After spending the early morning swimming with whale sharks, I then decided to visit Tumalog Falls, Oslob’s other big attraction.
There were plenty of bike taxis at the entrance of the Whale shark briefing center and this guy approached me asking me if I wanted to go to Tumalog Falls. He said it would cost ₱120 to take me there and back.Tumalog Falls isn’t too far away from the whale shark briefing centerBasically the road to Tumalog Falls is just off the main highway, heading back from the whale shark briefing centerThe driver dropped me off at a parking area at the top. From here, I had to climb down a steep slope.You can pay again to have a bike drop you at the waterfalls and back, but I just chose to walk not knowing how far it was (it wasn’t)Once at the bottom, the beauty begins right awayHow is the water so blue?!I really wasn’t expecting much from Tumalog Falls and planned to spend only a few minutes hereBut even from here I could sense the beauty. You have to climb from the left to get inside the falls areaTumalog Falls is really beautiful!It was so nice and cool to stand here… even though water droplets were hitting my lensThe water was so blue, but it was hard to get the entire falls top to bottom in one frameThere was so much mist in the air from the waterfalls!I pictured Tumalog Falls to be one big stream — it isn’tIf you wanted to set up a BBQ or picnic, you could do it here. But mind you, it’s very muddy.I decided to pack up my DSLR as I didn’t want it getting too wet. It was time for the GoPro to come out.I held the GoPro sideways to take this shotI took my shirt off and carefully stepped to the left of the waterfallsIt was slippery and the water felt cold, but I felt like taking a shower after a swim in the sea The water sure was chilly — but it felt good!I tried to get closer to the falls from the left
I decided to go to the other sideI figured I would take some photos of the waterfalls from another angleSeemed to be less splashier on this sideYou could get a full shot from this side, with no tree obstructingFortunately the skies were clearing up too. I got in the water to try and see if I could stay under the water splashing down.IT. WAS. COLD! And heavy!Then for some reason, this woman asked for a photo with me. After that, her group asked me to take a photo of all of them.Finally I thought, why not, handed one of them to take a group shot on my GoPro camera. Clearly not the best camera for such situations. I didn’t know any of them but that’s how it works in the Philippines I took a parting shotIt was now time to leaveI enjoyed Tumalog falls more than I thought I would. It was really beautiful and you have to be here to experience its beauty! I ended up spending close to an hour instead of just a “few minutes”.I walked back to the top where my bike taxi guy was waiting.I took these photos using the GoProYou can get a nice view of the sea from up hereI asked the bike taxi driver how to get to a bus stop in town from where I can catch a ride back to Cebu. He dropped me here and told me I can take a jeepney going to the market area. (This photo and the next few are taken on my phone)I hopped on a jeepney and this was the last stop. This was the main market area.Since I was in town, I decided to check out some of the attractions near byThis is where the municipal offices and government offices wereThere were a few houses aroundPulis = PoliceA covered basketball courtChurch of the Immaculate Conception — Oslob’s oldest churchI couldn’t go in, the doors were closedI wasn’t sad or anything. I had seen enough churches in Philippines.Next to the church was Cuartel, an unfinished structure by the Spanish colonials that was meant for soldiersThe stones used came from the church when its floor had collapsed in 1899It is still well-maintainedI decided to shoot some photos using my 70-200mm lens
Behind Cuartel and facing the sea is a public parkThere used to be an old lighthouse hereI sat under the tree shade for a while as it was scorching hot
I just love how clear and blue the water appears hereOh so blueI decided to walk on the edge tooAhh, felt like swimming in these waters
I walked back and decided to leave Oslob
Once back at the main highway, I asked the townsfolk from where I could board a bus to Cebu and they said, “Right here”. I figured I would eat an early lunch (it was just past 11am) as by the time I would reach Cebu, it would be past 3pm.
I had (garlic) fried chicken and rice (₱60)Soon after lunch I boarded a bus going to CebuI passed by so many houses by the sea. Imagine waking up to such blue seas every morning.
I really enjoyed Oslob more than I thought I would. Definitely a place to visit and worth spending a day at! I’m glad I woke up early. A visit to Oslob is highly-recommended if you are in Cebu. I’m glad I didn’t do this trip via some travel agency. It can by done by yourself and for a lot less. As a foreigner, I spent around ₱1500 today (to & fro bus journeys + whale shark experience + bike taxi + Tumalog Falls + lunch), half of what was quoted to me by some of the travel agencies back in Cebu yesterday. I could make up for sleep on the bus journey back. I was going to take it easy tomorrow anyway.
Today was a Tuesday. I had a nice one day break after the Sunday trek to Mount Pinatubo. I was to leave Manila and head to Cebu by flight. I thought I’d take the train to Pasay and then take a taxi or jeepney from Pasay/TAFT Avenue to the airport.
But that was a mistake. When I got to the Cubao station, first there was a line for tickets. After I got the ticket, there was another line just to pass through security. Then another line after security just before taking the steps up to the platform. Then another line to get inside the train. This was done because that’s how many people there are during morning rush hour! It took an hour after getting my ticket just to get inside the stuffed train. It was such a struggle to stand inside with my two bags but I somehow survived! I got to Terminal 3 in time… which was not that important as the flight was later delayed by half-an-hour.
Anyway, my Cebu Pacific flight landed in Cebu safely, but getting to my hostel took more than an hour due to the line for taxis, first, then the city traffic. As irritated I was arriving past lunch time, it was nice to be back in Cebu since 2011.
I was staying here, Tr3ats Guesthouse. (Just read it as ‘treats’). The hostel was a short jeepney ride away from Fuente Osmeña circle which has a Robinsons mall and many other eateriesThis is the room I was given. They would later shift me to another room a day later but this is how little space there is to walk around once you leave bags on the floorThey have 3 bathrooms, but the shower heads needed some cleaning up. You had streams of water shooting in every other direction besides your head.Beside the bathrooms
I stepped out soon after to first, get some drinking water, hand over my laundry, and then to have lunch. Fortunately, just across the road from Tr3ats Guesthouse were many laundry shops (₱25/kg). I then took a jeepney, paid minimum fare (₱8) to get to Fuente Osmeña circle. It was already well past 3pm and I was late for lunch as it is. I went downstairs where the supermarket and food court is.
₱170 for some garlic chicken, stuffed crab, and fried rice
After lunch, I went around to find travel agencies offering trips to Oslob for the whale shark sighting tours. A few of the travel agencies I visited said they need a minimum of 3 people for them to organize a tour and even if I managed to group together 3-4 people, they told me it would still cost me ₱3k or more, per person, which was way too much. Back at the hostel, the staff told me how to get to Oslob by bus (which I also read online). I convinced myself to wake up really early — like 3am early — and so I went to bed early.
April 30th, 2014 – Cebu to Oslob by Bus
I woke up at 3:30am and took a taxi to the Cebu bus station, which only took 10 minutes to get to due to the lack of traffic.
Even though there were air-conditioned buses to Oslob, I hopped into the first regular bus leaving the bus station — mostly because I didn’t want to wait, or freeze. The one-way ticket to Oslob cost ₱150.I slept through much of the journey, but by the time I woke up, the bus had reached Oslob provinceLook at how amazingly calm the sea is. It was beautiful.The bus dropped me at Tan-awan, which is where you need to disembark and right where the Oslob Butanding (whale shark) Briefing Center isIt was just past 7am, which is when the center opensI walked straight to the briefing centerI assumed at 7:30am in the morning, things would be just starting upBut there was a trail of boats already out in sea!
As a Keralite who grew up in the Middle East (Bahrain to be specific), I always wondered how and why people from Kerala were in large in numbers in the Gulf region. As I grew older, traveled more, visited Jew Town in Kochi, read up on the Spice Route, etc. I began to learn more about my state’s role in Middle East history.
Indian immigration, past or present, has been for money. In the past it was trade, mostly by sea. The Gujarati traders dealt with textiles, and the spices predominantly came from Keralite traders. Pepper was once called “black gold” and Kerala was, and still is India’s largest pepper producer. The global spice trade owes a lot — then and now — to Kerala. And traders from the Middle East sourced much of the spices from traders from Malabar (north Kerala). But where does the Sultanate of Oman come in to all this?
Being at the tip of the Arabian Gulf, Oman is the Middle Eastern nation traders would have first landed at sailing the Arabian Sea from India.
In 2006, my father was posted in Sohar, south of Oman, for a year-long engineering project. When he landed in Oman and drove from Muscat to Sohar, he told me about what he had seen. Oman, unlike other Gulf nations, had coconut trees! (You will most likely only find palm trees and date trees everywhere else in the Gulf). He had later visited a region called Salalah and told me about the many banana plantations he had seen there. That really piqued my interest in Oman.
How did the banana’s reach Oman? Coconuts have an island history, and are known to travel
This is a market in Salalah, Dhofar (Image source)
the seas because of its buoyancy. Did Keralites bring in crops, besides spices? Did the Malabar traders grow the first banana plantations centuries ago? Kerala, after all, is famously associated with the fruit (we produce LOTS of it). Kerala also has a history of visitors from Oman and vice versa. Salalah is the capital town of southern Omani province of Dhofar. An old king from Kerala, Cheraman Perumal, died in Dhofar. I’m not saying he’s the man credited to bringing bananas to Oman, but I’m sure the cultivation of certain tropical fruits and trees could have some historical connection tracing back to Kerala.
History aside, research more about Oman and you’ll be amazed by what you see.
When I saw photographs of Salalah my father took, I was amazed by the lush greenery in some parts of Oman, especially in the South. Oman even enjoys a monsoon season (or khareef as they call it), a rarity among Gulf nations, whose geography doesn’t offer much besides scorching heat and desert sand. So if I were to ever visit Oman, Salalah would definitely be on my ‘must-see’ list of places. It would be fun to share photos of myself at a coconut vendor, share it on Facebook, but tag the location to Oman and see how my friends react.
My friends in Dubai had also told me about Musandam, another beautiful region of coastal Oman, known for its pristine waters, dolphin sighting tours, and scuba diving. My friends being legal residents of the UAE, would drive to the border of Oman (with passports in tow), spend the weekend in Musandam and then return to UAE. Ras Al Jinz at the eastern tip of Oman is famous for its sea turtle reserve and conservation of marine life. I’d love to try and capture a photograph of a huge turtle on the beach sand!
Of course, as soon as I land in Muscat, the nation’s capital, I’d want to check out the city too. Visiting Muscat’s many museums would definitely help in learning more about Oman’s history and its trading past with India and other neighbouring nations. Then there are the souqs (markets), watching the sun set at Muttrah Corniche, and enjoying some great Omani cuisine for dinner. (Read my travel blogs and you’ll know how much I love Middle Eastern food).
The more I research about Oman, the more amazing I find it to be. Check out this video taken by an Indian who visited Jebel Shams — dubbed the “Grand Canyon” of Oman.
Where else but Oman can one find a camel amongst coconut trees?
Although I’ve seen my share of vast desert sands in the Gulf, Oman with its unique natural landscape, unspoiled shorelines, lush green hills and biodiverse vegetation, seems to be a GCC nation like no other. After 2010, I honestly had no desire to visit the Middle East, as Dubai is the absolute pinnacle of a Middle Eastern city. But then I was enamoured by the beauty of Iran. And now Oman. At least in Oman, you’re not just stuck inside malls and gawking at materialism that’s out of most people’s reach (a la Dubai). Oman has a history I would be very curious to learn more about. It would be interesting — and refreshing — to visit a GCC nation that is quite remarkable and geographically different from the rest. Maybe it wasn’t just spices traders from Kerala brought to Oman. And I hope I this Keralite gets the chance to do discover Oman’s history one day!
This entry was made for Indiblogger’s Beautiful Oman contest.
