"A friendly look, a kindly smile, one good act,
and life's worthwhile."
--Author Unknown
1st of march 2008 | saturday
gurls' day-out in southern luzon
maybe together we can get somewhere
any place is better
starting from zero, got nothing to lose...
the plan was to drive from calamba, laguna all the way to pagbilao -- one of the municipalities of quezon province nearest to bicol -- and enjoy a pristine whitesand beach in pagbilao grande island. well, we had more than that!
from calamba to batangas to san pablo to nagcarlan to majayjay to lucban to pagbilao grande island and all those places in between that we had to pass by...
marked!one car. five gurls. one long road trip. unexpected destinations. wonderful day. fantastic way to start a month!
first spur-of-the-moment stopover
san pablo citymultiply photo album: roadtrip: san pablo city stop-oversan pablo city of laguna is one of the philippines' oldest cities and home to seven lakes -- sampalok, palakpakin, yambo, bunot, pandin, muhikap, and calibato.
we made a stopover and went to see one of the said seven lakes.
03.01.2008. san pablo city stopover: one of the seven lakes
another spur-of-the-moment stopover
nagcarlan, lagunamultiply photo album: roadtrip: nagcarlan stop-over
03.01.2008. nagcarlan stopover: nagcarlan underground cemeterynagcarlan underground cemetery was used as a burial site from 1845 until 1981. it also served as the secret meeting place of the revolutionary leaders in laguna in 1896. in 1981, it was declared a historical landmark and placed under the responsibility of the national historical institute.
ghost stories? don't ask why we didn't take pictures while we were underground. just visit the place and, if you want goosebumps, ask the site custodian :P
by the way, nagcarlan is also famous for sweet lanzones.
03.01.2008. nagcarlan, laguna: all gurlsspur-of-the-moment stopover #3
majayjay, lagunamultiply photo album: roadtrip: majayjay stop-overfrom nagcarlan, we continued with our trip, and passed through liliw -- a place in laguna province known for very affordable footwear. we decided not to stop to shop around so we satisfied ourselves with just looking at the footwear shops through the car windows. we drove through slowly, eventually passed through more country roads, and saw more countryside sights.
then, we made another stopover.
03.01.2008. majayjay stopover: taytay fallsit was drizzling and all, the drive to the place wasn't easy (thank God, we were on a 4WD!), and it's a long walk to the falls but... the sight's all worth it!
stopover for lunchlucban, quezonmultiply photo album: lucban stop-overfor lunch, we swung by
kamayan sa palaisdan in lucban, quezon. ambience there was great and we got precious memories of awesome-tasting food!
03.01.2008. lunch in lucban: kamayan sa palaisdaanit felt nice to be walking on bamboo bridges to get to our choice of floating
bahay kubo (nipa hut). all the food we ordered tasted way soooo good -- and that's not because we were just so hungry. it's not a crime to admit that we'd been munching
on the way.
for our lunch, we ordered
ginataang sugpo sa pako,
pork sisig,
laing, spare ribs,
sinampalukang manok,
inihaw na tangigue, and rice. we got calamansi juice, green mango shake and fresh
buko for our drinks. while waiting for our order, we had
pilipit -- a native delicacy.
i was beyond being "officially"
busog because food tasted very, very good. i told the gurls, "help!
busog na busog na ako pero gusto ko pa kumain. parang nasusuka na nga ako sa sobrang busog." haha. actually, we all felt that way.
destination: pagbilao grande islandpagbilao, quezonmultiply photo album: pagbilao grande islandthe drive after lunch got more exciting. we passed through tayabas, calumpang, sariaya, and lucena before we got to pagbilao and the whitesand beach that we were after.
pagbilao grande island is a beautiful place.
03.01.2008. trekking to the beachto get to the whitesand beach, we parked the 4WD and went on a trek... first, through a narrow footpath, then through a walkway, down a riprap, on a rocky shore, up a hill, through a forested area, through the caretakers' gate, down another footpath... until the beach, aptly named
puting buhangin, revealed itself.
03.01.2008. experiencing pagbilaothe sight was... wow! we had fine white sand flirting with our feet! everything looked so clean and serene. the best thing was, for an entrance fee of PhP50 per person, we had the place (including
kwebang lampas -- the nearby cave) all to ourselves.
03.01.2008. destination: pagbilao grande islandwhen it was already almost sunset, we left the beach and went back to the hill where we spent a little bit more time watching the awesome play of colors in the sky.
03.01.2008. almost sunset in pagbilaotruth be told, i did not know of pagbilao's existence before. southern luzon residents, especially those from pagbilao, ought to pardon me for my ignorance. i first heard of pagbilao only two weeks ago, when my certified
gala officemate mentioned it and coaxed us to go there with her. she volunteered to do all the driving. fuel expenses? travel party's responsibility.
03.01.2008. members of our travel partyall in all, each of us shelled out PhP750 for the trip. that amount took care of our contribution for the fuel that took us all the way to pagbilao (including our sidetrips) and back to calamba, for our sumptuous lunch, for entrance fees, and for the food & drinks we took with us on the road.
03.01.2008. all that in one day
in just one day, we went to see a lake, we visited a historical site, we hiked our way to a waterfalls, we had lunch on a place defined by floating nipa huts, and enjoyed spending time on a beautiful beach --- all for a good budget.
03.01.2008. some sights along the way...and the
sights we saw along the way were priceless.
