“Well you certainly won’t forget this birthday, Tita,” my niece said. I certainly won’t.

For days, I’ve thought about what to write for my birthday post, specially since I decided to stay put in Manila and NOT do anything special. This year has been so busy, with new projects at work, events left and right, and of course, traveling. I thought that instead of going out, I would stay at home with my family, whom I haven’t really had time to be with this year. I’ll go to the supermarket, buy ingredients and cook for them. However, after paying for my groceries, I went to this redemption booth the cashier told me to go to, and for a couple of seconds, I took my attention off my loaded grocery cart. I felt it move, and since I knew my niece would be walking back from the package counter, it might have been her. But then I looked around, and I saw my niece walking towards me, carrying the cake my co-worker gave me. Somebody took our grocery cart! Four thousand pesos worth of groceries gone in an instant.
Read the rest of this entry »

We made our way out of the Dornier 328, eager to set foot in Basco. We marveled at the fine weather, a stark contrast to the thunderstorms CNN.com has forecasted. The sun was shining brightly and the sky a beautiful shade of blue, dotted with white fluffy clouds. We went through the small terminal building, which looked more like a resort villa than an airport.

There we met with Tita Remy, the caretaker of Novita House, our home for the next four days. The province of Batanes is a protected zone, and each tourist are required to pay environmental protection fees as they arrive and depart in Basco. The fee upon arrival is Php 50, while the fee when you leave is Php15. Up until recently, flights to Basco are few and far between, so locals who are flying in from Manila usually bring home a lot of goods for resale or for the family’s own stock (much like Filipinos flying to the US with balikbayan boxes full of Lucky Me instant pancit canton and Purefoods corned beef). Unloading the baggages took longer than usual, which is pretty absurd considering that it’s a pretty small aircraft. Soon enough our bags are out and we made our way to Novita House.
Read the rest of this entry »

The flight out of Manila was scheduled for 5:50am. I still had work Friday night, so I was hurriedly finishing work-related things online. To my surprise, most of my travel buddies are also online on Plurk, which of course, made it hard for me to concentrate on my writing! Flying at 5:50 am, meant having to be at the airport before 4:50am, which in turn meant leaving the house at 3am. Rather than to sleep and risk oversleeping and missing the flight, Eric, Gail and Melo opted to pull an all nighter.

My favorite travel buddies: Dino, Marc, Eric, Melo, Gail and Karla

What I love about early morning flights is the traffic-less EDSA. Living in the north, travel time to the airport during rush hour can be terribly time consuming — it can take from one to two hours to get from my house in Quezon City to one of the airports in Parañaque City. Before the traffic starts, travel time can be cut to almost 30 minutes.

Using the old domestic terminal can usually be an ordeal: it’s too small, too cramped and too many people are using it. Thanks to the opening of the new NAIA Terminal 3, the number of passengers using the old domestic terminal has significantly gone down. Now, only two commercial airlines use the old terminal, one of which is Seair.

The pre-departure lounge was almost empty — a world of difference from the last time we used the terminal last June, when it was packed to the seams. We sat down, chatting amongst ourselves to pass the time while waiting for the flight to be called. The clock ticked past 5:50 am, and still no call. Soon enough, there was an announcement: flight DG601 bound for Basco was delayed. We were dismayed, but the announcement didn’t really come as a shock; for days we’ve been monitoring the weather in Batanes, and it was anything but sunny. We thought of possible places we can go instead, if flying to Basco wasn’t feasible. Melo wasn’t hearing any of it, and went to inquire among the ground staff. It seems the flight was only delayed because the airport office in Basco only opens at 6 o’clock in the morning. The people in Manila have to confer with its Basco counterparts before allowing the plane to fly.

Soon enough Seair flight DG601 was called — but for Boracay! It was an honest mistake on the part of the announcer, but it was indeed for the flight to Basco, Batanes. Within minutes we were onboard the Dornier 328 plane. It was my first time to fly north, and it was interesting to see how different the view from the plane was from all the flights I’ve taken going south. After reading through two Inflight magazines, the fasten seatbelt sign flashed — we are on the final descent to Basco. I eagerly looked out the window to see mountainous islands, the green stretching as far as the eye can see. I can see small roads hugging the sides of the mountain, small communities, and even smaller patches of beaches. We’re in Batanes!

Welcome to Batanes, where Jesus is Lord!

A huge thanks goes out Seair, who provided our transport to Batanes. A shout out also goes out for Mr. Patrick, Seair’s VP for Marketing, and his assistant, Leo for making this possible. Thanks guys!

Thank to everyone who joined my Wii Nights contest and my Bratpack Bag Diaries contest. It was tough picking just one, but only one can win.

The winner of the Wii party package at Red Box is…

Roanne Lim!

I’m Jigglypuff from Super Smash Brothers. I’m cute and pink, and like Jigglypuff my singing puts people to sleep. If I win a Wii party at Red Box I can brush up on my singing and play the Wii at the same time, hitting two birds with one stone… hahaha! That is if I don’t put everyone to sleep first…

Congratualtions Roanne! You can schedule your Wii Party through Ms. Joyce Pogoy of GeiserMaclang by calling 0917-5234624, 812-8828 or 812-9199. I hope you don’t put your friends to sleep while singing

I know I said I will announce the winner of the Bratpack contest on the 19th, but since my weekend plans fell through, I can announce it now! The winner of the Jansport backpack is…

Kaoko!

Kaoko shared the sweet story of how she and her green Jansport met her boyfriend and his black Jansport.

There was a black backpack on the shelf, right where he usually placed his. “Is he visiting today?” I wondered. A few months ago, checking for his bag on the shelf was the first thing I’d do. Sometimes, I would sneakily put my backpack beside his where he’d be sure to see it, just so he’d know I was still in school and we could commute home together. I guess it was a force of habit, so I put my green backpack, identical except for the color, next to his.

Continue reading Kaoko’s story

Congrats Kao, you may contact Ms. Arbee Panga of GeiserMaclang at though 0917-5344624, 812-8828 or 812-9199.

Agains, thanks to everybody who submitted their entries, and to Bratpack, RedBox and Geiser Maclang for making this contest possible. Watch out for more contests here in Justwandering.org! I have another one coming up soon

Hola! I’m back from Batanes. I’ve yet to finish working on my photos for posting, so I’ll start off with our travel budget. Predictably, the most expensive part of Batanes travel is the airfare. Good thing Seair helped us out in that one! It also helped that we were traveling as a group — big expenses like vehicle rentals and accommodation are divided 7 ways! This is definitely the cheapest trip I’ve had this year.
Read the rest of this entry »

Batanes isn’t really one of the top tourist destinations in the Philippines. So why would I want to go there?

It’s too far up north, that it’s closer to Taiwan than it is to Manila. Getting there is not easy, and from what I hear, getting out of there is harder still. I’ve heard of people traveling there and getting stuck, because the plane can’t land due to the weather. The seas around Batanes are also quite turbulent, for it’s where the Pacific meets the South China Sea. So that means rough waters when crossing over to Sabtang island.

The airfare alone is enough to discourage travelers from going to Batanes. Upwards Php 10,000, some people would rather opt to spend this amount on a weekend jaunt somewhere else in the country or spend it on a round trip ticket to our Southeast Asian neighbors.

But it’s because of this isolation that makes Batanes appealing. This means the landscape is pretty much untouched, and the culture closer to its roots. I’ve heard nothing but praise for the beauty of this island, and for the simplicity and honesty of its people, and I want to experience it for myself.

And that is why I want to go to Batanes. Why would YOU want to go there?

I didn’t really know what to expect of Krystal Lodge. For one thing, when we went there last June, there were hardly any information about this place online. No pictures even. Still, I trusted Ferdz‘ judgement. Besides, Coron is filling up because it was a long weekend, so we don’t really have much choice. When the jeep from Busuanga airport dropped us in front of an alley, my mind went into overdrive. What exactly are we getting ourselves into?

We walked through a narrow alley, finally emerging on a wooden platform, then on to a wooden bridge, passing the mangrove and jutting out into the sea. Welcome to Krystal Lodge.

Next to Ponce Suites, this is the most interesting places I’ve stayed in this year. Krystal Lodge is a series of huts on stilts over the sea. There’s a main house, that has the caretaker’s quarters, some rooms, the kitchen, and a common area, then further out are three more huts. Mhye welcomes us and shows us our rooms. Gail and Marc gets a room in the main hut, while Eric, Ferdz and I share the hut furthest out to sea. The hut was surprisingly roomy and quite breezy. We are amazed at the facilities of our little shack on stilts: one bedroom, a bar, a small dining area, a kitchenette, a loft and yes, it has a functioning toilet and shower! Outside, we have a small porch, a hammock and a smaller hut with seats and a table.

Eric and I shared the downstairs bedroom, while Ferdz had the loft to himself. the bedroom was quite roomy — there are two beds, and a huge shelf for our things. There’s also two tables, a fan and access to a changing area. And if you’re wondering, yes, there’s electricity too!

Of course, you can’t have an accommodation like this without its quirks. First, there’s the toilet and the shower. The toilet and the shower area are separate, but is right beside each other. Though the toilet had a door that locks, the shower only had a very thin curtain that blows out whenever there’s a slight breeze. Also, the wall that separates the two was a piece of translucent roofing… you know, the ones they use for skylights. Another thing about the toilet was this diamond hole in the wall at crotch level. When you’re sitting down in the toilet, it lets you look out into the sea and the island across.

Though there’s running water in the hut, it can sometimes be a problem when it slows down to a trickle. It was especially bothersome when the electricity went out on some parts of Coron and Krystal Lodge was affected. Not only do we have to navigate through the alley and the rickety bridge in the dark, we arrive at our hut, exhausted and sticky from island hopping, only to find the water’s out too. Though it was already midnight, Mhye did everything she could to have the water and electricity restored in our hut.

Krystal Lodge is rustic, rugged and certainly not for the high maintenance traveler. However, it’s these very same things that makes it charming.

Krystal Lodge
Coron Town, Busuanga, Palawan
Phone: (02) 4536343
Mobile: 09284108074
E-mail: mhye_310@yahoo.com.ph

August has been such a hectic month, that completely left the planning for the Davao trip to my very favorite travel buddies. Since I know Melo’s traveling with us, I know we’d be in good hands — Melo has been everywhere, thanks to his close affiliation with the Department of Tourism in his past life. So when he suggested we stay at Ponce Suites and take advantage of their townhouse, where we can get incredible value, I agreed. Though I was glad we found this great bargain, one look at Ponce Suite’s website made me think twice if I can handle staying at this place.

At the lobby

If you’d look at their website (go on, click on the link!), you’d get the idea that the hotel is filled with artworks. As much as I love art, I don’t think I can be comfortable with sculptures watching my every move (insert paranoid smiley here). Nonetheless, priced at Php 1,790 per night, it was hard to say no to the townhouse that can accommodate all six of us. Ponce Apartelle is located just down the road from Ponce Suites. Comprised of four two-storey apartments, this is the best choice for large groups traveling to Davao. The apartment has a living room in the ground floor, as well as a counter and a sink, one room and a toilet and bath. The second floor has three bedrooms and one toilet and bath. Almost every wall of the apartment was covered in artwork, and the front features a huge sculpture. Most of the rooms can accommodate two beds, while one room has four, and has access to the balcony. All the rooms have individual airconditioning unit.

Eric’s room at the Ponce Suites Townhouse

Staying at the townhouse was better for us, I think. We were up till the wee hours of the morning yakking away. If we had stay at the hotel, our neighbors would’ve been so pissed! Another thing I liked about staying at the apartment is that it doesn’t have as much art as the hotel. I mean really, the hotel is filled to the brim with artwork! It’s actually much easier to count spaces that doesn’t have art in it. From outside the hotel up to its rooftop cafe, there’s an artwork in every way you turn, be it a sculpture, a painting, a mixed media piece, a photograph, a woodwork or yes, even hair. Here’s a short video that gives you just a small sampling of the art on display at Ponce Suites. The music was from a hegalong, played by a T’boli man who was also staying at Ponce. Pardon the conversation about baggage allowances and home decors; that’s Melo and Gail. Soundtrack fail! *facepalm*

The art pieces inside Ponce Suites and the Ponce Apartelle are by artist Kublai Millan, a native of Cotabato City. His works can be found in various places in Mindanao, including The Durian found outside the Davao International Airport. His art comes in all shapes, sizes and medium. We were all impressed that he dabbles in different disciplines and how he can seemingly take an ordinary object into a magnificent piece.

Now the big question is, would I stay at Ponce Suites again? Definitely! Despite my apprehensions about all that art, I have to admit that the place is teeming with character. It also helped that the hotel was located inside a village — the streets are quiet at night, and the main road where the stores, fastfood, and public transport is just a 5-minute walk away.

Ponce Suites
Corner Roads 3 and 4, Doña Vicenta Village
Bajada, Davao City, Phiippines
Phone: (082) 227-9070 – 71
Mobile: (0929) 810-5699, (0906) 493-6027
Fax: (082) 224-1426
E-mail: info@poncesuites.net
www.poncesuites.net