Baler: Gord's Visit

October 2013


My officemates and I had been to Baler twice and in those visits, we'd never been to places that tourists usually come to see. I missed to experience Mother Falls and Aniao islet during our first trip. When I came back with same group of people, I missed the Aniao islet. So I said, I would go back and make sure not to miss Aniao islet. (Note: To read the blog about my second trip in Baler, please click here)


When my boy friend, Gord, booked his trip to Philippines this October, I asked him if he's interested in water falls. I thought of bringing him to Baler to try things, plus I also wanted to get to Aniao islet. When he agreed on including waterfalls in his itinerary, I was very happy and I know he would like it there :)


Day 1 

Baler is a municipality or town of Aurora, a province that's located about 200+ kilometers northeast of Manila. The town is reachable by bus or private vehicle. Genesis Bus is the only bus company as of date that operates regularly, transporting passengers from Manila to Baler and vice versa. As I know that buses here have no comfortable seats, I worried Gord may not like to travel. But thanks to God, my boyfriend knows exactly what to expect :) . I guess he could not forget his first bus experience on his first visit when I brought him to Caramoan :)

Well, being on a bus for almost 8 hours isn't fun at all but my boyfriend seemed to enjoy the views of mountains and rice fields on our way to Baler :)

We left Manila at around 4 in the morning on the 9th of October and reached our destination at 2 o'clock PM that same day. It was a very long bus trip, not to mention a very tiring one too. But seeing the beach the moment we got settled at the hotel, such long bus ride was all worth it.

Nice view from hotel restaurant. Photo credits to Gord :)

After resting for a while, we tried surfing. It was Gord's first time to do surfing while it was my first without an instructor's supervision. I tried surfing before with an instructor so the whole surfing thing was easy. Now that it's just me and Gord doing it, we both could not even stand on the board hehehe. Also, waves were not friendly to us. Just before we could even breathe and get ready for another attempt to surf, another big wave would come in and push us to the shore. Then, just before we could even stand up on our feet and position the surf board back to deeper portion of the water, another big wave would hit us until we found ourselves rolling underwater. That was just crazy!

So we were not successful with surfing but we had so much fun with the water. That's for sure. :)



Day 2


It was so nice to have a balcony by the bay and have the best view of the ocean. That's how we began our second day in Baler.

After breakfast, our tour guide Hadjie fetched us at the hotel. Our first activity for the day was a trek to Ditumabo Water Falls.


We boarded on a motorized cab or what we call a tricycle. The tour started with a swift driving by the highway, until we turned left before Ditumabo bridge. I had been to that place so I'm aware of the rough road ahead of us.

Rocky Road

Oppps, the tricycle needed some air

Gord with the tour guide, Hadjie

After few minutes of tricycle drive, we reached the jump off point and the actual trek began.

And then the waterfalls :)

Gord's enjoying the water despite its freezing coldness

It was another experience for me and Gord together. Every single moment was very precious, and there is nothing better than spend every second with someone most special.

On our way back, Gord didn't miss to see the turbines that convert water to electricity. I didn't know such thing but my boyfriend does. So one fact I learned is, the people are getting their electricity from the water falls. Then, I remember some folks in my hometown talking about water falls in some municipalities which I can't remember so I wonder if our electricity also comes from water falls. Maybe. Maybe not.

Next stop was to see the millennium Balete tree which is said to be 600 years old.

On the way to Maria Aurora

This is it. Photo by Gord

Inside the tree

I remember when I first visited the place with my officemates. We climbed this tree and that was an awesome experience. To read Marion Erika's blog for that trip, you may click here and to view some photos from that climb, you may also see them here: Climb_Balete Tree


From Balete tree, we looked for a place where we could eat. It was past the hour of 12 in the afternoon and we were hungry. Hadjie, our tour guide, brought us to an eat-all-you can restaurant. After lunch, we were supposed to go to Aniao islet however, the weather was not good anymore. It started to rain. Hence, we decided to stop by the museum then back to the hotel and end of the tour. We were tired by the time we reached the hotel. While we were at the hotel restaurant for an early dinner, a friend from work, Ramon, messaged me on facebook with a link to local weather website saying that typhoon Santi was going to hit Baler. We checked the website and it didn't look good. I mean, typhoon was coming. Gord and I decided to check out the hotel the earliest we could and go back to Manila the very next day. I checked the website for Genesis Bus but it looks like the information in the site was not updated because Baler-Pasay bus does not leave every after an hour. We missed the first trip at 5:00AM and next trip was 7:30AM but left at past 8 in the morning. Anyway, we're thankful to God because we were safe back to Manila. We missed the typhoon.


Next stop would be my hometown.



Cristina aka Clue
Mandaluyong City, Metro Manila
Philippines

Aklan Experience: Kalibo and Sampaguita Gardens

It's family's first visit in Aklan. Although it was not the season for the well-known Ati-Atihan festival in the province, we couldn't miss to experience the culture and life in Aklan. I guess that's just being part of an "explorer" thingy. As we all love to eat, first thing I looked on line was a local restaurant that serves local Aklanon food. I found a blog promoting Saylo, a local restaurant in Kalibo which serves food that is all new to  me. It mentioned about Inubaran na Manok, Inday-Inday and Linasing na Pato. I haven't eaten a duck so I urged my sister and dad to dine in Saylo and try those local dishes. My dad refused at first. He is a type of person who would rather stay at his comfort zone than try new things. I guess it's his age that makes him that way :) but anyway, he agreed at my insistence. 

From Kalibo Hotel where we stayed for a night, we hired a tricycle that brought us to Saylo restaurant. 

My dad could not pick which food to order.

So I made the order for them. Eiffer wanted to try Nilasing na Pato while Dad and I had Inubaran na Manok.

Nilasing na Pato

Inubaran na Manok 

Sweet Inday-Inday

Some other photos:

First day in Kalibo was nothing but ordinary. On the next day, I wasn't expecting to have another awesome experience! As suggested by my friend, Danica, we went to Sampaguita Gardens in the next town, New Washington. I didn't have any idea as to what we might see in the place. I didn't bother to look online. To my surprise, there is a huge Christmas house in the garden, and it was our first time to see and be in there :) 

It was a best place to be. I felt being in a foreign country where big Christmas houses are found, like in the movies :)


Other Photos :

 

  

Some other photos in Kalibo:

At hotel smoking area

So basically we had a very fine day, one of the most precious days with my family :)

Cristina aka Clue

Mandaluyong City