manalmon bayukbok adventure

excited much for our trip to bulacan this saturday :)

it will be my third hike, thought i'm a beach person but realized that climbing and spelunking is also fun! :)

manalmon and bayukbok cave, i will conquer you soon. let's get it on!

dreaming of bicolandia

okay. ako na ang excited! just bought tickets to bicolandia for january 2013, oo next year pa, ako na ang atat! but im really excited. this summer i get to experience bicol through calaguas and this time i wanna explore more of bicol. so i actually plotted in google map the places i plan to visit. 1st stop is legaspi and get to see the majestic perfect cone of mayon, and have a side trip to donsol sorsogon to have a close encounter with the butandings. after that will travel by land from legazpi to naga and experience the much talk about cwc wake boarding experience then get awed by caramoan's beauty. sounds like a nice plan eh? lesgow sago :)

DIY itineraries, traveling on a budget

i'll be posting a series of itineraries and budget in the coming days but would like to note that my itineraries are more of a guide and to know how much budget i should save for a particular trip.

whenever i go out of town i make sure that i have an itinerary, to use as my guide and for direction and better plan the tour especially if my visit to that particular area is of limited time, that way i can maximize the time and make sure i get to visit all 'touristy' sites all in one go. but as experience taught me, no matter how much planning you've made, sometimes there are things beyond your control and you just have to go with flow, drop the plan and proceed, after all getting lost and impromptu tours spiced up traveling. so i dont get flustered if i didnt get to do everything on my list (give me an excuse to say that i will just go back) besides as i've told my friend there is no way for anyone to visit a province or a new city in just a day. and more often than not, you just have to trust your instincts and be at the mercy of transportation and travel time. time is essential in full-pack itineraries (which i usually get myself into) so if one hiccup happens, say a boat shcedule didnt leave on time because of engine trouble i dont go sulk and blame everyone, i go out and look for alternative ways to leave or get left behind by a plane going back to manila. what i am saying is, i make my itineraries as a guide, it's not like a bible or dictionary that should be followed verbatim. i thinkg im getting round and round bout it but that's the gist.

and most important thing why i make itineraries is for me to better know how much budget or travel pocket money i should bring in a particular trip. if on a budget, its better to know which sites or attractions or activities you really would like to do or visit and plot it on my excel budget table. and it pays to do a research in advance to have an idea how much the fare or food is going to cost so the budget you make is as close as possbile and so far my budget table hasnt failed me yet and i always get to only spend within the budget i have prepared.

trust me, preparing an itinerary can help you save a lot :)

DAY 1 | TRAVEL iloilo - guimaras

"Once the travel bug bites there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life."

Iloilo was fun and i enjoyed visiting churches, if you have been a regular reader or an 'old reader' of this blog, you would know how much i love taking picture of churches, the older they get the better =) so yeah most places i've visited at Iloilo city were churches :)

so i have finally been to Iloilo and saw for myself the famed Miag-ao Church *happiness* (it's the 3rd out of 4 UNESCO heritage churches in the Philippines that i've visited).

i've kinda miss blogging and i owe this blog (myself actually) to post my travels here since this is like my personal diary as well, so i hope i can drag my lazy ass and start writing down my backlogs. but one post at a time ayt?

so here goes my 3D/2N Iloilo-Guimaras itinerary

note that we were able to get the cebu pacific ticket in one of their sales last February for only PHP 1,039.20 / pax rountrip with 15kilo checkin baggage.

Day 1 - 8 June 2012 (Friday)

06:00 - House to airport (but being a sleepyhead that i am i managed to get out of the house 30mins late)

07:00 - Meet up at NAIA terminal 3 (early yeah but it was already traffic so i arrived at the airport at 7:45 and checkin counter is about to close already, well actually they would have closed but good thing my friend was already at the checkin counter and hold the teller and i already checked in online but we have to deposit our backpacks so there. the teller actually reprimanded me not to be late again, so just made a lame excuse with an apologetic smile to the teller :) (terminal fee is still PHP 200) and bugger i still need to take off my shoes - foot scanner still a myth!!!

08:35 - Manila to Iloilo (flight was delayed for about 10mins) oh btw i won a cebu pacific baller id in one of their inflight games ;p NO! the hello kitty is not included noh. taht's one of my hello kitty x tokidoki 7/11 loot hehe

09:50 - ETA at Iloilo International airport (but still we arrived on time hehe)

 10:00 - as soon as you get out of the airport the tourist center is there, and you can get brochures and ask stuff/help from the friendly people manning the desk. and if i may say, iloilo international airport is very nice and well coordinated. i asked them where to go to the van that would take us to SM and a guy accompanied as outside and soon after the 'barker' of the van fetch us. yup SM but not to go malling *roll eyes* it's because riding the airport van is the cheapest option from the airport to your hotel. we only had to pay PHP 50 per head whereas if you took a taxi it could set you back about 400 or more. travel time is about 50mins.

10:45 - Checkin at the hotel. from SM iloilo city mall (which is the terminal of the van) we took a taxi and took us about 5min or so to get to our hotel (hotel del rio) located at M.H. del Pilar. we're not able to checkin early since according to the receptionist their rooms are full because of the ongoing meeting/convention or something but they willingly let us cechkin our bag. which is quite okay since we really planned to go to miag-ao anyways.

11:00 took a jeepney from the hotel with Oton signboard to get to mohon terminal which is actually don benito acap perimeter terminal.minimum jeepney fare is at 7.50

but unfortunately the only jeep in the terminal going to miag-ao is still vacant and the driver seems reluctant to leave yet, but when i asked him if we can just flag down a jeep from the street he immediately told us to just ride he will just pick up passengers from the iloilo terminal market and we agreed. big mistake! we learned later on that yes you can flag jeepneys from the street and there are lots of them and we travel again back to the city then to the market! and waited for about 15min before leaving and go back again! wasted an hour. we'll we're as much to blame for that mishap and lets get it on and charge it to experience. fare is PHP 50.00

and finally! after about an hour travel from teh city we reach miag-ao and it was so worth it! i have been wanting to visit miag-ao church and one bucket list checked :)

look at the facade! so beautiful. and as i've mentioned earlier this is the 3rd unesco stamped church i've visited. (i would have visited all 4 unesco stamped church in the philippines but i missed that one church in ilocos, but hey , one good reason to come back to ilocos ayt?)

 inside miag-ao church

miag-ao church altar

the caretaker of the church gladly allowed us to come inside and told us stories about the church and took lots of picture of us hehehehe and asked as to sign in our name as well in their guests list. brough us at one corner of the church (where you usually do the baptismal rights) and there is a statue of a mama mary there and of course we had lots of pictures and he pointed out in one of the close up picture of the saint that she's smiling in the picture but if you would look at the statue she's kinda poker face *goosebumps* call it camera trick if you like but still....

 and he asked us to pose again in front of the mother and child and asked us to look in the picture again, and pointed out the virgin mary image on the left and the sacred heart image on the right formed by molds? i dunno but it's cool, go on click the picture to enlarge and tell me if you can see the 'images'

after taking tons of pictures we went out, looking for a place to eat but found none :( and we were hungry already, aside from teh buko juice we got from the terminal we haven't eaten since breakfast and its already after 1pm. and just acroos teh miag-ao church is the miagao municipal hall.

just noticed that iloilo loved jose rizal, noticed lots of plaza with jose rizal in it

no food and hungry but still i wanted to go to san joaquin and see the cemetery. oh yes, i am creepy like that. aside from old churches and ruins, i also very fascinated with cemeteries!

san joaquin cemetery is about 15-20min away from miag-ao church. you wont read in here teh distance in kilometers sorry but i only know how to gauge distance based on travel time. 

tired and hungry, as much as i wanna go and see san joaquin church which i think is another 5-10min ride had to leave after my must have jump shot. besides mau is already falling on her feet with no sleep yet.
we also passed by garin farm (didnt really go there) but i heard it is a nice farm, so should you be visiting soon or in the area now i suggest you go visit garin farm and send me a message with pictures and let me droll with envy ayt?

travel back to city, and has been drifting on and off sleep on our way back. confession: i love sleeping in any moving vehicle. after a very very late lunch at max's (which is very near our hotel) we finally checkin at the hotel and had a nap. too hot and tired to go visit the museums.oh diba dumayo ng iloilo para mag max *toinks*

and a long nap, it's time to go out and check out iloilo's nightlife. good thing smallville complex is just a 5min ride away from our hotel.

smallville complex iloilo is like the hip or gimikan area when you're at iloilo city

had dinner at bauhinia and ordered this mangga bongga! oh diba.

 ordered sinigang na lechon kawali, wanted to try that one but realized that i prefer my lechon kawali dry and crispy. also tried pinaputok na bangus, though didnt liked that one as well. maybe we should have tried one of their bestsellers and just asked the waiter. at elast they are accomodating and attentive. had a couple of beers after dinner before calling it a night. so that's day 1 of iloilo.

Day 1 - ILOILO_GUIMARAS DIY itinerary and budget - total damage to my wallet for day 1 is PHP 1593.00

and i've recently discovered tripline, very cool and easy to plot your travel itinerary in the map, and you can add pictures also. do watch and enjoy :)

pusa beyond the beaches

it is a fact that i love the beach... but i have also been trying other stuff whenever i am out of town

pusa beyond the beaches :)

 zipline at tagaytay

 reef walking at boracay

 white water rafting at cagayan de oro

 snorkeling ( the best snorkeling experience i had is at bohol)

 edge coaster at cebu

 skywalk at cebu

 spelunking at sumaguing cave in sagada

ooopps sorry a lot of them still had something to do with water but nonetheless i still have to try the zorb ball, bungee jumping, diving, para sailing, what else?

so does this mean i am not afraid of water even though i do not know how to swim? YES
not afraid of heights? YES! i am superwoman remember :)
tireless? Not really but if its for travel and photo opps YES

walk with me

walk with me and rediscover the beauty of manila

lakbayan

such a shame to get C- in here, i really need to see all of the 7107 islands of the philippines!

My Lakbayan grade is C-!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.