Sunday, January 5, 2014

Tiara's 2013 Travels

Here’s a summary of where I’ve been (literally) in the past year. Short review and travel tips included!

January
Flew to Iligan City from Manila to spend a few days with my friend. Went to see Maria Cristina Falls for the nth time. Got on a Rural Transit bus and traveled six hours to Davao City and spent the night at Costa Marina Beach Resort in Samal Island.

Maria Cristina Falls in Iligan City. Costa Marina Beach Resort in Samal Island, Davao del Norte
Costa Marina: Nice cottages, reasonable price. Food is okay. What I like about this place is that they have maintained the nature-y feel of the beach and “forest” instead of clearing the land to build concrete structures. If you like, you could also bring tents and camp at the beach.

February
I had friends from Manila visiting me for a few days! Yay! They did the usual tourist-y day-trips—Paradise Island in Samal, Eden Nature Park, Malagos Garden Resort, Philippine Eagle, Jack’s Ridge. I threw in a few not so usual eating places in their itinerary—Coffee for Peace, Casa Munda, PonceSuites, Backyard Burgers, Bankerohan Market. We also visited the Davao Contemporary Art Gallery! They stayed at Green Windows Dormitel.

Buying fruits at Bankerohan public market

Green Windows: Rooms are kind of cramped for four people with two beds but price is okay. Not for the claustrophobic. The room they stayed at in Green Windows ironically did not have windows. I'm not a big fan.

April
Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bataan
Went to Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar in Bataan for a day trip of visiting heritage houses. I like old things so I had a lot of fun. This place is a bit pricey but we got a voucher from MetroDeal or CashCash Pinoy (I can’t remember). We also went to Mt Samat; there’s a memorial for the soldiers during the Death March. Overall a good day of history. It's a loooong drive to Bataan so make sure you have a good driver. My awesome father was our driver. :)

Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar: They have a batis-inspired pool which focused more on aesthetics rather than safety. The pool looks really beautiful but it’s slippery and you can easily bump your head in the big decorative rocks. There were also some corners of the pool where water was stagnant. The heritage houses looked really well restored.

June
A friend from Manila spent a weekend in Davao. We went to a resort in Samal owned by the family of my former workmate. It was a chill, beach bumming weekend. The resort is also near Hagimit Falls so we did a little side trip. Just make sure that it didn't rain the previous day/night to have a better appreciation of the falls.
 
Fernandez Beach Resort is well-known in Samal, accessible by public transport
Fernandez Beach Resort: Accommodations are cheap, nice, and clean. The beach is okay, though waters are not as clear as in the parts of Samal Island I frequent. The resort has a lap pool! Food is delicious and cheap but food service is not very efficient. The resort can get crowded and noisy on weekends.

July
Lawyer friend visits me and stayed less than 24hrs. Haha.
Another friend from Manila spends a weekend in Davao! We went to the default touristy place—Paradise Island. I have been to Paradise Island countless times for a day trip but this is the first that I actually stayed the night.

Paradise Island: I really liked how they took care of the small details showing they have really studied the behavior of Filipinos who go to the beach—foot wash at the entrance of all cottages, clothes line in the yard, plastic bags to store wet clothes, etc. Paradise Island is the default tourist destination because their food is good, their beach is nice, and their accommodations are very comfortable. Good value for money. Just be prepared to be with a lot of tourists though.

July
Blue Waters Beach Resort in Samal Island
I did my mid-year retreat at Blue Waters Resort in Samal. I always do a mid-year retreat as it helps me “get away” and take stock of the year so far.

Blue Waters Resort: Accommodations are okay, nothing spectacular; structures are quite old. I had a good view of the sea though so I wasn’t complaining. They have a saltwater swimming pool! Food is forgettable, nothing special. This resort is not as accessible as Paradise Island.

September
I went to Bohol with friends visiting from China and Nepal. Bad time to travel by sea because of the monsoon rains. I was traumatized riding the SuperCat from Cebu to Tagbilaran, Bohol. Worst time of my life, I really thought I was going to die. Best thing about this trip? Free food and accommodation! It’s always fun (and cheap) to have a friend who is a local. Had a lot of fun snorkeling. We arranged for a boat and snorkeling guides with Panglao Tropical Villas. We travelled to Panglao by finding random motorbike drivers willing to drive us. Haha. We haggled for a bit and settled on a good reasonable price for bringing us over to Pangalao and fetching us after our day of snorkeling. We also did the customary Bohol city tour—Chocolate Hills, heritage churches, tarsier, man-made forest, Loboc River cruise. This was a couple of weeks before the big 7.1 earthquake that hit central Visayas.

Chocolate Hills, Loboc River cruise, Panglao beach in Bohol

Panglao Tropical Villas: Staff is accommodating. The snorkeling fee (gear and guide) was only PHP300/head. We snorkeled at the Bellevue side of Panglao because the winds were too strong to go over to Balicasag Island. I did my first dive in Balicasag Island three years ago and I fell in love with marine life so it was sad that our friend from Nepal couldn’t experience that. We also went over to the famous sandbar. Two years ago it was a public place, now it is fenced with a sign that says the name of the guy who has bought the island. Sad.

City tour: We booked through a car rental service. It was a good deal with five of us splitting the expenses. The Loboc River cruise is the height of being touristy, I think. But it was entertaining enough so it was okay.

September
I did a side trip to Cebu on my way back to Davao. I visitedthe Cebu of my childhood. For the most part, Cebu has changed a lot. It has become a highly urbanized city. The Cebu I know is Jones Ave, St. Theresa’s College, and Urgello-Aznar only. Interestingly, these places haven’t changed much. I find it funny that tourist-friends go to Cebu and when they find out I am Cebuana they assume I know the Cebu they know. No. The Cebu I know is small and unassuming. I’m still the small-town Cebuana, not the flashy party girl Cebuana most tourists know. Stayed at Cendet.

UCCP Cendet Guesthouse: Straightforward backpackers dormitory at PHP300/night, along Jones Ave.

November
Diving group (big picture), the view from our villa,
intro/discovery divers with master diver/instructor,
swimming with turtles!
Went to El Nido for a few days to accompany a couple of foreigners visiting the Philippines. We went diving; were also supposed to go island hopping but there was a storm on the first day we were there so the Philippine Coast Guard cancelled all boat trips. The diving was amazing! El Nido unseated Balicasag in my heart. Haha. The dive was arranged by Submariner Diving Center/Habibi. The dive masters were awesome. I really appreciated how they weren’t just doing it as work but were really passionate about marine life. Saw a hawksbill sea turtle, green sea turtle, and a huge stingray. I am a "master" intro/discovery SCUBA diver because all my dives in the past three years are all intro/discovery dives and still no money to actually get certified. Haha. We ate all our meals at the “strip.” Nothing spectacular, everything is sort of the same. Spent a couple of days in Puerto Princesa and discovered Casa Nieves owned by director Dante Nico Garcia. Lunch at Ugong Rock was the best food we had in the whole duration of our Palawan trip.

Makulay Lodge, El Nido: Great view of the bay! You’d have to walk up almost a couple hundred steps though. The villa we stayed at was spacious and quaint. I really liked it. Plus, it wasn’t in the “center” of El Nido so it wasn’t as busy.

Princess Armicha, Puerto Princesa: Nothing fancy here. Straightforward “locker room” in the city. Good cheap accommodations if you just need a place to sleep in and are not really prissy. Staff is accommodating too.

December

On the speedboat to neighboring Malipano Island, snorkeling,
"birthday" dinner, sunbathing :P
A friend treated me to Pearl Farm for my birthday. I am not really a fan of expensive, flashy things. Opulence makes me feel uncomfortable because I can’t get it out of my head that the Philippines is a third world country and it’s not right that I “squander” money when so many kids are going hungry. But my friend really wanted to try Pearl Farm. The service was awesome! I have never met a happier staff. They were accommodating and pleasant and fun. Made me wonder how much a Pearl Farm employee gets paid since they seemed to be very happy with their jobs. Haha. The food was great. The beach, accommodations and resort facilities were really good. Pearl Farm is somewhere I’d go to once. Because it’s too expensive to go there more than once. Haha. And it’d be an insult to (my) poverty. Big thanks to my friend who took me though. I really appreciated it.

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