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Cagsawa church ruins Legazpi Philippines

Philippines: Lignon Hill Park, Cagsawa Ruins and Mount Mayon

By Mithun Divakaran
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Nov 24, 2013
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Philippines, Travel

Date: 29th May, 2013

Today I woke up to the sad sight of morning rains. Sad because I hoped for clear skies. Today I would focus entirely on Mt. Mayon (also known as Magayon volcano) — the main reason I came to Legazpi, and quite literally, the region’s biggest attraction.

Albay wet road Philippines — By the time I stepped out, the rains had reduced to a drizzle and the sun was coming out again

I took two jeepneys (cost me ₱10+₱8) to get to Lignon Hill, which I was told is a great view point to see Mt. Mayon.

Entrance Lignon hill park Legazpi Philippines — Lignon Hill is a bit out of town

Lignon hill park road — There’s an uphill walk ahead

Lignon hill nature park map — Lignon Hill has other attractions, but all I was interested in was getting to the top

Lignon hill road bend Bicol — If you have a private vehicle, you can ride it uphill as there is parking facility at the top

Lignon hill road curve Philippines — It did get a bit challenging when the steep stretches began — and that too in this heat!

Legazpi airport runway Philippines — You get a panoramic view of Legazpi airport’s runway from up here

Legazpi airport Cebu Pacific takeoff — It’s a great place to see airplanes take off

Lignon hill climbing up — 15 minutes later, I sensed I was getting close

Arriving at hill peak Lignon — And I was!

Steps Lignon hill park — Although I was tired of climbing, I felt higher the platform, better the view

Lignon hill park zip line Legazpi — They have a lot of zip lining going on here as well

Mt. Mayon cloudy Legazpi Philippines — As for Mount Mayon… sigh, clouds?

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Philippines 2011: Leaving Sagada for Baguio, and arriving in Angeles city

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Aug 31, 2011
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Philippines, Travel

Date: 20th April 2011

I got up at 5:30am, and had to freshen up using water from the hot shower as the tap water was freezing cold!

Sagada village road early morning — I checked out of George's Guesthouse (by leaving the key on the table because there was nobody at the reception) and walked out

Yoghurt house Sagada Philippines — Where I had dinner from yesterday

Sagada village early morning buses — A few inter-city buses were parked at the village center

Alfredo's Inn, Sagada Guesthouse, Gandu Yan Inn — Alfredo's Inn (L), Sagada Guesthouse (2nd from right), Gandu Yan Inn (R) -- plenty of accommodation near the bus station (Panorama shot comprised of 4 photos)

Inside Sagada first bus to Baguio early morning — I boarded the first bus to Baguio leaving at 7am (ticket cost ₱200/$5/€3.5)

Sagada to Baguio misty morning forest trees — The bus left on time. Since I was still sleepy, I decided to keep shooting using my phone as I was in no mood to take my DSLR out.

Sagada village man sitting early morning — Good morning to you too

Sagada to Baguio misty hill — Very misty at this time

Sagada to Bagiuo bus journey view — This was the last photo I took before I fell asleep

But I ended up waking up just half-an-hour later when I briefly opened my eyes. I just had to take my camera out now and take a few shots of the terrain I was passing through.

Rice terrace hills Ifugao Luzon Philippines — I didn't dare open the window as it was freezing cold outside, so I shot all these behind the not-so-clean glass

Ifugao rocky river luzon Philippines — Mostly rocky rivers in these parts

Sabangan town bridge Ifugao Philippines — We arrived at some town/village

Welcome to Sambangan Ifugao Philippines — Where we were

Sabangan rice terraces Ifugao province Philippines — There was more beauty to behold

Sagada to Baguio hills highway Ifugao — We kept going higher and higher

Sagada to Baguio Halsema Highway lettuce farms — Lettuce farms

Sagada to Baguio Gawis Ay Hawkers on highway stop — From a market we stopped at

Sagada to Baguio inside the bus — A lot of the passengers were villagers or farmers getting down at various markets to sell their produce

Mountain province rain clouds Philippines — The stretches of sunshine didn't last too long

Mountain province morning star stop Philippines — We stopped here for a few minutes for a snack/toilet break

Lagoon near Baguio hills — The dark clouds gave way to sunlight

Road works mountain province Philippines — There weren't many bad stretches on this highway, for the most part, it was a lovely journey!

Baguio city shanty homes Philippines — And after nearly six hours, we were in Baguio

I arrived at Baguio just past 1pm. Where the bus stopped was at some lot inside a shopping complex. Didn’t look like a main bus station or anything, so I asked around how I could get to Angeles City. The locals told me I would have to go to another bus depot near SM Supermall and catch a bus from there. So, in a taxi I went.

Riding through Baguio, you could see why Baguio is a predominantly a ‘university town’. Students from all across the North come to Baguio for higher education as it’s the only developed city in this hilly region of North Philippines.

I never had any plans of staying in Baguio because I didn’t find any of the attractions worthy of spending a night here. A short 5 minute ride later (which cost less than ₱100), I was at the bus terminal very near to SM Supermall — the only major mall in the city.

I asked for buses going to Angeles City and was instructed to board any of the buses going to Dau. I bought my ticket (₱290/$6/€4.7) from one of the private bus companies that operates the route and dumped my backpack on my seat. I had a few minutes before the bus departed so I quickly stepped out and went to the nearby Jollibee to pick up some lunch (Jollibee is there wherever you need it!)

Bus terminal Baguio city Philippines — The bus terminal was very busy as this being a hugely student populated town (and Holy Week), many of the buses to the various neighbouring provinces were running full

The bus left at 2pm and I had my lunch watching a very charitable man give away gifts and cash to Filipinos on TV. As the TV signal strength weakened, they put on the usual pirated copies of low-budget action films (first, an unheard of horror movie starring a really fat Val Kilmer).

I didn’t take many photographs on this leg of the journey — mostly because there wasn’t a whole lot of scenery worth capturing. It rained a little bit and the bus moved slowly because from here on, we were going downhill and it was quite misty outside.

After a few hours, it got really cold inside the bus as the air-conditioning was truly working. I had to wear my jacket and use my camera bag for additional warmth.

Villasis town hall Philippines — Taken at 4:51pm. We mostly travelled through impoverished towns and small villages.

You know it’s an impoverished part of the country when you see the locals rejoicing with banners when one of their residents become a lawyer. Saw a few of those.

Familyradio.com rapture judgement day billboard ad carmen Philippines — Hey guess what nut jobs, the world didn't end after all!

Soon after one B-grade movie ended, they put on another. This time a Tagalog dub of a Thai action movie starring a popular Thai actress whom I cannot name at all because I only remember seeing the ‘making of’ this film on a show on NHK. Sigh.

I kept wondering how much longer I had to sit in this bus. By sunset, the bus had stopped in the city of Tarlac — and it stayed there for some time. And by now, there weren’t many passengers in the bus. I stepped down to ask if this was where I need to get down but the driver who was taking a break said “no”. I went back in and waited for the bus to move again.

And move on it did. We were on McArthur Highway by nightfall and I again wondered just how much longer I had to go to get to Angeles City.

Around 7:30pm, we finally reached a very busy Dau bus terminal. From there, I got into a trike and asked him to take me to my hotel. The journey took another 10 minutes (he charged ₱110) but I finally got to Red Tulip Hotel. I chose this hotel because I didn’t want a place on Fields Avenue, near all the nightclubs that go late into the night, and Red Tulip Hotel looked like it was a safe distance away. But that was as per the map on their website. In reality, it was a little too far from the main jeepney hub. But more on that later.

Red Tulip hotel single room Angeles City Philippines — I was just glad to see a room so I could dump my bags and stretch my legs!

I had spent more than 12 hours today just sitting in buses. I was tired, so I quickly stepped out to have dinner at 9pm and then went to sleep immediately after getting back. For the first time this week, I didn’t have to wake up early tomorrow!

Day 5 – 21st April 2011

I don’t know how many hours I slept, but I slept well. Lord knows I needed the rest after the last three days! I switched on the television and watched the news reports of how crowded EDSA was yesterday night, with everyone rushing to get out of Manila. In some ways, I guess it was a good idea to arrive a bit early.

By the time I got out of bed, freshened up and made my way down for ~~breakfast~~brunch, it was noon.

Red Tulip hotel restaurant Angeles City Philippines — Looking at the menu, the tulips made sense... the hotel owner was Dutch

I ate lazily, chatted with the waitresses who asked me where I was from and where all I had been to in Philippines so far. Then I went online for a bit after brunch and only at around 2pm did I finally decide to step out of the hotel! I wanted to take it easy for once.

Red Tulip hotel Angeles City Philippines — The entrance

Angeles City sandy road Philippines — It was a sandy road from The Red Tulip Hotel to the San Angelo street (where the Hotel 24 sign is)

Angeles City perimeter road Albacio restaurant Philippines — The walk from San Angelos St. to the main Fields Avenue road was around a 1 minute long

ABC Hotel Angeles City Philippines — Angeles Beach Club hotel, one of the more posher hotels in Angeles City

Balibago jeepney terminal Angeles city — This was the jeepney terminal...

Hotel Tiger Angeles City Philppines — And I initially looked at hotels on this road, San Narciso street. Hotel Tiger looked atrocious both inside and outside...

PJ Inn hotel Angeles City Philippines — ... so PJ Inn was the one I had selected. But they were late to reply back with my room enquiry and by the time they did, they were full. So I had to book at Red Tulip Hotel for 3 nights (they gave it to me for ₱800/$18/€13 per night)

San Narciso street jeepney Angeles City Philippines — The jeepney terminal was up this road, a 2 minute walk from here. I figured, after I was done with the festivities of Good Friday in San Fernando, I could easily catch a ride from here back to Manila.

Angeles City perimeter road traffic Philippines — I walked back to the main road

Angeles City Istanbul doner kebab house Philippines — I had dinner from this Turkish restaurant yesterday night, good shawarmas!

Angeles city Balibago terminal Philippines — I decided to hop over to SM Clark mall to pass some time

Angeles city road to Clark afternoon Philippines — This road leads to the Clark Freeport zone and Clark airport

Angeles City Clark freeport zone Philippines — My friend Aimee told me AOL once had an office in the Freeport zone

Angeles City Clark road closed Philippines — The plan was to first check out SM Clark and then head to the Freeport zone for all the duty free shops

Angeles City SM Clark mall Philippines — But as I walked towards the mall...

SM Clark mall Angeles City panorama — Closed! (Panorama shot comprised of 5 shots)

A security guard came up to me as I took the above photograph, and he told me the mall was closed today and tomorrow, being Good Friday. I asked him how far the Clark Duty Free was from here and he said around 8kms and he told me there’s a high possibility that would be closed today as well.

I sighed and walked towards the jeepney drivers nearby and asked them if the Clark Duty Free was open today but they confirmed it saying it was a holiday today.

Angeles City Balibago jeepney terminal Philippines — Oh well

Angeles City jeepney terminal Philippines — So I walked to the jeepney terminal to find out where to board the jeepneys going to San Fernando and the timings

Angeles City Dau pickup-point to go to San Fernando — This guy told me to come to this pick-up point tomorrow morning to go to San Fernando. Yes, he was quite joyful to be in the photograph.

Angeles City perimeter road Philippines — Decided to check out Fields Avenue

Angeles City walking street girls Philippines — I was stopped by another one of those "Hey foreign guy with DSLR, take photo of us!". Guess which was the girl who requested it.

Angeles City walking street Philippines — This was Walking Street (don't know why they call it such but still allow vehicles in!)

Angeles City closed shops afternoon Philippines — Here too, the scene wasn't any different -- just about everything was closed!

But I wondered if it was just because it was in the afternoon.

As I reviewed my shots, I noticed they were all quite dark and that I couldn’t change my shutter speed now. It was stuck at 1/1250! Grrh, I hate it when things like this happen, and that too just before a big event like tomorrow’s crucifixion ceremony! I had no choice but to continue shooting with it.

Angeles City locksmith near public park — I went to that locksmith who was fortunately open. He tightened one of my tripod legs with an Allen key as I had misplaced mine. He wouldn't accept the ₱10 I was ready to pay him either 🙂

Blue Nile Double A poker club walking street Angeles City — I walked back on to Walking Street. Only a few places were open and had the usual sight of geriatrics drinking away with their Filipina companions

Angeles City Cambodia nightclub Philippines — Pretty cool entrance

I walked back to my side of town and felt the urge to have some ice cream.

Iglesia ni christo church Angeles City Philippines — Iglesia ni Cristo church

Bought my ice cream from a convenience store at a Petron station on this side of Perimeter road, which houses a few more nightclubs, and little else.

Once back in my room, I fiddled with my camera for nearly an hour, switching it on and off, taking the battery out multiple times. Fed up, I went online to find a solution. Saw a few threads on such issues and then felt like an idiot after reading the ‘solution’. I had accidentally pressed the ‘Lock’ button near the dial which stuck the shutter speed at the last setting.

-_-

Anyway. After ‘fixing’ my problem, I sat in the room and worked on a few photos to upload and stepped out only for dinner. I went back to the Turkish restaurant as I miss Middle Eastern food and I wanted to make the most of the authentic food available as much as possible. (The restaurant was run by Turks)

At night, there were a lot more people out and about, but it still didn’t look like this is the most action Angeles City usually sees. So yeah, if you are coming to Angeles City purely for the nightlife, Holy Week isn’t the best time for that 🙂 Some of the nightclubs were still closed.

Back in the room, I packed my camera bags, kept all my batteries for charging, cleaned my lenses, set my alarm, and went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be the big day, and I couldn’t wait for it to begin!

Previous posts in this series:

Philippines 2011: Day 3 – Sagada’s Lumiang burial cave, Sumaguing cave, Hanging Coffins of Echo valley

Philippines 2011: Day 3 – Banaue town; heading to Sagada via Bontoc

Philippines 2011: Day 2 – Banaue rice terraces; trekking to Batad village

Philippines 2011: Day 1 — Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Fort Bonifacio

Philippines 2011: Flying over South China Sea for the first time

Other posts in this series:

Philippines 2011: Day 6 – Good Friday in San Fernando, San Pedro Cutud Lenten Rites

Philippines 2011: Day 7 – Leaving Angeles City for Manila, Mall of Asia

Philippines 2011: Day 8 – Manila tour: Rizal Park, Intramuros, Manila Cathedral, China Town

Philippines 2011: Day 9 – Cebu: Fort San Pedro, Basilica of Santo Niño, Taoist Temple

Philippines 2011: Day 10 – Bohol tour: Chocolate Hills, Loboc river cruise, Tarsiers, churches

Philippines 2011: Day 11 – Arriving in Puerto Princesa, Palawan

Philippines 2011: Day 12 – Puerto Princesa Underground River tour, Palawan

Philippines 2011: Day 13 – Puerto Princesa to El Nido by bus

Philippines 2011: Day 14 – El Nido island hopping tour A and sunset at Las Cabanas beach, Palawan

Philippines 2011: Back to Manila, shopping, and my final thoughts about the country (Last post)

Philippines 2011: Day 3 – Banaue town; heading to Sagada via Bontoc

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Aug 23, 2011
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Philippines, Travel

Date: 19th April 2011

After yesterday’s epic (and mad tiring) day, I woke up relaxed at around 5:30am. Quite early, I know, but necessary as I wanted to catch the first jeepney to Bontoc, to get to Sagada by afternoon. (All transportation to Sagada passes through Bontoc)

Greeniew lodge breakfast morning Banaue — Went to Greenview Lodge's restaurant for breakfast

Greenview lodge restaurant window view Banaue rice terraces — Skipped filipino food and opted for a fluffy pancake with maple syrup instead

After breakfast, I ‘booked’ my seat in the jeepney. In quotes because it’s really on just a ‘first come-first serve’ basis. So you just drop your bag in, tell the driver and reserve a space for yourself. (Banaue to Bontoc cost ₱150)

Once I was assured a spot, I decided to walk around town a bit, as I still had some time.

Greenview Las Vegas lodge Banaue town — This lane pretty much houses all the lodges

Banaue tourist information centre morning — The Tourist Information Center is right in the middle

Banaue no spitting moma notice — Moma (beetelnut) spitting is a big issue up here and so, the municipality has warned locals from doing so on roads and buildings

Banaue hut moma spitting area — So they made designated spitting areas for the moma-chewers... which in this town, is practically everybody!

Banaue town stores Ifugao — The town resembled a lot of the small towns in the North East of India (and so do the people to some extent)

As it neared 8am, the jeepney managed to fill itself with enough passengers and we left Banaue town.

Banaue rice terraces en route to Bontoc morning — I hoped to see the Banaue rice terraces in today's sunny weather

House gates on way to Bontoc — I tried my best to shoot through the opening behind my seat

Shanty house dog road to Bontoc Ifugao — The jeepney would stop to pick up passengers along the way

Rice terraces on way to Bontoc Ifugao — The rice terraces looked greener today

Landslide hills Bontoc highway — Aftermath of landslides

Banaue to Bontoc highway landslide hills — The American girl I was sitting next told me some of these landslides were recent and that she couldn't go to Sagada the last few days because the roads were blocked

Hill landslides on the way to Bontoc — I assumed we were travelling today because they had cleared the debris by now

Landslide clearing truck Banaue highway to Bontoc — Work was on-going

Jeepney bus to Bontoc and then Sagada passengers — It was mostly tourists inside, and a few locals outside (seriously)

Banaue to Bontoc Filipino hanging on jeepney ride — See, I told you

Hill highway to Bontoc — It was, for the most part, smooth roads all the way

Hill market on the way to Bontoc — We stopped at this market for a few minutes as farmers got down with their produce

Road to Bontoc tree fall block Philippines — Occasionally we would stop to remove the blockades from the road

Rice terraces village on way to Bontoc — Passed by some beautiful villages

Pot-holed rough roads Bontoc highway — On this stretch too, the jeepneys do not ply on the roads beyond sunset

Valley farm on the way to Bontoc — This was a beautiful valley

Banaue to Bontoc rice terrace farms bridge — Saw a few construction firms on this route. With all the landslides and the subsequent road repair work, it seems like the only thriving business in these parts.

Ifugao rice terrace hills morning ride to Bontoc — Beautiful

Ifugao Banaue to Bontoc jeepney ride — To say this ride was an eyefull of beautiful scenery is a bit of an understatement

Bontoc town rice paddy field — We neared Bontoc

Arriving at Bontoc Ifugao — The journey from Banaue to Bontoc took around 2 hours

The jeepney stopped at a junction in Bontoc town and we were told we would have to wait for more passengers before it set off again to Sagada. Those who wanted to get down at Bontoc, got down.

Bontoc to Sagada jeepney rates — The fares from Bontoc to Sagada for those who want to know

Bontoc town people — There wasn't a whole lot to see from where we were standing

After waiting for around half-an-hour in the mid-day heat, the jeepney managed to get enough passengers to leave Bontoc and head for Sagada.

Driving from Bontoc to Sagada dry rice terraces — This stretch seemed a lot drier

Bontoc to Sagada cliff above road — The roads to Sagada were mostly rough

Entering Sagada village — An hour after we left Bontoc, we arrived in Sagada

I didn’t have any hotel reservations but I had listed down a few names of recommended guesthouses and lodges. A lot of the places in and around the main bus stop (essentially where you board the buses or jeepneys to get to other towns) were full, so I walked downhill a little bit and took a room at George’s Guesthouse.