~manila, you're not that ugly

While many believe that Boracay is a lost cause, my love for the island will always push me hopeful.

So so very glad to read there’s now an ordinance to ban smoking on the beach.  Hope to see more positive actions like this from the newly launched Boracay Beach Management Program (BBMP), “a long-term project to address the island’s environmental concerns brought by the booming tourism industry” chaired by Boracay’s very mayor himself, John Yap.

Welcome to Bahay Kalipay, a house of healing in Palawan, where I found myself on a quiet inner journey for six days barely a month ago.

There’s something about going barefoot that invites opening up, a baring of sorts..

…and this daily habit of having to take off one’s shoes and walk with naked feet on the floor is simple but it does what it is meant to do… which is to disarm, interrupt, like a cymbal clanging in a church, or maybe more like a flute in a library. It is strange but not unpleasant, maybe even friendly…

Living in a communal setting also disarms– especially for someone who values private space and the comforts of familiar noise or absolute silence.

I went to Palawan to visit my old friend, Pompet, and still no day passes that I don’t go back to those six days and wonder what really happened there.

When you go to a place expecting to live simply and commune with nature, you prepare yourself by leaving behind your city habits…  As someone who has no attachment to TV, newspapers, radio and magazines, I didn’t expect to have to adjust much.

I went with a passive mindset–I was there to observe, I was just going to watch.

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Will finally be going on this 5-day boating expedition I’ve been dreaming about since July..woohoo!

(Image from Tao Philippines)

I came across Tao Expeditions while researching for a trip to El Nido, and raved to friends that it was exactly how I wanted to explore Palawan:

Open Expeditions take groups of independent travellers between El Nido and Coron through the Linapacan Group or vice versa. This is our playground of over 200 islands and covers a 150km journey through the most remote region in Palawan, connecting Coron and El Nido.

Was so downcast that I missed the voyage season by a hairline (boats don’t go out to sea during the rainy season of July to October), but all is fair to those who wait:  Am now good to go on my first ever island expedition in November, yahooo!

More about the boys behind Tao from their website, www.taophilippines.com:

Tao Philippines was founded in 2005 by Eddie Agamos Brock, a native from the Northern Province of Luzon. After 10 years of extensive exploration of the remote provinces of the Philippines, he finally chose to settle base in the Northern Palawan islands. His friend and cofounder Jack Foottit, a British architecture student,  designer of the business and build up the projects.  ‘We wanted to explore deep into the island culture of this vast archipelago, and experience real island living. This is one of the most beautiful regions in the Philippines. For us this province is a playground of hundreds of tropical islands, nobody comes up here, over the years of our expeditions we have never run into other travelers.’ (more…)

Let’s #helpDOT!

In February 2008, my friend Heidiklum decided to treat the girls to a weekend of sports, healthy eating, and qt with friends and family in Camarines Sur. We packed our bags and slept ourselves silly on Isarog Buslines’ Lazyboy Extreme, which had such comfortable seats! Not even an hour in Camsur and one of us was already saying: “I’m so excited to go home so I can sleep on the lazy boy again!”

5am Saturday, we arrived at Lagonoy, our homebase for the weekend, where we feasted on laing, homemade peanut butter, fishes, tapang usa, complete with sing-all-you-can videoke

Other stops:
Lagonoy Farm — carabao ride, buko fest, tree climbing, airsoft
Aguirangan Island – sunset bonfire with trusty Granma
Mt. Isarog – photo and wishing op on one of Bicol’s summits
and CWC, the trip highlight — for first time wakeboarding woohooo! pero booo, hanggang kneeboard lang kami! http://www.camsurwatersportscomplex.com/

farm life at lagonoy

aguirangan island

sun sets behind mt. isarog

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Let’s #helpDOT!

Where to go in Roxas, Capiz, Boracay, Iloilo, Guimaras, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Bohol, and Cebu in the Visayas region:

ROXAS Port, Mindoro

Ivisan, CAPIZ

JAWILI Falls (7 basins), Tangalan, Aklan

BAKHAWAN ECO PARK, Aklan

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Let’s #helpDOT!

I was part of the organizing team for the Island Paradise Adventure Race (IPAR) – Visayas Leg, an amazing government project to help boost local tourism in December 2005.   With one-million pesos up for grabs,  thirty backpacker teams raced across Luzon and Visayas on foot, relying on the various modes of public transport–LRT, buses, jeepneys, tricycles, RO-ROs, ferries, etc.  It was my first foray into tourism and government work, and one of the biggest gifts I took from it, aside from meeting so many adventure racers, some of whom grew to be celebrities (Everest boys and girls!), was the direct interaction it gave with the quiet beauty of the “unpopular” and often overlooked areas of the country.

Shown below are various pics around Luzon taken by my friends Hussein and Travis, who were part of the committee that previewed the sites to be included in the race.

PETROGLYPHS Cave, Angono:

The Pacheco home in Morong, Rizal:

Mang Panoy’s Woodcarving, Paete, Laguna:

Pottery-making, Capati Farm, San Jose, Batangas:

(more…)

Let’s #helpDOT!

I visited my bestfriend Jason Gonzales in Iloilo in March 2009.  Jae is my go-to guy for anything related to politics (he’s a governance geek! and I say that lovingly), and he just got elected as Iloilo City Councilor last May (yey!) . Am sure I’ll be visiting Iloilo more often in the next three years, but it was fun reminiscing my first trip to Manduriao, Lambunao, Miag-ao, and Guimaras through these pics:

The Mango Tree — Jason’s garden resto and my home for a week

A lovely ancestral home turned school in the heart of the city…

My first cockfight!

Guimaras is a short boat-ride away from Iloilo.  It’s the land of supposedly the best mangoes in the country, but we couldn’t find any to bring home!

Iloilo scenery
(Posted on May 28, 2009)

My bestfriend Jason took me in for a week last March, and showed me around his home for the past four years– Iloilo and beyond.. Was especially interesting because Jae is such a socialite (Rotary president at 27!), and he rubbed elbows with people who ran cockfight coliseums and Waldorf schools set in vast farmlands…

Highlight of the trip was definitely being shown off as Jae’s bestfriend, to family and friends who love him so dearly. I can say that on my first visit to Iloilo, even if only by association, naramdaman ko na kung paano magmahal ang Ilonggo.. kay namit!

March 24-29, 2009
Manduriao, Lambunao, and Miag-ao, Iloilo
with a day trip to Guimaras

You can also view the album on multiply:  Iloilo scenery – March 2009

#helpDOT

Imagine waking up to this in the morning…

So beautiful.

Last July 2009, I got to spend a few days with my childhood friend and her family in the mountains of Davao del Sur–was the first time I truly understood why great men of prayer would go up the mountains to be silent.

We stayed in their family vacation home-turned-adventure zone, Camp Sabros, where I got to zipline and rappel down a 100-foot tree!

It was also my first time in Mindanao… and I couldn’t have asked for a better welcome to that land of sun and rare rains than this smiling mountain!

Ziplining with Mt. Apo in Davao
(Posted on July 9, 2009)

Camp Sabros, one of the most charming places I’ve visited in the Philippines–for the quiet it offers, and the sense of grandeur and adventure all at once

Barangay Kapatagan, Digos City, Davao del Sur
June 2009

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Excerpts from My first time in Mindanao
(Posted on July 9, 2009)

I was always scared to go to Mindanao without a local to take me around, so when Maan came home for the first time since college grad (7 years ago! wahhh), I took the chance to visit her family’s home in Davao with her for the weekend…

For some reason I packed for the beach and ended up wearing layers of leggings and board shorts to combat the freeeeezing cold!! We were 3,900ft above sea level (Baguio is 4,400ft, but I swear I was FREEZING!!) in Camp Sabros, a super beautiful retreat place/resort put up by Maan’s family in the mountains of Davao del Sur, almost near Mt. Apo, tallest mountain in the Phils.

Trip highlights: “flying” over a pine tree forest, rappelling down a 100-foot tree! Was looking forward to all-you-can-eat mangosteen, but it wasn’t in season (boo! summer daw dapat), so made do with pigging out on durian off the street…oh yummmmm….
:):)

You can also view the album on multiply:  Ziplining with Mt. Apo in Davao – July 2009

Read my post, “flying” in Camp Sabros, Davao.

Inspired by the momentum of #helpDOT, decided to organize my travel pics that are scattered all over multiply and facebook. Starting with my trip to UP Los Banos, Kusina Salud, and San Pablo Lake in Laguna last July 2009:

UPLB’s Fertility tree–one of the visual highlights of the trip:

It’s massive!

And of course, the surprise was this big Manansala right in the cafeteria of IRRI–I hope the people who eat there realize they’re in dining the company of greatness.

UP Los Banos, Kusina Salud, San Pablo Lake
(Posted on July 13, 2009)

Spent yesterday morning breathing in fresh air and resting my eyes, ears and mind in UP Los Banos, an amazing campus (the biggest in the Philippines!) about an hour from Manila. Was just green green green everywhere (along with bugs bugs bugs, but that shouldn’t deter anyone)! Was gifted with the best tourguide ever, Jon, who lived in LB for two years and knew all the secret nooks and crannies that truly make a place home.

We braved the Viaje del Sol agenda (what a fanatstic tourism initiative, more on this later) and picked out Kusina Salud for lunch, and the tour of the lakes of San Pablo for dessert.

July 12, 2009, Sunday
U.P. Los Banos
Kusina Salud, garden restaurant of Patis Tesoro in Bgy. Sta. Cruz, San Pablo, Laguna
Sampaloc Lake, San Pablo City, Laguna
Pandin Lake, San Pablo, Laguna — touted as San Pablo’s best kept secret

Just found out you can embed multiply albums on any website–so cool! Just wait for the pics to load, takes a while:

You can also view the album on multiply: UP Los Banos, Kusina Salud, San Pablo Lake – July 2009

From GMA News:

Starting Wednesday [June 30], Southeast Asian Airlines (SEAIR) will discontinue service to five destinations for the installation of additional exit doors in planes flying to these locations.

The airline’s flights to El Nido in Palawan, San Fernando in La Union; Marinduque; Zamboanga City in Mindanao; Tawi-Tawi; and Jolo will be discontinued on June 30, Wednesday, the company said in a statement.

…

The statement made no mention of the airline’s flight resumption to these areas.

Oh this is a major setback for El Nido tourism.

Been actively planning a trip to El Nido, now the only transportation options from Manila are land travel from Puerto Princesa or boat travel from Coron, both of which have direct flights to and from Manila, or via (expensive) chartered flights from Manila to El Nido. Boo boo boo and triple more booos