CDO, Bukidnon, Camiguin, Iligan - FEB 2012

With Carl, Marlon, and April

Bukidnon tour c/o a local tour company. Zipline at Dahilayan Adventure Park in Bukidnon

Passed through Del Monte farms in Bukidnon.

Iligan day tour was, again, from a local tour company. A van fetched us from the hotel and took us on a road trip to Iligan. Tour included Ms. Cristina Falls, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Tinago Falls.

CDO food trip included dinner at Bigby's Cafe and Restaurant (nice decor and good food), Kagay-anon restaurant (ordered an ostrich dish) . Attendad mass at Cagayan De Oro Cathedral. Stayed at Victoria Suites, no elevator but has free wifi and is at city center.

White Water Rafting at CDO

Rode on an Oceanjet to Camiguin. Stayed at Bahay Bakasyunan.

Went to Ardent Hot Spring, White Island, Mantigue Island Nature Park, Katibawasan Falls, Guiob Church Ruins, Sunken Cemetery, Soda Swimming Pool. Bought lunch at J&A Fishpen.

Snorkeling at Mantigue Island

Summer MAY 2011 : Singapore and Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

Enjoyed a cross-country trip with Dianne, Apple, Kath, Fred, Hazel, Stan, and Pam.

Met Hazel and Fred at Kota Kinabalu on May 6. We stayed at King Park hotel.

Itinerary included white water rafting at Kiulu River, located in the Tampuruli district and Kinabalu Park and Poring Hot Spring tour at Mt. Kinabalu. The tour was with EXOTIC ADVENTURE . Frankly, it was fun because of the company and not the actual tours. The rafting was tamer compared to our CDO rafting and the hot spring was a disappointment. Poring Hot Spring had small tiled pools with faucets. Not the nature-like pools we were expecting.

It was the island hopping tour that redeemed the Kota Kinabalu trip. Manukan island had lots of activities to offer, including a costly underwater "scuba diving" activity.

And the beach was very nice, with it's white sand and calm waters. Boracay sand is still whiter and finer, though.

A short flight afterwards and we were in Singapore! Stayed at Traveller's Inn which had a common restroom but was clean and nice enough for our short stay. Being near Lavender's MRT station was a plus as well.

Universal Studio's The Mummy Returns ride was so fun that we had to take the ride twice.

Labor Day Weekend outing

I and a bunch of people coordinated with Travel Factor to arrange a Cagayan de oro-Camiguin trip last May 1-4, 2009.

Day 1

Flight to Cagayan de Oro at 8:30am. Landed at CDO airport around 10am. Took a 2hours drive to port Benino in Misamis Oriental to take a roro to Camiguin port. Then another 45 mins jeepney ride to Golden Sunset Beach Resort.

We were at the resort around 3pm. Off we go to White Island for some beach bumming and photo op.





Day 2

Camiguin day tour.

1st stop is the Vjandep main shop near the parola.

Next is the Katibawasan Falls. The water was too cold for the girls to take a dip.






Lunch and snorkeling were at Mantigue Island. This is a great snorkeling site if it weren't for the fact that we had only a short time to snorkel, our life vests were horrendous, it was cloudy, and the waves were big!



We enjoyed the most the Ardent water spring with one of the spring having a temp of 39 degrees Celsius!

Some picture taking in the old church and sunken cemetery to cap our day trip.

And dinner at Pizza Luna.

Day 3

Back to Cagayan de Oro for our white water rafting and zipline activities. Winner ang rafting! It was the highlight of the whole trip!








Day 4

Ikot ikot sa Limketkai mall for pasalubong and lunch at Kagayanon. Had ostrich (yum yum!) for lunch and sizzling bulalo!

We were back at NAIA Terminal 3 by 6pm.

Blog update

Melbourne trip

I was in Melbourne again last Jan. 26 to Feb. 7. I was sent there for a database encryption project. Had time to travel to new places but didn't have much pictures since I toured the place alone.

Highlights of my tours were the Yarra River cruise and the trip to Melbourne Zoo.

For the river cruise, I took the Combined tour package, it was a tour up and down the Yarra river. There were a lot of beautiful sites and bridges that we passed during the trip.

Since the Australian Open was on-going while I was there, I was able to watch the Women's final match between Serena Williams and Dinara Safina. The match was pretty boring since Serena bulldozed her way to the championship. The match didn't even took an hour to finish. But the experience was worth it and I did not regret taking the opportunity to watch it. I was hesitant at first to pay AUS $ 25 when I will be watching it outside the arena, in the nearby park, with just a big screen. Fortunately, I still enjoyed it because it's a new experience.

Pagudpud trip



My sis have a blog post about this already and since she's a better writer than me, go to her blog post for the tour details.

Some more info though. The room we had in Ella's Cottages was a bit pricey but it was worth it. It costs us Php 4,500 a night and had 3 double beds, air con, and en-suite bathroom.

Our trike tour guide, Bong Malata, was very nice and accommodating. Original price for each tour was Php 600 per trike but even before I can try to bargain, he already offered a discount to us! So the 2 days tour which should have cost us Php 2,400 we got for Php 2,000 only. And he was like our personal trike driver there because when we had to go somewhere, i.e. market or bus station, he wass just a text away! He would pick us up from wherever we are and deliver us to where we wanted to go! Nice di ba?

We took the Florida bus to Pagudpud. It costs Php 550 per way. Their trip schedule is always at night, you leave Manila at night and arrive in Pagudpud in the morning or you leave Pagudpud at night and arrive in Manila in the morning. There's a bus going to Laoag during th day and from there you can take a bus to Manila if you prefer traveling during the day. Since most of us sleeps like the dead anyway, the night trip was ok with us. We just slept through the 11 hours of travel.

Cebu-Bohol Holy Week Trip



Again, please read dear sister's blog post for more info. :D

For the financial details, our tickets to Cebu took around Php 4,200 each. This excludes the Php 200 terminal fee at NAIA terminal 3 and Cebu airport. The SuperCat round-trip ticket we bought at a discounted price of Php 500 from the GO2 ticket outlet in People Support building in Makati.

We stayed at the Citadel Inn in Panglao, Bohol. We rented a room with 3 double beds at Php 1,800 per night. That's pretty cheap for a tourist spot! It had air con but we had to share 2 bathrooms (1 male and 1 female) with another room. There were no en-suite bathrooms in the Inn. Here's their email address and mobile number for inquiries and reservations:

email: citadelalona@yahoo.com
Mobile number: 09182411763

Citadel Inn was not a beach front place but it was quite near the beach. We only had to walk 5 to 8 minutes to reach Alona Beach.

On our 2nd day of the trip, we rented a boat early in the morning to chase dolphins. On the 3rd day, we had a Chocolate hills tour. We bargained with the organizer to have a discount on the tours and service back to the Tagbilaran port. This is what she offered:

Dolphin watching tour
Original cost was Php 1,800. She offered it to us for Php 1,600 with 2 free snorkel set rental. The tour includes about 1 hour of dolphin chasing and a trip to Balicasag Island for snorkeling fun.

Chocolate Hills tour
Original cost was Php 3,000 but we got it for Php 2,500.

Trans-out or service back to Tagbilaran port
When we arrived in Tagbilaran port, we managed to bargain with a van driver to take us to Citadel Inn for Php 600. Original price was Php 800.

For the trip back, we got a discounted price of Php 500 from the original quote of Php 700.


In Cebu, we booked 2 rooms at Westpoint Inn. The standard room was Php 750 and the Deluxe room was Php 950 per night. We again rented a van for a city tour for Php 2,500. The tour is for 8 hours and Kuya Rolly Estopace (Mobile #: 09164283017) was very nice and friendly. He was not only our driver but also our tour guide for the trip.

Blue Coral outing with long time friends

After much planning, Carl, Marlon, Abi and I were able to finally settle to go to Blue Coral for our summer getaway this year.

We had several options since there are a lot of summer resorts along Laiya, San Juan, Batangas but we chose Blue Coral since it has beach front property and swimming pools.

Our trip started with a bus ride from the bus terminal in Buendia. We rode a Lucena bound bus at Php 108 each. We alighted at the Candelaria town and took a jeepney ride to San Juan at Php 18 each. Another jeepney ride after that to Barrio Hugom at Php 30. The jeepney passes through the gates of Blue Coral.

We availed of the day tour buffet offered by the resort. It costs us Php 800 each. The buffet included lunch and merienda. The lunch was ok, not great but ok. The merienda was a disappointment. They served just sandwiches. I liked the food in La Luz, another beach long Laiya, better.

On our way home, we had some trouble getting a jeepney ride from Blue Coral. We rode a tricycle instead. The tricycle ride costs us Php 150! Highway robbery indeed! And this is not even up to San Juan town. This is just to the nearest jeepney terminal that will take us to San Juan town. After that, we took a van to Lipa City. This costs us Php 60 each. There were a lot of people in the Lipa bus terminal and we had to shove our way in a bus back to Buendia.

Here are some of our pictures.

Labor day outing 2008

For our annual Labor Day outing, we went to Poracay!

Poracay lies amidst the remains of the ash fall and lahar flows of the Mt. Pinatubo eruption more than a decade ago. Going there means driving through the mega dike created to contain the lahar flow and through the various constructions they are making there right now. No public transportation passes through Poracay.

The water in their 3 pools was very refreshing. It seems that the water comes from a nearby stream. The water in the pool was not chlorinated and was cool to the skin even if the sun was at it's hottest. There was also a mini lake where we did some "boating". It was a good place to spend one hot day.

We rented a bahay kubo (nipa hut) for 1,500. This nipa hut had it's own toilet with shower, small kitchen and dining area, 1 double size bed, and 1 electric fan. Food can be brought in and there's a grill outside every nipa hut.

Here are some pictures of our day.

Summer 2008: Puerto Galera

My friend Carl was jealous of her officemates who had been touring the country for the past months that she invited us to go to Puerto Galera as soon as she cam home from Japan. And so we were in Galera from April 5 to 7.

We stayed at the Buenalynne's Beach Resort along the White Beach stretch. We stayed there for 2 nights and it was pretty good considering the location and the price. It's a beach front resort and our 2 nights stay costs us Php 3,500 per night. It had 2 double size beds with a/c and a private toilet. We rented an extra mattress for 500 for the 2 nights for 2 of my cousins who came with us. Our party was Carl, Marlon (Carl's hubby), Dianne, Emond, Kuya Dondel, and of course me!








We rode the banana boat at Php 200 per person and we rented a motorized boat for our snorkeling at Php 2,000. The kuyas withe motorized boat made the trip more fun for us! They were a riot! They told us stories of the places we went to and they were funny guys who kidded with us during the trip. They even had a blue starfish that they asked us to have our pictures taken with. We were lucky to have hired them instead of the cheaper kuyas because not only did they brought us to the Coral Gardens where not most of the bankeros go to but they also made sure that we enjoyed our trip. Thanks kuyas!

We also tried the night life at Galera. The place was hopping at night! There were a lot of people in the bars and in the beach itself since the bars cannot accommodate all of the party goers. We tried the Mindoro Sling of Galera and it really has a punch (pun intended)! On our 2nd night, we opted to stay in our room and order the famous cocktail drink and play cards instead.






And of course, Puerto Galera trip is not complete without our tatoos!

Holy Week 2008: Day 4 (Easter Sunday)

We attended mass in Vigan Cathedral on Easter Sunday. The mass was in Ilocano so we did not understand much of the mass. Afterwards, we walked along Calle Crisologo, this is where most of the preserved old houses are located. This is also where most of the souvenir markets are.



We also went back to Baluarte to visit the animals there in broad daylight. The kids had fun riding the small pony kalesa,



the butterfly garden,



and the tigers.



We then continued on our way home. The End.

Holy Week 2008: Day 3 (Black Saturday)

Mother wanted to go to Vigan since Christmas last year. And since no one yet in our party have ever been to Vigan, we were easily convinced to continue with our road trip to Vigan, Ilocos Norte.

The trip was another long one! From Bolinao, Pangasinan we had to travel around 6-8 hours to go to Vigan. After that long trip, we just had to take a picture when we saw the Vigan arch.



We took a kalesa ride to see the more popular spots in Vigan. The kalesa ride costs us 150 per hour and our ride was a little over 2 hours. The ride took us to Bantay Church, Padre Burgo's old house, Hidden Garden, the old houses along the way and to Chavit Singson's Baluarte.



We spent the night at Grandpa's Inn. It costs us less than 3,000 for an aircon dormitory type room. There were 8 double beds and 8 free breakfast the following morning.

Holy Week 2008: Day 2 (Good Friday)

Good Friday arrived bright and early!

We were so excited to go to Treasures of Bolinao so we woke up early and continued with our journey from Alaminos to Bolinao.



When we arrived at Treasures of Bolinao, we were surprised because the rates they told us was way too much than what they advertised in their website. According to the page, day tour was 250/pax for the use of the beach and the pool. We were told that Holy Week rates are higher ... and it seemed way higher! We were asked to pay 660/pax. But this rate includes lunch already and the corkage for snacks and drinks were waived. And since we were already in love with the spectacular sights, we gave in. In return, they gave us a discount. There were 14 people (11 adults and 3 kids) in our party and they only charged us for 12 adults.


We were not able to do much swimming in the beach because the water was either too low or too high. Instead, we took the time to do a lot of picture taking. Here are some of the great shots we had:

Supergirl?



Vince, watch out for the croc at your back!



Run Tito Pitch! Run!



Woahhh!



That is not to say we did no swimming while we were there. There was a pool that satisfied our craving to swim/dip in the water. And make new friends!



And the dramatic sunset view gave us another fantastic backdrop for pictures.