Waterfalls, Carabao Ride and Canoeing on Mindoro

November 30, 2011November 30, 2011 / wrightsolution / 2 Comments

Even though I liked the Coco Beach location very much, I’m never totally happy if I feel I am being coralled. The resort is set apart from the town and has everything you really need to just stay there the whole time, but the instinct to explore is too strong and the family agreed to participate on a canoeing trip on the nearby river. I had already been sea kayaking in Palau earlier in the year, and loved it! Exploring the scenery at the slow pace of a boat was very inviting, so next morning we headed off on the resort-organized tour with a private jeepney and canoes strapped to the roof… off into the semi-jungle on the still tarmacked road.

The first stop was to visit the Tamaraw Waterfalls, which is touted as a major attraction near the town. Attractive though they are, I am so glad we didn’t rent a car just to go see them. By ourselves it would probably have pretty much been all we saw, we would have never found the subsequent stops scheduled on the tour, which turned out to be much more interesting.

Tamaraw Falls

Next up was lunch as at a place they called Hidden Paradise, and hidden it was indeed. After about twenty minutes of driving on the main island road, the jeepney turned off onto a dirt road and continued for about another 30 minutes past coconut and banana groves, rice paddies, and cocoa trees to what I can only describe as a dead end. Why had we been carried all this way to a field? Moments later another jeepney showed, and a few small wooden carts pulled by carabao, the heavy beasts of burden that are so vital to South East Asian agriculture. I vaguely remembered something about a carabao ride, and while I was still figuring out what we signed up for, we loaded into the cart. Three adult males, plus me, plus the driver and the cart – we must have been close to half a ton – and the carabao set off.

Our carabao trek took us down small jungle tracks, across the shallow river bed numerous times and along the riverbank further for about half an hour. I think I loved this part the most. We saw unemployed carabao lazing in the river mud, more crops and farmers working in the fields, and coconut tree, after coconut tree…

Just as we saw our carabao was starting to flag, our destination came into view. Hidden paradise lived up to its name: a pretty valley complete with waterfall, sculpted water-eroded rock pools, a pretty stream and bamboo shacks on shady banks where they were ready to serve us a barbeque lunch. Our hardworking engine took a well-earned dip in the river, and we dropped off our stuff in the shade and headed over to the rocks. Latham – rock boy – did his favourite thing in the world, climbing up the rocks and planning to jump from a safe spot. Robert and I swam and floated in the surprisingly cold water. It was a beautiful place.

Rocks eroded by rushing water

The obligatory rock jumping picture

Lunch was fantastic too. It was probably the best meal I’ve had in the Philippines yet: BBqed blue marlin, chicken, rice, salad, and excellent fresh fruit. Proof that delicious does not have to be complicated.

Here’s a short video of the scene:

With full bellies we returned back another 30 minutes by carabao to the jeepney. A short ride away was the river for our canoeing trip…1.5 hours downstream in the fast flowing water. Ankle deep in some spots, neck deep in others, the banks were covered in reeds, silt, and the occasional grazing carabao.

The water was so fast and the river terrain so varied that I could not take my hand off the paddle for even a moment to take a sip of water. I learnt to watch the river ahead and try and spot obstacles before they were upon me, a skill I learnt the hard way. A fallen tree, half submerged in the river took me out, and I capsized, turning the canoe over completely. The river was just too fast, and I had been too slow to react. But no harm done, and we all managed to arrive safely at the mouth of the river about 1.5hrs later. I loved the river ride, but I wish our guide had been better. He just paddle way out in front, frequently disappearing around a river bend well ahead of us and wasn’t around to help when we needed him. Like the time a bunch of lively local kids decided it would be fun to jump into the river and hang on to the back of my canoe…talk about drag…I almost went backwards… Fortunately, Robert was behind me and shouted them off. The Palau kayak guide had been excellent and stopped frequently for us to regroup, letting the stragglers catch up and shared his knowledge on the flora and fauna. This guy just wanted to get back to the jeepney asap. The canoes were crap too. The Palauan tour provided an excellent quality sea kayak, complete with backrest. These were cheap, beaten up tourist canoes for renting by the hour. Our backs hurt badly by the end. The last downer was the water quality as the river broadened and we entered back into town. It had been clean and drinkable upstream. Here I didn’t even want to put my feet in it and would certainly never have entered the river if it had looked like that to start with… Yet, despite these gripes, I really did enjoy the river ride, and the trip as a whole was well worth the investment of our time and money. Anyone fancy another trip?

Coco Beach Vacation!

November 30, 2011November 30, 2011 / wrightsolution / 1 Comment

Unbelievably, its coming up to the one year mark when we first arrived in Manila, which extension aside, is the half way point through our tour. How quickly it goes, and settling in took the usual amount of one year, it seems it just takes that long, no matter how experienced you are at moving around. Anyway, I raise the subject because last year we arrived on December 23 and faced a Christmas in a foreign country with no tree, no presents, no family and certainly very little idea of which way was up. In November last year I worked at trying to find us somewhere to spend a couple of days over the Christmas holidays. Somewhere close by for the couple of days that the Embassy was closed. Coco Beach was recommended to us, but I failed to book anything from Stateside. I see now a plethora of reasons why that was, not least of which was the fact that Christmas vacations are a very big deal here. Book as late as November at your peril! Coco Beach fits the bill though for a pleasant getaway that isn’t too far away from the city, nor too pricey…so I managed to get us a villa for the four day break at the beginning of the month.

Located about 2hrs drive south of Manila, plus an additional 1 hour boat ride, Coco Beach is on Mindoro, one of the largest islands in the Philippines. The resort is outside the town of Puerto Galera, set up on a hillside coconut grove with views out to sea and lots of native character. We booked a small villa with two bedrooms, bathroom,hammock and balcony, and set about relaxing and exploring. Coco Beach doesn’t have a service staff like a usual resort. Room service, daily cleaning and miscellaneous concierge-type services are provided by your assigned service family. This is a local family that lives in a villa close by that services about 10 villas. It was much more personal and friendly than the usual staff setup. And no “dial 9 for room service” either. Just pull on the string that runs from your balcony to their house. The bell at the end of the rope rings and they come outside and call up. Our service family took many a trip down the hill for food, drinks and ice, and we were sure to leave them a thank you tip at the end. We liked the service family concept very much.

Four days was about right to settle in and learn the resort ropes, figure out what to do and where to go. We took a canoeing trip (see separate post), hung out on the beach, took an evening jeepney trip to an authentic pizza restaurant, and took evening trips out on bancas to go to dinner and see the sun go down over the ocean.

Despite the fact that it was the end of the rainy season, the weather held all the way until the morning of departure. As we waited at the breakfast table of the beach to be called for our banca, the heavens opened. We watched the first boats leave in the rain, and the service staff quickly ran inside and returned with umbrellas for the departing guests. There was something about life jackets and umbrellas that amused me. I took a photo. We will return…

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Peoples Park in the Sky

October 27, 2011April 26, 2014 / wrightsolution / 4 Comments

Its supposed to read “The People’s Park in the Sky”, but lack of funds and care at this point has reduced the lettering to 60% and several of the letters were precariously swinging from their last connected screw. The recent typhoons probably gave the rusted letters a real workout.

We visited the park to experience the fantastic views of Lake Taal and the Taal volcano. The views were great. My camera and the haze don’t do it justice. You could see for miles:

The site was originally built by Marcos and his wife as a guest house to host Ronald Reagan during his scheduled presidential visit. However, the visit was canceled and the buildings were never finished. What was completed was renamed from “The Palace in the Sky” to “The People’s Park in the Sky” and opened to the public. (Shades of communist China to me.) Sadly it looks like not a penny was spent since its opening…and it sits there crumbling with vendors selling tourist tidbits from the half-completed basement.

There something about places like this that always give me the chills! Loved the view and loved Tagaytay though. The city of Tagaytay is set on a lake and there’s lots to see and do. With quite a few choices for places to stay, Tagaytay definitely qualifies as interesting place to visit for a short weekend break. Its only 1.5 hrs from Manila and a world apart.

This post is a participant in the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge: Letters.

Yes…This is Pretty Disgusting…

February 5, 2011April 25, 2013 / wrightsolution / 4 Comments

If you read my earlier post, you would have seen that we had a very interesting trip to Corregidor last weekend. What was missing from the post, however, was another discovery….. garbage. A gift from the people of Manila. Arriving by sea in a constant flow is every conceivable type of rubbish from old shoes…tyres….plastic bags…you name it…

I decided to deal with it as a separate post as I didn’t want to detract from the historical experience of the island, which deserves better. And the garbage certainly did NOT hamper our enjoyment of the island and was limited to just the Manila-facing beaches…but pretty disgusting it was.

To be honest, I was fascinated. We’ve all seen garbage. Every major port in the world (that I’ve ever seen) has filthy water and floating junk. Pireaus is no exception. However, I had never seen anything like this, especially garbage deposited elsewhere from a major port…. So I took some pictures:

However, photos still don’t capture the sheer ebb and flow and SCALE of so much rubbish. There just had to be a video …so here it is:

A local cafe owner told us that the garbage goes away at a different time of year when the currents change. Who knows where it goes then? To that giant Texas-sized garbage island in the Pacific, maybe?

Weekend Tour to Corregidor

February 3, 2011January 22, 2012 / wrightsolution / 3 Comments

This weekend we took our first trip outside of Manila since we arrived, which is unbelievably more than six weeks ago. I’ve been chomping at the bit to get out of the city but with Robert’s new job and all those pesky real life details that go on, its not been possible until now. The Embassy has an office called the CLO that takes care of community activities for Embassy employees and families. CLO organized an outing to nearby Corregidor island, and we signed up for the overnight trip.

World War II buffs may be familiar with Corregidor. It was an important American/Philipino stronghold during the defence of Manila Bay against the Japanese. It is strategically located at the mouth of the Bay guarding the city from attack by sea. Unfortunately, after intensive air bombardment and loss of nearby territory to the Japanese, the island fell in 1942. General MacArthur left promising to return (which he did in 1945) leaving the remaining 13,000 Americans and Phillipinos to their fate in Japanese prisoner of war camps.

Today the island is covering with ruins of massive long barracks, officer housing, tram lines, fortifications, tunnels, caves and storage tanks. It even had a movie house which still remains. All over the island are little secret bunkers or caves, dug into the hillside. Their is a massive tunnel, completed in 1932, called the Malinta Tunnel, which consisted of a main long tunnel, with lots of side arteries coming off. Bombproof because of the solid rock above, the tunnel was used for storage, supplies, sleeping and working. There’s even a separate section of tunnels used as a 1000 bed hospital. All in all, its a pretty extraordinary place.

So, without further ado….some photos….

Setting off from Manila Bay

An hour and 15 minutes at sea (on a hydrofoil). Mmmm....this isn't the Med..!

Before we even get ashore.. A beach with some of those little caves...

We were driven around in little wooden trams...easy on and off...and much nicer than tourist buses

One of the many ruined barracks on the island. Built around 1913 and abandoned in 1945

More photos of ruins around the island. Many structures were bombed out. Others were destroyed by Banyan trees growing all over them. The Corregidor Foundation has worked to preserve the buildings, but you can still see the roots of massive tree embedded into the walls: