A Dane riding atop the jeepney from the Saddle at Batad enroute to Banaue. Travels to remote and off-the-beaten path destinations coming soon.

I’ve checked my travel history and guess what!? I need to tick off Basilan off my list of provinces that I haven’t visited yet. And that includes eight others before I can complete all provinces visited in the Philippines. Will strike all off the list before the year ends.

And the NINE:

• Apayao (Luzon)
• Quirino (Luzon)
• Mindoro Occidental (Luzon)
• Antique (Visayas)
• Guimaras (Visayas)
• Biliran (Visayas)
• Siquijor (Visayas)
• Zamboanga Sibugay (Mindanao)
• Basilan (Mindanao)

These are all interesting places that are off the beaten path and I intend to visit seven on September and October.

A driver speeding down a curve at Bilar, Bohol's man made forest

• Manila: La Loma, Chinese and North Cemeteries
• Cebu: round of the southern end, cockfight
• Bohol: tour of tourist traps and heritage sites
• La Union: San Fernando and Luna
• and many other places

For the past few weeks, it’s all been a blur. Shuttling to and fro, here and there either for work or for leisure but mostly on the former. Got an assignment for a magazine, around three articles in one issue. I got invited to a resort up north where for the next two days I pigged out and enjoyed the local sceneries and spots.

My friend from Spain came and spent five days in Cebu and Bohol on the road visiting churches and old houses and being, most of the time, in a rented car, and just being a tourist in these rather familiar places. Yeah, a tourist going to the usual haunts and traps and staying in airconditioned hotels. Of filling out all my camera’s CF cards every other day trying to capture memories and sceneries for this blog and for posterities sake.

It was my first time to visit Fort San Pedro in Cebu considering that I’m a true blue Cebuano. I actually enjoyed my Loboc River cruise. The visita iglesia and fortification visits in Bohol was so exciting that I consider it my highlight in that island.

In La Union, I got to visit the Pindangan Ruins as well as the lone watchtower in Luna which I’ve wanted to do for a few months but didn’t get to until now. I was able to capture a very interesting beetle while touring the botanical garden in San Fernando.

In Manila, I was actually wide eyed at the heritage treasures and architecture found in Hidalgo St. and the old cemeteries in this once glorious city that I’ve been thinking of doing some personal projects related to these treasures. Nevermind if me and my companion were accosted by overzealous security guards alarmed at us taking pictures of old tombs. Bummer.

Tiring? Yes? Very. But it was all fun and eye opening and I won’t mind doing it again.

you’re the person I’m looking for!

Claiming the bookends, the Philippines captured the weekends of January 22-24 and December 24-26 for the Boracay International Funboard Cup and world’s longest Christmas celebration, respectively. CNNGo.com contributor Estan Cabigas of the travel blog http://langyaw.com featured the two attractions.

A man walks to the beach in Danao City early in the morning.

Its the twilight, literally and figuratively, for 2009 as the year is coming to a close and for me and this blog, it has been a good year. Well, travels were not aplenty but for many months of the year, I was shuttling between Makati and Cebu as I was involved on a project that culminated into my latest book: Balaanong Bahandi: Sacred Treasures of the Archdiocese of Cebu. And thus, it is only natural that majority of my travel blog posts focuses on this province, my home.

Cebu-Sugbo kini the series features the island province of Cebu like you’ve never known it. It’s secrets, off-the-beaten-path travels, her people’s devotion to the child, God and king, the Sto. Niño with it’s attendant festival, the Sinulog. There’s culture and heritage, food from various places like Bantayan to Carcar and including the humble puso.

I’ve featured touring around the island from north to south and visiting beautiful, not so known natural attraction. There’s also the stunning moving works of art that is the Cebuano jeepney as well as the once popular jai alai still being played. Included also are multimedia presentations on different aspects of the province. To cap this series, I’ve interviewed Arnold Carl Sancover, Cebu heritage blogger as well as featured his five must visit non-religious heritage sites.

Other than featuring my home province, I’ve also included a travel valentine special as well as offered a photo ebook, In Transit and my first e-magazine, 10 Things to Do This Summer. In May, this author and langyaw.com were featured in the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Lifestyle section. And perhaps, the most significant event of the year was being chosen BEST TRAVEL BLOG during the Philippine Blog Awards, one of three wins!

Looking forward to more travels and experiences off the beaten path in 2010.

A bus waiting for passengers at the Roxas wharf in Oriental Mindoro

It’s been ages that I haven’t embarked on an honest to goodness trip that takes about a day to travel! That’s why, for my New Year holidays back home in Cebu from Makati, I’ve decided that I will hop on a bus on Christmas Day for a trip via Mindoro, Panay and Negros. The die is cast!

Say, why this leg? While I’ve done the masochistic Luzon – Visayas – Luzon Loop before, a brutal trip that brought me to this islands and provinces, I really just want to sit it out and experience again that long journey that just seems to take forever. Of course there’s the easiest: book a flight, but journeying on land and sea, experiencing inconveniences, strange smells and sleeplessness is just too inviting for me that I just have to grab this opportunity. The tradoffs are, however, well worth it:

• beautiful sceneries
• those stunning Iloilo churches
• delectable food
• and perhaps, a brief sidetrip to Guimaras that I haven’t really visited, even once

Besides, its not your usual trip from Manila to Cebu!

Passengers that just arrived in Roxas, Mindoro Oriental from Caticlan

Initially, I was mulling on two other routes that I have gone to before: the Samar-Leyte leg via Bicol and the Masbate route via Pilar, Sorsogon. These, especially that Mt. Mayon is nearing eruption, expected to be bigger than what I have experienced a few years ago, is too appealing but on the other hand, the delays and other possible negative impacts of such a cataclysm might derail this trip.

My plan is really to arrive in Cebu during the day as one of the critical points of this travel is catching up with the RORO or boat schedule. I was particularly concerned that if I will arrive in San Carlos, Negros Oriental on the evening, I might get stuck for the night due to unavailability of fastcraft or ferries that will take me to Toledo, Cebu.

Passengers bound for Caticlan on their way to board the RORO in Roxas, Oriental Mindoro

To avoid that, I have to know the Roxas (Oriental Mindoro) – Caticlan (Aklan) RORO schedule. The earliest (or latest), the better. A check with several websites indicated that it is 0830H but, unfortunately, the ones posted seemed to come only from one source and was reposted. I also can’t travel on this time because it will already be too late for me.

With a few more searches, I finally got the contact number of Montenegro Shipping (036 2887373) at their Caticlan office and inquired about the schedule. To make it to the midnight trip to Caticlan, I decided that I should leave Makati at 0900H, hop on a bus bound for Batangas pier, take the RORO to Calapan and then another bus or vhire going to Roxas.

Three days more and I’ll be off to my journey to Cebu by land and sea. And no, Boracay is not part of my itinerary.

Follow me live via Twitter using #langyawtravel

A tricycle driver in Bangui, Ilocos Norte

ARE YOU CRAZY?

You might ask. No, I’m not going looney. But I’ve been mulling the idea of doing errands for people and get to blog all about it here in langyaw.com.

For kicks. For the challenge. But this is more of an experiment.

Book me for an errand anywhere in the Philippines or Southeast Asia. The farther, the better. You decide how I travel or what route to take. In return, I’ll post a blow by blow account other than completing the task.

Pick up or deliver a package? Send a personal message to a loved one? Take photos or document an activity? The type of errands can range from the simple to complex to just plain crazy.

Drop me a line by filling out the contact form below and let’s talk.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

I got featured at the Philippine Daily Inquirer issue of 17 May 09, Sunday Lifestyle Travel section, page H-4

It’s not always that one gets to be interviewed and featured at the same time in the Philippines’ widest circulating broadsheet, the Philippine Daily Inquirer but yesterday, 17 May 09, at the Sunday Lifestyle Travel section, it finally appeared, almost full page.

I was first sent a text message by a former coworker from Public Affairs last year who told me that a writer of the broadsheet, Angge Goloy, was interested to interview me. She saw one of my mountaineering photos, blown up and hung at the department’s meeting room, asked about it and learned about me. A few months later, we were seated at Figaro in Shangrila Mall. Yesterday morning, while I was in transit to Cebu from Cagayan de Oro on a slow moving Trans-Asia ship, she texted me that it finally went to press. Presto! I just got really excited.

Well, the article really is a brief history of my career change plus some info. It was placed under the Travel section, which, well, good. It not only discussed this new phase of my life but includes my beetle collecting endeavor too.

There were some slight errors but not big enough to change things but I should correct these:

• I wasn’t able to update her about the Jakarta Biennale XIII 2009 which was postponed
• The name of Fr. Galenda should be Fr. Galende
• The output of the Singapore International Photography Festival Southeast Asian Workshop is not the Mapping Invisible Cities work which was a separate exhibition and has been on tour within the region since last year.

For those of you who have missed the print version, check it online.