Do-It-Yourself Bicol Roadtrip (Part 2): 5 Things To Do in Albay

We checked in at Balmar Hometel at Daraga, Albay. The Hometel is owned by my friend's auntie. The rate is 435 pesos per head. We were 6 in the room. There were 3 beds and one bathroom. It’s relatively roomy for 6 people. You can reach them at (02)3462973 or 0906-591-0785 or 0932-879-1791.

Here are 5 things you can do in Daraga and Legazpi, Albay:

1. Take a pic with the glorious Mayon Volcano

It’s not a Bicol Roadtrip without a picture with the magnificent-looking Mayon Volcano. It’s a perfect-coned volcano that really needs no further introduction.

2. Visit Landmark Places - Daraga Church and Cagsawa Ruins

Daraga Church or Nuestra Señora de la Porteria Church (Our Lady of the Gate) is located in the municipality of Daraga, Albay. It’s a beautiful old church with the view of the grand Mayon Volcano.

Cagsawa Ruins are the remnants of a Franciscan Church and a reminder of the most violent eruption of Mayon Volcano. Today it stands as one of the most famous landmarks in Bicol. The glorious content of postcards from the region.

3. Go cam-whoring in Misibis Eco Park

I don’t know if this place could be reached by public transport. The place is an hour drive from the center of Legazpi. The place looks amazing! I would have loved to spend more time here but we needed to leave early. Entrance fee in Misibis Eco Park is 25 pesos per person.

Misibis Amphitheater

 

Misibis Church

Note: The Misibis Bay is different from the Eco Park. Misibis Bay is a luxury resort and a few-minute walk from the Eco Park.


4. Try Bicol Delicacies

Of couse, you must try Pinangat! Some say it’s different from Laing; some say they’re the same. I’m confused, really. All I know is that from someone who hails from Camarines, Norte, the Pinangat I tried in Legaspi was the best. Visit Dad’s Special Pinangat. It’s cheap and delicious! And don't forget to try Bicol Express.

We visited 1st Colonial Grill. The food was okay. It’s the ice cream you should try. They were legit flavored-ice creams. We tried these flavors: gabi, sili, pili, tinutong na kanin, kamote, malunggay, cucumber, salabat and kalamansi. They were all worth a try. My favorite was pili ice cream. It tastes like an ice cream I’ll buy everyday and I just really love pili when used in desserts.

Try the streetfood as well! Here we were on the streets near Pacific Mall, Legazpi.


5. Enjoy the scenery

Support our local tourism industry. Visit the Bicol Region! 

Do-It-Yourself Bicol Roadtrip (Part 1): Burias Island, Masbate

Note: This is the first part of a two-part blog of our 3-day Bicol (Masbate and Albay) Roadtrip.

Getting to Burias Island, Masbate

I would have loved to share how to get there by commuting, but we traveled by car. If you’re commuting, there are buses that will take you to Naga. Less heavy traffic, it takes 8 hours to get there from Manila. From the terminal, take a jeepney to get to Pasacao Port. For a more detailed way on how to get to Pasacao, visit Lakwatsero Blog.

If you’re bringing a car, you can leave it in Pasacao Port for 6 pesos per hour. We left ours there for 33 hours (forgive the rhyme).

From Pasacao Port, Naga, we took a lantsa/boat to get to Burias Island, San Pascual. The boat ride takes two (2) hours. Fare is 80 pesos per person. Burias, San Pascual is where the Tourism Office is located, but that’s not really where the activities are concentrated. In the Tourism Office, you would have to pay:

Environmental Fee - 50 pesos per person
Usage Fee - 10 pesos per person

SOMBRERO ISLAND

Tip: Water and food are expensive on Sombrero Island. If you’re tight on the budget, you can eat first in Burias before traveling and checking in at Sombrero. We also bought our drinking water in Burias because they said water was expensive, but we bought one and the price was regular.

I think the accommodation in Sombrero Island is relatively new. They have a lot to improve on their services. I would have preferred that they inform guests upon checking in of all the fees that have to be paid. I honestly didn’t know who was in charge of the place. I think a small community handles the guests, but it’s hard to tell who’s the point person. On a positive note, they’re pretty chill and they pretty much leave you alone.

Maybe the services were like that because they’re not used to people checking in on the cottages. You can just pay the entrance fee and set up a tent. There are comfort rooms and you just have to pay 50 pesos per gallon of water. There’s also a karinderya (small store) for your other needs. Burias Island is unspoiled and raw so don’t expect to get pampered.

This is what we spent on Sombrero Island:

Entrance - 30 pesos for 6 people
Cottage - 3000 pesos (accommodated 6 people)
Extra drum of water - 300 pesos
Food* - refer below

PROS AND CONS

Note: There is no alternative accommodation on Sombrero Island.
The cottage was big enough for 6 people. It has one bathroom. It was a comfortable stay despite a lot of missing amenities.

CONS

I do hope that they no longer ask for an entrance fee when you’re about to check in on one of their cottages. That doesn’t make sense to me. But again, I think they’re really just used to people spending overnight on their tents; hence, the entrance fee.

I was okay with 3,000 pesos for a small cottage for 6 of us for 24 hours. What was not okay was there were just 2 pillows and no blankets.

They have a problem with electricity supply because of a typhoon so the power supply is cut off half of the day (from 6 AM to before it’s dark -- if I remember it right).

They also have a problem with water supply. They get their water all the way from Burias. So if you consume your 1 drum of water included in your cottage fee, you would have to pay an additional 300 pesos for another drum.

MAJOR PRO

All criticisms aside, Sombrero Island has an amazing view, shore line, water, sand, and vibes. It is unspoiled and raw and really beautiful. Only a few people were on the island when we visited. There was a huge young group who were there with us, around 20 of them, but even then the island didn’t look crowded. I would come back, really. I think all my criticisms are due to the fact that they don’t have a lot of people managing the area. Also, they have a water and power supply problem because of their remote location. The fact that there were people accommodating you is already a big plus for tourism. If you don’t want to spend as much, bring a tent. Anyway, I like the chill vibe as always. You just check in, take care of yourself and enjoy.

ISLAND HOPPING

Supposedly, from Burias, you start your island hopping, but we opted to go straight to Sombrero Island to leave our things and freshen up. Because of this change, we were asked to pay an additional 500 pesos on top of the 4,000 pesos we had to pay for the boat ride services. The amount covers the travel from Burias to Sombrero Island and then back, and the island hopping. There were 2 persons (Kuya Bernardo and Kuya Yolando) in charge of our motorized boat and they stayed with us the entire time - around 28 hours.

We just went to 2 islands. Our priority was Animasola, and it was a little far from Sombrero. I think the boat ride took us more than an hour. It was worth it. The rock formations are amazing. We had our lunch there (we brought our own lunch).

Part of Animasola Island 

Then we went to the Tinalisayan Sandbar. By the time we got there, it was high tide so we didn’t see any sandbar.


We returned to Sombrero, had some booze fix, swimming, dinner, more booze, then capped off the night lounging on the sand and under the stars. We left early morning to catch our 9 am boat ride from San Pascual to Pasacao Port.


SUMMARY OF COST

Boat Services
For Island Hopping - 4,500 pesos for 6 of us (usual rate is 4,000)
Tip - 300 pesos
*Food - 120 pesos per person per meal.

Kuya Bernardo, one of the kuya’s in charge of our boat was in charge of our food. I don’t know if you can order food from Sombrero people, but when we needed dinner and breakfast, Kuya Bernardo took care of it. So our payment for boat services included food.

Tourism Fees
Environmental Fee - 50 pesos per person
Usage Fee - 10 pesos per person

Lantsa from Pasacao, Naga to Burias, San Pascual - 80 pesos per person, one way

Sombrero Island
Entrance - 5 pesos per person
Cottage - 3000 pesos (accommodated 6 people)
Extra drum of water - 300 pesos

Others
Pasacao Port Parking - 198 pesos for 33 hours
Toll, back and forth - 572 pesos
Gas (for our entire Bicol Trip) - 3,000 pesos

* * *

Thanks for reading! Enjoy your trip!

Mt. Pamitinan Travel Guide

How to Get to Brgy. Wawa, Rodriguez Rizal

Our meet up place was in McDo, Kia Theater, Cubao. We walked our way to Farmers Market to ride a van going to Rodriguez, Rizal. Fare is 50 pesos per person.

From where you'll alight, you can just ride a tricycle or jeepney to get to Brgy. Wawa.  In our case, we rented the same van for 330 pesos for a special trip to get to Brgy. Wawa. There were 11 of us.

Once you arrive, you would have to sign up, fill in a waiver and pay the environmental fee of 2 pesos per person in Brgy. Wawa/Tourism Office. You would be assigned a tour guide. In our case, there were 11 of us in a group. We were assigned 2 tour guides, Kuya Tomas is the main one, and Kuya Jimmy was his auxiliary.

It’s the Cliiiiiiiimb!

We started the trek at around 9AM. Pretty late compared to those who arrive when the sun was not yet up. This bridge will be the start of your trek.

The trail is very beginner-friendly, but don't be fooled... it's still pretty challenging. 

For rock climbing enthusiasts (and daredevils I must say), there's this part where you can rock climb.

There's a part near halfway the trail where you can rest and buy buko or melon juice for 15 pesos per cup.

It took us two and a half hours to get to the summit. I think we were slower than regular. It was a combination of a lot of factors, like there was actually a lot of people hiking during that time. Di lang sa Manila uso ang heavy traffic. Some of the paths were really narrow so we did a lot of waiting for other people to pass.

Summit 1

We reached summit one, had our lunch, waited for our turn to take pictures. The group before us --- I think they were more than 10 in a group --- took a long time to take their pictures. One of them maybe had 10 poses. We waited, I think, for 30 minutes. We were very patient and even cheered for them when they make their poses, may it be awkward or more awkward. :)

When it was our turn, we took just 1 to 2 shots each. We were very sensitive to those other groups waiting in line, knowing that our group was pretty huge. Unfortunately for us, the group after us were an impatient bunch. Anyway, they didn’t rain on our parade. We left and went to the second summit.

Second Summit

Fro the second summit, you have to use a rope to get to the top. We chose not to get to the second summit. The sun was really high at that point. It was past 12 noon. The lines were long. And we just couldn’t wait any longer, knowing that the group before us in the first summit was also waiting in line, and there was another huge group currently taking their pictures. We left and started our descent. Boo! But honestly, summit 1 was more than enough for me. The view is almost the same.

We started our descent. We took a different route going down. It took us another 2 1/2 hours to descend. This was where we exited.

Here’s some Wawa Dam pictures.

 
How our day went (these are approximations)

Departure from Cubao	6:45 AM
Arrival at Brgy Hall	8:30 AM
Finished Registration*	9:00 AM
Start trek	9:00 AM
Summit	11:30 AM
Finished with lunch, photo op	1:00 PM
Start Descent	1:00 PM
Arrival at Brgy Hall	3:30 PM
Departure from Rizal (after bath)	4:30 PM
Arrival at Cubao	6:00 PM

Note: We were relatively slow in pace. Read other blogs and you’ll know you can do this trip way faster than we did. We were just really taking our time.

*It took us a long time to register. The lines were long. And also, they ran out of barangay-registered tour guides (yung may ID as the locals say) so we had to do some waiting and convincing for some people to be our tour guide for the day.


COST

Van fare, Cubao to Rodriguez, Rizal (and back to Manila)	50 pesos each
Rodriguez Rizal to Brgy. Wawa	10 pesos trike/jeep*
Environmental Fee	2 pesos each
Brgy donation	Any amount**
Melon/Buko juice (optional of course)	15 pesos each
Tour guide	We paid 500 pesos each tour guide***
Bath (again, optional)	25 pesos each

* In our case, we rented the same van for 330 pesos for 11 people
**We gave 100 pesos. We’re generally generous, plus there were a lot of us.
*** We always pay 500 pesos per tour guide wherever we go. But according to other blogs, 400 pesos per tour guide is the usual rate. Just make an additional pay if you're doing a twin hike to Mt. Binacayan. 

Going home, we rented the same van we rode going to Rodriguez, Rizal, then Brgy. Wawa. If you want to do the same, just get the kuya driver's phone number and talk to him about picking you up from Brgy. Wawa to Cubao.We paid kuya driver 1000 pesos. 

Hope you find this post useful!  Good luck on your next hike! Please be extra careful. And enjoy! Please remember "to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but pictures".  Let's all do our part to make sure that other people, especially the next generation, will get to enjoy this adventure.

Mt. Daraitan Climb - Travel Guide

How to commute to Daraitan

- Ride an SUV in Starmall, Shaw to get to Tanay, Rizal (70 pesos)
- Take a tricycle from Tanay to Brgy. Daraitan (125 pesos)
             - pay 30 pesos per trike to cross the bridge
             - sometimes you’d have to cross the river by raft (10 pesos per head)
- Once you’re in the barangay hall of Daraitan, you would have to register and secure a guide.

Note: It took us 3 hours from the time the SUV departed Shaw to the time we started the climb. Don’t be surprised that the trike ride would last one hour.


What to expect

A lot of blogs would say that this climb is for beginners. I am no expert so I won’t be rating. But what I would say is that for someone who exercises almost regularly, it was still a challenge. It’s not the usual beginner’s climb that you just do a lot of regular walking. It’s a lot of uphill trek. Be ready to carry your weight. I’ve done a good amount of hiking in college, all beginner’s climb. Mt. Daraitan was the hardest beginner’s climb for me, maybe I just grew older. It’s of course achievable. I’m just saying it’s no walk in the park.

Tips:

1. The first 2/5 of the trek is the hardest. Just push through it and you’ll be fine. You'll get used to it after.

2. If you can avoid carrying tons of things, do so. It’s almost uphill from start to finish, so if you can lessen your weight, it would be easier.

3.You can take a bath in the barangay hall and there are bathrooms for a fee near Tinipak. Bring extra clothes.

4. For my size, 2 liters of water was just right for the entire trip. There’s water for sale near Tinipak River, but that’s at the end of the entire trek.

5. There's a man selling ice cream for 25 pesos.

6. It’s a long walk to get to Tinipak River, but it’s worth it. You’re already there and you probably smell, go take a dip.

Budget plan (per head)

- SUV to Tanay - P70 (P140 back and forth)
- Tricycle to Brg. Daraitan - P125 (P250 back and forth)
- Bridge Fee - P10
- Guide Fee - P100 (It actually depends how many you are in a group. 500 pesos is the usual pay. But to me, that seems inadequate because they will stay with you the entire day.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total P500

Additional cost if you are going to hike to Tinipak River, Quezon:

- 5 pesos per head - Entrance
- 10 pesos per head - Trike to get to the barangay hall (it’s a long walk from the river to the trike bay; even longer if you would walk to get to the barangay hall)


This is how our day went (Rough ITINERARY for you)

630 - Departure from Shaw (plus waiting time for the van to be full)
8:00 - Arrival in Tanay
9:00 - Arrival in Daraitan, registration
9:30 - Start trek up Mt. Daraitan
12:00 nn - Summit arrival, lunch, photo op
13:00 - Start descent to Tinipak River
15:00 Arrival at Tinipak River.
17:00 - Walk and Trike back to Brgy. Daritan
19:00 - Departure, head back to Tanay, Rizal via tricycle
20:00 - Tanay
22:00 - Manila (with moderate traffic)

Pangasinan Roadtrip - Hundred Islands and Bolinao Escapade

The itinerary for our Pangasinan weekend roadtrip is to go to Dagupan, Alaminos and Bolinao.

We left Manila by Friday night and arrived in Dagupan to get some rest in my friend’s place. Saturday morning, we traveled to Hundred Islands, Alaminos, Pangasinan.

Hundred Islands

I’ve read about Hundred Islands in my elementary textbooks, but I’ve never really had the chance to get there until last weekend. 

They said it was better to explore the islands during the morning since in the afternoon, there's already low tide and there are activities you won’t get to experience, like cliff diving. But we arrived around 11am so we really had no choice but to experience it during the afternoon under the scorching heat of the sun. If you’re arriving around the same time, it’s better to eat first (if you’re not bringing any food) since there’s really no food choices on these islands.

Arranging Your Hundred Islands Tour

To start your Hundred Islands tour, you would have to get to Lucap Wharf. If you’re traveling by car like we did, there’s a free parking lot. Once you’re there, go to the tourism office, talk to one of the officers, and you would need to fill out a form. You would be assisted by the officer.

Costs:

(1) Boat fee: It depends.

Determine how many you are and what kind of boat you need . There are small (1-5 persons), medium(6-10 persons) and large boats (11-15). Determine whether you’re renting the boat for a Day Tour, Overnight or you’re using it as a Service Boat. If you hire a Service Boat, your assigned tour guide will stay with you during your entire trip. Here are the rates:

Grabbed from keeping traces.blogspot.com

(2) 250 PhP per person for snorkeling

If you’re going snorkeling, you would have to pay 250 pesos for each person for the equipments.

(3) Insurance - 10 PhP per person

(4) Registraion/Envirnonmental Fee - 40 pesos per person

What to do in Hudred Islands

- There’s an activity in each of the major islands. In Governor’s Island, you can visit the PBB house and climb to the view deck to take a picture.

Among the other activities you can try are:

- Island Hopping
- Snorkeling
- Swimming
- Cliff Diving
- Zipline

Don’t worry. You can just ask your tour guides on what you can do in each of the island. You would have to pay additional fees for other activities like snorkeling and zipline. Cliff diving is for free, but make sure you have a vest. No vest, no cliff dive.

We didn’t get to experience the cliff diving since there was low tide, but we swam in the Imelda Cave which is the underground river -- also a bat cave -- where people do the cliff dive.


There are other islands/islets you can go to. In our case, after snorkeling, we just passed by these islands since we were already exhausted. We proceeded to Bolinao, Pangasinan.

Bolinao Pangasinan

We stayed in my friend’s cousin’s place in Bolinao. Ate Cute was the most gracious host anyone could ever ask for. She also accompanied us in Patar Beach and Bolinao Lighthouse. I like seeing lighthouses so that was really fun for me. 

In Patar Beach, cottages only cost 700 pesos.

To end our Pangasinan trip, we planned to go to Manaoag Church, but it was already late in the evening so we weren’t able to pass by.

Pangasinan is just a few hours from Manila. If you’re broke like us, you can definitely visit these places since for a small budget, there are plenty of activities you can do and plenty of places you can visit.

Day Trip in Minalungao National Park

I have a friend who has a great place in Nueva Ecija. She told us that we were always welcome to visit so when I saw a post in Looloo about Minalungao National Park, I immediately bookmarked it. Prior to reading that post, I never knew this place existed.

I went to Nueva Ecija with my law school friends. It was our Christmas break and we were broke (Hashtag Student Life) so we opted for Nueva Ecija for the second time. This time we planned to go to Minalungao.

From my friend’s place in Nueva Ecija, we traveled by car to Minalungao. Halfway our trip, we did ask ourselves if we were on the right track. It was a very remote place Only a few people were there when we arrived. The children around the area can be your tour guides. Just generously pay them after the tour.

What to do in Minalungao National Park?

We did some rock climbing (for lack of a better term). We really didn’t expect that we would so we were not wearing appropriate outfits. One of us is in a dress, one in a formal wear. My slippers were slippery. 

There is a cave, but it’s not much and it doesn’t look that safe to me.

Some of us did some swimming.

The fun part was rafting. We rented the raft for 600 pesos. It actually costs more, but we got it for a cheaper price because we only used it for a few minutes. It costs more (P800) but you would have it for the whole day.       

We didn’t experience the thousand steps since it was already reaching nighttime.

What made Minalungao fun for us?

We didn’t know what to expect so everything we did became so much more exciting. Being in unsuitable clothes, climbing rocks was definitely a challenge. We also enjoyed the rafting. The greatest part is that there were only a few people around so the place was really serene. 

Photo credit: Minalungao National Park Facebook Account

What you see in the picture, the color of the water, that is the actual color. The place really has this pristine quality. I can’t imagine this place being crowded. 

Would I recommend Minalungao National Park?

It depends. If you intend to go there from a farther place, let’s say Manila, don’t expect a lot. What you see in the pictures is practically the entire thing. It's a small place. But still, you would definitely enjoy it too if you just want to relax, rent a raft, chill and swim for the day. If you’re coming from a much nearer place like Nueva Ecija, you should definitely go and support and love your own. It's a must for you if you're from Nueva Ecija since it's your very own hidden treasure.

Sagada Weekend Experience

This is my first attempt to blog about my traveling experience. A lot of blog sites helped me set up itineraries for our travels so I thought I would blog about my adventures too, hopefully, to give others information they’re seeking before they begin their trips.


Bus to Sagada

We left Manila, by car, around 10pm Friday and arrived in Baguio around 3am. We left the car in Baguio to travel to Sagada by bus.

According to my researches, buses to Sagada leave at 4am or 4:30am so we went to GL Lizardo Bus Station around that time and queued, but the first bus arrived at the bus station around 5am. By that time, there were already so many people. There was a few commotion since so many people waited and queued for how many minutes, almost an hour, and there was no proper assistance on who should board first so people went a little kru kru. I think only 1/5 was able to ride that first bus to Sagada. We were among the few. My friend literally had to fight for our spots because we were the first ones there. I don’t know the schedule of the next trip. The GL Bus Station is not yet properly equipped to handle so many tourists, especially during the weekends.

Lodging - Ligaya’s House and Cottages

We wanted to reserve one of the cottages but it was fully booked. We got one of the houses for 300 pesos per head. Ligaya’s is a little far from the town proper, but we didn’t mind. They provided transportation for a cost. Since there were a lot of us, we were splitting costs so it was very minimal. Here’s their more responsive contact number: 0920-784-9633 

Sagada Saturday

When you arrive in Sagada, you would have to go to the Tourism Office and pay an environmental fee. They will also give you a piece of paper outlining the places to go and at what cost. We received our copy from our hosts from Ligaya’s. It’s the same for everyone. 

From Saturday lunch to afternoon, we visited the Echo Valley, Hanging Coffins, Lumiang Burial Caves and Sumaguing Cave. Spelunking at Sumaguing Cave is a must. You have to experience it for yourselves. It’s a lot of fun especially when you’re with friends (or maybe significant others). It may be a little tough for children.

Sagada Dinner

For our dinner in Sagada, we had some trouble looking for a place. There were so many people in all the famous places. We walked down the entire strip. We ended up having our dinner in Sagada Brew. That was probably one of the worst dining experiences I had. We waited for more than an hour for our food. I think the next table waited for 2 hours because we were already eating while they were still waiting. It was horrible. The food didn’t even taste that good. They should do something about their terrible service.

Mt. Kiltepan Experience

Before we arrived in Sagada, there were already a lot of news articles about how tourists ruined Mt. Kiltepan and Sagada in general. I was ready to be disappointed, but I wasn’t. It was around 5am when we left Ligaya’s House to go to Kiltepan via van. There were numerous cars lined up to get to the peak. It was like Manila traffic all over again. Did that disappoint me? Not entirely. From the way I see it, it’s a great thing. Tourists of Sagada waking up early in the morning chasing the sun. It was quite an experience.

What is horrible, however, are the noisy tourists. I didn’t mind that we were cramped up, but what annoyed me is the noise. Can they just take a selfie and SHUT THE FUCK UP? I don’t understand it. You traveled so far to witness this sunrise and all you’re seeing are your faces on your phone.

Good thing I am used to shutting down the world to focus. And I can clearly remember those few minutes when the sun started peaking through the mountain, when the first non-violent rays hit my face, and when the sun finally showed its entirety. That glorious circle. You can look at it directly for the first few minutes without hurting your eyes. 

It was a magnificent sunrise above a glorious sea of clouds. That. That cannot be taken away by any noise.

Sagada Breakfast - Misty Lodge

Misty Lodge breakfast redeemed Sagada dining experience for us. There were very few people when we had our breakfast there. There were just two groups, including ours. No horrible long waiting and the food was great.

Departure

We were planning to go to Bomod-ok Falls -- but blame it on our tiring lives maybe -- but we decided to go home earlier. By the way, there are no buses leaving past 2pm they said. We shopped before leaving. It was another 6-hour ride to Baguio.

Cost:

I spent around 3,000 pesos for the whole trip. That already includes:
- Gas (Manila-Baguio and back)
- Bus fare from Baguio to Sagada and back (220 pesos per ride)
- Meals (around 200 pesos each meal for famous places) you can go cheaper
- 300 pesos for lodging (2D1N)
- Tour prices and Guide fees (it will depend on your itinerary)