Pagsanjan

Pagsanjan Falls is about 100 km from Manila. It is located in the Laguna province near the town of Santa Cruz. It has become a popular day-trip especially for Korean and Japanese tourists. My friends and I rented a car and went there in April 14. It took us about 4 hours to get there. When we arrived in Santa Cruz, we went to the tourism office and asked for a reliable hotel that could provide us a canoe. The officer told us to go to Pagsanjan Falls Lodge. There are a lot of hotels which have restaurants a long the river. Behind the restaurant down the riverbank was where the canoes embark. The canoes are about 6 meters long and made of wood. It can carry 2 until 3 people. Each canoe is pulled and pushed by two men. We had to pay 600 peso for a canoe. Each passenger will be given a life vest so if you can't swim or have young children along, you can feel a little bit safe.
In beginning of the trip, you can see homes and palms crowding the banks. After passing that area, the river valley turns into a deep gorge, with a rainforest canopy, and the quiet waters become cascading rapids.
Just like other paddlers, our paddlers often had to jump out of the boat to manhandle between boulders while dodging other canoes on their way down. As a passenger, we could only support the paddlers and tried to enjoy their hard work. We also had to wave to other people in other canoes. Most of them were Korean and they thought us Korean too. After a couple of hours, we reached the dead-end box canyon where Pagsanjan Falls tumbled over. Then, we took a raft-ferry across the plunge pool to the base of the falls. The waterfall was not really big but its water tumbled fast. Thus, we could not swim near the fall. We could only swim near the raft after it was tied to its pier. The trip back to the hotel down was faster but not less exciting than the trip to the fall.
Tips:
bring extra clothes and pants
bring something to protect your camera
bring extra money for the tip because after seeing the hard work of your paddlers…you muss give them extra money 

Here are some photos from my trip.








Pagsanjan

Our third day in Hongkong

On our third day in Hongkong, we started our journey early in the morning and headed to Lantau Island to see big Bronze statue Buddha which is known as the tallest outdoor. The weather was quite bad at that time. The rain was pouring down heavily. We decided to take a bus to get to the big Buddha. After getting on the bus and waiting fro several minutes, finally our bus took us through a long winding journey. It took us about 45 minutes to get there. On the way there, we passed a quite nice beach.

When we arrived there, we were welcomed by a few stores selling some souvenirs about Buddha, etc. We paid 60 HK to enter the museum of the big Buddha and had vegetarian lunch in the temple. There were 268 steps to climb in order to reach the Buddha. It was cloudy and it made our sight could not see clearly the Big Buddha sometimes. There was a moment in which a very thick for covered the image of Buddha and made the stairs looked like a long-white stairway to “Nirwana”.
Spending time on the top of the statue was great and cold as well since the wind was blowing so hard. However, although the weather was not really convenient for sightseeing, the place was packed with tourists. It might happen because that day was also a “Waisak” day. At first we thought the place would be closed because of that special day but it wasn’t.

Puerto Galera

Our Hostel

Before snorkling

While snorkling, helping each other

After snorkling

Before brunch and going home to Manila

On the boat to Manila with the newly married couple who snorkled with us

and a boy who eagerly and happily picked up all coins that you throw to the sea

SIX OF US on the first day

Among numerous beaches in Puerto Galera, white beach is one of the most visited beach. Its white sand has attracted domestics and international tourists including us. it took us about 5 hours to get there: 3-hour bus and 2-scary-hour-boat ride. The weather was really bad when we were in the boat. Big waves and stong rains gave us a little hope to enjoy the white beach. However, when our boat almost arrived in Puerto Galera, the weather looked quite promising that we could at least enjoy the white beach with "brown" sand of course.

We took trycicle to get to white beach. As soon as we got there, we realized that it was better to stay overnight there. Thus we chose to live in a hostel in front of the beach. It cost 1000 peso.

The price was very reasonable since there were 6 of us. We had a bog room with 2 double beds and 1 single bed. Married couple, Iwan and Metta shared the single bed :)

5-hour trip was really tiring so we decided to have lunch before doing any activities. It was my first to find a very nice steak in the philippines.

After lunch, we went to our room and got ready to play on the beach although it was drizzling.
Cloudy sky did not make us stop to explore the white-brown sandy beach :P

The beach was not crowded at day or night. So, it was quite pleasant. We got an opportunity to drink the sling of Puerto Galera, Mindoro Sling. Its taste was really nice.

Day two......
We went snorkling ....It was raining again...the fishes were not colourful like the ones in Boracay but the corals were prettier... :)

After snorkling, the weather was sunny. Finally, we could see the real WHITE BEACH...it was beautiful...to bad we could not swim again since we had to leave ...one of us (Agus) had a class at 6 pm...

Our expenses:
Bus 2-way - P350
@ Ferry 2-way - P350
Snorkling P1000/6 persos
Food and drink P1000 for 3 time- meal (1 lunch, 1 dinner, and 1 brunch)

Hongkong 2 nd day (3 stops)

The first stop

REPULSE BAY

On our second day in Hong Kong, we started our journey by visiting Repulse Bay. It is located in the southern part of Hong Kong Island and acknowledged as the most spectacular and cleanest bay in the region. The Chinese name means "Shallow Water Bay". Its English name came from the British army that had chased off some pirates in the old days. The beach stretches long with clear blue water gently lapping the seashore. Its sand is golden and soft in some parts which are almost near to the water but a little bit rough the more they are far from the water. When you walk on that part, you will feel that the sand tickle your feet (that’s the phrase that Pi Pom and Rizki used) but if I may express the feeling walking on that sand is like a mermaid who just got her feet and had to walk on the ground J. Since the weather way quite sunny that time and it was Sunday so there were some people swimming and fishing on the beach. There were some lifeguards so you can feel more safe are on duty. In addition, according to several sites besides aquatic activities, there are extensive facilities for visitors such as barbecue racks, supermarkets, cafes, and a lighthouse that is a popular place to take photos. However, we didn't go there :( since we were to excited to see Stanley market (our next destination) and we had no more time.

This is how we get to Repulse Bay:

1. Walk from our hostel (traveler hostel) about 10 minutes to Star Ferry terminal.
2. Use the Star ferry to go to central, it’s 2.20 HK
3. Then walk along the bridge in front of the terminal, then you walk passing several buildings (IFC mall 1 and 2), walk until to find a bus terminal.
4. You may use these buses no. 6, 6A, 6X, 260; or the no. 40 minibus and pay 8.20 HK (for bus 6A) I guess they will charge you the same for the other buses too except for the mini bus. Our pictures 1. on the way to Repulse bay (beside IFC Mall), 2 in Repulse Bay

The second stop
Stanley Market

From Repulse bay, we headed to Stanley Market by using the bus no 6. Stanley market is one of the must-go places for tourists when we visit Hong Kong. We can find an interesting array of little shops selling paintings, Chinese costume jewelry and souvenirs. And when the shopping is done, there are many restaurants waiting for you near the shops or three-minute walk from the shops’ area, just in front of the beach with sandy coves. However, unlike other people who shop first, we decided to have lunch in a small Thai-Chinese restaurant. The food was very delicious. I wish I remembered the name of the restaurant.

The third stop From Stanley market, we went back to Central terminal by the same bus, bus number 6. Then we went to star ferry terminal, and waited for the double-deck bus or the fun bus according to a western tourist. We were waiting for about 15 minutes before we got the bus and rode it until the peak where we could buy the peak tram ticket and the ticket for entering the Madame Taussud. We only had to pay 170 HK for two-way tram ticket, the Madame Taussud, and the Sky Terrace. The tram is the city's oldest transport. It was 112-year old Peak Tram. The Peak Tower allows you to see the spectacular Victoria Harbor, Kowloon and the buildings of Hong Kong. Here are our pictures:

My picture with the royal family


ON the bus

Hongkong 3 rd day

Hongkong 4 th day

Macau

We started our journey to Macau at 7 am. We packed our bags and camera and headed into turbo jet terminal. Having a lot of bags, we went there by taxi and it took about 30 minutes to get there. The cost was around 70 HK. We got the 8.30 ferry but we got on to the 8.15 ferry. Surprisingly, you were allowed to take any ferry that went before your departure time of course since there were some available places. After sailing for about 1.30, we arrived in Macau. Then we dealtwith the immigration. After that we went to tourism counter, exchanged our money, deposited our bags for 10 Pattaca for each bag, and had lunch at a small restaurant inside the terminal.

Our first destination was the fisherman’s wharf.

Then, we saw the symbol of Macau, the lotus. Just by crossing the street not far for the Lotus, we were already in front of Wine Museum and Grand Prix museum. Luckily, that day was the day of promotion so we only had to pay 10 Pattaca and we could go inside to both museums and guess what the price was including a glass of your choice wine, wasn’t it great J

we also met many pinoys there, just like usual they would think we were ones of them. They would say hi in Tagalog and said many other things that we could hardly understand. A smile that was the only thing we could give to them. When we met a pinoy, Rizki said, "Feels like at home ", and only with them we could speak English. In Macau, if you cannot speak chinese and can only speak English, try to find Filipino people because they are your best hope. (Good news, they are everywhere, starting from the security guards until the wine man too :)

Beside Michael Schumacher's car

With the wine we chose

Around 3 pm, we went back to the terminal to take our bags and continued our trip to our hostel, Auguster’s lodge. Then we headed to an area recently listed as a World Heritage Site. We were walking towards the Largo do Senado, the historic centre with its distinctive black-and-white-cobbled square.

We made many stops for taking pictures and the first stop before heading on towards the Ruins of St Paul's Church was …we found the marvellous Macau Museum. Unfortunately, we could only take some pictures outside the museum because it was already closed.

Dinner Place, one of Chinese restaurant in Senado Square

Still in Fisherman's Wharf

OUR SECOND DAY

A Ma Temple