City of Friendship (Leli's 2014 Birthday Trip) :)

Who said we can only visit the beaches during summer? Or is summer really over? For beach enthusiasts (like us), there's life at the beach even after summer. :D

Leli (the birthday girl) and I left the office (aftershift) at 5:30 a.m., arrived Terminal 4 thirty minutes after, boarded, took off, and after an hour of flight, we finally had a glimpse of where we're heading.

Touchdown: TAG 8:30 a.m.

[Above] That's the birthday girl, Leli, and her beautiful smile, saying hello to the City of Friendship. :)

I arranged a shuttle to tour us around the famous landmarks in Bohol. (Thanks Sir Ramil of Bohol Rent-a-car).

It was Leli's first time here and we enjoyed each and every stops around the province with my ever reliable Redrick mounted on her monopod.

Among the many attractions in Bohol, we visited the Chocolate Hills, Shiphaus, Butterfly Garden, Loboc Bridge, Loboc River, Tarsier Conservation Center and Manmade Forrest. The road to Sagbayan was not accessible when we visited, so we had to drop some attractions from our bucket list.

We also both witnessed the damage brought by the magnitude 7 earthquake last year, same reason why some roads were still not accessible.

So heartbreaking. :(

Moving on, we had our lunch at the Loboc River ...

... followed by an ice cream break at the Bohol Bee Farm.

After 8 hours of fun-filled roadtrip and photoshoots, we finally arrived at the resort.

We stayed at Alona Kew White Beach Resort in Panglao Island. 

It is a beachfront property, and our room was few steps away from the beach.

The 8ft. pool invited us over to take a picture before our dinner.

And the two beach bums [below] enjoyed the feel of the sand beneath their toes every step of the way.

Lights off: 9 p.m.

We went bonding with the sea the next day. 

We started at 6 a.m. and the hotel staff had let us taken out our breakfast.

Leli had coffee, hotdogs and eggs ...

... And I had bacon and eggs and orange juice.

First stop: Dolphin watching

[Below] This was probably the best shot that I've had with the dolphins (and the birthday girl).

Our next stop: Balicasag Island

Thanks to manong boatman and Olympus Tough for these great photos [below].

Our last stop: Virgin Island now known as 

Isola de Francesco.

We went back to the resort after almost 5 hours of sailing, and continued our swimming exercises at the pool. 

What's next? Lunchtime!

That's the two of us at Buzzz Cafe [above].

We had pool bonding and beach hopping and foodtripping in between, followed by sunset watching, moon and stargazing and bar hopping.

Lights off: 12 a.m.

The next morning was spent on the beach, starting with a buffet breakfast, pasalubong shopping and ice cream stopover.

After some last minute picture taking, we packed our bags up and off to the airport we went.

Touchdown: MNL 1:30 p.m.

It was a fun-filled trip with the birthday girl. Until our next trip! :)

Palawan Getaway Part Four - Coron: Days One and Two

Our last stop this summer was spent in the northern part of Palawan: Busuanga. I flew with my baby sister, Leli. This trip is a continuation of our last month's Palawan escapade.

Flight left MNL at three in the afternoon and we arrived USU an hour after.

It was almost sunset when we arrived.

Staff from our hotel waited for us at the airport arrival area and a shuttle service brought us to the hotel. The hotel is about an hour away from the airport.

It was all green on our way to the hotel.

Friendly staff greeted us when we arrived with iced cold orange juice as our welcome drinks. 

We stayed at Darayonan Lodge.

After finalizing our activities for our second and third day, we closed the night with a dinner at Raphaela's.

Our first tour to the West of Busuanga was scheduled to leave at 4 a.m. so we prepared as early as 2 a.m. for our trip. 

Our friendly hotel staff packed a sandwich breakfast for us and 2 bottles of water.

Our service arrived at 3:30 a.m. and we left 15 minutes after. Van rental was 5,500 for the two of us.

We consumed our sandwiches on our road.

After almost 3 hours on the road, we arrived at the port of Calauit, the gateway to the Calamiones Island, where the Calauit safari is located.

Boatride to Calauit is only 5 minutes. Boatman fee: 400 for two pax, roundtrip.

Calamiones Island Entrance fee: 400 per pax.

You may choose to rent a truck to roam around the safari, or you may also walk. We chose to walk with our guide, Florante.

Our first wild animal encounter was with Isabel, the friendly giraffe.

We fed her with leaves of fresh water species of mangroves and spent time with her for almost 30 minutes.

After Isabel, there's Wilbert, the friendly zebra.

We also had encounters with the turtles, crocodiles, wild boar, deers, phyton, civet cat, porcupine and some species of birds.

After the safari tour, we went back to our hotel, with the same route, and had late lunch at Raphaela's.

Next stop for the day: Maquinit Hot Spring

Our tour guide, Al, picked us up at 5 o' clock in the afernoon. Tricycle rental: 300 

The road to the hotspring is steep and is not concrete.

After 30 minutes, we finally arrived. 

They say that the steamed water comes from a volcano. 

The water was hard to tolerate at first, but we eventually got used to it. It was a very relaxing experience.

After the hot bath, we dipped at our hotel's cold pool, had dinner and capped the night with some few chats.

Next stop: The beaches of Coron :)

Palawan Weekend Getaway Part Three

Day Four: PPS

Lights on: 0500H

Breakfast was served at six in the morning since our city tour was scheduled at seven.

Our first stop: Crocodile Farm

We arrived early and the park was still closed so we decided to just take pictures within the entrance area and proceed to our next trip.

Second stop: Baker's Hill

It is the home of my favorite pianono. After some picture taking and pasalubing shopping, we went straight to our next stop.

Third stop: Mitra's Ranch

Fourth Stop: Pasalubong Center

Last Stop: Hotel for checkout

Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11 in the morning and was moved to 12:35pm. We arrived at the airport at 11:30am and had sandwiches and iced coffee for lunch since there's no restaurant around.

Touchdown: MNL: 1500H

Til our next trip! :)

Palawan Weekend Getaway Part Two

Day Three: El Nido to PPS

After breakfast, we had short walk to search for the famous pizza restaurant (which was closed upon checking ), then to beach, to the church and back to our hotel to pack for our trip back to the city.

After checking out, we hailed a tricycle to take us to the shuttle terminal.

At the terminal, after checking in, we had some ice cream break while waiting for boarding.

We left El Nido at 11 in the morning, and with three stopovers, we finally arrived the city.

Touchdown: PPS 1600H

We checked in at a pension house near the city center. 

While waiting for our ride to our first city tour, we had our early dinner at Kinabuch's Grill and Bar. 

 

Our first city tour started at 7 in the evening. The Iwahig river is 45 minutes away from the city center.

The firefly and constellation watching activity lasted for 30 minutes. We went back to our hotel after.

Lights off: 2300H

Palawan Weekend Getaway Part One

Day One: To El Nido

Trip was scheduled to leave NAIA 3 at 4:00 pm but due to airport traffic, flight was delayed by an hour.

Touchdown: PPS: 1825H

We headed straight to the van terminal and waited for another 30 minutes before we were given a lift, another 30 minutes of joyride within the city, another 20 minutes to take out food from Mc Donald's, and 15 minutes to gas up, before we officially leave Puerto Princesa.

We had 2 stopovers, one in Roxas and one in Taytay, and arrived El

Nido around two in the morning. There was power interruption when we arrived but good thing our hotel has a generator.

Day Two: Island Hopping

Tour C, as they call it, comprises of hopping and snorkelling within the islands of Matinloc, Helicopter, Hidden and Secret islands.

We started at eight in the morning.

It was an eight hour island hopping adventure.

After the trip, we went back to the hotel, had dinner at the beach.

Lights off: 2200H