Stories of Places, People and Photography in the Philippines and Beyond
Here’s just a quick post on my first leg in China. Am Currently still in the middle of my trip here in South West China where the regular temperature is around 12-15 degrees. My entry point going here is from Guangzhou where I would be meeting a friend of mine who would be joining me on this trip. It’s my first time to enter China and my transit in Guangzhou’s Baiyun airport is quite an experience itself already.
Day 1 of the Travel and Photo bloggers excursion to Boracay started very early. I was literally pulling myself out of bed around 3:30 in the morning just to make it for the 5am call time at the domestic airport. Only had less than a couple of hours of sleep that evening finalizing a project I’m doing. At the same time, I’m very excited for the weekend. I haven’t been to Boracay for some time and going along with fellow travelers and Photo enthusiast calls for an interesting weekend. When I got to the Terminal around 5, Karla was already there, followed by Abe, Gail with Marc, then Eugenius.
It seems an ambitious feat to bring some of the Philippine’s travel related bloggers together, but at the weekend, January 11-13 2008, around 13 bloggers gathered together in the paradise island of Boracay. This wouldn’t have been possible without Abe Olandres of Yugatech bringing us together and Microtel Inn and Seair Airlines for taking us there. It’s great to know that companies lately regard bloggers as an important part of media, thus including us in their marketing plan.
Our flight going to Siem Reap was around 10am that morning. What I really don’t like about the KL airport is that we have to drive around at least an hour just to get there from the city. We took an AeroBus service which is a Ringgit cheaper than AirAsia’s SkyBus. Fare is 8RM one way and 14RM round trip from KL Sentral. Some people go to Siem Reap via a 6 hours bus from Thailand crossing the border but I don’t want to waste that much time and I’ve heard a lot of Bus Scams there where the bus intentionally tire out their passengers and check them in on an affiliated (commissioned) hotel. So the 6 hours travel extends longer. However, the flight from KLIA to Siem Reap International Airport took only about 2 hours. And boy what greeted us on our arrival is one good looking airport.
Sidenote: Thank you very much to all those who gave their congratulatory remarks on my blog being a finalist on two categories at this year’s Philippine Blog Awards. Indeed being a finalist is honor enough. I promise I’ll blog more on this next week, but for the meantime, I got my last two segments for the Batanes series. Thank you all dear readers as you inspire me to continue sharing on this blog. Salamat po!
Batanes is made up of 3 major islands, Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat. Batan, the easier and safer place to go around Batanes has the main city of Basco, the gateway to the region. Sabtang, the island we were supposed to go to earlier but was put on hold because of the weather is one of the closer islands to Batan and can be reached in less than an hour from the port of Ivana. The other island, Itbayat is one of the farther islands up north and can be reached by boat in 3-4 hours or by a small plane in an hour. Since the plane’s schedule is unpredictable and fare is very expensive we opted to take a boat. No this isn’t a big boat but a tug cargo boat and I can’t imagine we’re crossing the seas where the Pacific Ocean and the China Seas meet on it.
Batanes is one of the most elusive places to visit in the country. Booking a flight would require you 2-3 months of advance reservations since only one airline serve flights in the area. Despite the current steep price tag (4500 PHP one way via Asian Spirit as of this writing), flights are always fully booked especially during peak seasons of Decemebr to May. Even if you managed to get hold of a ticket, frequency is in the hands of the weather, if the storm-stricken region will allow you passage through the sky. Travel by the sea is out of question unless you dare to take on the waves spanning up to 3 stories high on seas where the Pacific Ocean and the China Seas meets. The distance taunts you like a Siren’s Song from Ulysses’s myths. Yet those who are fortunate enough to step on its islands will be rewarded with sweeping landscapes, experience with its rich culture and mingle with one of the most kindest people in the world.
