Libotero – Philippine Travel Photo Blog

Part 5 of the Libotero Baler Roadtrip series

DAY 1.

After our brief visit to The Millennium Tree, we headed straight to Baler! From Maria Aurora, we passed by the town of San Luis en route to Baler.

San Luis is a 2nd class municipality in the province of Aurora, Philippines. The town is almost the same size as Metro Manila. According to the latest census, it has a population of 23,766 people in 4,548 households.

San Luis is just less than 15 minutes away from Baler. Upon arrival in Baler, we immediately searched for our hotel, Bahia de Baler..

But before we could even find our hotel, we were greeted by Baler Bay with a wide smile!

S C R O L L > > >

Our hotel happens to be just a few meters away from the coastline so we checked in and settled our luggage, then we headed to the hotel’s restaurant for lunch… We arrived at around 2pm and our tummies were already making the weirdest of sounds!

While waiting for our food to be served, I went back to the shoreline and snapped some photos! The Baler Bay has a very long stretch of beach amid a dramatic mountain backdrop. My jaw literally dropped!

Baler is a surfers’ paradise! Well, it is actually perfect for beginners as the waves are not that high. Surfing season peaks on February as waves go as high as nine feet!

Lowtide…

Baler, Aurora has a 70% forest cover! Lush greens can be seen all over the place!

While enjoying the scenery, mum called me up as our food was served. Immediately after lunch, I resumed taking photos as I want to share to all of you that under-rated and the undiscovered beauty that is Baler, Aurora!

The waves! Ooooh-la-la!

A storm is brewing over the Sierra Madre Mountains…

Locals enjoying Sabang Beach (named after the barangay’s name, Sabang) in the afternoon! Aurora is a very remote place and only a few adventurous tourists, like us, dare to invade the place since only less than 25% of the roads going to the province are paved. Imagine going through unpaved roads on rolling mountains. You’ll be needing a powerful 4×4! We were on a Honda City and we were really struggling on some parts of the road! It is such a challenge to go to Aurora but once you’re there, you’ll forget about all the struggles you went through. Lucky locals as they get to enjoy this sweet paradise everyday!

Dimadimalangat Islet, off the coast of Barangay Cemento, Baler

Sabang Beach’s sand is not white, it’s gray. But it’s super fine, perfect for walking, bare feet!

What I like here is that aside from having a very long stretch of continuous beach, the beach area is also wide! Kudos to the local government for keeping a significant distance between the establishments and the shore..

Colorful stones on the beach…

Another thing you’ll like about Sabang Beach is that there are none of those annoying seaweed! You’ll never hesitate to take a dip and get wet… It is generally very clean and well-maintained by the locals..

Wrestling with the waves is a whole lot of fun!

No need to worry too much about the little ones as there are life guards scattered all throughout the long stretch of beach..

Sabang Beach: Perfect!

(…to be continued)

Part 5 of the Libotero Baguio-Banaue Roadtrip series

DAY 1.

Upon arrival in Baguio City, we immediately headed to where we’re going to stay for the next 2 days, Skyrise Hotel.

Located at #8 Dominican Road, Baguio City (Contact #: +63 74 4426408), Skyrise Hotel is among the top choices for places to stay in Baguio City. Skyrise Hotel is an apartelle-type accommodation with kitchen facilities, among others,… perfect for bigger families who prefer to prepare food for themselves and trim down on costs.

The hotel is just a five-minute ride (when traffic is not heavy) from Session Road and the public market. Commuting travellers will be glad that the taxis and jeepneys pass by the hotel, while private car owners need not worry as there are ample parking spaces for the hotel’s guests. Another plus is that free wifi connection is available at the hotel lobby! For a minimal fee of more or less P1,200 a night, the family could enjoy their stay in the City of Pines.

Another reason why the Skyrise Hotel is sought-after is its Chinese restaurant. The Tsing Tao Restaurant, located at the hotel’s ground level, serves satisfying Chinese food and since it was already 1:27pm when we arrived, our tummies were already grumbling and we had to eat lunch!

Iced Tea. With or without sugar? You decide…
(more…)

Part 6 of a series.

DAY 1.

We arrived at our hotel, Tanchuling Hotel, in Legazpi, Albay, at 5:59pm. The hotel is a budget hotel located within the Imperial Subdivision. We got two rooms for P700 a night each.

The view from our hotel room’s window

(more…)

Part 14 of a series.

DAY 3.

For Day 1 and Day 2, we’ve already accomplished 2/3 of our itinerary which was to visit Gumasa Beach in Sarangani and Lake Sebu in South Cotabato. What remains is a city tour of General Santos City. We were supposed to do that in the afternoon of Day 3 but then I opted not too as I was feeling too lazy. So, for the rest of the afternoon, I was just asleep at the hotel room!

At around 5pm though, Eric woke me up and told me to prepare as Kuya Avel would be picking us up at 6pm and would be bringing us to a secret dining place.. Hmmm, exciting!

Later on, Kuya Avel, together with Kuya Gilbert and Kuya Marz, picked us up at the hotel and drived us to somewhere elevated. The secret dining place turns out to be Sarangani Highlands!

Sarangani Highlands is located on a hilltop overlooking Sarangani Bay.

It has an awesome view of both the sea, downtown Gensan and majestic Mt. Parker and Mt. Matutum on a clear day.

During nighttime, you can get closer to nature with the garden’s beautiful landscaping. Lush plants, flowers and a neatly trimmed lawn welcomed us upon entering the garden.

Pay attention to the details at the restroom area!

Aside from the regular dining service at the restaurant, Sarangani Highlands also has function areas, both air-conditioned and al-fresco, that can accommodate guests for private parties, meetings and other company activities.

One of the function halls at Sarangani Highlands

Moving on, the food and the service were amazing!

Some of the food served before us

Black Fern Soup

Sizzling Gambas

The very tasty Sizzling Bangus Fillet

This has to be my favorite among all the dishes served. The Sizzling Sisig tickled my taste buds. It is very rich and creamy, a must-try when in Sarangani Highlands!

Crispy Pata

Dadiangas Salad. This one’s unique as it has mustard to complement the different flavors of the fruits.

After dinner, Kuya Avel and Kuya Gilbert awarded me and Eric a token of appreciation for the successful Byahe Na! Fireside Forum with the SOCCSKSARGEN Bloggers.. Aww, I was so deeply touched.

Thank you so much Kuya Avel, Kuya Gilbert, Kuya Marz for bringing us to such an enchanting place!

Sarangani Highlands is located in Purok Wal, Tambler, General Santos City
Telephone Number: +63 83 3040752
Email Address: saranganihighlands@gmail.com

(…to be continued)

Part 13 of a series.

DAY 3.

From Lake Sebu, the trip back to General Santos took us less than two hours. For much of the bus ride, we were asleep! As we arrived in the Bulaong Terminal, a suspicious-looking guy took my baggage and offered to bring it for me to the tricycle. I said no, no, I can manage and carry it by myself, but he insisted, so I let him. When I was already seated comfortably at the tricycle, the guy was annoyingly demanding for his “pangkape”. Oh gawd, I can’t count how many times I said no, no, no, but then he wouldn’t stop and since I feared that he might hurt me, I gave him P20. Sheeesh!

TIP: When at public transport terminals, be quick as possible. Don’t show signs of being a tourist or a weakling!

We took a quick lunch at Mang Inasal at Robinsons Place and went back to where we stayed on our first night, Hotel Dolores.

Dubbed as “your downtown business hotel”, Dolores Hotel is located at General Santos City’s premier business lane, Santiago Boulevard. The malls are just a tricycle ride away but actually, if you aren’t feeling lazy, you can just walk to the malls. Gaisano, KCC and Robinsons are all on one street! The hotel has 40 standard guestrooms designed for their guests’ utmost comfort and come equipped with cable TV, IDD/NDD telephone. Function rooms are also available for small parties, seminars and meetings.

For more details, you may contact Dolores Hotel at
Dolores Hotel
Santiago Boulevard, General Santos City
Telefax: +63 (83) 552.4139, +63 (83) 552.7128

For the rest of the afternoon, I just slept at the hotel room, LOL, while Eric was blogging at the hotel lobby. The afternoon was boring but the evening was definitely action-packed. Find out why in the next post…

(…to be continued)

Part 12 of a series.

DAY 2.

The Lake Sebu Seven Falls Zipline was definitely not for me. I was not up for the challenge. And since it was already raining and starting to get dark, we had the excuse to just return to the resort. I heard though that there are plans of putting up a cable car parallel to the zipline. That’s good news for me and I’ll definitely go back once the cable car is operational!

As we returned to the resort, we noticed that the temperature was starting to drop. Cool! We just rested in the room for the remainder of the afternoon and early evening after the long day full of adventures. We had dinner at the resort’s resto and again, it was a tilapia overload!

After dinner, we settled in our room as there’s nothing much to do in Lake Sebu during nighttime. As I looked beyond the resort’s viewdeck, all I could see was total darkness! For that, we had no choice but to sleep and get ready for the next day… ZzzzzzZzz…

DAY 3.

I had a very wonderful sleep at Lake Sebu. The temperature dropped further during the wee hours. It’s not as cold as Baguio but it was definitely cooler than Tagaytay, so it’s somewhere in between. As we woke up, we took a shower and packed up to return to General Santos City. We then had breakfast, still at the resort’s restaurant… Tilapia Overload ever-so-much!

TIP: It pays to wake up early as the colors can be very vivid during these hours.

After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, texted Manong Habal-Habal Driver to pick us up and send us to the public market, our final jump-off point before finally leaving Lake Sebu. Sigh! We just stayed for a day but I immediately fell in love with the place. I simply love natural destinations and I promise myself that I’ll be back in Lake Sebu soon!

(…to be continued)