Around Leyte, Samar and Biliran

I went around Eastern Visayas and I got to visit five of the six provinces there. I've already uploaded my pics in six albums. That should do for now. But I should update the blog before I leave for another week-long trip to Cebu and Panay.

Anyway, here are the albums:
2007-10-25 Leyte & Eastern Samar
2007-10-26 Eastern Samar
2007-10-26/27 Samar
2007-10-28 Samar, Northern Samar & Leyte
2007-10-28/29 Biliran
2007-10-31 Leyte

La Union: Surf's up in San Juan, La Union

I just came back from a great weekend in La Union. I trooped to the San Juan Surf Resort with my brods and other surfer wannabes on Travel Factor's Surfvivor Surfing Tour. We left McDonald's El Pueblo at 12:30 a.m. on three vans loaded with surfing beginners. It was a coincidence that my China-ASEAN batchmate Carly and her friends were also going.

I was so tired and sleepy, I slept all the way. The only thing I remember was the 4 a.m. breakfast stopover in Jollibee Urdaneta. We arrived in San Juan a little before 7 a.m. As soon as we got the keys to our room, we slept.

Tikoy, the organizer, woke us up at about 9:30 a.m. to ask who wanted to join the first group. It may seem short, but the one hour lessons are exhausting. Some of us joined the first group while I took photos. I went for the second group later in the afternoon at 3 p.m.

Training us was Luke Landrigan and his pool of locals who gave us one-on-one lessons. I was elated since I managed to stand up on the board this time around! We decided we wanted more so we scheduled another hour the next morning.

Dinner was at Midway Grill in San Fernando, LU. It was value for money! Burgers and fries were priced at PHP39, while bottomless iced tea at PHP29. For dessert, I got the oreo brownie split for P120. Yummy! If you're on your way to Ilocos, this is a great stopover for lunch of snacks.

Later in the evening, we had drinks in the bar area of the resort with our friends. We got to sleep at 3 a.m. which is a wonder how we managed to wake up in time for the optional morning surfing lessons. After check out, we had lunch in Midway Grill again. Check out the Travel Factor and San Juan Surf Resort websites for more information.

Batangas: Las Haciendas and our Ambon-Ambon Falls trek

Today, we went chasing waterfalls again. I went with Bikoy and Nino to Las Haciendas in Laurel, Batangas. It's an upcoming residential estate and nature resort. And thanks to my MBA classmate, Dennis Morada, we got to visit this great place before the crowds start trooping to the place.

Our main goal was to trek to Ambon-Ambon Falls which is located inside the estate. After lunch at the clubhouse, they toured us around the place. We visited the campsite where overnight huts are available for rent. We also visited the Simbahang Bato, a cave which serves as the church of the local community. Then it was off to the jump-off point for the trek.

The trail to Ambon-Ambon was very easy, laid back trail. We forgot to bring slippers though. But we managed crossing the four streams on the way without getting our shoes wet.

After that easy trek to the falls, we went swimming in the infinity pool. My Pinoy Mountaineer partner Gideon Lasco followed but missed the trek. For more information on trekking to the falls, or if you want to camp overnight, please contact them at (0920) 9255044 or arnel_caraan@yahoo.com.

They have a day tour package at P750 per head (minimum of 15 pax) which includes free entrance, use of mudslide (this looked like so much fun), trekking to Ambon-Ambon Falls, use of swimming pool, lunch and morning and afternoon snacks. There are also overnight rates at P1,500 inclusive of overnight accommodations in the campsite huts, two lunches, one dinner, one breakfast and three snacks as well as use of the facilities. Not bad!

Anyway, the four of us had dinner in Tagaytay where temperatures dropped. I wish we could have stayed there for the night.