Posted April 17, 2006 |
- Mayon Volcano is truly majestic! A definite must-see! Happiness and mega-thanks to Betty (and her relatives) to have finally checked that Bicol trip off my life’s list of things-to-do J.
Our land trip to Sorsogon, Sorsogon (where Betty’s paternal relatives hail) took 10 hours. Ang daming stop-overs kasi nung Philtranco bus and some parts of the road were not smooth. In Legaspi, about 1 ½ hours before arriving at our final stop, I already had a good glimpse of the Mayon Volcano from my bus seat — a lucky one at that ‘coz everyone says that it usually hides behind thick clouds to first-time viewers. Ha! Then, when we went to Cagsawa for photo-ops an hour before my flight back to Manila , the Mayon was just in the mood for our cameras! The thick clouds nearby waited until we were done before completely covering the upper middle portion of Mayon. Boo-yeah! J
- Another lucky thing in Bicol was when I was able to change my plane booking in Sorsogon from a Tuesday to a Sunday flight (to think, Betty and I just found the PAL ticketing office by chance and the PAL agent was about to close said office when we arrived). Our original booking was the earliest we can get weeks ago and everytime/everywhere we inquired, we were told that even the waitlist is full. Ang happy! J
- The plane ride (yippeeeeee) going back to Manila from Legaspi took 45mins only. It was actually one of my greatest rides to date — imagine being that lucky to catch an Easter Sunday flight back to Manila (and consequently not being absent in the office today), having a window seat way in front of the wing (I always get a window seat-wing view), and seeing about ¾ circumference of the Mayon (the plane made a U-turn en route to Manila). Ang super happy! J
- Side and expected Ria-kwento: Betty’s brother and sister-in-law left their daughter in Singapore due to some important school and extra-curricular activities she can’t miss. In doing so and going to the Philippines in the summer month of April, they were in full belief that they will encounter nothing but the great heat of the sun. They’ve always joked that she is one rain-magnet in Singapore. Betty countered that they should not get their hopes up ‘coz I’m with them in exchange. Much to their dismay, the moment we entered Bicol, it started to drizzle. I reasoned that according to my friend ARR, Sorsogon is really rainy naman talaga. But, later the day at Gubat beach, the rains poured like there’s a typhoon already! What a relief when the rains stopped because they are so getting convinced of my alleged butt-balat and rain-magnetism. However, when we decided to join the religious procession that night, the rains began again. Worse, may mga thunder and lightning pa! Talaga naman J
- Speaking of the religious procession (praying the rosary over and over while parading 20 or so “karwahe”), I was so surprised at the tradition of doing so in barefoot (I kept my slippers on)! To think the procession entails going around the whole city — that’s walking on dirty/muddy roads for a little over an hour! Unbelievable still was the number of people who joined — ang dami talaga na na-claustrophobia ako.
- Yes, I did not get to see the Butanding nor the recently active Bulusan Volcano/crater lake (we just went to a very clean and shallow beach in Bulusan) because of time and distance constraints; but I’m very content finally have seen Mayon and having a couple of refreshing lucky moments.
- Just a thought, last Black Saturday, Kris and I were at the opposite ends of Luzon…about 20+ hours of land travel and more than 1000 kilometers apart. Ang laki pala ng Pilipinas!
