Tuesday, July 5, 2011

MAY TRAVEL ADVENTURES 3: ENCHANTING CORON PART 2

We started our Day 2 tour quite early. No signs of Amang Hari still but we're fortunate that the rain stopped just as we left the lodge. 

We headed to Lualhati Park where our banca awaits us along with the crew- Kuya Bayok and Kuya Buknoy.  The water's very calm that day although the weather remained gloomy.

Few pictures of us in our "ship"



Our first stop was the beautiful Kayangan Lake which is said to be the Cleanest Lake in the country. Limestones surround this place which is also known as the Blue Lagoon. We need to trek (again!) at least 100 steps going up and down to fully appreciate the place.
Entering the Blue Lagoon


Welcome to Kayangan Lake

Trekking once more...
The trek is a little bit dangerous compared to our Mt. Tapyas hike. The stairs that served as our trail is quite slippery since it rained the other night so we have to take our time going up if we don't want to bang our heads on the rocks or go down the stairs rolling like a ball.

In the middle of the trek, we stopped to savor the beautiful scenery from the top. And of course, some photos as well.


Kayangan Lake is really beautiful. We wasted no time dipping in the waters and snorkel (it's my first time!wahaha). A little later, the rain poured hard, bummer. From Kayangan Lake we headed to Twin Lagoon. 

Twin Lagoon is quite interesting since the two lagoons, which is surrounded by limestones, is separated by a small rock opening. In order to get to the other side of the lagoon, you need to swim or hike again. We opted to wet ourselves. In some parts of the lagoon, the water is very cold while some parts are lukewarm. Kuya Buchoy even told us that the said area is the place where the fresh water and salt water meet. Cool!

I'm having problems with my life vest all throughout the trip. As we are about to leave the second lagoon, I decided to just float (with my life vest still with me) and oh boy, the experience was really awesome. Just imagine this: your body submerged in cool water, a nice view of the limestone formations, and the sounds of the birds chirping in chorus...I felt that I am really one with nature!

It's almost lunch time when we left the place. Next stop: Bangul Beach.

There's nothing really special with this beach, in my opinion. It's your typical white beach plus the beautiful limestone formation. Oh wait... the limestone formations made this place special!Many tourists had their lunch here by the way, so the place is quite popular.

A hearty lunch was served to us. Yummy!
One of the main attractions in this beach is this monkey who drinks RED HORSE. 
That's our kubo
Beautiful limestones
No rock to heavy for us hehe



Daddy kept on bugging Mommy to have their pre-nup photo so here's the result. Haha
Our last destination for our island hopping tour that day was the Siete Pecados Park which is composed of seven islets. The place is perfect for snorkeling.

The place is also popular because of its urban legend. Locals said that the seven islets were actually the seven sisters who, long time ago, escaped their house to attend the party despite their parent's warning not to leave the place since there's a strong typhoon coming. But the sisters did not listen and continued their plan. Since the party is at the other island, they rented a boat and soon find themselves partying with the crowd. When the party's over and it's time for them to go home, the expected thing happened. Their parents were very worried when their daughters failed to return to their house and for days, their mother wouldn't stop crying. She asked for a sign for her to know if her daughters are still alive. One day, the locals were surprised to see these seven islets out of nowhere.

Our last destination for that day is the Maquinit Hot Spring. It is said that this hot spring is the only salt hot spring in the country which came from a nearby mountain. By the way, the temperature in the adult swimming pool is 40 degrees Celsius while the kiddie pool is 34 degrees Celsius which is quite tolerable.
Welcome to Maquinit Hot Spring

 You cannot dip yourself in the water pronto because of its high temperature. Instead, you need to submerge a part of your body one at a time so that it will get used to the temperature. In my case, feet first, then legs, trunks, until I find myself floating in the hot spring. The experience was relaxing and awesome. I never imagined myself that I can actually survive in a 40 degree Celsius hot water! Kuya Buchoy reminded us though not to stay long in the pool because we might get dehydrated. He advised us to leave the pool every 10minutes and load ourselves with water.

The infinity salt water pool
Magroves are also everywhere
 After our short stay at the Maquinit Hot Spring, we headed back to our home base to recharge for another adventure next day.

MAY TRAVEL ADVENTURES 3: ENCHANTING CORON PART 1

Typhoon Chedeng didn't stop us from our four-day Coron Vacation last May 28-31. In addition to our luggage, bags of chips, clothes, and life vests, we also brought the most important thing during our whole trip- lots of prayers!

Our flight was scheduled at around 11 am. Before going to the airport, we heard the 9am mass at the Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, more popularly known as the Antipolo Cathedral. After that we rushed to the airport to avoid the hassles of checking-in.

Mommy was able to avail a cheap flight from AirPhil Express. I know that I cursed the airline way back in our Puerto Princesa trip but, not anymore hahaha The trip pushed through despite the little hassles due to bad weather. We may have left Manila a little late than the scheduled time but we managed to arrive in Coron 10 minutes ahead of time.Whoopeeee. 

We arrived in Coron past 12 and was greeted by a gloomy weather. I started taking pictures and noticed that the pictures were all blurred...only to find out that the lens of the camera was covered with moist. Whew, I thought it broke down already. 

                          
Despite Coron being a famous tourist spot to both local and foreign nationals, their airport badly needs further improvement. It's too small and there's no conveyor at all!Hahahaha. In all fairness to the local government, they're already improving the airport so that tourists will be more comfortable. Even the roads outside the airport improved (according to the locals) since there are less rocky and bumpy roads.

The trip from Coron Airport to the city proper took us more or less an hour. We were dropped to our "home" that will shelter us during the entire trip- Coron Village.

The place is nice and comfy. It's our first time to check-in to a lodge, so we know that we should lower our expectations.


That's me and baby brother getting cozy in our room and at the veranda. See, my veranda pa kami, sosyal haha. The little wooden statue above, meanwhile, served as our key room haha!Gigantic! Ironically, we keep on forgetting to bring it with  us haha.

Anyway, we were greeted with the polite staff of the lodge and soon, we were treated to a very very very nice lunch composed of Tinolang manok, plain rice, fish, and banana for dessert. After our lunch, we headed to our room to catch up some zzzzzs before we start our tour that day.

The tour started at around 4pm. Our first stop was the Lualhati Park which is popular among the locals there. It also served as the jump-off point to tourists who opt for an island tour since many motorized bancas docked there. 

They have the "Hollywood" version here in CORON. Panis!lol

Family pic at Lualhati Park
We then headed to the biggest pasalubong shopping center afterwards where we bought pasalubong items including ref magnets and different kasuy delicacies in different forms such as cashew tarts, turrones de Kasuy, and cashew brittle.
Getting goofy in the store
The famous maskaras of Coron
The BIG little boss 
The highlight of our day 1 tour is the Mt. Tapyas trek. A little background on this mountain.

Mt. Tapyas, which stands 210 meter above sea level, is considered as the second highest point in Coron. In order to get to the summit, you need to to go through the 723 STEPS GOING UP AND ANOTHER 723 STEPS GOING DOWN. Yes, it's one heck of a trek! Haha Anyway, a huge cross made of steel awaits every climber-tourist at the summit. 
Jump-off point: Tapyas Road
And the trekking starts here...
The first 100 steps is tiresome already!
But views such as this made the trek more enjoyable and less stressful
The busy port (view from above)

View from the top: Coron Town

The trail

4 at 400: We're on the 400th step already whew!
Almost there: 600th step!
123 steps more...Fight!
We're almost there...I can see the cross already
I took this while at the view deck. Yes, there's a view deck on Mt. Tapyas' summit
Touch down!
Jump jump jump! We conquered the 723 steps!
Kuya Buchoy told us that the mountain got its name, tapyas because of this side of the mountain. Notice that this part is somehow chipped or trimmed or in Filipino, natapyas. During the WWII, the Japanese soldiers dug a part of the mountain that will serve as their hide-out against the American soldiers. 
The trek was worth it! We were treated to a very peaceful and scenic view of the whole Coron and its neighboring islands.  We spent enough time for our photo ops.

By the way, Kuya Buchoy even joked us that Mt. Tapyas not only offers a view of the whole Coron town but    it also offers a view of Chocolate Hills and Tagaytay. Weh??  
Turns out that he's referring to this side of mountain. Somehow, he's right. The picture on the right side kinda resembles the hills in Bohol while the one on left is somehow similar on the view that you used to see in Tagaytay Picnic Grove, minus the Taal Volcano of course.

And since the weather is no longer tolerant of our stinginess  as we refused to leave the place despite its warnings earlier, we were punished. As we're trekking down, heavy rains started to pour really really hard. It's insane! We're wet and cold plus, the sound of the roof threatening to detach itself anytime soon is not helping us to calm down and convince us that the rain will soon subside. Funny though, in the midst of the heavy rain, an American bravely continued jogging up until he reached the summit.  
Time to go down.
 We returned to the lodge at past 7pm, just in time for our dinner. We had chicken cordon bleu and I forgot the other foods served but I'm certain that they're all good. After our dinner, we went back to our room and called it a day as we try to recover from the 1446 steps that we conquered because of Mt. Tapyas. I know right, it's a WILD CLIMB but definitely, very worth every step of it.

By the way, as we're about to enter our room, we noticed that Mt. Tapyas' cross is seen from our veranda. Cool. Sorta reminds us of our achievement that day.