Part One of my day tour of Siquijor can be found here.

My next pit stop after Cantabon Cave was a viewdeck on Mt. Bandilaan, where I had an expansive view of Siquijor.

Afterwards, we went south to the town of Lazi, where we first went to Cambugahay Falls. It has three tiers and light-blue waters, and to get there, I had to go down several stone steps. (Going back up the road was obviously a chore!) I was alone among locals and a family of foreigners, but I couldn’t resist a swim!

I asked to be dropped off to the San Isidro Labrador Parish in Lazi. I snapped a few pictures of it and the convent across—the whole complex is part of a tentative list to be included in the Baroque churches of the Philippines, an entry to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The church was empty save for some kids practicing a song and dance number. Afternoon light spilled through the windows. I took a moment to thank God I was there safe.

Next stop was the century-old balete tree. It would’ve been slightly creepy if not for the people who sold snacks around (and asked me the now-usual questions of why I was alone). I gave a donation here for its upkeep.

I asked the driver to stop at Sta. Maria Church, or the Church of the Divine Providence. Compared to the church in Lazi, this one looked modest, though it’s also more than a century old. One can find here a statue of Santa Rita de Cascia  holding a skull. I missed it by a few minutes, though, because it was taken for a procession. Local folklore states that the statue herself goes around town on her own and would return to the church with feet stained with grass and dirt.

Next was a public beach: the Salagdoong Beach Resort (entrance fee: P30). Pretty, although it could do away with the trash littered by the visitors.

There were families and barkadas who were there already, swimming, barbecuing and drinking. I was met with stares—some of the men were staring too long, and I resisted the urge to stare back as per warnings of my friends from Manila. And suddenly, I was hit with a wave of loneliness. I remember thinking that if my barkada were with me, we’d be the funniest bunch there, and there’d be someone taking account of our expenses, keeping our money, chatting amiably with the locals, planning the next impromptu stop, taking pictures and videos, dancing for everyone’s entertainment, and singing with me in the tricycle.

I was really tired by this time that I didn’t even bother to get out of the tricycle to take pictures of the Cang-Isok House, the oldest standing house in Siquijor (still standing in spite of the recent typhoon), and the mangroves in the Tulapos Marine Sanctuary. Anyway, it was getting dark.

I got back to Villa Marmarine with a little daylight left for a quick dip. Then, I lay in a hammock by the sea while I read my book until it got too dark. I was tired, but my head was abuzz. I was wondering how I could still enjoy my little trip — and I did enjoy it, immensely — even though I missed my friends badly.

Here’s what I thought then and could better articulate now:

1. When I traveled alone, I was the master of my own time and itinerary. If I wanted to go spelunking, I would, without anyone hanging back due to worries regarding safety and expenses.
2. That said, every mistake was blamable only on myself.
3. When I traveled alone, I realized things about myself. I realized that I was, after all, shy (!!!); and I had to overcome my shyness to be able to talk to strangers instead of letting someone do it.
4. When I traveled alone, I learned trust. I put my life in the hands of total strangers and came out alive and exhilarated.
5. When I traveled alone, I had moments of total peace on a wide white beach, lying in a hammock, book in hand, the lazy sea waves the only sound I could hear.

Apo Island is a 30- to 45-minute boat ride from mainland Negros. It’s tiny, just about 12 hectares in area. Everyday there’s about three hours of electricity, from 6 to 9 in the evening. Rainwater is collected for everyday use, so sometimes, in the summer months, the homestays would have no water for you to use for bathing, and you’d have to go back to a hostel in Dumaguete to wash off the salt your body has accumulated.

Apo Island is also one of my favorite places in the Philippines. Surrounding it is a world-class coral reef with 400 coral species and 700 fish species. On the eastern side is a renowned community-managed marine sanctuary, which was unfortunately heavily damaged by the storm surges of Pablo and Sendong. However, the reefs on the western side of the island remain intact.

The friendly, accommodating people here make a living out of tourism and fishing. There’s no electricity, but there’s the sea breeze. And it’s so quiet. When you sleep in the dark at night, alone in your dorm room, with your mosquito net the only possible defense you could have against the tuko that seems so close it’s giving you goosebumps, you suddenly realize that there is no sound of motor vehicle or electrical appliance you’ve been desensitized to back in the city. The only sound you can hear is your breathing and the singing cicadas. And, of course, the tuko.

I’m in love with this place mainly because here’s where I went scuba diving for the first time.

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How to get to Apo Island from Dumaguete

1. Take a jeep (P20) or bus (Ceres, non aircon, P25) south to Zamboanguita
2. Ask the driver to drop you off at the Malatapay market
3. Walk for about five minutes to the beach
4. You can charter a boat (P2000 for a small boat) or wait for the public boat at around 1 PM (P300 per passenger)
5. Ride the boat for about 45 minutes
6. Once at the shore, pay the P100 visitor’s fee

Suggested Accommodation and Diving in Apo Island

Mario Scuba Diving and Homestay
Apo Island, Dauin
Negros Oriental 6217
09063617254 / 09196223671
marspascobello[at]hotmail[dot]com

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Coming from an early morning trip from Siquijor to Dumaguete, I asked around for a jeep to Zamboanguita. I asked the driver to drop me off at Malatapay. This effectively made other passengers ask me where I was going, what I was doing alone, etc. It was all good.

I made the stop at the Malatapay market. The stalls were closed as it wasn’t a Wednesday. Once I got near the shore, though, I found an eatery and the small tourism office, where I took a deep breath of courage and woke up a napping man to ask him about the public boat to Apo Island.

Since I arrived an hour and a half early for the next public boat, I went back to the eatery where I had my lunch of sinigang na bangus. I also chatted with a woman from whom I bought kakanin. It was a strangely nice conversation because I was speaking in Tagalog and she in Cebuano, and we could still understand each other.

Soon enough, by 1PM, I boarded the public boat with three other passengers and lots of vegetables. As it turned out, one of the passengers was actually a niece of Mario Pascobello, the proprietor of Mario’s Scuba Diving and Homestay — where I’d earlier booked a P300 bed in their dorm — so she helped me on my way.

It was a 45-minute trip, and when I got to the island, I paid the requisite P100 visitor’s fee and went to Mario’s. I was the only visitor then. I was shown to my room and was introduced to my diving instructors.

I’d booked an Introductory Diving lesson for P2500 — a very low rate comparative to others — which would teach me the basics of diving on shallow waters and would take me to nearby Chapel Point at a maximum depth of 12 meters.  As it turned out, there was still time in the afternoon to do this little activity.

I got into rented gear and was taught some exercises and hand signals on shallow waters before my diving instructors and I headed out to the sea. I saw a row of sea urchins that seemed to stand sentinel against us invaders of the reef. And as we swam onward, I saw the seabed transform from mere rocks and sand to a glorious, colorful world of corals and sea creatures.

I’d snorkeled in other reefs before, such as in San Juan, Batangas and in Boracay, but Chapel Reef was so vast and colorful. We went around walls of corals and I saw some tube and branching corals, and fishes like lionfish and sweetlips. I’d never been so close to the corals and fish before, and being right by them, instead of above them, was a wondrous and humbling perspective to be in.

Then, my diving instructors gave me the hand signal for “turtle”. I looked around and gave the littlest underwater scream: there was a sea turtle perched on a coral, with three cleaner wrasses on its back. Just a few moments later, they signaled to me again, and I had to look behind and above me to see a turtle swimming to the surface. It looked as if it were slowly flying to the sun above us all. I stared in awe. It was all so beautiful.

Time flew so fast and before I knew it, we were swimming back to the shore. Standing up again on solid ground reminded me of how heavy my oxygen tank and weights were. I dragged myself back to the world of humans. It was as though the sea had invisible hands pulling me back.

Back in Mario’s, I took a bath (mercifully, we had water — I was to find out later that another resort didn’t). Toward sundown, I took pictures of the rocky coast and watched as boats docked and a solitary dog went swimming. I’d spent two quiet sunsets by the beach by then.

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Dinner was spent with my diving instructors and an American who arrived later in the afternoon. I had tinolang manok. Brian, being vegetarian, had squash, and I felt bad about my carnivorous self.

Among others, we talked about traveling. He’s middle-aged and well-traveled, while I said I still had so many countries to go to.

“Fil, you’re young,” he said. “Just go and travel while you can!”

I wanted to point out the obvious disadvantage of us middle-class earners in a third-world country who want to go to, say, the US or Europe, as opposed to Americans and Europeans who come to very cheap Southeast Asia. But instead I said, chuckling, “I’d have to save up for a long time!”

“Here’s the thing, Fil,” Brian replied. “Don’t even think that you can’t do it. Just go there and everything will fall into place.”

I totally believed it then. Seven months later, I still want to believe it.

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The evening, as I’d said, had electricity from 6 to 9, and guess what I heard from the dorm room? Videoke. But of course. Badly-sung power ballads were my background music as I put in a bit of work before the power was shut off again and the world was plunged to darkness and quiet. As for me, I had an uneasy sleep. The gecko worried me.

I woke up early the next day to go around the village and look for breakfast, which took the form of a couple of bread (P20), coffee, and my leftover mineral water. I also asked around how to go to the lighthouse.

As I climbed, paved stones gave way to a dirt track along a field where a couple of cows grazed lazily.

I wanted to climb the old lighthouse so that I could get a view of Apo Island, but I was alone and was afraid I’d fall with no one knowing. I decided that I had one too many adventures already.

Afterward, I had a long chat with a woman who sold sarongs as souvenirs in the village. I’d bought one and she told me to sit for a while to talk. We talked about our youth; she talked about settling in Apo Island with her husband who lived there.

I went snorkeling afterward, alone, at a depth farther than when I’d dived the day before (we had to take a boat to the place), while the dive instructors took Brian diving. I spent much of my time chasing a nonchalant sea turtle and picking up plastic litter.

Later, toward noontime, I bid my goodbyes — to the people at Mario’s, the lady who sold sarongs, the woman who manned the tourism office. I took a very small motorboat that could take only one person other than the boatman.

I felt like I’d made so many friends already. I wondered when I was going to see them again.

Back to Malatapay, where I bought a banana cue from the woman who spoke to me in Cebuano. Back to Dumaguete via a non-aircon Ceres bus. Back to Mario’s, where I spent half of the afternoon sleeping.

Related articles

• Traveling solo in Dumaguete: a late blog post
• Diving in Apo Island

There’s only so much you can eat in an afternoon when you’re alone in a new city, so here I’m going to talk about just a couple of restaurants in Dumaguete.

I was immediately attracted to the quaint Spanish-style architecture of the  the Spanish Heritage Building, where Cafe Antonio’s is tucked away on its second floor. It may seem dark inside, but I thought it was pretty, with enough Old Filipino design and retro posters to keep me interested.

I tried their hickory glazed BBQ pork ribs and their cookies and cream “frothiccino”. The cold coffee you can do away with, but their ribs is quite divine.

After this already filling dinner, I went back to Sans Rival, where I had (you guessed it) sans rival that is totally sans rival, plus their famous silvanas. I reserved three boxes for me to bring home the next day, right before my flight back to Manila early in the morning.

Then it was time for sunset again on Rizal Boulevard, where I not-so-discreetly (and not-so-successfully) took pictures of people walking their dogs and buying balloons from vendors. Stalls selling kikiam and fishballs had started bringing out monobloc tables and chairs as a crew was setting up a stage for what seemed like a night of concert sponsored by a local beer.

As for me, it was one of the moments when I felt introverted; I went back to Harold’s Inn as soon as it got too dark, and started writing. And who knew? I finished writing my tale seven months later. :P

Related articles

• Traveling solo in Dumaguete: a late blog post
• A long day tour of Siquijor (part one), Cantabon Cave, and on traveling solo
• A long day tour of Siquijor (part two), and more musings on solo travel
• Diving in Apo Island

If 2012 was the year when I rediscovered this repressed wanderlust, then 2013 was when I pursued it.

I went to more places in a year than I did for a whole decade prior. I went on a road trip with my family and passed through Maguindanao, Cotabato, and Sultan Kudarat, eventually ending up in Lake Sebu. I went swimming with whale sharks in Donsol.

I went to Palawan and finally saw ethereal El Nido and the wonder that is the Underground River. I saw fireflies and bioluminescent plankton on Iwahig River. Not a week later, I finally went to Ilocos Norte and Vigan.

I went straight to Thailand. I went to crazy Bangkok and saw the ruins of Ayutthaya. Then I rode on an overnight train to Chiang Mai, perhaps my favorite city of the lot, and bathed some elephants there.

Then I went to Myanmar, a place with the nicest people and the most golden of all pagodas, and finally fulfilled my dream of seeing the sunrise in Bagan. I went to Malaysia afterward and hopped from Kuala Lumpur, to Melaka, to Penang, and back again to KL.

A week before work for the new school year started, I went touring Dumaguete, Siquijor, and Apo Island alone. I also went scuba diving for the first time, and I still feel that it was such a life-changing trip.

In August, I went to trek with my friends in Daraitan, Taytay, Rizal. I conquered my first mountain — Mt. Samit — here, in the middle of monsoon rains! It was the most challenging trip I’ve ever done, and this is going to sound cliched, but I couldn’t have done it without my friends.

In October, I went to see my first “legit” festival — the MassKara Festival in Bacolod. A week later, during the semestral break, I went to Surigao del Norte and Siargao and saw the beautiful Sohoton Cove. And I learned how to surf!

Sadly, a trip to Camiguin was dropped at the last minute (no thanks to PAL Express, but that’s another story), so there were no trips for me this Christmas break, aside from a day in Enchanted Kingdom. But considering the fact that I’m smack dab in the middle of the Filipino middle class, that I have a permanent job that requires me to be energetic (read: busy) for the most part of the year, and that I had a thesis proposal to present (and I passed!), I sure did go places.

So what did I learn in 2013?

I learned independent travel. It sounds too late to say this as I turned 29 in 2013, but I only recently learned how to interact with strangers in a strange place when I’m alone. I learned how to trust them with my life, while at the same time keeping my wits about me. As a daily commuter in Metro Manila, I had learned to always be on the safe side of things; as an independent traveler, I learned to be open to experiences, even when alone.

I learned about money. I learned how much a thousand pesos is worth in other parts of the country and of Southeast Asia. I learned that I can steel myself from buying a piece of clothing because it could translate to two days in Chiang Mai (though to be sure, I did buy a lot of clothes this year…during sales). I got myself a credit card, and I learned how to use it wisely.

I learned that I can make my dreams come true. I wish I could say that all I needed was to take a deep breath and go, but it did take some planning and a lot of guts. And yes, a bit of money didn’t go amiss. But mostly, I just needed the guts.

I don’t think I’ll travel as much in 2014, especially in the summer months, as I have some things I have to take care of as an “adult”. However, I consider this as a year of saving up for grander travels to come. ;)

Related articles

• Surfing lessons in Siargao’s Cloud 9
• Diving in Apo Island
• A long day tour of Siquijor (part two), and more musings on solo travel
• A long day tour of Siquijor (part one), Cantabon Cave, and on traveling solo

The Ati-Atihan of Kalibo, Aklan advertises itself as the “mother of all Philippine festivals”. The name means “to be like the Ati”, the original settlers of Panay Island and much of the Philippines. Originally, it’s a festival that celebrates the cultures of the Ati and the eventual Malay lowland settlers. The Spaniards came, and somehow, the celebration came to be dedicated to Santo Niño, the child Jesus.

The events are held on the third week of January which coincides with the more popular Sinulog of Cebu. Of course, this doesn’t mean that the Ati-Atihan is less fun.

My colleague-friends and I went to Kalibo one weekend to experience a “legit” Philippine festival. This one is my second after MassKara last October. We were hosted by a co-teacher whose hometown is near Kalibo. This meant free accommodations — and the best home-cooked meals! Our city palates couldn’t get enough of fresh crab, oysters, and their specialty, hinubarang manok.

We were able to catch the street dancing on Saturday and Sunday. Some things of note: anybody in costume could be asked for a photo (we saw a little Captain America and an elder Darth Vader), there’s San Mig and Red Horse being sold everywhere alongside softdrinks and bottled water, and everyone just seemed happy to watch and even join in the parade — especially with the overcast sky and the slightly chilly weather even at high noon.

Now I realize that this festival would seem very offensive and racist to foreign eyes, and we also wondered whether the atis (who were also present) were offended by the depiction of their primitiveness. But talks of hybridity and syncreticism notwithstanding, it was really quite fun to watch.

The costumes were not as elaborate as the ones in the MassKara festival, and neither was the dancing as grand, but I found the Ati-Atihan to be quite more fun because the audience was actually participating. Yes, there were marshals who tried to keep us on the side, but eventually, no one cared if we went to the middle of the dancers for photo opportunities.

I also loved the fact that the drumbeats didn’t come out of sound systems but from the drums of the parade contestants themselves! It made the whole experience more authentic, I think.

Right now, I feel as though I’m in one of the scariest places I’ve ever been in. I’ve been working since graduating from college, and I’ve been so used to counting my 20s based on school years. I’ve been so used to getting my salary twice a month. And now I’ve just resigned from the school where I’ve been teaching for seven years now.

I could chalk it up to many other things, of course, such as the proverbial seven-year itch and the need to move on professionally. Yet I’ve also been wondering if I was brave enough to leave because I’ve been brave enough to travel alone. And of course, I’ve been thinking that I was brave enough to travel alone only because I’ve been inspired by a lot of solo travelers’ blogs.

Times like these, I recall that time I went traveling solo in Dumaguete and surrounding areas. I know, I know — five days alone in another part of my own country is laughable to other solo travelers. But I think I’m less afraid of the unknown now that I’ve traveled. I now know better than to stay in one place because there’s so much of the world out there; I just need to take a deep breath and go, even though I’m alone. And I’ve accepted that I need to let go of some baggage before I could move on.

I am not quitting my job so that I could spend six months in Southeast Asia or around the world. Frankly, I don’t think I have the constitution to do that. And I don’t want traveling to be something I’m going to do for years at a time. What I think I’d like to do full-time, all my life, is just to be a gurô, a teacher. Being a lakwatsera, a bum traveler, is a lesser priority. But traveling has obviously changed how I view my life and career.

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When I said goodbye to my students, I returned to the legend of Icarus — one of the stories from classical mythology that we took up last June. It’s one of my favorite stories: wearing wings made by his father Daedalus, the boy Icarus, drunk with freedom and youthful recklessness, flew too close to the sun, melting the wax holding the feathers on his wings together, and fell to the sea.

I recalled, then, the first line of the poem by Jack Gilbert entitled “Falling and Flying”: “Everyone forgets that Icarus also flew.” I told my students that it’s okay to fly close to the sun and fall to the sea, that it’s okay to take risks — for the best of us can swim back to the shore, anyway. I also told them that taking a risk is exactly what I’m trying to do right now.

So after my last class, some of my students came to me and hugged me, and one said, “Good luck, miss! Go and fly — but don’t forget to wear sunblock!”

See, this is why I like teaching — wisdom comes in funny, unlikely moments.

Related articles

• Traveling solo in Dumaguete: a late blog post
• Diving in Apo Island
• What it’s Like to Travel with Friends
• 2013: A Year in Travel

My mom’s a native of Pangasinan, but this is actually my first time to go westward in the province. I always wanted to go to Hundred Islands ever since it was introduced to us in our third-grade Sibika at Kultura textbooks. Then a colleague invited me and a few friends over to her place in Alaminos. Of course I said yes — better late than never!

We left in the evening of Holy Tuesday, finally arriving in Alaminos five hours later. Travel was rather fast, considering that it was Holy Week — thank you, SCTEX and TPLEX! We slept the wee hours of the morning away until we left for the city plaza of Alaminos, where we had early lunch. We spent some time taking pictures of lovely old houses.

Then we headed to Lucap Wharf, the jump-off point to the Hundred Islands National Park. We spent P1,800 for a service boat and P1,000 for life vests and aqua shoes rental for eight people.

The first island we went to was Governor’s Island, where there was a view to the expanse of the hundred (124, actually) islands.

“How many islands to go?” I asked, to which someone replied, “99 pa.” Actually, we were able to go to only five islands, not counting the islands we just saw from a distance but were pointed out to us by our boatman.

Next was Marcos Island. No pictures there, but we had to jump a few meters in a cave (Imelda Cave) to a pool below to swim back to our boat. It was quite an experience, and one of us may have dissolved to tears out of fear. :)

After this, we went to several other undeveloped islands. There was an island where we had to swim above a coral garden and gigantic clams to get there.

Finally, we spent some time taking pictures in another undeveloped island where there were photogenic rocks to do some photoshoots in. :)

Hundred Islands is no El Nido, sure — Palawan might have set the island-hopping bar too high for this traveler — but, cliched as this sounds, I always love seeing white beaches and appreciating how many beautiful ones there are in my lovely country! And I also enjoyed being with my friends in this trip, which I shared with colleagues-friends who are mostly in a crossroad, so to speak, like me.

I really dislike traveling during Holy Week if it’s not to do our yearly Visita Iglesia simply because there are So. Many. People. taking their vacations as well. I remember a short feature on one of the local primetime TV newscasts about people in Puerto Galera during Holy Thursday. A girl was asked why she was there, and she said, “Nakakapag-reflect ako dito.” She was around so many beachgoers while she was being interviewed. Well…whatever floats your boat, ate.

This was almost the case when we went to Patar Beach in Bolinao, a day after we toured the Hundred Islands. We heard that just a week before, there’d been almost no people there, but when we finally got there on Holy Thursday, there were about a hundred people, and all the cottages were already taken. We walked along the shoreline toward where there were fewer people, but no one was very enthusiastic about swimming anymore.

Thankfully, Bolinao has a lot more adventures to offer.

We first went to the Parish of St. James the Great just across the town hall. Its facade was under construction when we arrived.

We bought the above delicacy just outside the church (which was under construction). Binungey is sticky rice with coconut milk, cooked in bamboo and banana leaves. The woman who sold this to us had to break the bamboo open with a rock.

Our second stop was the Bolinao Lighthouse. Old lighthouses are always so picturesque — the ones in Guimaras and Lobo, Batangas come to mind — and we couldn’t help but grab some photo ops here.

Next was Patar Beach, which was nearby. As aforementioned, we chose not to linger here for long, so we headed next for the Enchanted Cave. The whole resort is filled with rocks which show that the area was underwater millennia ago.

Entrance to the Resort is P100 while swimming in the cave will set you back P50 pesos more.

There were artificial chlorinated pools around, but the pool in the cave was the real attraction of the place. It’s lit by fluorescent bulbs, and in the light you could see the bright white floor of the cave underneath. Live vests are for rent for P30, but we were dirt poor by then and decided to just hold on to the ropes near the cave walls as we swam.

The shot above entailed myself swimming with my dry bag toward the end of the cave. As I’d always say, “Laging may chance.”

Quite a long ride from the Enchanted Cave is Bolinao Falls. Your vehicle would have to pass through a dirt road for quite a while before getting there. But as I’ve proven one too many times, paradise is always difficult to get to.

Entrance to Bolinao Falls is P25 per head.

Paradise is also apparently peopled during Holy Week. There were no rafts available for us to hold on to anymore, so we rented lifebuoys (a discounted price of P100 for six lifebuoys). Much of our time there was spent trying to swim against the current just to get under the falls, when we could have easily gone around it (which we did, after a while. Man, we must’ve been so hungry).

The Island Born of Fire. I mean really, as far as provincial titles or taglines here in the Philippines go, Camiguin’s is the runaway winner for being the most badass. The title itself conjures images of flowing lava and pyroclastic material, but one look at Camiguin from the approaching ro-ro would reveal something quite different: crystal blue waters, verdant rice fields and forests, and several mountains on such small space. Nature would always right itself.

How to Get to Camiguin

Fly direct to Camiguin from Cebu via Cebu Pacific Air.

How to Get to Camiguin the Longer but Cheaper Way

1. Fly to Laguindingan Airport, which services Cagayan de Oro.
2. Take a shuttle service to Cagayan de Oro. There are many shuttle services right in front of Laguindingan Airport. We chose to ride the Magnum Express because, you know, if we’re going to a place with a badass name, then we better do this right. A one-way ride would cost you P199. It leaves immediately upon being filled up by passengers. You get comfy seats and WiFi access all the way, perfect for tweeting “Touchdown CDO!” the way I did. This will take you about one hour.
3. Get dropped off at Agora Bus Terminal.
4. Take a Bachelor Tours bus (the yellow ones) which goes all the way to Butuan. Your destination is Balingoan. One-way fare is P148. This will take you all of two hours.
5. Walk or take a very short tricycle ride (P7) to Balingoan Port.
6. Purchase ferry tickets. A ro-ro ride to Benoni port in Camiguin is P170. This will take you one hour.

In going back to Laguindingan Airport from Camiguin, just do the above in reverse, except that you can take a shuttle that’s not Magnum Express at the Agora Market. Otherwise, you have to take a jeep from Agora Terminal to Limketkai Mall, where you could catch the Magnum Express back to the airport.

Now, in Benoni port, you have to go to the municipality of Mambajao, where most of the resorts and guesthouses are. You have to hire a multicab to get there. Tricycles are not allowed to go too far — for good reason, I was to realize later, as it took us about 40 minutes to get to our resort!

A one-way multicab ride (for a maximum of eight people) from Benoni to Mambajao is P450 while a one-day island tour is worth P1700. It’s pretty steep, but this is the published rates by the local DOT unit. (This is why I would totally recommend touring Camiguin with a group, unless of course you have money to burn.) What we did was to hire the same multicab for going to Mambajao and for touring the island the day after, for a discounted rate of P2000.

In Mambajao, we stayed in Agohay Villa Forte, a quaint resort by the beach. Its cheapest room is the fan room which they call Ocean Cottage (P850). I loved sitting in its restaurant (excellent food, by the way) and typing away while staring at the sea and hearing nothing but sea waves and birdcall. It was a beautiful respite from the noise of the city. I miss it already.

A day tour of Camiguin is much like many day tours of smaller provincial islands in the Philippines: you hop on a jeep or multicab, stop at certain points of interest, and sightsee all day. I went around Guimaras and Siquijor this way. But I was astounded by the many things one can do in Camiguin!

For our day trip, we’d hired a multicab (P1700) operated by a husband-and-wife team of accredited tour guides. They went to our resort to take us first to Katibawasan Falls.

At 75 meters in height, this is the tallest falls in Camiguin and probably the tallest falls I’ve ever swum near. And the water is cold,but after immersing ourselves there for 30 minutes, it felt blessedly relaxing.

Entrance fee to Katibawasan Falls is P20.

We ate kiping to keep our stomachs full till our next stop, which was the Mantigue Island Nature Park.

Mantigue Island is a short boat ride (P550) away from the boat terminal in the town of Mahinog. On the island, we also paid P20 for the environmental fee, P50 for the snorkeling fee, P50 for the rental of a small table and chairs, and P150 for the rental of flippers.

All worth it? Heck yes.

I walked around barefooted to take pictures. I loved feeling the soft white sand underneath my feet, even though it was already quite hot under the almost-noontime sun!

The marine sanctuary is just a short swim away. I went around the buoy lines, though I didn’t swim too far out because I was alone. Also, a school of jackfish scared me away, because they looked as though they could attack me from all sides. :) But after swimming a bit and seeing nothing but sea grass, I was rewarded with a sight of the usual residents of protected Philippine reefs such as some blue tang (e.g. Dory in Finding Nemo), parrotfish, sweet lips, butterflyfish, cleaner wrasses, and several others I can’t identify, including little electric blue fish. There was a nice reef wall with branching and table corals which I got nearer to before said school of jackfish appeared. There was also a family of clownfish which appeared to be challenging me by their anemone home (when all I really wanted was to say hi). I wonder how much more I’d see if I’d gone on and on.

We spent a couple of hours on Mantigue Island before we went back to Camiguin. Lunch was at J&A Fishpen Restaurant, also in Mahinog, which was by the Tanguines Lagoon and where there was a 1100-meter zipline. We did away with the zipline, but the food was good. We ordered buttered shrimp, crab soup and fish.

We treated our tour guides here as well and had a short chat with them. I asked them where the lanzones were, since I’d seen a stall in Balingoan selling “lanzones from Camiguin”. They’re not from Camiguin, apparently, as lanzones season is in October and there’s none to be found in Camiguin in summer months. Ah, you learn something (or in today’s case, several things) new every day.

Parts two and three of my Camiguin Day Tour can be found here: Part Two | Part Three

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• A long day tour of Siquijor (part two), and more musings on solo travel

Parts one and three of my Camiguin Day Tour can be found here: Part One | Part Three

In the town of Catarman is the Sto. Niño Cold Spring Resort, which was packed with people on that Saturday morning.

I almost didn’t want to join so many people, but the water looked so inviting on that hot afternoon. And yes, when it says cold springs, it means cold. So this is like cooling off in the island born of fire. (hehe.)

Be warned, though, that the larger pool is deep, hence the many floating tubes you’d see on the picture. It’s already refreshing to sit by the sides and just cool off, though. (Right now, I’m sweltering in Manila heat and I’m really missing this place.)

Next stop was the Old Church Ruins, which faces the sea in Barangay Bonbon in Catarman. According to the commemorative marker here, the town was used to be called Cotta Bato, the old capital of Camiguin. It was wiped out in all of 20 minutes when a fissure opened on the northwestern flank of Mt. Hibok-Hibok. For four years the volcano continued to eject lava.

The explosion and continuous volcanic activity created a new volcano, now called Mt. Vulcan. From White Island, you could see Mt. Vulcan to the west of the much larger Hibok-Hibok.

Mt. Vulcan also caused a cemetery to sink to the sea. The commemorative marker to the Sunken Cemetery was where our next stop was.

You can actually take a boat to the cross itself. Also, there is a marine sanctuary around it.

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Parts one and two of my Camiguin Day Tour can be found here: Part One | Part Two

“Walkway to the Old Volcano” is kind of a misnomer because Mt. Vulcan basically built itself in 1871 to 1875, which makes it the youngest volcano on the island. (Or maybe it is because it is only a parasitic cone of Mt. Hibok-Hibok, which is the old volcano, obviously because it is the only other volcano on the island…?)

Nuances aside, people flock here especially on Holy Week for the panaad, or a panata, to remember the suffering of Christ on Good Friday. Trekking the Stations of the Cross was thus a belated one for me by about two weeks.

The first few stations have concretized roads until you start walking on a dirt roads. It’s as though you get a feel of Christ’s suffering getting worse. Truly, in the heat of the sun all I could say was, Why did Jesus have to have it so hard? (This was said with my tongue firmly in cheek.)

While stopping for water breaks, you could look around and get stunning views of the shoreline of Camiguin. Below, you could just see the Sunken Cemetery marker:

Thankfully, we didn’t have to climb all 580 MASL of Mt. Vulcan to get to the last station. :)

It took us about one hour to get to the last station and back again. After this, we ended our day tour in the Ardent Hibok-Hibok Springs Resort (P30). Unfortunately, it wasn’t as warm as I’d been expecting, but it’s water. We stayed here to refresh our tired bodies…until we got back to the resort and spent even more time in the pool. :)

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The day didn’t start off as ideal. Our boatman woke up later than our 5:30am call time, and to the east, there were gray clouds foreboding rain. I was getting stressed out by the many boats going back and forth White Island and Camiguin. Then when our boatman arrived, we had to wait till he’d already brought a family of six to the White Island.

(All of these mattered because I’m cranky in the morning when I haven’t had breakfast and coffee.)

We were staying in Barangay Agoho, where boats to White Island were docked, and White Island had been staring at us for two days already. I was excited for what I’d heard it is — a white sandbar with no vegetation at all.

Finally, we got to the White Island after a ten-minute ride on the boat. It was a Sunday, which was probably why there were so many people already. What I hadn’t counted on were the small stores and umbrellas with tables and chairs set up. I’d been expecting an almost-deserted island.

So, after people-watching for a bit, I decided to move on farther from the people. I appreciated the island better then.

You could see a view of Mt. Hibok-Hibok and, to the right, Mt. Vulcan, from the White Island.

For a long while, I just sat on the sand and took many pictures, mainly getting interested at how light subtly changes as I caught images in my camera. Later, I jumped into those cool, clear waters to soothe the sunburns I’d incurred the previous day.

We had a very cheap breakfast here: I had a boiled egg for P10 and three bananas also for P10.

We went back to Camiguin after two hours, and for the rest of the day I sat in the restaurant of Agohay Villa Forte and did a bit of writing. There was nothing to hear but the birds chirping their songs and the waves gently lapping the shore. I could see White Island from afar. It’s the kind of solitude I always love.

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It was a school day in January when Edison, Angel, and I went knocking on our respective classrooms’ doors because of, of all things, a Cebu Pacific seat sale. I didn’t even know where I really wanted to go — originally I’d  considered Bali — until Edison said, “Tokyo na lang!” And after a bit of discussion, I felt that giddy feeling I get when purchasing really cheap airline tickets (especially as I couldn’t see actual money changing hands, thanks to my credit card). But the thing is, return tickets went for a little less than P6000, all-in!

Now that was accomplished — that is, until we started our research and found out that Tokyo was the most expensive city in the world to live in*, and that a tourist visa was not as easy to secure. Yikes. But we had our ways; we made money from tutoring and withdrew from our savings, and I think being tenured teachers helped us secure our visa. And finally, in May, we found ourselves in Narita Airport singing “Narita akooo…” and exchanging the $400 we’d brought with us.

This is where $400 (that’s around P17,600) can take you in Tokyo:

1. Many areas in Tokyo: Asakusa, Sumida, Ueno, Ginza, Roppongi, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Odaiba…
2. Ueno Zoo
3. Enoshima and Kamakura, an hour away by train from Tokyo
4. Tokyo Disneyland!
5. The Roppongi Hills Observation Deck, where you can view the Tokyo skyline
6. Uniqlo and H&M in Harajuku and Roppongi Hills (and yes, you can buy cheap stuff there)
7. Pasalubong shopping, including lots of Kit Kat (in matcha and sakura matcha flavors) and Royce chocolates
8. Many, many train rides, including those times we got lost and had to backtrack
9. A few expensive snacks here and there

Add to this our P5,953 airfare and P4,630 for a four-night stay in a hostel (previously booked through Agoda), and we spent a total of a little more than P28,000 in all. This was like my budget for three weeks in Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia in 2013, but — again — Japan!!!  And I still have a few hundred yen left with me. Many other blogs I’ve read estimate their expenses at P40,000 or more, excluding airfare, for five days.

How did we do it?

By being cheapskates, only classy.

Our Itinerary (5 days 4 nights)

• Day 1: Depart from NAIA Terminal 3, arrive at Narita Airport
• Take a train to Asakusa
• Check in at Sakura Hostel Asakusa
• Visit the surrounding areas: Sensoji Temple, Nakamise shopping street, Sumida Park, Asahi Beer Tower, views of Tokyo Skytree
• Day 2: Spend the morning at Ueno Park and Ueno Zoo
• Walk around Akihabara Electric Town
• Go to the Imperial Palace Gardens
• Take a long walk to the Ginza shopping district
• Spend late afternoon in Roppongi
• See the skyline at the Mori Tower

• Day 3: Go to Shinjuku for the train to Enoshima
• Climb the Enoshima Shrine
• Go to the Sea Candle in the Samuel Cocking Gardens for a view of Tokyo, Yokohama, and (if you’re lucky) Mt. Fuji
• Take the train to Kamakura
• Visit the temples there
• Take the train back to Tokyo, get off at Harajuku
• Shop while people-watching in Harajuku
• Walk to Shibuya
• Find Hachiko’s statue and be amazed at the crazy Shibuya crossing
• Day 4: Take the train to Tokyo Disneyland
• Go crazy in Tokyo Disneyland
• Take the train back to Harajuku to visit the Meiji-jingu
• Take a couple of trains to Odaiba. Spend late afternoon to evening here.
• Stare at the futuristic architecture of Odaiba
• Go to Diver City to see the huge Gundam statue
• Go back to Asakusa. Shop at Don Quijote for pasalubong
• Day 5: Take the train to Narita Airport, fly back home

Accommodations

We stayed in Sakura Hostel Asakusa, very near the Sensoji Temple and about  fifteen-minute walk to the nearest train stations (Asakusa or Tawaramachi on the Ginza Line). We stayed in a six-bed mixed dorm. Bathroom is shared but always clean. There’s glorious hot water and breakfast is free! A night is ¥ 3000 . It was Eds and Angel’s first time to be in a hostel, but they’re awesome because they’re not very queasy about sharing a room with other travelers (even though the other backpackers’ stuff were all over the floor).

Transportation

“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation.”

Enrique Penalosa, former mayor of Bogota

We took the very complicated train system in Tokyo. This, compounded by the fact that none of us can read Japanese, meant that we got lost or got on more expensive (but very comfy) trains. And taking the train is quite expensive as it is already: a ride one station away is already worth ¥ 140. But this is cheaper than taking a cab.

It just takes good planning to be able to maximize your train tickets. You could, for example, explore western Tokyo (Shinjuku, Shibuya and Harajuku) in one day. Our fourth day was not well-planned: we went to Tokyo Disneyland, then went to the Meiji shrine on the other side of Tokyo, then went back to the eastern side for Odaiba. You may choose not to do this. :)

By the way, there’s a bit of etiquette on Tokyo trains: you’re not allowed to eat, you’re not allowed to talk (loudly…but as I saw it, barely anyone talked) or answer your phone, and you’re not really supposed to disturb the passenger beside you when you sit. I mean, here in the Philippines, any small space between passengers of the MRT means there still is space for another person.

Taking public transportation also meant that we had to walk. A lot. Just on our first day, my feet were already sore. Neither my boots nor sneakers were helpful in taking me across Tokyo without having to drag my feet after a few hours of walking, but seeing the Japanese women ambling in high heels made me feel bad about my complaints.

But walking, especially in the May weather, is just so lovely in Tokyo. The sidewalks are wide, and there were textured parts of the footpath and train stations that I didn’t understand at first. On our fifth day, when Iya — a former co-teacher, now living in Japan — took us out for dinner, she explained that these are tactile pavings to guide the blind or visually impaired as they walk.

Wow. Here, I’ve always wished our government respected even the lowliest of commuters.

EDIT: My friend Lisa, who has traveled Japan way more than I have, suggests getting an all-day pass if you’re the type who likes to go round and round a city via train. You can plan your trip and see if you need an all-day pass using the Tokyo Metro line here.

Food

This took up a lot of our expenses. On the other hand, we made do by doing the following:

1. We carbo-loaded in our hostel, where breakfast is included in our reservation.

2. We did not always settle down to eat. We bought snacks in convenience stores, e.g. Lawson (the cheapest), FamilyMart or 7-11, and ate wherever we could, such as in a park bench near a snack stall toward the Imperial Palace. We were walking a lot, and since it’s considered rude in Japan to eat while walking, we didn’t feel the urge to eat…until we finally rested and heard our stomachs (and feet) complaining. Then we did proper eating.

Shopping

Daiso (the 100-yen store) is awesome, but more so is Don Quijote. The Asakusa branch was where we bought much of our pasalubong, which was so convenient because it was 11 PM when we got back from Shinjuku and it was there, open 24 hours a day.

We also did a bit of shopping in Uniqlo in Roppongi Hills and in H&M in Harajuku, where there was that bit of “OMG do you know how much this is back home???” kilig feeling when we found clothes on sale ¥ 1000 for a cute H&M dress? What a steal!

Sightseeing

Okay, the great thing about Tokyo is that most of the sightseeing is free. You’d need to pay for the museums, but the Imperial Palace Gardens, Sensoji Temple and surrounds, the Meiji Shrine, the parks like Sumida Park, Harajuku (for people-watching) and Odaiba (for architecture-staring) are all free.

Here’s where we had to spend for admission:

• Observation Deck in Mori Tower, Roppongi Hills: ¥ 1500 (an alternative: Tokyo Metropolitan Tower in Asakusa is free)
• Tokyo Disneyland: ¥ 6200 (one-day pass, rides excluded)
• Samuel Cocking Garden and Sea Candle in Enoshima: ¥ 500
• Ueno Zoo: ¥ 600

You could go to many other museums in Ueno and Odaiba instead of spending on Kit Kats (as I did, hehe).

As you can see, it’s possible to go to Tokyo on a budget. You just need a lot of self-restraint and a bit of careful planning!

*As of March 4 this year, Tokyo has been knocked down to sixth on the richest cities list – but it still is expensive.

Edison, Angel and I would like to thank Ms. Ai, who helped us with our itinerary, and Iya, who treated us to Japanese-Italian fusion dinner and taught us Japanese etiquette!

I considered it a big problem, the fact that I hadn’t handled a camera in three months except to take 1×1 photos. I also needed a break from the gray contours of the city, and I longed for air that smelled of the sea.

But where to go during monsoon season? Edison and I alternately suggested places (and shot down each other’s ideas) until he came up with San Felipe, Zambales — he’d been there before, and it was a surfer’s paradise that isn’t too far from the city. So there we went, a group of teachers hoping to catch some beginner’s waves.

Unfortunately,  waves were too weak last weekend. But I got just what I needed: a break, fresh air, a couple of days disconnected from work and the internet.

We arrived in the early hours of Sunday, when San Felipe was pleasantly quiet and going to Arnel’s house meant walking along a dark, dark road. It was only when the sun had risen did I realize why — it was a house near fields flanked by mountains.

I didn’t expect to be trekking so early into our trip, but it was a pretty lovely trek across fields that still bear volcanic sand from Mt. Pinatubo’s 1991 eruption. The mountain ridges look as though nature shaded them with trees that contrasted against the lighter-colored grasses. At certain points in the trek, the air smelled of oregano that sprouted alongside the tall cogon grass.

The trek led us to the lovely Anghalo Falls.

We climbed the cliff on the right side of the falls to get to the next level. Here, under the cool rain, we had adobo and warm rice for lunch as we sat on the rocks and water streamed past our feet.

When the water started to slightly swell and become muddy, we started climbing back down. We had a few hours of rest back in Arnel’s house till we went to Sitio Liw-Liwa for the beach and sunset. During surfing months (the -ber months, according to the locals), Liw-Liwa has grand waves for advanced surfers. We were a few weeks early, though!

The next day, we took a bus to San Narciso, just south of San Felipe. We’d hoped to surf in Crystal Beach, but since there were no waves, we just lounged around and swam.

I nearly fell asleep on the sand — definitely a bad idea as I am currently nursing a sunburn. :p

Crystal Beach Resort

*

A Short Backpacker’s Guide

To get to San Felipe, we took a an aircon bus bound for Iba, Zambales from the Sampaloc Terminal of Victory Liner. Fare is around P280 per peson. We alighted at the bus stop across the San Felipe market.

There are many resorts around San Felipe and San Narciso. The Circle Hostel in San Felipe looks like a great place where you could rent out hammocks for P250 per night and bunks beds for P350 per night.

A day tour of Crystal Beach Resort in San Narciso is P150/hour. Surfing lessons in Crystal Beach Resort is P400 per hour, inclusive of entrance fee, board rental, and instructor’s fee.

Many thanks to Arnel for agreeing to host us at the last minute, and to my awesome fellow teachers/travelers Edison, Moore, Daniel, Jasper, Bon, and Xyviel!

It’s been so long since I last posted here, I know! I’m ashamed to say I haven’t gone traveling in these past few months as real life (whatever that means) has really taken over.

I know I still have a lot of backlogs and I’ve been kind of lazy to update, but lately I’ve been told by a few people in real life that they do their planning (and daydreaming) based on my blog. So — you know who you are! — this is for you! And speaking of daydreaming, I’ve been looking at my pictures of Tokyo from my trip last May, and I get all sorts of happy and nostalgic feelings whenever I do. For the longest time I’ve wanted to share them with my readers, and finally I am doing so.

I’d like to begin by showing pictures of Asakusa and Sumida in Tokyo. Again, for those wondering: these were taken last May, so there are no autumn colors here!

When we were in Tokyo, we stayed in Asakusa, a district in the Taitō ward. Even though it was far from downtown Tokyo (i.e. Shinjuku?), guesthouses were cheap there, and it was quiet an experience walking along its quiet streets at the end of a very long day of sightseeing.

We arrived in Tokyo early in the afternoon on a Monday, and with the help of a very kind Japanese woman who walked with us all of the 15-20 minutes it took for us to walk from the train station to Sakura Hostel. It turns out that we were going to meet many other Japanese who were very helpful, so much that they would run back to us to clarify to us where we were supposed to go.

Asakusa is so lively in the afternoons. It’s one of the oldest tourist areas in Tokyo, and in 2014 it still is very busy and touristy. It’s hard to take pictures of the main sights because everyone else is taking selfies. Men would call out inviting you to take a ride in their rickshaws. And, nearing the temple, souvenirs and food would get increasingly expensive.

It’s like I could take pictures of anything in Asakusa, even though I don’t always understand it…

Asakusa’s most famous landmark is the Senso-ji, a Buddhist temple and Tokyo’s oldest.

Nakamise-dori, the famous shopping street leading to the temple

We crossed the bridge over Sumida-gawa (Sumida River) to get to the quieter Sumida ward. We already saw the Tokyo Skytree from afar, so we were basically chasing after it.

Sumida skyline: see the Tokyo Skytree and the Asahi Beer Tower

Bronze statue of Katsu Kaishū, a naval engineer who held posts in the navy during the Tokugawa Era.

Fun fact: I took the photo above not knowing who the statue is of, but a few months later, I got into watching Ryōmaden. (What can I say, this Tokyo trip had an effect on me.) Now this historical fiction TV series has a tourism featurette at the end of every episode, so imagine the shock I got when it featured this statue!

Our aimless wanderings got us into the Asahi Beer Tower (I guess we were expecting to drink beer??) and a small temple called Ushijima Shrine, dedicated to a bull deity, where a newlywed couple in traditional attire were getting their pictures taken. We eventually found ourselves in Sumida Park to take a breather.

At night, when the tourists have all gone back home, Asakusa is quieter and less lively; yet the illuminated shops are still quite lovely to look at.

Next time, I’ll be writing about Ueno and Ginza! Here’s hoping it won’t take me too long this time around :)

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For our first morning in Tokyo — our second day in the city — we went to the Ueno district.

Edison and Angel came prepared, of course.

Now, we had a choice between the Tokyo National Museum and Ueno Zoo. Now, as you will see, the idea of seeing pandas won.

Our zoo visit was spent rushing from one enclosure to another, wherever there was roof, because it was drizzling all morning. However, there were students having their field trip that morning, too, and they seemed not to care about the rain as much as we did. Later on, after a couple of rainy mornings, we realized that we shouldn’t care so much, either (after taking paracetamol, of course, just in case).

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Tokyo Day 2 Notes

• 08:30am
  • from Tawaramachi Sta., take Ginza Line to Ueno Sta. (¥140)
    Ueno Zoo (admission: ¥300)
  • alternative: Tokyo National Museum (admission: ¥300); temples (free)
• 11:00am
  • from Ueno Sta., take JR Yamanote Line to Akihabara (¥140)
  • go crazy shopping
• 12:30pm
  • from Akihabara Sta., take JR Yamanote Line to Yurackucho Sta. (¥160)
  • walk to Sakuradamon entrance gate of Imperial Palace East Gardens (open to public)
  • have take-out lunch/snacks
  • take pictures
• 3:00pm
  • walk back to Yurakucho Sta., then walk to the opposite direction going to Ginza
  • Kabukiza Theater (or just hang out in the basement, which is full of stores)
  • you may visit the following stores/buildings: Nichido Garo, Tokyo Kyukyodo, Itoya, Hakuhinkan Toy Park, San-ai Blg, Sony Bldg., and more
• 17:30pm
  • from Ginza, take the Hibiya Line to Roppongi Sta. (¥170)
  • you may go clubbing afterward!
• 20:00pm
  • from Roppongi, take Hibiya Line to Ginza Sta. (¥170)
  • transfer on to Ginza Line to Tamaramachi Sta. (¥200)
  • walk to hostel in Asakusa

Akihabara is an otaku paradise. I haven’t been an otaku in ages (cue anime/J-pop music of the late 90s), but all the feels were felt once we stepped out of Akihabara Station.

On the other hand, we made a beeline to…erm, a five-floor sex store for research purposes only. There were floors that were off-limits to us ladies, so Edison went ahead to have a look at the even weirder stuff.

We did but some cute trinkets and stationery at a store nearby. I was able to score a cheap scarf hanger; I bought it especially because, like many things in Japan, I’d never seen one before. :D

After Akihabara, we took the train again to the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda ward. It was such a pleasant walk going there.

Going there, we came across stalls in the middle of a park where we brought out our snacks bought a day earlier at Don Quijote in Asakusa. Pigeons came to partake of our bread crumbs. Meanwhile, I included a bar of heavenly Häagen Dazs ice cream in my meal — not very cheap, but cheap if I compared it to Häagen Dazs in the Philippines.

You’d need reservations to enter the grounds of the Imperial Palace — and reservations are difficult to come by — so we just walked around the vast East Gardens and gazed at the greenery along with the few tourists that were there that day.

Afterward, we took a long walk to Ginza. The walk brought us to wide boulevards approaching Tokyo Station. Going there, we had to cross a bridge over a river (with an actual swan, wow — the little things amazed me here).

We walked along narrower streets, stopping by the Yurakucho Concourse, where we snacked on yakitori and beer in one of the hole-in-the-wall shops there. I have to say, this is one of my most favorite parts of the trip — it was unexpected, there were very few tourists, and it felt very…normal. We spent some quiet time here to take a breather and just talk.

Old movie posters in the background

We walked some more, weaving our way through office buildings, until we reached high-end Ginza. I have very few pictures of Ginza, actually — I think we were too busy gaping at buildings with high-end brand names. Somehow we found ourselves in a basement where stalls sold traditional snacks, as though in a trade center. It turned out that we were in the basement of the Kabukiza theater!

We took the subway again to Roppongi Hills. For a long while, we rested our feet in the garden of one of the buildings. Then we went to a Fuji camera museum, had curry dinner, and shopped a bit in Uniqlo (where there was a sale!).

Then, as night fell, we went to the observation deck on the 52nd floor of the Mori Tower.

And that gorgeous picture up there basically summed up our long, amazing day.

Thanks to Edison and Ms. Ai for the itinerary above!

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Tokyo Day 3 Notes

• 07:30am
  • from Tawaramachi Sta., take Ginza Line to Kanda Sta. (¥170)
  • from Kanda Sta., take Chuo Line to Shinjuku Sta. (¥170), exit to Odakyu Line
  • purchase Enoshima-Kamakura 1-day Free Pass (¥1,470 + ¥600 for upgrade to Limited Express “Romance Car”)
• 08:53am
  • board the Limited Express “Romance Car” for Katase-Enoshima
• 10:02am
  • arrival at Katase-Enoshima
  • cross the causeway to the island
  • go to Enoshima Shrine
  • climb up to Samuel Cocking Garden and Sea Candle Observatory (entrance: ¥500)
• 12:00pm
  • climb back down; have lunch
  • walk back to mainland
  • board Enoden (electric monorail) to Enoshima Sta.
  • board train at Enoshima Sta. to Kamakura
• 2:00pm
  • Hasedera Temple (entrance: ¥300)
  • Kōtokuin Temple (entrance: ¥200 + ¥20 to get inside the body of the Great Buddha)
• 4:30pm (estimate)
  • walk to Hase Sta.
  • from Hase Sta., take Enoden to Fujisawa Sta.
  • from Fujisawa Sta., take Odakyu Line Limited Express to Shinjuku Sta.
  • from Shinjuku Sta., take JR Yamanote Line to Harajuku Sta. (¥140)
• 6:00pm (estimate)
  • explore Harajuku, buy clothes
  • walk to Shibuya
  • watch the pedestrians in Shibuya Crossing and look for the Hachiko statue
• 21:30pm
  • take Ginza Line to Tawaramachi Sta. (¥240)

For the third day of our Tokyo trip, we ventured to Kanagawa Prefecture for Enoshima and Kamakura, which are both popular day trips for tourists and locals alike.

Enoshima is an island in the city of Fujisawa and is connected to the mainland by bridge. To get there, you’d have to take the Odakyu Line from Shinjuku Station. We added a few hundred yen to our ticket to be able to upgrade our ride to the “Romance Car,” which has comfortable seats, just right for napping after the Amazing Race Tokyo the day before. (By the way, I always see the name “Romance Car” with quotation marks. For good reason, I guess?)

Katase-Enoshima train station with the Odakyu Limited Express

We crossed to causeway to the island:

It’s a climb up the Enoshima Shrine which connects Enoshima’s main attractions and temples.  There is one pathway flanked by souvenir and snack stalls, and this torii welcomes you.

This cat by the admissions sleepily welcomes you too.

It’s actually a steep climb up and there are several “levels” where tourists stop to explore and take photos, but no worries — there are escalators to take you up.

At the top of the course, we got to the Samuel Cocking Gardens. This is a restoration of sorts of a greenhouse built by British merchant Samuel Cocking during the Meiji Era. We were very lucky that the flowers were all abloom when we got there!

The Enoshima Lighthouse is also called the Sea Candle, as you can see below:

You can supposedly see Mt. Fuji from the top, but it was overcast when we got there and could only just see Fuji-san’s shadow. However, we were able to see the Izu peninsula and Yokohama.

We went back down and treated ourselves to lunch before heading out to our next location: Kamakura. In the Philippines, we’d call this meal dulong omelette:

And I washed it all down with the very first bottle of Evian I’ve ever purchased in my entire life. I bought it from — where else? — a vending machine. :-)

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One of the things I love about going to another country is exploring its houses and temples of worship. (I have had some annoyed travel companions because of this in the past, when they can’t keep up with my desire to cover so much land in a day, even though the temples all look alike at some point.) We didn’t have enough time to explore Kamakura City, which has so many temples and shrines, and at one point in history was the seat of the Kamakura shogunate.

but we had a couple of hours to visit two Buddhist temples: Hase-dera and Kōtoku-in.

Hase-dera is is most famous for a wooden statue, gilded in gold, of Kannon, the deity of mercy.

It also has lovely surroundings: there is a viewdeck with views over Kamakura, lovely gardens and buildings, and a nice (albeit expensive) restaurant. There is also an underground cave called Benten kutsu, which contains statues of Benzaiten and other gods. We bumped into one of our former students here, of all places!

Matcha and red bean pastry. We were expecting a tea ceremony — ah well.

The library

There is also the Jizō-do Hall which contains thousands of statues of the Jizō bodhisattva:

My first time to encounter cute bodhisattva statues!

I had some Japanese schoolkids coming up to me, asking me to have their picture taken with them. I was stumped as to why — buy hey, photo ops! Later on, we realized that maybe it was for an English language assignment. Pretty awesome way to learn , I think.

Next, we followed the small crowd of tourists to the Kōtoku-in, which houses the Daibutsu, or the Great Buddha.

The statue is made of bronze and dates from 1252 AD, during the Kamakura shogunate period. It’s 13.35 meters high and each eye is one meter in length. We actually entered the inside of the Buddha (how’s that for a religious experience) for a minimal fee.

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