Hundred Islands Alaminos, Pangasinan

According to a native of Alaminos the exact number of islands there is 123 and not 100 that makes oooohh for us J

This trip is the most stressful for me, the original plan is for 10-13 pax so I already reserved a place that can accommodate the group. When everything was already set and I already deposited the down payment back out stories starting to say hello. At the end, 13 pax cut down to 6 pax.

Here is our Itinerary for the Hundred Islands Trip 2 days 1 night

Day 1

12:00 am              Assembly Time

01:00 am              Snack at Mcdonalds

01:45 am              Departure

06:00 am              Arrival at the transient

06:30 am              breakfast

07:30 am              Rest

10:30 am              Preparing for the activity

11:00 am              Lunch time

11:30 am              Let the adventure begin J

05:30 pm              Done with the activity

06:00 pm              Back to transient. Freshen up

08:00 pm              dinner

09:00 pm              TV time

10:30 pm              drinking session at the rooftop

12:30 pm              sleep

Day 2

10:30 am              Preparing for travel back to manila

01:30 am              Lunch

02:30 pm              Departure to Manila

02:15     Stop over to Alaminos market to buy pasalubong

02:45     Travel

07:00     Dinner at NLEX Mega Caltex

08:00     Dinner ended

09:00     Arrival in Manila

Expenses Breakdown

Accommodation               Veronica Hauschild Transient                      2,750 php

Food                                      Food Court near port                                     240 php (B,L,D,L)

Boat                                       Service for 6pax                                                                1,600 php

Gas                                        manila-alaminos v.v.                                       3,000 php

Tollgate                                                vice versa                                                            563 php

                                                                                                Expense               8,153 php / 6

                                                                                                Total                      1,358 per person

                                                                                                               

Optional items

Gears                                    snorkel/lifevest/shoes                                  200/set

                                                                Or

                                                Lifevest/shoes                                                  100/set

The accommodation is quite decent, it has 2 bedrooms, fully air-conditioned, television, wifi, kitchen that you can use and a private bathroom but the service is disappointing. The owner is insisting that she told me about the extension charge, that she texted those details days before our trip but I still have all of her text messages and it doesn’t have the details she is pertaining to, I talked to her for the nth times on the phone but she didn’t told me anything about it. Although the place is good I will not recommend this one for accommodation, good service still my priority.

We rented the boat thru the transient owner and we chose to have the service boat for us to maximize our time for island hopping.

There are three major islands on the place, the first one is the Governor’s Island where you will see the Pinoy Big Brother House that used by Teen Edition 1. It has a short trek to the top but the view is worth it, you can see the group of islands around the place.

The second one is the Quezon Island and it was my favorite because it has a cliff diving area my body is shaking while preparing myself to jump but then the thrill is priceless once you jumped J

Before going to the last Major Island we stopped at a snorkelling site nearby. There are loads of colourful fishes on the site and we even saw the giant clams.

The last island is the Marcos Island wherein you can camp overnight and you have to pay 200 per head. It is somewhat commercialized than the two and the largest too. This island is more on beach type, it has restroom and wide area intended for eating and resting.

Even though I had a stressful time arranging all of this we went home in high spirits as we made our travel back home a concert inside the car. “OH MY GOD WE’RE BACK AGAIN!!”

Never stop traveling for you to explore the book of the world and don’t be stuck in just a page J

Sagada adventure guide

We went to Sagada, Mt. Province around mid of January 2012. We heard a lot of good stories about the place so we decided to check it by ourselves. That was our first DIY (do-it-yourself) trip so far and we don’t have any reservations for the accommodation.

We rode a bus in Cubao heading to Baguio at 12 midnight and we arrived at 6:00 am.

From the terminal beside the SM City Baguio, we rode a taxi to terminal beside the center mall. One good thing about baguio is their low flag down rate in taxi so we just paid not more than 50php.

 The buses there were small and old and it is not air conditioned.

When we got at the GL terminal we rode again a bus and this time it is the direct trip to Sagada.

Almost 80% of the passengers were foreigners and tourists like us J

Bus         Manila – Baguio                                445php

               Baguio – Sagada                               230php

Taxi        to GL terminal                                    50php

Hotel     Traveller’s Inn                                    200php/night/pax

Cave Connection                                             400php/pax

Whole day Tour with Van                             3,000php/van

it’s really a long drive we stopped over a place where you can buy food, use the rest room and stretch a bit. It is called Morning star.

We arrived in Sagada around 12:15noon. Since we don’t have any contact with the hotels we just tried our luck and walk along the street and then we saw the Traveller’s Inn and thank God they still have a vacant room. It was a long weekend and we arrived before the place gets crowded.

Traveller’s Inn only have a common restroom and it doesn’t have air condition as well, (well you will need a heater rather than air condition in Sagada, the weather was not just cold, it is freezing!!!)

We settled ourselves and went outside for lunch. The first restaurant that we tried was the famous Yoghurt House. The food was quiet pricy but I love their yoghurt cake that costs 50php per tiny slice.

Just beside the restaurant you will see the SAGGAS office, they are the official tour guides in Sagada. They offered the cave connection as our first activity. We thought that it will just be a typical tour where will just visit and go but for our surprise it was like trekking down under but of course it is called caving.

It will take 2-3 hours to finish the activity and you need to walk along the rocks, swing on the rope, pull and lift your body the hardest you can and love yourself and be cautious because you are walking at the cliff edges (remember it’s a cave and the only light you’re going to have is the gazera). But at the other end of the cave all the energy that you lose will be worth it.

They have incredible rock formations around the place but it is different from the formations in underground river Palawan. They were color brown and the people have their label in every formation like king’s curtain, the teeth, chocolate cake, and etc. The rocks were rough in general but it doesn’t look like that.

After the cave connection we headed back to traveller’s inn and had dinner at the restaurant across called Salt and Pepper. Although the accommodations were cheap around Sagada, when it comes to food it’s a different story. But you can also cook your own food at the hotel’s kitchen area.

We met people whose on vacation like us and since the van have a fixed rate per van for the whole day tour we decided to share the trip with them to pay cheaper.

At exactly 5:30 am we headed to a place where they are doing those rituals and wait for the sunrise. It’s is a perfect place for sight-seeing activity and because it is freaking cold we lit up a bonfire while waiting for the sunshine. 

After that, we also went to orange farm, rock farm, and. At around 10:30am we went trekking, we literally trailed the rice terraces down to Bomod-ok falls and when we got there we were amazed by the magnificence of the nature and as soon as we tried to swim we jumped back because the water is chilly, you were like swimming in an ice cold pool and you can’t stay on the water for even half an hour. In my case I was able to hold the crazy temperature for just 5minutes.

Later, we went back to the town to have our lunch to prepare for the main attraction, the hanging coffins in echo valley.

As the name implies, it was called the echo valley because anything that you’re going to say, the valley will bounce back the sound. Literal huh? J

On the way to the valley you will see a cemetery and I stopped with one grave stone because the name imprinted is obviously not a Filipino or tribal name, a boy saw me staring at the tombstone and he said that it was a tourist way back that had a heart failure (if can remember it clearly), I asked him why he was not sent back to Hawaii with his family and the boy grin as he spoke, “they don’t want him back anymore” and suddenly I felt sad for that person.

Not too far from the cemetery we saw a lot of tourists all zooms their camera lenses to see the highlight of the trip, the hanging coffins. But we are not satisfied in peeking far from it so we asked our tour guide if we can go near the coffins, he said it is up to us if wereally want to, it is optional and it is not included on the tour we paid for so we pay him additional hundred.

It was a quick trek, we trailed down and before we know it we already in front of the coffins! Yes! My dream!! Another dream fulfilled!!!.

Kuya Andrew said that the coffin on lower side of the blue one labeled for Bomit-Og was just a week old.

Not anyone can be buried like this, only those who were included on the upper class family on their tribe are allowed. If you notice there are wooden chairs that were hanged and tied up with the coffins, it was the exact chair that the corpse were mummified, they were formed sitting for few days before they were buried, some calls it as “death chair”.

When we are about to go back since our tour ended, we saw these super charming toddlers playing around and picking up flowers, I can’t help it so we asked their parents if we can take a picture with them. We really can’t understand their language since they were French but they happily agreed with our request. After that we went back to the hotel for some rest for a really tiring but excellent day for us.

On our last day, we walked and went to another famous café in town, the Lemon Pie House. We had our breakfast there. The ambiance and interior of the café were enticing and it is very relaxing in deed.

We ran for the last trip at around 12:30noon and we arrived back in Cubao at past 12 midnight.

For additional experience, some random foreigners get on our bus and they were on a race, Amazing Race perhaps.

We really had fun with the surprise activities and information we had experienced in this particular trip.

I will definitely recommend this place for a nature and trip.

More pictures :))

ukay-ukay are everywhere

traditional coffin in Sagada

Those isolated coffins were women died in giving birth, they believe that their soul or body were not clean and pure

Just got real :)

Typical sunday in Sagada Market

we also visited a pottery

the cheapest blueberry in the Philippines

Boracay Travel Guide

Though I love to travel, Boracay is really not on the top of my list. I expected Boracay as a crowded place that you cannot enjoy much its island side but when we got there my jaw dropped and all I can say is WOW!.

Front Beach of the Hotel

Most of the travelers

are choosing the flight to Kalibo because it is cheaper than Caticlan and they also have direct flight from/to Incheon, Pusan, Taipei and other nearest countries so don’t be surprised if you will see a lot of Koreans and Taiwanese in Boracay.

In Manila Domestic Airport you will pay the terminal fee for 200php.

When we arrived at Caticlan we rode a tricycle for 100php and it includes the Boat fare of 25php.

In Caticlan Jetty Terminal port you have to pay 100php for terminal fee and 75php for environmental fee. It was just a 10 minute boat ride, before we know it we are already in the island. Since it’s our first time at the place and we don’t know where exactly our hotel is, we rode again a tricycle for 100php (it is the fixed rate so if you want to pay cheaper you can ask the other tourists if they want to share a ride with you)

We stayed in La Carmela de Boracay Hotel located in Station 2 but it’s not that far in D’mall where the restaurants and shops were located and besides it’s really nice to walk along the beach. We booked the hotel last mid of August at the Travel Mart Fair in SMX Mall of Asia. They offered discounted rate (since it is off-peak season) and one free night, we will stay for 3 nights so we just paid 2 nights and it all includes breakfast. For the accommodation we paid 3,400 for 4 days and 3 nights, not bad since they really have a good service in La Carmela. Their breakfast was just plated but you can avail the buffet and you will just pay for 100php. (Their breakfast buffet was our favorite of all).

There are loads of tour guides offering different activities but you should not agree on the published price on their leaflets, you can bargain the price until you had an agreed price. On our case we have chosen 6 activities which are Para sailing, Helmet Diving with CD that includes underwater pictures and videos, Island Hopping, Jetski, ATV and Zorb. You can have these activities for the range of 5,000 – 6,000php and that’s for two pax the only expensive activities are island hopping because you have to rent the boat and jetski as always. And thank God we didn’t choose the Fly Fish because a group of 4 girls that supposedly our tour mate in island hopping had an accident because of the activity, one of them had bone dislocation so they need to rush in Kalibo for treatment, and the worst part is, it’s their first day in Boracay and fly fish was their first activity.

Para Sailing – it is absolutely amazing because you’re just like flying. 

Helmet Diving – you will have a brief lesson before the activity, they will teach you the different hand signs underwater and techniques how to overcome the air pressure while you are diving. It’s quite hard at first but I told myself that I need to do this and when I touched down the floor it doesn’t hurt anymore we stayed there for 30mins while feeding the fishes. We even saw Nemo and his father on their natural habitat hehe.

Island Hopping – our tour guide pick us up on the helmet diving site for the island hopping, we stopped at a certain area and went snorkeling. (Good thing we brought our snorkeling equipment). It is great to see the underwater with live corals and full of different fishes, you’re like watching HD and 3D video there.

Jetski – it’s my first time to ride a jetski and I feel so sporty that moment haha

There are lots of eat all you restaurants that ranges to 250 – 540php per pax but if you are on a budget trip Andok’s Chicken are everywhere on the island even siomai and shawarma.

Aside from the activities natives also offers hair braid, massage, customized souvenir items, and a lot more, but then again, don’t hesitate to bargain the price, you will notice on their signage the prices were not published because they give higher prices especially to foreigners.

On our third day we went for ATV and Zorb. It is located somewhere in other side of the island and it is called Dreamland. It was like a mini amusement park that offers ATV and Zorb. We rode the ATV for an hour; we trailed the way to a mini Zoo and the sight-seeing place where you can see the whole island from the top. 

Since it is our last night on the island we went clubbing with our friend and his girlfriend that we just bumped in on our 2^nd day in Bora, coincidentally we are staying at the same hotel.

Our first plan is to visit Guilly’s island since it is the only bar that we know but when we got there are only few people inside and we saw the bar across them that was called Cocomangas and the crowd was so wild.  

Observing the place we noticed their alcohol challenge, you need to finish by yourself the different alcohol mixes and if you succeeded it will be free and your name will be posted on the wall of fame with the date you accomplished and you’re country that’s why their tagline is “STAND FOR YOUR COUNTRY” but if you will not be able to finish, the drinks costs 1,280php.

Guilly’s Island and Cocomangas were not the only clubs that you can find there, in fact, there are lots of them, others requires entrance fee while others have consumable amount.

On our 4^th day we packed our things and prepare for our flight back to Manila. Our flight time is 12:35 pm. 

We left the island at 10:00am and we are scared of not making it on time. We rode a tricycle to the port and a man offered a package for 200php per head that will include our boat fare and a shuttle fare up to Kalibo but you still need to pay the terminal fee of 100. We were supposed to ride a shuttle that is still empty, we told the driver that our flight is 12.35pm so he kindly endorsed us to another shuttle that is leaving that time. 

We were so thankful of the driver of the shuttle because he really cares for his passengers, since he knows that we are almost late he drove as fast as he can and just lucky in deed, we arrived on time. The passengers were all boarded and we are the last two on the list.

(by the way, the terminal fee in Kalibo airport was just 40php)

We have accomplished our mission of finding Ababu Boracay hehe in case of Shawarma rice they don't have the same quality like the Ababu Katipunan because it is not really roasted but then the price is cheaper, 99php for every meal 

I know it is quite long entry but I hope I was able to help you J

I just saw him somewhere hehe cute :)

PS: If you don’t want to wait for the promo fare you can try to go there by sea thru 2go Ferry that will cost more or less 800 per pax one way.