Travel Footprints

I have little idea what to expect island-hopping in Guimaras. Before this trip, I only know Guimaras for two things – export-quality mangoes and the unfortunate oil spill in 2006! I had the chance to go for a very short vacation to the quaint island of Guimaras – lest I miss the famous beach scene of sunny Philippines while Mr. Rono and I take the summer path less travelled in the Himalayan ranges this year. I was firstly surprised how easy it was to get to Guimaras from Iloilo. For only Php13, you can take a boat from mainland Panay to the island of Guimaras. Boat trips for Jordan, Guimaras are readily available at the port area until 7:00pm. No need to worry about schedules because there are always trips available as long as the boat capacity of 46 persons are met.

From the port of Jordan, you can catch any of the public transportation to take you anywhere within the island. The most convenient (and exciting!) would be a taxi motorcycle. We happened to arrive at Jordan around 5:30pm and had no idea that the beach resort where we are staying was about 15km from the port (about an hour’s ride from the Jordan Wharf), we opted to go for a motorcycle taxi to bring us there faster. I can only count the number of times I’ve actually ridden a motorcycle taxi (also called habal-habal in the Philippines) and this one in Guimaras is naturally memorable for me. It doesn’t help that our driver would talk about witchcraft in the Panay area during the ride. The fact that we were riding off with a spectacular view of the Guimaras sunset is especially unforgettable. Here I am trying to document the sunset while on the motorcycle as best as I can!

We stayed in a beachfront resort called Raymen Beach Resort found in Brgy. Alibuhod which was highly recommended by locals in both Iloilo and Guimaras. I am guessing it’s the most famous and reliable (maybe most accessible as well?) resort in the island. One good thing about the resort’s location is that it is not directly in the area of the oil spill and, of course, the fact the beach is just a few steps away from our simple cabana. I was pleasantly surprised to meet a fisherman by the beach on my usual morning beach walks hawking his catch for the day. He was trying to sell to me his harvest of fish and lobster (which looked really big and yummy!) for only Php 1,600.

Since there was no way I could take those home with me to Manila or eat it all during my stay in the resort, I graciously declined (meaning, I had to say NO over 10 times!). But I have to admit that the seafood selection in the beach of Guimaras is much more exciting than what I have witnessed in Ilocos Norte almost 6 months ago. Raymen Beach Resort offers accommodation ranging from Php600-Php2,000 per room, per night. They also have a restaurant that serves good food at decent prices (considering they almost have a monopoly of sorts in this area!). We had to try the world-famous mangoes which was sold a bit expensive at Php80/kilo –

and sampled the available seafood in their menu such as this crabs in garlic and butter for only Php 130 (half-kilo) –

Yum! As far as I know, Raymen is the only place where you can get food this good in this part of Guimaras. We tried looking for other options along the beach but the only other place we saw was a small shack which only served mostly instant noodles and 3-in-1 coffee mix

You know the feeling when you look at a certain picture of a place, say a crowded beach or a busy market, it looks so colorful and vivid that you can almost hear the buzz of the crowd and experience the hustle and bustle of activities? Well, that’s how I feel whenever I take a glimpse of our photos in the totally chaotic Floating Market of Thailand.

We’re lucky to have had pleasant and memorable experience of the place considering we only had the weekend to spare in this trip to Thailand. What better way to start off our weekend than to visit the scene where a classic James Bond chase was filmed 30 years ago. 

Totally chaotic and exciting floating market of Thailand

Mr. Rono and I trooped to the tourist attraction situated 110 kms west of Bangkok with some friends to the Damnoem Saduak, more popularly known as the Floating Market. A flurry of activities met us as soon as we got off our rented van. Clearly, it was going to be an exciting day at the market.

The scene surrounding us in the floating market was vibrant with colors, noisy with chatters of hawkers and bargaining customers, definitely touristy and great fun.

We hopped onto one of the flat boats by the short landing place next to the eateries. A young man skillfully navigated our way through the small ‘khlongs’ or canals of the market. Never mind that he can barely speak a word of English to us, we were able to communicate non-verbally through hand signals and facial expressions if we want to go check out some goodies in some of the shops by the side of the canal. 

Bargaining onboard our flat boat happens frequently as lots of goodies on display prove irresistable to tourists

It was very interesting to see a range of products being sold not just in the shops by the side but also of peddlers in boats. There are wide array of products sold – vegetables, fruits, souvenirs, household items – just like in any other market except you can get them ‘floating’ about the canals. In case you get hungry, you can even buy noodle soup while being navigated around as your boat and the vendor will skillfully match pace until you get to finish your hot bowl of soup.

Not just noodle soup, you can also get a refreshing cold drink from this lady on a boat here

Be mindful of how you look though because paparazzis, believe it or not, are everywhere. After going round the market, lo and behold, you would probably see your smiling face in a souvenir plate that says “Floating Market” (hence, the paparazzis). It was severely overpriced and they never gave in to my bargaining powers. no matter how hard. We finally bought one souvenir plate (out of the 3 available) for posterity.

Eventually, this souvenir plate was accidentally broken while on display at the house which gave away a trade secret: the photos were simply pasted on to the plate (very skillyfully I must say!) and not really lasered or something. Oh well. At least we get to keep the photo sans the display plate.