Stilts again!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, our wedding anniversary is also my sister's birthday. For the first two years, hindi namin nacecelebrate together nya because D and I were roadtripping. Last year, she and my mother joined us on our Baguio trip. This year, we celebrated her birthday one day late because D and I just came from Subic on her actual birthday.

We went back to Stilts. Third time for D, second time for me and first for my sister and mom. Still as beautiful as ever.

Here's the birthday girl on the beach.

And us on the pool.

We were joined by our long lost friend here. Notice that we were all sitting down? Mababaw talaga ang beach sa Stilts mga bes. My mother didn't like it kasi full of seaweeds.

The food is still nice.

Since hindi nga nila bet ang beach and super init talaga, we stayed mostly on the pool. We get to use my brand new SJ4000! Special request ko yan na gift from hubby for Christmas and our anniv.

Oh by the way, daytour lang ulit kami. Walk-in lang. Ang ganda pa rin talaga ng actual stilts sa gabi.

Beach happy this year,

Yosh

The Yellow Roadtrip Year 4

And so it has been 4 years. Sobrang bilis! Shempre we celebrated it again via roadtrip. Ano pa nga ba?

As usual, we just went somewhere near. For the past 3 years we never really celebrated our anniversary somewhere far. Tipong roadtrip lang talaga. Galera, Baguio, Baguio again and then now Subic. I'm dreaming of going somewhere where we need to ride an airplane. Kaya lang laging busy sa work si D so laging last minute planning. As in during Christmas ko lang nalalaman if pwede ba sya magbakasyon on the 28th. Haayy. But let's keep dreaming.

Ok, as mentioned nga, we went to Subic. Since last minute prep lang, nagwalk-in lang kami sa White Rock Waterpark Resort in Subic. Confident ako ng slight na may vacant sila since mahalia ung resorts and marami sila rooms. And yey meron nga!

The view from the Infinity Pool daw. Parang hindi naman.

We got the Seaside Room Deluxe bilang sinuggest ni ate sa reception. 2 beds pa! Aanhin namin ung isa? Pwede na pala ung Seaside Room lang for 2. Sayang din ung 800 pesos.

Favorite namin tambayan yung Infinity Pool since unti tao. Most of the people were on the Wave Pool or sa ibang activities.

How's the resort? Maganda. Pero mahal. Well, at least for us kasi chill chill lang ang gusto namin and hindi naman kami nagwaterpark masyado. Tamang infinity pool lang at wave pool. We didn't even go to the beach kasi the sand was not that inviting. I didn't like the food in the Sunset Cafe. But the BBQ buffet at the Beachpoint was good! Siguro if you have kids that can maximize the waterpark malamang masusulit ung 10k na bayad.

Our 3rd was the year that life taught me a great deal about pain, anger, grief and depression. But it was also the year when God reminded me that I will never be alone because I have both our families and most specially, you. With that, I will forever be grateful. Happy Anniversary miel! Let's make this promising 4th year a kick-ass! ❤️ #theyellowroadtrip

Til my next Anniversary post,

Yosh

And finally, Tali Beach

Yes. Finally. 

After 48 years, our Tali Beach getaway plan with D's friends came true. We've been planning this trip for years but for some weird reasons lagi na lang di natutuloy. There was this one time pa nga na nakapag-ambagan na but then biglang cancelled ulit. Haha! Now natuloy na. Yay!

And bilang super much anticipated tong trip na to, sobrang taas ng expectations namin. Although for me, mejo naglessen na when I read from other blogs na you can only do beaching and cliff diving sa Tali. At bilang hindi ako marunong mag-swim I will have to beg out of diving.

We used the super long Halloween weekend for this trip. We left home around 3 in the morning on a Saturday. We followed the Coastal Road route. You know the one where you will pass Kaybiang Tunnel? Mejo famous sya sa mga motorcycle riders which I find weird kasi there's nothing special naman sa place. Anyhoo, we stopped pa rin sa open area na usually pinagtatambayan ng mga riders. Excuse my just woke up look. Literal na kagigising ko lang jan kasi tulog ako buong byahe. Hehe

After that, we continued our travel to Tali. Nadaanan namin yung mga bonggang resort like Pico de Loro, Punta Fuego, Canyon Cove, even Munting Buhangin! And then we reached the gates of Tali Beach. Apparently, you cannot enter the area without a gate pass. Meaning, hindi pwede ang walk-in. We secured our gate pass from the owner of the house we will be renting. Pinick up namin sa house nila in QC. They are friends with one of D's friends kasi.

When we reached the house, I felt scared. Haha! Mukha kasi haunted house yung bahay. Imagine isang malaking lumang bahay. We rented the upper floor of the house. Upon entering, this was our view. Not bad eh? Isa syang malaking open area. 

There's a door in one side of the house which will lead you to this hallway. There's a lot of old pictures there. Kinda creepy kasi parang nakatingin sila lahat pag dadaan ka. 

There are 3 big rooms with 5 single beds each. They have mattresses and pillows but they do not have bedsheets. There's a working aircon, too. There's restroom also but the shower and toilet flush are not working so you have to do everything mano-mano.   

Everything in the house is old. I did not take a picture na of the bathrooms because they were not very pleasing to the eyes. The kitchen also was not very useful. There's a working gas stove and an old ref with defective magnet. We were able to use the stove alright but the ref we improvised by using a rope to tie it shut. All other things, you have to provide. Good thing we brought our rice cooker. The caretaker was able to lend us a kawali. We used swiss knife to cut things. And the other stuff we asked our other friends who came later that night to bring na lang. Another problem were the animals. A dog tend to consider the area his home but we were able to keep him downstairs. But the cats mejo wild sila. As in they climb tables to get food. One time one cat almost ate the food that was still on the stove. Argh. That night we made sure to put all our food inside the cabinets.

According to D's friend, the house used to be beautiful. Well it figures naman kaya lang mukha talagang napabayaan. Apparently, naghirap daw ung may-ari so wala na pera to fix the house. Sayang! That house na lang ang luma sa mga houses sa area. All other houses look very beautiful!

Since our rented house is not beach front, we went in our car pa to go around the village. There's around 7 or 9 beaches there. I lost count na. We stayed mostly in the Main Beach since this is the one near our place. It was nice! The sand is not fine. It is rocky actually. My feet got hurt by the rocks on the beach. When I snorkel I realize that's because I'm walking on actual reefs. And my golly there's a lot of fishes! I wished I have aqua shoes. Another amazing thing was that I easily float on that water. I don't even need a life vest! Maybe the water was too salty. I'm not sure, it tasted the same to me. 

It has a beautiful sunset effect also. Mejo natabunan lang ng bundok but still gorgeous.

We also went to the place where people cliff dive. We saw some of them do it. And nope we didn't do it. Haha! There will be no one to wait for you at the water but there's a guide on the rocks which will tell you where to jump or will shout at you if you will jump at unsafe places. For D, he's his pose partner. :P

Most of the times, if we're not beaching we just hang out at our place and watch the scenery. No TV e. We just have a Bluetooth speaker connected to our phones for music. As for me, I read stories at Wattpad while savoring this view. 

How great was that? 

Travel Happy,

Yosh

Cebu, the second time around

Just two weeks after our CDO trip, we were again on an airplane in yet another trip. D's friends might have noticed my sadness that they are always inviting us to join their adventures. Or the coincidence was just too perfect.

This time, we travelled to the Queen City of the South. We've actually been here during our anniversary trip on July 2012 but we only get to travel the city. Now, we also went to the provinces. Yay!

Look at Cebu from above.

D and I actually joined an arranged family tour - meaning we were outsiders. It's ok because we know everyone from their family. It's more ok because we have organizers (complete with standby transport) because we were travelling with kids and senior citizens. Yay again!

Ohh my mood also was better here.

Our first stop was the Taoist Temple. It sort of look like some temple we went to in China. You will have to climb a flight of stairs. Don't worry, it's just a little and the view will be worth it.

After that, we went to see Magellan's Cross. We get to role play as the tour guides here since we've seen this before.

Just right across it is Basilica del Santo Nino. It was still beautiful even after the strong earthquake that rattled it a few years ago.

We drove a few meters to the historic Fort San Pedro after.

Hep hep hep! Another effortless jumpshot from my love. I call it I-check-kung-may-jebs-ang-shoes jumpshot. Nice eh?

We grabbed a quick lunch and then we continued to travel outside the city. After a few hours, we reached Simala Church. The church was really picturesque, I tell you.

We continued travelling until we reach our destination which was Oslob, Cebu. We arrived at MB's Sunrise View Resort at around 4pm, rested for a little bit and then went to the cafeteria overlooking the beach for an amazing dinner.

Early the next morning, we went directly to Whaleshark Watching after breakfast. Our guide told us that it's better to do it early in the morning because that's the waking and feeding time of the sharks so there will be a lot of them around and it will not be too hot.

I was a little bit worried because it was raining the night before our activity. Look at the undecided clouds here. Fortunately, it was all sunny when it's time for our dip.

I was amazed that Oslob now has a hall where people will get oriented about the do's and don'ts of whaleshark watching. I heard that the activity here is not properly monitored by the authorities which can lead to the endangerment of the sharks.

Most of the rules here were self-explanatory. What I did not expect was that you are not allowed to wear sunblock. They said it's because the chemicals in the sunblock might harm the sharks. I had to go to the bathroom to take off mine. 

But I think they still need to monitor their boatmen more. I saw some of them that were still swimming on the No Swim Area. Also, they were using some sort of alamang/shrimp to lure the sharks. If I'm not mistaken, and based on what I heard from Byahe Ni Drew, people are not supposed to feed the sharks with anything. They are there in the area because of the abundance of planktons, their natural food. In the case of Oslob, they are there also because of the food given by the boatmen. And believe me when I say that there are plenty of sharks there because of that. In the 30 minutes that we snorkelled in the area, I was able to see not less than 5 Butandings. Look at this one in our picture below, it was one of the biggest.

I wished I had a GoPro. We just rented a cheap action cam from the resort, thus the low quality picture. I think I might get one now. But still, nothing can compare to personal encounters.

This was also where D decided we need ocean bags. He and his friend got matching bags. Duh.

After that, we rode another boat to Sumilon Island. This island is famous for Sumilon Bluewater Island Resort. Most parts of the island is private but people can still experience the island through some open spots. Since there were a lot of people on the beach, we trekked a little to reach a quiet spot. So beautiful, look!

We found this rock that I thought was perfect for D's jumpshots! My favorite picture from the trip. Look!

The ocean looks peaceful no? But it's not. This happened after I took the shot. 

We were supposed to stay another night at MB's but since we still have the whole afternoon we decided to travel further and spend the night at Moalboal.

We reached our next destination, the Kawasan Falls at around 3pm. We walked for 20 minutes to reach this falls. The falls look magnificent from this shot but I was actually disgusted with the area. They built establishments very near the falls which causes the falls to be a trash basin. Good thing was that I've seen people picking up trash. But still, it would be better if the falls was preserved in its natural state.

Back to the experience, I was too chicken to try canyoneering there. You know that activity where you get to jump to a series of falls? I don't think I can jump from this falls. Hehe. But! But I was brave enough to be under that falls. Yes! We rode that raft.

I was actually afraid that my contact lens might fall off due to the impact so my eyes were closed the whole time.

This was our first pose upon approaching the falls. Our boatmen arranged us this way, the one willing to be under the falls should be on the farthest right. D, being the only man in the group, volunteered so I'm obviously second. To which I deeply regret because the water impact was so painful. I actually wished for it to be over. Oh well, I do not enjoy hard massages so maybe that's why I hate it.

They made us sit after which was still painful. I got to pose a little though. D said he was also hurt but he looked ok considering that he can still do his signature pose. Haha

After changing into some dry clothes, we went ahead to look for a church since it's a Sunday and someone from the group was celebrating his birthday. Unfortunately, the mass just ended so we went straight to the Balay Abba after buying some food and a cake.

The next morning, I saw this picture opportunity. I posted it in Instagram with a song as caption. Exactly my thoughts.

He is with you when your faith is dead and you can't even get out of bed...

The boat that took us to Moalboal tour docked right in front of the resort. They were late but we didn't mind. With this view? Oh c'mon.

The tour includes the following:

1. Pescador Island Tour - this is, by far, the scariest snorkeling I ever did. We docked in a very challenging part of the island. On one side of the boat, the water was in normal depth. I'm ok here. I get to see Nemo, Dory and friends. There's a lot of beautiful corals but I think the one in Puerto Galera is still more beautiful. My friends said I should see Apo Reef. The other side of the boat though, was a different story. From here, I saw the deep ocean. Half of the boat's rigger was on the deep part. After the group of corals, there's nothing but the deep blue nothingness of the ocean. Super scary! But the kids who were manning our boat, apparently, were not scared. They were swimming along us without their vests and they were jumping on the corals and going under it. Tsktsk

2. Turtle Watching - didn't happen. No turtles that day.

3. Sardines Run - again, another scary dive. The water was so deep! At first I had a hard time finding the sardines since the water was so blurred because of the current. But as my eyes focused, I saw them! They were indeed running. Remember those school of fishes from Finding Nemo? It's like that! I just wish they were colorful. Hehe

4. Dolphin Watching - they were supposed to swim with the boat as we were travelling but since the current is strong they must have hid.

At around lunch time, we were again travelling back to Cebu proper. Our packaged tour now has ended and we will be splurging on a better resort for our last night. The group was supposed to pick the more pricey Plantation Bay but we were not sure of the itinerary so we picked Costabella Resort instead.

The resort was beautiful. Upon checking in, we just changed into wet suits and dive in to the pool. The pool was surprisingly warm and they provided beach towels. Yay!

We took some pictures first. Here's D before hitting the pool.

And a few seconds after. Haha

After a very expensive dinner at one of the resort's restaurant (there's two!), we decided to check the beach and have a few drinks. We called it a night after.

Early the next morning, D and I checked the beach. Look at this amazing cabanas. You can request for mattresses here.

The resort's beach was not that breath-taking. A little bit disappointing if you ask me. They barricaded it with break water structures, maybe to stop the current. And the sand was not that impressive also.

But you can still get a proper picture.

The resort was very good overall. The rooms were nice. There's a bath tub. The TV has cable. The beds were comfortable. The security was tight. The food was nice though pricey. And most of all, there's Pokestops! Hahaha!

After checking out around lunch time, there's no more good story to tell since we were going home by then. We were just picked up by the tour organizer, took us for a quick pasalubong shopping and dropped us at the airport. 

Ohh at the airport, we got to try Zubochon's famous lechon. We were so eager to try lechon all throughout the tour but we never had the chance. Good thing there's one at the airport. I tried one of the combo meals but bleh didn't like it. Our friends, since they were a big family, got the one kilo pack and it was more delicious! I wonder why.

Take-aways:

1. The accommodations that was prepared for us in the packaged tour was not that great. Noticed that I did not review them above? They were just regular rooms, nothing extravagant. That was ok for me. Remember, I mentioned in my previous post that you should opt for a cheaper room if you will not stay in the hotel for long? We applied it here. I was just disappointed because we paid 4200 pesos per head in this tour. I thought that we get to have better rooms. You know, where water will not be cutoff and there's light in the bathroom. Basic things.

2. Read blogs before the tour. 

- I might have saved sunblock have I known that it is not allowed during whaleshark watching.

- D could have tried canyoneering have I known that it is not as scary as I thought. I still don't want to try it. Hehe

- I could have bought an underwater action cam have I known that the ones being rented are crappy.

3. If you know that you will go to some churches or temples, wear something decent. Shorts and sleeveless shirts are definitely a no-no. Basilica Del Sto. Nino provides shawls for free. Simala Church has shawls for rent.

Next time, Malapascua and Bantayan.


Better than better in time,
Yosh