Definitely I want to visit all the provinces in the Philippines
Hope that I will cross out all of them some day :)
Friday, February 1, 2013
Potipot, Candelaria Zambales
If you want to have a camping
adventure you must try to visit the Potipot Island in Zambales. It’s a 5-6 hour
drive from Manila.
You can ride a bus going straight
to Sta. Cruz Zambales, Victory Liner Caloocan have the first trip to Sta. Cruz
at 4:00 am, we arrived at the terminal at 3:30 am but there’s already a long
line for Sta. Cruz bus, since we really can’t make it for the sta. Cruz bus we
just rode the bus going to Iba Zambales. When arrived at Iba, we rode again an
ordinary bus going to Sta.Cruz until we reached our Inn.
We stayed at Alta Nina Resort and
the negotiation went well with Ms. Nina but we got a little disappointed with
the service of her care taker, he’s not very accommodating like what we expect
based on the reviews on the internet but the place is quite relaxing, they have
a kitchen and grill place that you can use but you will be charge for it.
Potipot was just a small island,
you can choose if you want to spend your night camping at the island or you
will just have a day tour.
Island Rates
200 overnight
100 day tour
In our case we booked two rooms
at a hotel but we spent our night at the island. So if you want to pay cheaper
and you are fully armed with camping tools you have the choice of not booking a
room if you want a more relaxing trip you can also try what we did after all
the long drive we went straight to the accommodation and took a nap to rest,
cooked food for lunch and for our baon at the island.
You can visit their market nearby
for food. We forgot to bring containers for food but we managed to purchase
some at the market as well. By the way, we got the number of the tricycle
driver that sent us to Alta Nina so we just texted him when we are about to buy
food in the market.
After preparing and all, at
around 5:30pm we went to the island with our tents for an overnight. We planned
to have a bonfire but unluckily, it rained L
Day 2
We woke up with a majestic view
of the island. The sunrise and the coastal line made the view dramatic so we
didn’t waste our time and enjoyed the white sand and the beach.
Since it was just a small island
you can stroll and walk around and appreciate the scenery altogether. And while
we are walking we saw our high schoolmates at the place as well.
We found out that there is a
comfort rooms at the middle of the island so you can really stay here even
without booking a hotel.
At around noon we went back to
Alta Nina to freshen up and we also took a long rest before heading back to
manila.
When we got to Victory Liner
terminal, the bus going to Manila already left and the next trip will be in 3
hours, since it is too late for me and my boyfriend because we still have work
tomorrow we decided to take a bus going to Olongapo and from there we took the
last trip to Cubao that night.
It was indeed a long trip but we
all had fun J
Pictures soon to upload :)
How to organize a hassle free trip
1. Choose
a place.
If it’s in the Philippines you can never get enough of
beautiful places here. Try the most accessible places first.
2. Research
Read articles on the internet about the place so you
will not miss any attraction and activities that you can do for the trip.
3. Cut
the expense, Invite people
The more the merrier and truly way cheaper J it is really ideal for
organizing a trip since you have a great number of participants, more people
will split the expenses. You can always create an event in Facebook to have a
wide discussion for the trip.
4. Give
timeframe, choose a date
Once you already have the list of participants choose
a possible dates for the outing and make them vote which date is the most ideal
for all. Make sure that you will give them time to prepare financially, give
consideration for the pay day J
5. Call
and book.
This is the most challenging part, you really have to
exert effort to find a decent place to stay, but remember, you will not go to
that place to spend all of your time in the hotel, most of the time, you will
be out to enjoy the place, the only use of the hotel is for sleeping so don’t
look for the most expensive hotel, try to minimize the expenses. Consider the
proximity as well.
6. Get
the final list.
When you already found a decent place to stay that can
accommodate all of the tentative participants before depositing down payment
get the final list first and;
7. Collect
and secure
After getting the price of hotel and other
transportation such as van, boat, bus, and all other things that has fixed
price, sum it up and divide it equally, post it on the Facebook event you
created. And to secure the money give them options to deposit their share, you
can always give them a bank account number, remittance center or if possible they
can give it in cash. Make an agreement that it is non-refundable to eliminate
the stress that last minute back out people will give you. On this set up, once
they gave the money they will be more hesitant to back out.
8. Update
Always inform them about the reservation and any other
changes and issues that will occur after that, you are all good to go J
Have a happy trip J
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