Gearing Up for Mt. Pinatubo

Things to Bring:

• Hiking shoes or sandals (if you will be crossing the river, I suggest you bring sandals)
• Cap and Head Gear (to cover your nose if you are to ride 4X4… It gets dusty during summer or if it did not rain…) you can get this at a cheaper price in SM malls under accessories area, I got mine for Php  75. You can find some good stuff in Divisoria too price range 75 - 150.

• Shades or Eye Protector (same reason as above)
• Sunscreen
• 2-3 liters of bottled water
• Energy bars
• Comfortable hiking shorts or pants
• Comfortable clothes
• Arm sleeves or biker’s sleeves

• Extra clothes
• Earth mat or blanket which you can use once we are at the peak
• Jacket (Van’s AC might get too cold)
• Pillow
• Hiking Bag (make sure that you don't bring too heavy stuff because we are just having a day tour)
• Extra Money
• Camera or Camcorder to capture your memories
• Patience and appreciation

Enjoy and see you!

Ilocandia Trip 2014 - Day 2

We went along and rested on our first at Jun and Carmen Beach Resort at Pagudpud. We swim a little to drench our body with Pagudpud salt water. It's nice to be one with the nature again.

The next day is going to be busy yet another fun adventure with my travel buds Aiah, Ronnie, Katchi, Tin, Pochie, Tina J., JJ (/Jiji), Ryan (Bang!), Rhose, Ate Mimi, and Kuya Noy (power-swerving-driver). Day 2's to go list are the following:

Patapat Viaduct - a nice bridge built beside the mountains which gives you a scenic view of Ilocos waters.

Paraiso ni Anton - a small yet known as a Miraculous Falls

Bantay Abot Cave - a magnificent seems like man-made cave which looks like a whale with an eye or a submerged 5 Philippine centavo coin (It looks like a duck or an elephant or a whale to me). Just an FYI there's a block of rock that fell from the rear side that day when went to Bantay Abot Cave, I'm hoping the local government should at least put a marker not to get inside or near those falling rocks to prevent future accidents.

Blue Lagoon - a mysterious and tranquil view of a vast ocean and fine sand. It's cold waters makes you want to soak and bask in the sun with your friends or love ones.

Hope you like the pictures and it's more than meets the eyes guys. I don't edit photos so you see what you get. The weather is hot which is typical in northern Luzon but you can always find ways to make things cooler.

Chill time and travel time is fun as you get to experience more things along the way!

Ilocandia Trip 2014 - Day 1

I went out with 10 of my friends to Ilocandia last May 29 - June 1, 2014 (Ikhay sorry I'm not at there to celebrate your birthday!). We went to the following places in Ilocos and enjoy a long ride from one town to the other.

Here are the places you can visit on Day 1 of your tour which we also went thru.

Calle Crisologo at Vigan

Padre Burgos Church & Plaza at Vigan

Baluarte

Ferdinand E. Marcos Presidential Center 

Paoay Church

Malacañang of the North

Sand Dunes

Kapurpurawan Rock Formation

Above list shows all the places we've been before finding our way to rest at Jun and Carmen's Resort in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte.

Message From an Old Friend... (Sagada?!?)

An old friend message me in Facebook saying how he enjoyed reading my blog post. I thank him for that and then he asked me if I have any idea about Sagada! Well bro you got me there and this article will hopefully help you out. "Iyayi na co no maco camo sa Sagada! hehehe"

My Sagada trip started when Ikhay and Jonathan asked me to join their tour. It was a tour with GAFA and to tell you guys Kuya Frederick our driver is really fun to be with even he always stays in the van to take a nap (hahaha... laglag). So like anybody who will be going to Sagada for the first time and does not want to take any hassle of commuting and have everything scheduled for you, I would suggest you get this a tour like this one we've got. (I'm not promoting GAFA guys, it's just they are the one who served as our host).

The tour costs around Php 5,000.00+ per head for 13 pax inclusive of the fare, food, and tour package. This might have changed as we had our tour last year of February. So James if you are thinking of going to Sagada, try to consider this (a friendly reminder... lolz)

Pick up point is at Trinoma, I don't know if there's another pick up point and we drove 10 hours to Benguet and about 11-12 hours to Sagada. In Benguet you'll be stop for a short time to have breakfast, photo shoot with the en famous Banawe Rice Terraces as your background, check out some Bulul, and feel the breeze of the Mountain Province then you will be led to uphill-downhill-zigzag drive to Sagada.

Following were included in the package:

• Drive along Sagada
• Extreme or Basic Spelunking (I will tell you about this on the next post)
• Hike at the rice terraces back and forth to Bumud-ok Falls
• See some locals and their tradition
• Eat at Salt & Pepper
• Taste a delectable yogurt (put some strawberries in or wild mountain berries! mangoes too)
•  Enjoy rebound of sounds in the Echo Valley
• See the hanging coffins
• See the only museum in the town
• Enjoy eating Lemon Pie and Egg Pie too
• Get frozen while watching Sunrise at Katilpan
• Enjoy the scenic view Mountain Province can showcase

Hope this gives you a little idea pare koy about Sagada. I will be writing a different article of the whole Sagada feel with photos too.

Mi-quit Tamana Bolinao! Part 2

After eating a full breakfast we head off to Picucubuan just to see the port then moved to Guiguiwanen where I introduced yellowish sand which is like “Polvoron” as per my co-travelers. The sand was really fine but the Guiguiwanen beach which we once enjoyed swimming on when we were kids, no longer looked like the same. The old Marinara bar is no longer there but the view is still as scenic as it was see the vast blue ocean. There were some fish pens at the right side but all in all it is still a great view. 

Then we walked far left to see the Subor or Bukal (Spring) where we found some kids swimming and a lady washing her clothes. After which we climbed up Fatima Hill and saw more of the view from an overlooking. Then walked more toward east and found two (2) lighthouses which are smaller than usual. I remember there was only one (1) lighthouse (parola) before which concluded the other one was a new working lighthouse.

We stroll back to UP Marine Science Institute to supposedly see some giant clams but we failed as the UPMSI’s team is at UP Diliman having their school activity. Nonetheless we were advised to have a boat ride to Silaqui Island for Php 600.00 by the security guard whom my tourists agreed to pass.

I took them to my Uncle’s resort – El Pescador or The Fisherman resort. It was midday and the sun hurts our skin so bad so we decided to go back to my Aunt’s house (supposedly the restaurant – Mitoshi) to have our lunch but we came too early so we had some halo-halo (with fresh ripe mangoes which Bolinao also is famed of) to beat the heat for Php 20.00 only. Had some laugh moments during the waiting period and we were called for our lunch with crabs, grilled Parrot Fish, and Siganid Fish in Cashew Meat Stew. These flavours were all been missed since childhood and it brings back memories of picking ripe cashew fruits and of course keeping the seeds aside for roasting.

Where the Movie - THE BEACH was Shot...

I never thought I was able to step in to one of Leonardo di Carpio's movie - The Beach.

The Beach movie was a film of Danny Boyle which is an adventure drama based from Alex Garland's book with the same title. The book came out in 1996 while the movie was shown in cinemas in 2000. 

We went to Phuket and this is one on our To-Go list last October 2012. We joined a group tourists which toured Mayabay and swam in its clear waters where Leonardo Di Carpio swam too.

Vannie and Ronnie were my travel mates on this Ko Phi Phi Island.

Maya Bay View from our speedboat.

tour and was pretty much enjoyed a quick tour of the area. I just browse my Facebook account and found this picture in my Instagram link which I forgot my log on credentials so I'm trying to retrieve as much picture as I can and share them with you guys.

Tip:

When your boat docked at Mayabay; enjoy, swim, take as much photos, run along the shore, and swim more. Why because you'll never gonna stay there for long if you have joined a tour group.

I will give you more details on my Phuket tour at some other time. I will try to show our tour package as well so you will be have an idea of the whole tour.

Mi-quit Tama na Bolinao! (Part 1)

It has been years I have not seen my hometown and now with a group of few friends, I was able to visit the place that once took me as a child.

I grew up in this small town of Bolinao, Pangasinan then moved to Manila at the age of 13. I was still looking forward in seeing my hometown as I remember it. So I rallied the TamaRaw! Hikers group in FB to set a date and scheduled our Bolinao tour. I was planning this as my test travel package I create. The package I took for the group (supposedly of 10 -13 pax) is Php 4,000 – Php 4,500 which includes a ride back and forth Manila in safely driven Hi-Ace.

Planning along, I scheduled a tour for the group and advised them to prepare the following before we took off:

•  Summer outfits (preferably comfortable, loose, cottony, for beach… etc.)

o   Sando or razor backs or shirts

o   Swimsuit

o   Rash guard

o    Board shorts

• Slippers or sand shoes
• Sunscreens
• Shades or sunglasses
• Head gears, Hat, sun visors, cap, and the likes
• Umbrella
• Camera
• Your own towel just in case vanity strikes
• CASH – there’s an ATM at Aliminos but it’s a far travel once you get to Bolinao so better have cash handy.

·

Lani and I came first and I had a few sips of my personalized caramel macchiato in Starbucks around 11:00 PM – 12:30 PM and soon we moved to our meeting place. Not long waiting Son, Ellai, and Alvin arrived, then Marz, after which Kuya Aaron, and Rhei. Time check: 1:30 AM and we (Lani, Rhei, Alvin, Marz, Ellai, Son, and me) are left waiting for Rhose to arrive from work at our meeting place in North Avenue and will depart at exactly 2:00 AM. At last she arrived and we are able to move our things to our Van with the help of Kuya Aaron who drove as fast and safely to Alaminos around 5:00 AM. We took some photo at Alaminos town center and had our pee break after the long 3 hour trip (but this really is sooooooooooo FAST) then we drove to Bolinao took some photos at the Bolinao marker (arc) while enjoying the view of the sunrise.

We arrived at the Bolinao town proper and drove directly to St. James Parish Church and the Municipal Hall. We prayed and took some photos then I showed them the Binunguey Sellers at the church’s gate. 

I called up my Aunt, Jasmine Camba, then we drove to her restaurant (which turned out we ate in her dining table) for breakfast. We famished ourselves along the way with little of Puto Calasiao and Kuntsinta so we can eat more of Bolinao’s very own Binunguey, a good grade of Danggit (oh so fresh!), and eggs. It was really a great day seeing my aunt again and as well as enjoy those little breakfast feast served wholeheartedly by my aunt and uncle. (Abaw a salamat Ante tan Uncle! – Thank you very much Aunt and Uncle!).

(To be continued...)

Summer Plans

It's summer again... This tells me to list down what my summer vacation plan looks like. Here are some of my plans for Summer of 2014:

February 08-09, 2014 - Zambales Getaway

• Mt. Pundaquit Trekking
• Anawangin Cove Camping
• Capones Island Trekking and Scenic Viewing

March 12-13, 2014 - Ocean Park, Manila and an overnight stay at H2O Hotel. (Cancelled)

March 22, 2014 - Shepherd of Hills Foundation, Inc. Charity Event with U! Happy Events

April 5-7, 2014 - Advent APAC Offsite 2014 at Crimson Hotel Resort and Spa at Mactan, Cebu

April 11-13, 2014 - La Luz Batangas Trip Part 2 (Cancelled)

April 17-20, 2014 - Lenten Family Getaway at Bolinao, Pangasinan

April 26-27, 2014 - Coco Stilts Resort at Batangas (Cancelled)

May 3, 2014 - Barkada Dinner and Kamustahan

May 9-12, 2014 - Unexpected Boracay Trip! (Inserted)

May 17-20, 2014 - APAC Professional Services Offsite 2014 - Hong Kong (NEW!)

May 24-25, 2014 - Coco Stilts Getaway (to be pushed!)

May 30, 2014 - Vigan, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte Trip  (NEW!)

June 01-02, 2014 - Vigan, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte Trip  (NEW!)

November 2014 - CDO, Camiguin, Bukidnon and Iligan