It’s good to be back
March 12, 2022
in Paradise ✨
Paradise ✨
March 10, 2022
Romblon Islands adventure
January 7, 2020
Romblon
January 7, 2020
Happy new year! I hope you all had a wonderful break.
The end of 2019, I traveled to the Islands of Romblon, an archipelagic province of the Philippines located just above Boracay. Its main islands include Tablas, Romblon and Sibuyan. This holiday was ultimately a backpacker kind of trip. For one, they do not have any 4 or 5 star hotels in these islands. Only small local hotels and inns, b&b’s and the like. Secondly, the only way to get to these islands is by pump boat or the local roll-on/roll-off ferries. Lastly, it’s just so inconvenient to travel between these islands that you super need a lot patience.
While planning for our trip, I realised that there were not many online information regarding how to travel to and around the islands of Romblon. So I hope this post will be helpful as I share with you all how we did it and what we visited.
Day 1 : Cebu Pacific flight from Manila to Tablas / Tricycle ride from airport to Aglicay Beach Resort (Php 500)
Aglicay Beach Resort is quite far from Tablas airport, and even farther to San Agustin Port where we had to be to get to Romblon the next day. But honestly, it was a nice cove and apparently the best resort in Tablas, so personally it was worth visiting.
Day 2 : Tricycle ride from Tablas airport to San Agustin Port (Php 700) / San Agustin Port to Romblon (Pump boat Php 100)
The pump boat in San Agustin Port leaves at 8 am sharp so you better make sure that you are there early because it gets full easily. It’s first come first serve so if you get left behind, the next pump boat leaves at 1 pm.
We arrived in Romblon at 9 am so we had the full day to go around the small island. We hired a tricycle driver to take us to all these sites (Php 1,000). Below are the places we visited :
● Fuerza de San Andres
● Marble workshop
● Reggae Vibes
● BonBon Beach
● Tiamban Beach
Day 3 : Romblon to Sibuyan via Roro at around 7:30 am
We only had a day in Sibuyan but we wished we had stayed longer so we could climb Mount Guiting-Guiting. Instead, we chose to visit Cresta de Gallo, a small island south of Sibuyan. We hired a small pump boat with the help of our B&B (German Terrace) and it took us 2 hours to get there. Really tiring but definitely worth it.
Cresta de Gallo is so beautiful and luckily, we were the only ones there at that time!
I mean look at that.. Amazing!
Day 4 : Sibuyan to Boracay
We wanted to spend New Year’s Eve in Boracay so we pushed ourselves to make it to Caticlan on time. The ferry from Odiongan, Tablas to Caticlan was cancelled so we had to find our own way to Boracay. We rode a jeepney and then a tricycle to get to the southernmost port of Tablas and then hired a pump boat to get to Caticlan. Luckily we found a boatman for Php 4,000. It was quite an adventure, but omg, I would not want to do that again.
While waiting in Magdiwang Port Sibuyan
Day 5 : Boracay
A great way to end our adventurous Romblon trip. 2 days of just lounging and sun bathing in the island of Boracay bliss.
Wishing you all a great start to 2020! Here’s to more adventures xx
El nido, Palawan
April 27, 2019
Corong-Corong Beach in El Nido Palawan is one of the best sunset spots in the Philippines. The golden view is simply breathtaking. The beach though is nothing special but make sure that when you visit El Nido, head to one of the bars in Corong-Corong at around 4:30 pm and wait for that beautiful sunset with a drink in hand.
You can also visit Maremegmeg beach, just a few minutes away from Corong-Corong by tricycle for another sunset by the beach.
El Nido is actually known for their Island Hopping tours but because we only had a few days there, we just chose 1 day tour from El Nido Paradise. We chose Tour C which I would recommend. Everything was well organised, lunch was good and we were only 11 tourists so we had space in the boat. I noticed that other boats with other tour companies were so jam-packed, they had way many people in the boat. I was quite happy with ours.
Tour C included Secret Beach, Hidden Beach, Helicopter Island and some random spot where they took us for snorkelling.
The next day, instead of joining another Island hopping tour, we decided to rent a scooter (only Php 500 for 24 hours) in El Nido Town and drove all the way to Duli Beach and Nacpan Beach. It was such a great idea. Check out these beaches especially if you want to get away from the El Nido Town crowd.
Just make sure to bring all your necessities (like sun block, water, sarong and some snacks). There’s only one or two little stores in Duli Beach where you can buy cold refreshments. Nacpan Beach on the other hand is more commercialised so you will find a few restaurants and day beds along the beach. Best to go to Duli Beach first then Nacpan Beach after.
There are so many resorts in El Nido, but we chose to stay in Corong-Corong beach because it’s just more quiet. Frangipani is a nice boutique resort with good breakfast. Our room was also nice and spacious. The only problem is their WIFI. So if WIFI is very important for you, then best to look at the reviews of other hotels. WIFI in the island is not so strong, only a few hotels and restaurants have good WIFI.
Some recommendations for food and drinks:
🍕 Altrove Pizza 🍝 Bella Vita for pasta 🥙 Happiness El Nido for some Israeli & Vegan food 🍔 The Pub Roof Top for juicy burgers 🍻 Panorama and Outpost for sunset drinks and 🍚 Big Mama for Filipino food
4 days was not enough. Will definitely be coming back for more! x
Amanpulo, heaven on earth
April 10, 2019
Amanpulo, also known as Pamalican Island, is located south of Mindoro and Coron, Palawan in the Philippines. I knew that this island was like no other and seeing it myself felt like a dream. For me, it was truly something magical.
Hollywood celebrities like Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Brad Pitt, Madonna and other A-listers have stayed in this beautiful island that stretches 5.5 km of pristine white sand and clear blue waters. The beach front villas, tree top casitas, main club house, beach club, a Japanese restaurant, a garden restaurant, spa and gym, kite surfing and scuba diving area, tennis courts and an obstacle course are all found in this 89 hectare paradise.
To get there, it’s about a 70 minute plane ride from their private hangar in Manila. Upon arrival, they present to you your very own buggy which you will be using throughout your whole stay to get to the different parts of the island.
They have daily activities which you can partake of like snorkelling (watch out for the hundred year old turtles!), yoga and jungle run to name a few.
or you can also just walk around and explore the whole island yourself.
And don’t get me started with the food. We were so impressed and delighted that the food in the island was nothing short of wonderful. Both the food and the service was of high star quality.
My husband and I are happy and thankful to be able to experience this little piece of heaven on earth. If you can, definitely include this on your list. It is indeed bucket list worthy. ✅
Breathtaking Batanes
September 12, 2017
I can’t believe it took me this long to visit this wonderful place. Batanes, an archipelago province located in the northernmost part of the Philippines, is one of the most picturesque places I have been to here in my country. It’s actually closer to Taiwan than in Manila. We were quite lucky with the weather because September is a bit tricky when traveling in the Philippines as you will most likely get daily rain showers. We had 4 days of blue skies and sunshine, thus our unexpected tan lines.
There’s a lot of sightseeing in Batanes and it is broken down into municipalities. Basco, Mahatao, Ivana, Uyugan, Sabtang and Itbayat. We were able to visit everything but Itbayat because you will need to stay there overnight as they only have 1 boat that ferries daily.
Batanes is a bit pricey compared to other provinces in the Philippines. I guess because of its location, it is quite far from the mainland. It is still very much rural and fortunately well preserved, thanks to the Presidential Proclamation making Batanes the only province declared in its entirety as a protected landscape and seascape area.
Just a few things to expect when in Batanes:
- If you’re a Globe subscriber, expect to have no or little signal and no 3G or LTE. They say Smart subscribers have better signal in Batanes. Wifi is also not free, you will need to pay the hotel or restaurant for internet (P 150 for a few mbps only, quite expensive).
- Most hotels offer packaged tours with an air-conditioned van, lunch and a guide. But if you want to save more, you can hire a tricycle that can take you around (which is what we did) or you can rent bicycles from the town center.
- If you are a coffee lover (like us), there are probably only 2 cafes you can visit for a decent cup of coffee or latte. Harbour Cafe or Fundacion Pacita. They also serve yummy pasta if you get tired of eating local food.
On the third day, we visited Sabtang which is in a different island. Don’t forget to pack a swimsuit because you can swim in some areas. We rented a small boat that took us to Vuhus Island, a 20 minute boat ride from Sabtang. We brought along some beers and snacks and just chilled in that island for an hour or so. On our last day, we hung out and took a quick dip at the Blue Lagoon (back in Basco).
Best time to visit is during summer or the dry ber months, however, they say it can get really packed. We were lucky that the weather was so nice and that there weren’t many tourists around. It felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.
The Philippines is soooo beautiful and I’m so happy I was able to see this great gem of an island called Batanes!
Siama
August 7, 2017
Been busy lately but now that I have a bit of time on my hands, here’s a short post about our trip to Sorsogon last May, Summer of 2017.
My friends and I stayed in a nice hotel called Siama. The aesthetic is quite nice, well thought of with a modern and sophisticated touch. However, the service was shit (just to put it plain and simple). Would have been nice if they had trained their staff well, better yet hire a hotel management consultancy. Though their breakfast spread was good so we were thankful and happy for that.
Sorsogon is a few hours away from Legaspi so it’s really quiet and serene. Nothing much to do here so a 1 to 2 nights stay will suffice. We checked out the islands and that was really nice — do rent a boat and bring your own food and bev (better if you can borrow a cooler from someone). We also visited the Fish Sanctuary and did the Fire Fly River Tour.
It was a good break from the city and I enjoyed spending quality time with my friends from Grade School. We have grown and somehow outgrown each other but when we got together, I realized that true friendships never end. These girls will always be special for me 💜
The Philippines is soooo beautiful and Sorsogon is just one of the lovely places you could see and visit in this great country.
So cheers and ’til my next island vacay! 👋🏼
CDO | Camiguin a d v e n t u r e
January 5, 2017
- Our last hurrah for 2016.
Whitewater Rafting in CDO was amaaazing! We had tons of fun and finally I got to tick off one item on my to do list – ✔️Whitewater Rafting. We did it with The Red Rafts CDO and we were quite happy we chose this company. Banjo, our guide, was very fluent in english. Him and the other guide were also quite funny, always cracking up jokes and even telling us stories about the river and their adventures & misadventures. The course we got was the Advanced course which includes 21 rapids. I highly recommend this for the adventurous ones because the Basic course only has 14 rapids I think. They even have a photo and video coverage add on, which we got so we didn’t have to bring a camera with us.
After the whitewater rafting, we had dinner in Kagay-Anon Restaurant (which was actually near our hotel – Red Planet). Really bad service but man, the food was good! You just have to be patient and nice to the waiters so they will tend to you.
We only stayed in CDO for 1 day because we wanted to spend more time in Camiguin. So after late breakfast at Circa Eatery 1850 (which was also good btw!), we started our journey towards the beautiful island of Camiguin.
From Agora Terminal, we took a van to Balingoan Port for about P 100 each. That was a 2 hour ride with 4 people squished in 1 row. Then we took a Ferry ride to Benoni Port. In Benoni Port, we hired a multi-cab for P 250 (I haggled) going to our resort (Contact Kuya Roy at +63926 826 4166). Our resort, Nypa Style Resort Camiguin, was so nice. Ilenia and Stefano, the owners of the resort, are Italian and they were very nice and helpful. The resort was very well designed, they have a large garden in the middle and the restaurant was so homey and inviting. Ilenia even cooked for us on our first night. They offer home made pasta and other authentic italian dishes. Really yum! I highly recommend this place when you visit Camiguin. They even have scooters for rent for only P 450 a day.
Unfortunately, the weather in Camiguin was slightly shitty. We were not able to go to White Island and Mantigue Island because the boats were not allowed to travel and then we missed the waterfall because we arrived late, the gate to the waterfalls closes at 5 pm. On the other hand, we were able to snorkel and see the giant clams in Cabila Beach and we also climbed Mt. Hibok-Hibok, an active stratovolcano with 1,332+ masl.
After climbing Mt. Hibok-Hibok (which took us 7 hours in total, up and down), we had dinner at Guerrera, a fil-am owned asian restaurant. And OMG it was sooo good! Their spicy pad thai is the bomb and the chicken rendang was amazing. We had a really good meal, well except for the vietnamese coffee which was quite disappointing.
Our New Year’s Eve in Camiguin was very simple and quiet but it was refreshing to be in a different place, away from the crowded clubs of Fort or Makati. We didn’t see any fireworks and we were asleep by 12:30 am. Haha!
I would definitely want to come back and visit Camiguin again. The locals are nice, the island is so beautiful and there are so many other places to see and visit in the island. I guess ’til next time then, Camiguin! See you again soon.
Puerto Princesa
October 20, 2016
Puerto Princesa, located in the middle part of Palawan, is actually more of a city. It’s not like when you visit El Nido where you are closer to the different islands. Puerto Princesa has huge malls, loads of mini hotels and even traffic lights – although still provincial looking.
On our first night, we went on a Firefly Watching Tour. It was 1 hour away by van from the city but the whole river tour was probably just 20 minutes. It was interesting though I must say, I enjoyed the Firefly Watching Tour in Bicol more than this one.
The next day, we went to Sabang Beach. Sand was really nice and white but the water was quite strong.
Beside Sabang beach, you can do a Paddle boat tour by the mangroves or try their Zipline. After Sabang beach, we rode a boat to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park which is a protected area. The river is called Puerto Princesa Underground River. The tour was also very quick, about 20 minutes. It was nice, but I think I expected a lot.
I’d say if you are a tourist and you don’t have much time, better to skip Puerto Princesa and focus on El Nido or Coron. Nevertheless, it was a fun quick weekend trip with the boyfriend. 💝
Cheers! (This is a pretty good local craft beer btw!)
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