Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Kamay ni Hesus: Up Up in the Hill

I have a big family and planning for a simple out of town trip requires more time - reserving of van, budgeting, food to prepare and number of members who can join. This trip is for my older sister's advance birthday celebration.
Statue of Jesus - Kamay ni Hesus Shrine
At 3AM we packed our things and start the long travel to Quezon. I seldom visit Quezon Province because I am more a fan of our northern provinces.

After 4 hours we reached the church - Kamay ni Hesus Shrine and Healing Center. It is located in Lucban, Quezon. The province is very popular for their Pahiyas Festival every month of May. 

By 730AM we attended the scheduled mass.
The altar of the Shrine
Kamay ni Hesus Shrine taken from the hill going to the statue.
Had a quick breakfast at their canteen. All stores are selling Pancit Habhab, their specialty at only 10 pesos.
Pancit Habhab
Every holy week there are plenty of people visiting the shrine in which made this as a pilgrimage site. One of the must-see here is the Statue of Jesus, a 50 ft tall work of art. It is at the top of the hill so you need to climb 305 steps and pass through the 14 stations of the cross but it is all worthy of the leg pain and rewarding once you'll have the birds eye view of Lucban and nearby municipalities.




Near the Chapel you can also visit Noah's Ark, Garden of Eden, Resurrected Christ, Gallery of Saints and the Marian Park.







Mass schedule at Kamay ni Hesus Shrine
Saturday and Wednesday
9:30 am – Healing Mass
Monday / Tuesday / Thusday / Friday
9:00 am – Regular Mass
Saturday Anticipated Mass
5:00 pm
Every Sunday
7:30 am, 9:00 am , 10:30 am
11:30 am, 4:00 pm
For detailed information on how to Get to Kamay ni Hesus Healing Shrine you can visit http://outoftownblog.com/visiting-kamay-ni-hesus-shrine-lucban-quezon/

Simple Travel Tips:
1. Pancit Habhab is best if with fermented vinegar
2. Pasalubong tip: Broas and Yema Cake
3. Maintain the solemnity and silence in the area
4. Bring light food and water. Travel to Lucban from Manila or vice versa is up to 4 hours
5. Pray, pause, be thankful and breathe in fresh air 

Saturday, April 25, 2015

Alaminos City: Hundred Islands National Park Day 2

More fun and new discoveries for today.
Out service boat for the whole island hopping trip - with the boatman and his 10-year old assistant.
06:00 am
We woke up and prepare for our breakfast. We availed for the complementary breakfast for five. Breakfast options are Boneless Bangus, Ham & Cheese and their Alaminos Longganisa with free Coffee. I chose Longganisa because I want to try their famous bite-size longganisa. (It was delicious but bitin...)
Alaminos Longganisa
07:00 am
Our Tricycle driver fetched us from the hotel and direct us to an accredited boat owner near the national park. We will not fit for a 5-pax capacity boat so we asked for the medium size in a fee of a service-type-rate since we will only renting it for half day. The owner agreed for Php 1, 400. We also paid for the life vest for Php 50 (free if you will not use it out of the boat) and I requested for a snorkeling gear for Php 100.

Standard fees and rates.
We headed directly to the port of National Park. No need for us to fall in line and pay for the Entrance fees because we paid it in advance to the boat owner, his staff paid it for us for Php 50  (i think there is an additional 10 pesos.. which is fine with us :D).
Group pic before the Island Hopping Activity.
07:30 am
START OF OUR ISLAND HOPPING!!!!!!.... 
The view in front of the boat.
All are excited - loving splashes of water as we sail to the first island,
First stop was at Governor's Island.
This is one of the three islands that has accommodation. Here we climbed to the viewing deck. This challenged each of us because it was too high and stairs is not on the same width. But once you're up there you will see more the beauty of the place.


The view at the Viewing Deck of Governors Island.
The group at the Governor's Island Viewing Deck.
We passes through an island with the PBB House (PBB Teens S1).
PBB House.
And Romulo Island.
Romulo Island - first hour in the morning.
Out boatman also showed us the Turtle Island and besides it was the Crocodile Island.
The Turtle Island.
The Crocodile Island
We also saw foreigners in one of the island fixing their tents and preparing foods for their overnight stay at Scout Island.
Tourists at Scout Islands,
and our second stop was at Quezon Island.
The island was crowded due to its pretty shore and almost-white sand. We stayed there for a while took pictures and found out the there are plenty of jellyfish in the area. 
The dead jellyfish at the shore of Quezon Island.
Another Group picture at Quezon Island.
Quezon Island view from the boat. It has a wooden bridge going to the next island.

We rode to our boat again and we circled in Macapagal Island going to the Snorkeling area.
Macapagal Island.

The boy grabbed jellyfish from the water and we tried to check it's body.

Us, enjoying snorkeling with jellyfish.
Two of us enjoyed snorkeling and the other 2 went down to experience and see underwater scenery as well. We again, saw plenty of Jellyfish and we swam with them. The 10-year old boat assistant grabbed 2 from the sea and showed us that they are not harmful. We touched them and they are really like Gelatin. After 15-20 minutes we again proceed to the next island.

We went near to Bats Island. Well, it has hundred of bats sleeping and flying around the island. 
The Bats Island.

Our boat visited Clave Island but the cottages are still under construction so we tried Children Island. The island is also crowded and noisy so we headed to Cuenco Tunnel (Island).
Clave Island - It has construction on-going.
The crowded Children's Island,
It has sort of a cave and we took plenty of pictures there. The end of the short tunnel has cottages but we opted to try some other island to swim and have our snacks.

The entrance to Cuenco Tunnel.
Inside Cuenco Tunnel.
The end of the short Tunnel of Cuenco Island.

We went back to Romulo Island. There are few guests there so we have our space. We had a short snacks time and swim with it's white and pure sand. The water is so clear. 

After enjoying the sand and water of Romulo Island for 30 minutes, we asked the boatman to take us back to the port.
The Group - going back to the shore. Feeling satisfied and Happy!
11:30 am
Rode tricycle going back to Islandia Hotel. 
We advised the front desk that we will extend for another hour. The hourly extension charge was 100 per person.

01:15 pm
Checked-out from the hotel and took a Tricycle ride to a Carinderia near downtown to try Pangasinan's very popular dish - Pigar Pigar. It is crispy beef slices with vegetables. But after waiting for couple of minutes "ate" said it is not available. And since we don't have a choice we ate what is available.

Because we are not satisfied with out lunch, we headed to Chowking accross the street to have dessert - Halo Halo!

03:00 pm
We also tried checking what to bring home but we failed to see souvenir shops so we headed to Victory Liner Terminal.

Presto! there is one bus almost full going to Cubao. After few minutes we departed.

08:30 pm
We reached Cubao Station after 5 and 1/2 hours. We bid farewell to each other and went home.

It was a very very good experience exploring Alaminos City's Hundred Islands Park with friends. Together we were amazed by the beauty of the place and learned a lot from this trip.

Travel Tips:
1. Make reservations specially peak seasons. I recommend Agoda for easy and hassle free reservations.
2. Check Hotel/Accommodation amenities and complementary stuff. So you will not anymore bring or buy stuff that you can avail free. Pack light!
2. Always bring water with you to prevent dehydration. Not all islands have stores for your needs.
3. Do comparison of rates and offers. Most of us are travelling on a budget. It will be helpful to ask for discounts.
4. Be Ready. Ready to discover and learn new things in your travel.
5. Travel with your friends - more fun and less pricey.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Alaminos City: Hundred Islands National Park Day 1

Another successful Do-It-Yourself travel for my summer this year.


The view from Governor's Island viewing deck

This time it is with my college friends or I should say forever friends. It's been difficult to us to plan and schedule everything just to pursue this trip - due to filing/approval of vacation leaves, conflict on schedules, company outings and whatever reasons i completely forgot. But the most important thing is we went there and despite of us not being complete we still manage to laugh our lungs out and appreciate God's magnificent creation.


City sign in the middle of the park downtown

Let me start by giving you some facts about Alaminos City. The City if the fourth class city in the Province of Pangasinan, Philippines. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 85,025 people. 

The main tourist destination in the city is the Hundred Islands National Park which composed of 123 small islands and located off the coast of Barangay Lucap.

They also have Galila Hundred Islands Festival held from March 16 to March 21 every year. Galila means “come” in the vernacular, and the festival includes the 100 Islands Adventure Race.

Alright, so here is our journey...

07:00 am
Meeting place was at Victory Liner Cubao. Paid Php 393 for a direct trip to Alaminos Terminal. They have buses to Alaminos every 40 minutes. We departed 30 minutes after seven. (with 2 stop-overs)

12:30pm
We arrived at Alaminos Terminal Station and rode tricycle to Mang Inasal (Downtown) for our lunch. And grab few groceries besides the food chain. Rode tricycle again to the hotel.

02:00pm
Checked-in at Islandia Hotel (5 mins away from uptown). We availed a Family Room since we are a group of five with 2 Queen Size Bed and 1 Pull over bed. The room's space is sufficient for us with fridge and 1 comfort room. One best thing is that our room has a terrace wherein we can see outside road and dry out clothes after using the pool.

Front view of Islandia Hotel
Island Hotel's lobby of the second building.
I got the reservation and a little discount for the accommodation with the help of Agoda. (one of my favorite apps :D)

Islandia Hotel's Poolside. The bar and mini conference room is at the right side.
Two of us are from night shift so we took a nap, the rest roam around the hotel and went to the town and was able to catch the sunset. (so jelous of their shots)

08:00pm
We woke up and meet the rest at Chowking and had dinner together. After eating we visited the Church infront of Alaminos Municipal Hall and Peoples' Park.

Municipal Hall of Alaminos City.
Cathedral of St. Joseph - Patron Saint.


And since we feel safe, we walked back to the hotel even it's already dark and only few locals outside. We also watched a movie until we fall asleep.