Pilgrimage on a weekend.

Sunday. What a beautiful day to explore. We decide to go to Antipolo because my dad was going back abroad the week after and since the patron for Antipolo was Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage. It's been a while since I've been there and many has changed, establishments have grown and the main pasalubong center has a new signage, plus there's a Starbucks just outside the church. What has not changed are the number of people going to get their vehicles blessed, people selling suman and cashews, and a crowded church.

Once you reach the town of Antipolo, a lot of people are waiting for you to guide you where to go with a catch that you will buy pasalubong from their store, which is not bad. If you don't go to the chruch often, it is confusing since most streets around the church are one way.

National Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage

Kasoy at Suman

Once we parked the car, we headed for breakfast to eat sotanghon and lechon (a healthy breakfast instead). After hearing, we went up to touch the veil of Our Lady. As part of our Rizal trip, we headed to Regina Rica in Tanay.

From Antipolo church, Regina RICA is about an hour and a half drive. You will pass by the route to Daranak Falls, Camp Capinpin and JE Camp. It's an easy route and you won't get lost, but of course I get to use a map.

Regina RICA is open everyday escept for Tuesdays. They hold mass every Sunday at 11:00 AM and 3:30 PM. The land is 13.2 hectars in area and has two chapels and a 71 feet high statue of Our Mother oft he Rosary. It was the perfect timing that we went during the month of the rosary. Inside the statue, called Sulod (an Ilonggo term for inside amd also an acronym that means Sanctuary of Universal Love and Devotion) is a place of prayer. A cruxific and the Blessed Eucharist is displayed. They call the crucifix as the Cross of Absence and Presence because there is no image of Christ on the Cross but etched is the body and blood of Christ. It is prohibited to take pictures inside to preserve its Holiness.

As the sisters will reiterate, the area is a place of Pilgrimage and is not meant to be a playground or picnic place.

Regina Rosarii Institute for Contemplation in Asia

Inside the chapel

The Rough Road to El Nido

August. Next time, I really should take the weather in consideration when I book when airlines posts their sale. A few days prior to our Palawan trip, there had been lots of rain in the metro and I was starting to feel dreary of trying to plan the trip while the rain keeps falling.

Finally the day came for our trip and a tropical depression was approaching Manila. My officemate asked me if I was excited, and was starting to feel down. Considering that major activities in El Nido requires riding a boat, I was really praying for calm waters.

Arriving late night in Puerto Princesa, we slept to prepare for an early trip to El Nido the next day. Going to San Jose terminal, there are two major van services that are known to locals. Euleen Joy and Lexus. Euleen Joy's earliest trip is 5:00am with roughly 2 hours interval on their schedule and the latest trip is 6:00PM. Lexus' schedule in about the same but off by about 30 minutes to allow travellers a choice on time. There are also vans at the airport if ever you have an early flight and decide to go direct. Rates at San Jose is around Php500 while the vans at the airport costs Php600.

Travel time is 5 hours by van. You can also take RORO buses that costs around Php400, cheaper but longer travel time of about 8 hours.

The road going to El Nido was long with 80% concrete and the rest rough. You will pass by several towns in Palawan like Roxas and Taytay and the van will stop twice. Transit time may have been shorter if the road has already been completed.

We left the terminal at 7:00 AM, but had to stop by several areas around Puerto first and started our journey 8:00 AM arriving at El Nido at 1:00 PM. We had already reserved rooms ahead of time but there are several inns that you can choose from some are located along the beach front of the town while others are at Corong Corong which is a few minutes walk to the beach front. I would suggest going for one near the beach front especially if you are planning to do some island hopping to give you enough time to have breakfast.

Arriving in the middle of the day, we opted to just rest for the day. We checked in at the alternative and dropped by the church. We were hoping to avail a combination of tour A and C given we only had 3 days in El Nido so we talked to the guide to schedule the trip. Unfortunately, the following day, the rain was falling hard and the waves were higher, thus the coast guard has decided to hold any trips.

Stuck at the main land, we started looking for other things to do within the island. We decided to go to Nacpan beach, which is one of the so called twin beach. Residents of El Nido are not familiar with the name twin beach as it was coined by the tourists visiting the area so if you have plans of going to the area, inquire about Nacpan beach. The name twin beach came around due to to beach coves next to each other namely Nacpan and Calitang.

Riding on a tricycle going to the beach, it took about an hour to reach the location. It is also the road going to Nagkalit-kalit falls which required trekking 30 minutes which, due the the weather, was difficult to do. Upon arriving near the beach, the road was so muddy the tricycle can no longer go in so we had to walk.

But the walk was worth it. Even though it had been raining, you will still enjoy the beach. How the waves would hit the shore, and most of all, we had the beach to ourselves. Aside from the trike ride we paid for, the beach was free for you to enjoy. There are some cottages that you can rent but you wouldn't really need it.

You can also climb a small hill thats at the end of the shore that separates the two beaches and from there you can see the two beaches side by side divided by a small shoreline.

Coffee at Vietnam

Vietnam is pretty famous for its coffee. When I was making our itinerary for our trip, I made sure that there will be free time for coffee.

We were going to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Located north of the country, Hanoi is known as the city between the rivers and the second largest city in Vietnam. Since we purchased out tickets during an airline sale, choice of dates was limited. Nite to self, check the yearly forecast o the country first prior to booking. September is the time where the season changes in Hanoi, from summer to fall. Summer seems to be also a rainy season for Hanoi, and since I was planning on going to Halong Bay, I was praying it doesn't rain so the view won't be ruined.

And finally, it was time for our flight. Since the airline only has a few flights going to Hanoi, our trip was set Saturday (late night) to Wednesday (early morning). And since this is the most ideal schedule, almost everyone that we rode with going to Hanoi were also the same as the ones we went home with.

Our flight arrived early Sunday midnight, just enough time to let us rest for a whole day of city tour for the rest of the day.

Suggested places to go is the Ho Chi Minh museum, followed by the One Pillar Pagoda, the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Presidential palace, the Flag tower, the the Temple of Literature which are actually walking distance from each other if you are up for it. It is important to note that the mausoleum is only open in the morning from 8:00 am to 11:00, and is closed Mondays and Fridays so it is best to start early and wear long pants rather than shorts.

Clockwise from the top: Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, One Pillar Pagoda, Ho Chi Minh Museum, Flag Tower

After a tiring but fun stroll along the area, you can head off to Old Quarter for lunch. After lunch, you can head off to Hoan Kiem Lake
Were the Turtle, the Huc bridge and Ngoc Son Temple can be found. The lake is also next to the water puppet show.

The Hub Bridge
If you are interested, you can visit St. Joseph's cathedral. The church was built in 1886 in the neo-gothic style. Near the church are coffee shops which are fillef with people sitting down on small stools placed on pavements around the street, which is the common site to see through out Hanoi.

St. Joseph's Cathedral

We decided to stop by for some coffee after attending mass. We chose a place that wasn't so crowded and order iced coffee and iced tea to cool down. We were curious at what the people were eating while drinking coffee and we realized that they were sunflower seeds, it seems that the snack is abundant in the place.




After coffee, it was finally time to head back to the hotel to rest our tired feet. After a quick rest, we headed off to old quarter to check out the night market, nothing really much to see though. Since all our energy was used up, we just ate dinner at the restaurant next to the hotel. Aside from coffee, your Hanoi trip will not be complete without trying their Pho noodles (both dry noodles and with soup) and rolls.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The other Cagayan

I read in an airline magazine, when you say Cagayan, people would normally think Cagayan de Oro. This seems to be true. It's famous for white water rafting, and also is the nearest airport to some Mindanao destinations. But I'm not blogging about CDO right now. Today, I will let you see the other Cagayan, or parts of it.

Cagayan in the north, is part of the region of Cagayan Valley (Region 2) in the Philippines.  Cagayan is sometimes referred to as the "Land of Smiling Beauty, its capital is Tuguegarao City. It is at least a 15 hour drive from Manila, or you can also opt to take a plane which only lasts 45 minutes. The ideal days to vist the place would be during summer because the whole Cagayan Valley may be the most visited region of storms and heavy rains.

So, what can you do in the place? You can visit Callao Cave in Penablanca, the most known tourist spot in the province. It is roughly 45 minutes away from the city. You can hire a van or trike to take you to the place. If you are in a large group, it is best to hire a van. The cave has 7 chambers, 5 of which have sky lights. The last 2 chambers are more harder to reach as you would need to go down a rocky pathway and is not advisable to visit during rainy season as the way becomes muddy, none the less, the first few chambers are sufficient enough for you to enjoy. There is a minimal entrance fee and a volunteer tour guide will assist you inside the cave.

From the entrance, you will climb stairs to the entrance of the cave which will take 15-25 minutes depending on your phase. The chambers are just a few meters away from each other so this is really not as strenuous as you may think.

The Chapel at Callao Cave

After trekking the cave, you can also go for a relaxing boat ride along Pinacanauan River just at the side of the cave. A both ride will cost you Php 500/boat and you can also eat at the end of the river where the boatman will pick you up after. At nightfall, you may also be able to see bats storm out of the bat cave near the river.

Once you are back in the city, one thing you should miss is trying out Tuguegarao's famous noodles, the Pancit Butil Patong. It got its name from patong or to put on top. The noodles, together with its toppings also comes with soy sauce, onions, calamansi and a bowl of soup.

For Catholics, the next activity you can do is visit some of Cagayan's churches. Cagayan is a great place during the Holy Week if you want to do some Visita Iglesia. Some known churches are the Basilica Minore of Our Lady of Piat, Iguig Church in Calgary Hill, and St. Peter's Basilica in the capital. The Basilica Minore in Piat houses the miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin Mary while the Iguig Church has life size images of the stations of the cross and has a view of the Cagayan river.

Basilica Minore (L); Iguig Church (M); St. Peter's Basilica (R)

If you have run out of activities to do in the capital, you can also consider going to Santa Ana. Santa Ana is the home of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone which host casinos and other gaming facilities, some exclusive to Chinese visitors. You can also see several second hand vehicles for auction there. To know more of the place, visit the municipality's facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MySantaAna. 

Being on the northern part of the Luzon, there are many coastlines and beaches in Santa Ana. Port San Vicente is located at the edge of Santa Ana and is the entry point via boat to the place, across the Port, you will also have the view Palaui Island.

You can take a ferry trip from Santa Ana to Batanes, the farthest place north of the Philippines, during the calmest of weathers.

From the port, you can hire a boat that can take you to the three most famous destinations in the place; Palaui Island, Maninad Island and Anguib Beach.

Palaui is considered to have one of the great beaches in the Philippines. The view is breathtaking and can be compared to a mini Batanes. You can either trek the island which will take you at least 2 hours to reach the other part or you can ride a boat that will take you to the other side which takes 45 minutes. On the other side of the island you will see the lighthouse of Cape Engano.

As mentioned on the picture below, the lighthouse was inspired by 3 lighthouses: in Cape Bojaedor in Burgos, Ilocos Norte; in Capones Island, Zambales and Isla de Cabra in Mindoro.

The lighthouse is an additional climb of 20-30 minutes, which was really tiring especially during the time the sun rises the highest. Good thing the view of the island was really worth it.

After a tiring walk from the lighthouse, you can relax at Anguib beach (pronounced as angib). Half of the beach is private and offers an entrance fee of PHP 500 together with buffet lunch. The other side costs only PHP 20. According to the locals, you can also reach the beach via land but the gate towards the beach is normally closed, so the best option is still to take a boat ride to the San Vicente.

Anguib is tagged as the Boracay of the North. Don't get your hopes up as the sand is not as fine as Boracay, and there are also many weeds in the water. There is also not much to do in the place. During weekends, they say that the beach really gets packed with locals.

Maninad or Crocodile Island is a small island between Palaui and the mainland. From afar, it looks like a crocodile and the place is really stoney.

Well, can I say that the trip was worth it? Honestly, for me I travel to explore. I want to learn as much as possible, as they say, the more you travel the more open-minded you become. You get more experience. If you are after the beaches, I'd give it an 8. There is not much to do in Cagayan considering you will have to travel for 15 hours by land, but I recommend the place to people who wants to learn about caves, if you want a secluded place to enjoy on your own, if you want to hike and explore.

If you are planning a trip to Tuguegarao via plane, 4 days is enough (flights are in the morning only). An overnight stay at Santa Ana in the first night, rest on the second, then tour the city on the third day.

View of the Cagayan River from the airplane.

Lime Stones and Lakes

Last week, I was able to finally able to go to Coron with my mom's friends. It was a spontaneous trip for me bacause I was originally not included in the trip, but since I really wanted to go, I was able to get my way and book a ticket. Airphil has only two flights to Busuanga and we chose the later flight, which was adjusted to 2:20 from it's original schedule of 1:50 and was delayed a few minutes.We finally boarded the Bombardier and was headed for Busuanga.

I did our last minute booking at the hotel 2 days before our flight and also scheduled a pick up from the airport to Ralph's Pension house in Coron. Once we arrived at the pension house, we were grated by the owner Jun, who was hands on with welcoming guests. Our accommodation was in the center of the town, near the market place and just at the foot of Mt. Tapyas, plus near the port for island hopping.

After Jun's orientation, we headed for dinner at went to Maquinit Hot Springs. The hot spring they claim is the only salt water hot spring in the Philippines as per the locals. From the main town, it costs P 300.00 per tricycle with a capacity of 7 persons, but due to the rough road, it is advisable for 4 people to ride a tricycle.

The hot spring is really hot and is best to be visited during night. They accept people up to 8:00 PM but is open until 10:00 PM. Most people visit the hot spring after climbing the tiring yet refreshing Mt. Tapyas which consists of 700 plus steps. But since we arrived late, we decided to climb the mountain on another day.

After an hour or so of soaking in the hot spring, we decided to call it a day. The following day, we went island hoping and visited some of the main attractions of Coron including the Kayangan Lake which is considered the cleanest lake in the Philippines. The lake is like a big swimming pool that is very deep but the water is very clear and you can actually see the reflection of the suns rays underneath.

There are several tour packages available in Coron for island hopping. You can opt to rent a boat, buy food for lunch, and pay for entrances or buy the complete package at $ 650-750 that is already inclusive of lunch and entrance fees. The island hopping usually starts from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM where you get to visit Kayangan Lake, Banol Beach, Barracuda Lake, and the Twin Lagoon among others.

Coron is rich in lakes and rock formations, and there are also several dive sites with several ship wrecks. There are sites that you can see easily see the sunken ships with having to go very deep. The nearest is 5 meters deep. But if you are a licensed diver, you can check out one of the many dive sites in the area.

Since the island hoping is an all day event, do not forget to put on sun screen because you will surely get a sunburn.

Our last activity before we went home on our third day was to finally climb Mt. Tapyas to get an overlooking view of the whole town of Coron. We started climbing the mountain 6:00 AM to be able to get a view of the sunrise. After an hour climb and 30 minutes of rest on top to marvel at the view, we came down and arrived at the bottom of the mountain at 8:00 AM.

Palawan is known to be abundant in cashew nuts, but unlike Puerto Princessa, Coron does not have that many cashiews available and most of the cashews harvested in the area is taken to Antipolo for cracking. Please note also that it is prohibited to take home shells from the island and bags are manually checked at the airport due also to the lack of x-ray machines.

If you plan to stay in Coron, 3-4 days should be sufficient. Prepare a budget of P 3,500.00 that already includes accommodation, food at tours.

WTD in Cebu: Tourist Spots

Much Ado About Nothing. Spent the weekend at home after having a busy June schedule. I missed sleeping all day, and that was exactly what I did on a rainy Saturday. Since I don't really have much activity this weekend, I'll discuss most of the known places to visit in Cebu.

Let's start of with Magellan's Cross which is found in Cebu City near the Basilica Minore del Santo Niño/Sto. Niño Church. One of the contributions of our Spaniard colonizers is bringing Christianity to the Filipinos and we have embraced it ever since. We are symbolic people and as Catholics, Filipinos also have the love for catholic artifacts. Another artifact that you may find in the area is the sculpture of the Sto. Niño which was believed to be given by Magellan to a Cebuana local and which was spared from fire during the time of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi. A church was built where the icon was found and was later promoted to a Basilica.

In my many visits to Cebu, my latest trip was actually the first time I was able to set put at the Cebu Cathedral. I have always had the idea that the Basilica was also the Cathedral. The Cathedral is found just a few blocks away from the Basilica.

Another tourist spot that is just within the area is Fort San Pedro. It is considered the smallest and oldest triangular bastion fort in the country built to protect Cebu from Muslim Invaders. Two of it side faces the sea, which is now covered by new buildings.

Macau Experience

Wow, it's been a quarter since I last blogged. Been busy with work and travel. Now I'm back again to write some non-sense and pollute the cyber world. And let's start the second half of the year with a few things about my trip in Macau.

We were actually planning to stay in the Venetian hotel care of a friend that offered a discount as part of their privilege but it was too late when we confirmed. We could have saved half the price. I really wanted to stay but it was also a good thing since it was still like 15 grand that we saved for a 2 day stay.

We arrived late at night and was greeted by my cousins neighbor who is now working in Macau for about 11 years. We took the shuttle from the airport to Venetian and wandered through the hotel/casino. Most hotels and casinos have shuttle services from the airport and ferry terminal. You can be able to tour most of the tourists spots without even spending a dime on transportation.

Macau is known as the Las Vegas of Asia and you can see various casinos everywhere you look with attractive lights at night that makes the area more lively. The area is more active at night and even way past midnight, the sky is still bright due to the reflection of lights.

Not only will you find plenty of casinos, Macau also composes of many churches which I find a bit ironic. One of the famous site in the area is the Ruins of St. Paul or as the Filipinos in the area call it "putol (unfinished)". The site is walking distance also from the Senado Square and other major areas in Macau.

Being a Portuguese colony until 1999, you can see several European inspired buildings and cuisines. One of the best pasalubong (goodies) you can bring home to your friends is their Pasteis de Nata or egg tarts (similar to the egg pies in the Philippines only in smaller servings).

Macau has limited shopping options compared to Hong Kong, but you can always visit its neighboring SAR via ferry with a 1 hour transit time. You can get specials when you play at the casinos and get the return trip back for free. For people not comfortable with traveling via ferry, a bridge connecting Hong Kong and Macau is in the works, but considering the distance of the two regions, they are considering placing artificial islands between the two. Once completed, this should be one attraction people would like to experience.

Based on my experience, if you are planning to visit Macau, best option is to also include a trip to Hong Kong because if you are not that into gambling, you will run out of activities in one or two days.

Week 44: Preparing for Undas/Eating Mang Inasal

Last Sunday night, we went to pick up my dad from the airport and headed to Dangwa after. We were one hour from my dad's ETA so we decided to eat dinner first at Mang Inasal. Usually, I would order their Chicken Inasal with unlimited rice, but I decided to try their sisig combo meal that came in a cute container.

Our order came, which was faster than normal, and my order consisted of one cup of rice and a really small serving of pork sisig. If not for the container, I would not have ordered it. Compared to 1/4 barbecued chicken with unlimited rice which was the same price, the sisig was not really worth it, the serving was too small even for the cup of rice it came with. Another bad point was that the service is a bit slow, most stores have complaints that the service is a bit slow, which is acceptable when barbecuing the chicken, but when we ordered another sisig combo meal for take out, we had to wait more than 20 minutes before we got the order, which I am not sure why there was a delay.

Mang Inasal is famous for their chicken and unlimited rice at an affordable price. You would normally see any Mang Inasal branch filled with many people eating, and you could find several branches within an area. For most that does not know, Mang Inasal originated from Iloilo, just a boat ride away from Bacolod which is famous for the Chicken Inasal and mostly everywhere you look, you would see restaurants selling them. For most of restaurants that gets commercialized, the taste seems  to change and loses the authenticy. For me, the taste is just right, I'd give it an 7. Value for money is good, which is a 10, however, service could do better at 7.

When we got to pick up my dad from the airport, we headed to Dangwa to purchase some flowers to bring to the cemetery for our dearly departed. Dangwa in Dimasalang St. is where flowers are normally dropped from growers. The place was not as crowded as I remember from last year. As the years past, few people actually go there to purchase flowers. People are getting more conscious on spending money, but as they say, flowers wither and candles burn out, but prayers are eternal, or something like that. If we really want to honor the dead, it would be best to pray for their peace.

Week 41: Masskara, the next day! (Sunday)

Woke up early that day to attend mass that Sunday although it was in Ilongo so I was not actually able to understand it. Just prayed in the Bacolod Cathedral then we walked to SM to buy some stuff, taking a look at souvenir items along the way.

In the afternoon, we went back to Araneta St to watch the street parade. It was my first time to watch the Masskara street dancing so I was really excited. We were at the backend of the audience and the show had just started. Since I wanted to take some pictures, I found my way to the front of the people. One lady kept telling me that I could go in since I had a camera, but I was scared by the rampaging street dancers so i just stayed back. My friend also told me that it was normal to see some of the dancers faint due to the heat and the heavy masskara, and we did get to see several dancers faint on the street.

So after standing for about an hour or so, we got a bit tired and decided to go to the back stage and get pictures with some of the dancers. Our feet were so sore but we really enjoyed the day.

Once the dance was completed, we decided to go home, but since the roads were still closed, it was hard to get a jeepney. Once we got one, even though it was really packed we got on and squeeze our way through.

Week 41: Masskara! (Saturday)

The Philippines is rich with festivities. The Masskara festival is one of the most colorful festival here in the Philippines. I really enjoyed festival even though the weekend was very tiresome. The weekend was very memorable to me for several reasons, there was so many bloopers that happened.

The first day, we stayed at The Sugarland Hotel at Bacolod. The place was so so. Check-in time was 2:00 PM, we arrived at the hotel at 12:00, so we decided to go to MO2 Days Inn hotel to check if they already had rooms available for the next day since I only reserved one night at Sugarland since they only had the suite available, which was a bit more than the budget. Good thing, unlike that Saturday, Sunday was not as much fully booked so we got a room in Days Inn for Sunday which was actually cheaper. You would want to save as much money for other stuff. So we got back at Sugarland at around 1:45, we stayed at the lobby and waiting 15 minutes, went to the receptionist and was advised that they were still cleaning the room and asked for another 30 minutes. 30 minutes passed, they were still not finished, they gave as complementary ice teas. In short, it was after an hour before we got to check in. And because all of us did not get enough slip the night before due to the time of our flight, we slept, well, they did. After rest, we went to Lacson St. to watch the electric Masskara parade, which had only 4 participants. I am not sure if they were the winners of the parade the day before.