I was looking for a house for rent in El Nido for a big group of my friends heading there in the future, so I went first to my friends at Northern Hope Tours to see if they could recommend a place for me. It turns out they were almost finished renovating a private house for the purpose of renting it for big groups of 10-20 persons.

The name of the house is Agape Transient House.

Agape Transient House

• Price
• The House
• Location
• Water
• Would I recommend it?
• Contact Information

Price

The price of the stay in Agape Transient House is 5,000 Pesos/night.

Your group will get the whole house complete with beds, airconditioned rooms, comfort rooms (CR) and many more.

The House

I wanted to try staying at the house so that I could properly give a review of it, though the owner was reluctant for me to stay as the renovation was not complete even though it was almost complete, they agreed with me so off I went to the house to try it.

When I got there, I liked it! It was a big house and could easily accommodate 16-20 persons.

There were 2 floors. The ground floor common area was spacious and it has a kitchen and table where I sat around all day writing blog posts. Globe signal is good too with 3G Network even on the ground floor.

Ground floor common area

Ground floor common area

The kitchen is complete with utensils you could use while you eat, a refrigerator and drinking water. The stove is located outside.

Unfortunately, the 5,000 Pesos/night price does not include the 100 Pesos/meal for the use of the stove. But if you devide 100 Pesos/meal over 10 persons (10 Pesos each) it would be easy for everyone to pay that amount.

Kitchen

Utensils. They’ll add more once the renovation is completed.

Refrigerator.

There are two rooms, one on each floor. Both are air-conditioned and could accommodate up to 6 persons/room. There’s also a big bed in the common area that could accommodate 4 persons. In total it has a bed capacity for 16 persons. But if you’re a bigger group and can squeeze through the beds it’s no problem with the management.

Second floor room.

Ground floor room.

The second floor has a small landing area where there are cabinets that you can put your stuff into.

Second floor.

There’s also the veranda. My favorite spot as I could go out and just sit there and watch the towering Taraw Cliffs and the sky. My favorite place to have the early morning coffee.

Veranda

Panoramic View from the Veranda

Veranda

There is 1 CR in the whole house, but when I was there they were building 3 shower rooms outside of the house so that big groups can take a bath quicker.

One notable note on the house is that it has a crazy number of electric sockets!!! It has electric sockets almost on every corner! The ground floor alone has 11 pairs of electric sockets and I still have not counted the one of the second floor and on the veranda.

I’m glad that when the house was built they considered placing a lot of electric sockets as this is one of my problems usually on the accommodations I rent.

Location

I like the location too. It’s actually in the town proper but feels like it’s not in the town proper.

Click here for its location in Google Maps - https://goo.gl/maps/F61hE

It was never busy nor noisy when I was there. I tried walking along Balinsasayaw Road to get to the beach and it took me around 4 minutes. But later that day I took a right and walked to Calle Real then Osmeña St. to get to the beach faster (around 3 minutes). The restaurants are closer too if you walk that way.

The market is also less than 5 minutes by tricycle. 10 Pesos/person (one-way).

Water

One of the problems of accommodations in El Nido is water from the faucet. That’s why when I turned on the faucet of Agape Transient House I was surprised to see that the water pressure was strong.

I was wondering why, when I went outside there was a automatic water pump.

Water pump

Would I recommend it?

If you’re a group of 2-5 persons I would not recommend it as the 5,000 Pesos/night rate is expensive for your group.

But if your group is around 10 or above, I would highly recommend it. As you get to have the whole house to yourselves, which means that you do not have to lower your voice too low so that you might not disturb the other hotel room or worry about people eavesdropping.

If you’re more than 20 persons, go talk to the persons on the contact information below and just maybe they would allow you to accommodate your whole group.

Plus, it’s spacious. Definitely good for big groups.

And now that all the renovation has been finished you can now book your stay here.

Agape Transient House at night.

Contact Information

Since the Agape Transient House operates under Northern Hope Tours, the contact information is the same as the one for Northern Hope Tours.

Contact Numbers

• 0939-902-2216 (Smart)
• 0927-735-3221 (Globe)

E-mail: northernhopetours@gmail.com

Website: www.NorthernHopeTours.com

Here‘s the specific page on the Northern Hope Tours website where you can check if the dates that you want is already booked or not.

Earlier this month my blog became 5 years old. I’m very happy to have written my travels for the past 5 years here, but there is this one thing that still bothers me with my blog. Whenever I back read on the blog I cringe at the fact that my English most of the time were off.

One of the main reasons I took up Computer Engineering in college was that I did not like English and I am not a fan writing in that language. I’m a Filipino and whatever people say English is not my natural language.

Maqueregaen Falls in Roxas, Palawan

Why am I travel blogging? And why am I still writing in English?

The goal of my blog is to help Filipinos travel and appreciate the beauty of our country. That goal can only be reached when my knowledge on the places I have been to are read by those who need it when they need it. When they need it, they search it.

I accepted the fact that most of the users in the internet use English and they use English keywords to do search. Writing in English makes my writing somewhat easily searchable. That is the reason why I am writing in English.

Why are you not improving your English?

It might not look like I’m improving on my English, but I’m trying. Really trying. I know that the effectivity of my blog would increase if I wrote good English, that’s why I’m trying to improve it by reading books and trying to double check my grammar, sentence and paragraph structures still my progress is slow. And re-reading my blog posts eats up my time since I am a slow reader. With the work that I have, I only have very limited time to do rereads.

Why did you start your blog even if you knew you have bad English? Why would you even post them even if you knew it would contain bad English?

When I started planning travels, I had a hard time looking for details on how to get to a destination and what would I expect there. All I saw were just a few details and a lot of description which did not really help in making plans to travel. That was one of the main reasons why I started my blog. To provide superb amount of details for people to know how to travel to places I have been to. And to provide skeleton itineraries and budget on which others would be able to modify to fit the travel that they want.

Do not get me wrong. I need to improve my English but being bad in English will not stop me from writing about my travels.

Would you promise to get better at English?

I am not going to promise you that my English would become better even if I am really trying to. But what I can promise you is that I’ll keep on providing the details that you need to travel. I’d rather be bad at a language that is unnatural to me than not help you get the knowledge I possess that you need to travel.

Which do you need, my good grammar or the details you need to travel? Tell me on the comments below.

The two goals for that day were (1) get to Maqueregaen Falls and (2) go back home.

Maqueregaen Falls in Roxas, Palawan

It was 7:35 AM and our motorcycle was turning to left from the National Highway towards the inner parts of Brgy. Iraan in Roxas, Palawan. We were already running around 20 minutes heading north from the town proper of Roxas. On the rough road as fast as we could, we passed by wooden bridges and some children walking to school. Always picking the road on the left upon encountering forks until we reached the nipa hut where our friends were waiting.

Intersection of the National Highway and the road to inner Iraan.

The house where our friends were waiting for us.

It was around the summer of 2014 that we planned to visit Maqueregaen Falls. We never really had a concrete plan to visit here due to our busy schedules, but finally late January 2015 we were able to decide on what date we should proceed. And when the last monday of February 2015 came, we almost forgot that this trip existed, but it was all thanks to my friends that we still came here as this was already a set plan and everyone was excited to see a new waterfalls around the area.

We still waited for our other friends to arrive and finally at around 8:35 AM we started walking. Asking around I thought one of us have been there already, but it turns out that my friends who has lived for more than a decade in Roxas have not seen the waterfalls.

Passing by the river that was being quarried and a ranch area for carabaos (water buffalos) and cows we reached again another house where we waited for our guide. The only person who knew where the waterfalls existed.

This trip was odd for me. Usually, I’m the one arranging trips to places but for this trip it was my friends from Roxas who arranged it all for us. It was a welcome relaxation as planning a trip is really a challenging task.

With our guide we started walking around 9:45 AM. We did a lot of river crossing which they told me later that was actually only one river. Low rollings hills, small plantations and big trees.

Since I was the weakest of the group in terms of walking, I was the one at the back of the group and taking photos were not even helping on my speed. Eventually, the group was divided into two. The group ahead were the fastest while our group had many photos.

A big tree that was cut and had new branches.

It was generally a happy trek towards Maqueregaen Falls except for the harsh reality that I faced in terms of kaingin farming. Somehow kaingin farmers would cut down big trees for them to plant on good soil. I hope somebody would do something about this.

Kaingin

Our friends who went ahead of us waited at one of the small waterfalls in the area. When we arrived we all continued as they were already well rested while waiting for us and our group were pretending that we were not tired. Luckily, Maqueregaen Falls was only a around 200 meters from there.

When we arrived some of our friends were already on one of the upper tiers of the waterfalls. Though the bottom is already amazing they shouted that the upper portion was more spectacular.

We all decided to go up, but then when I was trying to climb the almost 70 degree wall, I realized that there were only penny size footholes! At first I decided not to climb the waterfalls so everyone went ahead of me.

One of the people in our group went down to guide me. What we needed was something for me to hold on to like a rope. Luckily, there were baging (vines) in the area which we repositioned to help me go up the upper tier of the waterfalls.

Finally, when I was on the third tier where everyone was. They told me that they were relieved that I got up there. It was challenging to go up there!!! At least for me.

We had lunch there and when we were all happy with our experience at the falls we decided to go down, which was more of a challenge than going up. Luckily, there were again baging in the area which we also repositioned to help us descend the falls.

As much as I was happy with us using the baging, I wished we had known that we were climbing a steep wall for us to have brought ropes so that we could have lowered our environmental with the area. At least next time we visit we know that we should bring this.

When we reached the base of the waterfalls we took a group picture and started walking back. 1:00 PM.

The river is widening at the lower portion of the river due to quarrying. :(

At 4:14 PM, we were back at the house where our friends waited for us earlier but before we go on our separate ways we had coffee and kamote, then some coconuts. We left at 5:34 PM at Iraan and we arrived at the town proper of Roxas at 6:04 PM.

So far Maqueregaen Falls is one of the must see spots here in Roxas, Palawan. The falls is worth it go to, but doing the trek and hearing the many different birds is a plus.

If you want to see more photos of our travel to Maqueregaen Falls, you can visit my Flickr album here - https://flic.kr/s/aHsk9goCad

After our trip to Maqueregaen Falls my friends were getting more adventurous, so we decided to try the islands of Roxas, Palawan. And our first target was Pagbo Island since it was the closest one from the town proper of Roxas. So my friends called some friends to see if their boat were available and when scheduled schedules were moved and we were all set for this short half a day adventure.

Inside Pagbo Island

10:20 AM – After a long wait due to some engine trouble with a van, we were at what locals call Badjao Village where our boat was waiting. We secured our motorcycles and started uploading ourselves to the boat. Albeit cloudy, the waters were calm, my favorite weather.

Badjao Village

The reason why we chose Pagbo Island over the other islands of Roxas was because of the fruit bats that stays at the island. And we were not disappointed as from afar we could already do some bat watching as they were huge. By my amateur observation their span would around a meter or more.

11:00 AM – We were finally able to dock at a small shore of the island. Around 30 minutes boat ride. The whole island itself is made of sand but there’s only a few place that a boat can dock because almost the whole island is covered with mangroves. I liked it that way. Undeveloped.

I find it creepy to see the roots of the mangroves to be pointing upwards like spikes that could puncture my body if I fall into them. Still we went, slowly but surely. Unfortunately, my slippers were weak and it was damaged by the movement of my feet and the mud below the waters.

With our guide, we started walking away from the boat and towards the bats.

At some point there were mounds of sands. We asked our guide whether this was due to the tides but she said that it was due to crabs that dig on the soil.

Then the guide turned to a dense mangrove and went inside it. I was unable to go due to my slippers. #LameExcuse

The others that did not went in just sat down and talked until we decided to just go back at the boat to drink some water. (Why do I always forget to bring water?)

According to the people who went in it was a hard “walk” getting inside just to see the bats right above the trees. Thinking about it it’s good that it’s hard to get there so that the bat could rest undisturbed.

The ones who went in the Mangrove Forest went out straight to the beach since it was low tide and that’s where we met them.

1:34 PM – We were thinking about going to another island but we decided to not to continue with it because we still have responsibilities to do at the town proper. So we grilled the fish that we brought and ate. #LateLunch

While cooking we had the opportunity to swim.

3:00 PM – We started boarding the boat and went back to Badjao Village.

3:34 PM – We were back at the Badjao Village. We thanked the boatman and his family, and paid them what we agreed upon. And I promised to contact them again so that I could document the islands of Roxas correctly.

Author’s Opinion

I want Pagbo Island to be protected. These fruit bats are desperately needed by Palawan as they help spread seeds around the area. Currently, I could see the degredation of the forest in Roxas. The forests are not as thick as they used to be and with a lot of kaingin going on, I’m afraid there would be nothing left.

If they would allow visitors to go there maybe create a pathway on the edges where they can see closely the bats. But leave a big chunk of the place off limits so that bats could go there undisturbed. Educate the visitors not to be loud to not distub the bats and keep the place clean.

Also, ask for an entrance fee and I hope someone earns well from those entrance fees. As one person or a group of persons gets paid enough to protect the place for a living, one would protect the place well.

For more photos of Pagbo Island visit my Flickr Album here – https://flic.kr/s/aHsk9sedWA

Since we were finished visiting Dalipuga Falls at around 12:20 PM, we decided to visit some accommodations in Iligan City just to document the rooms, prices and other details.

I admit I have not stayed in any of these accommodations as having friends in Iligan City has its perks.

The accommodations listed below do not allow advance reservation. If you want to book in advance you may check Iligan City’s Agoda Listing here.

Here are four accommodations in Iligan City that we visited on that day. These are arranged in the order of our visit to each accommodation. Also, there are many other accommodation in Iligan City, these are just the accommodations we had time to visit.

• Famous Pension House
• Jasmine Pension Home
• D’Morvie Suites
• Alya Vista Lodge

Please note that details such as prices, locations might change without prior notice. Also note that our visit to the accommodations happened last November 25, 2014.

Famous Pension House

Since we were coming from Dalipuga Falls, Famous Pension House was the first on our list of accommodations to visit as this is the farthest from the city proper of Iligan City. But this one is the nearest from the bus station bound for Cagayan de Oro.

Famous Pension House

It’s relatively cheap as the most affordable rooms are around 300 Pesos/room/night good for 2 persons. The con only of this accommodation is that you cannot reserve ahead of time. They only allow walk-in guests.

They are located behind the Adventist Medical Center in Iligan City. Just across the street of Milestone Drive. They also have other branches in Iligan City. You can check-out their vicinity in Google Map here.

If you want to stay in a quiet place in Iligan City this is for you as there are very few jeepneys that pass by in front of Famous Pension House. But you can always walk to the National Highway where a lot of jeepneys pass by.

Here are photos of Famous Pension for your reference.

Small room with basic commodities.

Table and chair. Good for working.

The common area. This is also where their WiFi is located. There are electric sockets here too.

Globe (Left Signal), Smart (Right Signal)

House Rules. Click on the link to see a bigger image.

Calling Card. 300 Pesos/24 hours

Calling Card. 200 Pesos/12 hours.

Jasmine Pension Home

After a walk to the National Highway and a short jeepney ride from Famous Pension House we arrived at Jasmine Pension House. This one is located along the National Highway and significantly near the City Proper. In fact, Gaisano Mall is already walkable from here.

Jasmine Pension Home

What I also like about this accommodation is that Kopi Luwak Coffee Shop is located here. (See My Top Things to Do in Iligan City).

Check-out where Jasmine Pension House is located in Google Maps here.

Since it is located along the National Highway there are a lot of jeepneys you can ride to and fro Jasmine Pension Home.

I think Jasmine Pension House allows reservation but I failed to get their contact details.

Here are photos of Jasmine Pension House for your reference.

Bonsai Garden

Signal inside the room. Globe (Left), Smart (Right).

House Rules. Click on the photo to see a larger size photo of this.

Rates

D’Morvie Suites

Just near Jasmine Pension House is D’Movie Suites. This is located along the National Highway too. Walking Distance from Gaisano Mall.

They do not allow advance reservations. Only walk-in guests.

D’Morvie Suites

You can check the location of D’Morvie Suites in Google Maps here.

There are a lot of jeepneys that you can ride to and fro D’Morvie Suites.

Below are pictures of the room and details like rates for D’Morvie Suites.

Lobby

One their rooms for 2 persons.

200 Pesos/12 hours rate.

House Rules. Click on the photo to view a larger image.

Alya Vista Lodge

After our visit at D’Morvie Suites we headed first to Cheding’s Toasted Peanuts to buy Pasalubong and then for our last accommodation for the day we went to Alya Vista Lodge.

If you are more of person who would like to be in the middle of the city proper then Alya Vista Lodge is for you. It is located near Jollibee Aguinaldo. Walking distance also to the jeepneys heading to Maria Cristina Falls, Dodiongan Falls and Pampam Falls.

Alya Vista Lodge

You can check-out where Alya Vista Lodge is located in Google Maps here.

Below are photos of Alya Vista Lodge rooms and other details like rates and house rules.

Hallway

Room good for 2 persons. 2 beds.

Table in chair in the room.

Comfort room/bath room.

2 person room with 1 bed.

Rates of Alya Vista Lodge

House Rules

I would like to repeat that I have not tried any of these accommodations. But I needed to post these for travelers to know their options.

Also, please note that this is not an official website of the accommodations. Details, especially the rates may change without prior notice.

You may check other accommodations in Iligan City in Agoda here.

Originally, our plan was just to visit Batad and some viewpoints of Banaue Rice Terraces but destiny had other plans for us as we also went to Hungduan. Together with Lai of PinayTravelista.com and Kuya Dane, my brother, it was a perfect vacation with imperfect logistics and imperfect events.

It was harvest season when we visited #Batad #RiceTerraces. #Banaue #Ifugao #Philippines

A photo posted by Lakas ng Trip (@lakasngtrip) on Jun 18, 2015 at 7:08pm PDT

Two weeks before the trip Kuya Dane was asking me to provide the itinerary and budget for our travel, unfortunately, for the past months I have been too busy to create our budget and itinerary. All I can say that time was the budget was 5,000 Pesos per person and we are leaving on the night of June 11 and arriving in the early morning of June 15.

In the end the budget was not followed, so did the planned dates for our travel. The details of these unfortunate events will not be written on this post as it will be too long to write them all here.

What I will be focusing on is my own personal expenses during our travel. As you can see the budget of 5,000 Pesos for this trip does not coincide with the budget of the previous itinerary that I made for Batad and Banaue. Aside from the fact that it was made four years ago (2011), I was not planning for a budget trip. I want this trip to be as comfortable as a do-it-yourself travel can get and still be adventurous enough not to say no to unexpected adventures due to lack of finances. I brought 8,000 Pesos for this trip, obviously not following the estimated blown up budget. Besides, the more I buy in the community the more income they will get from me. I do hope that the income helps the community.

Batad Rice Terraces

Anyways, below is the expenses that I spent on my travel to Batad, Hungduan and Banaue in the province of Ifugao.

Amount is in Philippine Pesos.

These are all the expenses that I can remember. Some of them are estimated and there is also a high probability that I forgot some other expenses.

At least I brought around 8,000 Pesos, enough for my transportation to get back home from the bus station and stop by other places.

Hapao Rice Terraces in Hungduan

Was all my expenses worth it?

Yes, it was all worth it. Every Peso was worth it.

In fact, the money we brought were insufficient. On the last day, we were planning to head over to the Heritage Village and Weaving Center of Hungduan, and along the way see more rice terraces of Hungduan, unfortunately, the price was already too much to the amount of money each of us brought and we had to decline the tricycle drivers offer and go back to Banaue from Hapao Rice Terraces. I really wanted my travel buddies to see them because the places were all worth a visit. Planning another trip to see them is actually more expensive in the long run. Some of us may never have another chance to see them.

Sad, but we have to accept the fact that we are limited one way or another.

Tappia Falls in Batad

In the end, it was a really good adventure. My much needed vacation from a stressful work that I am enjoying. The people I was with were fun to be with. The weather was perfect. Even if my body was hurting allover due to over exertion, it was a good exercise too.

Imperfect plans and imperfect events for the perfect travel.

I look forward to visiting Ifugao again in the future. Hopefully in the near future.

• Terminal Location
• Contact Numbers
• Price
• Schedule

What happened before?

Last year (2014), I had a flight departure at 7:20 AM from Puerto Princesa to Manila. My plan was simple, ride the RORO Night Bus from El Nido that leaves at 10PM. Arrive at Puerto Princesa at 3AM and wait for the check-in time at the airport at 5:20 AM. Fly at 7:20 AM. Simple plan but the small details were the ones that made that night miserable.

Inside Cherry Bus

Here’s what really happened. I rode the bus. The bus arrives at Puerto Princesa around 3AM. Tricycle drivers fought for my attention. Rode an overpriced tricycle ride to Chowking. Spent the remaining time drinking coffee because I was alone in a public place and I am afraid that my bags would be stolen. 5AM rode a tricycle to the airport. Check-in for my flight. Went on a coffee drinking spree again at the predeparture area for me not to sleep so I would not miss my boarding announcement. Personally experienced that coffee is a diuretic 30,000 feet above sea level.

I told myself that I would never ride the night bus again, unless I really need to.

What happened with Cherry Bus?

Last June 6, I had a flight from Puerto Princesa with the same departure time, 7:20 AM. And since I was really enjoying my time with friends I decided to just catch the night bus of Cherry Bus which leaves at 9PM and do what I did again. The benefit of having quality time with your friends really outweighs the risk of taking in liquids that enhances the movement of body fluids. Right? Right?

My mind was ready and I was hoping my bladder was ready too.

While waiting for the departure time of the bus I had the chance to chat up with the lady I am sitting with. Turns out she’s a regular on Cherry Bus night buses and I decided to tell my plan for the morning to the total stranger.

I told her about how mentally prepared I am for the coffee marathon that I have to do once the bus arrives at Puerto Princesa. Surprisingly, she answered “Why don’t you just stay and sleep on the bus and wait until sunrise?”

Wait. What? I could do that? Apparently, with Cherry Bus I could.

I decided to try it. When the bus arrived at 3:37 AM in Puerto Princesa (more than 6 hours travel time) I forced myself not to give in the urge of going down the bus even if the majority of passengers are all going down to be faced by competitive tricycle drivers who goes in front of the bus and tries to pull passengers to their tricycle for a price of 150 Pesos/tricycle.

People and tricycle drivers when we reached the terminal.

I really wanted to go down since it would only take less than 2 hours of waiting time in Chowking but I really needed to get some sleep before I push forward. So I just sat there at the bus.

The bus moved with a few passengers on board with the same plan. Sleep on the bus and wait for daybreak. I asked the conductor where are we going and he said that the buses are not allowed to stay at the terminal so we will be staying at their bus compound.

Their bus compound had a concrete fence with guards roaming around the area. At least I feel more secure sleeping here than spending my time in Chowking.

They turned off the aircon and turned of the lights and I slept.

At 4:45 AM I decided that I needed to go out and head to the town proper where I could get some breakfast. Luckily, there was a tricycle waiting at the gate. I talked to the driver and we agreed that I would pay 100 Pesos for him to take me to Chowking (24 hours open) in Rizal Ave. I did not mind the rate since it was still early in the morning and most likely there’s a very low probability that he will be getting another passenger on his way back to the bus compound.

Tricycle heading to the town proper of Puerto Princesa.

At 5:09 AM, I was having breakfast at Jollibee (24 hours open). Then headed to the airport and waited for my boarding announcement.

I rode the plane with a restful mind and an unabused bladder.

Yum with TLC. Jollibee Rizal Ave.

Conclusion

I would highly recommend that travelers ride Cherry Bus because they allow their night passengers to sleep after they arrive at Puerto Princesa, rather than make sleepy passengers wait at a publicly accessible place until morning which is a high security problem for passengers. This shows that they go the extra mile to take care of their passengers.

Note

Though it is fairly safe to sleep inside the bus, it is still good to make precautionary measures. When I slept I made sure that when someone moves my bags I would be able to feel it.

From the countless times I rode with Cherry Bus, they have a travel time of around 7-8 hours from Puerto Princesa to El Nido during day time. And 6-7 hours during night time. This is the same travel time from El Nido to Puerto Princesa. This is due to their maximum speed limitation and the number of stops they have to make to pick-up and drop-off passengers.

I’m not sure if RORO Bus also allows their passengers to sleep on their buses when they arrive around 3AM in El Nido or Puerto Princesa. I do hope they do too. I’ll have to find out.

Cherry Bus Details

Terminal Location

Puerto Princesa

You can ride a Cherry Bus at San Jose Terminal. This is near the new market of Puerto Princesa City.

To get to San Jose Terminal from the airport, you can ride tricycles at the airport. Some would offer 150 Pesos/tricycle but you can haggle this down. Travel time is around 20 minutes.

You can also walk out of the airport and flag down a tricycle passing by to take you to Jollibee Rizal Ave (10 Pesos/person, 5 minutes travel time). Then ride a jeep/multicab going to New Market. Tell the driver of the jeep to drop you off at San Jose Terminal (13 Pesos/person, 20-30 minutes travel time).

El Nido

You can ride a Cherry Bus at the Land Transportation Terminal of El Nido. Or popularly known as the ‘Terminal’.

From the town proper of El Nido ride a tricycle and tell the driver that you are heading to the terminal. The rate is 50 Pesos/tricycle. Travel time is around 5 minutes.

Contact Information

If you want to reserve or inquire to Cherry Bus you may contact the numbers below.

Puerto Princesa

• 0935-866-6569
• 0927-207-2997
• 0917-772-2426

El Nido

• 0907-332-8797
• 0918-753-3923

Price

450 Pesos/person (one-way)*

Schedule*

Cherry Bus Schedule

This is also their schedule for Puerto Princesa to El Nido.

* Details may change without prior notice.

I have a feeling that my effort to layout all the expenses on our trip to Batad, Hungduan and Banaue will somehow make you confident on traveling to these places, but I also have a feeling that just laying them out there as a list is still not enough so I am also providing our somewhat real itinerary.

View from the Highest Viewpoint in #Batad #RiceTerraces. On the way to Tappia Falls. #Banaue #Ifugao #Philippines

A photo posted by Lakas ng Trip (@lakasngtrip) on Jun 17, 2015 at 1:50am PDT

The itinerary below is very close to what we really did in our trip but I’ve modified it so that it would be easier to understand if you are also planning on a trip to these places.

To be specific, I adjusted the time to be closer to the nearest 10 minute of what really happened to us.

Check the itinerary below.

ITINERARY

I hope the itinerary above would give you more confidence on traveling to Batad, Hungduan and Banaue.

Banaue Rice Terraces

I’ll be writing more about specific stages of our travel just in case you want more details.

We arrived at Sabang for our Underground River Tour a little bit late so we got a queue number that would makenus wait for a significant amount of time. Our guide suggested that instead we bore ourselves to death, we could actually do some sidetrips in Sabang. We targetted the Mangrove Paddle Boat Tour and Sabang X Zipline.

We rode again the van then back on the road and turned right to a guarded gate. I already done the Mangrove Paddle Boat Tour before (read here) and this is my first time riding a van to get there that’s why the gate is a surprise to me. It says on the gate that we would need to pay a fee for us to pass by (I forgot how much was it.) Our group paid the fee since we will be passing by the private road. We reached the road parallel to the shore of Sabang and the van turned onto another gate which we need to pay another 10 Pesos/person except when your are doing the Sabang X Zipline. Since we were passing by private properties we had to respect the owner’s decision to use their facility for a fee.

Finally we arrived at the starting point for the Mangrove Paddle Boat Tour. Some of us decided to do the Sabang X Zipline (550 Pesos/person), while we decided to do the Mangrove Paddle Boat Tour.

10:49 AM – We registered, paid the fee of 350 Pesos/person, then given our lifevests and were guided to where we will ride their paddle boat.

When we were on the boat they first fetched umbrellas so that the sunlight would not be too much for us. They did not have this on my first visit to the Mangrove Paddle Boat Tour.

Then someone asked us to look at the camera on the shore… smile… thumbs up… Most likely they will sell our photos to us when we finish the Mangrove Paddle Boat Tour. I do not mind, as long as it gives work and does not harm anyone or the environment I’m okay with them selling photos of me on it.

I don’t remember the name of our guide or our boatman but what I do remember is that our guide is famously known as Lady Mangrove and she’s already a senior citizen. I’m amazed that she can still do this. #EmpoweredWomen

During the tour, she was telling stories on the importance of mangroves in the environment. On how they filter wastes and why the ecology in the area was diverse and their role to the environment.

Last time when we were here we did the Mangrove Paddle Boat Tour during high tide and they told us that it is best to do the tour during low tide as we would see many other creatures on the ground. On this visit, I was happy that it was low tide and we did see different colored small crabs on the ground that was shown by the low tide.

Let’s not forget the snake.

At some point, we turned back and reached the bamboo platform where we could walk to visit the oldest mangrove in the area. (11:28 AM)

11:33 AM – We reached the end of the bamboo walkway and saw the oldest mangrove. I don’t remember how old this was. O_O

We went back and our guide was waiting for us at the platform where our boat was waiting. She was holding mangrove seeds and encouraged us to drop them on the ground so that they would grow up to be new mangroves.

We rode the boat again and before the tour ended, Lady Mangrove sang to us. The song was about the Mangroves, the relationship of mangroves to humans and the environment, and challenges us to keep the mangroves healthy.

11:51 AM – We were back at the starting point and our boatman invited us to follow him. It turns out that he was bringing a mangrove wood that contains Tamilok or woodworm. He opened the wood with an axe and I saw the biggest Tamilok I have ever seen in my entire Palawan life. This can be eaten but I decided that I was not that adventurous that day. I did it before in Kinabuch Bar & Restaurant in Puerto Princesa. (Read Kinabuch’s here)

We admired the yuckiness of the Tamilok and decided to take pictures of its head and tail.

We took a look at our photos and bought some. I forgot how much they sell the photos.

Then we said our thanks to everyone who helped us on the tour and rode the van going back to Sabang Wharf.

If you want to see more photos of our Mangrove Paddle Boat Tour during our visit you can visit my Flickr Album here – https://www.flickr.com/gp/80442260@N02/91A3tq.

• Advance Booking
• Travel from Manila to Banaue
• Banaue Ordeal
• Contact Information
• Fare/Price
• Schedule
• Bus Stations
• Additional Notes

Advance Booking

Booking the bus from Manila to Banaue, Ifugao was one of the challenges in our trip for Batad-Hungduan-Banaue since we were booking on a long weekend. Very challenging that it went to a point that we almost backed out of the whole trip. Thankfully, with a lot of adjustments and persistence we were able to proceed with the trip.

We found out that Ohayami Trans had an e-mail booking last June 6, 2015. So we decided to try the e-mail booking and when they replied we will be able to transfer the amount immediately to their bank account. Unfortunately, they replied with this.

Since the option to do e-mail booking is no longer available, we decided right away that we would visit their station the next day and book directly with Ohayami Trans in Sampaloc, Manila for the night of June 11, 2015. This is what was written in their ticketing office when we arrived.

NOOOO!!! But not yet. I really want us to go. I asked the lady on the other side of the counter if we could book going to Lagawe, then we will just ride a jeep from Lagawe to Banaue. I’ve done it before, I could do it again. And she answered “Sorry, fully booked na rin po kami papuntang Lagawe.” (Sorry, we are also fully booked going to Lagawe.) This is what we get from being tardy with advance booking of a bus that is scheduled to leave on a long weekend. (June 12 is Independence Day here in the Philippines.)

NOOOO!!! I travelled from Palawan to Manila just to do this trip again and I could not go because the buses are fully booked. I called my brother and told him of the unfortunate situation. We also presented alternative places that we can go to, but none of them were appealing to the traveler in us. We were too focused in going to Banaue and visiting the Rice Terraces that alternatives were no longer a choice.

I asked my brother that night at home if he was open to the idea if we move our trip from June 11-15 to June 12-16. He thought about it, eventually he agreed that we could travel on those dates, he just needs to adjust his office schedule. And we had to rebook some flights going back.

Yes, it was expensive to rebook the flights. But this is a planned trip that involves us blocking our busy schedule and paying for flights. We have invested time and effort for this trip. It would definitely be more expensive if we did not push thru. Rebooking of flights and adjusting our schedule is way more cheaper than for us to go back to our respective places and plan the whole trip again.

Wednesday noon, we were at Ohayami Trans again and we would be booking the night of June 12. When we talked again to the ticketing staff she told us that there were only 5 slots left and they are all at the back end of the bus. The bumpy back end of the bus. The least favorite seats of all people inside a vehicle. You can feel more the bump on the road and the engine of the bus is located underneath the seats making it the hottest seat of the bus. But we were focused. We would endure the bump on our butts and the heat of the engine for 8 hours so that this trip will continue. So we said to the staff “Book it!”. (450 Pesos/person – one way)

On that day, we also booked our bus from Banaue to Manila so that we no longer have to endure the back end of the bus. Luckily, we got the seats somewhere around the 4th row of the bus going back. She instructed us that upon our arrival at Banaue we would need to visit their ticketing office and get our tickets.

Ohayami Trans Bus Station at Sampaloc, Manila

The Travel from Manila to Banaue

June 12, 2015: 8:57 PM – The bus was scheduled to leave at 10:00 PM but we would like to be there early. We would rather wait than be left by the bus. It was also helpful that there were not much traffic on our way to Sampaloc, Manila via taxi, maybe most people have traveled out of Manila on the night of June 11.

Ohayami Trans Bus Station at Sampaloc, Manila

This might be my 4th or 5th time going to Banaue and it’s noticeable that there are many people in the station compared to my previous trips. There were a lot of foreigners too. A good sign if you want tourism to boom in Banaue. Bad sign if you are not pro-tourism.

Interestingly, since there were a lot of travelers they also opened slots for the 9PM bus going to Banaue. And I really wanted to ride that bus hoping that we would avoid the last row. But I’ve always wanted order and not to bother the busy crew, so I refrained from pushing thru with that thought.

9:21 PM – They announced that passengers of the 10PM bus could not ride the bus. We excitedly went up and went to the end of the aisle and took our seats.

10:03 PM – The bus started to move and we were now on our way to Banaue.

Inside the bus

11:47 PM (1 hour 54 minutes)- The bus stopped at a Gas Station but no one announced if it was a bus stop or not. I can see heads popping up looking at the front then turning around having a questioning look as if asking “Why did we stop?” or “Is this a stopover?”. I really wanted to go down. I’m not sure when the next stop will be. I want to stretch my legs. Even if I do not feel it now, maybe somewhere along the road my bladder would go on a rage and at some point I would not longer be able to control it. Hopefully not. At least I could lessen the load to lessen the watery rage.

I found out on the 2nd bus stop that the Gas Station was actually a bus stop. Seriously, why are drivers or conductors not announcing if a stop is a stopover? Passengers need to be informed so they could stretch or unload bad vibes from their bodies. This is why I love Daytripper in Palawan because announcing stopovers is a standard to them.

3:44 AM (3 hours 47 minutes from the first stopover) – We arrived at the second stopover. I need to make sure that people would know that this is a stopover so I somewhat excitedly announced “Bus stop!” Heads then popped out and when the bus stopped people started to move to the comfort rooms.

Second stop over

Restroom Fee. 5 Pesos – Urinate. 10 Pesos – Defecate.

Hotdogs for 25 Pesos a piece.

3:57 AM – The bus started moving again towards Banaue.

5:35 AM – We arrived at Lagawe where many passengers went down. This is not a stop over.

6:19 AM (2 hours 25 minutes from second stopover) – We finally the bus stopped moving at Banaue. I remembered the Gas Station but this is not where we went down on my previous visits. I remember it was closer to the center of town. This was around 1km away from the town. Then after 1 minute of stopping (Yes, that long.) The conductor announced that this was where we need to go down the bus.

Total Travel Time: 8 hours 16 minutes.

Finally at Banaue!

The Banaue Ordeal

Someone then went on the bus and confidently announced that this was the last stop and we needed to ride a free jeep heading to the town center. He announced so confidently it was much better than the announcement of the conductor making him sound more credible. He said that the free jeep was an extension of Ohayami Trans services.

Following the instruction of the ticketing staff in Manila, I asked the guy if I could just go and get our tickets. He said that the jeep is leaving and he will be the one to take care of it. We rode the jeep and they took us to an inn with a restaurant.

The travelers that were with us inside the jeep were also heading to Batad, so the guy grouped us together and looked for a jeepney for us to head to Saddle Point in Batad. This would make the jeepney rental cheaper.

He then asked for the paper that were given to me by Ohayami Trans so that he could get our tickets back to Manila and give it to me before we ride the jeep to Batad. I gave it to him.

I then remembered that we needed to pay for an Environmental Fee of 20 Pesos/person at the Municipal Tourism Center. I asked him where the Tourism Center is and he said that it was closed and will open at around 9AM. I believed him. I just thought that when we went back to the town proper of Banaue we would pay the Environmental Fee before heading back to Manila.

Before we rode the jeep to Batad, he gave us our tickets going back to Manila. I was really glad with the service he did for us. We said our thanks and farewell when the jeep left.

June 15, 2015 – We arrived at the Municipal Tourism Center to pay the Environmental Fee and here’s what we found out according to the Tourism Officer we talked to.

• The Municipal Tourism Center opens at 4-5AM since the buses arrives around those times so that tourists can pay the Environmental Fee at that time and they could provide information to travelers.

Obviously, someone did not tell the truth.

I do not mind the additional services the guy gave us. I do not mind if he gets commission for his services, since everyone should be payed for the services they made. In my opinion, the services he gave us was really helpful especially to travelers. I just wish he followed the rules of the land and do not lie to his customers.

If you do meet the guy and would like to avail his services, please insist the you be brought to the Municipal Tourism Center so you could pay your Environmental Fee and get more information. Also, better if you are the one who will personally get your ticket going back to Manila.

P. S. On the trip from Banaue to Manila every time we get to a bus stop I would say out loud “Bus Stop!” for an announcement. And almost everyone would go down the bus to stretch, head to the comfort room or have a short snack.

Ohayami Trans Details

Contact Information*

Website: ohayamitrans.com

Mobile Numbers:

• Manila: +63-927-649-3055, +63-2-516-0501
• Ifugao: +63-917-561-7344

E-mail Address: reservations@ohayamitrans.com

Fare/Price

• 450 Pesos/person – Manila to Banaue (one-way)
• 8 hours estimated travel time

Schedule*

Schedule

Please note that some schedule are only available during peak season.

Bus Stations

Manila Bus Station

This is located at Lacson Avenue corner Fajardo Street in Sampaloc Manila. This is just walking distance from University of Sto. Thomas in Manila.

You can see the station in Google Maps here – goo.gl/maps/LfXKQ.

You can also ride the LRT2 and go down Pureza Station. From there you can take a taxi to Ohayami Trans.

You can also walk along Magsaysay Blvd and ride a jeep that has a route parallel to Lacson Ave. I succesfully did this once but failed to do this on my recent trip to Ohayami Trans.

But if you ask me, I would highly recommend the taxi.

Banaue Bus Station

Located near the Municipal Tourism Center. This is where we rode the bus going back to Manila.

Interestingly, the location of the last stop from Manila to Banaue is different from where you will need to ride the bus from Banaue to Manila.

Additional Notes

They do not announce the stopovers during the bus rides. Just assume when the bus stops in a gas station you are in a stopover. You can then be the announcer. It might be annoying to some but it would definitely help a lot of travelers.

During the stopovers there are restrooms and a place where you can buy some snacks. Be ready with some coins on restrooms as you need to pay them.

Once you arrive at Banaue. Look for the Municipal Tourism Center as you need to pay the 20 Pesos/person Environmental Fee.

During peak season book way in advance so that you would not experience what we experienced.

* Details may change without prior notice.

• Opinion
• Notes
• How to travel from Banaue to Batad

After the bus ride from Manila to Banaue, the jeepney we were riding on was heading into the town center of Banaue. We first stop at a lodge with a restaurant. Breakfast was definitely on my mind and stomach, but I had to make sure that we get a jeepney and hopefully we would get others to join us to lessen the cost.

The town center of #Banaue, #Ifugao. #Philippines #RiceTerraces

A photo posted by Lakas ng Trip (@lakasngtrip) on Sep 5, 2015 at 12:08am PDT

I approached the guy who was helping us arrange the jeepney to Saddle Point in Batad. He was already talking to another tourist.

He told us that the price for the jeepney rental from Banaue Town Center to Batad Saddle Point was 2,800 Pesos/jeep and we had to split it among the passengers. Lucky for us that the other group was composed of a family of 7 persons. Since we are 3 persons, the payment for the jeepney would be 280 Pesos/person.

The guy continued explaining that it was now different from my previous visit to Batad. The roads are cemented and extended nearer the Batad which cut the hiking time from 1 hour to around 20 minutes.

Hearing the walk was just only around 20 minutes, the other group’s leader quickly decided that they would no longer have breakfast. Since we were outnumbered (3 is to 7) we could not say no. So in the name of “more affordable jeepney ride” we decided to let go of the restaurant menu, think non-food happy thoughts, shut up the hunger, endure on walking out of the restaurant and proceed with will power alone. #GoodbyeBreakfast

The family went inside the jeepney first and we got the best seat in the house jeep, the topload.

6:58 AM The jeepney started to move and I will let the pictures talk by itself.

A vehicle making a U-turn. One side a wall, the other is a cliff.

Selling Tilapia Fingerlings

The road going up goes to Batad. The on going down goes to Mayoyao.

7:43 AM We have reached Saddle Point. A quick stop and we were moving forward and downward.

Saddle Point

7:55 AM (57 minutes jeepney ride) We have now reached the end of the road. Got down from the roof of the jeep and collected our bags.

The jeepney driver asked us if we needed to be fetched the next day just like the other group. We told him that we were not sure of our itinerary yet as we might decide to head to Hungduan the next day, but we could also decide to stay at Batad for another night.

A tour guide then approached us asking if we could avail of her services to guide us to our accommodation in Batad. I already knew where we were going so we do not need her services but since we were there to help the local economy and to provide livelihood to the community, we agreed to let her guide us to tour accommodation for 300 Pesos.

The other group got a different guide.

Saddle Point from where our jeepney stopped.

8:01 AM We thanked the jeepney driver and started walking. I will let the pictures start talking by itself again.

8:22 AM We arrived at the Batad Tourist Information Center where we could already view the Batad Rice Terraces. But first things first, we had to pay the 50 Pesos/person Heritage Fee. Asked a few questions about the place and continued our walk to where we wanted to stay.

Batad Tourist Information Center.

Walking to Simons Viewpoint Inn.

Batad Rice Terraces.

8:27 AM (26 minutes hike) We were now at Simon’s Viewpoint Inn. Confirmed our reservation. Got inside the rooms, settled our things and rested on their dining area and ordered breakfast. #Finally.

Entrance to Simons Viewpoint Inn.

Author’s Opinion

I’m happy for the locals because the roads have really improved compared from my visit there last 2011 but I’m also worried because they might have the same problem as Sagada is having now.

Since Batad is now very accessible, it is now easier for tourist to visit the place. Over tourism would be a future problem.

With a lot of tourist more trash will be produced in the place. Add to that the irresponsible tourists who just throw their trash everywhere because they find it convenient. It’s hard to go around Batad since you have to go up and down the rice terraces and trail so it would be easier for tourists to just throw their trash anywhere than carry them and just reason out that they did it because they are tired.

With more tourist more water will be used that might lead to lack of supply of water. That would also lead to more contamination of water.

Then it would lead to locals realizing that they would earn more with accommodation than planting in the rice terraces, which would make them convert their rice terraces to accommodation. Even though they know the fact that people go there for the rice terraces. I’ve seen this happen in other tourists areas.

There are many other problems with over tourism but all I can do is just watch on what will happen to Batad. I just hope the local government would do something to maintain the beauty of Batad.

Yes, I am paranoid when it comes to tourism.

On a lighter note, I am very happy for the locals since it is now easier for them to get out and go back to Batad. I have seen their struggle before and they deserve to have things easier.

They can now respond faster to emergencies.

No more bumpy ride. And it is now faster to clear landslides.

Author’s Notes

• Drinks, Chips, Soap, Biscuits, etc. are more expensive in Batad so I would advice that you buy your essentials in Banaue where the stores sell them for a standard price. Prices in Batad are more expensive due to the fact that they would need to hire a porter just to bring the goods from the road to the town.
• Bring enough cash when you are traveling to Banaue or Batad. There are no ATM in Banaue nor is there in Batad. The closest ATM is in Lagawe, Ifugao. Lagawe is an hour away from the Town Center of Banaue via Jeep.
• Upon arrival in Banaue Town Center you need to pay a 25 Pesos/person Environmental Fee at the Municipal Tourism Center.
• Upon arrival in Batad you need to pay a 50 Pesos/person Heritage Fee at the Batad Tourist Information Center.
• There is no cellular network in Batad both for Globe and Smart. Locals who have a celphone needs to look for a location where there is a weak signal and leave their phones there.
• Get ready physically when visiting Batad. It’s a physically demanding place to go around that even I who loves to walk had a hard time going around the place.

How to travel from Banaue Town Center to Batad

• Public Jeepney
• Private Jeepney
• Tricycle

Public Jeepney

You can ride a public jeepney from Banaue to Batad. The rate is 150 Pesos/person (one-way).

In Banaue, the jeepney is located at the marketplace.

In Batad, the jeepney is located at the end of the road. I think they call the place Hadchag, I’m not sure though. Most of the time they still call it Saddle Point.

Schedule of Departure both for Banaue and Batad are 8:30 AM and 3:00 PM. Don’t expect the jeepneys to leave on time though, they have to wait for the passengers.

Schedule of Public Jeepney from Banaue to Batad

Private Jeepney

In Banaue you can hire a jeepney to take you to Batad Saddle (end of the road in Batad). The standard rate is 2,800 Pesos/jeepney.

I tried inquiring if the rate is roundtrip or not and I tried to ask around. According to the person I asked, the rate for a daytrip in Batad is 2,800 Pesos/jeepney which is roundtrip for a day.

If you want the jeepney to wait for another night for you you would need to pay an additional 1,400 Pesos.

You can hire from the Municipal Tourism Center and the accommodations but it would be best to hire directly from the jeepney drivers in the Public Market.

Private Jeepney Rates from the Banaue Municipal Tourism Center

Tricycle

You can hire a tricycle to Batad Saddle Point. The rate is 1,000 Pesos/tricycle. I’m assuming that this is a one-way trip because if this is a roundtrip the tricycle will definitely not earning money for his family. Better to ask directly with the tricycle drivers.

Tricycle Rates from a guy who were offering us a ride. Not sure if this is official.

Disclaimer: Please note that the rates that I have posted here are the standard rates when I visited Banaue & Batad last June 2015. The details may change without prior notice. Better if you would carry extra money with you to offset the changes.

On my three times visit to Batad in Banaue, Ifugao this is the second time that I stayed in Simon’s Viewpoint Inn.

My first visit last 2009 in Batad Simon’s made a good impression on me that I wanted to stay here when I get back to Batad.

On my second visit, a friend of mine arranged the trip so I left the decision making to her and she arranged us to stay at Hillside Inn.

On my third visit (which is this visit) I was able to stay in Simon’s again.

#Sunrise from Simon's Viewpoint Inn the morning after our tiring trek around #Batad Rice Terraces and Tappia Falls. #Banaue #Ifugao #Philippines

A photo posted by Lakas ng Trip (@lakasngtrip) on Jun 17, 2015 at 1:56am PDT

Why did I go back?

Mainly because of all the view in Batad, Simon’s is one of the best views to see the Batad Rice Terraces. Imagine I get to see a great view from sunrise to sunset.

But let me be more detailed on why I love staying at Simon’s Viewpoint.

Location

If you’re wondering where Simon’s Viewpoint Inn is in all of Batad you may want to see the picture below.

View of Simon’s Viewpoint Inn from the Highest Rice Terrace in Batad.

To get there, once you have reached the Tourist Information Center turn right and keep walking on the path. You’ll be passing by Rita’s Mount View Inn. At the end of the path there’s a stair going down. From here you would see the sign of Simon’s Viewpoint Inn. Just go down the stairs and you’ll be entering Simon’s Viewpoint Inn.

The distance from the Batad Tourist Information Center to Simon’s Viewpoint Inn is less than 50 meters.

The Place (in general)

I like big open spaces that’s why I’m very happy with the dining hall of Simon’s Viewpoint Inn. It’s wide and the tables are well spaced apart. Plus the view of the amphitheater like Batad Rice Terraces can be seen from the dining hall.

Dining Hall

It may seem like the place has not yet completed its construction. Ever since my first visit to Batad in 2009 it was already like this. Weirdly, I like it that way. It adds to the charm of Simon’s Viewpoint Inn.

I could tell you the interesting story why Simon’s Viewpoint Inn has not yet finished its construction but I think it would be better if you go there and ask the staff anyway.

You’ll notice that there’s this wall of calling cards, photos and other stuff that other visitors leave. It’s somewhat a common thing in the establishments in Batad. You may want to check out the wall and see if you can find a friend.

You can also leave messages on the wall for the staff and I think it’s a really great idea to do so as the staff really look forward to seeing messages for them. Plus it’s a huge boost of encouragement to keep up with the good service.

The View

I think the view is best described by pictures rather than words.

The Sunrise

Night time

The Rice Terraces when the sun was setting.

There’s not much to see during the night as Batad does not have streetlights. You’ll only see a few patches of light which shows how little the community is.

Dining Hall at night.

Taking Pictures

There’s a fence which prevents people falling off from the ledge but also challenges the photographer to take a good photo of friends and the view. That can be solved by pulling a chair and standing on the chair to take photos. Just be careful not to fall off.

The Rooms

The second floor is where the rooms are located. To get there one must remove their shoes first to lessen the dirt that would go be on the rooms and hallways.

The hallway’s floor is made from wood and the walls are made of plywood. Same with the rooms.

The rooms are just basic. There are just beds with beddings and pillows, they also gave blankets too. You can put your stuff beside the wall, under your bed or on the bed. It’s up to you.

Our room.

Room good for 2 persons. 2 single beds.

Room good for 2 persons. 1 bed for 2 persons.

There’s also a light bulb in the room. Other than that there’s nothing else. No cabinets. No electrical sockets. No place to hang your stuff. No electric fan.

There are no private bathrooms here, only communal bathroom. Which is nice because you get to interact with other travelers.

How do we charge our phone or cameras then?

Just go down to the kitchen and ask the staff to charge your phone or camera. The rate of the charge is 30 Pesos/battery.

How much is the stay in Simon’s Viewpoint Inn?

The rate during our stay was 250 Pesos/person/night. We were 3 persons so we payed 750 Pesos/night.

I’m not sure though if there’s a minimum number of persons per room. So if you are alone you may pay more than 250 Pesos/night.

Here’s a view from one of the rooms.

How about the bathroom or toilet?

The bathroom and toilet is located near the entrance of Simon’s Viewpoint Inn.

There are 2 shower rooms and 2 toilets. Only one has a hot shower and to use it you need to pay 50 Pesos/bath session.

There is only one sink if you want to brush your teeth, wash your hands or wash something else.

Since the bathroom, toilet and sink are all communal, when using them please be considerate to other people who might also use them.

I am glad to say that water was not a problem when we visited Batad last June 2015.

The Staff

When we arrived at the Simon’s Viewpoint Inn, the staff was not around in the common areas so we looked into the kitchen to see them there. When they saw us they came near and assisted us. They checked our reservation and guided us to where our room is.

When we ordered food, they were really helpful and kind on assisting us to pick something from their menu.

Note: Simon’s Viewpoint Inn is a budget travelers accommodation. It is not a high end hotel where their staff are always ready to assist you. Please be patient, kind and reasonable when you ask for something from them.

Here’s a tip so that you would have a better time with their staff.

• The menus are located near the kitchen. Don’t call on them just to bring you the menu. Approach them and ask if you could bring the menu to your group on the table.
• Once you have selected the food on their menu, list it down on a paper and bring it to them in the kitchen.
• If you have questions, please be patient with them. Though they can talk Tagalog or English they are not used to using these languages.
• When someone else is asking something from them, please be patient to let the other finish first before you ask your question or ask for something.

The Food

We have not had breakfast when we arrived at around 8:27 AM in the morning. One of us ordered for a Porkchop (100 Pesos/order) and because of our lack of imagination due to hunger we all decided to order porkchop, and it was the best gastronomic decision we made in our whole stay in Batad as it was delicious. Perfectly fried porkchop with the right amount of meat and fats, with chopped fresh onion and tomato, served with red rice. We also ordered for their Native Coffee (40 Pesos/cup) which was a good combination with the pork chop. Weirdly delicious for breakfast.

Porkchop and Native Coffee

To add to the experience, try a small amount of soy sauce with ketchup and put a hint of their chili powder to add spice. It would be a good dip for your porkchop.

Since we were superbly tired and aching after our walk around the Batad for 5 hours, we went all out. We ordered the following.

• Pita with Vegetable Salad Cheese Egg (100 Pesos/person)
• Tomato Onion Garlic Pizza (130 Pesos/order)
• Chicken Adobo (150 Pesos/order)
• Fried Chicken (100 Pesos/order)

Our dinner.

Tomato Onion Garlic Pizza

Dinner was just okay. Maybe the porkchop was just too awesome for us to be wishing for porkchop even during dinner. But still it was good. We had a hard time finishing all we ordered though as we ordered too much!

Next time I’m there I’ll try the other things on their menu.

Note: Order way in advance for your food in Batad. The service is slow, especially when they have a lot of guests. I’ve tried several other restaurants in Batad, the waiting time is the same.

Here’s the opening and closing time for the Restaurant in Simon’s Viewpoint Inn.

Opening and Closing Time of their Restaurant.

Electricity

Electricity in Batad is available 24 hours. Surprising for a place in the Philippines located far from the highway.

Cellular Network

The Cecllular Network in Batad is bad. There’s no signal of Globe nor Smart in the area. The locals use TouchMobile but even they have a hard time getting a signal with it.

Interestingly, this is the reason why I love Batad. Because I get disconnected from the digital world and get connected to the real world. I don’t have to answer calls or text. I have no chance to update my Facebook or Instagram.

If you want to really talk with someone, I highly recommend you head over to Batad.

Massage

I am not a fan of massages but after the 5 hours of grueling hike, I happily availed it for 350 Pesos/person. And it was a good choice as my body got relaxed from the massage.

Whole Body Massage (350 Pesos/person)

Would I stay again in Simon’s Viewpoint Inn?

Simon’s Viewpoint Inn had a really nice view of the Batad Rice Terraces, a nice place to see the sunrise, it had a laidback atmosphere, no cellular signal for me to concentrate on the view and my friends, and friendly staff. With these reason, I would be very happy to stay here again.

Contact Numbers

• 0930-507-7467
• 0919-217-6986

Text only. When you are inquiring just text the following.

• Name
• Number of Persons
• Check-in Date
• Check-out Date
• Number of Nights

Please note that signal in Batad is not that good so it may take a while for them to reply.

Also, please update them if you are not going to continue with your travel.

Want more pictures of Simon’s Viewpoint Inn? Visit my flickr album here – https://www.flickr.com/gp/80442260@N02/925054.

• Batad Guide Rates

On my first visit to Batad I was only around 140 Pounds and I learned how much muscle aches my body could achieve. On my second visit I brought along an additional weight of 20 pounds in the form of muscle and body fat (mostly body fat) and my muscle ached to the point that I think that fat aches also exist.

On my third visit to Batad, I added 50 pounds from my previous visit because I can. If you think about it, my body is like a barbell bar which I could add weights to it. I’m weirdly cool like that.

It was harvest season when we visited #Batad #RiceTerraces. #Banaue #Ifugao #Philippines

A photo posted by Lakas ng Trip (@lakasngtrip) on Jun 18, 2015 at 7:08pm PDT

The original plan was just to visit the Highest Viewpoint of Batad Rice Terraces and the next day we would visit Tappia Falls because I do not want to abruptly stress my body from the additional weight. When my brother heard that we could still head to Hapao Rice Terraces if we visit Tappia Waterfalls on the same day, he encouraged us to do everything we can in Batad and move on to another destination the next day. And that was when we did not follow my workout schedule.

8:27 AM We arrived at our accommodation in Batad – Simon’s Viewpoint Inn and ordered the tasty Porkchop with Rice for breakfast (highly recommended). We decided over breakfast that we would start our trek around Batad at 1:00 PM so that we could still get enough sleep and have lunch before the trek.

12:00 NN We decided not to have lunch since we did not really do anything but sleep. Got ready for the trek and asked for a guide from the Batad Tourist Information Center to guide us to 3 main points of Batad Rice Terraces.

• Highest Viewpoint
• Tappia Waterfalls
• Main Village

Guide fee is 800 Pesos/guide for the three points of interest above.

1:00 PM Start of our trek. I shall let pictures tell you about our walk along the rice terraces. Mostly it’s going up or down.

There’s a point in the trek when we had to climb on a wall using the rocks protruding from the wall. On top was a store where we drank coke.

2:16 PM (1 hour, 16 minutes hike) Arrived at Highest Viewpoint of Batad Rice Terraces. We took photos and absorbed the beauty of the rice terraces from a higher point of view.

By the way, there’s a higher viewpoint of Batad Rice Terraces but we did not have enough time and strength to go there. I think that was what they call the ‘Best View Point’.

2:22 PM (6 minutes stay) We started our descent to Tappia Waterfalls.

Stairs going down.

More stairs.

Last stairs going down.

Another last stairs going down.

Finally a not so much inclined stairs. I think I lost a lot of potential energy.

Break!!! Coke for Sugar Rush!

Another last set of stairs going down version 2.

Woohoo! Rest stop for another set of softdrinks. This time I think we had Mountain Dew because were in the mountains. #Corny

Another last set of stairs going down version 3.

Final another last set of stairs going down version 3.

It’s another set of stairs going down! When will this end?!?!?

Finally, some steps going up!

Hello there Tappia Waterfalls.

But we still had some steps to do.

A little more.

3:32 PM (1 hour, 10 minutes hike) Arrived at Tappia Waterfalls. Rested and took a dip in the cold cold waters at the basin.

A store for more sugar rush.

The bad thing about this trek is that we went an awful lot of stairs going down, so if we go back that means we also have to go through an awful lot of stairs going up! Woohoo!! More training! I can’t wait!

4:35 PM (1 hour, 3 minutes stay) Started going up to Simon’s Viewpoint Inn passing thru Main Village.

Finally, some rest.

Sunlight was slowly fading.

We heard chanting and according to our guide they were doing a ritual for the harvest.

Going down a wall.

Nearing the Main Village.

5:48 PM Start passing thru Main Village

Pig pens.

A native hut being constructed.

Inside the native hut.

5:53 PM Got out of the Main Village.

They tied plastic straws so that the path would not be blocked by the rice stalks.

Rest stop. Unfortunately, no store.

View from the rest stop.

More stairs.

Nearing Simon’s Viewpoint Inn.

6:46 PM (2 hours, 11 minutes hike) Arrived at Simon’s Viewpoint Inn with an aching body. Finally some rest!!!

5 hours, 46 minutes total hiking time.

P.S. I lost around 2 kilos from this trip when I checked at the house. But do not worry, I already gained 5 kilos. I’m now a walking barbell.

Will I do it again?

YES! YES! YES! Batad Rice Terraces is my favorite Rice Terraces so far and even if I have visited the place for 3 times I’m willing to do it again. Next time I prefer to bring less weights.

Guide Rates

Here’s the standard guide fee in Batad. This was from the Batad Tourist Information Center.

If you want to see more photos of our trek arond Batad you can visit my Flickr album here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/80442260@N02/

Most people know the popular Banaue Rice Terraces but never heard of Batad Rice Terraces. In my personal opinion, you should know Batad as the Rice Terraces there is my favorite among my favorites.

This post will list down things that you need to know when you visit Batad. In short this is my Batad Travel Guide.

The amphitheatre-like Rice Terraces of Batad. #Batad #Banaue #Ifugao #Philippines #TravelPH

A photo posted by Lakas ng Trip (@lakasngtrip) on Oct 8, 2015 at 6:25pm PDT

1. Where is Batad?

Banaue is a municipality of Ifugao. Batad is a barangay of Banaue. In short Batad is inside Banaue. In reality Batad Rice Terraces is actually a part of the Banaue Rice Terraces.

During our transit from Banaue to Batad

2. Going to Batad

You will first have to reach Banaue. To do that you should read about my bus ride from Manila to Banaue. At Banaue you can either ride the Public Jeepney to Batad or you can hire a Jeepney or a Tricycle.

The rate are as follows.

• Public Jeepney – 150 Pesos/person (one-way)
• Hired Jeepney – 2,800 Pesos/jeep
• Hired Tricycle – 700 Pesos/tricycle

According to the Tourism Center in Banaue the rate is actually for a daytrip going to and fro Batad but you would need to pay an additional if you are going for an overnight.

We got a tip from the local guides of Batad that it would be better if you go straight to the Jeepney Drivers located in the Public Market of Banaue and ask for their price.

The Public Jeepney can be located in the Public Market of Banaue but there’s a schedule so you need to make sure to be there on the right schedule.

Here’s the schedule if you plan to take the Public Jeepney.

I’m not sure what the names are for.

Estimated Travel Time (One-way)

• Public Jeepney – 1 hour 30 minutes
• Hired Jeepney – 1 hour
• Hired Tricycle – 1 hour 30 minutes

The vehicles will not take you to the village of Batad but somewhere near it, somewhere below what they call Saddle Point. From here you would need to walk about 30 minutes to get to the town where the accommodations are located.

You can check out my post on our travel from Banaue to Batad to have an idea on what the journey would be like.

3. Heritage Fee

You know that you are in the village of Batad when you have seen the Batad Tourist Information Center. Once you get here you will need to pay a Heritage Fee of 50 Pesos/person.

Then you can ask their staff on how you could enjoy Batad more or you can move on and see the Batad Rice Terraces behind the Tourist Information Center.

4. Guides and Fees

Guides are not required in Batad but I would highly recommend you get them. It may seem easy to walk around the Rice Terraces since you can see where the Highest Viewpoint is or the entry point to Tappiya Waterfalls but it’s actually challenging to navigate because the Rice Terraces are like a maze. There were times that I went the wrong route because I got left behind due to my picture taking.

Here’s the Guide Fees if you want to hire a guide.

If you want to see what we went through when we went around Batad you can visit my post on our trek going to the Highest Viewpoint and Tappiya Waterfalls.

5. Accommodation

There are a good number of accommodations in Batad but not as many as you might think. I’ve heard stories that on peak season there would be travelers who had a hard time looking for a place to stay. Therefore, it might be best to book in advance.

Do not expect a posh hotel in the area as the accommodations there are all on a backpacker level. Usually accommodations do not have electric fans inside their rooms nor do they have aircondition.

Here’s a list of accommodation that I know of in Batad

• Ramon’s Homestay
• Simon’s Viewpoint Inn
• Rita’s Mount View Inn
• Hillside Inn
• Batad Pension & Restaurant

There are actually many more but I have not seen them yet.

Visit my post about Simon’s Viewpoint Inn to know more on my experience on our stay there.

6. Food & Drinks

Accommodation in Batad have restaurants where you can order food. And there are a lot of sari-sari store where you order your chips and drinks. Even during the trek around the Rice Terraces there are a good number of stores where you can buy drinks and snacks.

What you should be prepared in terms of food and drinks in Batad are the price of the commodities. They are seriously expensive. The price is understandable as they had to transport the goods with human strength just to get there.

i.e. An 8 oz Coca Cola is priced at 30 Pesos.

Sunrise in Simon’s Viewpoint Inn

7. Weather

When we went there last June 2015 it was not cold enough for us to where our jackets during the night time. But on my previous visit it was really cold even if I was wearing a jacket.

8. Physical Fitness

You must a have a certain level of physical fitness to truly enjoy Batad. On all my visits to Batad, I would always end the trip with muscles aches due to over exertion. The rice terraces itself looks like stairs so you’ll really have to go through many stairs up and down to visit the places.

If you are heading to Batad be sure to be physically fit and mentally ready to do walking up and down stairs and trails for around 5 to 6 hours.

Locals doing a harvest ritual on our visit to the village.

9. A Day of No Entry

There’s a day in Batad where they would not allow entry to the Rice Terraces because they are doing a ritual to have a better crop. If you accidentally entered the Rice Terraces on that day you would need to pay with a pig and chicken for sacrifice.

Unfortunately, this is not a yearly event nor they could plan this way ahead of schedule. So it would be best if you plan to head to Batad is to first visit the Tourism Center in Banaue for them to warn you if you are visiting during the time when the Rice Terraces are off limits.

Estan Cabigas’ post about his experience on how he broke a taboo would best tell the story.

10. Communication

There’s a really weak signal for TouchMobile in Batad. Too weak that you could consider it to have no signal at all. The locals would usually put their cellphone on a certain spot where there’s a signal to receive and send text messages. Voice messages is impossible.

Personally, it’s a good sign because you really get to disconnect and just enjoy the place without being distracted to post it in Instagram or Facebook. [LINK TO INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK]

11. Electricity

Electricity in Batad is available 24 hours. According to our guide their electricity in the village comes from Banaue.

A native hut being constructed.

12. Best Time to Visit Batad

Batad can be visited throughout the whole year. I have a friend who frequently visit Batad and I think they have made a visit on all the months of the year. But there are not so good times, good times and best times to visit Batad.

The best time to visit Batad would be during December to February where the rainy season has ended and the weather is still cold. Summer from March to May is still good. But from June to November is not so good times to visit Batad due to the rainy season.

During the rainy season there’s a high chance that there would be landslides that would prevent vehicles to visit Batad.

At the Municipal Tourism Office in Banaue.

13. Daytrip

The Municipal Tourism Center in Banaue offers a guided Day Trip in Batad that would only cost 600 Pesos/person. It would start at 8:30 AM in Banaue then head to Batad and trek through Batad Rice Terraces to visit the Main Village and Tappiya Falls, and would end around 5PM in Banaue according to the sign that was in the Tourism Center.

What they would do is get others to join you to visit Batad. I’m not sure if the 600 Pesos/person includes lunch but I have a feeling that the price does not include lunch. It does include transportation and guide.

If we did the visit to Batad overnight and still ended up with a sore body, how much more if you visit Batad on a daytrip. Therefore, I would highly recommend that you visit Batad overnight.

14. Other Information

I’m not sure if this would help but here’s an information we saw in Batad Tourist Information Center.

I hope this list would help you plan your visit to Batad soon.

Tappiya Waterfalls

If you want to see more pictures of Batad, visit my Flickr Album here – flic.kr/s/aHskaXxC2U

While we were on the van on our way to the Underground River our tour guide told us that we will be doing a sidetrip to Ugong Rock Adventure. Remembering that we had lots of fun on my visit there last October 2010, I wanted to try it again and see the changes. Good thing I brought a generous amount of extra cash.

8:33 AM. Our van arrived at Ugong Rock Adventure. We first took photos with the large sign and we were guided to the briefing area.

In the briefing area we listened to what Ugong Rock Adventure was all about. It was a community based tourism which helps build work for people in Brgy. Tagabinet, Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. What really struck me is their motto “Nag-enjoy ka na. Nakatulong ka pa.” Roughly translated to “You already enjoyed, you even helped.”

They also told us that if we availed of the Ugong Rock, we had an option to do the Zipline going down.

The rates of Ugong Rock Adventure are as follows.

• Ugong Rock Caving – 200 Pesos/person
• Zipline (Sitting Position) – 250 Pesos/person (optional)
• Zipline (Superman Position) – 350 Pesos/person (optional)

When I asked the difference between the sitting position and the superman position they said that in the sitting position you are not allowed to take pictures or selfies because you need to hold on to the rope for you to maintain the sitting position while in the superman position you can take pictures and selfies because your hands are free. So in the name of vanity I availed the Zipline Superman Position. It was a hard decision for someone selfless like me. Total of 550 Pesos for me.

We then went to the cashier to pay for the Caving and the Zipline. They told us that we could just pay for the caving and then decide if we’ll take the zipline when we were on top. Since I was decided already and does not want to be reminded of my financial problems on top I decided to pay the whole 550 Pesos to the cashier.

Next was selecting gloves and a helmet. If you think you do not need a helmet, I just want to let you know what my friend told me “It was a good thing I wore a helmet, I could not count how many times I hit my head on the rocks.”

8:54 AM. After a lot of picture taking and selfies we were finally ready to experience the adventure.

Then another briefing on what we can do and not do inside the Ugong Rock Adventure.

After the briefing, we went inside one of the darkest areas of Ugong Rock Adventure. We were at the middle of the group and the guides were in the front and in the back, and I left my celphone at the van so I had no light. I tried remembering the features of the floor and the rock so that I would not trip. Luckily, I survived!

After the dark hallway we made a little walk and it was not all going up.

Since there were many people doing the Ugong Rock Caving we had to wait in queue due to the effort to go up.

I remembered this section that they did not require us to wear a harness. I’m glad now that they require a harness as one misstep may mean and end of a whole life of adventure.

9:34 AM (40 minutes of climbing to the top) After many twists and turns through the natural obstacle course we were finally at the top.

A little rest and a lot of dripping sweat and we were lining up for the zipline. Unfortunately for me, there were a lot of people doing the Superman Position so I had to wait for a time for me to be fitted with a harness, which by the way made emphasis on the size of my tummy and something below the belt.

When it was my turn, I had myself stand on a step and be clipped to the zipline contraption. This was my first time to do a zipline so I did not want to let my fear defeat me, at the moment I was already hanging from the ropes and facing down I quickly told the staff to let go off me. Which they generously did.

Here is a selfie video for some selfless documentation.

At the end of the zipline, a staff help me remove all the harness. When I got down from the platform our van was already waiting for me. I was the last one to do the Superman Position Zipline. Then we fetched our groupmates who did the Sitting Position Zipline.

10:27 AM. We were on our way to Sabang for the continuation of our Underground River Tour.

Author’s Opinion

This trip was around my sixth visit to the Underground River, my first was last 2010, and in my honest personal opinion, my experience was definitely better when we did the Ugong Rock Adventure than just to do the Underground River Tour alone.

When I asked my friends about their experience on the Ugong Rock Adventure one of them said that he enjoyed more Ugong Rock than the Underground River Tour because it was challenging enough to make us release sweat and effort just to go through the obstacles. While the Underground River Tour you will just sit down and enjoy the view and the boatman.

This is only my opinion, I am an adventure seeker at heart so I’m more for the effortful adventures. I’ve also met people who did liked the Underground River Tour better than Ugong Rock Adventure and I respect their preference and opinion.

Ugong Rock Adventure Details

Ugong Rock Adventures is a community based tourism effort with the help of the Puerto Princesa City Tourism Office and ABSCBN Foundation which bring work to the locals of Brgy. Tagabinet.

Usually, this is a sidetrip during the Underground River Tour. But I would highly advice you to tell your guide to take you here.

Rates/Prices

• Ugong Rock Caving – 200 Pesos/person
• Zipline (Sitting Position) – 250 Pesos/person (optional)
• Zipline (Superman Position) – 350 Pesos/person (optional)

Other Details

Everyone is required to wear a helmet and wear gloves to protect yourself and the environment.

Have you tried Ugong Rock Adventure? Was it fun? Tell me on the comments below.

I decided to have a short vacation and since I’m in Palawan and my friends are frustrated when people ask them that they are from Palawan and have yet to enter the Underground River (1,500 Pesos/person), we decided to end that frustration.

Hello Underground River. We meet again. #UndergroundRiver #PuertoPrincesa #Palawan

A photo posted by Lakas ng Trip (@lakasngtrip) on Oct 10, 2015 at 1:27am PDT

We booked with Northern Hope Tours a week in advance just to be sure that we get slots to enter the Underground River. I do not want to risk traveling all the way to Puerto Princesa just to be rejected entry.

They adviced us that pick-up will be from 7AM to around 7:30AM, so we had breakfast around 6AM for us to be able to have breakfast and get ready for the tour.

7:00 AM We were picked up in from our accommodation, Kuhl-in Pension. When we boarded there were other groups inside the van and since we were the last group to be picked up the van was now headed straight to Sabang, or so I thought.

The guide was very pleasant inside the van. She was informative and she had lots of jokes and witty remarks for the group to be awake and excited for the trip.

She informed us that from Puerto Princesa Town Proper it would take almost 2 hours to get to Brgy. Sabang where we would still need to ride a 20 minute boat just to get to the mouth of the Underground River. But first we would be taking the sidetrip to Ugong Rock Adventure, which is actually a very good and highly recommended sidetrip for adventure seekers like me.

But before we go any further with the chat with the guide, she asked us for our IDs. This is required for the staff at Sabang to verify our identities if we were the ones in the permit.

8:05 AM – 8:15 AM (10 minutes) Our first stopover for some snacks, drinks, release of liquids and a view of the sea.

8:33 AM-10:27 AM We arrived at Ugong Rock Adventure for our sidetrip. You can read about our adventure there here.

10:42 AM We arrived at Brgy. Sabang and while our guide fixed our permits for entry, our driver brought us straight to the restaurant where we had a buffet lunch. Ugong Rock Adventure has that way of removing all signs of breakfast from our stomach.

11:20 AM When we all were finished eating and had a little rest, we were guided to the wharf on where we would be riding a motorized banka to where the mouth of the Underground River is located.

It was weird for me, because when we arrived at the wharf we were the only people there and we got to ride the boat immediately. Usually there was a long line of tourists waiting for their turn. I’m not complaining.

Here’s a video of the boat ride from the wharf to the beach where we will walk to the entrance of the Underground River.

If you cannot see the video above, click here.

11:46 AM (20 minute boat ride) We arrived at the beach and started walking to the mouth of the cave.

But we had to first take pictures of ourselves on the famous Underground River sign.

12:00 PM We arrived at the entrance of the cave. We’ll wait for our turn to ride the paddle boats. There I saw my much awaited line. We had to wait for about 36 minutes just to get on a boat and based from my previous experience that wait is already fast. Worst I had was when we waited for 1.5 hours.

12:36 PM It was now our turn, we were required to wear helmets before we rode a paddle boat.

One was designated as the light bearer and since I’ve already been the light source a lot of times I decided not to do it to have a different experience.

Here’s a video of us boarding the boat up to us entering the cave.

If you cannot see the video above, you can click here.

Here’s another video, this time inside the cave.

If you cannot view the video above, click here.

Some jokes are repetitive but I’m glad that on my 6 times that I have been in the Underground River with different paddle boatman, each one have their own set of unique jokes.

1:18 PM (42 minutes inside the Underground River) We were now outside again. We deposited our helmets and we decided to take a more scenice route around the beach instead of going back the way we came from.

Check the video below to see what’s in the alternate route.

If you cannot see the video above, click here.

Then a little wait for our boat to dock.

1:36 PM We boarded our boat back to Sabang Wharf.

1:57 PM We arrived back at the Wharf where we waited for the others on a different boat and we boarded the van back to Puerto Princesa Town Proper.

But before that, I had a fruit shake/smoothie for 50 Pesos.

2:15 PM A quick stopover at the Karst Mountain (Elephant Cave) for some pictures.

3:19 PM Another quick stopover at the Vietnamese Village. Somehow I am glad that most of the Vietnamese had moved on from the village. Wherever they are I hope they would achieve the life that they deserve or wanted.

4:00 PM We were asked where we wanted to be dropped off. Our group discussed whether we would be dropped off at Kuhl-in Pension or we be dropped off at Robinsons Puerto Princesa. We decided to be dropped off at Robinsons Puerto Princesa since it has been months since we last saw a mall. Disadvantage of living in a municipality away from the normalities of city life.

If you’re planning to visit the Underground River you can book with Northern Hope Tours for 1,500 Pesos/person. This includes the airconditioned van, lunch, guide, fees. Does not include the sidetrips, you will need to pay for the sidetrips directly when you get there.

Northern Hope Tours

• Mobile Numbers: +63-939-902-2216, +63-927-735-3221
• E-mail: northernhopetours@gmail.com

Have you been to the Underground River? Tell me your story on the comments section below.

I’ve been looking for a well performing smartphone lately, as my previous smartphones only does their job but personally they do not perform well. That’s why when I tried the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0, I was very happy that it did well the functions that I was looking for.

This photo was taken using another Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0

If you’re thinking about the specifications of the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 check the photo below.

Other specifications that are not written above.

• Android Lolipop 5.0.2
• 2 GB RAM
• 16 GB Internal Storage
• Up to 128 GB Micro SD
• Dual Sim (both microsim)
• 3G/LTE capable (both sim)
• Screen size: 5 inches
• Battery: 2,070 mAh (removable)

The specification are nicely written above but there are a number of smartphones that are also has nicely written specifications but could not deliver to what they promised. The Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 is not one of those smartphones.

As a traveler here are some of the things that I liked about the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 in 7 days that I used it as my primary phone.

Casing Style

The back of the phone which has a hairline design with metallic finish actually improves the friction with my hands which makes the probability of the phone slipping very low. It also helps not to slip when it is on my pocket.

If you are wondering what the shiny silver thing at the back, it’s actually the volume keys which also can be used as a shutter button when taking photos using the camera app.

Touchscreen Responsiveness

Everytime I use the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0, the screen response does not lag even if there are many applications that are running in the background. Even if it was charging it still recognize correctly my swipe and press on the touchscreen.

Since travel involves a lot of sweating and eating, I tried to test the phone with vinegar, oil and water and I am happy to tell you that even if my hands were wet with those mediums the phone still responded well. Check out my instagram post below.

Food and travel go together. Water, oil and vinegar also goes with the food. I decided to test the responsiveness of the touchscreen of Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 when it is wet with water, oil and vinegar. #ZenFone #SeeWhatOthersCantSee #ZenFoneLaser #ASUSPhilippines @asusph

A video posted by Lakas ng Trip (@lakasngtrip) on Nov 16, 2015 at 2:55am PST

Battery Life

In terms of battery life the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 in my normal use without using a data network the phone lasted 27 hours to go from 100% to 30%. This could still be longer if we use a Asus Zenpower (Power Bank).

When I charged it from 30%, it took about 3 hours for it to be fully charged. That is already good if I am traveling and I have to move from one place to another and my only time to charge is during my sleep at an accommodation.

Check-out the graph below from the battery settings of my Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0.

Gorilla Glass 4 Screen

I’m not really a fan of screen protectors because they may protect your screen from scratches but they are quite annoying when the screen protector has too many scratches already and you have to find a store that could replace this for you.

In the case of Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 it has a Gorilla Glass 4 screen which is really tough and superbly scratch resistant. Which makes me worry less when the Zenfone is in my pocket along with my coin purse, ballpen and any other stuff that I have to put on it. And no need to use screen protectors.

Photos!!!

I really liked taking photos and videos with the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 because the quality of the photos are better than what I have experienced so far with smartphones.

And it still has many other functionalities that I enjoyed playing with.

Auto Mode (The usual mode)

Low Light

Smart Remove

What the Smart Remove mode does is it takes about 5 photos then it removes anything that moves.

Here’s my photo of a busy street in Iligan City using the auto mode.

Here’s a photo of the same busy street when I took a photo with it using the Smart Remove mode.

GIF Animation

I actually shot this for you to see the viewable angle of the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0. But I’m also using it as an example of the phone’s ability to create GIF Animation.

Time Lapse

Time lapse video of a busy street in Iligan City using the ASUS Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 while we had lunch. #ZenFone #SeeWhatOthersCantSee #ZenFoneLaser #ASUSPhilippines @asusph

A video posted by Lakas ng Trip (@lakasngtrip) on Nov 9, 2015 at 10:18pm PST

Videos + Pictures

I was taking a video earlier when we were boarding a plane to Cebu when I thought that I could press the button while it is recording. I was surprised that it could take a photo while recording a video.

The photo I took while recording a video.

Flashlight

You may laugh at me for thi,s but as I frequently use the flashlight since I travel. I need a smartphone that has a good flashlight. I tested the flashlight of Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 on a pitch black room and it lit up the place well, enough for me to navigate and see where I am going. Also very useful to illuminate closer objects. It also has a mode where the flashlight app does a morse code that spells SOS with flashlight, useful during emergency situations,

Conclusion

As someone who does travel and blogging, the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 will be very useful during my travels or with my everyday life. Even if you are not a travel blogger, I would still recommend the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 because of its quality. Better than anything that I have seen in the market with the same price range.

As of writing the SRP of the Asus Zenfone 2 Laser 5.0 is 7, 295 Pesos.

We had an enjoyable stay at The Orchard Cebu Hotel & Suites in Mandaue City when our flight arrived around 10:00 AM (November 17, 2015) at Mactan Airport.

Originally, our plan was to wait for a later flight of my brother to Cebu since he was coming from Manila and head to Bantayan Island via the North Bus Terminal.  Unfortunately, due to the APEC his flight got cancelled and was rescheduled to the early morning of November 18, which made us look for a hotel with a good reputation in Mandaue City, thus we found The Orchard Cebu Hotel & Suites.

Why Mandaue City?

We did not want to go through the hassle of passing through the traffic of Cebu City just to get to the North Bus Terminal which was located in Mandaue City. Plus Mandaue City is much closer to Mactan Airport (Cebu) than Cebu City.

The Orchard Hotel & Suites Experience

I could tell you in general that I had an enjoyable and comfortable stay at The Orchard Cebu Hotel but let me tell you some details why I liked my stay there.  (Discounted rates)

Hotel Lobby seen from the second floor.

Staff Interaction

When we entered the building premises the staff were smiling and were eager to receive us. They asked the right questions for them to process our reservation the quickest way possible and I am very happy for it because they did not waste our time. They were even knowledgeable on where to go if we needed to buy something or steps when we needed to go somewhere.

Everytime we passed by their staff along the hallways they would always greet us with a smile.

Room

First thing I noticed on my Standard Twin Room was how spacious it was. I love big spaces. Then the air was odorless which indicates that the place was clean. Beds were well made. The room was well lit with lots of different lights. I could turn some off if I wanted the room to get dimmer. The sheets were not new they were not old and worn out either.

Panoramic view of the room

Here’s a big plus for me was the water heater for drinks since I am a fan of drinking tea or hot water when I am working. If your room does not have one, you can ask their front desk to provide you with one.

Complimentary water and water heater.

If you’re a TV person, every room has an LCD TV with Cable.

All rooms also has a small refrigerator and a cabinet with a safety deposit box and hangers.

Refrigerator is the white box on the lower left and the cabinet is the big brown box on the right.

Safety Deposit Box and Hangers

Bathroom

The bathroom was also clean. It had a sink with running water, a flush toilet and a shower room with hot and cold shower.

The stay includes towels and complimentary soap and shampoo.

Internet and Mobile Signal

In terms of WiFi internet our room had a nice WiFi signal with a good speed internet. Enough for us to stream youtube videos in highres without delay. According to their staff they made sure that all rooms have access to their WiFi internet.

Inside the rooms both Globe and Smart had good signal. Full signal reception on my dual sim phone. I’ve tested Globe’s 3G which provided fast internet for Facebook, Instagram and for working on my computer. This is if you get a room without a good WiFi Signal.

Breakfast

Breakfast was good and generous but has room for improvements. Sorry, I was not able to take a picture of my breakfast. I was really hungry that time.

Establishments in the Vicinity

There were a couple of times that I needed to go out and buy some food and some stuff in convenience stores. I asked the front desk where I could source them and she told me that I could go to J. Mall because they have a 711 and a grocery there. Apparently, J. Centre Mall was a full blown Mall that had computer shops, restaurants, a really big grocery and hardware store. There were also a lot of ATMs in J. Centre Mall.

Accessibility

There are jeepneys that pass by in front of The Orchard Hotel & Suites. There were also a lot of taxis for us not to wait too long for them when we needed a ride to SM Cebu City to meet with other bloggers.

If you’re curious here are our travel time via Taxi to different place.

• Mactan Airport to The Orchard Hotel – 20 minutes
• The Orchard Hotel to SM City Cebu – 15 minutes
• The Orchard Hotel to South Bus Terminal – 26 minutes

You might be wondering why the last item on the list was a travel to the South Bus Terminal instead of heading the North Bus Terminal, that was because we made a last minute modification in our itinerary by cancelling our visit to Bantayan Island and just concentrate on going around South Cebu. If we did go to Bantayan Island our itinerary the next day was to travel from Bantayan Island to Badian which would take a total transit time of around 7-8 hours, which none of us were very happy to do. We’ll visit Bantayan Island again next time.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I had a pleasant and comfortable stay at The Orchard Hotel & Suites.  The staff were nice. The room was clean and spacious. They even have water heaters for drinks inside the rooms also had a refrigerator to keep your drinks cold. It was accessible to a lot of establishment just by walking. And public transportation was easily accessible. Worth it for the price they are offering.

The Orchard Hotel & Suites (Online Reservation)

Location: A.S. Fortuna St., Bakilid, Mandaue City, Cebu, Philippines (Google Map)

Tel: +63-32-344-1322 (Cebu), +63-2-775-9312 (Manila)

Fax: +63-32-346-7590

Mobile: +63-922-885-5723

Website: www.theorchardhotel.com

It was the last day of our South Cebu Trip and the 5 days continuous fun and adventures really took a toll on my body. I was tired and I wanted a clean, comfortable room to sleep in. I wanted a room that has a fast internet so that I do not have to leave the hotel for me to work. I wanted a hotel that is easily accessible to food establishments and convenience stores. The spirit of backpacking was not in me that time. I was in staycation mode and I was very happy that we stayed at The Maxwell Hotel in the heart of Cebu City.

The Maxwell Hotel Experience

Upon arrival at the South Cebu Terminal of Cebu City, we rode a taxi and told the driver to head to The Maxwell Hotel in N. Escario Street. The driver told us to hop in and after 11 minutes we were at The Maxwell Hotel.

Staff Interaction

Upon arrival of our taxi at The Maxwell Hotel, the staff greeted us with a smile and asked if they could carry my big backpack. We entered and their front desk staff were also hospitable as we told them our names and our reservation. They had a lobby area where we sat while they verify our reservation and checked if our room was ready. Then after about 3 minutes, they told us that the room was ready and gave us their WiFi password.

Front desk

Hotel Lobby

The Room

The room was clean and spacious. The bed sheets were well arranged. The lighting was not harsh to the eyes. Just the right amount of light and we could still turn on switches to give us more light.

The room had the following.

• Table
• Chair
• Electric Sockets
• Mirror
• Cable TV
• Phone
• Cabinet with hangers
• A rack for the bags
• Towels for each guest

For someone who was really tired I was very happy that the room was what I wanted it to be. So I had a really long nap there.

Panoramic View of the Room

Bathroom

The bathroom was also clean. There was a sink with running water. Hot and Cold shower that was working well.

There was also a complimentary soap and shampoo inside the bathroom.

Internet and Mobile Signal

WiFi signal was strong in our room and according to their staff they made sure that each room has access to their WiFi. Internet was fast too for me to work online and do a Skype video chat.

In terms of Mobile Signal, both Globe and Smart had a strong signal inside the room. I tested Globe’s Data Network which gave me an HSPA+, unfortunately, the internet through Globe’s Data Network was not fast when I was there. But it did not really bother me since the hotel’s Wifi Internet is fast.

Breakfast

We had two types of breakfast in The Maxwell Hotel. The first one, since we were in the mood to move we went to the Philippine School of Culinary Arts to have our breakfast, which was included in our reservation. The food was good and generous.

Our second breakfast, we had the food delivered since we were not in the mood to go out of the room.

Laundry

We stayed at The Maxwell Hotel after our 5 day trip. After our first night I was already wearing my last clean shirt. Luckily, The Maxwell Hotel has a laundry shop at the side of the building, Says Laundry, which is open from Monday to Saturday from 7AM to 7PM. The rate was 25 Pesos/kg for normal clothes and 45 Pesos/kg for pants. Since it was already my last shirt, we decided to have our laundry be rushed which they charged us for 60 Pesos/kg. Still not bad for the price. We gave our clothes there around 7:50 AM and they delivered it to our room at 2:00 PM.

Says Laundry

Establishments in the Vicinity

On our stay there we had lots of places we went to for us to meet with friends or we just needed some things to buy.

At the side of hotel there’s a store where you can order Lechon Belly 24/7, Agua Massage Salon and Ola Restaurant.

Lechon Belly

Walking distance is Starbucks, Zubuchon, MiniStop, Generics Pharmacy and Capitol Square where Family Mart and sometime soon Anytime Fitness will be located.

Starbucks

Accessibility

Maxwell Hotel is located at the busy street of N. Escario Street, which is the same street where the Capitol of Cebu is located. There are a lot of jeepneys and taxis that pass by that we did not have any problems looking for public transportation we could ride. But do not worry, during our stay the room we were in was quiet and comfortable.

If you’re curious, the travel time from The Maxwell Hotel to Ayala Center is around 10 minutes and only cost us around 60 Pesos per ride.

Conclusion

I really liked my stay at The Maxwell Hotel and if ever I am in Cebu this would be one of my top choices for a place to stay because of its cleanliness, hospitality of their staff and their location. If ever you are heading to Cebu City, I would highly recommend staying here.

The Maxwell Hotel

Location: N. Escario St., Brgy. Camputhaw, Cebu City (Google Map)

Tel.: +632-255-8700, +632-255-7800
Fax: +632-255-7800 loc. 106
Mobile: +63-917-303-8712

E-mail: themaxwellhotel@gmail.com

Website: www.theorchardhotel.com

Facebook: facebook.com/themaxwellhotelcebu

Twitter: twitter.com/MaxHotelCebu

Instagram: instagram.com/themaxwellhotelcebu

If you have a lot of questions about the Canyoneering Activity in South Cebu, this post would be helpful as I try to answer all the questions that I had before we did the Canyoneering. In short this is my Cebu Canyoneering Travel Guide.

Do note that there are many service providers for the Canyoneering activity in South Cebu but we availed the services of Kawasan Canyoneering since they are a professional group of guides who are based in Badian, Cebu – where the Canyoneering activity is located. You can check out their contact details at the end of this post.

Anyways, here’s the travel guide.

1. Starts at Badian, Cebu

The start and end of the Canyoneering Activity is at the intersection along the highway to Kawasan Falls in Badian, Cebu. Badian is a municipality of the Province of Cebu which is located 3 hours away via bus from the South Bus Terminal of Cebu City. Fare is 120 Pesos/person (one-way).

It is important that you take the Ceres Bus bound for Bato via Barili. Do not take the bus Bato via Oslob as this will not pass by Badian. Earlisest trip is at 2AM.

Tell the conductor to drop you off at Kawasan Falls.

A little note, when you go down the bus locals will swarm you but be calm and just walk towards the church and tell them that you need time to think.

You can check-out the route in Google Maps here.

Church at the entrance to Kawasan Falls

Since we availed our Canyoneering activity with Kawasan Canyoneering, our starting point is at Matutinao Beach Resort, which is actually located across the street from the church. We slept here the night before to be sure that we are well rested for the Canyoneering Activity.

Matutinao Beach Resort

If you are doing a daytrip you can leave your belongings with Matutinao Beach Resort when you avail the activity with Kawasan Canyoneering.

2. Priced at 1,200 Pesos/person

This includes the lifevest, helmet, 500mL of water, a Fudgee Bar, trained guides, entrance fees, habal-habal ride to the starting point of the Canyoneering and lunch at the end of the acitivity.

What I liked about this is that once I paid the 1,200 Pesos fee I do not have to think about pulling my wallet again and again for surprise mandatory payments.

Kuya Jonjon doing a cliff dive on the second level of Kawasan Falls

3. Lasts about 5-6 hours

We rode the habal-habal at Matutinao Beach Resort at 9:41 AM and got back at 3:38 PM. Which is around 5 hours and 57 minutes.

I consider our group as one slow group as we really wanted to enjoy each place especially when we were in the Kawasan Falls part. And we also took a considerable amount of time on the jumps since we were seriously trying to conquer our fear.

I loved our tour guides for this since they never complained on how slow we were nor did they look impatient with us. They even helped us take photos or just let us be to enjoy the place. Plus to pass the time they also do cliff jumps which we really enjoyed watching.

Marky getting ready to jump.

4. Life vest and Helmet are required

For safety purposes. Both are included in the 1,200 Pesos/person fee. The life vest is for you to float on the water and prevents you from drowning. Helmets protect your head from bumping into rocks, which proved to be really useful during tight maneuvers.

All life vests has a front pocket where they place the complimentary 500 mL water and the Fudgee Bar. But I also placed some candies inside my pocket and some extra money wrapped in ice bag.

5. Shoes are required

Wearing of sandals with straps or shoes are required since you will be doing lots of rock scrambling and swimming. Best is to wear shoes.

Slippers are no good here, there’s a high change you will loose these on the jumps.

If you forgot to bring shoes you can rent one for 50 Pesos a pair with Kawasan Canyoneering. One of us did not bring shoes, so we had to rent one.

Pinay Travelista doing the slide down.

6. You can bring a drybag

We brought one drybag. But since I do not have full trust on drybags we decided to leave our phones at Matutinao Beach Resort. Our drybag contains only my extra batteries, snacks and energy drinks.

If you’re going to bring a drybag, bring a drybag that has a sling. It’s difficult to do the activity when you do not have both hands free.

Breakfast before the Canyoneering

7. There are small canteens and stores at the starting point

If you plan to leave early in Cebu to do a daytrip then you may want to know if you can have breakfast in the area and I am happy to let you know that you can. There are two canteens/karinderya near the church where you can eat a small breakfast, they open around 7AM. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the karinderya. The breakfast is not included in the 1,200 Pesos/person.

There’s also a store where I bought some energy drinks, some chocolate bars, candies and my ever trusty Imodium (loperamide). Above is a picture of Kawasan Cooperative. I think they open around 6AM.

8. Starts with a Habal-habal ride

It lasts around 20 minutes from Matutinao Beach Resort to the start of the activity. Which also includes one stop at Alegria Tourism for registration. (A habal-habal is a motorcycle taxi.)

Roads will be from cemented to rough road which includes uphill and the downhill part where you will get really close to the driver and to your friend who is riding with you.

9. Start and End Points

Just to be clear the walking will start at Canlaob, Alegria then our group went downstream jumping, rock scrambling, swimming and hiking. The exit point will be at Kawasan Falls at Badian. In short you will be crossing two municipalities.

10. Earliest and Latest you can do the Cebu Canyoneering

As a rule in Alegria Tourism the earliest group can start the activity at 6AM. The latest is at 3PM. Outside those times you cannot start the Canyoneering Activity.

If you arrive around lunch time you can still do the Canyoneering Activity, but please be mindful of the time because there’s only a limited time until the sun goes down.

The best time would be the earlier the better so you could do more in the afternoon.

First jump

11. First jump is one of the highest

After a 6 minute walk on the trail from the starting point, the first jump would appear. It’s about 18-20 feet high and if you are on top it’s crazy high. And it’s required!

It’s not the highest but I am glad that we started with this. After I conquered this one I had the courage to face the other small jumps or falls. Until the next high jump.

There are 3 high jumps that are on the course. 1 is required the other 2 is optional. The first one is the required one.

Second high jump

12. A Technique for the Fear to Jump

If you’re not used to jumping cliffs to deep water pools then you would definitely have the fear of jumping off the cliff. The more you wait looking down, the more fear will conquer you. Here’s a technique that I used to jump the cliffs.

First is to stand from where you will be jumping. See where you need to target for your landing. Then walk away from the cliff. Then create an image in your mind that you are jumping out of the cliff and falling to the water trusting your life vest to keep you afloat. Once you have that image, create the courage that you will do that image and walk to the jumping point. Once at the jumping point see where you need to target and just jump.

The more you spend time at the jumping point the more fear will conquer you.

If you work well with pressure, you can ask your guide to do a countdown for you with a commanding voice for you to jump. This worked with one of my travel buddies.

13. There will be a lot of rock scrambling and hikes.

You may have seen the photos and videos of the many jumps and slides but I just would like you to know that there will be many hikes and rock scrambling. But don’t worry, since you are walking along the river there will be many places where you can take a dip and enjoy the water.

I’m just putting it here that you may be mentally ready for the long hikes and rock scrambling.

14. There’s a Barbecue Area half-way

We were surprised that there was a Barbecure Area in the middle of the river and the cliff, which was a very happy surprise since I was hungry.

According to the sellers they would climb down the roots for them to sell the goods.

Prices are

• Hotdog – 10 Pesos
• Pork Barbecue – 15 Pesos
• Puso (Rice) – 10 Pesos
• Embutido – 20 Pesos

But please do not expect them to always be there as it is challenging to bring their products there.

15. Expect a queue of people

Since the canyoneering activity is booming because of its fun and adventure plus the beautiful sceneries there are a lot of tourists availing the activity. And since there are only a limited amount of trails you can walk and points where you can jump, there is usually a queue. But be patient your time will come.

The queue is especially long when one jumper is overcomed by fear and took his time before jumping. So be sure to use the technique on this list on how to jump.

If you want to avoid the crowd go there during weekdays just like we did but we still encountered a crowd.

16. The Highest Jump is optional

The highest jump would be around the end of the Canyoneering. It’s located at the 2nd level of Kawasan Falls and it’s optional. The jump is around 30-35 feet.

There’s an alternative route if you want to go down slowly walking.

17. GoPro Battery will not last

If you are thinking if a single GoPro battery will do the job you are wrong. I went all out on taking videos and photos and a single GoPro battery only lasted around 1/3 of the activity. It was a good thing the I brought 2 extra GoPro batteries from SmaTree.

To bring the extra batteries I placed each inside an ice bag, then placed them inside a small waterproof plastic container (BioKip). I also placed a handkerchief in the plastic container to remove the wetness on my hand and the GoPro casing. Then we placed them inside a drybag.

My 32GB SD Card did not last too. When we were at Kawasan Falls I was already looking for footages that I could delete. Unfortunately, selecting a footage to delete with a GoPro is really difficult but necessary. Next time I do this I’ll be more selective with what I am taking a video or photo with.

18. Be steady when taking photos with an Action Camera

Most of my pictures were blurry because I kept on moving the GoPro when we were taking photos and videos. Since there’s very few sunlight in the canyoneering because sunlight is being blocked by trees and cliffs the camera needs more time for the shutter to get a good photo. Moving the GoPro while the shutter is still open will make a blurry picture.

19. Droplets on the Action Camera

Most of the times there will be droplets on the lens of the GoPro Camera. You can treat your lens with an anti-droplet solution to help solve this.

If you are like who did not have the time to do this you can bring a toothpaste and apply it, rinse it on your lens. Unfortunately, the toothpaste method will not work after a few minutes. It was a hassle pulling out a toothpaste and applying it too. So in the end, I used saliva to remove the droplets. It was faster to apply and readily available.

Best solution will still be to treat your lens with a anti-droplet solution.

Second level of Kawasan Falls

20. There are stores when you arrive at the Kawasan Falls area

Upon arrival at the third level of Kawasan Falls there are already stalls where you can buy some sweets and chips.
There are more established stores at the second level and first level of Kawasan Falls.

21. Habal-habal at Kawasan Falls

There are habal-habals that you can hire at the first level of Kawasan Falls to Matutinao Beach Resort. A ride costs 50 Pesos/person. This is not included in the 1,200 Pesos/person fee.

We asked our guides on how long the walk was they told us it was around 1.5kms to which we all decided to walk since we still have the strength and patience to walk that far. (18 minutes walk)

22. There’s food at the end

At the end of the Canyoneering Activity there’s food!!! And it’s included in the 1,200 Pesos/person fee.

Shower and Comfort Room at Matutinao Beach Resort

23. Freshen Up and Change of Clothes

Since we were renting a room at Matutinao Beach Resort we had a place to take a shower and to change clothes but if you are not staying here do not worry. Matutinao Beach Resort has an outside shower room and bathroom that you can use.

Habal-habal to Osmeña Peak then to Dalaguete

24. Where to next

What we did after our Canyoneering was stay overnight at Matutinao Beach Resort and early in the morning we rode a habal-habal to Osmeña Peak, then to Dalaguete which cost us 700 Pesos/person. At Dalaguete we rode a bus to Oslob.

If you want to avail of the habal-habal ride from Badian to Osmeña Peak and back the rate would be 500 Pesos/person (roundtrip)

You can also visit Lambug Beach in Badian for the sunset. The rate for the habal-habal is 50 Pesos/person (one-way)

You can also ride a bus to Bato, then from Bato ride another bus to Oslob. Sorry, we I was not able to know how much each bus fare is.

I hope the above information helps you

If you want to avail of the activity you can book with Kawasan Canyoneering.

Kawasan Canyoneering Details

Mobile Number: +63-918-654-4111

E-mail: kawasancanyoneering@gmail.com

Website: kawasancanyoneering.com.ph

If you have any questions that are still not answered by this post, please feel free to ask them on the comments below and I’ll try to answer them as best as I could.