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In Transit

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.”

Across the National Sunka Highway

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    A crowded van (or vhire) from Allen in Northern Samar to Tacloban City in Leyte.

    theLOOP samar - leyte This is the 7th installment of the Luzon – Visayas – Luzon Loop series. Click the image on the right to check out the rest of the posts.

    See the photo above? That’s me at the extreme left with only my left ear visible still taking this shot. If you noticed, thank you, the row I’m at is already full while I was given the kiddie seat just beside the sliding door of the van. It was small for my 5’10” frame. Really. To give me a semblance of comfort and spare me less of a sore butt, they had these wooden stool, around 4 inches in width propped up beside the kiddie seat that is removed whenever the door is opened as it might fall. I was seated there and used my 5 year old North Face jacket as a cushion. For 8 hours.

    Now just think of how the Samar road network looks like. From San Isidro near Allen in Northern Samar to Calbiga in Western Samar, around 5 – 6 hours of countless potholes and craters, probably the worst national road system in the country. It might even be called as the National Sunka* Highway. With apologies to this once popular game.

    That’s what you get when you don’t buy your tickets earlier than the usual. When you get to decide, come hell or high waters, you need to be in Ormoc City in time for the last boat bound for Cebu at 0000H that night.

    Read More »Across the National Sunka Highway

    From wet Legazpi to catching the ferry in Matnog

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      A lady of the cloth, taking her comfy front seat at a van terminal bound for Bulan, Sorsogon.

      theLOOP map_bicol.gif I was already tired and sleepless when I arrived in Daraga, Albay at around 0700H. And God, it was a rather drab morning and wet with the slow but constant drizzle. Nevertheless, I dragged myself to a waiting tricycle before catching a jeepney to Legazpi City where I had a quick breakfast.

      This was not the first time that I have been in the city in this kind of weather. But when it’s like this, not seeing Mt. Mayon is depressing. I mean, come on, the only thing that a visitor expects to see here is the majestic cone. But unexpectedly, just before my ride left for Bulan in Sorsogon, the mountain beauty peeked through the clouds, faintly. Its almost indiscernible outline rising into the sky like a bride looking through her veil. For a brief few seconds I was mesmerized before she hid again. Maybe she knew my predicament and consoled me with her appearance? It was enough for me though to see her and have her image cloaked with clouds etched in my mind.

      Read More »From wet Legazpi to catching the ferry in Matnog

      Mayon up above

        What a sight to behold: the sun waking from its slumber but still hidden by low lying clouds as mist hasn’t yet lifted across the land that is Bicol. A familiar orange hue envelops the still halfshut break of morn as the plane hovered thousands of feet above.

        A striking silhouette with a trace of smoke billowing from its tip, rising from the land, perfect, majestic Mt. Mayon.