Summer in the
Philippines officially ends when the monsoon rains arrive, usually in the
months of June or July. Many people always say that summer ends in good
memories. True enough, I ended mine this year with lots of fun and memorable
experiences. I am talking about our cluster outing event last July 14 to 17
2016 when we invaded Bicol Region – famous for their very spicy dishes in “gata”
(coconut milk) and also known as the home of the fearless Uragons (how the
locals are called).
Just a quick
background, it’s been an annual tradition in the office to have this kind of
summer activity in order to unwind from our very stressful work. This is also
the time when we have our cluster planning meeting for the next fiscal year. Last
year we went North and visited the beautiful and rustic destinations of Ilocos
Region.
For this year's event, we
took our 4-day planned itinerary to Bicol via a rented bus, which I must say was
a very smooth and comfy ride. Yeah apparently our boss doesn’t want to spend on
air fare so we always resort to this kind of transport (perfect for huge
groups). But hey you know what they say, it’s the memories you created once you
get to your destination that’s more important, right? (I just made that up so
please don’t get me wrong).
Talking about
good memories, here are the top 5 moments which left a mark coming off from this trip:
The Vanished Island
First was the elusive Vanishing Island in Malilipot, Albay. From Bacaycay port in Albay, we took a 40-minute boat ride going to the island. And since we arrived late in Legazpi, what we saw was a submerged island already (hence the title Vanished island). It was cool though because the water was just shallow and we were still able to get off the boat and roam the now underwater island. There were floating cottages around and other cool sights so I grabbed the opportunity to take photographs for my Instagram feed (you can follow me at jb_bensig haha). If an unknowing person was looking at us from the nearby island, he/she would really wonder how we were still able to stand above the water when we were so far away from the coastline.
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Enjoying the view on Vanishing Island which was fully submerged when we arrived |
Mayon at first sight
Another thing that I would never forget in this outing was the moment when I first saw the majestic beauty of Mayon Volcano. This happened in our first day in Bicol when we went to Sumlang Lake Camalig, Albay. Although it was partly covered with clouds, Mayon exposed her almost perfect cone just enough to welcome us. Seeing her grandeur for the first time was really awe inspiring. In that moment, it felt like she told us that we will have a good time in the next days to come. The lake was an awesome place too. The group stepped on floating bamboo rafts with nice and cozy furniture for us to relax and enjoy the view.
And then there was the All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) Adventure Ride which
was a really cool attraction in Albay. Even though
it was not my first time to drive an ATV, I enjoyed it so much because it was my first to
actually take it off road. The trail was rough and challenging. We crossed a river, huge deep puddles and drove very rocky roads. Not to mention, we were around
30 in the group with each driving their own ATV forming one long line of riders. That made the whole experience
very fun and exciting. Part of the activity after was to visit the very famous
structure that we always see in postcards, books, and other Mayon images – the
bell tower of Cagsawa Ruins. Seeing it was remarkable and one could just imagine
the history of what happened during the time Mayon erupted and the “lahar” covered
most parts of the structures within the area.
The highlight of our day 3 in Bicol was the island hopping in Sorsogon. At the end of our second day, we checked our things and had a good night sleep in Balay Buhay sa Uma Bee Farm. After eating our breakfast, we started the day early and headed off to Matnog Port, which was where the starting point of the island hopping activity. And because we’re a huge group, we rented 3 big Bangka to bring us to the different island destinations. We went first to Tikling Island (“Thin” Island) which was a private island just 30 minutes away from Matnog. We only stayed for a few minutes and went on to the next stop which was a fish sanctuary in Juag Island. Here, I saw lots of different classes of fish, some of which are humongous (especially the Lapu-Lapu). Then we went to the last island where the beautiful white sand and blue waters of Subic Beach could be found. We took our lunch here and stayed for the rest of the day to enjoy. What I really noticed hopping from one island to another was the clean and clear waters surrounding the islands of Sorgsogon. In my opinion, Sorsogon can give El Nido, Palawan a run for its money.
Advice from Bulusan
As a big nature lover, I could not discount from this list our visit to Bulusan Lake, Sorsogon. This was the last activity in our 4-day trip before heading back to life’s reality in Makati. We took a boat and paddled around the lake with the help of two local guides. I really admired the lush flora surrounding the lake. Here I saw green, green, and green everywhere, even the color of the lake is green! (Okay I’m biased with green because it is my favorite color). After this activity, I was able to ponder that I should make positive ripples in order for my surroundings to be full of life. Thanks to Bulusan Lake for giving me such a wonderful advice.
The lake was our last agenda and we headed back to Balay Buhay sa Uma to pack all our things. From Sorsogon, we made a short stop at the Legazpi City Terminal to buy some 'pasalubong" (souvenir). It was already dusk and the sun was setting when Mt. Mayon showed all her perfection to us. The view was just amazing (please see photo below). What a way to end our tour and bid farewell!
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There are still a lot of things which I really cherished from this trip that I wanted to share, including the bonding moments that I had with my officemates and the delish food I tasted. I just felt lazy writing them all down in this blog that’s why I limit the content to five. Apologies for cutting it short, but you’ll never know a new one might come right up soon enough.
Thanks for the insights! ������
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