Balacay Point, Binurong Point, What's the Point!

Marhay na aga!  Welcome to Bicolandia! The Land of the Howling Winds!

Hindi masyadong promoted ang tourism sa Bicolandia, siguro kasi mas madalas na ang bisista dito ay ang mga bagyong dumadaan sa Pilipinas. Pero sabi nga "No matter how bad the storm, something beautiful will come out of it" and itong aking feature blog will be a testament to that. So, tara, dagos tabi!

Siguro we took advantage of the Labor-Day-Monday kaya nakagala ang tropang gala ng IRRI at kami ay napadpad dito sa malayo at magandang isla ng Catanduanes noong 29 April- 1 May 2017. Madami ang nailistang pwedeng puntahan pero hindi naman katagalan ang bakasyon kaya eto lang ang nagalugad namin.

ang dalagang magayon as seen while in the ferry

Land travel kami, kaya we opted for a night trip sa RSL bus from Turbina. After an overnight trip, we reached Tabaco Port (in Albay) kung saan sakay naman ng  MV Calixta, barko naman papuntang San Andres. Two seaports ang meron dito, one is itong San Andres at yung isa naman ay sa Virac, andun din ang airport. Shortest ferry ride ang sa San Andres, 3-4 hours while Virac is 4-5 hours.

eto naman ang magwi-welcome sa'yo sa port area

After sa ferry, van naman to Puraran, we took the Gigmoto-bound van, jan sa Gigmoto, jan ang lugar ng Tatay ko, pero hindi naman ako kilala ng mga kamag-anak ko jan, kaya wag na muna puntahan =P

we stayed here in Puraran Surf Beach Resort, pero di kami nag-surf

After almost forever hehehe nakarating din sa'ming place to stay for the night.Naka-beach front kami pero di kami nag-beach, gusto lang yung sound ng waves habang kumakain or habang patulog, "Life is a B-E-A-C-H" kasi di ba? At saka ganun talaga, hindi mo talaga na appreciate what you have until it's gone, ano daw? Ang ibig ko lang sabihin, umalis kasi kami para mag-gala kaagad-agad. After naming maka-settle sa resort, we went out to watch the sunset in Balacay Point, yon!

1st stop, Balacay Point

ang tropang gala

Ang ganda di ba? First gala palang yan. So after ng sunset watching, balik resort at nag-dinner ng sinigang na hipon, steamed lobster, grilled fish plus rice at drinks.Nagpa-antok sa tunog ng alon at ayun, tapos ang day 1.

For our second day, sunrise watching naman ang trip at dito yan sa Binurong Point. Para syang Batanes, isang lugar na hinubog at pinaganda ng dumarayong bagyo dito sa Catanduanes.

kahit saang sulok ng Binurong Point, napaka-ganda, magiingat lang at baka ka mahulog sa kanyang ganda =P

St. Joseph the Baptist Church aka "Bato church" in the town of Bato, the oldest church in the province has stood the test of time, and frequent violent typhoons and earthquakes

Maribina Falls, is famous for picnickers and weekenders. It is named after the 2 villages Marinawa (MARI) and Binanwahan (BINA) and is located also in the town of Bato.

sunset watching ulit at Mamangal Beach

At natapos ang mahabang day 2, from sunrise to sundown, from Bato to Virac, dito na din kami nag-stay sa Virac. Dito din sa Virac may kaanak ang isa kong friend, pero wala naman si friend dito kaya sa hostel na lang mag-stay =P

breakfast sa Jollibee at nasa likod ang aking mga ka-TODA

Twin Rock Beach at Igang 

Last day na at ang last gala before umuwi ay dito sa twin rock beach pero di pa din kami nag-swimming. Nanood lang ng mga taong nagsuswimming at nagkaka-kayak sa beach, tumambay for our last day here in Virac. More places to visit pa dito sa Bicol kaya sana makabalik at hopefully sa isang pag-uwi nina Tatay sa Bicol eh makasama at makapunta din ulit dito.

back in Albay then to Laguna

Dios Mabalos!

Thank you GoCatanduanes sa mga information

Thank you Gids for most of the shots

TAIWANder3 - Taipei 101

It's our last gala day today, so we are maximizing our day. After our visit to NTHU, we still have a lot of energy plus we haven't met Shawn yet, so today's blog is about our going around Taipei City and meeting Shawn. If you're curious, click the per day and look at our gala days in Taiwan: Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 Morning. Now, here's Day 3 afternoon.....ENJOY!

we don't have double-decker buses in Manila, so it's good to try and see how fun it is to go around the City looking from the second deck from this hop-on-hop-off =) we also had a souvenir of this bus, we got a mini-version, and Dennis showed the choices of souvenirs

Some information for the Taipei double-decker bus tour; We booked it via Klook. There are 2 lines, Blue lines for the North such as the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, National Palace Museum, and Jian Tan; Red lines for travel west such as Taipei City Hall, Sun Yet Sen Memorial Hall, and the largest park in Taipei, Da'an Park. It's a Hop-off at any stop for sightseeing and Hop-on when the next bus arrives. You are provided with a headset that offers an introduction to Taipei (in English). Our first hop-off, Chiang Kai-shek (CKS) Memorial Hall, is free admission here.

our first hop-off is to meet Shawn and to see the popular attraction here in Chiang Kai-shek, the changing of the guard ceremony (I think I was able to watch the changing of guards also in Rizal monuments in Luneta Park in one of our Syanang Syalen trip)

here's what I got from Wikipedia, CKS Memorial Hall is a national monument erected in memory of Chiang Kai-shek, former President of Taiwan. This square had become Taipei's site for mass gatherings and tourist attractions.

Finally, meeting Shawn, Shawn was a visitor in Water Science sometime in 2012 (?) and whenever IRRI people visit Taiwan, he is part of the "what/who/where to visit in Taipei" ;) because even if he doesn't know you since you are from IRRI, he is very happy to meet you, he's even sending pasalubong for the Water Science group, so, imagine the happiness of visiting him, and meeting him in person in Taipei =) #nakakahappy indeed. Thank you for taking the time to meet us, Shawn.

last gala spot, a visit to Taipei 101; according to Taiwan Tourism Bureau, it is the largest engineering project ever in the history of the Taiwan construction business, and there's us with our "monay" faces, the largest also =P

We visited the Taipei 101 observatory, and we bought via Klook a priority pass, we were VIPs escorted by the guards as we took our elevator ride (just us) because apparently, the commoners will just wait for the elevator ride. As VIPs we have access to 88th floor for the multimedia corridor, 89th floor for the indoor observatory, and the 91st floor for the outdoor observatory. Oh well, I'm traveling with the madams, so the benefits!

that's me, a bit dizzy, not from the heights I'm looking at, but the payment to be made after this trip =P 

the damper babies, they are the cartoon representation of the Damper of Taipei 101 designed by the Sanrio Company, Damper babies come in black, red, yellow, silver, and green each with their own personality, and the faces subtly spell out 101 with the vertical lines for eyes in a circular mouth 

And since we are at it, let me share what I learned from this trip, Taipei 101 was erected in 2004 at 1,667 feet, designed by C.Y. Lee who wanted a tower that was distinctive, he envisioned a pagoda, vertically elongated and clad with green glass. The skyscraper was divided into 8 segments (a lucky number for the Chinese) with giant gold coins adorning the four sides at the base, and dragons and clouds decorating the building's corners. And Taipei is prone to storms and seismic activity, so it needed all the luck it could get. Because of that, Taipei 101 employs a tuned mass damper for both the flexibility to roll with the earth (seismic activity) but not to flexible when faces with strong winds (storms).

A tuned mass damper (TMD) is essentially a counterweight against wind and it can take various forms. In Taipei 101, the TMD is a gigantic pendulum, usually, it is hidden behind closed doors on locked floors but with Taipei 101 the enormous damper is the star attraction of the building. And there we are, in front of it.

photo with the TMD, and a photo at the multimedia corridor

We don't have good photos of the outdoor observatory but we enjoyed every parts and portion of Taipei 101 since we spent a considerable amount =P

and then to cap the day, we had dinner at Taipei 101 restaurant, we had Korean and Thai cuisine =)

Thank you Taiwan for a wonderful trip, thank Dennis and Shawn for meeting us there. Thank you to the madams, it was a good trip and thank you we pushed through with it even if others backed out. Onto our next travel? Where to? When?

Thanks to Wikipedia, Taiwan Tourism Bureau, 99% Invisible for the additional information of the places we visited.

TAIWANder3 - Tsing Hua Visit

Main event sa travel na 'to ang pagbisita sa Uni ni Tyogon, kaya naman eto na sya, for our 3rd day "Welcome to National Tsing Hua University"

first trip namin na hindi tour, public transport, kahit napaka-efficient ng kanilang public transport, nakakakaba pa din ang pag-byahe kasi lost in translation kami, kaya ayan, mag-pictorial na lang at umasang makakarating kami sa NTHU

at eto na nga, nakarating naman kami sa Uni ni Tyogon at nagiikot na at namamangha sa natural na ganda =) ang relaxing dito

dinalaw din namin ang dorm ni Tyogon, nakitambay ng konti bago ituloy ang ikot sa Uni

dinalaw din namin ang laboratory ni Tyogon at nagmistulang OJT nya si Thea

ayan, tuloy ang ikot at pictorial, anlawak ng NTHU at ang ganda, both the natural and the art installations

hindi din naman kami nagpatalo sa lugar, mga nag-maganda din naman sa pictorial =)

para syang forest, yung halaman kinakamkam na yung building, at may makikitang squirrel at timbalalak

ayan, dahil blurred ang kuha ko sa front ng campus, eto na ulit sya, we're back sa simula

at ang ending ng tour, kain sa cafeteria ng NTHU at nag-try ng masarap na milk tea at fruit tea ni Coco, ito daw ang sikat dito sa Uni ansabe =P masarap ang fruit tea, infairness, di ako mahilig sa milk tea eh kaya yan ang ni-try ko

Ayun, so pang 3rd day umaga ito, may pang hapon pa at last gala na namin kasi uwian na bukas. Next blog naman ang meeting Shawn and going around Taipei City, mag-Taipei 101 kami for the last day na. Para sa first two blogs, eto ang link in case interested ka: Day 1 and Day 2 thank you for reading =)