Travel Footprints

Somebody asked me what was the best weekend destination I have ever had. Took me a while to answer because the islands of the Philippines are all so beautiful and unique in their own way. But if I have to choose just the best, I would have to say it would be our weekend trip to the Calamianes groups of islands in Coron, Palawan which we did a few years back.

Check out this video I made about the trip for one of our dear friend who migrated to New Zealand a few months after our Coron trip:

It was the best because every hour of the trip was eventful. Back in 2004, there was only one flight to Coron so we opted to take the Super Ferry instead to save time. We left Manila port at 7pm on Friday night and arrived the port of Coron at 6am the next day. We spent the whole of Saturday and Sunday just island-hopping by bancas. The locals were not used to ‘package tours’ yet so we had to plot our island visits DIY-style. And food was only available in very simple eateries on stilts by the boardwalk of Coron.

At the end of our Saturday tour, we gave ‘kuya banca navigator’ money so he can buy food from the market for our lunch on Sunday while island-hopping. That way, we don’t have to go look for a carinderia for meals. The 2-day tour was filled with fun moments with the powdery sand of the islands and snorkeling on the warm waters with rich marine treasures.

On Sunday night, the Super Ferry left the port of Coron at around 8pm – and so we found ourselves back in Manila by early Monday morning, ready to go to work straight from the Manila port. This weekend adventure in Coron was even featured in a one-page travel section of Manila Standard in 2004.

Today, I heard a lot has changed in this piece of paradise. More tourists have naturally caught on the buzz about the beauty north of Palawan that is Coron. I’m not surprised. Five years has been a long, long time. There is even a cruise ship now plying Coron from Boracay. And, my sister who just went there this summer, told me about the various eateries and tour packages being offered by banca operators now (including lunch). Hooray for Coron locals and their economy! I do not mind going back to Coron and see how much it has improved. Still, it’s kinda hard to beat the shoestring travel budget Php 3,000 for our 2-day Coron tour in 2004

Mr. Roño and i attended a short travel writing workshop at Fully Booked in Boni High Street, Taguig City today. Organized by the Center for East Asian Languages, the session focused on some basic strategies for keeping a travel journal which we thought will be useful as we continue to populate our www.roamingronos.com with our travel adventures.

The session started with a simple lecture on dos and donts of travel writing and then we were assigned some independent work on writing about a ‘dream vacation.’ I didn’t have a particular destination in mind and found it more difficult to imagine a ‘fictional’ travel. So, I scribbled some notes about my last out of town trip. I’m sharing to you the article which was written for roughly 7 minutes before we had to break out into group discussion:

Braving ‘Typhoon Emong’ in Mimosa Leisure Estates

Aside from the lack of internet connection, being stuck in Mimosa due to a typhoon is pretty much like hanging out at home on a severe rainy day. It’s just a wee bit more expensive since it sets you back at around Php8,000 per night. But, we brought books and there’s a cable connection so we were kept abreast with the news. It turned out to be quite relaxing even if there was a big change of plans. If it wasn’t for the stormy weather, we could have done more outdoorsy stuff like swimming or golfing but hey, anything can happen when going out of town. Yes, including a typhoon.

First thing I thought when I saw the picture above: there’s a naked man in the screen!!! That’s no porn, though. We watched the Holywood Blockbuster X-Men Origins:Wolverine at the new Eastwood Mall and now I’m wondering whose hot body was that. But, never mind the movie – we loved it! – this entry is about the new Ultra 7 Cinema in Eastwood experience which starts in the lobby :

and the theater itself.

The Ultra 7 cinema seats only 40 people in very comfortable reclining chairs with waiters serving unlimited drinks and popcorn throughout the movie.

Eastwood Ultra 7 Cinema may not be the first ‘luxury’ theater we have watched a movie in (it’s certainly not the first in the metro either!), but it was definitely a relaxing experience for us and a lot of other moviegoers for sure.

Our flight was cancelled today due to the low pressure area enveloping the Bicol region. My last flight to Legaspi was a sunny day in February this year but our landing was a bit rough still with the strong winds on a clear day. I couldn’t imagine how much turbulence would be there if we had pushed through with our flight at this weather.

For this Labor Day weekend, we would have gone to Bicol area for some action in Mayon Volcano in Legaspi, swimming with the whalesharks in Donsol and wakeboarding adventure in Naga. Oh well. At least, we got to see a couple of celebrities while stranded in the airport. Not familiar with all of them but here goes. Spotted: Gloria Diaz, Chin-Chin Gutierrez, JM Rodriquez, Rovilson Fernandez and an approximately 20-strong basketball team players led by Alex Compton.