El Nido Accommodation: Hadefe Cottages

Hadefe Cottages became our home in El Nido for three nights. The resort is located in the far end of Calaan Beach, a 10 minutes walk from the town of El Nido, along side with other newly built resorts that offer seclusion and tranquility.

Unlike the typical hotels and resorts found in the town of El Nido, Hadefe Cottages have stand-alone bungalow huts that are well spaced out throughout the resort's property providing privacy to visitors. The seven stylish cottages are made with traditional materials giving them a less contemporary feel and rustic look. Most of the cottages have a private balcony too. And since they are off the town area, expect quietness, laid back and relaxing ambiance.

Caramoan: Cagbalinad Island

Cagbalinad Island was our second stop right after visiting Lahos Island. Travel time from Lahos to Cagbalinad took about 10 minutes. Cagbalinad is actually an islet with small beach that is swallowed by water during high tide. The sand was very fine and white and compact. In fact, we didn't see any footprints on the beach - a sign that no other visitors were here when we arrived. We had the beach to ourselves!

View of lush green mountain of Gota Island

Discovering Palawan's Jewel: The Puerto Princesa Underground River

After spending three nights in El Nido, it's quite sad to accept the fact that we were leaving this paradise very soon. The worst part of a great trip is to leave the place you fell in love with. We bade goodbye to El Nido but the good part was leaving to explore another Palawan's wonder - the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park - which is a natural world heritage site.

The entrance to the Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park

Travel Photo Friday: The Monkey and The Tortoise

Yes, this photo reminds me of the folk tale our kindergarten and elementary Filipino teachers used to read to us in school. The Tortoise and The Monkey (Ang Pagong at ang Matsing) was a creation of Dr. Jose Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines, which reflects Rizal's affection and compassion for the youth. The story was also published in a London magazine in 1889. For those who haven't heard about or forgot this story already, you can read it here. :-)

Caramoan: Lahos Island

Lahos was the first island that we visited on our first day of Caramoan island hopping tour. Lahos island is part of the short trip since it's located along with other islands and islets in the southern part of Caramoan Peninsula. They are quite close from Paniman beach, which is one of the jump-off points for island hopping.

It was almost 12 noon when we left Paniman. The sun was on its highest and we couldn't wait to get in the small motorized boat. Kuya Ramil and his grandson were our tour guides slash boat men. En route to Lahos island, we enjoyed the scenic view of limestone karst and lush green mountains.

Bohol Countryside Tour

Bohol was my first major travel destination this year that triggered the travel bug in me. This was also my first time to visit Bohol. The world famous Chocolate Hills and tarsiers are among the local attractions that made me eager to visit this island in Central Visayas. I only used to see them on post cards and textbooks at school, and it's great to finally see them up close!

Back in February, planning a trip like this was quite new to me. We were supposed to leave everything to a travel agency but, in the end, decided to do the itinerary and booking by ourselves. I realized that we could save a lot! Also, going on a trip using an orbitz coupon can give us more savings.

View of Tagbilaran City from the airplane

Travel Photo Friday: Sagada Sunrise

Visitors trek to the peak of Kiltepan Mountain in Sagada to witness an amazing view of the sunrise. It was raining the night before our climb to the peak and we were told that our chance of seeing the sunrise was very slim.

Caramoan Island Hopping: The Short Trip

Little is known about Caramoan Peninsula until the international show Survivor picked some of its islands as the location for different Survivor series. It has gained media attention and eventually more local and international tourists are drawn to this hidden paradise in Camarines Sur.

Caramoan Peninsula is composed of several islands and islets that are accessible by boat from Caramoan Island. There are two jump-off points, Paniman Beach and Bikal Port, where you can rent a motorized boat to take you to some of these islands. After our arrival and a quick lunch at the Caramoan town, we immediately headed to Paniman Beach for our island hopping adventure.

From Centro, it takes about 40 minutes to get to Paniman Beach. Kuya Ramil arranged a tricycle to take us to the site. There's no route transportation going there so you will need to rent a tricycle or habal-habal depending on the number of persons in your group. We paid PhP300 for a round trip fare.

Rough road to Paniman Beach

Travel Photo Friday: Boracay Sunset

Boracay Island is 5 hours away from where I used to live. Living in Iloilo City gave me the opportunity to visit the island frequently. Perhaps seeing the Boracay sunset several times has made me care less about it. However, my recent visit to Boracay last April was different. The sunset was too beautiful to ignore. Boracay may have become very polluted, but the beauty of its sunset remains as splendid as ever.

The Journey to Caramoan Island

We've been planning a trip to Caramoan Peninsula for ages. The plan wouldn't always push through because of conflicting schedule and limited airline promo fares so we would end up scratching our plan and going to different destinations instead. Finally, we were able to make our four-day Caramoan trip this year a reality.

August is perhaps not a good time to visit Bicol region because it's a typhoon season. Our desire, however, to explore this hidden gem in Camarines Sur was unstoppable. In order to stick with our plan, we decided to travel to Bicol by land. Flying to Naga is the fastest way to get to Bicol but the chance of getting a flight cancelled frightened us. We could not afford to move our trip (again) so we thought traveling by bus would be a far better option in case the weather turns harsh.

The most popular way to get to Caramoan by land is to take a bus from Manila to Naga City then another bus from Naga City to Sabang Port, the jump-off point to Caramoan Island. However, I learned that Peñafrancia Tours has a daily trip plying directly to Sabang Port. We took the latter option. I think they're the only bus line that offers such trip so we called them one week in advance to make a reservation. Fare is P765 per person for one way.

We arrived at Araneta Bus Terminal in Cubao 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled departure time. However, the bus left one hour behind its original 8:30 PM schedule. The whole trip from Manila to Sabang Port took 10 grueling hours - my longest bus ride ever. There were 3 bus stops for restroom break and light snacks.

The first of the three bus stops in Tiaong, Quezon