The biggest buzzkill in our Tacloban-Marabut trip was the rain. On our third day — when we were scheduled to tour Tacloban City — it rained the hardest. So hard that we had to spend a couple of hours more at Caluwayan Beach Resort until it became a bit tolerable. When it did, we rode a van to Tacloban City. [...]

Canceled. That was the fate of our plan of visiting the Sohoton Natural Bridge National Park in Basey, Samar. The Basey Tourism Office said it would be too dangerous to travel up the river to the park. The river current was too strong, they said. You see, the park was somewhere inland and the river provides the best access to [...]

It was still dark when our Cebu Pacific Air flight landed at the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport (Tacloban Airport). Quickly we walked through the baggage claim area all the way out of the airport to the parking lot where taxi drivers stood in a straight line while waiting for passengers. Yes, I swear it was a straight line, LOL. Because [...]

Continuous heavy rains had caused landslides and floods in Leyte, Southern Leyte and Samar. It was the first week of February and we were worried — more like scared, to be honest — about our scheduled trip to Tacloban. “Is it safe? Are we sure we want to do this? Are we still going?” We started throwing these questions on [...]

I have a confession to make. When we were planning this trip, we weren’t really that hot about it. It’s just that Airphil Express launched a P150 sale and the only destination with available seats for the dates we wanted was Bacolod. Blindly, we booked it. To be honest, the only thing I knew about Negros Occidental before this trip [...]

The night before, we asked Arvee, a Punta Bulata staff, to talk to three habal-habal drivers to pick us up at 5:30am the following day. At exactly 5:30 am, our habal-habal rides were at Punta Bulata waiting for us. The problem was, we had just woken up. The exhaustion from the Danjugan Trip the day before got the better of [...]

I was planning on just devoting one post about Danjugan Island but it seems like I enjoyed my stay so much that a single post cannot contain everything I have to say about our experience. Just explaining why this island is one-of-a-kind made my previous entry too lengthy. So here’s the continuation and on this post, I’ll write about the [...]

There was a knock on the door. It was Arvee, a Punta Bulata staff, informing us that the boat had just arrived, ready to pick us up. “Are you sure it’s safe to go now?” The rain seemed to be getting heavier and the waves stronger. Honestly, my two friends Celine and Ronnie and I had been having second thoughts. [...]

Hidden 156 kilometers south of Bacolod City, Punta Bulata White Beach Resort and Spa is a tropical paradise in Cauayan, Negros Occidental. Cauayan is the municipality just before Sipalay City, which is also very well-known for white beaches. It’s 4 hours away from the city center of Bacolod. You might be asking, “Why do I have to travel 4 hours [...]

There was a drunk man speaking Mandarin seated in front of us while waiting at the Ceres Liner South Terminal and he was talking to us, to my friend Celine in particular. The man didn’t look Chinese at all but he kept on uttering Mandarin phrases. Apparently, the drunk man thought Celine was Chinese and he must have been enamored [...]

It was almost midnight and there we were at the Capitol Park and Lagoon in Bacolod City, walking around like excited tourists. Well, that was exactly what we were — excited tourists. Coming from Calea, we walked a short distance to this park at the heart of the city. Although one of the first things we noticed about Bacolod was [...]

“Hello. This is Calea.” said the woman on the other end of the line. “Hello, good evening,” my friend Celine perkily responded. “Until what time are you open?” “11pm, ma’am.” And with that, we went hysterical. There we were, all three of us, standing in front of San Sebastian Cathedral, worried as hell that we would not get to Calea [...]

The facade and exterior of San Sebastian Cathedral in Bacolod City look stunning. I’m pretty sure its interior looks just as amazing. If only we were able to enter. LOL. That’s probably one of the biggest mistakes we made in this whole trip. On the way to Manokan Country, our jeepney passed by the Cathedral. It was a bit before [...]

It seems like “chicken” became a recurring element in our Negros Occidental trip. When we were at the Ruins, there were a few chickens walking around and we even had several photos of the mansion with wandering chickens in the frame. While we were waiting for our next ride, a surprised chicken suddenly flew past us while it was trying [...]

When we were planning for this trip, we knew we should visit Danjugan Island in Cauayan, Negros Occidental. Upon a quick online research, we learned that the terminal of buses going to Cauayan was located along Lopez Jaena Street. This weighed heavily in choosing the inn or hotel we would be staying at on our first night as we planned [...]