holy week specials for a unique philippine province
april 21-24, 2011 thursday to sunday
objective: to visit the best tourist spots that fits my budget at limited amount of time.
additional tasks: to conquer this 3 famous place of batan, sabtang and itbayat islands and taste there local delicacies
important notes (batanes):
The Province of Batanes is the northernmost and the smallest province of the Philippine Republic, both in terms of population and land area. The provincial capital is Basco. There is a misconception that Batanes is constantly being battered by typhoons. If Batanes is always mentioned in connection with weather disturbances, it is because its capital, Basco, holds the last weather station in the north. It is a reference point for all typhoons that enter the Philippine area of responsibility. It has no pronounced wet or dry season. It enjoys practically four seasons, the best ones being summer (April–June) and winter (December–February), when the temperature dips as low as seven degrees Celsius.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batanes
the preparation;
since i do not have credit card to buy ticket online especially if it is from a promo fare, i asked a friend in an online forum to purchase ticket for me. also, a lot of conflicts against work and other personal stuff but managed to give priority on this get-away. researched to the max, gathered enough data and maps, not exactly equipped but somehow at least oriented about the geography.
this was my 1st time to have a get-away on lenten week, usually i was just at home grabbing the opportunity of long weekend rest. morning of thursday, i am on my road to domestic terminal, this was my 3rd time on that airport, following my 2009 trips to cebu and palawan. while on the line to the counter waiting for my turn, i read there notice that one must present credit card used on ticket purchase online, no show of credit card no entry. i just presented the photocopy of it and there it goes, payed php200 terminal fee and entered boarding gate after 15 minutes of transaction from counter down to the airport officers. minutes later, one of SEAIR personnels announced that our flight will be rescheduled around 9am but the aircraft took-off 945am, 85 minutes delayed. my 1st time also to aboard a SEAIR-flight propeller-type dornier 328 having 36-pax seating capacity. after almost 90 minutes we landed basco airport.
records set after the event;
1. 1st time to use a plane ticket via credit card (just borrowed, not owned)
2. 1st time to board dornier 328 plane, only seair offers this
3. 1st time to cross a pitch-black road beside a cliff using only a bike
4. 1st time to do a diy-type adventure using a bike
5. 1st time to have nauseous feeling in boarding a boat
6. 1st time to ride on top-load and crossing narrow roads along the cliff
7. of course, 1st time on this philippines' version of green pastures
anyways, i divided this wonderful journey into different set of posts to be more specific on its content;
april 21-24, 2011 thursday to sunday
objective: to visit the best tourist spots that fits my budget at limited amount of time.
additional tasks: to conquer this 3 famous place of batan, sabtang and itbayat islands and taste there local delicacies
important notes (batanes):
The Province of Batanes is the northernmost and the smallest province of the Philippine Republic, both in terms of population and land area. The provincial capital is Basco. There is a misconception that Batanes is constantly being battered by typhoons. If Batanes is always mentioned in connection with weather disturbances, it is because its capital, Basco, holds the last weather station in the north. It is a reference point for all typhoons that enter the Philippine area of responsibility. It has no pronounced wet or dry season. It enjoys practically four seasons, the best ones being summer (April–June) and winter (December–February), when the temperature dips as low as seven degrees Celsius.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batanes
 |
| marlboro country |
since i do not have credit card to buy ticket online especially if it is from a promo fare, i asked a friend in an online forum to purchase ticket for me. also, a lot of conflicts against work and other personal stuff but managed to give priority on this get-away. researched to the max, gathered enough data and maps, not exactly equipped but somehow at least oriented about the geography.
 |
| SEAIR's dornier 328 plane departing to basco |
 |
| basco domestic airport after almost 90 minutes of flight |
 |
| miniture local batanes home |
this was my 1st time to have a get-away on lenten week, usually i was just at home grabbing the opportunity of long weekend rest. morning of thursday, i am on my road to domestic terminal, this was my 3rd time on that airport, following my 2009 trips to cebu and palawan. while on the line to the counter waiting for my turn, i read there notice that one must present credit card used on ticket purchase online, no show of credit card no entry. i just presented the photocopy of it and there it goes, payed php200 terminal fee and entered boarding gate after 15 minutes of transaction from counter down to the airport officers. minutes later, one of SEAIR personnels announced that our flight will be rescheduled around 9am but the aircraft took-off 945am, 85 minutes delayed. my 1st time also to aboard a SEAIR-flight propeller-type dornier 328 having 36-pax seating capacity. after almost 90 minutes we landed basco airport.
records set after the event;
1. 1st time to use a plane ticket via credit card (just borrowed, not owned)
2. 1st time to board dornier 328 plane, only seair offers this
3. 1st time to cross a pitch-black road beside a cliff using only a bike
4. 1st time to do a diy-type adventure using a bike
5. 1st time to have nauseous feeling in boarding a boat
6. 1st time to ride on top-load and crossing narrow roads along the cliff
7. of course, 1st time on this philippines' version of green pastures
 |
| tour assembly place, 10 mins from airport |
 |
| japanese tunnel |
 |
| meditation on the rolling hills |
 |
| marlboro country overlooking mt.iraya |
 |
| talugong (men) & vakul (women) |
 |
| sabtang beach |
anyways, i divided this wonderful journey into different set of posts to be more specific on its content;
this is the 1st time I saw that "youth of spring" attraction! ang ganda! wow batanes indeed!
ReplyDeletespring of youth pala*
ReplyDeleteShet parang mas maganda ang Marlboro Country kesa sa Naidi Hills! Bwiset kasi mas madami pa ata yung tinulog ko sa Batanes kesa sa nilibot ko e! Nyahahaha.
ReplyDeleteLove this entry!
=)
@ihcahieh hehehe. maganda nga ang Marlboro Country compared to Naidi Hills. :) Pero mas maganda sa Vayang Hills lalo na pag sunset. :)
ReplyDeleteoo nga andoyzki. :) nabasa ko rin yun. :)) di bale, balik naman yata sya ulit batanes :)
Like!!
ReplyDeleteTaking notes for my upcoming trip to Batanes this year =)
Hi Andoyzki, ask ko lng if nag avail ka ng package? lodging po hindi pa included, san po kau nag stay? thanks sa reply :)
ReplyDeleteby the way, very impressive po talaga ang site nio, updated po kasi..thanks for all the info Sir :)
@nAlexyx18; hehehe mga fellow pexer na adik na sa batanes pastures ^_^ thanks for viewing nalexyx
ReplyDelete@christian; wow, many thanks christian for taking this blog as one of your batanes reference :)
@ylen; nag-avail ako ng package pero customize lang since may tropa akong nasa package tour at mabait si ma'am lydia .... yup, di included ang lodging due nakitira na lang ako sa tropa ko na yun ... batanes seaside lodge annex po...
wow, many thanks po sa papuri, asahan nyo po na mas maigting pa ang mga susunod kong travel reports ... many thanks ylen for viewing :)
Want to travel and discover more information about the historical beauty of Batanes Islands?
ReplyDelete