Visayas Voyages and end of 2011(Part 1)

Very late post, was too busy living life

Palawan: march 24-28,2011

My friends at Boomzap, another casual game development company were kind enough to invite me to join them in their unofficial company outing in Coron, Palawan. The trip was for 5 days, and we had an itinerary planned out by my friend, (another) Michael, who was the guy who referred me to my current company, Anino Games, where he used to work. Joining the trip were Ceejay(a college friend who currently works for LadyLuck Digital Media)Ricah and Keith, Jaq and Barry, Em and Pax.

So i went to the airport via a colorum vehicle from my area. The driver kept talking to me in english; mistaking me for a Chinese national. I was the first one to arrive in our group, so i waited for an hour, then Pax showed up. When the others arrived, we went into the terminal waiting areas. This was the first time in 17 years that i was gonna ride an airplane again. I used to be a globetrotting baby, our parents keep bringing us to foreign countries, because Dad acquired a lot of travel credit from his work in Bahrain.
The plane started moving, then sped up. It felt like i was riding a starship going on lightspeed~ it was fun, i always enjoyed the thrill of speeding vehicles. It lifted off, and the feeling of the gravitational pull was awesome. My seatmate, Ceejay, had his hands on his mouth and on the handlebar-seems he wasn't used to it much. The view was great, i got to see the isles from laguna, batangas, mindoro, etc. felt like i was exploring the world map in an rpg game. mental images of my long fantasy of flying came to mind once more.

We arrived in Busuanga Airport in the afternoon; it was an airstrip smack in the middle of nowhere. We took the shuttle van sent by the hotel where we were gonna stay, and rode for an hour or two across the valley, past the mountains to Coron. We settled in the resort, and explored the town proper~ we had an early dinner in the nearby restaurant Mike said someone referred him to:the ambience was nice, but the food pricey. we headed back to the resort, got some drinks, put together a lil session at the terrace outside keith and ricah's room:The following morning, Friday, Mike, Me and Ceejay went out to look for a nice cheap deal on an island hopping boat. thankfully we found one, and after a few negotiations, we went to the nearby wet and dry market to forage for what we were gonna eat during the island hopping. We returned to call the others to get ready for the island hopping. so when we got on the boat, daylight was kinda high already, and the first stop was coral snorkeling:

so we fed some fish, and the current was a bit strong, so we had to hang on to the boat the whole time.next up, Kayangan Lake in Coron Island:so Coron island is comprised of a lot of sites one can visit; one of them being a certain cave, which we had to climb a lot of steps uphill to reach~ "FEE-FI-FO-FUM!"

so--yeah. we fooled around with that cave. i heard it was where certain tribes used to reside. lol.
so we island hopped for a bit, then stopped by this white sand beach somewhere~where we had lunch and built sandcastles and stuff XDremember that Cesar Montano Mineral Water ad? LOL.


oh, and there were monkeys too XD

so after the first day of island hopping, we went to the bar and restaurant beside our resort. Pax offered to get us drunk within the night for free. I had 3 drinks of different varieties, and it was the last one, named Weng-Weng(or was it Wang-Wang?) that had me dizzy. We retired back to our room, and went to sleep.

The Next morning, Saturday, we were up for the last day of our islang hopping, we were gonna go to the Japanese Shipwrecks and one of the nicest beaches they have there. Ricah and Keith decided not to go with us on this one, they wanted to get some rest for that day instead.a view from our resort terrace
couldn't resist doing the spiderman pose
always wanted to fly XD
the first shipwreck we went to- i wasn't able to get all the names, but i got photos instead. It felt kinda creepy, diving in the water where a large warship was directly below us. I kept imagining something horrible could happen, like seeing dead japanese soldiers' corpses. Or could it be that i've seen too many Pirates of the Caribbean movies. lol.
we also fed some lil fishies along the way
after these, we went to a coral reef area. We dove in, and the currents were strong, we had to constantly swim to stay in place. managed to take a lot of shots there.last stop, is a shipwreck that one can stand on during low tide (though we could stand on it even in high tide). twas fascinating to see up close the details of this particular warship:got a few rust in my hands, luckily no cuts. we went to a nearby beach after, which was one of the most expensive in the area (because every island has its own entrance fee, this one i think was 300 pesos)we chilled in one of the huts which turned out to contain the room of one of the surfer dudes there in the island. i'd like to have one of those someday XDthere were 2 large dogs who live there, must be the pets of the ones who own the beach. they were so huge and so friendly :) after eating lunch, we chilled by the pavilion restaurant, where we had a few cold drinks and played poolafter an hour, we went kayaking-the plan was, to kayak for 30 minutes to the mangrove areas. sadly, time didn't allow, so we paddled around the mini-island instead. we headed back to the boat and returned to the resort by sundown. after settling in, me and Mike went to the baywalk area and took in the sightsthat night, we all congregated in our room and had a movie night. they set up the movie Tangled, which i still haven't seen before~ drinks were set up, and Jaq had a little too much. Ceejay, on the other hand, unleashed his inner commentator mode, reacting out loud to whatever significant thing happens in the movie.

The following morning, Sunday, Me ,Mike and Ceejay went on a hike towards the small mountain in Coron townthe height was approximately around 700+ steps, and stairs were marked accordingly; though accuracy of their placement is open to debate.and of course, once we reached the 300th step, it was time to do a "THIS IS SPARTA!" moment.the view was awesome, with rich hues along the horizon. 'Twas a shame the others weren't with us, it would've made a nice addition to their photo albums."I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD!!!!"on top of the mountain, was a giant cross, a large park area and a satellite dish. there were a lot of other people there, taking pictures as well. seems like a nice training routine, jogging up the stairs every morning. if only we have something like this back in manila--and with clean air, no less.the way back was better of course, with the assistance of gravity. we went to this nearby basketball court after reaching the base of the mountain where we rested for a while. Ceejay went back to the resort while me and Mike had a jog at the Baywalk. the sun was up and it was around 10am already.later that afternoon, we all met up and prepared to go on a tricycle trip towards Maquinit hot springs, a famous natural hot springs place in the area.
after a relaxing hour there, we journeyed back to the resort; the others were planning to go to a nearby place to get some Henna Tattoos done. I joined the others while Mike and Ceejay stayed at the resort. The place was like a mini gig place in the middle of the province; there were tables, chairs, lots of musical instruments, a few cute lil cats here and there, and of course, the Dreadlock-wearing people, which Barry referred to as "Rhastas".one particular guy there had epic 'Locks; he told us it took him around 17 years to let it grow to that length.we tried the Shisha; that smoke-pipe thingy~ i'm not a smoker(and i have no intention of being one any time in the future) but this i hear is just flavored water vapor-sounds safe, so i went for it. The flavor doesn't really stand out much, or maybe it was just that the embers were too weak to bring out the scent.morning came, and we all got ready to leave paradise and return to the hustle and bustle of the city; back to our respective and stressful jobs.


Cebu-Bohol: April 22-26,2011

My galpals (Ida, Cy etc.) were planning a trip to Cebu and Bohol, and i managed to tag along. As the date drew near, most of them backed out, save for Ida; so we were the only ones who were gonna make it to the trip. Our flight got delayed by an hour, so we were stuck in the waiting area, bored. This was only my second trip locally which involves flying, so i was really excited to ride an airplane again~ after that whole affair with the Palawan trip.the skies were serene, clouds were smooth; and the sunset was beautiful. I do so love sitting in the window seat of an airplane, but since Ida also preferred window seats, i'd have to forego that luxury for sometime.an hour later, we were greeted by the stunning city lights of Cebu City. This was the first time i'm gonna be in a local place where the dialect is different. (in Palawan, tagalog was highly spoken) My Dad told me the Cebuanos had a hidden annoyance towards Tagalogs because when they go to Manila, they learn the dialect and they say it, but it doesn't work vice versa for Tagalogs. That they prefer speaking their native tongue in their native land (which makes sense, after all, but credibility of this observation is still open to debate.)

We landed in Mactan-Cebu international airport in the City of Lapu-Lapu (named after the legendary Datu who first resisted against the Spaniards, and credited with the killing of Ferdinand Magellan and his crew). Mactan island was also where the Spaniards also first arrived and where the historic battle took place. We were advised by my friend not to take the taxi line nearest to the airport; for they charge a lot. Instead, we were advised to go out further and catch a cab there. Once we got a cab, we instructed the driver to take us to the pension house where we were gonna stay. This whole trip, our accommodations were gonna be via pension houses, and we were like backpackers, always on the move and such.

While we were on that taxi, i was viewing the map; as i always do, gauging distances, checking directions. I kinda memorized the route when i was browsing Wikimapia™ earlier, just to make sure that i'm aware of where we are; it was already night and my cautious side is on alert. We arrived in Palazzo Pensione, the pension house we were gonna stay at. We settled in, and headed out to take in our first exploratory sights of Cebu.

We walked outwards to the main road, passed an iglesia ni cristo church, reached the main intersection where 4 main roads meet. We saw one dining area in the side, a block away from the intersection and decided to eat our dinner there. Lots of foreigners, mostly availing of the paluto and ihaw food. We ordered ours, and these were served first:
rice inside these pyramid-woven banana leaves. I forgot what they were called though-they're a staple in cebuano food culture. after dinner, we walked out on back towards the pension house via a different route- we passed by the crown regency hotel where we planned to ride the extreme attractions. It was lit up like something from Tron:
The next morning, we took a cab to the pier to arrange for our bohol transfer. Then walked to the town to see the different tourist attractions like magellan's cross, etc. since we both didn't know the native dialect, we often employed taxi services and walking.
we kept walking until we reached Fort san pedro, one of the tourist attractions. unfortunately, when we arrived there, since it was the holy week, it was closed and will open only on easter sunday, which, by that time we'll be in bohol. So we just took pictures instead.oh, and we ran across a snake charmer, who'd love to get his snake on people for a small donation.

we finally arrived in the magellan's cross area; it was within the town proper, located beside the Basilica minore del Sto Niño, inside a chapel. it turned out to be smaller than i expected, measuring only a few meters. The current wooden cross is said to contain a fragment of the original cross that magellan and the spaniards brought hundreds of years ago.after praying for a bit inside the church, we rode a jeep going to the main road to crown regency hotel to try their extreme rides. good thing we were able to get a jeepney with an empty passenger seat at front. We asked the driver for details of how to get there. thankfully, he knew a bit of tagalog, as most cebuanos do. He dropped us off in front of the building, and we went inside, rode the high elevator going to the top.upon entering inside, we first tried the 4d cinema- it kinda sucked, the computer graphics were sub-par. After that, we tried the skywalk, where we strap ourselves in jumpsuits and walk outside the building on ledge made of fiberglass.we then tried the edge coaster, which wasn't much of a coaster, more like an adjustable bench on a railway. we sat on the seats with safety locks, and moved sideways along the edges of the building, with the manual control of the tilt so we have the option of suspending in the air looking down:after getting our adrenaline rush from this ride, we move on to the zipline:i originally wanted to zip with both hands free, but i got so scared my left hand couldnt let go of the rope :P

After the extreme rides, we travelled to their ayala mall to get some lunch and do some sightseeing:we ate lunch at max's restaurant there. after which we took a cab, we wanted to go to the taoist temples in cebu. since we were a bit short on time, we had to make haste, as some temples close as early as 4pm or 5. we passed by one temple, since we didn't have the time to go there, i snapped a shot as our taxi passed by:phu shan temple~

we got off in front of the taoist temple, and there were many people touring the site. The temple is located atop a hill, which has a nice view of the cityscape, similar to the temple in la union.

everyone had a hard time getting a cab ride back to the main road; we walked instead until we got one~ the last stop on our list; tops-a mountaintop with a view of the whole cityscape of cebu. the cabs that go there are for hire; one can usually ride the normal jeepney going up the mountain, but in favor of convenience, we went with a hired taxi. they wait for the passengers once they reach the top; and even though its a show of mistrust, paying the agreed upon amount by half going there is a good practice; one never knows if they might encounter manila-like taxi drivers. so we reached the top by sunset, lots of oriental tourists were there as wellafter spending the sunset here together, we got back to the taxi, and made a dinner pit stop at one of the restos located near tops:ironic, the name. :)) the place also has a pretty decent view of the city lights.

the next morning, we went to the pier with all our luggage, we were going to transfer to bohol, riding the supercat- the fast ferry. the trip lasted for an hour and a half or, two; good thing there were many bigscreen lcds showing monsters vs aliens, airconditioning, great facilities.,we arrived in the pension house, settled in, then Ida contacted a local whom we were gonna hire to take us around via habal habal. She got the contact from another blogger who went through the same route. Kuya Nilo our tour guide, arrived shortly. we rode in his tricycle and traveled to our first destination; the blood compact site:
it is said that on this site overlooking the sea, some spanish visitors made a blood oath with the ruler of this land hundreds of years ago.

and of course, i couldn't help but join them :))

our next stop was baclayon church, one of the famous ones in bohol. we were supposed to celebrate mass there but the next mass would be at past 5pm, we'd be in another place by then. we took some photos instead:





we went to see the Tarsiers at the Tarsier sanctuary, but unfortunately, it was closed; with no signboard notifying the tourists. too bad. Bohol is NEVER complete without experiencing the Tarsiers.