Travel Footprints

The beach of Fort Ilocandia is apparently a public fishing area. After I wake up, I always stroll towards the beach for a morning walk and see a group of fishermen doing this –

I was told this activity is called ‘daklis’ in Ilokano where fishermen from the same village would go and set up their net along the coastline to gather fish. Typically, there should be a spotter before they would cast their net. Then, together they would haul the net to shore.

The next morning, I stayed around long enough for me to see them actually bring in some fish. After about 30 minutes of hauling and swimming, I saw this group bring in just 5 small fish to shore. Very sad scenario. I felt sorry for the fishermen and the small fish who will never get to grow bigger to spawn more fish. I was told they would still divide the meager ‘harvest’ among themselves so they need to re-cast the net and hope for a bigger share the next time around for a decent meal.

One thing’s for sure, there ain’t never be any million peso-dinner for this folks.

After a long, long road trip we arrived in Laoag, Ilocos Norte and made our way to Fort Ilocandia, probably the best hotel you can find in this area. We arrived late evening and the hotel staff were very courteous to us weary travellers.

The next morning, I was greeted by the sun peeking through this hallway on my way to Cafe Ilocandia of the hotel. What striked me most during daylight was the vast and healthy gardens of Fort Ilocandia. Several staff tend to the gardens and with it comes the sprinklers on the pathway and smell of freshly-cut grass in the morning

GRAND. That’s my best description of the whole compound in all 3 relaxing days of stay in this hotel. I guess that also sums up the lifestyle of the Marcos – Fort Ilocandia was built to host their daughter Irene Marcos’ wedding reception a few decades ago.

View from my hotel room in Fort Ilocandia

There are a lot of amenities you can choose from to while away time during your stay in Fort Ilocandia. The sand dunes of Suba is also very near. Here is a picture of the area for golfing, horseback riding and the trail for the offroad ATV in Fort Ilocandia. As you can see, the beach isn’t too far away either.

Around Fort Ilocandia

Fort Ilocandia is easily located from the National Highway. They also offer free shuttle service to and from the airport. If you want to reach Fort Ilocandia place faster than usual by land, we discovered a shorter and more scenic route via Paoay if you’re coming from La Union. Along the Ilocos Norte National Highway, keep your eyes peeled for the sign ‘Batac Police Station’ on your right. That’s a crossroad with a stoplight. Turn left towards Paoay and go straight on, pass the historic Paoay Church and until you see the billboard of Fort Ilocandia. You’ll get to see a glimpse of the man-made Paoay Lake along the way too. I swear, this route cut down our travel time by about 45 minutes!

I’ve always equated La Union with surfing and fun. At least, that’s what me and my friends did last time I stayed in La Union so I was looking forward to going back again this year even if it’s mainly for work this time around. Due to some scheduling conflicts however, I had to travel to La Union by bus for the first time. So on this early Tuesday morning I brought myself to the highly-recommended bus line, Partas, to their Cubao-Arayat terminal for the 6-hour trip to La Union.

I needed to get off at Oasis Hotel which I was told was near San Fernando, La Union and, more importantly, could be spotted along the national highway. That should be easy, I thought. But as a first-time commuter to La Union, I was still a bit apprehensive so I decided to call on the assistance of the bus conductor –

Mrs. Rono: Kuya, pakibaba po ako sa Oasis Hotel sa La Union ha.

Conductor: Saan sa La Union?!

Mrs. Rono: Sa San Fernando. Sa Oasis (o-wey-sis) Hotel po.

Guy sitting beside Mrs. Rono: *speaking in Ilokano*

Conductor: Ahh…sa Oasis (o-wa-sis) Hotel

Mrs. Rono: Ah opo. Sa Oasis (o-wa-sis) Hotel

Needless to say, the bus did drop me off in front of the Oasis (o-wa-sis) Hotel. As the saying goes: In Rome, do as the Romans do The next day, I met with my group to go further up north to Laoag. Before leaving La Union, we stumbled upon a discovery – a cottage industry of woven fabrics! I like the soft woven fabric of bed sheets, pillow cases and towels, usually seen in Vigan shopping areas.

We had to ask around for directions looking for the house that sells ‘inabel’ (as shown in the picture above) and we finally found the area of inabel weavers tucked inside some houses of the town of Bangar, La Union.

It was a delight watching these elderly women in their workshop. The repetitive movements in the weaving actually reminded me of a scene in the movie ‘Wanted’ when Wesley Gibson tried to catch the moving steel out of the loom machine while training under Fox.

 

Bataan has always been one of my favorite riding destinations. So when a ride was organized to do the Killer Loop Trail during one of the long weekends in August, I immediately signed up. It’s been a long time since I’ve done long whole day rides so I really looked forward to this ride.

How to Get There

The Killer Loop Trail starts in Pilar, Bataan. Coming from Manila, it’s about a 3 hour drive from Balintawak (around 1 hour of that is just to get through the horrendous traffic in Balintawak due to the MRT construction). I parked my SUV at the Total gas station in Pilar. I heard you could also take the bus going to Mariveles. The rest of the group opted to rent vans instead though.

It was about 9am before the entire group was complete and we started our ascent up Killer Loop (KL).

What to Bring

You just have to smile through it all.

I had ridden KL two years before, so pretty much knew what to expect: lung-busting climbs, spectacular views of Mt. Samat and the Bataan Peninsula, sweet descents. It also means no store whatsoever within the trail, so you have to bring all the supplies that you need. For a mountainbiker like me that sweats about 1L and burns about 500 Kcal per hour, this is what was in my ‘lunchbox’:

• 2 Clifbars (about 250 Kcal per bar and 10g of Protein, with all natural ingredients) 
• 1 Clifblok Electrolyte Chew  (about 200 Kcal)
• 2 bars of Apple & Cranberry Cereal Bars (about 100Kcal)
• 1 Hammer Gel (about 90 Kcal)
• 1 Jollibee Champ for lunch (about 600kcal)
• 2L of water in my hydration pack, and about 500ml of Gatorade in a separate water bottle (the last time I had brough more drinks, but the weight was just too much to bear. I decided I would just drink from the stream this time around)

As with any sport, you have to “eat before your hungry, drink before your thirsty.” For me, I feel my body shutting down if hunger sets in. I suppose it’s like your laptop suddenly going into low power mode. Net, I’ve learned in long rides to ensure that I’m constantly chewing on something every hour.

Up the Mountain

Up the mountain we go.

From Total gas station, you pedal on the road going towards the Mt. Samat Cross. You don’t climb towards the cross though. The Killer Loop trail actually goes around Mt. Samat (and by around I don’t mean around the base, but around the surrounding mountains.). Indeed, I think at one point in the KL trip we were even higher than the Mt. Samat Cross!

You climb over cement roads, then fireroads, and then singletracks all the way up. It’s not one long climb though, but rather something like a staircase – short steep climbs followed by a moderately flat terrain, then climb again, and again, and again . . . The noise of the barrio below gradually fades away, ’til all you hear is the rustling of the trees and grass amidst the mountain air.

It’s in these moderately flat terrain with some trees that you take your rest when you can. If you take some time from trying to catch your breath wondering why the hell you’re doing something like this, and actually look around, you will see just how spectacular the view is up top. From the highest point, you can see the Mt. Samat Cross in the distance. And enveloping that, the South China sea. Maybe it’s the lack of oxygen going through your brain, but you can start imagining also the Von Trapp family singing in the distance (‘the hills are alive….’).

Anyway, one can’t help also but think how life must have been like for the Bataan defenders back in WWII standing in one of the ridges overlooking the entire peninsula. It certainly felt like there were different platoons spread out across the trail is one group catches up with another.

You just have to work extra hard for some parts of the climb.

The Best Burger

We finally hit the summit around 2pm. The group was slower than usual since there were a lot of novice riders. Someone forgot to mention that it wasn’t a newbie ride. So a lot of pushing, resting, pushing . . .(I heard that one of the Bataan Trail Riders did this with a couple of triathletes, and they completed the entire ride in about 3 hours. ) Anyway, after being baked in the sun battling it up the mountain, thankfully the rest area up top was well covered with trees. The local riders called the place aircon. Nice.

And there’s nothing like a juicy 1/3 lbs burger after all that sufferfest. Mmmmmmmmmm.

It’s about 3pm when the group was on the march again (yes, literally marching, since the trail was wet, slippery, and filled with large rocks, but then again that means we’re near a water source). After rationing my water supply going up, it was oh so refreshing to drink all the water that I could out of that stream. And it was icy cold to boot!

And finally, we were on our way down.

The Flow

Rides check their bikes before the ride down. Mr. Rono waits patiently for his turn to ride.

Riders call it The Flow. It’s that feeling when your riding, and everything just sems to hang together. You are in tune with your bike, with the terrain, with yourself. Concsious thought gives way to the subconscious, and you are, well flowing through the trail. Not thinking, simply riding. Those who have felt this, crave this.

The ride pretty much made the climb all worth it. I will gladly climb KL again just to experience that sweet ride down. The first part of the descent was somewhat technical, fun, but there were some parts where I had to stop to get over a big rock, big drop, etc. No flow yet, not at least at my skill level.

At about 5pm, we came upon the final run towards the end of the trail. Head straight, and you go though a wide fireroad. This was the route we took last time, and I was so tempted to just take this trail and head on back to Total. I was exhausted, and my shoe was already malfunctioning (the clip that attaches the bottom of the shoe to my right pedal was coming lose, so I couldn’t engage it right). Turn right, and you take the longer route going down. At first, I didn’t feel like riding here. My hands were already aching, and my left hand was certainly not exerting enough pressure anymore to control my front brakes.

The long sweeping fireroad down. Mr. Rono rode down an alternate route down.

There were still several riders left behind, so most of the group would wait for them and take the shorter route down. Some of us though were invited to ride the alternate route.

And I’m glad we did. This trail was pure smooth, super fast, super flowy singletracks all the way down. We were flowing though the mountaintops dusted by the last remaining glow of the sun. I just smile whenever my hands start to give, and focused on the trail. We were flowing. I will gladly go through the climbs of KL again just to experience this. It is that fun, that rewarding. 

The singletracks gradually gave way again to fireroads, then cemented roads, and to the sounds of dogs barking and tricycles running. We were finally back in Pilar. Some ice cold Coke please!

Photo credits: Roche Cuyco of Mt. Biking Babes (MtBBabes)

Today I went out on yet another road trip towards the South of Luzon for work. The destination is Batangas Country Club, a resort hotel tucked somewhere along the street just across the Star Tollway as you exit to Batangas. But like any typical seminar venues, you don’t get to enjoy the facilities until after the sun sets.

I just had to contend myself with dipping my feet into the 500-sq.m. ‘ionized water’ swimming pool, reflect for a moment and take a picture of the view before I haul ass again, sit myself in the 2-hour trip back to Manila and call it a day. I guess Batangas Country Club will have to be explored again some other time.

Landing at the Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport of Tacloban was as calm as the view of the Leyte Gulf. Certainly, a stark opposite of what the gulf is more historically known for – ships and battle. Downtown Tacloban did very well not to remind tourists like me about wars of ancient past but I definitely remember that food was good this side of town. I still remember Ocho, a seafood place a few blocks away from the impressive Governor’s building, where I went a few years ago. This time, we tried a place by the Cancabato Bay called Lion’s Den, a few meters away from the Leyte Park Hotel.

Lion's Den, the restaurant by the bay and the apparently-famous spa of Cristina Romualdez

Tacloban has become a bustling city of multi-cabs, Jollibee outlets on several corners and Cristina Gonzales’ (now Romualdez) spa centers blending the old with the new.

Speaking of new, locals on my way to Palo, Leyte would call my attention at a towering mall along the way and point at a Robinson’s Mall. Opened just last June 10, one said. I took a mental note to watch The Proposal if ever i have the time. But then again, one wouldn’t really want to be holed up in a cinema especially on a short stay in Leyte. I found it much more rewarding to go spend time out along the boardwalk of Palo, Leyte and watch fishermen when they go by in their daily grind as the sun sets on the horizon.

'I shall return' - the McArthur Park in Palo, Leyte.

Weekend Warriors

For those looking for a way to spend all the upcoming holidays this August, we strongly recommend a weekend trip to Camsur Watersports Complex in Pili, Camarines Sur. Just a friendly advice, though. If you’re into leisure trips, I would avoid going to CWC on the weekend of August 23 because the Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 will be held there. But, if you’ve heard of the Ironman 70.3 before reading this post, I’m sure you’re the type who wouldn’t mind joining the bandwagon (we’re actually very proud that an event this big will actually be held in Philippine soil).

So here are some of our CWC faves during our weekend stay that might be useful for you :

1) Budget – lodging, meals and activities within CWC cost us about Php3,800++ (airfare included) so this definitely falls into our category of travelling on a shoestring budget.

2) Airline Schedule – we left Manila via Air Philippines flight at 6:15am on Saturday and arrived back in Manila at 5:00pm on Sunday. Plenty of time to still catch up on errands in Manila before the work week starts.

3) Food – we got all our meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner and in-betweens) at the CWC restaurant and it did not disappoint at all. All the food they served us were oh-so yummy and delicious! We especially liked the Chocolate Caramel cake and CWC signature burger (with a choice of single, double or triple patty).

The CWC signature burger is a must-have

4) Free shuttle service – CWC offers not only free shuttle service to and from airport, they also offer free shuttle service to and from Naga City for one hour miscellaneous errands including drop-offs at the bus terminal! This added-value service allowed us to hear Sunday mass service at the Basilica of Peñafrancia in Naga City during our weekend stay. How convenient is that? I told you, we love this place.

The view of Villa del Ray at night

5) Accommodations – We wanted to try the container rooms just out of curiousity but it was under renovation. Luckily, the lodging at Villa del Ray gave us a great place to rest our weary bodies from all the intense day activities for a reasonable rate at about Php700 per person.

6) Winch park for wakeboarding newbies – not everybody who goes to CWC would have the skills and the guts to try out the cable park (including us), so we loved the fact that the Winch Park is the comfort zone for beginners who are trying to master the art of wakeboarding. With very friendly staff to boot

Trying (and succeeding) to do some graceful wakeboarding acts at Winch Park

7) Government Revenue – all our expenses inside the CWC were issued an official government receipt from the Province of Camarines Sur. Judging from the foreigners and locals flocking the complex, there must be a lot going around to stimulate the local economy. Yehey for the people of CamSur!

There’s more to CWC than just wakeboarding action apparently. And it’s just across the wakeboarding park in a place called Lago del Ray. Talk about going back to second childhood –

Getting on it is much harder than it looks, trust me.

That is just a glimpse of our laugh trip. What was especially hilarious while we were trying out the inflatables at Lago del Ray (e.g., giant slide, trampoline, iceberg) was we were actually imagining a voice-over narration of all our bloopers ala-Takeshi’s Castle. The fee of Php120 (good for one hour) per person was totally worth it. All the fun and laughters while we complete the ‘challenges’ of the inflatables were absolutely priceless!

On the first weekend of August, the Roños with a couple of friends escaped the drab weather of Manila and boarded an early morning flight to Naga in Bicol region via PAL Express (Air Philippines) to finally experience the world-renowned CamSur Watersports Complex. We’ve been hearing a lot about this state-of-the-art wakeboarding park that put the tourism right smack on an otherwise sleepy town of Pili, Naga. We arrived Naga at 7:00am and we loooved the fact that CWC offers a FREE shuttle service from the airport to the complex!

The free shuttle service comes with our stay in Villa del Rey at only Php1,350 for 2 persons

As soon as we arrived at CWC, we secured our day villa with the best view of the wakeboarding park (those same day villas we got were reserved for ‘Aga Muhlach and Friends’ for a private party on August 8).

First order of the day was to catch up on our sleep in our day villa

This would be the same group who, back in 2004, trooped to Calatagan, Batangas to try out Lago de Oro’s cable wakeboarding park. But after seeing the regular wakeboarders do their run at the CWC wakeboarding park, we were totally mesmerized.

Wakeboarders at CWC

Mr. Roño was not about to let the day pass without trying on the wakeboard, though.

To ramp or not to ramp?

We’ve taken a bit of a hiatus writing in our blog so it was such an honor to come out of hibernation and find out that we were actually nominated for the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009! Well, at least the July 28 entry of Janette Toral’s blog said that http://roamingronos.com was mentioned during the nomination process. Thank you thank you for this. We couldn’t be happier with this unexpected news!

If we were able to get hold of the news sooner, we could have participated more actively. But even if we were not a serious contender, we are very happy to be even part of it. Thumbs up to this great initiative Janette! And more power to you and the winning bloggers of 2009!