labor day

yipeee! it’s a long weekend because of the 01 May Labor day commemoration/celebration. i hope it’s peaceful and not economically disruptive.

gentle giants

Last holy week I went to Donsol, Sorsogon with my underwater hockey friends for some butanding or whale shark experience. The whale shark is not a whale, it is the biggest fish and the biggest shark measuring up to 14 m in length. They like warm waters and every February to May they swim to Sorsogon to feed. Some whale sharks arrive as early as November. Good thing about this place is that while fisherfolks have long known about these gentle giants, the local government and the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, an environmental organization, were able to come up with guidelines and conditions to safeguard the whale sharks before it became an unwieldy, unsustainable tourist attraction.

Anybody who wants to swim with the butandings must register at the tourism office and book their boat there. A Butanding Information Officer (BIO) will accompany the boat, together with a spotter. A boat is only allowed to carry a maximum of 7 passengers and only one boat per whale shark is allowed. One cannot touch the whale shark nor use flash photography. Whale shark interaction costs PhP 100 registration and PhP 3,500 per boat.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have an underwater camera so I’m still waiting and hoping that my friend was able to capture some whale shark interaction.

While we were there, we also passed by Mayon Volcano and Cagsaoa Ruins, we were blessed with great clouds and even a chance to see its perfect cone.

Another place to visit is Ticao Island, a 2-hour boat ride from Donsol. Boat trips costs around PhP5,000 so be sure to bring packed lunch when you go there. One can see the Katandayagan Falls falling directly to the ocean. If you dive, visit Ticao Pass and see the Manta Bowl (at 15m depth) where manta rays are known to feed. If you’re lucky, you might also see hammerhead sharks there.

Here are some pictures from my Bicolandia Adventure

Naga Cathedral

Naga Cathedral Seminary

Peñafrancia Basilica

Mayon Volcano and Cagsaoa Ruins

Going to Ticao Island

Katandayagan Falls

Other articles:
Time Asia’s Best Animal Encounter Article
Watch our Whales

the rock

Here is the continuation of my visit a long, long time ago to California

Visiting Alcatraz Island was at the top of my list of places I wanted to see. But it was raining in San Francisco when I got there so we had to wait for acceptable weather to visit it. When it cleared, we headed out to Fisherman’s Wharf where one can catch the Blue and Gold Cruise to Alcatraz. I guess everybody had the same idea so we ended up buying tickets for the next day. Though it rained the next day, I think it turned out better because it made the place more melancholy. Here are some pictures:

Welcome Sign….

Restrooms…

ruins…

During my visit, it was cold, damp, and foggy, it felt sad … and it made my visit quite an experience. The Rock started as a military fortress, it then became a good place for holding captives, then it became an Army prison… here are the original cellblock quarters when it was used as an army prison.. they are much smaller than the rest of the prison quarters.

It eventually became a Federal prison and was even nicknamed Uncle Sam’s Devil Island because it housed some of the most wanted criminals like Al Capone, Doc Barker (of the famous Ma Barker Gang), Machine Gun Kelly, Robert “Birdman of Alcatraz” Stroud, Floyd Hamilton (a gang member and driver for Bonnie and Clyde), and Alvin “Creepy” Karpis.

When one thinks about it, they had a pretty great view, the ocean and the Golden Gate bridge…

… only, they were behind bars.

happy Easter!

Rise heart; thy Lord is risen. Sing his praise, Without delays…
-George Herbert, stanza from “Easter”

anxious, excited

Just like any Filipino, I’m preparing for a short, reflective, meaningful yet fun vacation for the semana santa or Holy Week. In just a couple more hours, we’ll be leaving for Donsol, Sorsogon for a whale watching experience!

My underwater hockey friends and I are going to drive down Southern Luzon to Bicol for this very rare, unique and popular experience. We’ve rented a van with a driver so we’re all together and noone will be tired from driving.

Our itinerary more or less looks like this…

13 Apr
- meet up 3AM and start the 540 km drive
- grab breakfast probably somewhere in Quezon… I hope that sinaing na tuna place is open
- hope to arrive in Albay before lunchtime for some Mayon Volcano and Cagsaoa ruins viewing… grab lunch at the restaurant beside it… if it’s open
- tour a little of Legazpi city
- 4pm ETA Woodlands Resort, Dancalan, Donsol, Sorsogon
- dinner, firefiles

14 Apr
- early breakfast
- 8am head out for the whale shark interaction
- lunch somewhere
- afternoon explorations of nearby sights… bulusan lake, irosin church, barcelona church

15 Apr
- either repeat whale watching or leave for Daet for some surfin fun
- sleep over in Daet or Quezon

16 Apr
- either day trip to villa escudero or head back to Manila

17 Apr
- back to reality…

Will post photos… after I finish sorting my CA photos hahaha

international orange gate bridge

No trip to California would be complete without visiting the Golden Gate Bridge… I was told. Unfortunately, the unheralded snow in San Francisco left me with cloudy weather so as soon as we saw clear skies, we headed bright and early to see the most romantic bridge in the world… the Golden Gate Bridge. My cousin and I drove up to the Marin County side of the bridge because there are less people there, ergo, more parking. Then we walked up to the San Francisco side and back. There are around 99 lamp posts and around 4 call boxes throughout the length of the bridge.

One can rent a bike to cross the bridge, but we decided to walk. Make sure you walk on the sides and never in the middle; you’ll never know when you’ll get hit by a biker. Unfortunately, walking on the side wasn’t as foolproof as I hoped since I got hit from behind by a biker kid who was busy looking up the bridge while pedaling… of course, my main concern was my camera. Good thing he was driving slow and hit my calves first. Poor kid, got an earful from his mom. Next time we saw them, he was punished and made to sit with his dad while the younger kid was given the bike.

Here are some golden views…

California is now but a memory…

It seems like ages since I got back from my vacation. I went to work immediately after my 3-weeks of fun and adventure. Good thing I didn’t have jetlag except for that Sunday evening where I was dozing off at 9pm! I’m quite pleased that my work station was as clean as I left it, thanks to my efficient colleagues who took over assignments I left behind. However, getting back to work left me with little time to blog about my vacation much less post some pictures.

Anyway, since I got back I’ve been asked what differences I noticed and here are some:

1. California has many more car models… I especially love the Chrysler PT Cruiser… soo cute but they don’t have our compact cars like the Jazz, Echo, Getz, Picanto though I heard these will be coming out soon.

2. California is vast… they have so much land… empty stretches of land!

3. Manila’s pick-up trucks aren’t trucks at all compared to the F-150/250/350, Silverados, etc.

4. For some reason, I didn’t see that many golden arches… there were a lot of In-n-outs though.

5. People in CA drive in a straight line, inside the lines… more often than not.

6. California has a 24-hour car pool lane on the freeway.

7. The Golden Gate Bridge has around 4 phone boxes and they’re not just for car trouble but also for those thinking of jumping off the bridge… call now, there is hope!

8. The “international orange” color of the Golden Gate Bridge is similar to the color of the paint primer here… which kinda dampened my excitement.

9. I find a $3 souvenir magnet cheap and an P80 souvenir magnet expensive ($1 = P51).

10. I think KFC here is better!

Also, for those asking for photos from my vacation, here are some…

There are ground squirrels at Morro Bay, my first stop…

Then I took the AmTrak to Modesto where my aunt and uncle picked me up by to drive up to Groveland which is around half an hour from Yosemite Park. We went to the Park the next day, it was a bright clear day…

But at the entrance, tire chains were required so made a detour and discovered a road leading up to the Hetch Hetchy reservoir. It was beautiful until it started to get foggy….

… more fog further up

and then it snowed… a snow storm actually…

So we scurried home as fast and as safe as possible.

First attempt for Yosemite Park was foiled by the weather. However, I still enjoyed it considering it was my first bout with snow and God gave me a snow storm no less. The snowflakes were like the size of a one-peso coin which is around an inch in diameter. It was actually kewl!

… will need to get back to what I’m doing… will post some more… sooner or later =)