Tag: <span>oslob</span>

Date: April 30th, 2014

After spending the early morning swimming with whale sharks, I then decided to visit Tumalog Falls, Oslob’s other big attraction.

Bus stop bike taxi Oslob highway — 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.

Bike taxi ride Oslob — Tumalog Falls isn’t too far away from the whale shark briefing center

Way to Tumalog Falls Oslob road — Basically the road to Tumalog Falls is just off the main highway, heading back from the whale shark briefing center

Road to Tumalog falls — The driver dropped me off at a parking area at the top. From here, I had to climb down a steep slope.

Going down steep hill road Oslob — 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)

Oslob blue pond Tumalog — Once at the bottom, the beauty begins right away

Tumalog blue pond Oslob Cebu — How is the water so blue?!

Entrance to Tumalog falls Oslob — I really wasn’t expecting much from Tumalog Falls and planned to spend only a few minutes here

Tumalog falls stream Oslob Cebu — But even from here I could sense the beauty. You have to climb from the left to get inside the falls area

Tumalog falls blue water Oslob — Tumalog Falls is really beautiful!

Tumalog falls Cebu Philippines — It was so nice and cool to stand here… even though water droplets were hitting my lens

Tumalog broken waterfalls Oslob Philippines — The water was so blue, but it was hard to get the entire falls top to bottom in one frame

Swimming in Tumalog falls Oslob — There was so much mist in the air from the waterfalls!

Tumalog waterfalls mini umbrellas — I pictured Tumalog Falls to be one big stream — it isn’t

Tumalog falls bamboo trees Oslob — If you wanted to set up a BBQ or picnic, you could do it here. But mind you, it’s very muddy.

Tumalog falls Oslob Cebu GoPro — 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.

Tumalog waterfalls Oslob Philippines — I held the GoPro sideways to take this shot

Picnic area Tumalog falls Oslob Cebu — I took my shirt off and carefully stepped to the left of the waterfalls

Tourists showering Tumalog waterfalls Oslob Cebu — It was slippery and the water felt cold, but I felt like taking a shower after a swim in the sea 😛

Tumalog falls water splash Oslob — The water sure was chilly — but it felt good!

Tumalog falls closeup Cebu Philippines — I tried to get closer to the falls from the left

Tourists Tumalog Oslob Cebu — I decided to go to the other side

Tumalog falls panorama Oslob — I figured I would take some photos of the waterfalls from another angle

Tumalog falls pond Oslob Philippines — Seemed to be less splashier on this side

Tumalog falls full Oslob Philippines — You could get a full shot from this side, with no tree obstructing

Sky Tumalog falls Oslob — Fortunately the skies were clearing up too. I got in the water to try and see if I could stay under the water splashing down.

Mithun cold splash Tumalog falls — IT. WAS. COLD! And heavy!

Mithun filipino woman Tumalog falls — 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.

Mithun group photo Tumalog falls — 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 🙂

Tumalog waterfalls Cebu Philippines — I took a parting shot

Leaving Tumalog falls Oslob Cebu — It was now time to leave

Bamboo trees Tumalog falls Oslob — I 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”.

Steep climb Tumalog hill road — I walked back to the top where my bike taxi guy was waiting.

Tumalog falls road Oslob — I took these photos using the GoPro

Road Tumalog falls sea view Oslob — You can get a nice view of the sea from up here

Bike taxi stop Tumalog Oslob — I 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)

Oslob town main road Philippines — I hopped on a jeepney and this was the last stop. This was the main market area.

Oslob municipal road Philippines — Since I was in town, I decided to check out some of the attractions near by

Oslob municipal park Philippines — This is where the municipal offices and government offices were

Stilt house Oslob Cebu — There were a few houses around

Oslob municipal office Cebu — Pulis = Police

Oslob covered court Cebu — A covered basketball court

Oslob church Cebu — Church of the Immaculate Conception — Oslob’s oldest church

Church of Oslob Cebu — I couldn’t go in, the doors were closed

Conception Parish Oslob Cebu — I wasn’t sad or anything. I had seen enough churches in Philippines.

Cuartel walls Oslob Cebu — Next to the church was Cuartel, an unfinished structure by the Spanish colonials that was meant for soldiers

Cuartel remains Oslob Cebu — The stones used came from the church when its floor had collapsed in 1899

Cuartel Oslob Cebu Philippines — It is still well-maintained

Crow church Oslob Cebu — I decided to shoot some photos using my 70-200mm lens

Cuartel park Oslob sea side — Behind Cuartel and facing the sea is a public park

Cuartel garden Oslob Cebu — There used to be an old lighthouse here

Hall Cuartel park Oslob Cebu — I sat under the tree shade for a while as it was scorching hot

Blue water Oslob Cebu — I just love how clear and blue the water appears here

Blue sea Oslob Cebu Philippines — Oh so blue

Sea side Oslob park Cebu — I decided to walk on the edge too

Clear blue water Oslob Cebu — Ahh, felt like swimming in these waters

Oslob Cuartel street Cebu — 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.

Garlic chicken rice sizzler Cebu — I had (garlic) fried chicken and rice (₱60)

Inside bus Oslob to Cebu — Soon after lunch I boarded a bus going to Cebu

Blue sea Oslob Cebu — I 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.

Next posts in this series:

Philippines 2014: Leaving Cebu for Davao; Davao City sights

Philippines 2014: Sky Cycle at Eden Nature Park, Davao

Philippines 2014: Attractions at Eden Nature Park… and getting lost

Philippines 2014: Scuba diving for the first time, at Samal Island (Davao)

http://mithunonthe.net/2014/10/14/philippines-japanese-tunnel-davao-pink-manila-hostel/

Philippines 2014: Bargain shopping in Manila; Paseo de Santa Rosa & Solenad

Philippines 2014: Corregidor Island tour

Philippines 2014: Manila Chinese Cemetery

Philippines 2014: Pahiyas Festival in Lucban; Kamay Ni Hesus

Previous posts is this series:

Philippines 2014: Oslob – Swimming with whale sharks

Philippines 2014: Trek to Mount Pinatubo crater lake

Philippines 2014: The itinerary this time around; UP Diliman and Maginhawa

My Philippines journeys: 2011 series | 2013 series

Date: April 29th, 2014 – Leaving for Cebu

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.

Tr3ats guesthouse Cebu hostel — 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 eateries

Dorm beds Tr3ats guesthouse Cebu Philippines — This 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 floor

Bathrooms Treats guesthouse — They have 3 bathrooms, but the shower heads needed some cleaning up. You had streams of water shooting in every other direction besides your head.

Treats hostel washroom Cebu — 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.

Garlic chicken seafood fried rice stuffed crab Cebu — ₱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.