Baguio And Hundred Islands Adventure

Travel Period: October 30 - November 3, 2010
Destination: Metro Manila, Baguio City, and Hundred Islands in Alaminos, Pangasinan

The Plan

At the NAIA 3

After a trip from Palawan, Boracay, Cebu and Bohol, now its time to conquer the Greater Manila Area and Northern Luzon. Again, this is a promo fares we availed from a budget airline and thanks to their promo flights. Initially, we were divided into 2 groups, Lee and Jeremy will be on an earlier flight and 4 on our flight but 1 of our companion was not able to make it on the trip. That makes only 3 of us are going on adventure and they are Reuben, Janice and me of course, a total of 5 when met the other two. Here we come Luzon! :D


Another First Time
All the things are packed and I'm ready to go, went to the airport, waited for my company, checked-in in the counter, and boarded the flight. We landed in Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 (NAIA 3) around 10 in the evening and its my first time, well I'm impressed with the airport which I later found out that its the best terminal around NAIA. We took some photos inside the airport and walked to the highway. Most of us are not familiar on commuting around Manila so we decided to take a cab and drive us to SM Mall of Asia. We took pictures around the mall and proceeded to the bay area to meet our former co-worker named Lilian. We waited for the other 2 and then off the bus terminal going to Baguio. :D

Bay area of SM Mall of Asia

Baguio To Go
We boarded the bus around 2AM and took our intermittent sleep bound to Baguio. We had several stops along the way to take our personal needs or have some snacks to eat. Before arriving in Baguio, it was a great view along the zigzag road where you can see the valleys while going up to the city above. We arrived in Baguio terminal around 8AM and walked around the city for a bit. We passed the SM Baguio and reached the Burnham Park, we took our brunch and look for a place to stay. We checked-in at El Cielito Inn for an affordable accommodation rate and prepared ourselves for the tour.

Quick Tour
We asked some locals for directions because we're going to commute to reach these tourist spots. First stop is in the Baguio Botanical Garden, took some pictures and bought some souvenirs including t-shirts. Second stop, is the Mines View Park, there's a lot of tourists that time and we have an overlooking view down to the village below. Stay for awhile, took some photos and proceeded to the next stop. We're back to the city proper and again asked the locals for the directions going to strawberry farm. Arriving at the strawberry farm, we learned that the month of October is not its season so we only found some strawberries. We ate some of it because we're curious of what it taste like and to found out that it taste just like a guava for me maybe I was just expecting it to be a very sweet fruit. :D. Back to the city proper, we spent the rest of the afternoon on the Burnham Park and took some pictures.

Left to right: Manong, Janice, Me, Lilian, Lee, Jeremy, Reuben and Manang

At Mines View Park

At strawberry farm

At Burnham Park

Rest Of The Day
We're back to the hotel and took some rest after a tiring city tour. It was Sunday that time and I decided to went to the cathedral for the scheduled mass. Unlike most of the cathedrals here in the Philippines, the Baguio cathedral doesn't need to have to cooling system because of the cold temperature around the place. That time I was just wearing a t-shirt only and its getting cold as the evening comes. I went back to the hotel after the mass and to find out that they're all asleep. So, I take a hike to SM Baguio, roaming around the mall and of course took some photos. Back to the hotel where everyone is awake, we decided to take our dinner and after that, Lilian decided to go back to Manila because she have some work to do the next day.

Our Lady of Atonement Cathedral

Me at SM Baguio

Hundred Islands
On the next day, we woke up early, took our breakfast and proceeded to the bus terminal. We boarded the bus bound to Alaminos, Pangasinan where the famous Hundred Islands is located. It was fun watching the countryside road trip from Baguio down to Alaminos passing some municipalities and landmarks. We reached the Alaminos terminal after a 6 hours of travel. We took our lunch, bought some groceries for our dinner and took a tricycle bound to wharf. We registered at the tourism office near the wharf and they arranged everything. After minutes around 5PM we boarded the outrigger boat and proceeded to the Hundred Islands specifically the Quezon Island where we spent our overnight. While going to Quezon Islands, adrenaline are rushing in our body as we felt the excitement when we saw the islands up close. We asked ourselves if it is really consists of hundred of islands, we began counting the islands but surrender after awhile and we enjoyed the rest of the moment. It's was all worth it after the long hours of traveling. Reaching the island at dusk and spent the rest of the evening chatting, night swimming and playing with the sands. It feels like we owned the whole island since aside from us, only 2 people who are tenants are living in Quezon Island. We took a rest and all you can hear are the waves going back and forth in the shore and feel the sea breeze.

Arriving at Hundred Islands

Ready for boat trip going to Quezon Island

Me at the wharf

Island Hopping
The next day, I woke up early and explore the rest of the island, took some pictures and we had our breakfast, bread and coffee, then proceeded to island hopping. The first stop was watching the giant clam, I remove my floating vest so I can dive and I had a closer look at the large clams on the seafloor. I thought of touching the clams but I opted not to because it might snapped in a seconds and get my hand caught just like a Venus flytrap plant. :D. We hopped to other islands and entered a cave, took some photos and off to another island again checking the 2 out of hundred islands, 98 more islands to go. Hehe. We hopped to Governors and Children's Island, we even have the chance to visit the famous Pinoy Big Brother house and took some photos. We hopped to another island and spend the rest of it by swimming against the white sand beach. Finished our island hoping and backed to the mainland.

Jump shot at Quezon Island

A shot in a cave entrance

Overlooking hundred islands

Taken at the PBB house

Photo at white sand beach

Mall Tour
We boarded a bus from Alaminos bound to Manila this time. Again, a nice scenery of countryside along the way and spotted some landmarks. My two companions need to catch up a flight and the rest of us proceeded to mall tour. I have contacted my friends based on Manila days before our trip if they have time to tour us and we're glad they have tour us, thanks to my college classmate Febie and my former co-worker Myla for accommodating us. They toured us to SM North Edsa, the Sky Garden part and we went to Trinoma, I am impressed with their garden they have on the upper floors. Indeed, Ayala malls are great not to mentioned the Ayala Center Cebu and Trinoma which I've been, but also I'm proud as Dabawenyo to have our very own Ayala mall named Abreeza which was recently open last May 12.

At SM North Edsa with Myla

At Trinoma garden with Febie

At Sky Garden

Missed Flight
While we're lobbying in the Trinoma, I've got a call from Lee, one of my companion on an earlier flight. He stated that they missed their flight. They expected that their flight is around 7PM but in their tickets, it was around 3PM, clearly they missed the flight, lessons learned always checked your ticket and you should be familiar with the military time that is used in the tickets and have a buffer time when going to airport. We decided to went in the airport around 10PM and spent the rest of the time there since we have an early flight by the next day. Jeremy purchased a ticket the same our flight and Lee did a hocus pocus thing. :D

Home Sweet Home
We went to back to Davao together and had our memories saved in cameras. It was a great adventure and I'm sure I'm going back to Hundred Islands someday.

Thank you and God bless us all!