Why I Love Traveling The Philippines, II

Second day of our Batanes trip.

We took the early morning 30-min faluwa ride (traditional Ivatan boat) to Sabtang Island. Upon arriving, we had breakfast near the Sabtang port. Our first stop after finishing our breakfast was the village of Savidug, where most houses were made from the traditional coral stones. Our next stop was Chavayan, but before heading there, our guides took us to Lime beach, the place where Ivatans baked coral stones so that they could use them to build the walls of their homes. This practice isn't being done anymore though.

After that, we passed by one of the most beautiful sights in Batanes. We were riding on the topload of our jeep, so we had a great view of the green fields that looked just like The Shire. It was hard to take a good picture since we were on top of a moving vehicle, but the place is really, really beautiful. I seriously wouldn't be surprised if I saw hobbits living there. Hell, I could live there :p

I think the theme for the day was overload of beautiful sights, because after seeing that place, our guide dropped us off on the Chamantad-Tinyan viewpoint. This is probably the most incredible view I've ever seen in my life. The green, rolling hills bordered by dramatic stony cliffs leading sharply down a cove to the clear blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. The beach was lined by white sand and rocks that were being pounded by splashing waves. My pictures don't do it justice.

We finally reached Chavayan. Chavayan is a beautiful village filled with traditional stone houses on a backdrop of green-covered rock formations and hills. Chavayan is such a charmingly quaint village. We went to a house that sold traditonal weaved products, and took a pitstop on a small plaza where we drank some fresh buko juice served by a bolo-carrying lola. Apparently her father, Lolo Marcelo, is the oldest man in Batanes at 104, so she invited us to meet him. She also invited us to see their kitchen, which was used for a Nescafe ad.

After Chavayan, we went back past to Centro to Nakabuang beach, where we had lobster, lapu-lapu and adobo for lunch. After lunch, we just enjoyed the beach and taking pictures of the Nakabuang arch. The waves were pretty strong so we just waded around, and we were all pretty burnt by that time so we didn't stay long, which was good since it turned out the falowa going back to Batan island was already waiting for us, along with about a dozen other passengers.

Sabtang Island, in summary, was just unbelievably amazing.

Boracay! With CSI! Pt. 3

Third day in Boracay - we went reef walking in the morning, but we had to wait until lunch time for our turn since there were many batches. We killed time by swimming from one boat to another (namely: kayak, banana and speed.) Reef Walking (aka Helmet Diving) in Boracay was an okay experience. The visibility in the water wasn't that great and there was exactly one (1!) coral reef formation to see once you're down there. Lots of fishes to feed though.

As I said, it was lunch time when we finished, so we had lunch at basically the first restaurant we saw after getting back on the beach, which was Hawaiian Barbecue. And I'm not complaining at all because the huge baby back ribs, Hawaiian-style lechon manok and fried fish were all yummy, and paid for by the very generous Pat.

After resting up a bit, we went to the zorb riding park for some downhill, wet, ball-rolling fun (and no, I don't mean for that to sound dirty.) I was really, really excited to try this. I remember the 5th season of The Amazing Race, on the New Zealand leg, this was the roadblock and part of the task was filling the zorb up with air, then rolling yourself on the plain to the pitstop, good thing we didn't have to do either... We just had to get inside the giant globe and wait for it to fall down the hill. And it was awesome! I couldn't stop laughing the entire time, even while water was splashing all over my face and Pat and Manny's limbs were kicking/hitting me all at the same time. Sana magkaron ng ganito sa Manila (or kahit sa Tagaytay.)

After that, we walked around the beach again, and ended up at Jona's again, ordering a set of milk shakes again. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if that became my daily routine. Also part of our daily routine: Happy Hour. This time we went to the rooftop lounge of The Tides Hotel for some beer and cocktails (and calamares and oysters and cheese sticks.) Their happy hour promo was Buy 1-Take 1 instead of the usual 50% off, so we ended up drinking more than our usual drinks (but it was our last day anyway.) So after happy hour, we went to Ele's at D'Mall for dinner. I guess reef walking and zorbing was too labor intensive for us, so we just kept on eating and drinking the rest of the day.

After dinner (which ended at about 11pm), we (around 8 of us) capped our Buhay Baboy day with a nice massage. Where the masseuse told us all to strip off our clothes. Which was kind of awkward since there were no dividers and we could all see each other, as well as everyone else who happened to be in the (public) area. I took off my clothes anyway.

Pics!

Boracay! With CSI! Pt. 2

Day 2 in Boracay - Played some frisbee (kunyari marunong), then met up with the rest of the CSI folks for lunch at D'Mall. After lunch, we went to Jona's (again) for some milk shake, then met up with Stephie and Eileen for some Flyfish action, which is always FUN. Manny and Pat weren't able to join us because they just got their henna tattoos and were waiting for it to dry up. On the bright side, they were able to ride the speed boat that was pulling the flyfish and were able to shoot some great videos (including the part where we were all trying to help Eileen get back on the ride.)

After that, we hung out on the beach and played some frisbee again (which I was really lame at, so I just decided to swim after a few minutes.) We also played our favorite Boracay game, batuhan ng lumot. After the games, it's safe to say I went crazy on taking pics of the sunset (which is what usually happens when I'm on the beach and there's a sunset and I've got a camera.)

We went to Hey Jude for happy hour drinks, had dinner at a buffet place near D'Mall, then went to Summerplace for some more drinks. As I said in one of my tweets, Summerplace is Boracay's Cafe Havana (Greenbelt.) Ang daming foreigners na may kasamang exotic-looking gnolutaks girls. We left after one bucket.

Pics!

Boracay! With CSI!

I didn't get to go to Boracay last year, so I was excited to go back. It looks even more like Glorietta/Greenbelt since I was last there two years ago. So yeah.

The CSI/L3 Team went to Boracay for their team building activity, so we (me, Pat, Mats, Becca, Yome and Manny) tagged along since kaladkarin kami.

First day in Boracay - March 14, 2010.

We arrived at around 3pm and were shuttled to Island Nook Resort. Island Nook is just beside D'Mall and along the main road of the island. It's a nice budget boutique hotel with really nice rooms, designed in exactly the way you'd think a budget boutique hotel would be designed (all white and minimalist.) Island Nook also has nice Persian resto called Island Kebab that servers good food and has that typical resto-on-an-island feel, complete with surfing photos and Bob Marley posters. It's just kind of weird that they've got Shawarma Rice and Pita Bread on their menu, but when you order the actual shawarma (the ones served on a pita bread), sasabihin nung waitress na hindi sila nagseserve ng ganun. Anyway.

We walked along the beach to our first destination: Jona's for some great milk shake. We just hung out at the beach in front of Jona's till the sun set (where Pat asked a random kid if we could bury him on the sand. The kid ran away.) After that, we went to Juice Bar in Plazoleta for some happy hour drinks (we were the only ones there.) Then we had dinner at Andok's in D'Mall, before joining everyone else at Club Parao (or what used to be Club Parao, I forgot what it's new name is) for more drinks.

/End of Day/Night 1.

Pics are uploaded on my Multiply and Facebook pages.

And The Weekend Brought Friday

A week late on the follow up post, but anyway:

So after the GO!EMEA Team Building/Pool Party at Pansol, next on the agenda was the company-wide Christmas Party on Thursday night, ok food, ok venue, but it pales hugely in comparison to the Christmas parties of previous years. Back then, it was an actual party, everyone got a door prize, and beer was overflowing; this year, there was neither.

There was the usual Jam and Groove performances though:

Groove@HP performance

The next day, we had our group/tower/bundle's offsite team building. Since we had the Christmas party the night before, and the bus to Subic was scheduled to leave Makati at 5am, that meant no sleep for me. I decided that I would just sleep on the bus, but the travel time from Manila to Subic wasn't that long... so I didn't get that much sleep. So I thought I'd just sleep while I was on the ferry, but the ferry ride didn't take too long either, so I though I would just stay at the assigned room and sleep till lunch time. Except the room wasn't available yet, check in time wasn't until 1PM. By this time I was pissed.

But since Christmas is coming, I'll just be generous and just say that I enjoyed riding the banana boat (side note: this guy didn't), playing tag on the swimming pool (and bullying our teammates who couldn't swim by tagging them and swimming to the deeper end), eating dinner in the open garden (food for lunch was CRAP!), watching our teammates/managers dance/rap/embarrass themselves for charity (I have incriminating videos), and drinking/walking around the island from room to room to look for drinking buddies.

Pics!

Boom De Ya Da!

It kinda makes you want to... break into song?

I love the limestone cliffs,


I love the big lagoons,


I love the scenic sights,


I love this kick-ass crew*,

*plus Tim who was taking the picture

I love Coron, in all its greatness.
Boom de ya da, boom de ya da, boom de ya da, boom de ya da!

I love the blue sea,


I love the fine white sand,


I love the sunset,


I love the wildlife!


I love Coron, and all it's awesomeness!
Boom de ya da, boom de ya da, boom de ya da, boom de ya da!!!



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More pics here:
http://bloodsportandriot.multiply.com/photos/album/57/Coron_Awesomeness_-_Day_1
http://bloodsportandriot.multiply.com/photos/album/58/Coron_Awesomeness_-_Day_2
http://bloodsportandriot.multiply.com/photos/album/59/Coron_Awesomeness_-_Day_3
http://bloodsportandriot.multiply.com/photos/album/61/Coron_Awesomeness_-_Day_4
and check out ceravi, miabaybeh, randmcnally and firithduialion39 on multiply for more pics.

Cam Sur WIN!

I wrote 5 notes on Facebook today. I feel so accomplished!

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Also, that Cam Sur trip was AWESOME times 1,000!

The 1 hour van ride, then 2 hour boat ride, then finally the 20 minute jeepney ride to Caramoan was arduous, but definitely worth it, especially when your boatman takes you on an island like this:


Caramoan is on the Eastern tip of Luzon, in the province of Cam Sur. It's definitely, definitely one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. I'd say it's sort of like El Nido, only a lot less expensive. We got to visit a total of 8 islands, had 4 full meals, and stay for 2 nights at an Inn in town, and it was all for just around 1,500php.

(side note: two Survivor franchises were shooting there at the moment, and we got to go to two islands where they had obstacle courses and a dozen tall platforms for what looked like endurance challenge set up. We played around on them and it was fun, too.)

CWC was also loads of fun. I was fairly successful on the knee board, but I tried to ski and wiped out after a second on the water. I can't wait to try it again anyway.

I'll post more pics on my multiply site.


Update: Pics are now up over here ->
http://bloodsportandriot.multiply.com/photos/album/50/Caramoan_Day_1
http://bloodsportandriot.multiply.com/photos/album/51/AWE._SOME._Caramoan_Day_2
http://bloodsportandriot.multiply.com/photos/album/52/Survivor_Caramoan
http://bloodsportandriot.multiply.com/photos/album/53/CWC_Feb_23-24_09

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Now playing: Amanda Palmer - Oasis
via FoxyTunes

Lumot and Long Walks (Boracay 2008)

(click title above for pics)

Just got back from Boracay last Sunday. I went with my teammates from work, and most of the trip's expenses were paid by our company, which proves that company-sponsored off-site team building activities are still worth the stress of organizing. Boracay was fun! (Well, obviously.)

We stayed at a "resort for the budget-conscious backpacker" (or the budget-conscious office drones young professionals on a company-sponsored trip) and walked long enough most of the time to get to nice restos and bars and places that sell fruit (and mocha rhum) shakes that our legs got tired and stomachs well-starved for a nice big (free) meal but not enough that we could use it as an excuse to skip work when we get back to Manila.

Thanks to Club Paraw for selling us 5 expensive towers of mud slide and that blue drink that's like the Illusion Shaker from Cocomangas, and unknown numbers of Red Horse and San Mig Light bottles (and for making me buzzed enough that I was able to bust out my signature left-right-left-right dance =D).

And thanks to the boat guy who accommodated two dozens of us for some sunset sailing in paraws and snorkeling somewhere off the Coral Gardens in front of White Beach.

I passed on the island hopping trip on our second day because I've done it before (and it's not really island hopping if your only hopping off one island and then getting back to the same island, is it?) Anyway, those who did go on the trip didn't get to go to Puka Beach either because the sun was already setting. I spent my time instead walking all the way to Station 2 and swimming in the best no-lumot zones that I could find.

Speaking of which, I'd also like to thank the lumots for making their seasonal trip to the shores of White Beach and making it look like a group of vegans and various goats, cows and other herd animals puked on it after having a steady diet of broccoli, lettuce, and native grass.


(Oh, and right, thanks to SEAir for selling me last minute tickets because I umm... missed my original flight on that piso-fare selling airline. I love SEAir.)


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Now playing: James Morrison - under the influence
via FoxyTunes

If Awe Had An Anthropomorphic Personification, It Would Be Living in El Nido.

So, let me tell you what I did over the weekend.

Wait, no. Scratch that. How bout let me just show a bit of how awesome my weekend looked like?

El Nido is, without a doubt, the most beautiful, most exciting, most amazing place I've ever been too. The bestest bestest best place I've ever been to, no kidding. I LOOOOOOOOVE IT. As you can see, I can't even gather my thoughts right now on how to describe the whole experience, so I'll just leave that for my next post.

If awe had an anthropomorphic personification, it would be living here:

And really, who's gonna argue with that?



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Now playing: Yndi Halda - We Flood Empty Lakes (A Lily remix)
via FoxyTunes