Batanes 2nd Day; Biking Marlboro Country

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

northernmost best wonder, the batanes islands

day 1: batan island

day 2: basco capital

continue...

MTB diy trip to marlboro country

MTB diy trip to marlboro country

MTB diy trip to marlboro country

MTB diy trip to marlboro country

diy trip to rakuh-a-payaman (marlboro country);

starting from amboy street where we rented the MTB and 2 blocks away from batanes seaside lodge annex, turn right to abad street. then move your way until you reach a wall and then turn left. if you saw petron gas station and powerplant then you are on the right track, this is the way going to mahatao. if you took a tricycle from basco to mahatao, this will costs php80. on the road you will see chawa viewing deck and a lot of cliffs so be careful in speeding. when you reached mahatao town, just go straight to that path until you see a signboard that ways you to diura port, just go straight ahead (ivana is on the right side, ignore it). then just go, if you see 2 opposite roads again, always keep to the right. now if you reach the section that tells 2 town names, just go to the right for imnajbu ( to the left is diura port, the way to spring of youth, ignore it). then no more mind-boggling roads, straight of that path is the pastureland.

MTB diy trip to marlboro country

MTB diy trip to marlboro country

MTB diy trip to marlboro country

MTB diy trip to marlboro country

MTB diy trip to marlboro country

after almost 2 hours of struggling walks and glides (since we spent stop-over and refreshments in mahatao), we finally made to sit, lay and relax in once again most visited magnificient place. we trailed the hill down and up to the bended tree due to the strong winds that looks like a coral reef emerged. i was told by our guide that the reason why grass of this province is so marvelous to our eyes and comparable to holland or new zealand is because of the soil and having a four season climate. that is why banana is the only fruit that can grow here, others have to be imported to mainland luzon. we left the place around 530pm as we didn't notice the time we spent in having a landscape photo-ops. imagine biking back from the hill down to basco proper crossing the pitch-black narrow road along the cliffs using only the lights created by the embedded flashlight function on T9 mobile phone and journeying with other locals who crossed the roads without any light from them while my other travelmate has disabled pedal due to the nut holding it was lost during our gliding escapade from the hill. finally, we reached the house where we rented the bike around 7pm, another amazing experience accounted. tooked a bath first and then dinner.

naidi hills at night

batanes night trip going home from naidi hills

we have decided to take night shots of batanes around 11pm and walked our way to naidi hills for lighthouse in the dark photo concept. it is only 500 meters away from downtown. starting from the annex just go to left, way to central plaza. then if you saw a police station and the church, you are on the right way, just go straight ahead and always keep to the right side until such time there will be a signboard on the left side that tells 'naidi hill'. we went back to our lodge past 12am.

day 3: sabtang island