Last April, after five long years worth of struggling, sleepless nights, stress, confusion and procrastination, I was finally able to get a bachelor's degree from the premier university of the Philippines, University of the Philippines-Diliman. Climbing the stage with my father and hearing Professor Naval calling out my name and the honors I received (I'm Cum Laude, baby!),I was really in cloud nine...but that is for another entry so I'll leave it at that. :)

I was planning my long-awaited vacation back to my hometown since the last quarter of 2010. It is like a reward for me for finishing the degree and proving to my dad that I can hand him my diploma as I promised. That is why, I booked a round trip ticket for two as early as February of this year in order to avail the cheapest price offered by a domestic airline in the Philippines (which name I would not post because they are not paying me for an advertisement) 

I would have gone back to my hometown earlier but unfortunately, the Philippine Elections was scheduled on the 10th of May so I had to stay here in Manila coz I am a registered voter here. (This also includes a LOOOOONG story so I will not mention it here, I'll just make another article for it)

Come May 12, I woke up very early (I actually was not able to sleep the night before because of pure excitement) and prepared for our departure. We left our house at around 4:45am because our flight was scheduled at 6:50am. I was quite surprised because it was my first time to go to the NAIA Terminal 3 and can I just say that the facility was really impressive, except perhaps for the efficiency of the staff in the airline's check-in  counter there who, not once but twice, allowed people behind me to get in front of the line. It actually pissed me off because I had to stand in line for almost an hour before finally being able to check in.

The security was thorough and although it was really much of a hassle, it was quite commendable because the personnel are trying to do their best to stop threats to security in the airport. We arrived at the gate just in time for boarding. The plane left as soon as everybody were seated. It was, I think, the fastest boarding I have ever experienced in my entire life and that is something I am quite happy about the new airport. The flight took  one hour and twenty minutes at most. (It actually arrived ahead of schedule.)

While the aircraft was flying, I was able to take pictures of the islands below, thanks to the awesome lens of my newly bought Nokia5630 :).


 Here are some of the pictures I took while we were on the plane. 

This was taken twenty minutes after we took off so I assume it is somewhere in Mindoro or Panay or something like that, I am really bad at geography. 

I took this picture after the captain announced that we are approaching the Sibulan Airport. Probably this is somewhere in Occidental Negros or Cebu. Can I just say that that river or lake is quite beautiful? :))

Somewhere in Cebu. 

Flying over the beautiful island of Negros.

I have no idea where this is but it sure is beautiful. 

Ten minutes before touch down. The clouds look like cotton candies (di ba?)

When the captain announced that we are arriving ahead of schedule, my heart was jumping up and down. I was so excited because I wanted to go to Negros so badly for the past couple of years. I have not seen my brother for two years and I was wondering how he looked like already, now that he's grown up and all. That is not all. I have a lot of reasons why I love going back to Dumaguete. The so-called City of the Gentle People is the only place I feel like home. Dumaguetenos exude the warmth that no one else in the Philippines can give off, well at least, in my opinion. Problems fade when I am in Negros. I only get to spend my time laughing with the people I love the most, sharing adventures with them as well as interesting stories about simple living, love and friendship. 

When the plane touched down at the Sibulan Airport, it took all the strength in me to restrain myself from jumping out of the airplane because the excitement in my heart was really overflowing. The moment that I finally breathe the fresh Negrense air, my heart gave me a tiny jolt and right there and then, I felt that I was finally home.

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I will post a series of my adventures in Oriental Negros for the next couple of days. I am not really good in writing so forgive my blog. T_T

This is my second post about my Negros trip in 2011. After visiting the beautiful paradise that is Nasig-id, I was itching to travel again and explore the hidden wonders of my hometown. Being stuck in Manila for a good 3 years took a toll on me and I was itching to walk and have a change of scenery. With the suggestion of my uncle/godfather, we decided to go to Lutoban. 

Now let me tell you something first about Lutoban. Lutoban is actually a name of a barangay in Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental. Our destination is actually the place where a lake and the sea both meet. I don't know what it is called because I'm bobo about those jargons but when I asked good Mr. Google and  Ms. Wikipedia, the closest they could come up to is a lagoon or an estuary.  My uncle was singing praises about it so imagine my excitement when he said that it was close to the Antulang Beach Resort. If you don't know what or where Antulang is, it's just the five-star resort where Ryan Agoncillo proposed to Juday. Imagine that?! But aside from that, Antulang is a famous destination for foreign nationals who visit Negros because it boasts of it's beautiful coastline and rock formation and it's a pretty good location if you want to dive. :) Get to know more about Antulang, click here. 

Here are some of the pictures from Antulang that I got from the net. No, I have never been there. Ang mahal kaya. Dollars ang usapan teh. The pictures are NOT mine and are posted for information purposes only. 

Ong gondo-gondo!

Beautiful infinity pool. 

Together with my Tatay, my uncles and the rest of my cousins, we went for a drive to Lutoban (which is about 45-60 minutes away from our house). Ryan, Eldrick and myself decided to ride the motorcycle while the rest of our company rode the ever-handy tricycle of my uncle/Ninong. It was an adventure for me because a.) I have never seen a lagoon/estuary before and b.) I'll go there riding a habal-habal! 

We left at noon (ang jinit! swear!) and drove our way to the rock-strewn path towards the far-flung barangay that is our destination. I could not help admiring the sceneries as we pass by. I have never seen so many trees and fields before and what fascinated me more was that I could see horses roaming freely by the side of the road! I took pictures of them using my handy-dandy phone, Aleckses. Below are some of the shots. 

Me and Ryan. 

Eldrick behind the lens. 

A view of the beach.

It was low-tide then so we could see some fishermen standing at the middle of the sea, the water knee-high. 

The road to Lutoban

Can you see the horses? 

After a very bumpy ride, we arrived at the house of my Ninong's in-laws. I thought that was where we were supposed to go so I was so surprised when I realized that the beach was far from where we were. I asked my Ninong where we were supposed to go swimming and he smiled at me and pointed at the back of the house.  I run thinking that the beach was near their backyard and my jaw-dropped when I saw that we are way too far from our destination. The house was on top of a freaking hill and the lagoon was way below it. I asked my Ninong how we were going to get there. He shrugged and said, "Lalakad tayo mamaya." (We are going to trek later.)  

While we were resting, my cousins and I decided to wander off and check out the places near the backyard. We saw a trail and followed it and we were able to see a part of the estuary/lagoon. We didn't dip though go the water was too murky. I thought this was the place where we were supposed to swim so imagine my disappointment when I saw how dirty it was. All that heat and trouble of going there for nothing?! 

      

Jen and Sherry checking out the estuary

     

Some watery-hole near the bank.

 

Look at that dirty water and the small mangroves on the bank. 

I told my Ninong that the place seems to be really dirty and it doesn't seem fit for swimming. He laughed at me and told me that the dirty bank was not where we'll go swimming. He pointed at a bank far from the hill and said, "Dun tayo pupunta."

Now to give you a perspective of how far that place is, I'll post a picture. 

You see the other side of the bank, (look at the upper right corner where there are trees and sand), that's where we were going.

A starfish we saw at the beach. 

The mangrove trail

 h

This is the second installment of my 2010 Summer Adventure in Dumaguete, Oriental Negros. :) As I mentioned in my first installment, I went back to my hometown last May 12 to spend time with my family and celebrate the completion of my undergraduate experience. I was resolved to making the most out of this vacation (READ: thoroughly researching tourist spots and landmarks in the internet for a couple of months) since I have not visited my hometown for a whooping two consecutive years, due to my studies. I saved three months worth of salary from my part-time job just so I can spend lucratively, visiting places and exploring the wild. 

Two days after I arrived, I persistently bugged my cousins to think of a place where we can go. I was really itching to go out of the house and discover some of the things that I rarely see in dirty polluted Metro Manila. My cousin Ryan  suggested a place and after a little discussion, we finally decided where destination number one will be! 

My cousins were actually a little hesitant since they think of me as this city girl who might not be able to deal with the type of transportation that we have to take in order to go to that place. They mentioned that we have to ride a habal-habal (look at the side picture for explanation) for 30 minutes because there are no other vehicle that goes there since it is very far up  in the mountains.  I laughed at them real hard and told them that they are being ridiculous. It is the type of adventure that I have been looking for. I want to try something different, something I don't usually get to do in Manila. 

                                                                  

 A habal-habal is a ridiculously long motorcycle common in some provinces in the Philippines. It is a motorcycle modified to seat more that two people and trek far and rock-strewn places in the countryside. The fare depends on the distance of your destination or it can also depend on kayo-na-ang-bahala (lit.translated to it's up to you) system. The latter is basically giving the amount you think is appropriate for the trip. I hate this system because sometimes you will feel bad for the driver and give him more than the appropriate fare. For more info on the habal-habal, click here. :)

My cousins were actually glad that I am not the bratty, finicky girl that they expected me to be and so we decided to go to destination number one: Markbelt, Nasig-id. I did not have any idea how or what it looks like because as far as my cousins described it, the only picture that I can form inside my head is a bare dam with a barren hill on the sidelines. This was actually due to the fact that in Cebuano, mountains are referred to as bukid which has a totally different meaning in Tagalog (bukid= ricefield/farm).




To tell you frankly, I was actually nervous to go there since I was not sure if I will really enjoy that kind of place. My aunt also warned me that we should be careful and not make noises there because the place is inhabited by supernatural beings like engkantos, which are like the Filipino version of dwarfs and elves. 

And so after we had lunch, me and my cousins Sherry Mae, Eldrick, Ryan and Lloyd went off to Markbelt. I brought my very multipurpose shawl just to cover me from the burning heat of the sun. We had to walk from our house up to the highway so we can get a tricycle (look at the side picture for more info about this) to bring us to the habal-habal terminal at the town center, Zamboanguita.

A tricycle is one of the most common mode of public transportation in the Philippines. It , as it's name describes, is a motorcycle with a side car attached to it. It can usually seat 5-6 people and is often used for short distance travels. The normal fare for a tricycle ride is PhP 7. 

For more info on tricycles, click here. 

Fortunately, we easily found a tricycle when we reached the highway. We embarked on a ten-minute ride to the town center and took pictures in the process.  Below is a picture I took of me and my cousin Eldrick. 

                                                                                                             

When we reached the town center, my cousin Lloyd, being a habal-habal driver himself once, arranged an agreement with another habal-habal driver about how much it will cost us to go to Markbelt. They agreed on a Php20 per person fare, a total of PhP100 for the five of us, just one way. My heart leaped as I climbed on the habal-habal, ready to take the first ever habal-habal trip of my life. I sat between my cousin Ryan and Sherry Mae. Lloyd sat on the tank, the place in front of the driver, something all of us really found funny.On the right is  a picture I took before we started the trip. 

The trip took about 45 minutes and believe me, it was a great deal of fun! It was the most insanely enjoyable 45 minutes of my life. The path was stony so we rocked like crazy. It felt dangerous and at the same time amusing. I do believe that 1/4 of the fun of this whole adventure is because of that insane habal-habal ride. I took pictures of the farms and barren land while we were on board . I also took videos of Eldrick who was trying to explain the sceneries to his imaginary viewers.

The countryside was quite fascinating. There were ricefields everywhere, carabaos grazing under the heat of the sun, and behind us, a majestic view of the sea can be seen. It was breath-taking. It was like something taken out of a photograph and I have never imagined to see something like that in my life. I also found it very interesting that the farther we go, the bigger the ships in the sea looked. Maybe it was a simple law of Physics or something but I didn't have any idea what it is because I hated my science subjects in the university. It could have been diffraction, refraction or something, who cares, right? Haha. 

It seemed like a never-ending ride on a steepy hill. I had no idea where we were already because it seemed like we were totally far from civilization. Nipa huts were everywhere. There was not a single trace of public vehicles (except for the habal-habal of course) and all I can see were trees and dry land surrounding us. It was like a whole new country for me...I was really really amazed.


After the long and bumpy ride, we finally reached a cemented path that curved its way to a secluded place surrounded by more luscious trees, bamboos and coconuts. There were a few houses and most of the inhabitants there were sitting outside our house, staring at us as we passed by, probably recognizing that we are outsiders. Well, we were kinda noisy during the whole ride, laughing and screaming like crazy, enjoying the time of our lives. The motorcycle slowed down on what seemed to be the edge of a cliff and it came to an abrupt stop just in time for me to see a vast valley, its sloppy hills bare. We got off the motorcycle and went down a steep hill towards the dam. I could not see the damn at first, only a cliff with a very rocky bottom. We walked for about five minutes and right after we made a turn, the beautiful view of a peaceful lake welcomed us. I was so  amazed with the scenery in front of me and I could not even find the right words to describe the place. I took a picture just to save myself from the trouble of explaining it.


Below is the picture of the dam. According to a sign there, it is 430 feet. ( Wow, grabe lang di ba?)

Below is another picture of the dam. On normal occasions, it is usually full instead of having that greenish much that you can see. We actually went down there. God, it was so scary while we were going down that very  steep path, it feels like you can fall anytime. (Imagine gumugulong ka downwards..iskeri. ) But the hardest part is the way up. It took forever because it was uphill and you can't see the top. My cousins climbed with ease thought coz they're used to these kind of places. 

I asked my cousin to take a photo of me just for souvenir. Forgive my vanity. 

We rested for a while under a tree. Despite how sunny it may seem, we cannot really feel the heat because the wind was blowing so hard. It was quite relaxing. We ate our nutritious baons which consist of junk food while my cousins Ryan and Eldrick made their very own music video. After that, we had our photo session. :)

Around 4pm, we decided to go home already. It was so hard to find a habal-habal because they rarely go this place. It is advisable (if you ever go here) to bring your own vehicle and avoid waiting for 48 years for a ride back home. Here is a picture of me and my cousin Sherry Mae while we were waiting for a ride.

All in all, the trip was super enjoyable. It was one adventure I will never forget and I will surely go back here once I am finally able to buy my own vehicle. Hihi.