Last Thursday, we found out that the top of the World is on the 57th floor of Marina Bay Sands.
I am still lost for words and I will let the pictures speak for itself.
The place is the epitome of the word PIRTURESQUE. If I am not missing an arm and a leg now, I’d be back for more.
On the third day, we made a very important discovery that changed our lives. While I was sleeping, BPNM and CM were busy ransacking the house for any use-full items and unearthed - a Rice Cooker! The most versatile appliance you will ever own! We boiled water for Milo and coffee, then we cooked corned beef,eggs,and pancit canton, before we cooked our rice! A heavenly breakfast for backpackers!
Having our stomachs filled, we decided to do an exercise. Mountain hiking was decided to be the best thing to do.
We originally planned on visiting my Tita at Bulusan, and hike the mountain and visit the emerald green Bulusan Lake. But it was not a very good time to visit, The Volcano was synchronizing its mood swing with Mayon just a week before we came. Luckily (talaga lang huh?), there is a mountain very very near our place. BPNM looked at the hill in front our house and underestimated it because it even have stairs going up. After all, she'd been to Sagada twice already. What could be harder than that? Plus, I have been running in a treadmill 30mins a day, and swimming laps with Bongers every weekend, I'd snorkel, and threaded waters for 1 hour nonstop the day before, I'm as fit as a triathlete. Grace as usual, is in meek-mode. The look at the mountain pass almost triggered her asthma. The mountain is called Maraot Banwa. As far as I know "Maraot" means Sorrowful or Broken in our dialect (depending on context) "Banwa"... I don't know, and neither does Bukoy, my cousin who is our mountain guide. Maybe Banwa means mountain. If that's the case, Sorrow Mountain or Mt.Sorrow sounds tragically romantic, while Mt.Broken or Broke Mountain just sound... fucking gay!
It turned out that we underestimated the "hill" (you think I underestimate a lot huh?) because just a mere 10 minutes of steep climbing we ran out of breath already! Another 10 minutes and our legs were about to give up. By this time, the steps were already gone, we are climbing in somehow loose, red mountain soil. Half an hour have not even passed when we signalled Bukoy for a rest. Nobody was talking, there were only heavy breathing, except Bukoy, who told us some engkanto stories (maybe to keep us alert?) We stopped at the Smart Tower where, some trees where cut down, and it gave us the breath taking sight of the land around us. There's Tikling Island and the Sawang of Balading, and the big waves of Ulango beach and the pacific at far west. More picture taking took place as we walk the mountain trail for 2 hours (hopefully no engantos or mumu appeared in our pics! Bukoy is scaring the hell out of me) Although we can feel the humidity, We were sheltered by the shades of big trees in the mountains, but when we came back to the roadside, there was only scorching heat! Fortunately, there was a batis nearby and I proceeded washing my head and neck. Much to the horror of BPNM and CM, undoubtedly due to a story told by Bukoy, where there was an instance when a Manileño once took a bath there and went home with a body part bloated. But I'm not just a typical Manileño, I grew up in Pasay. I breath chongki and bato fumes everyday, thanks to Totoy Topak our stoner neighbor. (again underestimating everything hehe) More picture taking at the road back home, where we saw some carabaoes and ducklings and some gawkers mesmerized by my pale companions.
That afternoon we decided to skip lunch and just take it at the next resort we are going to. Olango Beach. We rode a trike, and he sped off as soon as we are at the entrance of Olango Beach resort(note: there is a sari-sari store in front of the entrance). Nobody told us though that the resort has closed down a week before holy week! So there's no resort resto or cottage we could eat at. But we could still swim, we just have to find a location and lay down our malong and towels. We walked at the beach looking for other resorts, but failed. We walked for a good 10-20 minutes along the shoreline until we decided to go back up the road side. And since we are at the middle of nowhere, we can only see the mountain side of Maraot Banwa. We eventually caught up with some locals walking and asked where's the nearest sari sari store. We walked towards the direction she gave and after 15mins arrived at the entrance of Olango. The one and only sari sari store was located there. Good thing they have ice cold soft-drinks, bad thing they don't have a stove. Even pancit canton spread over bread will do for lunch, but they will have to start a coal fire first, and they don't even have coal yet, they have to fetch it up somewhere! So we just bought a donut and bread, the best ever tasting cardboard I have eaten!
After eating we headed back to Olango beach, again. This beach is more of a family beach, lots of pink and black sand, and no coral and seaweeds at all! The waves are kinda big though. I had a grand time swimming at the deeper parts too. Here BPNM and CM practiced snorkeling alternately, even if there is nothing to snorkel. For some reason, the water is saltier here too. We spent around 2 hours there before we packed up because the weather doesn't look to good. Another shock for me, Where there is beach there is sand and coconuts, but here there's also bermuda grasses. Soft velvety bermuda grass. A landscaper's preferred grass.
WE went to my Lola again for dinner (labyu mamay!)And my cousin was there, Howard and his wife Michelle, their daughter and guests stragglers. (interested in having a glimpse of the pale visitors from manila) Howard or Nonoy as every firstborn son is called there, suggested that we should visit Tikling Island. He knows a friend who could take us there in a motorized banca, but we just have to pay for the gas, which is a paltry 200php. He then proceeded in promoting Tikling Island, where the whitest white sand of bicol is, whiter than Balading. I mentioned that I prefer snorkeling, and he said that there's is also a deeper Sawang with more flora and faunas. He described the shore as if it resembled Leo DiCaprio's Beach. We were so excited when he mentioned that sometimes, just sometimes, there are also little whirlpools on the way there. CM started to have misgivings, Nonoy and BPNM and Me defended that we will be riding a motorized banca and will not be affected (we hope). Then BPNM asked how small is the little whirlpools and said it's just a size of batya. Hmmm.... we thought little whirlpools are little as in sink drain or toilet flush little. But still I urged them to come. Finally, Nonoy was so excited he said there are baby sharks as well, if I really want to snorkel. That made us hold the reign and called off the plan. Logically where, there are baby sharks, there's bound to be mama and papa sharks. Nonoy was still pleading that we should go, after all it's his first time to go there as well! Huwaaaattt?! All those talks, and he haven't been there?
Balading Beach
Let me tell you something about Sta.Magdalena. If you look at google map and zoomed at the southernmost tip of Bicol, you will see the port city of Matnog, the jump-off point for bus going to Visayas through Samar. Trace the shoreline to the right and you will see another town almost facing the Pacific Ocean. That's Santa Magdalena. It looks like an island town, There's the sea in front, Mountains at the back and rice fields in between. My dad was a fisherman and my mom was an amazon hehe. Perfect! The place is so isolated that not even the Japanese were able to access it during WW2! (I asked my granpa what was he doing during that time and he said he was just plowing his fields) Unbelievable! To think that Gen.Douglas McArthur landed on the shores of Samar which is visible on a clear day if you look east. Apparently, the trip to my place was considered a quest those days. Jap and American soldiers alike have more possibility of being swallowed by a constrictor, poisoned by snakes and tarantulas, or drowning in quicksand... than being killed by a bullet.
So from Sorsogon, we travelled south inland, passing rolling hills and mountains, separated by rice fields with Mt.Bulusan looking closer. The aroma of the ocean is so omnipresent here, that I gleefully updated BPNM and CM that we are really near every 15 mins, that lasted for almost 2 hours hehehe. (Blame it to my oversensitive olfactory system due to my more than average-size smelling organ) I just hope they enjoyed the trip, there's no rolling hills and greens at Tarlac (BPNM's province) or fog covered mountain/volcano at Pangasinan ( CM's) At last (for real) we all smelled the salty air and saw a glimmer of blue somewhere behind a hill. BPNM was a little confused, she associates palm trees with beaches not with rice fields. We arrived at our not so finished house at nightfall and proceeded to clean up. Well, at least the bathroom has strong waters and immaculately white tiles, very out of place in a rundown house of ours. We raided my Lola for dinner, she didn't know we were in town.
The next day we went beach combing! I woke up with the crow of roosters and the smell of macopa burning. The essence of rural living! Then our first problem occurred to us, we have a stove but no gasul. No Gasul, No food! Question: How do you solve a problem like that? Answer: Realize that the whole barrio is your relative up to certain degrees once, twice, thrice removed.Hehehe.
We went to Balading beach, and once again the trip on the previous day was well worth it. We were rewarded with semi-white sand beach, not as powdery but soft and comfortable enough. The beach was gently sloping up to breast-deep waters. And the best thing? We were alone! After the girls finished applying copious amounts of sun protection and stripped off in their 2 piece (abeng and elek, maglaway kayo!) they proceeded examining the waters if it is cold enough to check if anyone will notice if they were to pee, and I proceeded to the formidable SAWANG (BPNM is a living testament to this) , to snorkel.
Balading is not a beach for sissies. Although on high tide the beach can only go as high as neck deep, and there's an ample meter of sand under your feet to safely wade to, beyond that is a rich seabed of fauna. There are seaweeds, anemones and occasional corals on the seafloor. A dream for snorkels, and nightmare for seaweeds-are-icky-they're-touching-my-legs wimps. There're no waves at Balading, the waves crashes a good distance away (20 meters or so) where the Sawang starts. Sawang is the local dialect for sea wall. You can walk the whole 20 meters in knee deep waters, and when you see the water turns dark blue, you know you're at the edge of Sawang already. Here I spent my time snorkeling, diving, and chasing school of nemos. I reckoned it is a good 10-15 feet deep, but the waters are so clear it could be 20-30 feet deep. There were corals hanging at the seawall, lots of fishes taking refuge and some occasional coral snake. There was a resident little octupus there as well but I didn't get to shake tentacles with him. Once I saw a big fish with a horn in front of its head, looking like a shallow water version for an anglerfish (later food for us).
I was so amazed that I successfully coaxed BPNM to go snorkeling with me. She said she'd done snorkeling at Galera, but she failed to mention that she was wearing an effing life vest! There're no life vests here, only my snorkel set and an extra pair of goggles. So we dived at the edge of Sawang, we were making these thumbs up signal like a pro diver, and I was pointing here and there so she could see the fishes. I'm no aqua-man, so eventually I have to surface and breath (she had the mouthpiece and I only have goggles) , I accidentally released her hand... and she panicked! Even with the constant reminder not to panic if I accidentally released her hand she still panicked. She even forgot she can breath because she still had mouthpiece! So there she was trashing and drowning the only person who's trying to make her float. I dived and pushed her upwards, She almost lost my aqua shoes (which she borrowed), My whole body and extended arms where all under water (but i still can't feel the bottom) It all happened so fast and I'm still baffled how I was able to react with calmness under the situation (for example I saw my aqua shoes sinking "sayang aqua shoes ko!" and I dived to retrieve it, THEN I went back to BPNM to push her up,WHILE consciously biting my shoe to avoid it from floating again! )Fortunately she had a survival instinct to turn and face the seawall and paddled frantically towards it. The waves carried her towards to semi-safety --- semi-safety because she was scratched, wounded, and shaken by the wall. But, still she was safe, battered but safe AND apologizing for the lost shoe!
All this happened when Churchmate was busy picture taking at the safety of the shallow waters and catching starfishes. The true amount of bodily harm came to view when we surfaced. BPNM legs was scratched by the sharp rocks of the Sawang, and a skin was opened in one of her toe, and was bleeding profusely. If there were sharks around, I'm sure they'd show up before Glock 9 or Francis M finished a word. And so, feeling guilty (me), stupid (BPNM) and oblivious (CM) we went back up to shore to heal the wounded (I had several scratch in my palms and fingers). You have to give it to BPNM, in a near death experience, all she taught was apologizing to me because she panicked "OK lang pare, nag panic ako" Maddapakingshe.... Tamang guilt trip! (later that night, in our inuman session, she said she confessed thinking "is this it? This is a pathetic way to die!")
We were there almost for a half day, from 9am - 2pm. We had our lunch at the Resort's resto. Newayz, I was asked by my Lola to get some buko for her. My uncle's house is just walking distance from the beach and so we walked. I thought, I'll experience being a monkey for a while, I really wanna climb a coconut tree. But instead, my uncle asked me to carry a very very long panungkit! Everyone is a sissy these days! What happened to hard labor! My mom even climbed a coconut tree once when I was younger (being the amazona she is) We ate the first 3 felled bukos on the spot. We had no spoons so we used the coconut's hard skin. Newayz, we got around 7 or eight bukos, oozing with juice. Which ChurchMate geekily pointed out - is a form of Isophrophyl Alcohol! - which was confirmed by wounded and limping Butiki when it trickled down her legs and hands "POTA HAPDI! "
That night, we ate dinner at my Lola, with 7 Bukos as pambayad. Only to find out that what she needed was NIYOG for GATA not fress BUKO! I'm really messing up my bicol dialect.
Donsol, Sorsogon. Part 1
Rewind, 3 year 6 months ago, there was a trio who planned on backpacking on the wild places and provinces in the Philippines. This includes coordinated and overlapping sick, emergency and vacation leaves. I don't have any problems with this because I used to have a very understanding boss (back then at cargo)--- who actually throws me out the office whenever possible. The case is different with my travel buddies; Butiking Pasay No More (BPNM) is an events coordinator whose boss thinks that taking a holiday on Christmas eve and holy week is a punishable crime; and Church-mate an auditor at the number 1 auditing firm in the Philippines who haven't had a vacation for 2 years from her work. We were all thinking of going somewhere a cell phone signal can't reach us --- and in the Philippines, there are many such places.
Fast forward a year later (same time April). After filing our vacations 5months in advance , I was given 2 weeks leave ( I think I've offset 1 year-worth of holiday duty) Butiking Pasay No More 5days and Church-mate 3 days. Talk about quality time. But Church-mate, having foreseen her unforgiving boss' decision thinks she can scheme a way to extend her vacation for another 3 more days.
We've decided to go to my province at Bicol, Sorsogon. Swim with the whale sharks, see some sights and beach comb. The month of May was fast approaching and the season for whale shark sighting is quickly passing us by. (our plans has been moved again and again from march to April )
At 4 pm, I met CM at the bus station at Pasay. Up until the day we were supposed to leave, we still haven't decided yet on which time and route do we take ( no tickets, no reservations). The plan is, get on the 5pm bus going to our province in Sta.Magdalena, Sorsogon, and plan from there on how to go to Donsol and beyond!!! But.. we have to scratch that plan because Butiking Pasay No More is nowhere to be seen until 5.30pm. We inquired at the ticketing office and found out that there is a 6.30pm bus that will stop directly at Donsol. So wrapping our things up, we took this one and only escape to Manila.
So off we go to the south! I was separated with my two companions, they were seated near the back of the bus, while I was at a seat behind the driver. However, before the bus departed, I was able to haggle the seats beside me that was occupied by a lone passenger, so I quickly went to BPNM and CM and happily announce that we got the front row seat with an ample leg room. We also had a good view of the road ahead... and the various horrors we are about to see and experience. It seemed that the bus driver was as excited as us to get to our destination. The moment we reached the farther parts of SLEX, our manic driver NEVER slowed down below 90KPH!. Well, we might have slowed down to around 60 whenever there's a hard turn, but I was busy holding on to my dear life (to notice the speedometer). You might think that for a 50 seater bus weighting around 1-1.5ton, will not go higher than that, but to my disappointment and the delight of driver it did! We broke the law - the Law of physics! We are now running 120KPH on an obscure highway, somewhere in an obscure province, overtaking EVERY-effing-vehicles! It's a 10hour ride, and i can't sleep. I glanced at BPNM every now and then but she's sleeping... or so it seemed, her knuckles were white because of holding the armchair too hard. Honestly, I never ever saw a vehicle (trike,van,cars,other buses) in front of us that we didn't overtake! Imagine overtaking in a blind curve in a zigzag road. I may sound overreacting but you have to experience it to believe it. (ride AMIHAN!) I also learned that the average time of travel from MNL to DONSOL should be 12hours, not 10hours like we did.
After an adrenaline filled 10 hours or so, we approached Albay, with the Mayon Volcano in the Horizon. I have to admit this is the first time I was able to see Mayon at daytime (we always passed it when it's too dark whenever we go to Sorsogon) Newayz, it just exploded a few weeks before we arrived and we can still see the destruction. There were houses swept off by lahar an occasional bridge that collapse and a group of tents somewhere downtown. In the past, whenever we go Albay and its outskirts, we can only see the tip of Mayon because it's covered by the tall houses and apartments. But that is not the case this time, Mayon looms at the Horizon, unchallenged except for a jagged outline of rambles (even the trees were gone) Nevertheless Mayon is still overwhelmingly amazing.
So we reached Donsol (there were only 4 of us left in the bus, all passengers got off at Pilar). There were trike drivers cajoling us that they'll take us to the Tourism center, but what we need is breakfast, or at least a decent coffee. We asked around, and of course the drivers said that they could drive us. Good thing we were city trained to refuse pesky drivers and barkers, because the market and a carinderia was just 5 mins walk away. At the eatery we interviewed the proprietor, who happens to be a vacationer herself and really lives at Las Pinas and occasionally go to Quiapo and Divisoria to buy cellphone accessories and Dvds. Her carinderia was one of a kind. There were towers of Betamax tapes. Yes, Betamax tapes stacked up and looking like the Tolkien's Two Towers. She was kind enough to call a tricycle driver (maybe a relative) He took us to the tourism center and the whale shark sighting embarkation site. We were only asked to pay 15pesos, for a journey of 20mins or so. In pasay Flores to Buendia cost 20 and that's just a 5min trike ride. We gave him 30pesos.
We paid 100bucks to for registration and was asked to watch the orientation video. the boat ride cost 3500 for 7 person and there were only 3 of us! Good thing there were other 2 travellers who wanted to see some whale sharks as well. So the five of us were directed to the boat, which is manned by a Butanding Interaction Officer (BIO). A heavy-weight looking weight lifter with the aura of a hardened military man. 30 mins off shore, in deep ocean, we circled for about an hour before we spotted our first whale shark. It was just a baby by the looks of it - just as long as our 10 meter Banka - said the watcher. It swam beside us for just a few seconds and it was gone. By this time we were so excited and rearing to dive, I didn't dare took off my flippers. I believed I was a strong and good swimmer, so I confidently refused the life jacket ( I wanted to dive with the shark) and only donned the flippers ( for propelling power) and goggles ( I can't dive with snorkel ). Dear, I was wrong, the moment the BIO spotted the beast, he shouted DIVE! NOW! (like our ROTC officer) and I jumped, surprised, against my will. The moment I jumped I began to sink, It was my first time with a flippers and I'm not used in pedal kicking my way, I'm a frog style kicker! Needless to say, I only catch a glimpse of the tail and lost face in front of everyone hehehe. On the next dive I swallowed my pride and put on the life jacket but still without snorkel. It went well, and the whale shark passed under me! Butiking Pasay No More, lost her enthusiasm on swimming because the the BIO officer was a Marcos Incarnate. If he said dive, you dive, regardless if you're ready or not. He doesn't like looking back and swimming towards you if you seem to be drowning, but he easily gets disappointed if you can't keep up. Churchmate on the other hand, was just a plain wimp. The premise is, if you want to go near the beast, you should know how to swim. And even if you don't know how to swim, that's what life jackets are for. Floating Jackass solved! Now the only problem is, how to propel yourself fast enough to swim with the beast, and how to manoeuvre to avoid the beast (I'm 5'11 and I'm sure I will fit into their mouth with plenty of spaces to spare... If they decided that humans are tastier than plankton) I was so engrossed and amazed by the experience that when I surfaced, I realized that I am alone ( the BIO was a few meters far from me) In open waters! It took the Banka around 3 minutes to get to me (that's a long time if you're threading in deep dark sea)
*** Tip : if you are afraid of open waters this activity is not for you. After jumping out, the boat will goooo faaarr awaaay from you. To leave you and the whale shark at peace, you see, they hate motorized bankas. The boat will circle you in a radius in which they just look like a stick in the horizon. (50 meter lap swimming training is no use in open water with waves)
After 4 dives and 6 whalesharks seen, we decided to call it a day. So we returned to the quaint betamax walled carinderia, and ordered our lunch. BPNM and CM wanted to experience the true bicol express but I strongly suggested againt it. So I ordered something like pork or beef (im not sure) with tomato sauce (menudo, mechado, pochero, I forgot) and they ordered Laing Bicol Express each. One spoonful of ulam, equals to 1 plate of rice and 3 glasses of water. In the end, they shared with my ulam, and bought another viand.
We thanked (and payed) Manang Proprietor and asked how to commute to Sorsogon. We learned that there's no direct jeep or bus from there, and the travel to Sorsogon city is another 2 hours. It's 1pm and the sun is being overly generous with its sunshine and warmth. We rode another 30min jeep to an intersection and waited for an FX that will bring us to Sorsogon, unfortunately we wasted 30 mins in waiting only to be advised that all FX or VAN passing there were all full. We have no choice but to take a non air con regular bus. The trip could be scenic if not only for the dust and heat.
Sorsogon is a developing city. Proof of this a Jollibee outlet there ( a recent addition some 5 years ago ) From sorgoson, is another 2 hours journey to Sta.Magdalena, my town in the middle of nowhere.
One thing I like here is the proximity of everything to anywhere. Even if someone lives at the "heartlands" they are always just maximum 30mins away from the beach, from the museums, from the city, the airport or anywhere they wish to go.
I think I read a trivia that said, Singapore is only as big as Quezon City.
Case in point, last Saturday while I was enjoying Western 512's 2 dollar cheesy fries around 7 in the evening, I noticed the sunset giving of a really nice orange tinge to everything. ( yes, sunsets at 7PM) The sky was clear and the clouds were puffy and scattered, they look like lost sheep wandering here and there. The right part of the horizon was turning orange red and the left part was still sky blue. Its kinda like Delirium playing crayons and the sky was her canvass.
I decided that I will try to catch it the next day.
I am currently staying the wholesome side of Geylang (lets pretend, Paya Lebar?) and it only took me 20mins by bus to get to Sentosa. I left home around 5PM and arrived at Vivo with the sun still high like noon. Anyhoo, I just loitered around and rested my feet at the sky park pool.
Around 6PM, I boarded the monorail going inside the island.
And this is what greeted me.
I am archiving my images so save my bloated hard disk, and guess what? I found out that I’ve been chasing flying pigeons for a long time!
One of the I-thought-I-wasted-film-because-I-have-to-rewind-and-double-expose moment.
I am wishing I have telephoto lens here
Triple exposing birds flying above my head in batches
And this is what I've been doing this weekend.... Chasing flying Pigeons. Unlike in the Philippines, birds here in Singapore and fearless. They gather around you to peck the food you throw.
Most of the times even if you shoo them they just hop and RUN away instead of FLY. So on a hot Saturday afternoon, I have decided that I am in much need of a pam-porma shades. But being the cheapskate that I am, I went to Little India for the everything $1.90 Store. 5 minutes later I was off weaving in and out the backstreets of Hindoo, Baboo, and whathaveyou lanes with may aviator shades, backpack, my Holga, Digicam and a tourist map. Bwahahaha. Yeah I know, I'm a poser.
For a Saturday, Little India was a little quiet and the usual mass of our dark skinned foreign workers, were not to be found. My initial plan was to take portraits of them and print it out from the nearby photo store. I contented myself on sitting on a side street North-Indian canteen while watching a song and dance number by Amithab Bachman in his 30's and a captivating leading lady with flat belly and brown eyes.
Them Pigeons were everywhere.
I kept half of the prata I'm eating (sadness) and walked to the little park I passed before. I threw a piece a size of my fingernails. The clouds went dark with the mass of wings and feathers (I'm exaggerating) and they descended on me, specifically beside my feet.
I weaved my camera in the midst of them to no avail. They were enjoying the prata bread. 10 seconds later, they began scattering again, some are looking at my direction waiting for another bit. I did not fail them. This process repeated five times until I realized that I am actually giving away my 3 dollar snack. So, I poured a generous amount of curry on it and gobbled it before the gazing pigeons.
Needless to say, their interest in me were gone as I swallow the last morsel of bread. At this point, when they wont come near me, I began chasing them. I started shooing the remaining birds near me, but when they just hopped instead of fly, I made noises and threw my (holga) lens cap at them. This generated the desired reaction.
I kept chasing them for the next fifteen minutes and I wonder what I looked like to the Indians at the park and the foreigners at the hostel across the street.
