airphil flight bound for Kalibo which costs us P770 each or a total of P2,310 for the three of us with a total baggage allowance of 30 kilos. The total round trip fare for the three of us then was P3,810 (or P1,270 each).

We will be staying Boracay for 5 days and 4 nights. Considering that it's a long weekend (Tuesday, June 12 is our last day), we only have to take 2 day leave from work, while our daughter will be going to school the following day after we returned.

Burot Beach: Our only summer vacation for the year

Thanks to a buddy, Barbie, from Virtual Tourist, we were able to have a summer break (even for a day). About a week prior to the trip, she posted an invitation on Facebook to those interested to join her in going to Burot Beach in Calatagan, Batangas.

I have heard and read some things about the place. That it had been sold to SM's Henry Sy and that soon it will be developed by his company. Being curious about the place and still no vacation planned for the summer, I signed in together with my wife and daughter. We also wanted to see the place before it was developed.

Quickie Trip to Bais City

On our last day in Dumaguete, we went to Bais City to check out the White Sand Bar. Since our flight is not until 4:45 PM, we negotiated with a multi-cab driver, Christian, to take us to Bais and back and drop us off at the airport later in the afternoon. As agreed upon the night before, it was still dark when our driver picked us up at the hotel for the more than 1 hour trip to Bais.

Some portions of the road going to Bais are being concreted hence we encountered some traffic along the way. 

Sidetrip to the Enchanting Island of Siquijor

When I told my friends that we have included Siquijor as part of our itinerary, some had advised us against it as the island, as they claim, is full of witchcraft and some danger may befall us. Actually, we had planned to exclude Siquijor altogether not because of the witchcraft but because of the weather forecast that it will be rainy and crossing the sea might not be advisable after all.

We went anyway and caught the 6 AM trip (Mondays only) via Delta Fast Ferry. The fare is P120 for the 6AM trip, while the other trips cost P160. I asked the ticket seller why the difference and I was told it's the "policy." Fine with us as long as we get to the island earlier and faster as it takes around 45 minutes to cross the sea.

Camiguin: Come Again

Our trip to Cagayan de Oro/Camiguin this last week of August 2011 started when we bought our plane tickets from Air Philippines last November 2010 at P886 per person for a round trip ticket. On the second day of our trip, we took a taxi going to the Agora Terminal where Bachelor Tour buses bound for Butuan City, which passes Balingoan port, wait for passengers. The travel time is about 2 hours and it costs P140 per person.

Upon arrival at the Balingoan bus terminal, one has the option to take a tricycle (P8) or just walk towards the pier. There is a terminal fee of P2.25 and the ro-ro fare is P170.

the ro-ro that will take us to camiguin

Paradise Revisted - Boracay

We always dreamt of returning to Boracay eversince my family went there 7 years ago. Plane fares were expensive then and we were a lot more adventurous that we decided to try the nautical super highway or via bus and ro-ro ships passing thru Mindoro.

The opportunity came when I booked last year for our flight to Boracay this April 10-13, 2011. The fare costs less than P2,000 for a round trip ticket per person. We flew to Boracay via Caticlan using the turbo prop plane and returned to Manila via Kalibo, which is about 2 hours away from Boracay.

Diyos Mabalos Bicol

We went to Sorsogon to celebrate our daughter's 8th birthday. We booked our flight with Cebu Pacific for the price of the bus fare. We planned to stay in Sorsogon for two nights and another night in Albay. We really had no plan except to see Paguriran Island in the Bacon District in Sorsogon City. Our trip was from 27 November to December 1 so we only had to get a one day leave because it was a long weekend.

We left Manila early in the morning and after about less than an hour flight, we arrived in Legaspi City, the jump off point to Sorsogon. We took a tricycle to the Legaspi City Grand Terminal where we took a van going to Sorsogon City. The flight was so early that Angel slept on our way to Sorsogon.

Bantayan Island - a slice of paradise

Bantayan Island has always been one of our dream destinations. However, time and money constraints have always prevented us from going there. Finally, last March my officemate and I planned about going there with my family and her siblings. We searched the airline websites and checked out the only available long weekend after holy week, June 11 - 14, 2009. We will be applying for a one day leave in order to have a 4-day weekend. We finally booked our tickets with the Philippine Airlines: The first flight going to Cebu and the last flight returning to Manila in order to maximize our time in Cebu.

In search of Digyo Island - Inopacan, Leyte

Our plan to go to Tacloban started when we were able to buy our plane tickets from Cebu Pacific last October 2008. It cost us less than P3,200 for the the round trip flight for the three of us.

As we love going to beaches, we set aside a day to visit one in th Leyte-Samar area. We started surfing the web and finally decided on Digyo Island in Inopacan, Leyte. Without any idea on how to get there, we started researching via the internet. Luckily, there are a couple of sites in Multiply with pictures of Digyo Island, so we were able to ask for directions and cost of staying there.

Journey to Culion, Palawan

One of the benefits of my previous work is I get to travel for free around MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) as part of my job. A chance to travel to Culion materialized this month. We were to conduct a semestral performance review of one of our agency coverages and its attached hospitals, Ospital ng Palawan (ONP) and Culion Sanitarium (CS).

When one hears Culion, he is immediately reminded of a colony of lepers thrown in a faraway and isolated island. Culion today, however, has changed a lot since the Sanitarium there was established over a hundred years ago.

The travel to Culion is not a simple one. You have to travel by air, land and sea. First, we took a Cebu Pacific propeller plane at the NAIA Terminal 3 bound for Busuanga, the airport that services the entire northern Palawan.

our team waiting to board at NAIA terminal 3

Trip to the Bird's Nest (El Nido, Palawan)

We had planned to go to El Nido ever since we visited Puerto Princesa about 2 years ago. So it was good news when our office announced that we will be going there and that we can take along immediate families (of course at their own expense).

Our office was able to get a round trip fare for around P4,000 each: via Cebu Pacific going to Puerto Princesa and via Superferry returning to Manila. The entire trip would take 6 days which includes the trip via the Superferry that will take more than 24 hours.

boarding our flight to palawan

Cebu - Bohol Trip

Our plan to visit both Cebu  and Bohol materialized when I was able to book a promo fare from Cebu Pacific. Our plan was to stay for one night in Cebu City and take the fast craft to Tagbilaran the following morning and from there return to Manila from Tagbilaran airport in Bohol.

From Mactan airport we walked a flight of stairs outside where a line of taxis are waiting for passengers. We asked the driver to take us to our hotel in downtown Cebu, which I found through the internet, the Hotel Mercedes in downtown Cebu.. The hotel was a bit old but since we're just staying for the night, we thought that it will do.

After settling in, we asked the hotel staff how to get to the Sto. Nino Shrine, Cathedral and Fort San Pedro which are all just within walking distance from the hotel. They gave us a map to give us bearing on how to get to the places we planned to visit.

Walking along Colon Street, claimed to be the oldest street in the Philippines, we turned right to Lrgaspi street and eventually found the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral. We entered the church and lingered for a while.

Trip to the Port of Princess - Puerto Princesa, Palawan

We celebrated our daughter's 5th birthday by going to Puerto Princesa City, the capital of Palawan. We stayed at the Balay Inato Pension for 3 days and 2 nights. It is quite near the airport and they offer free transfers. Aside from this, it is within the same compound as Haim Chicken Inato, which became the favorite chicken of my wife because of our stay there.

Palawan in 5 days

My 5 days in Palawan may have been the most grueling travel I had done. Yet it had been both fun and educational. We traveled from the southern most part of mainland Palawan (Rio Tuba, Bataraza) to the northern most part, which is the Calamianes Group of Islands. Below is a detailed account of my travel.

June 9, 2004 (Day 1)

I woke up at 5 AM to take the 7 am flight to Puerto Princesa City (Puerto for short) via Cebu Pacific. Upon arrival at Puerto, we had breakfast at Hotel Asturias before proceeding immediately to Western Philippines University (WPU) in Aborlan (about 1 ½ hour drive south of Puerto). There was a power failure at WPU. Fortunately, they had a generator so the budget hearing went on as scheduled. Lunch was served afterwards with crabs, calamares, sinigang (I can’t remember what kind of fish it was) and shrimps, which we all downed with fresh buko juice.

Trip to Pangasinan: Bolinao and Manaoag

This year, we decided to head for the beach for our summer vacation. Vangie and I started scouting for the beach we were going to, with the following criteria in mind: white sands with clean and clear water; relatively near yet not crowded; somewhere that can easily be reached by public transportation; and one where we don’t have to cross a body of water to reach it. We started our rese arch about one month before the trip. Surfing through the net, I focused my search in Region I. Bolinao in Pangasinan kept appearing and started appealing to us. I found a few sites recommending the White Beach there, particularly in Barangay Patar. I also found out that Bolinao has the second tallest lighthouse (in case you are curious, Cape Bojeador in Ilocos Norte is claimed to be the tallest) in the Philippines. It has also a lot of caves. St. James Church has a stunning structure of dark coral rocks. It also has the only museum in Pangasinan under the auspices of the National Museum: Bolinao Museum. With this information, we decided to go to Bolinao.

Pagudpud, 1999

A funny thing happened on my way to Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte--it was never part of my travel itinerary. But that's going ahead of my story.

Last June, I had filed for a 3-day leave without any idea on how I would spend it. Anyway, I was supposed to go to Baguio, but at the last moment, the person I was going to meet there was out of town. Fortunately, the day before my scheduled leave, a staff from our Regional Office from Tuguegarao suggested that I go there. Although I had been there once, I decided to return just to check out our newly constructed regional office and to see a friend whom I last saw 3 years before. Without any concrete plans and a few thousand pesos in my pocket, I went to Baliwag Transit terminal in Cubao and bought an aircon bus (P355) ticket for one, bound for Tuguegarao. Yup, I was travelling alone and had no idea what I will be doing for my vacation. I left Manila Wednesday night and it took around 12 hours before I got to my destination.

Upon reaching Tuguegarao, I called up our office to be picked up at the bus terminal. During my two-day stay, I spent my first night at the office and the second night at my friend's place. That took care of my accommodation, which usually took a big slice off my travel expenses. The only new place I visited during this visit was The Basilica of Our Lady of Piat, about an hour away from the town. The basilica was supposed to be inaugurated a few days later. Other places of interest to visit in Cagayan, which I had visited before, are the Callao Caves and Calvary Hill. During the stay at my friend's place, she suggested that I visit Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte. Although not having visited the place personally, she said that the beach there was good. She didn't know, though, how I can get there and how long the trip would take. Fortunately, I found a road map at home and finally found out where Pagudpud is actually located. Well, it's the last town of Ilocos Norte before reaching Cagayan.

To reach Pagudpud, I had to take a bus bound for Laoag. I got to the bus terminal at around 5:30 a.m. After waiting for a bus bound for Ilocos Norte, I finally got into one (ordinary bus, P165). Not knowing where to get off, I asked the conductor to drop me off when we reached Pagudpud. The trip took seven hours, passing through some of the most picturesque sceneries of the countryside. We passed through a mountain, where I first saw a view of a beach (which I found out later was not yet Pagudpud). Just the same, it was breathtaking. Finally, Pagudpud! The conductor dropped me off and asked a tricycle driver to take me to a resort. Having no idea about the place, I asked Boy, the tricycle driver, to take me to a resort. We canvassed two resorts, where the price ranges from P1,000 and up. The entrance to the resort is about P50, while the picnic tables are at about P150. If you really are on a budget, you can bring your own tent. For a minimal fee, you can set up tent at the beach. The beach is divided into two portions: the rocky part, which is good for snorkeling; and the sandy part, which is good for swimming.

Fortunately, when I got there, the peak season was almost over so the beach was not crowded. I stayed there for one night, hoping to visit it again soon. Actually, there is an easier route going there than the route I took. There is actually a bus liner going to and from Pagudpud. There are 2 buses leaving Manila every night bound for Pagudpud via Ilocos and the fare is relatively inexpensive: P270 for a 12 hour trip. Upon reaching Pagudpud, one only has to take a tricycle for the resorts. I would say Pagudpud is one of the best beaches that I have been to, considering that one doesn't need to travel by boat nor plane to see it. I will be definitely be going back to Pagudpud.