This was our first time riding an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) in our lives, in a place where we have been to the first time as well. Talk about our personal first times, but we weren’t expecting for a great adventure with nature at Valencia in the province of Negros Oriental, as we head to the foothills of Cuernos de Negros.
Author: Bernardo Arellano III
How to Get In and Out of Dumaguete Airport?
Sibulan Airport (IATA: DGT | ICAO: RPVD) or Dumaguete Airport, is the main gateway serving Dumaguete City, the province of Negros Oriental, and even neighboring Siquijor. It has daily flights from Manila and several flights a week from neighboring Cebu. Although petite in size, the airport has been serving an increasing number of tourists flocking this side of Central Visayas.
It is one of the most accessible airports for public transportation, given its proximity to downtown Dumaguete and it’s even beside the main road of the province. Despite being associated with Dumagute, the airport is actually located in the neighboring town of Sibulan. Don’t worry, it’s only three kilometers from downtown!
Here are some of the tips on how to get in and out of Dumaguete-Sibulan Airport using public transport, which is…simple:
Mount Samat: Of Calvary, Remembrance, and Valor
A big cross on top of a mountain dominates the skyline of rustic Bataan Peninsula. Mount Samat’s familiar scene reminds the mostly Catholic Filipinos of our soldiers’ kalbaryo to defend the Philippines till death during the Second World War. An extinct volcano, it was the site of one of the most enduring battles of the Pacific Theater of World War II.
Samat was said to be the last stronghold of the joint Filipino and American forces that defended the country against the advancing Imperial Japan. A force of more than 70,000 struggled to fight amid limited resources, hunger, and a decreasing morale for three months in Bataan. In the end, on 9th of April, 1942, the joint forces surrendered—said to be US’ largest surrender in its history.
Calle Real de Iloilo: A Southern Queen’s Royal Road
“Ang kwarta ginapiko, ginapala!”
The quote may now resonate Negros Occidental’s sugarcane industry, but it has lingered in the laid back yet progressive port city of Iloilo.
When sugar was still sweet, the people in the central islands of the Philippines established an “empire.” The once mosquito-ridden and swampy fishermen’s village became one of the islands’ international hubs—second to the capital. Its influence was widespread and brought a legacy that changed the islands’ history and society.
Lin-ay, the daughter of the mythical ten chieftains of the west, became the Queen of the southern islands. Then her children constructed magnificent buildings in its heart, along the Royal Way—a testament of greatness of an era. Seemingly Gatsby-ish isn’t it?
Maribojoc Church: Gaze Upon the Heavens
Before that fateful morning of October 2013, Maribojoc Church was a pilgrimage site for the devout locals and was a repository of Bohol’s church ceiling masterpieces. The coral stone Diocesan Shrine of San Vicente Ferrer, once stood wars and other calamities that beset the paradise island of Bohol, is no more-for now.
On Easter Sunday of that same year, several months before the earthquake, we had an opportunity to visit the Church of Maribojoc, which is located a few kilometers north of the Bohol’s capital Tagbilaran City.
Ruined Church of San Pablo of Isabela
Perhaps it was the last church we have visited that cool Friday afternoon in Isabela Province of the north, but is one of the most profound. In the town of San Pablo (de Cabagan) lies an old Spanish colonial era church in semi-ruined state.
First built in early 17th century, San Pablo Church is said to be Isabela’s oldest, if not the oldest in the entire Cagayan Valley. The town itself was one of the earliest settlements during the Spanish colonial era in the valley, then called Cabagan Viejo. The current stone church, unique in the province (or perhaps the entire Valley) for the only one built in adobe instead of the prevailing red bricks, was built in 1700s under the Dominican friars.
How to Overcome Envy on Travel Blog Posts?
Let’s face it. We bloggers or readers sometimes do feel jealousy or envy with our fellow bloggers or the ones we follow. In the community of travel blogging, hide as we might, but we do feel envious to our fellow blogger whenever they go somewhere else, celebrate, or relax. In the era of social media, this has become a menacing fact, we guess or perhaps feel psychologically. Sometimes these emotions affect not only ourselves negatively, but our relationship towards other people as well.
I for one do feel this sometimes, given that I haven’t traveled much for the past few months.
However, we can divert this sort of negative feeling to a positive approach. How can we minimize or overcome this remorseful feeling of “I should be there too” or “(S)he shouldn’t be there” or “Nakakainggit naman!” into “a call for action?” Here are some of the tips:
Seven Reasons Why Not to Sleep while Traveling at Halsema Highway
Halsema Highway is the Cordilleras’ major artery, linking urban Baguio City to most of this mountainous region. It is also called “Mountain Trail,” “Vegetable Highway,” and “Philippines’ Highest” due to obvious reasons: it is a road in the mountain, it is where most of the veggies are carried, and at one point it is at its highest in the entire Philippine highway system.
Enough of these factoids. There are seven reasons why you shouldn’t sleep over whenever at Halsema Highway, especially when travelling between the “Summer Capital” and Sagada this summer season.
Finding Tranquility in Davao’s Linosutan Beach
Talicud Island in Davao Gulf is indeed a floating emerald laced with pearly white sand beach. Despite its proximity with Davao City, it has maintained its countryside laidback charm. Although there are several notable beaches here such as in Babu Santa and Isla Reta, if you really like to be just alone-no commercial establishments whatsoever, then head to Linosutan Beach on the western coast of the island!
Located in the western side of the island, Linosutan Beach may just rival Boracay’s powdery white sand beach which stretches for kilometers, dotted with coral rock formations in between.
