Viajero

Protecting El Nido’s coral reefs

2014-09-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

When God blessed the earth, he must have been standing near and facing Palawan because the province is so rich in natural resources and possesses spectacular sceneries – on the ground, underground, on the water, underwater.

In the northern part of Palawan is El Nido, a municipality of almost 40,000 in an area covering 92,326 hectares. The town is named after Swiflets (local name is Balinsasayaw) nests made from the bird’s saliva found in the crevices of the limestone’s cliffs in the area.

The mountain islands of El Nido are simply breathtaking. They are towers of stone so high they almost kiss the clouds.They come in all shapes and forms, depending on your imagination.

If your tour guide is Jayson R. Gonzales of El Bacuit Travel and Tours, he will show you a mountain island shaped like a helicopter, a feature shaped like a king with a crown with a horse nearby, or a stone jutting out of the cliff shaped like the chunky heel of a shoe.

Gonzales will also point out Cadlao (Visayan word for laughter) is the highest of El Nido’s mountain islands at 640 feet (as high as a 64-floor building). He said Cadlao is the locals’ weather barometer. “When the tip of the mountain is covered by clouds it means it will rain.”

Underwater, El Nido is also as awesome. It’s a coral reef paradise. According to El Nido Foundation Inc.(ENFI) they have identified 447 reef-building coral species in El Nido. There are 44 unconfirmed species.

ENFI, headed by former Tourism Secretary Alberto Lim as chairman of the board and lawyer businessman Charlie Yu as president, is an organization dedicated to the improvement of the quality of life in El Nido which includes sustainable utilization of the community’s natural resources.

ENFI is working closely with Green Fins,an initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme, for the protection of coral reefs in El Nido. They have just concluded an orientation of journalists on the progress of their efforts in El Nido.

Green Fins, which is coordinated internationally by Reef-World sets the standard for managing the protection of coral reefs. It provides guidance and support for business owners and national authorities to promote best practices in sustainable tourism – especially scuba diving which has become urgent in El Nido with the increase of tourist arrivals.

The importance of coral reefs cannot be overstated: Corals (which are actually animals , not plants or places ) play an essential role in everything from water filtration and fish reproduction to shore line protection and erosion prevention. It also acts as a barrier to storms and surge.

Experts said that if only there were a healthy population of coral reefs in Tacloban during supertyphoon Yolanda, the damage would not have been as calamitous as it was.

Lim, who has been going to Palawan since the early 1980’s and co-founded Ten Knots Deelopment Corporation (now owned by Ayala Land) is concerned on the effect of increased tourist arrivals in El Nido. In 1994, recorded tourist arrivals numberd only 10,00. In 2013, more than 63,000 came to El Nido) or a jump of about 600 percent.

The usual package offered by tour operators island hopping (El Nido has a lot to offer with it placid lagoons and awesome caves. ) which includes scuba diving and snorkeling.

Saying that tourism is both an opportunity and a threat, Irma Rose Marcelo, executive director of ENFI, said some of the tourism-related activities are injurious to coral reefs are anchor damage,snorkeler and diver damage,Boat strike,pollution – solid wastes, eutrophication in ground water from towns, villages and establishments,Sediment run-offs from land clearing, overfishing, and illegal fishing. Climate change, the change of ocean’s temperature is also wreaking havoc on the coral reefs.

Even the fun practice of fish feeding by tourists. Jayson Gonzales said until he trained with ENFI and Green Fins, he didn’t know it. “I even provided bread pieces to tourists to feed the fish so they would come, he said.

Now, at the beginning of the islands tour,“Don’t feed the fish” is one of the “Do’s and Don’ts “ that he gives.

Feeding fish disrupts the food cycle and causes serious damage on coral reefs. In the natural underwater food cycle, fish eats algae on the coral reefs. When humans feed the fishes, they no longer eat the algae, which overgrows and suffocates the coral reef to death.

Damaged coral reefs means decreased fish production which could lead to food crisis and malnutrition of the human population.

Marcelo said a 2009 assessment of coral reef condition in El Nido showed coral cover of living hard corals averaged 26 percent which is a fair condition while soft coral cover overall was lower, averaging 4 percent.

As it take hundreds of years for a coral reef to grow, so does rehabilitation of damaged coral reefs. EENFI, which is restoring dynamite-damaged Reefs in Tres Marias islands near the West Philippine Sea, says it’s a very slow process. It takes a year to heal and restore one centimeter of coral reef.

Green Fins believes that diving and snorkeling centers are uniquely positioned to act within their own communities and among customers to encourage positive and lasting change. It’s members are expected to adhere to a Code of Conduct such as No Touching of coral reefs and not anchoring on coral reefs .

Green Fins has also come up with icons on their guidelines so that it would be understood regardless of nationalities.

ENFI’s Charlie Yu recalls the early years when they had the whole island of Shimizu to themselves when they visited Palawan. He said the island now is a favorite picnic area of tourists.

He said being a father, he wants to bequeath to his children an El Nido that may not be as spectacular as he found it but still awesome. “We are doing this for the next generation,” he said. — Yahoo News Philippines

http://travelbacolodairport.wix.com/safe-travel-The Travel Bureau

Spend the night at Mount Manalmon

2014-06-19T10:41:00.001-07:00

Text by Karen Quesada; photo by Marion Arnie Esguerra

Tired of the usual beach getaway? Or strolling the usual summer hotspots such as Baguio or Tagaytay? Then it’s time to try trekking and climbing a mountain, and one of the easiest and convenient places to start is at Mount Manalmon.

The mountain can be found in Barangay Sibul, Sitio Madlum, San Miguel Bulacan. This is an ideal mountain for beginners, as it is only 196 meters above sea level. At the jump-off point you can cross to the registration either by the monkey bridge or the balsa.

At the start of the trek, you will pass by the Madlum Cave and would have to cross Manalmon River. It would take only an hour or two to reach the peak, depending on your pacing and fitness, and of course how long you stop to take pictures.

After taking "buwis-buhay" selfies at the summit, your guide will direct you to the campsite by the Manalmon River, where you could swim, camp or try cliff diving.

You could opt for a day hike or camp overnight. Guides are required for either. I suggest that you spend the night in the mountain, though, as the place is so enchanting and one day is hardly enough to admire its beauty.

OTHER ACTIVITIES
Going to this place is not complete without trying the monkey bridge and cliff-diving. Time and energy permitting you could also climb the adjacent Mount Gola. You also might as well try spelunking the eight-cave system of the Bayukbok caves.

HOW TO GET THERE
It only takes about two hours to get to Camias, San Miguel Bulacan via buses going to Cabanatuan. From Camias, it takes another 45 mins to 1 hour for a tricycle ride to the jum-off point (Baranggay Sibul, Sitio Madlum).

TRIVIA
The mountain was the location for the teleserye Mulawin and the late teen star Julie Vega’s last movie, Lovingly Yours, Helen. Some say enchanting mountain is also enchanted, but the guides are better sources for such stories. - Yahoo News

The Travel Bureau

Cobrador: Virgin island at the heart of the Philippines

2014-06-10T22:53:00.000-07:00

It isn't clear how Cobrador island in Romblon province got its name but it certainly has nothing to do with gambling, though it sounds the same as kubrador, the Filipino word for bet collector. Gambling, in fact, is one of the prohibited activities on the island at the heart of the Philippine archipelago.

“I was only eight years old when people started calling this island Cobrador, The island used to be called Naguso,” said Cobrador village chief Raul Mortel, 47. Naguso is Romblon’s word for corals.

A stretch of wide-sand beaches

Cobrador, with a population of 983 people, is a little-known Island off the town of Romblon, the capital of Romblon province. The island, which is a village in itself, is 25-to-45-minute ride by motorboat from the capital town, depending on how calm or rough is the sea.

This 300-hectare island, surrounded by glass-clear seas, is home to a beautiful array of corals and abundant marine life. On one side, in Sitio Cabugaan, lies a stretch of white-sand beaches and walls of rock on the other side.

Cobrador is a primary source of black marble slabs, a popular product of the province which has earned its monicker as the Marble Country.

The village chief said the people of Cobrador have been trying to develop and preserve the island as a key tourist spot.

Pristine waters amid walls of rocks

“Before, our beaches were dirty and you’d step on human feces when you walked around,” Mortel said in Filipino.Since 2007, environmental protection has become the village officials’ agenda.

Garbage segregation and recycling are enforced and the majority of the households have their own toilets Cyanide fishing has been banned and the village keeps a hectare of marine sanctuary.

“It was hard at first to introduce regulations, like the curfews, but people eventually understood its purpose,” said Mortel who was elected village chief in 2007.

Since his election, he said, the village’s annual income has grown from P650,000 to P1.3 million, mainly due to the number of tourists visiting the island every summer since 2011.

Most of the tourists, though, are foreigners married to Filipino women from other parts of Romblon.

The island, which had no electricity until six years ago, currently relies on power generators that run only eight hours a day. Water comes from wells or rain collectors, but drinking water is supplied from the mainland.

The village receives 300 to 500 tourists during summer. Although beach camping is allowed for free, the officials see the lack of accommodation facilities a drawback for tourism.

There are regular two-way trips by motorboat on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. The boat leaves Cobrador at 6 a.m. and returns from mainland at 12 noon. A one-way fare costs P25 per person.

The provincial government sees the island as a viable tourism spot and is included in the Department of Tourism’s promotional tour in Romblon this year.

Mortel said kababayans working outside the province are pitching in by creating Facebook fan pages to promote Cobrador.

Last May, the village started promoting Tinagong Dagat (Hidden Sea), a 1.5- to 2-meter-deep pool of saltwater separated from the ocean by large rocks on the eastern part of the island. It is also developing Ilaya Cave, diving and snorkeling spots, and fruit plantations to lure more tourists.

With island’s women displaying racing skills on paddle boats and the men weaving native mats, a reversal of their traditional roles, Cobrador hopes to become an interesting place for tourists to visit.

Cobrador is a virgin island, Mortel said, perfect for city folks to take off from their fast-pacing lives. – The Travel Bureau

Antarctica: A dream destination for tourists

2014-04-12T07:56:00.004-07:00

Tourists boarding an Antarctica-boound plane at Punta Arenas, Chile. — AFP

PRESIDENT FREI BASE, Antarctica, April 12, 2014 (AFP) — As the sun sets, the cloudy sky melds with the glaring white of the frozen terrain. Tourists trudging in single-file line marvel over blue glaciers in Antarctica, a hip new vacation destination.
The group paid a small fortune — $3,000 per head — for a quick five-hour visit to the frozen continent, arriving by plane.
"Coming to Antarctica was a dream for me and my wife," American John Reiss, 81, said as he stood beside his wife Sharon, 73.
"We signed up a couple years ago, but we couldn't get on it, so we went on a waiting list. This year we signed a year in advance and we made it."

The Villa Las Estrellas in Chile side of Antarctica. - AFP

The couple boarded a cruise ship in Florida, where they live, to head to Punta Arenas in the south of Chile, where they caught a two-hour flight to Antarctica.
The tourists visited the island of King George, in the South Shetlands archipelago and the neighboring Russian station of Bellingshausen with its out-of-place Orthodox church.
They also saw the small Chilean hamlet of Villa Las Estrellas home to just 64 people and colonies of penguins.
Another option is to tour Half Moon Island, a habitat of seals and penguins that is home to the Argentine base of Teniente Camara.
There they can sip a hot cup of coffee, send a postcard and get their passport stamped with a picture of a krill, a kind of small shrimp that is the symbol of the base.
"It was a fantastic experience. The first thing that makes this trip special is being able to visit such a well-preserved, untouched continent," said Canadian Maureen Malone, 69.

Brazil's Commandante Ferraz Staton

"The second is being able to see the penguins. Everybody loves the penguins. Also, I was able to see around the bases, see how the different countries are sharing the region."
Tourism is one of the few economic activities allowed by the Treaty of the Antarctic and the Madrid Protocol, which bans mineral extraction on the white continent.
The Antarctic draws more than 30,000 tourists per year, from November to March, when there is no problem landing on the frozen sea.
Most arrive on ships that cross Drake Passage in the Southern Ocean, which has some of the world's worst weather, setting off from Ushuaia in southern Argentina and from Punta Arenas.
"Ninety percent of the tourists from around the world who come to Antarctica leave from Ushuaia. The cruises last an average of 11 days. The cheapest ones cost $5,000. The most expensive, which last 15 days and go to the South Pole, cost $12,000," Brazilian Gunnar Hagelberg, owner of Antarctica Expeditions, told AFP.
More than 35,350 people will have visited Antarctica by the end of this year — 1,000 more than last season and 8,000 more than in 2011-2012, according to the International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators.

Penguins at the seaside of Chile's Presidente Eduardo Frei base

"We carry from 120 to 130 people per season. We have seen a 15 to 20 percent increase in the number of tourists who want to see the continent," said Nicolas Paulsen, deputy commercial director of the Chilean airline Dap, which offers logistical and tourist flights.
Paulsen said tourism in Antarctica is rising three percent more per year than tourism to Chile, which is up seven percent. Most visitors come from the United States, Australia, China, Russia and, more and more, from Brazil.
"Antarctica is vital for us. It affects the climate, the sea currents. Tourism is important because the more people get to know it, the more they will want to protect it," said Paulsen.

The Travel Bureau

The Chocolate Hills of Bohol

2011-12-06T09:13:00.003-08:00

The Chocolate Hills are the most famous tourist attraction in Bohol in the central Philippines. They look like giant mole hills. They are among nature's wonders, uniform in shape and between

30 and 50 meters high.
There are about 1,268 of them. Some say that it is the exact number.The hills are covered with grass, which turn chocolate brown during the dry season. That's between March and June. That's the reason why they are called chocolate hills.

There are at least two legends about the hills. One is about two giants who threw stones and sand at each other in a fight that lasted for days. When they got exhausted, they made friends and left the island, but left behind the mess they made.
The second is a romantic tale of Arogo, a young and strong giant who fell in love with an ordinary mortal named Aloya. When she died, Arogo cried bitterly. His tears then turned into those hills.

Legends aside, geologists have no definite explanation on how the hills were formed with uniform shape.The most commonly accepted theory is that they are weather formations of some marine limestones on top of an impermeable layer of clay. This explanation is found on a bronze plate on top of an observation complex, which is accessible on a 214-step pathway.Tour operators with their own tour guides are available to bring tourists to chocolate hills.

One can make an arrangement even in Manila. If you want to go there on your own, go to Tagbilaran, the capital of Bohol, and take a bus at the integrated bus terminal in Dao to Carmen. At the terminal, people will tell you which bus to take. The Chocolate Hills complex is four kilometers before Carmen so don't forget to tell the driver to drop you at the complex.

A package tour to the Chocolate Hills include dolphin watching, watching tarsiers in the woods, island hopping, snorkeling and a visit to a bee farm.

Here's some info about a tour to Chocolate Hills from my niece Lala who went on a three-day tour with four friends in mid-August this year.

Package tour = P6,793.33 each (Prices change from time to time)

Bohol Tour Packages:

* DOLPHIN WATCHING, ISLAND HOPPING (Balicasag and Virgin Island) TOUR PACKAGES INCLUDES:
· Pick-up resort/hotel in Panglao 0530hr
· Proceed for Dolphin Watching
· Snorkeling at Balicasag Island
· Lunch
· Explore Virgin Island
· Trip to Bee Farm ( Afternoon )
· Back to resort/hotel

Costs Breakdown:

1. Accommodation Cost: Php 4,460.00/passenger

2. CountrySide Tour Cost: Php 850.00/passenger

3. Dolphin Watching, Island Hopping (Balicasag and Virgin Island) & Trip to Bee Farm Cost: Php 1,250.00/passenger

4. Roundtrip Airport Transfer: Php 1,400.00 (VAN)shared

The Travel Bureau

Travel Agency:
CORETRAVEL, INC.
G/F COHERCO CORPORATE CENTER
116 V.A. Rufino Street,
Legaspi Village, Makati City, Metro Manila
TEL. NO.: (02) 814.08.44 , (02) 813.40.16

2011-11-03T21:33:00.000-07:00

Offbeat travel

Tired of the traditional tourist spots? These 10 quirky vacation rentals are incredibly creative and ready for your next vacation.

See all photos

1. Unique Hilltop Windmill
Odemira, Portugal

From this hilltop haven you can enjoy the Alentejo, Portugal's best kept secret, at its best. Situated in an ecological reserve, the mill stands on a hill overlooking the plains that roll their way from the Atlantic coast to the Spanish border. Read reviews

See all photos

2. Exotic Treehouse at Kilauea Volcano
Volcano, Hawaii, US

While this vacation rental may stir up fond memories from childhood, the Exotic Treehouse at Kailauea Volcano is a fantastic choice for a romantic escape, nestled in the canopy level of a forest just minutes from the gate to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.Read reviews

See all photos

3. Orchard Lodge Cabin
Lincoln, England

Located in rural surroundings on an 800 acre farm and close to the great Lincolnshire coast line. The two bathrooms feature a Swedish Sauna, a large spa bath, and a steam massage shower with mood lighting and radio. Read reviews

See all photos

4. The Barbecue Hut
Ockelbo, Sweden

Located in a tranquil and secluded village, these two cottages offer a beautiful child-friendly beach, an outdoor wood-heated sauna, hot-tub bathing barrel, and a wonderful barbecue hut with real reindeer skins.Read reviews

See all photos

5. The White Elephant Floating Inn
Boston, Massachusetts, US

Located near the USS Constitution in Boston Harbor, The White Elephant Floating Inn offers guests a whole different view of the city. With hardwood floors, beautifully furnished rooms and enough room to sleep ten, travelers may forget they're on the water in this vacation rental. Read reviews

See all photos

6. Clifftop Cottage
Glossa, Greece

As one TripAdvisor traveler put it, "What a place! The location on the cliff is spectacular, with stunning views over the Aegean Sea. The house is very spacious and offers wonderful views of the most fascinating sunsets."Read reviews

See all photos

7. The Mill of the Balsina
Vila de Cruces, Spain

El Molino de la Balsiña is an ancient watermill nestled in a valley on the banks of the Rio Arnego. It has terraced gardens, mile after mile of countryside, and consists of two stone houses: the Miller's house and the Weaver's cottage. Read reviews

See all photos

8. Little Red Caboose
Oakhurst, California, US

Train-loving travelers will love this property located just twenty minutes away from Yosemite National Park in California. This little caboose packs appealing amenities including Jacuzzi tub, barbecue grill, hardwood floors and a kitchenette with granite countertops.Read reviews

See all photos

9. Mijaran III House
Vielha, Spain

Casa Mijaran III is a traditional Aran-style two-story house with garden. With fantastic views of the River Nere and surrounding mountains, the house is the perfect place to enjoy the Aran Valley from the old quarter of Vielha. Read reviews

See all photos

10. At Home in the Dome
Sedona, Arizona, US

For travelers looking for their own "dome on the range," My Sedona Place is a dome-shaped property that offers all the comforts of home, including a full kitchen, three bedrooms, an outdoor patio and a big-screen high definition TV. It also boasts stunning views of the famous Sedona red rocks. Read reviews

Lifted from the website of TripAdvisor

The Travel Bureau

Click Here!

Click Here!

2011-10-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

10 spooky haunted destinations

photo by champagnedor

1.	The Tower of London London, England Site of torture, execution, and murder for more than 1,000 years. see photos
2.	Dracula's Castle (Bran Castle) Brasov, Romania Former home to Vlad the Impaler, widely thought to have inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula. see photos
3.	The Colosseum Rome, Italy Bloody gladiator shows and gory animal fights. Some hear the sounds of battle by night. see photos
4.	Charles Bridge Prague, Czech Republic Said to be haunted by ten decapitated lords who roam the bridge by night. see photos
5.	Ballygally Castle Ballygally, Northern Ireland Home to the ghost of Lady Isobel Shaw, whose husband let her starve to death in a locked room. see photos

6.	The Queen Mary Long Beach, California More than a dozen apparitions have been recorded aboard this celebrated luxury liner. see photos
7.	Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh, Scotland A phantom piper, a headless drummer, and a dog are among its ghostly inhabitants. see photos
8.	Salem, Massachusetts Best known for witch trials in 1692. Tourists come to see the Witch Trial Memorial and Old Burying Point Cemetery. see photos
9.	Catacombs of the Capuchins Palermo, Italy Meet the mummified dead ofPalermo in these spooky underground passages. see photos
10.	Rose Hall Great House Rose Hall, Jamaica Said to be haunted by former owner Annie Palmer, who murdered three husbands and a succession of lovers. see photos

The Travel Bureau

21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Message body

Australia's Big Pineapple gets a new lease of life

2011-10-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

Queensland tourist icon has seen the rough end of the pineapple in recent times, but its future is now looking a lot sweeter.
A massive cleanup and restoration program has begun to bring the Big Pineapple at Woombye on the Sunshine Coast back to its former glory days.
Following the purchase of the attraction by a private consortium in August, scaffolding has been erected around the pineapple itself, as work begins to re-establish the site as a leading agri-tourism operation.
Newly appointed general manager Paul Ziebarth, the architect and manager of the acclaimed Northey Street Organic Markets in Brisbane, says after years of neglect it will be a huge task.
"Stage one will include welcoming back the produce markets, which were a highlight here at the Big Pineapple for many years, cleaning up and reclaiming the 400-acre (162-hectare) site, restoring the plantations and orchards over two years, restoring and reopening the Pineapple, specialist fixing of the famous train, and developing the masterplan proper,'' he said.
"It's important to recognise that the Big Pineapple was completely rundown and in a derelict state after being neglected for a long time, and lying dormant for well over 12 months.
"The orchards and gardens need very serious attention and care, all buildings on the site need cleaning, restoring and assessment, and the Pineapple needs full restoration.
"Some of the buildings, like the Nut Factory and the Chocolate Factory have been completely gutted, to the point (where) returning to their original use is simply impossible.''
The produce markets will return to a new and permanent home from November.
"While the markets at the Big Pineapple were traditionally focused on tropical fruits, our focus is to build on this solid foundation, and develop all primary food bases into a full range market offer covering fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy and grains and in the longer term, seafood,'' Ziebarth said.
"In the orchards alone there are some 12,000 trees all in a seriously neglected state. Restoring the gardens and orchards of avocados, pineapples, macadamia nuts, lychees and more is a very big job.
"The masterplan is to create a self-perpetuating hub with very real business and employment generators.''
"The Big Pineapple is a big part of the Sunshine Coast family and we are keen to engage ideas and suggestions.
Built in 1971, the Big Pineapple burnt down and was rebuilt in 1978, and during its life has been owned by various operators including Rupert Murdoch during the 1980's.

The Travel Bureau

21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Hong Kong cross-harbor swim returns after 33 years

2011-10-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hong Kong, Oct 16, 2011 (AFP) -Hong Kong's iconic cross-harbor swim race made its return Sunday after a 33-year suspension forced by pollution and heavy traffic on the famous waterway.
The annual race, a tradition dating back to 1906 which in its heydey attracted hundreds of swimmers to the city's famed Victoria Harbor, was halted in 1978 as water quality deteriorated.
The event was revived this year due to popular demand, with organizers insisting that water quality has improved, allowing 1,000 participants to take part in the 1.8-kilometer race.
The participants dashed between Hong Kong island and the Kowloon peninsula on a bright autumn day, with the frontrunners completing the course in about 20 minutes.
"It's a meaningful event. It brings back a lot of memories for old Hong Kong people," said Ronnie Wong from the Hong Kong Amateur Swimming Association, a three-time champion of the race between 1967 and 1969.
"A lot of people have been asking me when we can hold the race again," he said, adding that the association had to turn down nearly 500 applications to limit the number of participants to 1,000.
Environmental groups had warned before the race that there were still high levels of harmful bacteria including E.coli in the famous port.
But Wong said that fluctuating water quality had improved in recent days in the eastern part of the harbor where the race is held, and that it was safe for the event to go ahead.
Wong said the association was considering opening the race to foreigners from next year, after drawing a big field of entries from swimmers young and old, plus a smattering of expatriates.
"Once we open the entry to international participants, this will become a tourist attraction," he said.
Pollution -- air quality in particular -- is a major issue in Hong Kong, and critics say that as well as posing a

Please visit my other blogs Salt of Life at http://www.salt-romblonwriter.blogspot.com,
Miscellaneous at http://www.micellaneous-oddnews.blogspot.com, and Fun in Life at
http://www.salt-funstories.blogspot.com

The Travel Bureau

21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Message body

Romblon, a less-known tourist haven

2011-10-06T22:25:00.000-07:00

Looking for materials to write for this blog, I thought of Romblon, a small province in the heart of the Philippines, where I grew up. Romblon, known among Filipinos as the Marble Country for its vast marble deposits, is a less-known tourist destination where mountains often meet the sea.

Romblon Bay: A safe haven for ships during storms.
At foreground is the town of Romblon, Romblon
nestled between mountains and sea.

The province consists of three major islands - Tablas, Sibuyan and Romblon. Although not as popular as other tourist spots like Boracay off Panay Island or Puerto Gallera in Mindoro, Romblon has equally-beautiful beaches and coral reefs that are ideal for scuba diving under turquoise sea.
Having lived on the capital island of Romblon in my teens, I can vouch that almost all beaches around the island are ideal for swimming but the most famous of which is Bonbon beach because of its proximity to the town - three kilometers away. From the beaches, tourists can go to nearby villages and see how the village folk live.

The town of Romblon itself hosts several tourist attractions - the St. Joseph Cathedral, a Spanish-era church with a separate belfry, the Spanish fortress on a hill known as San Andres, and stores selling souvenir items crafted from solid marble rocks. The picturesque Romblon harbor is a haven for ships during storms because the landlocked bay is buffeted by two islands at the entrance.

The Romblon National High School in Romblon, Romblon

Those who want to see how marble is processed into slabs or tiles can take a tricycle to the quarries where solid marble rocks are cut into blocks or the factory which processed the blocks into slabs or tiles that are installed as flooring or plastered on walls. Romblon marble comes in different shades ranging from black, white to gold. The shades often come in streaks.

Although few foreign tourists have discovered Romblon as an ideal vacation haven, a steady stream of visitors, some coming from other parts of the Philippines, prompted enterprising residents to build cottages along the beaches. The cottage owners also serve home-cooked foods.
Aside from Bonbon, the other known beach resorts on the island are in Ginablan, a village 12 kilometers away from town.

Bonbon beach

Ginablan, where I grew up, has a wide swath of rice fields that crawl to the foot of the hills. I haven't gone back to Romblon for more than 30 years now but I can still remember the houses mostly built of wood or bamboo slits strewn far apart amid coconut trees. Off the shore is a small island which can be traveled by foot during ebb tide. Inland, the rivers were pristine and the woods, where birds perched quietly on branches of lush trees, were eerie in their silence.

Across the western horizon of Romblon, Tablas, the biggest of the three main islands in the province, has quite a number of tourist resorts. Among them is the Aglicay Beach Resort in Alcantara municipality which offers a clear shore with "kiss powdery-white sand" and a bed of corals where tropical fish with dazzling colors take shelter. It also boost of breath-taking hills that are "alive with the songs of birds".

Aglicay beach off Alcantara town on Tablas island.

Tourists who want to stay in seclusion on a private island may choose the Morel Island Resort on Morel Island. And like most beaches across the province, Kambaye Beach Resort in Binonga-an, San Agustin municipality, has a white long sandy shore, and offers a full view of Romblon island across the sea.

Sibuyan island on the eastern side of the province offers other attractions, aside from its white beaches. For instance, Mt. Guiting-Guiting, the highest peak in the province, has been attracting mountaineers for its abundant wildlife and waterfalls. Catingas River Valley, in Taclobo, San Fernnando municipality, is home for the world's smallest bats, mangcogo or iron wood and clean inland water.

White beach going to the Isla de Gallo,
also known as Cresta de Gallo island.

Busay Falls, in Panangcalan, San Fernando, takes pride of its "remaining untouched falls in the Philippines" while Isla de Gallo in Azagra, also in San Fernando, offers a beautiful scenery of coral reefs for divers.

In a small island municipality known as Corcuera, visitors will find centuries-old coffins made of hallowed logs in Guyangan caves, which was discovered in 1936, years before World War II. Lis-ong Cave in Colong-colong village offers wonderful sights of stalactites and stalagmites.
At the peak of Mount Andradoon in the village of Mangansag is a grotto of the Immaculate Conception where devotees go to pray during the Lenten season. On a hill overlooking the town of Corcuera still stands the Cotta Tower built between 1860-1865 by San Agustin de Pedro to ward off Muslim pirates.
The 28-hectare Saba Bay Lagoon straddles the border of the upland villages of San Roque and Mabini with serene waters. In the domelike Guiniwagan Cave in Mahaba village is a pool of cool water where villagers swim. I have gone to Corcuera with a high-school friend who lives there and found hot springs on the shore on the fringes of the town

Note: In case foreign readers wonder why there is Spanish-era church in Romblon, the Philippines was once a colony of Spain. Colonial churches are strewn across the country.

How to go to the islands.

The fastest way is by plane to Odiongan, Romblon's biggest town. Visitors who may want to go to the island of Romblon could travel by land to San Agustin and then take a rigger boat from there.

There are also Ro-Ro ferries from the pier of Batangas, south of Manila. The ferries, which take both passengers and cars, are operated by Viva Lines (Tel. +6343-7239302 +6343-7239302), Montenegro Lines (Tel. +6343-7238294 +6343-7238294) and Shipshape Ferry Inc.(Tel. +6343-7237615 +6343-7237615) The ferries sails daily to Odiongan, daily except Wednesday to San Agustin on Tablas Island, Romblon on Romblon Island and San Fernando on Sibuyan Island. Corcuera island is also accessible from Batangas.

Sailing from Manila thru North Harbor is the easiest way to visit Romblon province. Pier 8 at the North Harbor is the main port of MBRS Lines. MBRS ships sail alternately, serving the three main islands of Sibuyan, Romblon and Tablas.

Please visit my other blogs Salt of Life

The Creek House hotel in Romblon, Romblon

http://www.salt-romblonwriter.blogspot.com,
Fun in Life http://www.salt-funstories.blogspot.com and
Miscellaneous http://www.miscellaneous-oddnews.blogspot.com.

All photos are from the Internet.

The Travel Bureau

Glimpses of Greece and Turkey

2011-09-22T22:29:00.000-07:00

Mykonos, a Greek island in the Cyclades, battleground of Zeus and the Titans in the Greek mythology.
Greek tycoon Aristotle Onasis and Jacqueline Kennedy stayed frequently here after their marriage.

The Parthenon atop the Acropolis as viewed from their hotel.

Twice a year, my niece Roxanna goes on a trip - outside the United States in summer and in the US, where she stays now, in the fall. Last summer, she went on a tour to Greece and Turkey, culminating on a seven-day trip to the Greek isles as well as Istanbul and Kusadasi in Turkey.

"I plan my trip way ahead of time," says Roxanna, who lives in Florida where she works as a medical technologist in a hospital, in an email. "After coming back from a trip, I plan for the next trip to keep me sane. I got inflicted by the travel bug."
She often travesl with friends, "mostly single women who are seasoned travelers" like her. "I feel like I got to see places on earth before it disappears. I want to see the ancient and new wonders of the world while they exist. Traveling is my passion," says Roxanna, who hails from San Fernando, Romblon, in the central Philippines.
Roxanne, nicknamed Baby, migrated to the US after joining her siblings in Canada. From Canada, she went to Texas and then moved to Florida.
"My philosophy is that I will travel while I am able - physically, financially and mentally. Hope alzheimer or dementia won't strike me before I retire," she kidded. "About 75 percent of the travelers I met outside the US are retired elderly, with canes and taking all sorts of medication."

View of the Caldera, a basin-like depression
caused by the collapse of the center of a volcano.

The sights of them strengthen her resolve to travel while she is young "because traveling involves a long while of walking, too. It's a waste of money paying for a trip if you just stay in a bus or a hotel because you can't go with the group on a walking tour."
She prefers guided tour offered by tour companies. "There are several types of tour: budget, first class, luxury, independent. I take a tour based on the itinerary I like. It could be first class or budget. I have not taken a luxury tour, too expensive for my budget.
On a 12 to 15-day European tour, she says, her budget is usually $5K-plus for airfare, options, pocket money and meals. She doesn't shop on tours knowing that prices on tourist destinations would be about thrice the normal price. She usually picks the month of May for a tour outside the US. "That's when the airfare is low and tourist sites or landmarks are not too crowded."

Blue-doomed church on the island of Santori.

Going back to her latest tour, she picked Greece because the tour packaged included Turkey. From Orlando, they layed over in Philadelphia and then flew to Athens, where she says she felt the ancient glory of the city. They stayed at the Divani Acropolis Hotel, which was close to the Parthenon, and toured Athens the following day to see its major landmarks.

They spent the second day touring the city of Athens and dined in one of the tavernas at the Plaka, a shopping district, where they enjoyed watching Greek folk dances and listening to Greek singers. "We ate authentic Greek food and tasted wine: ouzo (yuk), mousaka, dolmades and gyro (pronounced as yee-ro)."

Performers dance at a taverna where they dined.

It was cold in Athens when they went there with light showers in the afternoon. "Good thing I had brought a sweater. In Europe, you always bring a sweater whatever is the season."
On the third day, she and 47 others in the group from the US started their cruise to the Greek isles. All in all, there were 1,300 passengers in the cruise that started from the port of Piraeus where they saw lots of Filipinos. "I think majority of the port employees were Pinoys (Filipinos). They were all over, from the port entry, ticketing, porters, baggage handlers, visa checkers, etc. When we boarded the ship and got into our cabins, we found out that the steward was also a Pinoy. So we got a special service."
The situation was similar in her other cruises. "I had been to the Bahamas and found out that about 60-70 of the cruise crew were Pinoys. And, yes, you are always well-taken care of. They give excellent services and the Pinoy entertainers were good as well."
The first place they went to was Istanbul, Turkey. "Istanbul surprised me. It is a fascinating place, it straddles two continents. One side is in Europe and the other in Asia. The European side was the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The Asian side is called Asia Minor or Anatolia. The two continents are divided by the Strait of Boshphorous."

White houses with blue domes, a postcard view of Santorini in Ola.

One of the memorable places they had gone to was the Sultanahmet mosque or Blue Mosque, so-called because the tiles used to adorn the interior were blue. "It's a beautiful mosque, with a massive history."she gushed. The also went to Hagia Sophia, a former cathedral turned into a mosque and later into a museum."The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia are facing each other.'
Roxanna said they were told by their guide that the Blue Mosque was copied form Hagia Sophia, which had a distinct byzantine architecture, and just added seven minarets.

Other places they visited were the Topkapi Palace, the official residence of the Ottoman Sultans for about 400 years. "Lots of history. Inside the palace, we went into three different rooms where gems and stones of the royalties were kept. No cameras were allowed so we did not take any picture."

On a tender going to the port with co-travelers Cora and Art.

Their last stop in Istanbul were the bazaars where she had a good experience in price bargaining. "Once you touch something they will not stop (pestering you) until you buy. So if you don't want to buy anything just let your eyeballs roll around and zip your mouth."
The bazaars, she said, was a place where you have to haggle for a good price if you want to buy anything because the prices are marked up by "probably 10 times".
"I wanted to buy a souvenir and saw this small replica of the Blue Mosque. Although I was just looking around and didn't say anything, a salesman started following me and persuading me to buy something, probably sensing that I wanted to buy something," she recalled.

The city of Athens viewed from the Acropolis.

"Finally I saw the one I liked. You can pay either in euro or Turkish lira. At that time 1 euro was 3 lira, 1 US dollar was 1.5 lira. When I asked for the price, he said 30 euros. I said 10, he said 20. When I acted like I was going away, he said 'how much do you want?' I said 15. He looked at me and said ok, which confirmed my suspicion that the price was jacked up so much."
Going through the bazaars for food, coffee and spices, their last stop was a carpet store where some Americans in the tour bought carpets. "We watched the demo on how they weave carpets by hand, no machine was involved. While watching the demo, they served hot apple teas (very good) and lion's milk (Turkish liquor fermented anis which I did not like).
"There were two kinds of carpet/rugs: silk and woolen.Silk was more expensive, from $2,000 to $5,000, depending on the size. They ship it to any parts of the world but it would take weeks or months. First you choose what design you like. If the design was not readily available, they will weave if for you, with your signature weaved into the carpet and would be shipped to your address when it's finished.

Plaka district where shops and restaurants are located.

"Some Americans in the tour bought rugs that would be shipped in the next few weeks. They were really nice and I could have bought a carpet if I had the money. We returned to our ship at night and went to other islands, one island each day. One of the islands was called Kusadasi, where the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus was one of the tourist attractions. Kusadasi is a also a place where the Virgin Mary was believed to have lived after Jesus died.

"There are so many things to say yet but I would rather let your readers go to these places to see what I am saying. They are beautiful places to visit."

The first Olympic stadium in Athens where the Olympic flame
starts and ends at the place where the Olympic games is held.

We invite travelers to post their travels in this site - free. If you can't compose the story, just give us the details, we will do it for you. Pictures are a must to accompany the story. Send your story and photos to casianomayor@yahoo.com.

Please visit my other blogs Salt of Life at http://www.salt-romblonwriter.blogspot.com,
Miscellaneous at http://www.miscellaneous-oddnews.blogspost.com and Fun in Life at http://www.salt-funstories.blogspot.com.

<a href="http://www.ebookreaderreviewsite.org">ebook reader reviews</a>

Please also visit my website The Travel Bureau

21st Century auto Insurance is available only in the United States

Message body

Palawan's Coron islands

2011-09-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

Coron island in the Philippines may not be as popular as Boracay island but it has one of best shores for swimming or snorkeling. The third largest island in the Calamian Group of Islands in the northern Palawan province about 310 kilometers southwest of Manila, the country's capital, Coron is more known for several Japanese shipwrecks of World War II vintage.

From left: Bernadette, Lala and Lericita
at the steps of Mt. Tapias.

The area around the wrecks has pleasant rock formations which provide for excellent snorkeling experience, with underwater visibility extending up to 80 feet (24 meters). The water is often calm. Coron is one of the most visited destinations for wreck diving in the Philippines. Wreck dive sites are found in a depth as shallow as 10–30 feet and as deep as 120–140 feet. Most are in the range of about 60–80 feet, perfect for sports divers.

But enough of the text-book type narrative about Coron as a tourist destination. You can search such information in the Internet. What you can't search in the web are real tour experiences. And that's what I want to provide in this post - this time it's the first-hand experiences of my two nieces and a sister-in-law.

Swimming in clear water, from left, Bernadette, Lala and Lericita

They took a promotion flight from Manila to Coron with the local airlies Cebu Pacific. The two-way ticket cost them 2,211 pesos each. At the current rate of about 42 pesos to a US dollar, that's more or less $52.5. They got the package from the website of Corongaleri.Com.Ph. It was a guided tour.

On day one, they climbed Mt. Tapias, which has more than 700 steps. "We were challenged to climb because our guide brought with him his 83-year old grandfather who took the climb in a breeze. We did not regret it because the view from the top was so beautiful. It provided a panorama of the island of Coron and the neighboring islands," says my niece Lala in an email.

A bee on an indigenous plant they took picture of along the way.

The day-two tour, that cost them 650 pesos extra, took them to the Kayangan Reef, Twin Peaks Reef, Arwayan Beach and the Coral Garden, which they said was the most memorable. "The water was so clear beyond 10 feet you can see the corals from the boat very clearly," Lala. says. "The corals were of different colors, the sight was so beautiful."

Their package included lunch, a tour guide, life vest but they rented the snorkeling gear.

One of their rooms at the Ralph pension house.

On day three, dubbed as Las Islas Ecotour that cost them 750 pesos each, they went to the Barracuda Lake, Banol Beach, Calachuchi Reef , Sunset beach and Siete Pecados. What they appreciated most in this tour was the Calachuchi Reef.

"To go there, you have to use a snorkel to enter the cave with a submerge entrance. In the cave, you will find a lone calachuchi tree on a middle island. The sand along the sides inside the cave is so fine like a baby talk powder," says Lala. "It is advisable to bring an underwater camera so you can take beautiful sights inside the cave."

Their misfortune is they did not have an underwater camera.

The living room that goes with the three bedrooms.

They stayed at the Ralph pension house. The owner told them that everything they need in Coron - small restaurants, Internet shop, shops for souvenirs and local finger foods for taking home - were just five minutes walk from the pension house.

They did not go to those places but the Coron Galeri where they booked their package tours "was just a few minutes away." Food in the restaurant where the took supper cost 100 to 150 pesos a meal and they swear that the food were fine because they were like home-cooked.

Those who want to inquire about the tours here's the link of the Coron Galeri http://www.ralphspensionhouse.webs.com.

Sunset at Coron islands.

For those who want to go diving around Coron Island here's some tips I got from the Internet.

There are many many dive sites around the island but the most famous is the Gunter's Cave, also know as the Cathedral Cave because at a certain time of the day the sun throws a beam of light through the cave hole illuminating it inside. The cave was named after Gunther Bernett who was part of the first group of divers to explore it after local fishermen told him about its existence.

The wreck diving sites in Coron Bay include the Irako wrech, Okinawa Maru wreck, Akitsushima wreck, Kogyo Maru wreck, Olympia Maru wrech, Kyokuzan Maru wreck, East Tangat gunboat wreck, Nanshin Maru wreck, Lusong Gunboat wreck and Skeleton Wreck.

The real name of the ship which was long been called as the East Tangat gunboat was discovered just recently by a group of Dutch divers who spent a couple of days digging the sand around its stern. I presume that the name of the ships in the sites Lusong Gunboat wreck and Skeleton wreck have been known.

The underwater views of the sunken Japanese ships off Coron Island are listed in Forbes Traveler Magazine’s top-10 bests cuba diving sites in the world.

A group of tourists entering the Subterranean River.

Palawaan province, which faces the South China Sea on the north and the Sulu Sea on the south, has many tourist spots itself, including the Subterranean River which passes through a long cave.
The 8.2-kilometer underground river in Puerto Pricesa City, the provincial capital, has been declared a national park and listed in Unesco's heritage program. It's among the nominess for the New 7 Wonders of the World.

Please also visit my travel website. The Travel Bureau

Please visit my other blogs Salt of Life, Miscellaneous, and Fun in Life.

The world's best cities to travel

2011-09-17T13:35:00.000-07:00

Despite the world economic crisis, travel has gone up with 270 million travelers leaving on vacation this year, Yahoo! Travel and Leisure reported on Thursday, quoting the Airports Council International.

Yahoo! Travel and Leisure said Bangkok is number one destination of most travelers this year, citing a readers's survey for its 16th annual World's Best cities. Florence comes close on its hees..

“Cities absolutely dominate over countryside experiences for travelers,” it quoted Priscilla Alexander of Protravel International as saying. “You won’t have someone going to France and not going to Paris.”
Yahoo! Travel and Leisure took into consideration factors such as efficient transportation and affordable dining, among others.

Here's the top 10 cities:

No. 1 Bangkok
The capital of Thailand with of 10 million people, Bangkok has sky crappers jostling for space, while beneath them are cabs and tuk-tuks inching on heavy traffic. For shopping and dinning, Bangkok has an array of bacchanalia. It has nabbed the number one post for two years running and has been listed in the top 10 destinations every year since 2002.

No. 2 Florence
This much-loved Renaissance city is set amid rolling hills studded with towers and churches. New galleries and aperitivo bars share the compact city center with more than one million works of art — among them Michelangelo’s David and Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. With its high-fashion brands like Gucci and Cavalli, succulent steaks and the traditional artisan workshops of the Oltrarno, Florence beat out European cities many times its size.

No. 3
Rome

Dubbed as the Eternal City, Rome has a series of starchitect-designed buildings. Emblematic of the bold new look are the Ara Pacis, a travertine-and-glass building by Richard Meier, and Zaha Hadid’s Maxxi (Museum of 21st Century Arts), which debuted in 2010 in the northern Flaminio zone. The Colosseum has opened its dungeons and third-floor gallery to tourists for the first time.

No. 4 New York

New York is know for its bright-lights-big-city grandeur where one can always find a quiet neighborhood. The trick is balancing the city’s outsize spectacle with intimate experiences. The latest neighborhood to pull it off is the Chelsea arts district, between 10th and 11th avenues, most notable for the just-expanded High Line, a landscaped strip of elevated public space. For a picnic lunch, stop into Chelsea Market, a food-court-on-steroids, and savor a piece of the city that’s been voted No. 1 within the U.S. and Canada every year since 2000.

No. 5 Istanbul

Straddling the Bosporus — and thus the only major city that occupies both Asia and Europe — Istanbul also spans the ancient and modern worlds. The sounds of construction compete with the call of the muezzin, and the skyline, a glittering ribbon of palaces and mosques, is dotted with rooftop nightclubs. One reason the city skyrocketed back onto the World’s Best Cities list after two absent years. The appeal of Istanbul’s latest culinary trend: resurrecting ancient Ottoman recipes, such as garlicky lamb’s trotter served on toast at Asitane and juicy kubbes — dumplings filled with beef and pignoli — at Cercis Murat Kona, on the city’s Asian side.

No. 6 Cape Town

Cape Town is sometimes labeled the least African of African cities — which, depending on who’s doing the labeling, is said with enthusiasm or disparagement. But whatever you think of the must-see destination, post-World Cup, the city radiates a palpable cool, and now it has surged back onto the World’s Best list with a higher score than in 2009 (the last time it appeared). Split your time between urban pursuits (browsing the trendy Neighborgoods Market and local artists’ galleries) and excursions to see wildlife, sample wines, and stroll the beaches of the Cape of Good Hope reserve.

No. 7 Siem Reap

Siem Reap is best known as the gateway to the Angkor Wat temple complex and other 12th-century Khmer ruins such as Ta Prohm, which remains as archaeologists found it in 1860, with banyan and kapok trees slowly reclaiming its sandstone carvings. But now the city has evolved from a cluster of riverfront villages into a full-fledged destination complete with art galleries, boutique hotels — and a World’s Best Cities designation. Sample the local cuisine at the FCC Angkor, a 31-room Art Deco hotel and restaurant, and drop by McDermott Gallery for black-and-white photographs of Angkor Wat.

No. 8 Sydney

Part outsize beach resort, part culture capital, Sydney, the perennial World’s Best City winner Down Under, exemplifies the art of relaxed cosmopolitanism: urbane but not pretentious; cutting-edge but not stressed-out. New restaurants and boutiques are channeling that Aussie energy in some oft-overlooked neighborhoods such as beachside hangout Manly. And an initiative to liven up the side lanes in the trendy Surry Hills and Darlinghurst neighborhoods has led to a slew of lounge bars opening up; try the lychee-infused tequila at Hunky Dory Social Club.

No. 9 Barcelona
Barcelona has long been famous for its art and architecture, with Salvador Dal, Joan Mir, and Antoni Gaud all leaving their marks. But this is the first year that the Catalan city has broken into the World’s Best Cities top 10 list. Though diversions like wandering the Gaud - designed Parc Güell have a timeless appeal, it’s new hot spots like Tickets, from mad-scientist brothers Ferran and Albert Adrià, that are creating the worldwide buzz. Where to stay? At the new Mandarin Oriental, where the Hong Kong hotel group’s legendary service is paired with Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola’s 98 bright, cream-on-white rooms.No. 10 Paris
Paris where every cobbled lane, every street-side café, every patisserie window seems to have been art-directed by some impossibly savvy set designer. Yet for all that elegance and drama, Paris’s greatest pleasures are arguably its simplest ones: the hum of a neighborhood bistro; the tranquility of a churchyard; the crunch of a perfect baguette. After all, you come to Paris to eat. Indulge serious cheese fantasies at Laurent Dubois, a fromagerie with seemingly endless options.
Please also visit our website: The Travel Bureau
P

Three days in Hong Kong

2011-09-02T14:40:00.003-07:00

With my wife Marilyn (left) and sister-in-law Lericita
in an elevator of Dorsett Far East hotel where we stayed.

Three days in Hong Kong was not enough to see how people lived there, but our sojourn gave me at least an inkling of how hurried and harried life was for most of the estimated seven million people in the former Crown Colony.
If our tour guides were a gauge, I could feel that they run their lives like they were running business enterprises. Our first guide, who gave his name as Randy, came to our meeting place right on the dot and immediately told us to fall in line as if we were schoolchildren.
"Don't change your money at any foreign exchange center here at the airport. Their exchange rate is extremely low," he briefed us, making me regret that I had changed $100 at the first money exchange center that I saw. "The money changers downtown have better rates."

A cobbler on a Hong Kong sidewalk.

After his briefing, he immediately went to his own business, writing on a sheet of paper and adroitly trying to avoid any conversation. "Excuse me sir, but my English is very poor," he said when I tried to strike a conversation, although he spoke fluent English.
Up to the time of our departure to the hotel, he carried a formal, distant demeanor, although on our way, he tried to make us laugh with his handy jokes from time to time while telling us a sweeping history of the former Crown Colony.
I never saw him dropped his guarded behavior even when we were already at the hotel, trying to keep himself busy with anything and reminded us to be at the lobby at the exact time the next day for our tour of the city in the morning and Disneyland in the afternoon.
The first day of our short stay was free so we decided to go sightseeing downtown after lunch which we took at the nearest MacDonald food chain and where we experienced our first problem: few people spoke English. So we just strolled aimlessly in old Hong Kong, watching people who seem to be mostly in a hurry.

On our way to the city tour with my daughter at the bus's door.

I learned later that few people in Hong Kong owned cars; only the affluent have. Most walked to the offices or any short-distance destinations. People take the Metro rail and public buses only for long-distance journey. Taxi was expensive. That answered my wonderment as soon as we arrived why most Hong Kong residents were lean.
Although Chinese residents in Hong Kong seemed aloft, many of them were polite. In a noodle restaurant where we took a mid-afternoon snack, people sitting beside us or in front of us just took their food quietly, but the restaurant owner who spoke a little English assured us that they want tourists to come because it would help boost their economy.
When we took our tour the following day, I learned that what the restaurant owner told us was a mantra that would be repeated by our first tour guide. On our way to what was supposed to be a city tour, Randy joked about how they like tourists to keep on coming.
"We like you to spend your money here so our economy will grow," he said with a laugh, without us knowing that the tour was not to tourist spots. We were immediately taken to two factory outlets where we were shown products we may want to buy before taking a 30-minute stopover at the Avenue of Stars to gawk at statues and other memorabilia of great Hong Kong celebrities and a boat ride later at the Hong Kong Channel for HK$50 each.

In front of Bruce Lee's statue at the Avenue of Stars,
a park dedicated to Hong Kong's celebrities.

The supposed city tour was a subtle marketing coup attached to tourism. It was ingenuously timed at the moment when we had put down our guards to our purse strings and succumbed to impulse buying. We found out the next day that mainland China had copied the same strategy when we went to Shenzen a little beyond the border of Hong Kong.
We finished our "city tour" at noon where we were taken again to a factory outlet that sold souviener t-shirts and hopia, a kind of Chinese foodstuff that is also known to Filipinos, on the side. If that was a clue, we failed to pick it up that we won't be taking lunch until we reached Disneyland.
Our first tour guide left us to the second tour guide without saying goodbye. It turned out that our second tour guide had coordinated with several groups of tourists to wait for the bus in various parts of the city. It took the bus about an hour to pick up the different groups and we reached Disneyland at around 1:30 pm. When I told our second tour guide that we hadn't taken lunch yet, he replied with a sweet smile: "So haven't I."
At Disneyland, our new tour guide reminded us to be in the bus on time that night and that a third tourist guide was to take care of us. Left on our own, we looked for a place to take lunch at Disyneyland where food was so expensive but later enjoyed our tour in fantasy land. For all the trouble, we were glad to have visited Hong Kong because it fulfilled a childhood dream of our 14-year-old daughter.
When we went back to our bus after all the Disney activities, our third guide was already there waiting for us and for another group of tourists. It amazed me that all the three guides worked with clock-work precision without personal touches which the Filipinos call TLC or tender loving care.

The spectators during the parade of the Disney characters
with my wife (partly hidden, left) taking pictures.
This picture was taken by our child.

After our bus had dropped all passengers to their hotels, our third tour guide took us to the train that would take us to Shenzen where we had to spend the night in a quite messy hotel. As it was in Hong Kong, the next day we were taken to two factory outlets where the sales ladies persuaded as to buy products that included jade stones crafted into elegant earings or bracelets that were supposed to cure many ailments.
And as in Hong Kong, our business-like schedule rubbed all the fun from the tour. After lunch, our guide immediately took us to immigration in another side of the border for a bus that would take us straight to Hong Kong airport. When she finished all the paper works, she instructed us on what to do and where to wait for our fourth tour guide at the Hong Kong side of the border. It was amazing that everything went on smoothly, despite our trepidation that we could get into trouble if something went amiss.

My family and sister-in-law with Cinderella's castle at the background.

Waiting for our plane at Hong Kong's airport, I could not help think of Singapore where we enjoyed a guided tour about six years ago and pondered if we would still go back to Hong Kong. Probably, we will but no longer on a guided tour and instead study the railway networks as some of our friends in Jeddah later advised us to enjoy another sojourn in the former Crown Colony.

We invite other travelers to share the travel experiences with us, particularly enjoyable ones. Don't worry about cost, this is a free venue, ther's no fee. We created this blog for sharing experience to guide others who are planning to take a furlough for relaxation or pleasure. Please send draft story and photographs to casianomayor@yahoo.com.

Please also visit my other blogs Salt of Life, and Fun in Life.

Please also visit our website: The Travel Bureau

Climbing Mambukal's mountain trails

2011-09-01T11:40:00.000-07:00

From Lakawon (previous post) we went to Mambukal Mountain Resort about two-hour drive from Bacolod City on the same jeepney that ran at 40kph. Mambukal is known for its hot springs with sulfuric soda water in one of them.
It has a bath house with spa, famous among Asian tourists, particularly the Japanese. Each spa is supplied by hot and cold water from the springs on the mountain sides. Tourists who suffer from body fatigue and want to release stress, dip in the spa for its alleged therapeutic treatment.
We skipped the swimming pools as well as the spa and chose to climb the rugged mountain trails to see the waterfalls. We took the trails because our nieces Lala (right in photo above) and Bernadette (front right), who often travel to other tourist spots in and outside the country, wanted something different from the usual beaches they had gone to. (Others in photo are, from left, my in-laws Lericita and Josie, me, my wife Marilyn and daughter Maria Angeline.)

There were seven waterfalls but we skipped the two further up toward the mountain top because we took so long dipping in some of them and had forgotten about the time until it was almost dusk. At 68, without a heart problem and other serious ailments, I joined the climb through the mountain trails. The trails were sometimes steep and there were times that my better-half and I had to crawl on our way up. A hanging bridge (picture above) offered an easy way for P50 per person but we were more attracted to the challenge of the rugged trails. Besides, we did not have much faith in the strength of the hanging bridge.

Manbukal Resort lies at the peak of about 1,200 feet or 355 meters above sea level and serves as a gateway to Mount Kanlaon, one of the Philippines' active volcanoes and is the highest mountain peak in the Visayas or the central Philippines. Mount Kanlaon itself hosts several waterfalls, the most noted of them are the Quipot and Sudion Falls. The mountain volcano is visible on the way to Mambukal from Bacolod City.

Before we climbed the mountain trails, we took lunch in one of the cluster of small eateries beneath the archway at the starting point of the trails. Up in the sky, bats flew in droves from yonder trees and then back where they clung to the branches like black spots. We left at about 2 pm and went down before dusk fell. The right picture shows one of the seven water falls. In upper-right photo, the bats flying in a clear sky are seen from one of the eateries where we took lunch.

We invite travelers to contribute their travel experiences with accompanying pictures to be featured in this blog. This is a free blog, we won't charge any fee for featuring your experiences. Just send a draft of your story and pictures to casmayor2002@yahoo.com.

Photos of the water fall (right) is from TripAdvisor. The rest are by
Al Rico Mayor.

Please visit my other blogs Salt of Life at http;//www.salt-romblonwriter.blogspot.com and Fun in Life at salt-funstories.blogspot.com

Please also visit our website: The Travel Bureau

Lakawon: Away from the madding crowd

2011-09-01T06:18:00.000-07:00

Source: Internet

Lakawon is an island resort in Negros Occidental province in the central Philippines. It's about 48 kilometers from Bacolod City, the provincial capital. On a leisurely pace of 40kph on a hired jeepney, it took us about two hours travel to Cadiz City where it was located. Lakawon is a short trip (about 10 minutes) on a motor boat from the nearest village in Cadiz Viejo where the jeepney took us. Rent for a jeepney from Bacolod City would be at the range of P500 up (We got ours at P500) with the driver waiting for you until you come back in the afternoon. Fare on the rigger boat was P50 per person.

The island resort, a favorite hideaway of the city

folks during summer, has a white beach looped around it. There are small non-airconditioned cottages (picture on left) with electricity from 6 pm to 9 pm. Traveler can buy food, consisting mainly of grilled seafood and pork. Unlike Boracay off the neighboring Panay island which has become too crowded, mostly by foreign tourists, Lakawon has ample spaces when we went there. There were foreigners with women escorts but you can count them with your fingers.

Like most beaches in the central Philippines, Lakawon has clear turquoise-blue waters near the shore. I did not take a dip, but my family and my in-laws (in picture) swear that the sea was cool even in such a hot summer day as when we went there. Lakawon, a 13-hectare, banana-shaped island owned by a family, got its name from the Cebuano word lakaw which means "walk" probably because it is said that one can literally walk a great distance to and from the island during low tide. Lakawon is the verb of the noun "lakaw" as in let's walk from here to there.
The island has plenty of trees (picture below) where one can take shelter from the hot sun if one decides not to swim and be content with watching the family as I did when we went there.

Photography by: Al Mayor

We invite travelers to share their travel experiences with others. Just send a raw story and about three or four pictures to casmayor2002@yahoo.com. If editing is needed, I will do it. Nothing to worry about cost because this blog is open to travelers who have pleasant travel stories to tell. This is a free blog; no fees will be charged.

Please also visit our website: The Travel Bureau

Sharing travel expereinces

2011-09-01T02:38:00.000-07:00

Welcome.

This is my third blog. The first is Salt of Life. The other is Fun in Life. I am giving their links below in case curiosity bites you to visit them.

I have decided to start this blog because I love traveling as I do reading and writing. Travel makes me forget my cares in the world especially in this age when life has become too complicated.

I do travel as often as I have the time, particularly during our yearly vacation to take a rest from a year of working in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I am a journalist and works as a sub-editor with the Saudi Gazette.

Aside from my family's own experiences I will feature the travel of other people who may want to share theirs with the aim of guiding those planning to take a furlough. So if you have traveled to some places lately share your experiences with others by sending your story and photographs to my email casianomayor@yahoo.com.

Please make as many descriptions and impressions as you can remember of the places you have gone to so I can make a good story about your experiences.

In the meantime, I will close this page to start my first travel story.

Before I forget, the links to my other blogs are Salt of Life
http://salt-romblonwriter.blogspot.com and Fun in Life http://salt-funstories.blogspot.com.

See you on the next page.

Please also visit our website: The Travel Bureau