My cousins and I went to Sorsogon, Bicol this summer where my mom's hometown is. My mom grew up in a small town in Bulusan and we use to come here every Holy week when we were really young (like elementary days) to relax. It feels nostalgic coming back here. I remember accompanying my mom to buy PAL plane tickets every summer to book our flights here. During that era (hehe yes the 90s), Philippine Airlines monopolized the flying industry and no other airlines were available so I wonder how much plane tickets cost at that time? Nowadays you can find cheap flights if you plan your vacation in advance. Anyway we travelled by land (3 SUVs), it was sort of mini reunion from my mother side of the family so this was really fun for us.
We stayed at Villa Celeste Resort like old times, it's a beach front resort. The owners have befriended my father as we were 'loyal customers' before so they gave us a discount of only Php 1,000 a night per room. Room range depends on size can vary from Php1,000 to 2,000. Very affordable.
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| Villa Celeste Resort, I remember it like it was yesterday. Thank you parents for giving us a pleasant childhood and the good life. :) That is bro and my father walking. |
A lot has changed, the roads are on a widening project (maybe because of the upcoming elections!) and cemented. I remember before, it was rocky on some areas on the way so you'd have to drive carefully. If you plan to come here, private vehicle is a must since public transportation is not good. Bulusan, Sorsogon is also a 3 hour drive from Legaspi airport in case you'd take the plane. You can ride buses or vans from Legaspi to travel here but I think you would need to wait for the buses or vans so commuting may be difficult. Bulusan is not a city like Legaspi, life is simple, everyone knows each other and most people earn a living by farming or fishing.
Bulusan means 'where water falls', several hot springs, rivers, waterfalls, lakes are located and probably why this place is named like that. We went to so many bodies of water this trip to the point the sun has burned our skin. :)
Dancalan Beach
This is normally the swimming beach area of the locals here since it's clean, no rocks or seaweeds on the swimming area. Clean shore, sand is not as white as Boracay's or Palawan's but not as dark as Batangas. It's just your average beach where you think you've seen one, you've seen them all. There is also a resort here but I don't recommend it because the room lack amenities and more expensive. The only advantage is you can go swimming straight, Villa Celeste resort's beach front is not really ideal for swimming.
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| Dancalan Beach, we arrived at 5PM. 12 hour drive! |
Bulusan Lake and Volcano
Yes lakes often form near volcanoes. They form after an erupting volcano empties a magma chamber, the structure of the volcano collapse into a reservoir. Bulusan Lake have Tilapias and other fishes surprisingly! Volcanic lakes are often acidic and cloudy with a strong greenish color. I am puzzled by these volcanic Tilapias lol. Anyway I'm not a volcanologist so I can only keep speculating. It's surrounded by tropical rainforest and home of the endangered jade vine flower. You can kayak around the lake or go fishing. We also trek 3km path here around the lake, just pay the guide. Mountaineers can also trek the top of Bulusan volcano however when we came, it was on alert level 1 so no one is permitted to climb.
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| You can kayak or go rowing. Strong greenish color of lakes probably because of algaes. |
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| Cuzkins and aunties on the roll. Trek the lake for some flora and faunas :) |
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| All our cousins were kayaking in the middle while me and L here were on a mission to find the jade vine flower! We successfully found it at the furthest part of the lake. Just keep paddling until the end! This is also called the emerald creeper. |
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| Spectacular view! |
Masacrot Spring
It was a tiring adventure at the lake so we headed to Masacrot springs right after for a swim. Masacrot means mapakla in filipino or acrid in english. It's a mineral water spring that contains soda water. Locals recommend coming here because of its medicinal benefits. Honestly I'm not sure what could bathing in carbonated water benefit the body but what the heck. I did taste the water and it is carbonated water. :P
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| Bathe in cold soda water! |
Dulipay River
The next day we headed to the river near my mom's ancestral house. But I didn't bathe here, honestly I don't like swimming because I hate getting wet but my cousins went in straight away.
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| Fresh flowing river |
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| Why can't Pasig River be as clean as this? |
Bayugin Falls
Right next to the river offcourse, there must be a waterfall nearby. :)
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| To the falls! It's pretty steep trek honestly. @_@ |
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| Worth the sweat! |
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| Rainbow forming underneath the waterfall! |
San Benon Hot Spring
My favorite swimming spot! It's a hot spring near offcourse Mount Bulusan. We were planing to make spa boiled eggs with cousins unfortunately thought about it when we arrived so we didn't bring any raw eggs. Bummer. I felt like the hot spring water cured my aching back! (Placebo maybe? :p)
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| Hot spring? next time bring raw eggs and make spa boiled eggs! Where are the monkeys? |
Subic Bay Beach and Tikling Island
We also drove to Matnog still further from Bulusan to see these famous white beaches in Sorsogon. You would rent a boat and go island hopping to get to these islands including the fish sanctuary for Php 1,600. Subic bay is known for its white pinkish refine sand and Tikling island has the same white sand with wild boars roaming on the island. Yes boars!
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| Mother side of the family |
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| Subic Bay beach in Matnog, look at that white sand. It's actually pinkish sand just not seen much in the photo. |
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| Clear waters not even Maldives can compare? Kidding. :) |
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| There's also a fish sanctuary where you can view all sorts and feed them. Fishing not allowed. |
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| A school of fish |
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| Tikling Island with Mount Bulusan at the backdrop! |
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| My cousins and I have our own world :D |
Balay Buhay sa Uma Bee Farm
Last stop before we head back to Manila was a bee farm and also resort. You can spend the night here if you want to be near the hot springs and Mount Bulusan the only downside is, it's not beach front. They sell honey here off course and also you can see bunch of beautiful flowers along with the jade vine flower that me and my cousin searched hard for not knowingly, there was one lying around this bee farm! Hilarious. I paddled so far just so we can find it, blood sweat and tears kind of paddling!
Anyway we also saw Leila De Lima here with her maybe family or friends, vacation plus campaigning for her candidacy in Senate. @_@ (Also heard someone saying vote for Mar Roxas, not sure if it's her.)
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| Bee farm, the honey cost Php 350 per bottle @_@ |
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| Endangered emerald creeper or jade vine flower |
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| Just one of the beautiful flowers you can see |
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| Entrance fee of only Php 50 per person |
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| There's also a pool where you can swim just add Php 100 |
Bitukang Manok, Quezon Province
We passed by here to save us travel time to Bicol. The road here is very steep and winding also considered an accident prone area. Buses and trucks are forbidden to pass here, they have to go to the alternate route (but also a zigzag road). If you pass in the so called Bitukang Manok path, will save you an additional 2 hours travel time. Just make sure your vehicle is primed for steep climbs.
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| Drive safely :) |
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| Steep winding road |
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| Quezon Province National Forest Park |
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| At the top, there is a restaurant where travelers can stop and have a look at the view. :) |
Family trips are fun. :) Did I mention I saw a wild baby squid? Seriously the highlight of my trip haha.. It squirted ink when I was trying to make a calamari out of it! Too bad I didn't record it on video.
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| Can you spot the baby squid? They're very intelligent creatures and have good camouflage skills. |
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| And there it goes. Failed to capture it. |
Sorry I just need to include the squid in the blog! I have a fetish for finding wild creatures honestly. Cousins think I should join the national graphic channel for my keen eye. @_@ Here's another one, it's a green tree skink.
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| Wild green tree skink appear, pokeball! |
Ok ending blog post before it gets weird.
