Discover. Explore. Learn.
When I was a kid, my grade school teacher would always instill to us how beautiful Mt. Mayon is. Teachers would repeatedly describe it having a perfect cone and showed us pictures of the almost symmetric conical shaped volcano.
It is not until this year that I decided to travel to Bicolandia and see it with my own eyes. I am currently at the point where I want to appreciate the beauty life has to offer. Taking this trip to Albay and Sorsogon is the first of the many exploration I plan to achieve.
I joined the tour for this trip via www.travelfactor.com since I don't have enough courage yet to explore the region on my own. We traveled by bus for almost 13 hours to Legazpi City. Bus ride was bumpy, long and tiring, should had opted to take the plane instead. Upon arriving to the terminal we transferred to a van to start our Bicol side trip tour.
We first stopped for breakfast to refuel ourselves. We had tapsilog (Tapa-Sinigang-Itlog) at Cres.
After refilling our empty stomachs, we headed to this great spot where we could do photoshoot. Too bad Mayon was too shy to reveal herself.
We then headed to another place where we could do zip line ride but no one from our group tried. I saw 2 guys fishing from the side for Danggit. Truly it's fun to live this simple life.
Next to our list was to visit Lignon Hill. We thought that taking the habal-habal is not necessary anymore since we are "fit" to take the hike up the hill. The heat was draining our energy so eventually mid-way we have to ride the habal;-habal. Nothing much could be seen on top of the hill except for a great view of the Mayon but again she is too shy to be looked into. After some exploration, we decided again to ride the habal-habal downhill. Boy I must say, it's a trip to hell! I was so afraid I could barely keep my eyes open.
At that point we were already tired and hungry so our tour facilitator took us to lunch at Kim's bowl. I never thought I would taste such delicious crispy pata in my lifetime. That restaurant totally raised the bar! Aside from the super tasty crispy pata, I had my first ever bicol express and pinangat. We also had sinigag na seafood to complete our meal.
After this sumptuous meal, we headed to Daraga Church (Our Lady of Gate Parish Church). The church was made mostly by volcanic stones. A great view of Mayon can be also seen here.
Last to our list was the Cagsawa Ruins. These are the remnants of a Franciscan Church in the 18th Century. The church was destroyed by the most destructive eruption of Mayon Volcano in February 1 1814. I never imagined that around the ruins will be full of pasalubong shops. That somewhat decreased the historical value of the place in my opinion. I imagined it to be very sacred and well preserved with lots of lahar around. Still, being able to see the ruins with my own eyes is one for the books.
It was the time to head to Donsol, Sorsogon to check-in our resort and have a rest. Sunset always fascinates me, but sunset by the beach is love for me. Having the chance to witness this wonder after N years is totally a stress-buster. It would always bring infinite joy to me to walk in a beach, listen to the calm waves and witness the sun sets.
After having our dinner, it was time for our Firefly River Tour. Unfortunately I was too scared to bring my camera in the River so I wasn't able to take shots. I also doubted my camera can capture the beauty of those light emitting creatures. After that we had some socials then headed to bed to cap off the long day.
The next day was supposedly the most exciting part since we were scheduled for a whale-watching activity. Sadly and disappointingly, we weren't able to interact with the butanding even if we tried to search for one for 3 hours! On the brighter side, we were able to see some dolphins playing for less than a minute.
We headed back to Manila after some pasalubong shopping. Again we have to endure a long 13-14 hours bus ride.
This trip is the start of the many more things that I had to ticked off my bucket list. My dream is to be able to capture these majestic places and wonderful moments while I could still can. Even if a big chunk of my salary will have to be allotted for this, regret will never be in the equation.
This is the start of something new. To many more awesome places! Cheers. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment