Goddess, I Am.

After much soul-searching (and a little help from Maris and Kessa – thank you, you two!), I finally took the plunge and started a secret blog. I couldn’t be happier. I’m even breathing easier, in fact. Really, it’s almost like we suddenly got a dehumidifier installed at home – it’s that, umm, liberating.

For the past few months, I’ve been slowly filling up the notebooks that The Husband, family, and friends are forever getting me with stories and thoughts and memories, so I’m starting to fill up my new Tumblr baby with some really fantastic writing. (I’m ridiculously proud of this new project, so no, I’m not in the mood for modesty. Deal with it.) I suppose the only thing that’s slowing me down is my capacity to take photos. Maybe the decision to use photos that I take and no one else’s is a bit overkill? But hey, who’s rushing?

So yes, I now have a secret blog. And in case you missed the little clue that I let slip earlier, it’s on Tumblr. If you take the time to poke around this blog a bit, you might find a link to it here somewhere. Though I might not volunteer the new blog’s address to all and sundry, it would still tickle me pink if any one of you found me. (Hello, writer’s ego!)

My secret blog has only been online for a day or so, and I already have a few readers. That’s probably why I love Tumblr so much. No one ever goes unread!

I’ve been planning to blog at length about The Great Singapore Trip, but I’ve decided not to. The trip was beyond phenomenal, and I just don’t think I can do it justice by writing about it. There was so much to do and so little time to do everything that the entire trip was just mad, mad, MAD! By the time it was over, my feet were dead from walking, I have cursed humidity several times, and I had enough sunburn on my sunburn to make me seriously consider what wrinkle creams could do to help me.

I looooove this outfit! And it’s thrifted, too!

To sum it up, the city was lovely, most of the people and most of the food were rather horrid, the cabbies were loopy, the shopping was expensive, the giraffes were L-O-V-E, and Universal Studios was the icing on the cake. Yes, just two days in Singapore was absolutely insane, and I’m glad I got to experience that epic insanity with The Family.

My only decent Universal Studios globe-thingy photo.

And yes, we’re already planning our next trip back.

For more Singapore photos, see them here or here.

Picking up from where I left off . . .

Day Three

The night before, we made arrangements for a van to take us back to Legazpi City where we had to catch the 14:40 flight back to Cebu, and since we didn’t have to leave until about 11AM, we decided to sleep in. The Husband woke me up with a shower of birthday kisses and greetings – definitely one of my favorite ways to wake up. We were hoping to wake up early enough to get breakfast, but unfortunately, we got up later than expected. We were sharing the van with 3 others, so we really couldn’t dilly-dally.

Our companions – Fiona and Jade (a couple from Australia) and Rod (also from Australia, I believe) – were quite the fun bunch. We’ve seen them around the resort the whole time we were there, but we never spoke to each other until then. We exchanged stories about our Donsol experiences, and as it turned out, they went out for another morning of butanding interaction just that morning. Now why didn’t we think of that? The Husband and I were pretty bummed about that, especially when they told us they saw nine – nine! - sharks that fine, clear morning. Oh, well. I’d be sourgraping a bit when I say that I needed the extra sleep anyway, but I’ll let the puffy eyes that not even the best under eye cream can sort out speak for themselves.

But I digress. Like us, they haven’t seen Mt. Mayon yet, so I asked the driver to stop someplace where we could get a decent view of the mountain. He stopped somewhere on the highway, but unfortunately, half of the mountain was still behind a thick cloud. But at least we managed to see most of the base this time.

Since we still had nearly two hours to kill before our flight, The Husband and I asked the van driver to drop us off at McDonald’s so we can get some food. After all, one should not be starving on one’s 28th birthday. He dropped us off at a mall in the middle of Legazpi City, and he told us we could easily take a tricycle back to the airport. After 2 days of eating mediocre food in Donsol, I was craving for Chicken McNuggets big time (weird, I know), so that’s exactly what I had.

We walked around the mall for a little bit afterwards. It was like a slightly smaller SM, and it had a Metro Gaisano. The Husband left me outside National Bookstore while he bought me a birthday card. My birthday presents were waiting for me at home, but he just had to get me a card, too, because he can be romantic like that. While waiting, I asked the security guard how much a tricycle ride to the airport would cost us, and he said it was about P50. I automatically assumed that it was P50 per person. When I asked the tricycle driver, however, he told me it was P50 for the whole ride. Wo-ow. He had every opportunity to overcharge us, but he didn’t. Yes, there are still some honest people in the Philippines.

We saw a bit of Legazpi City on the way back, and it was such a lovely place that I couldn’t help but wish we were staying longer. Methinks we’ll be staying in Legazpi longer the next time, and maybe even go on a trek to Mayon. It reminded me a lot of Cebu City when I was younger, back when it was nicer, cleaner, and less crowded.

We made it to the airport in record time. Checking in was a breeze, too, and I loved the no-nonsense staff. Why, they even let me in with my bottled water! Practically all the airports I’ve been in always made a fuss about that, so that was a tad shocking.

We had to wait a while for our flight, but we didn’t really mind because we were sitting in what is officially the most scenic airport in the country. We were literally facing the Mayon Volcano, which was only about 12 kilometers away. While waiting, The Husband sort of kept watch near the windows, waiting for the clouds to clear up enough to get a good photograph of the mountain.

Luckily, it did at some point, and we were able to get some good photos. Why, we even saw the smoke pouring out of the crater! That was really, really cool.

Before we knew it, we had to board our plane back to Cebu, and it was officially the end of what is – without a doubt – one of our best holidays ever! We’re already planning our next trip back. ☺

Here’s a rundown of how much the entire trip cost (for two people):

Rountrip flights (Cebu-Legazpi-Cebu) via Cebu Pacific – P2,821.21 (seat sale, baby!)

2 nights at Amor Farm Beach Resort – P3,600 (P1,800 per night for a standard air-conditioned room with hot and cold shower)

Private Van to and from Donsol – P1,200 (P300 each on a van shared by 5 people, one way; it’s about P60 per person on a passenger van)

Registration fee for butanding interaction – P400 (P100 for Filipino, P300 for foreign nationals)

Butanding Interaction – P1,167 (P3,500 divided by 6 people)

Firefly River Cruise – P500 (P1,250 divided by 5 people)

Meals – about P2,000 (for the whole trip)

Tricycle ride to airport from a mall in Legazpi City – P50

Airport Terminal Fees – P460 (P200 per person in Mactan Cebu International Airport; P30 per person in Legazpi City Airport)

Souvenirs – P300

The total? A little less than P12,500, or nearly US$280. Not a bad price to pay for an awesome life experience, eh?

More photos of the trip can be found on Flickr.

Picking up from where I left off . . .

Day Two

This was when the action really started.

We’ve planned to be at the Butanding Interaction Center earlier than the 7:30AM schedule because we didn’t have a group yet, so we were out of the guest house by quarter-to-seven. It rained the night before and it definitely looked like it was going to rain again, so we were really worried.

We were among the first people to get there, but it wasn’t long before everyone else turned up. Unfortunately, everyone looked like they already had groups – something that got us even more worried. Thankfully, one of the center’s staff approached us and took charge. It wasn’t long before she found a Swiss couple to join us. We still needed two more people, though, and the crowd was steadily thinning. Worse, some of the boats started leaving! At some point, the Swiss woman started to panic and even gave the staff a bit of a talking to. Fortunately, an English couple turned up (they just landed in Legazpi literally an hour before), and we finally had our group of 6, yey!

To make up for lost time, the staff found us a guide ahead of a few groups who’ve been waiting for one before us, so we were quite happy about that. They wouldn’t, however, let us get away from the 15-minute WWF instructional video that everyone had to watch before going out to sea. I’m glad, actually. I knew the whale sharks were being hunted in the past for their meat, but I never realized just how badly until I saw that video. Honestly, I was holding back my tears for the whale sharks’ plight. I couldn’t believe the horrible things that people would do just to fill up their mmf drawers with cash, and I’m glad the WWF stepped in just in time to save the sharks.

After the video, our guide, Kuya Jerry, took us to our boat where we met the rest of the crew, including a researcher from WWF, who was going with us to document the whale shark population for the day. That was pretty cool. After some last minute instructions, we were off!

It did start to rain as we rushed to join the other boats, and Kuya Jerry told us we’ll stay half an hour more if we don’t see a shark within the 3 hours we were supposed to be out there. Sure enough, the sea did look quite murky and the sun was definitely a no-show. I kept praying that if we can just see one shark – just one – I’ll be happy.

In the distance we could see people from some of the other boats swimming in the water, which pretty much meant that they’re stalking a shark. We didn’t have time to be envious, however, because Kuya Jerry suddenly told us to get ready. This, dear friends, is the main rule of the Butanding Interaction Tour: you do what your guide tells you to do, or else you’ll miss a lot of things. And so we got our life vests and snorkels and flippers on faster than you can say “shark!” Finally, he yelled, “jump!”, and we were off!

Now, I don’t swim very well, and with everyone was going so fast, I was afraid I didn’t stand a chance. Not only that, The Husband cannot swim at all, so I was worried about him. Next thing I knew, Kuya Jerry seized my wrist and literally dragged me through the water. I kept trying to squirm free to look for The Husband, but the guide gripped me so tightly, it was impossible to break free. And then she was there, my first whale shark. I saw her (we were told she was a female) head and her really wide mouth first, dramatically emerging from the deep, and I was so much in awe that I stopped trying to break free and swim and just let the guide do the work. Mesmerized, I sort of floated right above her, so I saw everything from head to tail. I was fascinated by how her spots seemed to glow in the water and how graceful she was for such a huge, HUGE animal. I saw how her really long tail fin (the caudal fin, as I later learned) was a mass of white scar tissue where it was probably caught in a boat propeller, poor thing. And then she sort of became aware of our presence because she dived deeper until we couldn’t see her anymore.

Photo Credit: Rod Andrewartha, an awesome photographer we met on the trip.
(Our own pictures didn’t come out very well, unfortunately.)

I finally managed to break free from our guide’s grip and look around for The Husband, and I my heart literally broke when I saw him about 500 yards away, trying to catch up. Honestly, I felt so terrible, that I almost burst into tears. But then he yelled at me for leaving him behind, so I didn’t feel so bad anymore, tee hee. Oh, and he had the camera, so we had zero pictures of this first encounter.

We then clambered back on the boat to wait for our next encounter, and I pulled Kuya Jerry aside and asked him that since The Husband couldn’t swim, could he please drag him the next time? He readily agreed.

The Husband, sulking.

It wasn’t long before we were off again. This time, Kuya Jerry grabbed both myself and The Husband, so he was finally able to see a whale shark and snap some pictures. Unfortunately, the effort of trying to swim and keep up with the shark while snapping photos was nothing short of gargantuan for my water-challenged Husband, so we didn’t get a lot of good pictures. Oh, well.

That morning, we had a total of three encounters – not bad, considering the weather. Apparently, you can have as many as a dozen in a nice, clear day! Maybe next time, eh?

We were taken back to shore sometime before lunch, and The Husband and I went back to the guest house to freshen. We decided not to have lunch at the resort because we had such a dismal dinner the night before. Instead, we went to Elysia Beach Resort for lunch, about a few minutes by tricycle from where we were staying.

The resort was quite nice and it had a pool, but the food was only slightly better than what we had at our own resort. Still, I must have been really hungry from the morning’s activities because I demolished my club sandwich in no time!

My still-rather-grumpy Husband spent much of the time playing with the resort’s adorable little kitten, while I took pictures of all and sundry.

After lunch, we decided to walk back to our resort via the beach. On a clear day, we would’ve had a stunning view of Mt. Mayon, but unfortunately, it was still a no-show. Oh, well.

Mt. Mayon wouldn’t been where those heavy clouds were.

We stopped at the Butanding Interaction Center along the way to get a few souvenirs, and I was shocked at how cheap they were. I’ve been used to souvenir shops being total ripoffs, so finding P80 t-shirts and P25 keychains was really quite a treat. I did not even try to haggle anymore!

Tired, we spent the entire afternoon napping to get ready for the evening’s activities: the firefly river cruise.

Earlier during the day, we signed up for the cruise at our resort’s front desk, and they told us we were to share our boat with three other people. A boat costs P1,250, and at 5 to a boat, that’s really no more than P250 per person! How’s that for an awesome deal?

We met up with the rest of our group – three Filipino girls from Manila – at 6 PM on the shore in front of the resort. We were given life vests, and as soon as we were seated on the boat, we were on our way to the Donsol River. The sun had already set by then and it was practically pitch black, so it was a very, very, VERY disconcerting trip. The only light came from the boat’s navigator, who wore a little spotlight on his head. Thankfully, the sea was calm, so thank heavens for small blessings.

About 20 minutes later, we stopped right about where the sea met the river and disembarked to register. At the registration booth, we met our guide, a lovely girl named Cel (I wasn’t sure whether her name was Hazel or Maricel, so I just called her Cel, tee hee). Back on the boat, she told us a bit about Donsol as a town and the fireflies as we slowly cruised up the eerily dark Donsol River. I was expecting the whole place to be alight with fireflies, but apparently, they’re actually quite picky – only congregating on some trees and not on others.

We eventually stopped at this massive tree that was totally alight with thousands upon thousands of twinkling fireflies. It really was such an unbelievably beautiful sight. I tried taking photos, but heavens, I never thought it would be so hard to photograph fireflies!

Cel caught us a firefly so we could see it up close, and it was a lot smaller than I expected. It was meant to fly back to its friends, but The Husband accidentally dropped it and we couldn’t find it anymore. We just hoped that it made its way back.

After about an hour on the river, we were taken back to the resort the same way we came in. I was kind of hoping that they’ll let us off at the registration center so we can take a tricycle back like everyone else, but our boatmen made a beeline back to the sea, so again, we had to endure that harrowing boat ride in pitch darkness.

Back on dry land (I couldn’t be happier), The Husband and I dined on roast chicken at the resort’s restaurant, which was a much, much better meal than what we had the night before. Satiated, we went to bed. And after such a full day, sleep was indeed a real treat.

To be continued…

More photos of the trip can be found on Flickr.

As far as life experiences go, this is definitely somewhere at the top of my list – probably somewhere between traveling for a week in Malaysia and Thailand with only about $80 in my purse and watching Lea Salonga play Kim in Miss Saigon back in 2000. It’s powerful, intense, and completely surreal.

The Husband, he knows a lot about wildlife, and it was he who told me about the whale sharks that migrate through the waters somewhere east of the Philippines. After a bit of research, I found out that we can actually swim and interact with this fantastic fish off the coast of Donsol, Sorsogon, about an hour’s drive from Legazpi City in Albay. Not only that, we can fly straight to Legazpi City from Cebu via Cebu Pacific, so the moment there was a seat sale, I booked our tickets without even batting an eyelash. Yes, I’m a sucker for seat sales.

But I digress. Being the ‘organized’ traveler that I am, I spent months reading through travel blogs and trawling forums to get ready for the trip. I read that although the whale sharks (or butanding, as they are locally called) travel through the Donsol sound between November and June, they are best seen during the dry months of March to May because rain makes the water murky otherwise – quite similar to a pond without a garden pond filter. And since I was celebrating my birthday on the 13th of March, anyway, I figured it’ll make for a great birthday holiday. I also found out that it was a good idea to book accommodation months in advance as guest houses in Donsol are quite few and far between and can get pretty crowded during the peak months, so I had that sorted out as early as November.

Day One

We left around lunchtime on the 11th to catch our 1310 flight. Yes, I know we should’ve left at least an hour before that, but The Husband forgot to sync movies to his iPhone, so we had to wait for that. Thankfully, we found a cab driver who drove like a maniac and got us to the airport in about 15 minutes, so we were able to check in with a few minutes to spare. It was a bit embarrassing, though, because while I lined up at the airport Dunkin’ Donuts, our names got called over the loudspeaker to board the plane, and when we did, all the other passengers glared at us. We took off about 10 minutes early, so really, that was unnecessary.

We would’ve landed early, too, if it wasn’t for the really thick and really scary fog that had the pilot circling around Albay for a full 40 minutes. It was strange because it really was quite sunny and pretty on the way over.

I was told that another 20 minutes and we would’ve had to turn back to Cebu. Thank heavens the fog cleared up long enough for the pilot to land! That really was quite a harrowing experience. I wasn’t sure whether I was more scared of crashing or having to turn back!

It was drizzling when we landed in Legazpi City. Just our luck. We planned a trip for high summer when it was highly unlikely to rain (there’s a drought, after all!), and that’s exactly what happens!

The airport was really small and quite functional. I spoke to the lady at the tourist desk to ask her where we can get the tricycle to the public terminal where the vans to Donsol are, and she suggested taking one of the private vans right outside the airport because of the rain. A van to Donsol costs about P1,500, but she told me we could share with other tourists who were heading our way, so that’s exactly what we did. We ended up with 3 other people, and we were off!

Normally, the drive to Donsol is meant to be quite scenic, thanks to the Mayon Volcano. The mountain was a complete no-show that day, however. The fog was THAT bad. Still, Albay is quite pretty. We passed rice fields aplenty and some of the prettiest cemeteries I’ve ever seen. Now, I’m deathly afraid of cemeteries, no pun intended, but these ones were so pretty, I couldn’t help taking a little peek.

Donsol was a lot larger than I expected. We got to drive around the town somewhat to drop off the other passengers in the van, and it really is quite a pretty town. The locals seemed friendly enough, and I’ve never seen so many foreign backpackers since Thailand.

Our driver drove us straight to the Amor Farm Beach Resort, where we would be staying for the next couple of days. Apparently, this family-owned resort was the first resort ever to be established in Donsol. One of the Amor daughters checked us in and showed us our pretty little bungalow. Now, being staunch budget travelers, The Husband and I have been in some real shitholes in our time, and this was definitely NOT one of those. In fact, our bungalow was one of the nicest places we’ve ever stayed in. I was very impressed by the room and was even more impressed by the bathroom with its faux Greco-Roman tile design. Yes, it was definitely worth the price of P1,800 per night.

After we settled in, one of the resort staff directed us to where we could sign up for the next morning’s butanding interaction tour. It was about a 5-minute walk from the resort, but it took us about half an hour to get there. There were just so many pretty things to photograph! The new 35mm was on a roll! I took photos of everything from cows to flowers to boats, while The Husband did what he does best: bird-watch.

There was a small crowd of travelers when we got to the Butanding Interaction Center. Everyone has to register for the trip, and no one will ever get scammed here when all trips are regulated. The registration fee is P100 for Filipino citizens and P300 for foreign nationals. Each boat costs P3,500, which is divided amongst its passengers.

Everyone’s encouraged to register early because they only allow 30 boats to go out to sea each morning. Each boat carries a maximum of 6 people, and the staff usually groups people together to make up those 6. When we got there that afternoon, everyone else already had their groups, so we were told to come back at 7:30 the next morning, and they’ll find us a group then.

It was already near sunset when we got back to the resort. We walked to the beach and watched the beautiful Donsol sunset. The water was so calm that you can almost ignore the fact that it was raining just a few kilometers away across the sound.

We realized that we haven’t eaten anything since we left, so The Husband and I then had dinner at the resort’s restaurant. The food was mostly Filipino, so he settled on the safest thing on the menu – fried chicken and fried potatoes – while I had pork sinigang with rice.

Unfortunately, the food wasn’t all that good. His fried chicken was bland, while my sinigang was quite dismal. We ended up feeding most of our dinner to the resident puppy, instead (who we decided to name ‘Patch’, for obvious reasons).

After dinner, we went back to the bungalow and ate almost all the sweets and chips we brought with us to make up for the disappointing dinner. Beat after a long day of traveling, we decided to turn in early.

To be continued…

More photos of the trip can be found on Flickr.