Janus convinced me to write a travelogue-ish article about the trip for a local news website where she knew people who needed material for it. I wrote the article, sent it to her, but I have no idea if it got published or not because I never found out what happened.

Either way, instead of writing something new (partly because I’m lazy, but mostly because my brain is slowly turning to mush because of work), I’ve decided to post the article I wrote. Complete with pictures.

Getting Lost in Viaje del Sol
Armed with printed out maps and general directions, we set out to journey on Viaje del Sol, or Way of the Sun. A series of destinations run by artist-entrepreneurs, Viaje del Sol was created by the same artist-entrepreneurs to promote local tourism in Laguna, Quezon, and Batangas. Restaurants, artists’ homes, and resorts are on the list of destinations to visit. There are quite a lot, so we randomly chose a couple that seemed to be interesting and nearby each other.

The first stop is Patis Tito in San Pablo, Laguna. Run by famed designer Patis Tesoro, Patis Tito has a quaint and homey atmosphere that serves delicious Filipino food. The restaurant is done in traditional Filipino-Hispanic style. Wood-carved acoutrements, Ifugao wooden sculptures, carved bricks, and mosaic tiles adorn the place, lending the place an artistic vibe. Huge portraits of Patis and her husband, Tito, watch over the diners as they enjoy their food.

The restaurant is reminiscent of Sundays at your lola’s ancestral house, with lunch served at the lanai. The food complements the ambience, decidedly Filipino but with a modern twist. Ensaladang Pako, with tomatoes and onions, a kalamansi dressing, and topped with shredded salted red egg, and cheese, is a refreshing start to any meal.

Main course dishes are satisfying and tasty. We had the Crispy Tilapia and it was delightful – deep fried, crunchy tilapia served coconut sauce, yellow ginger, mustard leaves, and mango salsa. Inasal Diablo gave the good old standby a kick by making it spicy, with the flavors seeping into the chicken meat. The Binagoongang Baboy was tender and flavorful and the bagoong made us want more rice.

After lunch, we admired the restaurant’s architecture, wandered in the restaurant’s garden and had our picture taken with Patis Tesoro herself. The designer was warm and accommodating, stopping by at almost every table to have a short chat with guests.

We wanted to have dessert and coffee some place else and after consulting our map, we headed to Villa Escudero in Tiaong, Quezon. The hacienda cum resort is about 5 minutes away from Patis Tito and soon we were parked and heading to the resort’s reception area.

It turns out that Villa Escudero charges an entrance fee – P1,400 that covers lunch and all the amenities in the resort. Having had our lunch, we decided to go to potter Ugu Bigyan’s home instead.

Also in Tiaong, Quezon, Ugu Bigyan’s workshop is a little bit more difficult to find. After asking for directions several times, making U-turns and back tracking, we finally arrived at our destination. Although there was no food to be had (reservations were needed if you wanted to eat there), we didn’t mind because we got distracted by the beauty of the place. Nipa huts were arranged all over the garden, each one with tables and chairs. There were dining huts and lounging areas that made one want to host a party or a small get together with friends.

Ugu Bigyan also offers pottery workshops, but it starts next year, sometime in February. Instead, we admired the pottery available for sale and looked at the formed clay set out to dry by the pottery wheel.

By then, it was becoming dark so we decided to end our Viaje del Sol with the sunset.

I didn’t intend to write an entry about how I celebrated my birthday but I’m bored and tired of writing work things so here we are. Writing about non-work things.

And since this was the most recent trip I had, might as well write about it.

I celebrated my birthday with Birthday Twin (B.T.). Originally I wanted for us to go to La Union and surf and the BEEAACH but B.T. seemed not too enthused about it. All he said was “Hmmm…” when I broached the topic so I let it be. A couple of days before our birthday B.T. sends me a link to the Pacem Wildlife Center in Assumption Antipolo and asks if it looked interesting.

I’ve never heard of this place before and although the website was so-so, it looked like it could be fun so we made plans. I glanced over the map and directions to the place, assuming that B.T. would take care of it. Heh. Was I wrong.

So we started the day early (note, we did the trip the day before our birthday so it wasn’t our birthdays yet) with a quick stop for breakfast at the Salcedo Village Market. We got the lamb shawarmas which is always yum and B.T. bought vegetable samosas and suha that I imagined we’d be snacking on on the way to the eco-park. But the shawarma was too heavy on our stomachs (coupled with the fruit shake we had) and I never got to taste those vegetarian samosas . I got the suha though. All miiiine.

Okay, let’s focus. So we headed towards Antipolo, passing through Ortigas and Cainta and Ortigas Extension and somehow we missed a part where we should have turned left but went straight instead so we ended up in Taytay, Rizal. Which is near Antipolo but not near. [long story of us getting lost and then finding Assumption Antipolo but not the entrance to it because Google maps sent us to the wrong gate so we had to go back and forth along this road while I had a bladder full of pee and desperately needed to go REDACTED]

And then we found the PACEM Eco-Park! Yay! I ran to the restroom to prevent a very embarrassing situation and after we got to go around the eco-park.

Entrance is about 80 pesos I think? I don’t remember, but it’s reasonable and I assume it helps in maintenance and whatnot.

The first stop in the tour was a butterfly museum filled with butterfly specimens from all over the world. They even divided it geographically with maps to show where each butterfly was from.

There were gorgeous butterflies in there, with colors that before seeing them, I thought only existed on those 3D holographic laser stickers that were the fad in the 90′s. So pretty. But we weren’t allowed to take pictures so I guess you have to go there to see for yourself.

The next stop was a shell museum. Even though taking pictures weren’t allowed, my camera somehow happened to have pictures of shells on them. Hmmm. Strange. Take a looksee.

I like the chevron and puce and the purple and the red.

Nature is simply amazing. Amazing patterns. Mouth drop.

After the museum tours, we got to see pretty cool animals. It started with the usual zoo wildlife, like birds and cockatoos:

 
Red and blue Lory

Show off cockatoo

And then there was a deranged owl who tried attacking me and my camera. Okay, not so much deranged as much as I was trespassing on its territory. It flew at me and tried to peck my finger!

And then there’s the Cassowary. So awesome. It’s like a prehistoric bird that somehow survived evolution to live amongst us non-prehistoric people. It’s huge, but I guess it’d probably be tiny compared to the real huge dinosaurs. It makes an awesome gurgling/humming/roaring sound too, but alas, our cameras failed to take a video of it.

So here’s a video of him pecking at his water bowl instead.

And then we saw herons

And funny geese that quacked. There really isn’t any reason to laugh but I couldn’t help laughing when we were watching them laugh. Disney had it right: ducks are funny.

And there was a monkey that showed off his hoo-ha

Never mind if his face is blurred as long as his other bits are sharp and clear.

And a sleeping bearcat.

Then we went to the herb garden were a sweet manang tended the plants. We wanted to buy this herb that made your taste buds taste only sweet stuff but she was just preparing to plant them. Maybe by now they’d have grown? I dunno. I forget what the herb was called.

We wanted to hang out and enjoy the scenery some more, but I had a meeting in the afternoon. So we went back to Makati and had a vegetarian lunch at the Corner Tree Café along Jupiter. Nummers and I want to go back.

‘Til our next birthday, B.T.

It is 2922m above sea level and it can get pretty cold there, especially at the peak. Since not one of us has climbed a mountain before, and had no idea on what to do, we joined a tour group. They organized everything — from the transportation, to food, what we should bring, and what we should prepare for.

So on the four-day weekend in August, we hied off to Baguio (our jumping off point to Mt. Pulag) despite it being a stormy and rainy day. The tour guides were assured by the DENR in Pulag that it would still be fine to climb the mountain.

But they were wrong. How terribly wrong they were. I’m getting ahead of myself though, so let’s start from when we arrived at Baguio.

We got there safe and sound early in the morning (around 4 am), and waited a bit for the jeepneys that would take us to the DENR ranger station up north. We rode through twisty mountain roads for about a couple of hours or so (I have no idea, I fell asleep and I didn’t have a watch) and had a breakfast stopover at a roadside eatery.

We killed some time at this place, since we were supposedly too early for the next leg of the trip. Adri and I fell asleep at one of the tables, waking up from time to time because of leg and arm cramps. And then an hour later, we were off for the next leg.

We had been bumping along for thirty minutes when our jeepney came to a complete stop because of a huge landslide that blocked our way. There was no way of getting over to the other side, so the group had to make a decision: go back to Baguio and try again the following day, or go back to Baguio and see what will happen from there. Either way we chose, it would still entail going back to Baguio.

But we couldn’t immediately go back to the city because the roads going there were also blocked up with landslides. We had no choice but to go back to the roadside eatery and wait there until the roads were cleared.

It was a while before we could get going again, so we spent time taking pictures and sleeping. The sleeping was mostly done by me, but I think it was because I took a dose of Bonamine which made me really drowsy. Anyhow, once we got news that the roads were clear, we went back to the city, stopping only for the suspension bridge that had milky chocolate water rushing underneath it. And there was this guy jumping up and down on the bridge that we wanted to hit on the head because, come on, who does that?

So we got back to Baguio and it was still rainy and stormy and I didn’t want to get wet again, after having dried off and changing my shoes and socks. Adri and I decided, along with other members of our group to go back home to Manila and just try Mt. Pulag some other day, preferably when it’s hot out and the sun is blazing down on you.

So there. Mt. Pulag, ’til I try to climb you again.

Apple, Bocs’ wife, invited me to go to Misibis Bay last August to cover a visit from a very distinguished guest.

The distinguished guest was to arrive at Misibis Bay on Thursday. Unfortunately I had meetings that day, but I was allowed to catch up with the rest of the press people who were also covering distinguished guest’s visit to the resort. I left early morning Friday and plunged straight right into a whirlwind of activities.

By the way, I won’t keep the suspense on the distinguished guest any longer. If you’ve been following my flickr, you probably have an idea who it is: Manny Pacquiao. He was there with his wife, Jinkee, Jinkee’s twin sister, and the rest of his entourage.

I was having breakfast when I saw him enter the restaurant, probably just having woken up and ready for breakfast. From what I gathered, they stayed up late the night before doing karaoke and dancing. So everyone was playing it by ear that day, gauging the vibe and how Manny Pacquiao felt. Which was very beneficial to me, because I’d be able to go around the resort and do all sorts of activities.

And I wasn’t about to run out of things to do. Apple sent me to the watersports area where I took an introductory dive. I was able to touch giant clams (it would shut close when I touched it) and see all corals and different kinds of fish. It made me want to learn how to actually dive. After the intro dive, I snorkeled for a bit while I waited for the others who were also doing the intro dive.

Then we went back to the resort where I roamed around the beach and took pictures of the place.

And then it was time for lunch. We ate at Spice Market, the resort’s restaurant, not knowing that we would be served lunch when we met with Manny Pacquiao. I ate my fill of yummy goodies that by the end of the meal, I was bursting.

Then it was time to meet Manny Pacquiao. We were arranged on tables outdoors and while they were serving the soup (I think), it started to rain really hard. But the Misibis people were really prepared and had us transfer to a nearby tent that was set up for moments like that.

The question and answer portion didn’t happen an hour or so later, but when it did, I was able to take the opportunity to get his autograph and have a picture taken with him.

We were supposed to go cave exploring after the meet and greet with Pacquiao, but it had gone on too long that it was too late to set off for the adventure. What we did instead was ride jetskis and lounge about on the beach. It was my first time on a jetski, but after some time I got used to it and was soon pushing the limits of the jetski’s engine. So. Much. Fun.

I woke up early the following day to go on the ATV off-road trail riding thing. My flight was in the afternoon, so I tried to squeeze in as many activities possible. So while on the ATV, I went ziplining (Another first!), first off the 250m and then the 450meter. The first one was scarier than the second, mostly because I had to climb a scaffolding three storeys high and you know how I have a crazy fear of heights. I had the guy push me off the edge of the scaffolding and the rest was fun and easy.

Mt. Mayon. So pretty.

The amphitheater where the Asian edition of the Amazing Race had its pitstop for the Philippines leg.

That was how tall the scaffolding was. Eep!

Me hanging on for dear life before the first zipline.

On the first zipline.

On the second zipline.

Yay, I made it!

So on the day Adri set for the trip to Batangas, we met at his condo and with him driving, went off to the South. I was navigator and Adri was the driver and Sep chose our tunes.

Sea’S Spring resort (the capitalization is really weird) is found in Mabini, Batangas, and as we found out, is at the endmost part of the province. It was raining then (which eventually turned into a full blown storm), but we had the time to stop at the Yakult factory that Adri loves so much.

And a few hours after, we were at the resort after getting lost a couple of ways and avoiding minor landslides along the mountain roads. Sea’S Spring was impressive, with two hot spring pools, a sauna made out of bamboo, and swimming pools and the sea.

We liked the heated pools a lot because it was a cold, rainy, and windy day, and liked the sauna even more. Then we went to the beach, was disappointed by how dirty it was, and then spotted a few feet away steam rising from out of the sand. We went to the steamy part and noticed that the beach was much much cleaner in that area (the water was clear and no trash!) and that the steam came from a hot spring running into the ocean.

We wanted the heat so we positioned ourselves in front of the spring and with the waves splashing against the shore, the cold and hot water mixing perfectly, we had our own special hot spring.

The following day we woke up to stormy weather — wind and rain lashing at you kind of weather, and prayed for at least an hour of sun. After breakfast, we went back to the room, took a nap, and woke up to the sun shining. Yay!

We went out and took pictures of ourselves doing stupid things and after about an hour and a half, the rains came again. Lucky or blessed? You decide.

Sulfur Pit. It stunk.

Adri planking. All of us planked on random parts of the resort.

We went home early because the rains were making us nervous. On our way back to Manila, we had lomi at Sto. Tomas, Batangas. Good but unbelievably thick and heavy on the stomach.

And then a few months later, we were on our way. Thanks to Richelle, our trip planner, almost everything went without a hitch. I say almost because as is the case with budget airfare, a few delays are bound to happen. Like our flight going to Cebu (2 hours delayed), and my flight going back to Manila (two hours delayed).

But anyhoo, everything else went as planned (or unplanned as it was in our case).

Bantayan was lovely. I almost don’t want to talk about it for fear of it becoming overpopulated, like what has happened in Boracay. White sand beaches, crystal clear water, lovely people, interesting culture.

It takes some time to get there though, coming from Cebu City. A three-hour bus ride (or car ride, as was our case, since Adri is from Cebu and his dad thoughtfully loaned us their car for us to use), and then an hour’s ferry ride to the island. And then paradise.

On the way to Bantayan Island.

On the way to Bantayan Island, while in the ferry.

The waters of Bantayan Island.

There are fishing villages all over Bantayan Island, and this is one of them. They catch really small fish and dry them out, selling them as dilis in the Cebu dried fish markets.

We got to buy a lapad bottle of wild honey from this dude. He was selling it for 130 pesos which is really cheap (I think a lapad bottle is around 300-500ml) but we were haggling for a lower price and then he told us he really lowered the price so he could sell all of his honey and go home already.

This is the dog that met us on the island we went to for lunch. We hired a boat to take us island hopping and along with the boatman, the cousin of this guy from the resort who was taking us around and hiring kayaks and motorbikes for us. The boatman and the cousin cooked for us a lunch of grilled scallops drowned in butter (or maybe margarine) and garlic, halabos (roughly translated to sauteed) shrimps, adobong pusit with possibly the creamiest sauce ever (the ink/sauce was really black and creamy; we think our private chefs added margarine to it) and some grilled fish. Yummeh.

The first night in Bantayan, we went to a disco. A true-blue provincial disco for their barrio fiesta. We had to ride a motorcycle (three riders each on two motorcycles: the driver, then Dindin and I and then on the other motorcycle were Adri and Richelle and the driver) to get to the barrio. The motorcycle ride was interesting and scary. Mostly scary and we considered walking back home, not knowing how far away the barrio was from our resort. On the way to the barrio, we passed by a cemetery, a whole stretch of piggeries and poultry farms, and Adri says even a horse field. I dunno. It was one array of smells after the other.

And then the disco was another interesting thing. Unlike the disco or clubs that we know, where they play continuous music and people are free to dance as they please, the discos they have are on a pay-per basis. You pay a certain amount to have the DJs play the song you want. If no one requests for songs, then no music plays in the disco. And then they also have funny rules, like someone can request for a song and allow only a certain group of people dance to it. And if you request for a song, you have to be the first on the dance floor. Only then will the other people go on the dance floor.

Already we are making plans to go back to Bantayan. Can’t say when, but I hope it’ll be soon!

So anyway. What can we say about Eastern Samar? Let’s break it down into a list.

1. The flight to Catarman, Eastern Samar was delayed for two hours. Ayeen and I were traipsing around the boarding area just to entertain ourselves. We even thought about leaving the airport and crossing the street to have some Jollibee.

2. Everyone except Ayeen and Ben were wearing their VibramFiveFingers. Our VFFs.

3. I almost forgot to say: this was another of our animation workshop series. So we had high school students going to school during their summer vacation. We thought they were inattentive because they were forced to go to school when they should be lazing about and watching TV, but it turned out that they were wilting from the heat.

4. The heat. OMG. The heat. When we left Manila, it was rainy and gloomy, having just experienced the first typhoon of the year. We had heard reports that Samar was flooded in waist-deep waters. We packed with a rainy mindset. We were prepared for water and wetness and floods. But not the heat. OMG. The heat.

5. The sun came out the day we arrived. And it turned out the computer lab where we would be teaching the kids in did not have air conditioning.

6. Bad for the 35 or so people inside the classroom, even worse for the two server computers that had to work overtime because of the 30 users plugged into it. Those damn things just kept on freezing up and the workshop schedule was all screwed up because of it.

7. But fortunately, things looked up the following day (which was the last day of the workshop) that allowed Ramon to teach the kids how to animate.

8. How can I forget to talk about Rose Pharmacy? It’s like the best place to be. Ice cream. Cold water. Milk. Cookies. Chocolate. We would go there everyday just to buy things we pretended we needed.

9. And of course White Beach! University of Eastern Philippines, the place where we taught the kids, had a beach on their property! Probably about 3 minutes away by car from where the workshop was held. Of course we went to the beach after class, I won’t deny it.

10. The beach had weird water: warm in one spot and then cold a few centimeters away. It must be the mixing of currents from the Pacific Ocean and the Philippine Sea. Weird but cool (no pun intended) effect.

11. So while the kids weren’t able to learn animation in time to finish their own project, we still had them draw their characters. The cool facilitators (that’s us!) did their magic, and voila!

Oops, I just checked youtube and the video hasn’t been posted yet. You’ll see it soon. I did the sound design for it. I never knew mixing sound was so fun! And I learned a few basics on Final Cut Pro. Was actually serious about studying the program but then life got in the way.

I got to go inside the under-renovation art deco theater for an article I did about the work being done on it. Plus side was that some of my pictures got used for the article (I just don’t know which ones, I don’t have a copy of the issue yet.)

The most recent one I covered was the newly refurbished hotel along Roxas Boulevard, Midas Hotel. We got to go inside and walk about the rooms and sit in the pretty lobby. Only I didn’t get to take pictures of the lobby because I was feeling lazy (bad travel blogger, I tell you).

Not to preempt my article which will come out next month I think, here are some pictures to give you guys a taste of what Midas Hotel is all about, in all of my camera’s grainy, amateur glory.

The walls have been cut out and a light is placed behind it, creating an effect much better than any kind of wallpaper.

Better shot of the wall cut outs.

The decor on one of the floors. Very tropical.

So there. Just one of the few things I’ve been busy with.

We stayed at Batan, where the capital, Basco, is. However, we were fortunate enough to visit another island.

Sabtang lies south of Batan and is about 30 minutes away by boat from the port of Ivana, which is also in Batan. Sabtang is more known for its really old stone houses and was even made into a UNESCO Heritage site. Unfortunately, it no longer holds that title due to some or other reason. Sad, as places like these need to be preserved and recognized as an important part of our culture.

Going to Sabtang was rough and the waves were wild. Most of us got woozy after the boat ride but I was still captivated by the bluest blue water I’ve ever seen. It looked solid with how blue it was.

When we arrived at Sabtang, the local school had let out the children for recess. I happened upon a group of them playing marbles.

Rows of Ivatan houses, some of them lived in, others left to the elements.

Sabtang is known for its mountain ranges that look like a sleeping lady, erm, beauty. This is the profile of the lady’s sleeping face.

These are glass floaters that the fishermen find in the sea. From what I remember our host told us, the floaters are used by the Chinese fishermen (Taiwan is much closer to Batanes than the Philippines is, or so they say).

Cute Ivatan dog (aka Chitu). I just put him here because he’s so cute.

We had lunch at one of the beaches here. But we weren’t able to swim because the water was shallow (you had to walk about a hundred meters or so to get to the deep part) and it was too cold.

So we just walked the length of the beach. Along the way, we spotted this dead puffer fish.

The other island (Batanes has three major islands), Itbayat, is found north of Batan. Locals say that it would take 3 hours by boat to get there, if you’re coming from Batan. With the kind of seas that the area has, I don’t think I’d be able to take that kind of beating. But that discussion is moot anyway, as we didn’t have enough time to go there. Maybe when I come back. Whenever that will be.

Batanes is almost mythical from the stories I’ve heard. That it’s always typhoon weather there, the winds are very very strong, and the stone houses were built like that because of the very very very strong winds.

Well, the wind was very strong when we were there, but it wasn’t unusual for a hilly and mountain-y place. And it was cold. Very very cold. To quote verymarykate, it was brrrr in Batanes.

And absolutely beautiful. We went crazy taking pictures over there. I almost took no effort at framing my shots because every bit was picturesque. Lovely. It could almost make you forget that you were in the Philippines with how different the geography looked.

I’m trying my best to limit the pictures I’m going to post in here, so if you want to see more of Batanes, visit my flickr.

This was the plane we rode on to get to Batanes. Our flight was the second one that left from Manila, the other members of the team were on the first one. But somehow, we landed ahead of the other flight, mostly due to the cloudy skies and lack of lights on the runway. Yes, there are no lights on the runway. It’s not that Batanes is backward, it’s just that no one has bothered to install lights there. Paging people responsible.

Batanes topography is very varied. It can be rocky at one part and hilly and grassy in the next, sometimes even beside each other.

They’ve been using the text speak “UR” way before it was the norm to spell in text speak.

A cove with the bluest pool of water.

The hills of Batanes.

Ivatan stone houses. They said that this is the oldest Ivatan house. And that they change the straw roof every certain number of years. I just don’t know what number.

There are a lot of cows in Batanes. Hanging out on hills. Standing on rocky cliffs. Grooving with herons, I think. It’s like New Zealand with all the cows and the hills. The shires, they beckon!

Fundacion Pacita, the chicest and the most expensive hotel in Batanes. We just visited. Cool artwork inside it.

Basco Lighthouse.

Batanes is known for its garlic, apparently.

Don’t let the blue skies fool you. It was clear and blue early in the morning but it rained a couple of hours after until the day ended. View from Brandon’s Lodge, where we stayed. This is overlooking the city of Basco, Batanes.

These boats are called Tatayas, Ivatan for boats. Just hanging out on the shore.

We didn’t just sightsee, of course. This was a work trip, and although it didn’t feel like work, we did work (that was a lot of “work” in that sentence).

We held the workshop at Batanes National Science High School with 30 freshmen and junior students. This group is probably the sweetest batch we’ve handled. They sang thank you songs after the workshop, and a group of them even toured us around the city and pointed out the sights and shops and made us feel really welcome.

I even learned a few Ivatan words, thanks to them.
Tatus = coconut crab
Marida = snail
Tataya = boat
Chitu = dog
Manuk = chicken
Tyuka = the end!
Kayvan = friend

So if ever I need a boat to catch snails, I know how to ask for it. Heh.

Here’s what the students did. It’s called Kapakasinchad su vayu a Kayvan (Meeting a New Friend).