Mobile Blog (test)

this is my first mobile blog entry. done with the iphone over wi-fi network in royal plaza hotel in singapore. cool...

iPhone Update!

I was about to get my iPhone during a trip to Singapore last week but the price was much higher (S$1000+) than the listed online price (US$399). Just yesterday I also dropped by at Greenhills and saw that it has also been selling there for over a week now. Prices started around 50k and it's now somewhere at 30k. I felt lucky after deciding not to get one for now after hearing news of a software update (firmware version 1.1.1) released by Apple a few days back that killed unlocked iPhones.

The added features in general don't make the iPhone significantly better (and majority of the users probably haven't expected any of these), but it seems hardware/software capabilities of the device have not been maxxed out yet. This could mean more updates to come bundled with tougher cracking and hacking protection. Here's a quick list:

• iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store
• Louder speakerphone and receiver volume
• Home Button double-click shortcut to phone favorites or music controls
• Space bar double-tap shortcut to intelligently insert period and space
• Mail attachments are viewable in portrait and landscape
• Stocks and cities in Stocks and Weather can be re-ordered
• Apple Bluetooth Headset battery status in the Status Bar
• Support for TV Out
• Preference to turn off EDGE/GPRS when roaming internationally
• New Passcode lock time intervals
• Adjustable alert volume
• A bunch of security fixes for Bluetooth, Email and Safari

... and the bad news -- For those who bought the unlocked iPhones, they are probably still in the 1.0.2 version -- and if they downloaded and install the latest update, they might no longer be useable (dead!). If they try to downgrade it back, the phone functionalities might no longer be available and it turns into an expensive iPod Touch.

The 1.0.2 version works fine with 3rd party software (which by the way is free or cheaper, and sometimes with better functionalities) while the 1.1.1 unlocking tools are 'in progress'. I am waiting to see this happen before I get one, so I can have a better estimate of how fast and reliable the "developer community" will be against Apple's standards. If the unlocking tool doesn't come out until the Asia release, I'll just buy straight from Apple stores.

My Photo Contest Entry (Transit Magazine)

The picture from my Majayjay Falls entry appears in the update page of the "On the Go, Lokal" photo contest by Transit Magazine!!! It's one of the 200+ entries... well it really doesn't mean anything at the moment, but I'm very hopeful that one of my entries wins me a prize :)

The prizes:

• 1st Prize: Tickets for 2 to Palau + Red Fox Gadget
• 2nd Prize: Tickets for 2 to Batanes + Red Fox Gadget
• 3rd Prize: Tickets for 2 to Cebu + Red Fox Gadget
• Consolation Prizes: Electronic Gadgets & Gift Pack from Red Fox + other GCs

I'm excited!!!

My Data Architecture and Multiply

This is a not-so-rough sketch of how my data is organized:

(click image for larger version)

The reason that I started to use Multiply.com actively is because it's able to keep and organize all the information I intend to have online. It neatly imports my blog data from blogger.com, photos/videos from my PC, and my favorite funny videos from YouTube -- with no crippling storage limitations and I hope it stays like that.

Having seen Multiply's interconnectivity with Blogger and Youtube and other video sites, I'm hoping that they could extend it to allow importing contact lists from Friendster because right now the best they can do is give you an invitation badge for display on your site. Also, if they can add more information to the member profile page I believe they can easily win the Friendster crowd; it's mostly about profiles anyway and Multiply already does better when it comes to connections (relationships).

Next is Multiply's crappy calendar. They're tied nicely to the updates and can be arranged neatly through tags. I'm not sure how they can prevent the same public calendar event appearing several times on the My Multiply page (ie. if 3 people put X's birthday in their calendars it comes out thrice), but while there's no solution to it yet regardless of the platform, they could have taken advantage of links with existing performers in the field like Google for now. If they can do automatic calendar updates with Google Calendar it would be great.

Reviews, Links, Music, Groups are items I have rarely used and disabled in my page for now. For me, they're as good as they should be.

Email... I'll stick with what I have. IM's ... I don't think they will succeed if they build their own, but if they could just add some buttons at the profile page to launch a YM window that's as far as it goes.

Overall I'm still happy with the setup, they just have to fill the gaps (red dotted lines). Multiply is still the most complete social networking package for me.

My Digital Image Workflow

I've come up with my own simple workflow to produce better quality images on my blog. I haven't ever taken any training on digital photography, so I'm still expecting the output of this process to be amateur grade images.

1.0 Pre-shot: Initializing Camera Settings
-----------------------------------------
1.1. Set shooting mode (Av is my favorite)
1.2. Set aperture (usually biggest, or sharpest f-stop)
1.3. Set flash mode (usually disabled to use natural lighting)
1.4. Set focus point (useful for stationary objects)
1.5. Set focus mode (usually AF)
1.6. Set WB mode (depending on lighting)
1.7. Set ISO (initial 400)

2.0 Pre-shot: Adjustments
------------------------
2.1. Evaluate shutter speed
2.2. Minimize ISO setting
2.3. Initial shot
2.4. Adjust Exposure Value (based on Histogram)

3.0 Final Camera Image
---------------------
3.1. Take Final Photo

4.0 PostProcessing
-----------------
4.1. Download Original Images
4.2. Adjust Levels/Curves
4.3. Adjust Saturation (usually +10 to 30 depending on emphasis)
4.4. Image Sharpen
4.5. Adjust Brightness/Contrast (for increased sharpness)
4.6. Crop Image
4.7. Save Image to PostProcessed folder (ready for printing)

Natalie Dee Art

Cute website with a lot of funny and interesting pieces of artwork, by Natalie Dee. This link was shared to me by Lor. Here's one of them...

More at nataliedee.com

How to detect BS

I came across a nice article written by Scott Berkun on the topic of detecting BS (bullshit).

He starts with a philosophy of lies... and points out three reasons why people do it:

1) to protect themselves
2) sometimes it works
3) people want to be seen as better than how they see themselves

and then he shares some BS detection tools to help sniff it out:

1) Question: How do you know what you know?
2) Question: What is the counter argument?
3) Time and pressure
4) Never agree to more than your trust allows

Typically if someone ignores these things there's a high chance that BS is present.

More on the detail subject at http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/53-how-to-detect-bullshit/

Taytay Falls (Majayjay, Laguna)

I spent last Saturday on a daytrip to Majayjay, Laguna to have a look at the not-so-rarely visited Taytay Falls. The first big mistake we made was leaving past 7am that day because the traffic was already heavy from SLEX all the way to Calamba Exit. Both the Alaminos and Los Banos routes were moving very slowly so it didn't seem to make any difference from this point. We headed east through Los Banos, Bay, Calauan ... then got directions from locals to a secondary road that skips San Pablo and goes straight to Nagcarlan. From Nagcarlan we drove to Liliw (some confusing roads as we went through this town) and then Majayjay.

There were small road signs that pointed to the falls, and the roads were narrow for about 7kms until we reached the entrance where we were charged 10 pesos for bringing in our vehicle. A few more kilometers of very narrow two-way roads... and we were at the registration point. Each person had to pay 20 pesos (I think it's more if you stay overnight) and sign on some logbook.

We took our backpacks and walked for about 1km. The path was safe and easy, they had a narrow cemented walkway and handrails, and very little obstacles. It was weekend so there were A LOT of people in the area. Some of them even had tents and cookware.

There were some people above the falls area and a path going up from the left side where a small grotto stood, so we thought there would be less people and cleaner water in that area. There was a warning sign though that people shouldn't go up here, but I think they didn't mind the danger to get a good view from above. Along the steep path was a small gate which was sealed with chickenwire, and a very narrow space on one side where one person could barely pass through (really very dangerous because the rocks there are slippery and the chickenwire is the first thing you will hit if you slip).

The water was ice cold up there, actually, enough to make my hands numb... it took a short while to get used to the cold water. We were the only ones there for some time until a few more stopped by, but it wasn't enough to crowd the area.

We spent about an hour up there until the sky turned dark. I had my camera with me and could sense heavy rains so we started to pack up and leave before it gets damaged (I just paid off the first installment so it's going to be painful) and the situation becomes too dangerous to go back down.
The rain started pouring when we got down so we had to rush back to the jump-off point for cover. Fortunately, we had our stuff waterproofed so only the bags got wet. I still had to run because I was afraid some moisture might get into the electronics I carried with me.
More bad luck on our way back -- we got semi-flat tires! We had to drive another 7km back to town before we totally run out of air on the tires (we didn't check the spare so it wasn't an option during the heavy rains). At the vulcanizing shop we just found out that there were no holes, so we knew it just wasn't inflated properly from our last gas stop.
After that, we decided to head to Tagaytay for dinner. It was past 6 when we stopped at a gas station (in Sto Tomas, Batangas) and found out that if we headed east from here, it would be unsafe because the route was mountainous and sparsely populated. A passerby also suggested that we take Sta. Rosa to get there. The traffic was still bad by the time we crossed SLEX so we decided to go back to Manila.
Just less than a kilometer from the exit to the expressway we saw Leslie's (where we were supposed to eat in Tagaytay). They say this restaurant was popular for their Bulalo. Well, it wasn't bad, the soup was fine, but I think they have to find a way to make the beef less chewy. That was it... we paid and headed home through heavy traffic again.
Next time we'll plan to do travels way before sunrise. I think I got so used to easy driving on holidays.

Happy Mothers' Day!

Happy Mothers' Day :)

[Exclusive!] Cutest Dog On Earth Smiles

I think we own one of the most fake-looking dogs on this planet. It looks more like a toy than a dog. You can actually program some stuffed toy to imitate its actions since most are really no-brainers -- barking, panting, running, eating, sitting, jumping and producing all sorts of nasty excretions -- and still end up with the same stupid dog we named Bruce. ... until one day... he did something unusual in front of the camera...

We tried to take a few pictures of Bruce. He was snobbish at first, just looking everywhere as if no one was around. We kept moving to the spot where Bruce was looking until he noticed we were trying really hard to get his attention...


The camera sends him a strange signal and Bruce starts to stick out his tongue, really weird (if a dog isn't sweating, panting, or yawning this shouldn't normally happen)...


we removed his harness ... then he smiles like he could appear in "How Much Is That Doggie In the Window" if it had an MTV in 1952 -- what the hell?? He does it again and again so I caught one.


After that I tied him up, "Bruce, what you did today was wrong, it was wimpy and sucky. This doesn't really match your macho image and the Arnold Schwarzenegger power-moves you showed last week when you bit my brother's hand." I posted this entry to humiliate him.

Barbie Almalbis Photo Ops in Edsa

I've been trying take a good shot of Barbie - in that very nice Bayo poster - along Edsa - every morning - for 3 days already - using my phone camera...


... until I found out that this picture was just a click away, crystal clear and in full-color in Bayo's website. Now I don't know what to do with it so I paste it here. OK, end of story.

Well... nothing, just one of my little nothings (wrong grammar?) to get some fun out of my boring daily drive to office.

Here's another useless one... a really creative way of disposing your gum and its wrapper... I couldn't keep my eyes off it while it was in front of me.


This is the most meaningless post I have done in my entire blogging experience. Sheeesh.

Tahong (Mussel) Chips

I am not sure if this one is new, but I was too curious to try this product after I saw the small banner on a Collette's store somewhere in Tagaytay -- Tahong Chips. They looked like nachos, but they were brownish and had dark spots (probably the crushed tahong). It also came with a small pouch of vinegar so I was already thinking chicharon and salt & vinegar flavored Tostitos (or is it Doritos?) I have never seen anything like it, but tried it anyway -- 20 pesos to kill my curiosity.

On the first few bites they were OK and tasted like dried seaweed or Nori, the one used for wrapping sushi. The vinegar somewhat helped to add to the taste, (it wasn't really bad) but after a few pieces I couldn't finish it anymore. I think the mussel flavor is too strong because just a few minutes later I could feel the ocean fresh aftertaste and was burping musselbreath already. I got the same result when I brought it home for the others to try... it was tough to finish this bag of chips.

Another site says this product is gaining popularity, but personally I found it weird for my taste.

Fun Ranch, Tiendesitas

Just took an evening side trip to Tiendesitas and saw this nice huge playground for kids. I wish I could be 5 again ...

It was already past 11 and the kids were out. No nightlife for them...

OK. I'm glad I'm not five anymore.

Balagbag Falls (Real, Quezon)

I haven't run out of nice places to try out -- last time I went to Famy/Siniloan (Buruwisan Falls) we were supposed to go this next spot which was about 45kms away, but my friend's car had to be back home the same day so it didn't push through. This is a long story so if you want to go to the nice pictures just scroll down.

I got another few days off from work and decided to drive there and stay overnight fearing I might not have enough energy to drive home 100+ kilometers the same day. Instead of the Antipolo route going to Famy, we took the south expressway route and then the southern edge of Laguna lake passing through Los Banos, Sta. Cruz, and Pagsanjan. It's not as scenic but it got us to Famy within reasonable time.

It was almost 6pm when we reached Famy so we had to decide on whether or not to cross the mountains to reach Quezon at night. We called up a resort owner to check if the road conditions are good and safe. They said it was fine so we took it on.

The drive from Famy to Real was a 40+ kilometer stretch, a very long, dark and almost 40% zigzagged path with plenty of almost hairpin turns and hundreds of road warning signs (like "falling rocks ahead"...OK!). I felt comfortable only at times when we would see locals walking or some houses with lights on along the way. We reached the eastern edge of Luzon about 1.5 hours later -- Real, Quezon.

We took Ocean Blue resort which was a bit pricey (2K at the time of our visit) maybe because it was holy week, though it offered a swimming pool and airconditioned room, and some discount. I'm not sure if there are resorts that offer similar stuff in the area, but since we weren't familiar, I just had to pick this. The info came from another blog that I went through so I assumed it was safe enough to stay here.

We didn't have TV in the room so aside from the pool, we went out and crossed the street to buy snacks in the sari-sari store just in front of the resort. The store owners were so nice to entertain us and give advice on what to do while we were there (Aida and her husband who fondly calls himself as the guy with just one leg) and also told us of a nearby restaurant owned by her sister (Merly's).

We tried Merly's for dinner. It was a videoke restaurant, and we sampled out anything that we could -- blue marlin, clam soup, bbq chicken and a lot of rice... all nice stuff to feed hungry stomachs. Roger (Merly's husband) sat with us and we talked about a lot of stuff while waiting and eating (from cameras, boats, nice travel spots, to business, etc... boy I was surprised by the richness of this man's experience). Later we were also joined by her daughter and her friend, and we continued on talking about so many things until late in the evening. They also invited us to join them next morning in Baluti Island (another white sand beach in the Real area accessible by boat). Just an added note... They have rooms for rent at a very good price (just drop me a note if you want contact details).

After dinner, we went back to Ocean Blue and got our much needed rest.

My sleep was cut short by a nightmare (I won't talk about this anymore). I got up at 5:30, maybe waited until 7:30 to feel really awake. I spent a few minutes outside to have a look at the beach at sunrise (left). The waves were quite strong (first photo at the top of this blog) but some were still brave enough to swim in the area.

We went around to search for restaurants within a few kilometers radius, but ended up again at Merly's. We got ham, hotdogs, cream soup with macaroni, bread and coffee... wonderful breakfast :) Sad to say we couldn't join the Baluti Island that morning because we had to leave early in the afternoon.

We got back and left our car at Ocean Blue, then got a tricycle which charged us with tourist rates... 150 pesos because of the very rough roads leading to the falls that they have to go through. Still, not bad if you start to think of the cost of vulcanizing for your car's tires. There's another 10 pesos entrance fee for the caretakers of the area. Also, at that entrance area, there's just another road beside it that leads to another waterfalls (Lunok Falls, harder to access because it requires a 1km trek).

Just 5 minutes of walking and we got to the front of the lower basin of the beautiful Balagbag falls.

There were just too many people in the lower area so we decided to climb to the higher basin. Up there it was more quiet and beautiful. I saw some people climbing this section halfway up.

Blablablablabla... and then back to Manila.

Egg Cooking in Ultra-hot Springs (Manito, Albay)

[Bicol Trip Day 4-5]

We finished our whaleshark adventure early in Donsol so we thought of utilizing the remaining hours of the day to take a look at one final spot on the northeastern side of Albay -- Manito. The tourist spot market there is Balubagon Boiling Caves. It's supposed to be an area where you can see geysers shooting up steam from the ground. This is the last leg of our Bicol trip.

We started driving around 4:30pm and it was not so sunny anymore.

For me, this was the most scenic among the routes that we took in the Bicol area. It was the rockiest route for our whole Bicol trip, because plenty of landslides have destroyed some sections of the secondary roads there. About 10kms away from the central area of Manito, there's an excellent view of the mountainside, Poliqui Bay and Mayon Volcano. As we got closer to Manito, the road conditions were still getting worse (we tried to ask a government vehicle there what was going on and they said there was some project ongoing to fix the roads there), we also met a local couple riding a motorcycle on their way home. He told us that it wasn't a good time to go there because it was getting dark already. He was nice enough to guide us back down from the mountains, and offered to take us around the Balubagon area the next morning. This guy also mentioned that the water's heat there is enough to cook eggs, so we passed by some grocery to buy fresh eggs for testing.

We went back to Legaspi to find a place to sleep for the night (Reynaldo's, Washington Drive, Legaspi City). We went up again the next morning through the very rough roads and found our local guide waiting along the road (brothers Teddy/Jimmy Avion, I got their contact details).

After about 7-10 kilometers of driving we pulled in another young boy in the area to guide us to the geysers. It was another short drive, bypassing the Manito seaport (you can go to Romblon from here) and ending in a small spring where a few people washed their clothes and took the kids for a bath (that water was cold). Maybe they brought us to another spot. We didn't see any caves, just a spring, and a lake formation beside it.

On this small lake we could see steam rising from the water. I was expecting something different like steam erupting from the ground, but there was none, except for a few small holes in the ground with either steam rising gently (you can also hear the bubbly sound of water deep from these holes) or water boiling at the surface... anyway, the water was still too hot it burns the skin.

The water formation as we walked further down was wonderful, surrounded by plenty of greens in spite of the extreme heat we felt from both the ground and the sun. There wasn't much to do here so we started our mad-scientist experiment. We brought out a couple of eggs and dipped them into the bubbling waters (they didn't look clean so we wrapped the eggs in cloth and tied them with dry branches). In less than 10 minutes, we got our hard-boiled eggs!

We brought in some more food for our breakfast... ate these geyser-cooked eggs, and nothing more. I know this whole idea of bringing up eggs all the way up to this nasty mountain to cook them is crazy, but we had fun anyway :)

Whalesharks: World's Largest Fish (Donsol, Sorsogon)

[Bicol Trip - Day 3 (and a half of Day 4), Part 3 of 3]

We arrived in the resort areas of Donsol at around 8 in the evening. The one the locals recommended was Woodland resort, but at that time an ambassador was there so it was closed out for security. The place we chose instead was Casa Bianca, one of the few that had cement buildings, good airconditioning and a balcony about the size of a badminton court.

We couldn't get a look at the beach again since it was late, so we just spent the evening arranging our trip to the middle of the sea. DOT had taken some control over the area so we found the prices to be consistent across offers. Luckily we were there way before holy week so we didn't run into a shortage of boats to rent. The local government only allows a limited number of tourist trips per season and there are local coastguards monitoring them, such that the ecosystem impact in that fish area becomes negligible.

Next morning we got up early and got into our boat. The seas were calm, and just about 15 minutes from the shore we could already their so-called Butanding (whaleshark), world's largest fish. I had difficulty taking photos from above the water because the sun's reflection was already too bright. We had to shut off our engines whenever we came close so that we wouldn't disturb or scare away the whalesharks. From above the water, they were superHUGE -- almost the size of our boat, maybe at least 5 meters long and over a meter wide. We saw a few more... and then blablabla it started to feel like watching aquarium channel.

The next part was even better. We rented some flippers, life vests, and snorkel gear earlier. This time we were going to jump into the water to swim with it and have a really close look. Sorry, no great fish photos from here. I couldn't take anything from google images because most are rare shots and copyrighted content (just look there yourself).

We found whaleshark model #1 ... it was moving slowly towards us from one side of the boat... by this time we were already seated at the edge with all the swimming gear on, ready and just waiting for the boatman's signal for us to jump.

"Jump!" he yelled, and we got into the water then followed our guide (the current was quite strong) to get closer to the fish. He pointed down at some point, and we started to look face down. I was immediately shocked with what I saw -- the front of the fish with its huge mouth going in my direction. Jaws!!! I recalled, then I totally forgot about my snorkel device and I scrambled up for air! I dipped my head down a second time, now I could see the body of this fish... big black skin with a grid of white dots. Looks good for a blanket design, but this species of fish is endangered, so no hunting of these, hehe. A few seconds later its tail seemed to be approaching my way again, so I tried to stay aside just at the right distance to touch the tail, but my goggle vision didn't seem right (it was farther than I thought) so I missed it.

We got back up after that, and searched around again for another one. This time I was disappointed because my flipper and goggles got out of place when I jumped into the water. I went for the flipper and lost the goggles. Just borrowed another one instead.

We dipped with a third one, and then just went around the area to look for more and take photos from above the water. We got some, but underwater shots would really have been the best ones. Too bad we didn't have any waterproof cases with us.

We had the engine turned off somewhere in the middle of the sea to have some snacks, then looked for about 5 to 10 more of these fishes, and went back to our island.

It was a great and unique experience! We have already driven 900+ kilometers south from Manila to get here, and the encounter with these large fishes was definitely worth it.

For more information and photos about whaleshark and its species conservation please visit www.ecocean.org and www.whaleshark.org

Cute Bread (Donsol, Sorsogon)

[Bicol Trip - Day 3, Part 2 of 3]

After Busay falls, we headed straight to Donsol in Sorsogon where we could get to see their 'largest fish in the world' called Butanding (whaleshark).

We made a quick stop somewhere (less than 5km away from the resorts I think) to ask for directions and saw this little panaderia with bread in interesting shapes...

Crayfish and Alligator

Squid

Turtles

Pigs

Crabs

Busay Falls (Malilipot, Albay)

[Bicol Trip - Day 3, Part 1 of 3]

After Sogod, we drove back up north to Malilipot, Albay to find the famous Busay falls. We almost missed the marker from the national highway that was supposed to be the start of the Busay falls trail.

From the marker, we went through a narrow rocky road that goes through a small town there with plenty of straw (or was it abaca?) hanging on the fences. There's just one left turn that we made and after that road it's all grass, soil and trees. By the way, this is not the "Getting There" section. Buy a map, go to Malilipot, ask the locals and you'll get there the same way as we did.

We just followed the brownish trails, crossing some bridges until we ran out of road. In some areas we had to set the stones to make the path passable. We were able to cross the first few bridges on the way because they weren't heavily damaged yet, but this last one made us give up our ride.

We were lucky to find out that this broken bridge was just near the entrance to the falls. We left the vehicle before the bridge and walked on. It took us less than 3 minutes to pay the entrance fee (to their caretakers), walk some rocky path and get into the falls. We were finally there.

It's good that we went to Busay before holy week. There are just a few people in the area so we were able to get really close to the falls and enjoy the water there. It's slightly difficult to swim in the area where the water falls (somewhat drowning), we could only stand at the rocky area beside it or swim around it.

Compared to the other 'swimmable' falls that I've tried so far, this one is stronger. The water is very clear in shallow areas, but Lanzones Falls is much clearer because of its less soily (more rocky) area. Busay is more accessible though, making it prone to tourist trash -- keep this waterfalls clean. Leave no trace. Oh, and just an added bonus, I heard this is the first of about 7 waterfalls in the area. Too bad we weren't prepared for it.

Sogod Beach (Bacacay, Albay)

[Bicol Trip - Day 2 (and a little of Day 3), Part 3 of 3]

After leaving Mayon, we did our usual late night drive this time to Bacacay. The Albay tourism website says there's plenty of black sand beaches (from erosion of volcanic rocks) here. We didn't have any idea it was black, only the word "beach" got our attention. Again it was already very dark so we won't see it until the morning.

We got lost in the area for about 10-15 minutes, passing through more drunk locals (one of them was peeing while giving us directions) and uninhabited sections of the road. When we reached the central area of Bacacay, we inquired at a hotel named Casa Eugenia and had dinner there. The rates were quite high for our pockets so we decided to drive closer to the coastline.

We got lost again for another 10-15 minutes looking for Sogod. Some bridges were under construction in the area so we must have missed a turn somewhere. We were lucky there was a tour guide trailing behind us in one of the local rent-a-vans. He figured we were lost in the area. We stopped in the middle of the road and he offered help (being paranoid, I thought this guy was a kidnapper). He guided us through some small roads until we reached fenced property, and the only thing that comforted me was that there were ladies inside the van who looked like tourists (sorry for the trouble). The guide woke up the owner and got us a place to stay for the night. It had two airconditioned rooms supposedly, but the second room's aircon is just an exhaust fan from the first airconditioned room (it felt strange... being cooled from an exhaust).

ZZZZZzzzzzz.....

The place turned out to be a nice one (Viento de Mar) when daylight came. Green fields, small huts, hammocks, and some houses which appeared like they came from fairy tale books. There's also a good view of Mayon from here (so this place must be popular right?). It's wonderful waking up to see all these nice things around :)

We didn't go to the beach area anymore because this place was so relaxing we stayed here until lunchtime. When we left this area we had a peek at the waters from our vehicle... super blue and wonderful as usual. If anyone gets to see the sand there, let me know... I want to see how black the sand is there, and if it stains clothes like charcoal.

Mayon Volcano and Resthouse (Tabaco, Albay)

[Bicol Trip - Day 2, Part 2 of 3]
It was already past 6pm when we decided not to stay for the night in Sagnay. The resort (Nato) where we parked our car at had no lights except for those inside their cottages. There was barely anything to do there after coming back from Atulayan Island so the boring hours had to be used in some other way. We started another long drive -- to Mayon Volcano.

In less than 2 hours we were already at the base of Mayon (about 8pm). I have never seen this volcano up close, and all we could see at this time was a dim silhouette of it cast by moonlight. Mayon was exaggeratingly huge and eerie from where we stood. The slopes looked steep and everywhere it was grass and a narrow road again, just like what we experienced in our trip to the haunted resthouse in Consocep in Tigaon.

According to online texts, it's a 9km ride up the mountain, there are no signs on some junctions (at least 3 of them) so it's better to ask people way before you get there. The resthouse is about 2700ft above sea level and we were expecting plenty of tourists who probably came there before sunset (we didn't see cars on the road at this time), but it was ghost town again. I'm not sure if it's because of the eruption + typhoon again, but the place seems to be in good order. The establishment was there, but all the lights and doors were closed (they don't have a lights off rule at 10pm right?). I wanted to take a picture of this place but it was very dark and isolated (at this point I remembered all the seemingly abandoned houses along the way) -- I didn't want to end up in the next day's headlines, so we went back down and headed for our next stop: Sogod Beach (Bacacay, Albay). Oh, we also happened to pass by Dhio Endeka on the way down. It's supposed to be a popular springwater resort, but when we went there it also looked abandoned at this time. Tsk tsk tsk...

(fast forward... on the last day of our Bicol trip)

We had a better view of Mayon Volcano on our way home from different angles, from the northeastern to southeastern side (Tiwi, Malinao, Tabaco, Malilipot, Bacacay, Legaspi, Daraga, Manito)... The most scenic view for me is from Manito, where you can see the mountainside, Poliqui Bay and coastline, and the volcano itself (left). The common view is along Legaspi (below), while the more popular one that you see in postcards is in Cagsawa (we didn't go through this area anymore).

Somewhere in Bigaa (Legaspi City) we also found huge volcanic rocks and very black roadsides, I think this is one of the areas most heavily damaged by Mayon eruption + Typhoon Reming. I was amazed to see how far the rocks got here all the way from Mayon. Here I witnessed the very very very immense amount of power and damage natural events like this can do.

Last snap... Mayon before sunset :) Beautiful volcano.

Atulayan Island (Sagnay, Camarines Sur)

[Bicol Trip - Day 2, Part 1 of 3]

After our stay in Pier One 39 we headed off the next morning to Joroan (Tiwi, Albay) to find some natural springs. We used the coastal road (this is in the eastern edge that runs through the contours of Atulayan Bay) and after about half an hour of driving we reached a high point and could already see Atulayan Island. It didn't look interesting until we zoomed in using our cameras -- white sands!!!

We stopped and decided to drive back to Sagnay that same morning to check out nearby resorts where we could park our vehicle and find some boat to rent to have a look at this island. We found Nato resort (less than a kilometer from Pier One 39) and got a much cheaper price for the boat (P700). They also had rooms there but we didn't rent them thinking that we'll probably hop on to our next destination when we come back later that afternoon.

The trip on water was about half an hour by motorized boat. It was too late when we saw that it had no roof, but we were lucky the sun's heat wasn't that bad at that time. The beautiful long stretch of mountains on one side (where we were driving earlier that morning and saw the island) took our attention for most of the ride and the clear waters seemed very inviting. There were no establishments in the area but they have set up some huts (good for about 8 people) where we could find shade and a large table to hold enough dishes for our monster appetites.

We bought our food from a fisherman right in the middle of the sea, a fish called Matambakol (?). We got three of these big fishes, they were about the size of a 6-foot guy's arm and we had each them cooked by the locals in different ways -- grilled, fried and sinigang. This is super fresh fish -- cooked just about 30 minutes from the time they were caught. The downside: we were eating all fish and rice and nothing else... too much fish!!! The effect was more powerful than mouthwash, we had fish breath until the next morning

After our fish meal we tried the water. The sands were fine, but there were plenty of crushed corals around the area so it wasn't easy to go around barefooted. I tried to gargle with the seawater to wash off the fish smell, but I forgot it wasn't my usual springwater anymore (been drinking too much mountain water lately) so I vigorously expelled all the water back to where it belonged.

We stayed about 2 hours more in the area to rest and talk about what to do next. There was nothing else here except for the beach, our fish, a pig, a rooster, and a family of locals so it wasn't long before we wanted to leave. Our boatman patiently waited by the shore until he heard our golden words "balik na tayo" (let's go back). It was almost sunset so the scenery on our ride back looked more dramatic.

We had more drama on our way back... we asked our boatman earlier to bring us to the middle of the sea to buy our fresh fish lunch. About 200 meters from the our destination we ran out of fuel and we didn't know what exactly would happen next. Our boatman started paddling but it seemed like we weren't moving, so we tried to help him out. We thought paddling with our hands would work but the force was only enough to move a kayak. We brought some kickboards with us and used it instead (I just don't know if it helped in any way). We were supposed to call the boat owner (the boatman's father) to get his folks to pull us back to shore but couldn't find his number. The sun was out in a few minutes, and we were still on the water.

The boatman didn't stop paddling until a few minutes later we realized we were getting closer to the shore. By that time I was already faking my paddling of the kickboard but I kept it going (hehehe). We finally reached land, went back to the resort, changed our clothes and prepared for our initially planned destination for this leg: Tiwi, Albay.

Byebye Atulayan :) Nice Island.

WELL... we reached the Joroan area in Tiwi, had a look at their so-called hot springs, but didn't like the resort we saw after looking around (again, we would be the only people staying if ever). The mountain springs in the area are also dried up already. No beautiful water, so we set off for another spot -- Mayon Volcano (Tabaco, Albay).

Pier One 39 (Sagnay, Camarines Sur)

[Bicol Trip - Day 1 (and a little of Day 2), Part 4 of 4]

From Sabang we headed further south to Sagnay, Camarines Sur (actually the arc to the municipal entrance says "Sagňay"). My brother's friend suggested that we stay in a place called Pier One 39 there in the town of Santo Niňo. It was past midnight but we were lucky that there were still plenty of people around to ask so we got there easily.

The price was quite high (2,000 pesos/night for a cottage for 2) for a provincial area, it's really too much compared to what you can get from a Boracay resort for the same amount, on the other hand they had it developed to have a swimming pool, cottages, small huts near the water, volleyball and billiards. We were already too tired to search for another place and it was way past midnight so we had to take this one.

I still had plenty of things to complain about... 1) Karaoke is a major issue in resorts, they should turn it off by 10 so other guests can sleep. 2) Complimentary toiletries should be served right when the room is ready, they didn't do it until we asked for it. 3) There were 2 cockroaches in the bathroom. 4) There was no water from the faucet and shower at times. I would say they should have charged half the price, thanks to their trusty aircons.

The next morning, we took a short dip at the beach (Nato Beach). The waves were moderate, and we were able to keep balance to some extent on shallow waters. It was quite peaceful because there were only few guests at that time, and the colored flags around the area were somewhat soothing to the eyes. Later we tried their pool which was supposedly chlorine free (the water came from the mountains). It was half full at that time so we were swimming in 3ft of water in a 6ft pool.

At the front entrance of the resort there's a nice view of the mighty Mt. Isarog (I think this is visible for most parts of the Camarines Sur area) from the fields. Last night we just went up 1,800 feet of of this mountain to Consocep and standing from this place shows just how much we drove up that mountain. I also tried to cross the fields to the other side to buy prepaid credits for my phone.

Before leaving we checked if we could get a boat to reach Atulayan Island. It was priced above 2,000 so we didn't go for it (come on, is this how much a boat ride costs?). Oh well, we left somewhat disappointed, maybe we were the wrong type of guests for this resort. For the owners... there's plenty of potential for this site, I just hope that you spend more time working on expectations of more seasonsed travelers.

Next Stop: Joroan (Tiwi, Albay)

Sabang Beach (San Jose, Camarines Sur)

[Bicol Trip - Day 1, Part 3 of 4]

After our scary drive to Consocep, we descended and headed east towards the coastal areas of San Jose, Camarines Sur. By this time it was already past 11pm and we were still driving along highways. There were still people on the road, we asked some locals for directions, some of them were drunk so we had to sprint off by the time we realized it to stay away from trouble (they smelled like Green Cross alcohol!).

An hour later, we finally found the beach areas of Sabang. We couldn't find any huge sign pointing to any resort so we asked some guy who was walking in the area. It was already walking distance from the shore so we knew we were in the right place, but looking around it seems like a sleeping town.

We followed the stranger as he walked while we followed him in our vehicle. He led us to some resort establishment which was under construction. The ground floor was half done but there were some rooms which were already furnished. We walked into the building and all the locals (I think some of them were construction workers) followed us in. I started to feel nervous because the area was very dimly lit and we left our only means of transport outside.

They woke up the manager (at that time I was thinking gang leader) and he turned on the lights adding some comfort to the ambiance. He showed us some small rooms but I told my uncle if we were the only ones sleeping there, it might not be a wise idea. Behind this building was the beach... we took a quick look and I couldn't tell if it was ok since everything was dark outside. After some small talk, we got a good price, but we left the place. By this time we were already very sleepy but there's no way we'll be staying here.

Too bad I wasn't able to take photos here because I kept watching the people around me. I don't even remember the resort's name. My brother called his friend to ask for other options, and we got Sagnay, Camarines Sur.

Consocep Resthouse (Tigaon, Camarines Sur)

[Bicol Trip - Day 1, Part 2 of 4]

WOW Philippines says this Consocep Resthouse in Mt. Isarog is at an elevation of 1,800 feet above sea level, around midway up that mountain. I don't know what's there and if it is the same thing as their mountain resort (where I later saw nice photos of Tumaguiti and Bulalacao Falls).

We drove to Tigaon, Camarines Sur and it's about 12 kilometers of roads going up from the point where you see the sign that leads to the resthouse. We were expecting tourist class level developments in the area but coming in at around 9pm it seems we ended up with long, dark and grassy roads. There were sections of road where we could not easily distinguish the road from the grass, making the vehicle trek a bit dangerous. Add to that, the only moving lights in the mountain were ours, making us an easy target for goons in the area.

We ran out of road and right in front of us was a trip of goats, maybe 10 to 15 of them. Beyond them was soil. We drove into it and found some road again until we saw this house about a kilometer more of driving. It had no lights on so we pointed our headlights at it. The windows were open so we can see what was there... It appeared like an abandoned house with all the furniture just scattered inside. The cold wind up there gave an awful haunting chill... anything could go wrong up here, I thought. I'm not sure if this was also damaged by the typhoons, but I'm sure I didn't want to stay up in a house up the mountain with no electricity at all.

We drove back less than a hundred meters and saw a couple who introduced themselves as caretakers of the resthouse (What the hell were they doing in this very very dark place?). They still offered the scary house for rest, but no thanks, this isn't my idea of adventure.

Lola Nida's and Lolo Ompo's (Calauag, Quezon)

[Bicol Trip - Day 1, Part 1 of 4]

This is our first stop on our way to Bicol. Somewhere near the milestone KM224 C3 at the national highway (Maharlika) we saw a restaurant called Lola Nida's. The location is very strategic because it's positioned at a spot where morning travelers from Manila would probably feel hungry for lunch (about 3-4 hours of leisurely driving along the highway).

The sign outside says they sell and serve shrimp and crabs, but at the time we came there, they only had shrimps and a couple of local dishes. Their Sinigang na Hipon was good... fresh shrimps and the greenest vegetables I've probably eaten, while the soup is a little mild for sour tongues. We also had calamares and chicken adobo with their brown rice (pulang bigas?)... not bad, and the price was very cheap.

Ambiance is very much provincial, nipa hut, bamboo, and open air dining. They also have TV where you can watch and get in touch with the local noontime shows... anyway, if you're looking for Jollibee, go to the next major city (if you can't take it -- just go back home!).

I tried to look for Lola Nida. There was a not-so-old lady there at the counter but she claimed to be the daughter. I shouldn't have asked her if she was Lola Nida (she looked shocked). She was nice to talk us into interesting spots in the Bicol region, using a big luzon road map mounted somewhere in her restaurant.

After lunch, we headed further south and saw another restaurant along the highway just a few kilometers away -- Lolo Ompo's (we tried this on our way back). They say the owner is Lola Nida's husband! Next question -- two restaurants... are they in good terms? hehehe