Celebrating Rizal Day in Calamba City

CALAMBA CITY, Laguna - In celebration of Rizal Day, a public holiday in the Philippines, we traveled to Calamba in the province of Laguna to visit the 22-feet tall statue of Dr. Jose Rizal. It was on this date in 1896 when Rizal was executed in Bagumbayan, Manila but instead of visiting his monument in Luneta, we chose to visit his monument in his hometown of Calamba.

The Rizal Monument in Calamba is the tallest statue of Rizal in world, which stands in front of the Calamba City Hall, facing Mt. Makiling. The height of the statue represents the 22 languages that Rizal could speak. The monument was inaugurated on June 19, 2011 to celebrate Rizal's 150th birth anniversary.

Basilica of Saint Martin de Tours in Taal, Batangas

The Basilica of Saint Martin de Tours, which is considered the largest Catholic Church in the Philippines and in Asia, is one of the most popular tourist and religious attractions of the town of Taal in Batangas province. The original church structure was built in 1575 in a coastal barrio near the shore of Taal Lake. In 1754, the most powerful eruption of Taal Volcano ever recorded destroyed the whole town of Taal including the church. In 1755, the church was then moved to its present location on an elevated hill.

Kawit: Aguinaldo Shrine | Christmas Lights & Sound Show 2012

It was through an invitation by fellow travel bloggers Pinoy Adventurista and Byahilo that we decided to go on a roadtrip to Kawit, Cavite. It was also a perfect timing that another travel blogger friend of ours, Love Mindanao, is arriving in Manila from Butuan, and he decided to join us that afternoon in Kawit to watch the Christmas Lights & Sound Show at the Aguinaldo Shrine.

We drove from Pasig City to SM Mall of Asia to pick up Byahilo and Love Mindanao and continued the roadtrip to Kawit via the Manila-Cavite Expressway (Cavitex). We arrived at around 2:30pm in Kawit and met up with Pinoy Adventurista at the Aguinaldo Shrine. We did a quick tour inside the shrine and visited the nearby St. Mary Magdalene Parish Church. It was already 6:00pm when we returned to the shrine.

The lights & sound show was scheduled to start at 7:00pm but as soon as it got dark at around 6:10pm, the shrine was already glowing bright with Christmas lights and LED spotlights. Like moths, visitors instantly converged in front of the shrine to admire its sparkling beauty.

The lights & sound show finally started at exactly 7:00pm. We sat on the road gutter facing the shrine as we got mesmerized by the flashing Christmas lights and LED spotlights, dancing in synchrony with Filipino and English Christmas songs playing at the background. The entire show lasted for about 40minutes. Below is a segment of the lights & sound show in the tune of the Tagalog Christmas song Ngayong Pasko Magniningning ang Pilipino (Filipinos Will Shine this Christmas).


Watching the lights & sound show made us feel like we were small kids again. I remember my childhood when I used to stare at the dancing lights of our Christmas tree for hours and not getting tired of it.

Thank you very much Pinoy Adventurista for inviting us to your town. We really had a great evening and we hope that this marks the beginning of a new Christmas tradition.

(from left) Pinoy Adventurista, Ed, Love Mindanao, Byahilo & Ram

San Fernando City: Giant Lantern Festival 2012 | Ligligan Parul

SAN FERNANDO CITY, Pampanga - It's the middle of December and many houses in the Philippines are already decorated with Christmas lights and lanterns of different sizes and colors. I remember in my childhood the giant Pampanga-made lanterns displayed in upscale subdivisions in Pasig. It was in the 1990's when having a Pampanga-made lantern was a status symbol for the rich and wanna-be rich. Watching those lanterns at night have always been a source of entertainment for many.



Fastforward to year 2012, we traveled to San Fernando City in the province of Pampanga to witness the annual Giant Lantern Festival. Because of this century-old tradition, locally called Ligligan Parul, the City of San Fernando was dubbed as Christmas Capital of the Philippines.

We were so excited as this would be our first time to attend the festival. We left Manila at 3:00pm and arrived at Robinsons Starmills Mall, the venue of the event, at around 5:30pm. After we had claimed our media and photographer ID cards, we immediately proceeded to the event area to secure the "best spots" to cover the event.

Eleven giant lanterns were set up side-by-side in a showdown competition for the best lantern award. Each lantern, representing the eleven participating barangays, can have a height of up to 20 feet. The “dancing” lights of each lantern is controlled by a metal barrel manually turned by a team representing their barangay. 

This year's winner is Brgy. Del Pilar, with Brgy. Telabastagan and Brgy. San Jose placing second and third, respectively.

How to Get to El Nido from Puerto Princesa, and Back

Roro Bus Terminal in Brgy. San Jose, Puerto Princesa, Palawan

The most convenient and reliable way to travel from Puerto Princesa to El Nido is by taking the Roro Bus. No, this bus will not board a RORO ferry, Roro Bus is just the trade name of the Batanggas-based Roro Bus Transport Services Inc that now serves the main island of Palawan.

GoHotels Puerto Princesa in Palawan

GoHotels Puerto Princesa is a two-level 108-room value hotel located in Puetro Princesa City, the provincial capital of and the main gateway to Palawan. Opened in February 2012, GoHotels Puerto Princesa is one of the newest hotels in the city that is conveniently located beside Robinsons Place Palawan.

Tinago Falls of Biliran

CAIBIRAN, Biliran - The tiny island province of Biliran is probably one of places in the Philippines with the highest concentration of waterfalls including Tigbao, Kasabangan, Casiawan, Tomalistis, Tinago, Ungale, Ulan-Ulan, Bagongbong, Pondol, Kinaraha, Busai and Recoletos, just to name a few.

Tinago Falls in particular is the most famous among Biliran's waterfalls. It got its name from the word tinago which translates to 'hidden' in English. This is probably because Tinago Falls is located in the interior of the island, up in the highlands of the town of Caibiran.



Located about 16km east of Biliran's capital town of Naval, Tinago Falls is accessible via a 30 minute habal-habal ride through the zigzag provincial road dissecting the island from the west (town of Naval) to the east (town of Caibiran). Enjoy the countryside scenery and cool mountain breeze. A cemented access road connects the view deck of Tinago Falls to the provincial road, making it the most developed and most accessible waterfalls on the island. A minimal entrance fee of P10.00 person will be collected at the view deck's entrance.

How to get there: from Tacloban City There are domestic flights from Manila, Cebu and Iloilo to Tacloban City. From Tacloban City, take a van (we recommend Van-Van Tours located at the corner of P. Burgos and Salazar Streets) bound for Naval (Php140.00 per person). Travel takes 2 hours. From Naval, take a tricycle to your choice of hotel (Php10.00 per person). Inquire with your hotel's staff for habal-habal drivers. We were charged a roundtrip rate of Php500.00 (gasoline already included).

How to get back to Tacloban City From your hotel, take a tricycle to the terminal of Van-Van Tours (Php10.00 per person). Take the van bound for Tacloban City (Php140.00 per person). Travel takes 2 hours.

Visiting the Enchanted River in Hinatuan, Surigao del Sur

Back in 2010, a friend of ours from Butuan City posted on Facebook some photos taken during his family's weekend trip to a certain place called the Enchanted River. What struck us  the most was the clear blue water of this river, something we found amazingly unusual. We were still new in travel blogging back then and most of our trips were concentrated in Luzon and Visayas. We promised ourselves that the Enchanted River would be number one on our list of destinations should we visit the Caraga region in the future.

Bacolod City: MassKara Festival 2012 | Streetdance Competition

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental - We just couldn't believe that we finally made it this year to Bacolod City to witness one of the most lively and colorful festivals in the Philippines, the MassKara Festival.

Most festivals in the Philippines either observe a religious feast, showcase a local product, or commemorate    a significant historical event. In contrary, MassKara Festival celebrates life itself - a life full of joy and resilience.

Now on its 33rd year, MassKara Festival has become one of the most famous Philippine festivals known all over the country and around the world. The festival made the world truly small. Don't be surprised if you bump on someone you know back home, standing with you in the crowd to watch the festival's streetdance competition.

With the colorful masks and costumes, MassKara Festival is a clear manifestation of Bacolod being the City of Smiles. It also illustrates the fun-loving nature of the Filipinos.

And it was indeed a FUN experience to immerse yourself in the sea of people dancing to the beat of festival's music and cheering to their favorite group performing in the streetdance competition.

Smile! There are many reasons to smile. That's what we learned in Bacolod. We smile because we are happy, we smile because we are loved. We smile because we are blessed, we smile because we appreciate. We smile to give comfort, we smile to comfort ourselves.

The Streetdance Competition is the highlight of the month-long MassKara Festival happening on the weekend nearest the 19th of October. So mark October 18-20, 2013 on your calendar for MassKara 2013 and we hope to see you in Bacolod next year.

Bangsi Production in Maitum, Sarangani

On our way to the Maitum Pawikan Conservation and Protection Center, we passed through a coastal community in Barangay Old Poblacion where the main livelihood of its people is the production of sundried marinated flying fish, or locally called bangsi. Bangsi is in fact the One Town One Product (OTOP) of the whole town of Maitum.

A Bountiful Breakfast in Masaganang Maitum

We started day-2 of SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour 4.0 (SEx Tour 4.0) with a healthy breakfast at Cresing's Food Products, our host in the town of Maitum in the province of Sarangani. We were served a salad of edible fern (pako) and tomatoes, three variants of organically grown rice (brown, red and black rice), and fried marinated flying fish or locally called bangsi.

General Santos City: SMART Night at Caffe Firenzo

GENERAL SANTOS CITY - Smart Communications Inc (Smart), the country's leading wireless services provider, is the official telecommunications partner of this year's SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour (SEx Tour 4.0). For the entire duration of our 5-day blogger event, Smart has provided us with pocket WiFi units so that we can instantly share photos and updates to our online readers. See the above photo of the pocket WiFi sample unit taken from the smart.com.ph website.

#SmartLiveMore

Welcome Dinner at Family Country Hotel, General Santos City

When the evening finally came, it was time for yet another feast. Family Country Hotel prepared a welcome dinner for us, the participating bloggers of SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour 4.0.

The hotel served us a bounty of fresh seafood dishes including kinilaw na malasugi, shrimp tempura, shrimp foo young, and GenSan's pride, tuna sashimi. Sorry for the term, but O-M-G, this is the freshest tuna sashimi we have ever tasted. No need for the soy sauce and wasabi because these babies are good as they are. Weird as it may sound, these slices of fresh tuna are actually sweet to the taste! We are undoubtedly in the tuna capital of the Philippines.

SM Supermarket in SM City Gensan

From Polomolok, we drove back to General Santos City for a tour inside SM Supermarket Gensan. Located on the ground floor of the newly opened SM City Gensan, SM Supermarket Gensan really impressed everyone in our group.

Dole Philippines Pineapple Plantation in Polomolok, South Cotabato

It was almost 50 years ago when Dole, a world leader in fresh and packaged fruits and vegetable production, chose the fertile land of Polomolok in the Province of South Cotabato, to farm its delicious pineapples. Today, Dole is the world's largest producer of bananas and pineapples, with majority of its pineapple production facilities located in Polomolok.

Kalsangi Clubhouse of Dole Philippines in Polomolok, South Cotabato

Our group was invited by Dole Philippines (Dolefil) for a lunch at its Kalsangi Clubhouse to formally open SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour (SEx Tour) 4.0. We were very lucky to have set foot inside the clubhouse as Kalsangi Clubhouse is not open to the public.

Family Country Hotel in General Santos City

It was such a great news when we were informed that Family Country Hotel and Convention Center will sponsor our accommodation and will serve as our official residence in General Santos City for the 5-day SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour 4.0 blogger event.

General Santos International Airport

From Pasig City, we made it at 4:30am at NAIA Terminal 3 on time for our flight at 6:55am. I quickly checked our itinerary receipt and noticed that our estimated time of arrival in General Santos City (GenSan) would be at 8:45am. That's a total of 1 hour 50 minute flight to the southernmost city in the Philippines.

SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour 4.0 (September 1-5, 2012)

SoCCSkSarGen Experience Tour 4.0 (SEx Tour 4.0) officially starts today. Being the first Social Media SEx Tour, participating bloggers are expected to share photos and updates during the course of the tour utilizing the various social media applications available. Pinas Muna has selected Instagram as its primary channel to share photos online.

Ramon: Magat Dam and Hydro-Electric Power Plant

RAMON, Isabela / ALFONSO LISTA, Ifugao - We usually hear about Magat Dam during announcements by the PAGASA (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) when spill gates of the dam are opened after water levels breached its normal elevations due to heavy rains. These type of news are most often associated with possible flooding in the Isabela-Ifugao-Cagayan regions.

It was the height of Tropical Storm "IGME" on the day of our visit and Public Storm Warning Signal No. 1 was still raised on the provinces of Isabela and Cagayan. It was constantly raining in Santiago City where we stayed for two days and we were expecting the water reservoir to turn murky brown.

Isabela Province: Santiago City-Tuguegarao City Roadtrip

Isabela Province -

Countdown to MassKara Festival 2012

Attending Bacolod City's MassKara Festival will definitely be one of the highlights of our travels this year. MassKara is considered as one of the most colorful and vibrant festivals in the Philippines and has already gained popularity among Filipino and foreign tourists.

MassKara Festival 2012's official website has been recently launched to provide up-to-date details and schedule of this year's line-up of activities. The website also bears the festival's logo for 2012 (see image above). Designed by nine Bacolod-based artists, the logo illustrates the city's "vibrant, dynamic and thriving art scene." This year's theme, Life's Good in Bacolod, will also dominate the streets and buildings of the city.

Highlight of the festival are the Streetdance and Electric MassKara float parade, both taking place on October 20 & 21, 2012. Check the complete Schedule of Activities for the MassKara Festival 2012.

Image Source: http://www.themasskarafestival.com/