taal trek happiness! October 19, 2009
Posted by jr3 in My Fave Entries, Photography, Random, Travels.1 comment so far
“Like all great travelers,
I have seen more than I remember,
and remember more than I have seen.”
–Benjamin Disraeli
after i first set foot on tagaytay and got the feel of the place in 2002, there was never a year that i missed visiting the place. i’ve experienced the birth of many life-long bonds and heartwarming moments there — intangible stuff which, aside from the uniquely tagaytay ambience, i look forward to in every visit.
i relish experiencing the beauty of tagaytay and the wonderful sights to see there and from there. from the numerous viewdecks (each one of them unique, i say) of tagaytay, one gets to see the taal lake and the islands in it — one truly inspiring sight to behold, especially in the early mornings when the fogs let up and reveal the distant islands and during sunset when darkness slowly creeps and blends seemlessly with the mesmerizing scenery making it fade, but with the promise of being seen again along with the next rising of the sun.
with my yearly visits to tagaytay, those distant islands in the lake always caused me to wonder and to imagine a lot of great things. seeing them always reminded me of those times when i used to look into my sibika at kultura book in grade school and i’d be lost in those pages where pictures of the volcano in a lake are printed. for me, back in grade school, the sight was reachable and can be viewed only, at best, in full-colored postcards. needless to say, that changed and i got to see with my own eyes what i only used to see in pictures — a lake and, in it, distant islands, beckoning.
one of those distant islands in the lake and the most popular of them all — by name, at least — is the taal volcano, reputed to be the world’s smallest active volcano. if that does not make taal volcano interesting enough, read what the travel guides say about it. it is believed to be a volcano within a lake within a volcano — the ridges of tagaytay being remnants of a big, old crater of what used to be a big, big volcano in the biggest island (luzon) of this volcanic archipelago (the philippines) in this part of asia (southeast asia).
last october 11, 2009, which was a sunday — and a sunshiny sunday to boot — i laid my what-ifs and what’s-in-that-island-thoughts to rest. i set foot on taal volcano and walked all the way to where i could get a full view of the crater, which is hidden when viewed from tagaytay. it was a 4-kilometer uphill walk under the direct heat of the mighty sun with the awesome company of equally adventurous and travel-loving people, most of whom i first met and made friends with in el nido, palawan. for us, a trek is a trek is a trek is a trek…
while most other tourists would opt to rent horses to reach the taal volcano viewpoint, we went for the old school alternative. we spared the horses and exercised our legs and lungs instead. we chose to walk the 4-kilometer regular path up and the 4-kilometer regular path down — encountering earthworms, mountain snails, crows, malnourished papaya plants, one dead baby cobra, and lots of horse manure along the way. the volcano is gently sloping so the trek isn’t really difficult. in fact, our tour coordinator walked with us on her wedge sandals. yes, wedge sandals! way to go.
the sight of the crater is breathtaking. what’s interesting about it? it has an island. imagine this: an island (vulcan point) within a crater (taal crater) within an active volcano (taal volcano) within a lake (taal lake) within an old volcano.
apart from the sulfuric-smelling steam steadily coming out from some of the rocks we passed by, there’s not much to see along the way that i haven’t seen in other places. maybe, it’s because it’s the regular path, after all. i believe taal’s secret trail (yes, there is a so-called secret trail which is not really so secret but so named because only a few people opt to take that less popular but more challenging path) would be something else and would reveal a lot of things that are really uniquely taal. there’s always a next time, right?
oh, i love, love, love the boat ride and the sight of colorful catamarans (two-hulled sailboats) in talisay’s taal lake yacht club. the lake looked so big and blue and yet so calm; crossing it on our bright yellow boats felt so perfect. when our boatman lost control of our boat, dalag, and we hit the rear of pawikan (the other boat) even before we could reach taal volcano, i had the time of my life. it was one of those could-have-been very dangerous moments that i ended up enjoying because i had so much faith that the boats will hold together and the big, deep lake will not dare eat us up.
taal trek happiness pictures are here!
p.s.
(1) may tumalo sa tour coordinator namin… inakyat ang taal na naka-fishnet stockings and high heels! winner!
(2) na-dehydrate ako that day kasi nakalimutan kong uminom ng tubig during the uphill hike. ano ba? haha
(3) mabibilis kami maglakad pero tumagal lang kami sa trek path kasi picture kami ng picture.
(4) ok, ok, enough of this… next trip!
forever october October 11, 2009
Posted by jr3 in Random, Sappy.2 comments
hey, i miss you.
i can’t tell you, of course. i gave you my word that i won’t bother you anymore. here, in my little space, i dare write because i know you no longer come here.
when this month rolled in, my thoughts redirected back to you. you’ve become the character in my prevalent thoughts — i can’t help but think that, maybe, i’m starting to go crazy. wow. what is it with you that refuses to completely leave me? why can’t my mind be totally free from remembering you? why do i have to miss you still?
it’s been — what? — since the last time i saw you? four years? yet it now again feels like it was only last week when we spent time together for the first and last time.
for the first and last time. will there never be another? come to think of it. we never had real time together except for that afternoon we had on your 25th birthday. everything else we shared only existed in our minds, in virtual compartments with elements that neither you nor i could touch. despite that, i could say that our times together — whether real or imagined — brought my heart so much joy. i began to believe things were gonna go uphill from there. i ended up having to accept that i was wrong. so wrong.
i was badly hurt when you told me you already left. i didn’t think you were leaving — i assumed you’d stay. worse, i had to find out the hard way. i wasn’t ready for pain when my heart started breaking. it made me sick but i went on with my life. in mind, body, and spirit, i was shaken but there was no other option but to move on. so, i did — at first, with feeble steps. then, in big leaps.
i’m sorry if i couldn’t accommodate your invitation for that adventure which, in my heart of hearts, i also wanted. i wasn’t playing hard to get. i wasn’t deliberately trying to avoid seeing you again. it’s just that you extended the invitation rather late. i also have my own adventure plans and although i would consider re-charting them (or dropping them, for that matter) so i could spend time with you again — even for just a little while, that time when you asked was that one time when i could not change paths. i wanted to see you then like i’ve been wanting to see you all this time. but. but. but… i did not feel that you really wanted to see me. you merely wanted an adventure partner but not really me.
you’ve allowed more than four years to pass. gone where the buzzes that i used to get, gone were the times when you initiated our conversations, and the butterflies in my stomach have all fallen asleep.
do i still dare to hope? right now, i wish i matter to you. i wish you care. i wish you would seek me to see me and make the butterflies fly again. i miss the way you made me feel.
it was also october when you first sought me and deliberately made your path cross mine. it was nine years ago. it’s already so many years ago.
puerto princesa and el nido adventure October 6, 2009
Posted by jr3 in My Fave Entries, Photography, Random, Travels.add a comment
last august 27-31, 2009, i was in palawan for a 5-day fun, fun, fun adventure in puerto princesa and el nido. i already uploaded the complete set of photos from my dlsr’s two dedicated 4GB memory cards in several albums in my multiply account. here, i’ll just share some photos and then direct you to those albums in my multiply gallery. yihee, enjoy!
puerto princesa is about an hour (by plane) from manila. el nido is 7 hours away (by van) from puerto princesa.
album #1: una muna, puerto princesa!
27th of august 2009
thursday in puerto princesa
first day of a five-day adventure in palawan
from puerto princesa airport to sabang to the subterranean national river park…
puerto princesa airport
sabang
welcome marker to the subterranean national river park
the “una muna, puerto princesa” multiply photo album is here.
album #2: the underground river tour
into the big, dark cave — to experience the subterranean river national park adventure — and out again.
the puerto princesa subterranean national river park is a UNESCO world heritage site. the underground river tour requires tolerance for the smell of bat dung, ounces of imagination, and respect for nature’s ways.
to see more of the undergound river tour and photos of stalactites, stalagmites, and the awesome and gigantic formations hidden inside the long cave system, go here.
album #3: el nido friday adventure
28th of august 2009
thank God it’s friday in el nido
second day of a five-day adventure in palawan
day 2 in palawan: island hopping adventure day 1 in el nido
into the small lagoon
into the small lagoon, too
into the big lagoon
into the big lagoon, too
entalula island
a great snorkeling spot with mordor-like wall of rock formations
starts and stops: marina garden beach resort. small lagoon. big lagoon. island where we had lunch (what’s the name of that island?). island and snorkeling spot where a strong gust of wind sent us back to marina garden beach resort (i missed getting the name of that snorkeling spot in el nido, too). more photos are here.
to be continued…
reminiscing yesterday September 28, 2009
Posted by jr3 in C'est la Vie, Flashbacks, Random, Travels.3 comments
“we will go from strength to strength
until we see you face to face”
i never really fully understood just how much i and my companions have been saved from the waters unleashed by typhoon ondoy until i saw videos and photos of how high and strong the floodwaters were in a lot of affected areas.
yesterday, information about the typhoon, road conditions, and floods got to us via text messages, calls, and the reports and updates blaring from the radio. before all those, we were just trying to gauge the extent of ondoy’s “signal no.1″ with our eyes — sky condition, falling rain, tarp and living plants’ reaction to the winds — as we entered the south luzon expressway (SLEX) from alabang shortly after 1pm. everything seemed according to the usual “signal no. 1″ except for the alarming, more-than-the-usual, flood-unleasher heavy downpour we witnessed in alabang.
our driver had the good sense to avoid the southwoods portion of SLEX and diverted our route to one of the exit roads. as a result, we found ourselves caught in slow-moving traffic at that exit point. despite getting us stuck in that traffic because of that turn, the driver made a good call there. with whatever little i could see through the island of trees that separated our exit road from SLEX, i saw the build-up of heavy traffic on the expressway shortly after that and it was worse than the traffic that we were stuck in. then, too, one of the managers sent an alert message about SLEX-southwoods being already flooded and that in canlubang there’s already a 5-foot deep flood. we knew our driver was enlightened to choose the safer track. just how much safer? i was only able to fully understand more than 24 hours later when i saw on video how the SLEX-southwoods portion resembled a wide river with all that huge volume of murky water flowing from who-knows-where. whoa! i didn’t know and i found it hard to believe that SLEX could really look like that!
despite avoiding SLEX and taking the unusual route, we were not totally spared from encountering the floodwaters unleashed by typhoon ondoy. we passed through roads that were also slightly flooded. as mentioned in my previous post, navigating the water-filled roads on a van was akin to a combined jungle log jam and rio grande rapids experience minus the amusement park brand of fun, fun, fun all the way. we were clearly aware that the sprays that we saw through the closed windows as our van wheeled through the wet roads were from treacherous floodwater. despite that, we managed to somehow enjoy and not be panicky through the “adventure”.
river or road? yup, we’re still on the road!
we saw, too, the swollen rivers and their raging torrents threatening in vain to breach the bridges. i felt comforted to see that the bridges we passed by were built high away enough from the river level. if those were not, i dread to think about the destructive possibilities.
if there was something beautiful i saw during the time that we were finding our way back to batangas via the town roads of laguna, it was the sight of rain kissing the rice fields. yes, you read that right: rain kissing the rice fields! it’s as if a gentle wind brought rain to slowly creep over the fields and to caress the top of the rice plants — a sea of beautiful natural greens, slightly bowing with grains, ready for harvest slowly touched by rain. it was an awesome sight! i just hope that those rice fields did not end up being ravaged by heavier rain.
we got a bit lost when we got to silangan. we made a wrong turn somewhere and got on another slightly flooded road that seemed to lead us to nowhere familiar. at that point, we had to stop and turn back so we could get back to SLEX and then to the road that we’re 100% sure will lead us to batangas. we were thankful this man was out and he helped us find the right direction:
thank you, kuya!
it was around 4pm when we reached the YT (yazaki-torres) portion of the highway connecting calamba and sto. tomas, batangas. we got caught in another close-to-non-moving traffic there. it was already past 6pm when we finally saw our way out of the gridlock. whew! to keep our minds from being idle, we listened to the radio news feeds. in the background, we also had praise songs playing.
massive flooding in metro manila and surrounding provinces. too much water. too little help coming. people on their rooftops, hungry and cold, waiting for rescue. rescue couldn’t be mounted to reach people needing evacuation. lack of rubber boats, a lot in the way. stranded and flooded vehicles in major thoroughfares. too much rain, lack of visibility hinder helicopters from being flown. difficult to get first-hand info and scoop — media men couldn’t get to the affected areas unless they’re already there and victims of the flood themselves. 3 kids escaped flood only to be bitten by snakes which were disturbed by the floods. barrage of frantic pleas for help here and there. nighttime is falling, ondoy is still dumping rains.
it was around this time — when we were hearing all these unhappy bits — when we got additional report that the jollibee-sto. tomas area was flooded, too. now, that’s just a block away from where our apartment is. i decided not to accept the probability of our very area, our unit, being flooded, too. true enough, when we got home at around 8pm, my housemate and i found our apartment and the immediate surrounding area just as we left it — no floodwater. wow! thank You, Lord. and thank You for the rice fields!
27th of september 2009
9:15pm
update on 09.28.09: the public market of sto. tomas, which is of higher elevation and also just a block away from our apartment, was also flooded with waist-deep water last saturday (september 26, 2009). being aware of that now, i’m totally amazed that no floodwater got to us.
signal no. 1 September 26, 2009
Posted by jr3 in C'est la Vie, Random, Travels.add a comment
“you have turned my whole life around
thank you, thank you.”
i had an amazing day today. i learned a lot of good stuff in just a span of a few hours. it’s been awhile since i last had that kind of overwhelmingly pleasant and bountiful learning experience and i am very, very thankful. i’m talking about stuff that have to do with human relationships, basic life principles, and financial prosperity.
then, too, today is also amazing because of my first hand experience of this supposedly signal no.1 typhoon in metro manila and nearby areas — a typhoon named ondoy (international code: ketsana) — which, despite not being a super typhoon, poured so much water and caused massive flooding.
road travel from alabang to where i live in batangas would normally take 45 minutes to an hour via the south luzon expressway (SLEX). today, however, it took us 6 hours to reach batangas. some parts of SLEX had waist-deep floodwater and deemed not safe anymore. we had to resort to the roads less traveled — most of which were slightly flooded, too. navigating those water-filled roads on a van was akin to a combined jungle log jam and rio grande rapids experience.
because of our unusual travel route, i personally saw for myself some of the swollen and raging rivers and flooded parts of the laguna and batangas (laguna border) areas. they’re disturbing sights.
based on radio reports, with ondoy, metro manila experienced flooding it has not experienced in a long while — 20 years? in some areas, people had to climb all the way to their roofs just to get away from the rising, raging floodwaters which make rescue plans and attempts very daunting.
my newswriter friends will have to pardon me for saying this but, this time, the news bureaus’ articles that i’ve read so far regarding typhoon ondoy are not telling it like it really is. the online pictures/videos, the minute-after-minute, area-after-area radio feeds, and my friends’ updates are.
earlier today, as floodwater crept and rose, even the mass media people and rescuers couldn’t get to those affected places — too much water, too much rain, wind too strong/visibility too bad to fly helicopters. the available videos, photos and news bits are from people who are already in the affected areas.
