Reaching one’s destination is just half the fun. As the old Chinese proverb says: “A journey of a thousand miles start with a single step.”
Soaring and sharp ridges dotted with vegetation clinging on the sheer rockface can give a sense of awe. A pale yellow limestone cliff rising up from the waters is a wonder. There are several cracks on these rock walls and many caves can be seen, its gaping maw sending a spine tingling sensation of the hidden creatures, real or imagined, that it might harbor.
Instead of hopping on a plane and get home soonest, I decided to take the Pilar – Masbate – Cebu route.
One of the best things to see here in Coron is the approach to the island while passing through the spectacular karst limestone cliffs that comprise the islands of the Calamianes group of North Palawan. And the best time is early in the morning as the sun is still a few degrees from the horizon. Its golden rays striking the greenery and yellow to gray walls of rock. Only a boat ride can give you this pleasure.
For the past few days, it has been raining in Manila due to typhoon Helen hovering above Batanes with torrential rains dampening one’s dispostion but this didn’t stop me from going home to Cebu. Well, I had to attend to some urgent matters even if this trip was unplanned. Luckily, I was able to get a roundtrip ticket a week before and guess what, it is Philippine Airlines which was offering their Buy One – Take One promo.
Trucks loaded with sugarcane is a common sight across the north Negros highway.
This is the 10th installment of the Luzon – Visayas – Luzon Loop series. Click the image on the right to check out the rest of the posts.
“The.. highway is indeed one of the scenic arteries that one can travel through in the country”Four hours across the north Negros highway and I was reliving memories of more than a decade ago passing this very artery going back and forth Cebu and Bacolod during vacations at my best friends place. I can vividly remember the ancestral houses of Silay with its imposing 1930s church along the road. Or how I am always captivated with the massive Mt. Mandalagan, a pemament fixture in the Negros landscape, lording it over the land. The same feeling of awe that you experience with the Malindang Range in Misamis Occidental or Mt. Mayon in Legazpi or even the Daguma Range in West Mindanao. One is humbled.
Or how can I forget a midnight trip from Bacolod on a VHire (van for hire) sandwiched between the driver and a passenger, ill seated for the duration of the trip to San Carlos without being able to sleep? It was the first time that I have experienced such inconveniences as a traveler that I swore never to do again.
At the city center of San Carlos City, Negros
This is the 9th installment of the Luzon – Visayas – Luzon Loop series. Click the image on the right to check out the rest of the posts.
“San Carlos is not as progressive. But what I like about it is its old charm.”After three weeks vacation at my home province in Cebu, I was again on the road for the trip back to Makati. I’ve been looking forward to make this trip not only because I will finally be able to visit the provinces beyond Iloilo as well as pass by Mindoro but also to come back, albeit briefly, San Carlos City in Negros.
San Carlos City is just across Toledo in Cebu. I have very vague recollections of this former town when I passed by here over a decade ago during my trips to and from Bacolod. But what I cannot forget, when naively, at a distance during the approach of the roro what I thought were golf courses (!) were in fact sugarcane fields. Ha!
A hawker at the Cebu South Terminal
Early morning at Ormoc, the jeep terminal is already alive with commuters.
This is the 8th installment of the Luzon – Visayas – Luzon Loop series. Click the image on the right to check out the rest of the posts.
Ormoc at last! Despite not having made it to the midnight boat for Cebu, I was just glad that I finally reached this city at around 0400H from Tacloban. Its been a year since I’ve last visited this place while I was in transit to Guiuan in Eastern Samar to shoot the church there for the book. But back when I was still based in Cebu, Eastern Visayas was part of my area of responsibility and have constantly been here for work as well as leisure.
Its a small city and the domain of a few rich families who dominate local politics as well as businesses that were offshoots of the sugar industry. It was also here a little more than two decades ago when the tragic Ormoc flood happened and wiped out thousands of its inhabitants. But now, walking through the quiet streets, its a distant memory and no trace can be found of the event unless one visits the memorial near the city center.