Saturday, February 23, 2013

Camarines Sur Watersports Complex (CWC)

February 16, 2013 - After our tiring Caramoan trip, we sailed back to Naga to experience Camsurfing. We spent 2 hours on the boat and requested Kuya Alvin to stop by a pasalubong center before dropping us off in CWC. It's about an hour and a half drive from Sabang port.



After our pasalubong shopping, we were dropped off at CWC.


We stayed at the trailers close to the lake. I booked one family room and one single.


After checking in, we roamed around the complex to check for retaurants as we haven't had a decent meal since we left Caramoan. We stopped by the wakeboarding area close to the restaurant.




After our late lunch (where we ordered bicol express, calamares and sizzling gambas), we started our individual itinerary within the complex.






After the whole day of fun, we ended the night with a lake-side full body massage.



The next morning, we woke up early to explore more of the complex. After check out, a tourist bus dropped us of at the airport.






The trip was indeed short, but we'lll definitely go back. :)

Sunday, February 17, 2013

The Islands of Caramoan

February 15, 2013 - After 2 outbound flight cancellations, one return flight schedule change, and series of itinerary changes, I was able to finally come up with an itinerary for our long awaited Cam Sur trip. The expectations were not really set and not enough information was gathered through my research, so I have to blindly draft whatever is available for a temporary getaway.


We left NAIA at 9:30 a.m. and arrived at WNP (Naga - Pili Airport) at 10:25 a.m. I have arranged our Caramoan trip with Traveler's Camp. We were picked up at the airport at 10:30 a.m. and went straight to Sabang port.






After an hour trip from the airport to Sabang port, we had to wait for another 2 hours for the next motorboat to Guijalo port. It wasn't a good idea to have us wait for that long (Two thumbs down for Traveler's Camp). There was not any activity in the port that can be offered for tourists in order to kill time, so we had no choice but to entertain ourselves by eating lots of junk and taking pictures (poor kids lol).







After an hour and 45 minutes, boarding finally commenced.





The boat ride to Guijalo port took 2 hours (as opposed to an hour ride set at the start of the trip) and was not so convenient because the boat was small and the leg room is not enough for an adult traveler (another two thumbs down).



At the Guijalo port, we had another transfer to Traveler's camp and we arrived at 5:00 pm. We were scheduled to have our island hopping on that same day but we were all so dead tired because of the long transfers, so we decided to reschedule the trip to the islands the next day and rest after our late lunch.

Dinner was set at 8:00 pm and it was a feast of sea foods (Okay, they're trying to get even). After dinner, we spent time at their videoke area over some bottles of beer.






Lights off (End of our last set): 12 midnight

February 16, 2013 - We woke up at 4:00 am to start our Island hopping. We left the camp at 5:00 am.  

This is the most unique island hopping experience that we've all had as we had no visibility of the ocean. The boat man only used a flashlight to check if there are barriers on our way  to the next island. It's like an escape from Alcatraz. After 45 minutes boat ride, the sun started to peep and we have started to see some of the islands from afar.



It was still dark when we arrived at the first island, but this did not prevent us from taking pictures. The island was the best. The sand is white and powdery and is so perfect that I don't have enough words to describe the place (thumbs and toes up for the white beach). Our trip has finally paid off. It was all worth it.









We stayed at the first island for 30 minutes and moved to the next island where we had our breakfast.





After our kamayan breakfast, we headed to the next island for swimming and snorkeling.




The last island was 15 minutes away from the third and we played, swam and took pictures with the rock formations.



The trip was all worth the long wait. We sailed back to the Caramoan proper to prepare for our next destination: CWC


Sunday, February 3, 2013

A Visit to the City of Pattaya

January 31, 2013. After our amazing Bangkok trip, we headed straight to Pattaya. We hired a hotel taxi and it took us almost 3 hours to reach our hotel, Royal Orchid Pattaya. It is 0.5 km from the beach, has an outdoor pool and a 24-hr restaurant.









There are several interesting places to do in this city, and we were lucky because we are close to the venue of the WTA Pattaya Open where Ana Ivanovic played and competed with other great tennis players from all over the world.




Among the many interesting places, my favorite is the One Million Years Stone Park where we have met the elephants, giraffes and zebras up close and personal.















Another attraction that amazed me most is the mini Siam. It is a mini version of Thailand in one and has almost all the attractions in the country and some famous landmarks from all around the world.