Pangasinan Paradise - Hundred Islands
I’ve seen plenty of postcards of the Hundred Islands in Pangasinan. I dreamed of seeing the actual beauty of the place someday. But I didn’t plan to see the place reeling from the aftermath of a typhoon.
We rented a transient house for our night in Alaminos – we could cook our own meals. We did a side trip to the mall for our supplies. Upon arriving at the house, we learned that there is no electricity in that particular town. Luck was not with us that day. We were in for another sauna night. Although the place had a generator, it cannot power the airconditioning.
What happened:
Hiring a boat was pretty easy. Rates were pretty much fixed at Php 2,000/boat that could fit around 12 people. Our lunch? We brought our take-out lunches from McDonalds. Oha!
The Hundred Islands National Park is composed of 123 islands and islets. The islands and islets beckoned. There is Big Brother’s House. Since I am not an avid watcher of the series, I didn’t even know it existed.
The first stop was Governor’s island where we paid the Park Fee of Php 20/head. A bit of a trek to reach the top. There were ropes to hang onto.
But the view was worth it.
Let the conquering begin!
We could view the crowd in Quezon island from a distance and we didn't feel joining the party there. We requested our boatmen to dock at the nearby Lopez Island instead.
Our guide suggested we try the jump at the Marcos Island. It was a short climb from the shore and on top of the island was a cave called Imelda Cave. After a small flight of stairs there lies... water. Locals encouraged us to jump. They jumped first and we followed suit. It was suck a cool experience that I jumped twice. Teehee!
More photos taken at Cathedral Cave. We had fun playing with silhouette pics.
Then it was time to head back. Our room was steaming. No aircon, poor ventilation. The electric fan cannot appease the heat. After toasting in the sun, I was not looking forward to baking myself to sleep.
Fortunately, the transient house was right in front of the Hundred Islands Hotel – which had generator that can power airconditioning through the night. Come night time, we were all sweating in our room and we all decided to transfer to the hotel. The hotel had a videoke machine at its lobby so we just sang our frustrations out.
Morning came we dragged ourselves out of bed. It was the last day of our getaway and reality was close. We agreed to proceed with the side trip to Manaoag Church. This cost us an additional Php 1,000 for the gas and vehicle. We finally reached our destination - Manaoag Church - after three hours.
We then proceeded to our long trip back to reality. Of course, we did some pasalubong buying along the way. Tupig was good and cheap in Pangasinan (Php 5). Since we were all already famished, we had our lunch past 3pm in SM Pampanga (?). Haha.
We rented a transient house for our night in Alaminos – we could cook our own meals. We did a side trip to the mall for our supplies. Upon arriving at the house, we learned that there is no electricity in that particular town. Luck was not with us that day. We were in for another sauna night. Although the place had a generator, it cannot power the airconditioning.
What happened:
| DAY 2 |
|
| 07:00 am | Breakfast in Bolinao |
| 08:00 am | Check out resort and proceed to Alaminos, Pangasinan Sidetrip shopping for supplies, take-out lunch |
| 10:00 am | Arrive at transient house in Alaminos |
| 10:00 am | Start of Island Hopping |
| 05:00 pm | Head back to transient house. Cook dinner. |
| 07:00 pm | Transferred to Hundred Islands Hotel |
|
| Videoke |
| DAY 3 |
|
| 07:00 am | Wake up. Shower Rounds. Breakfast. |
| 09:00 am | Travel to Manaoag |
| 12:00 nn | Arrive at Manaoag Church |
| 01:00 pm | Depart from Manaoag. Travel back to Manila |
|
| Pasalubong buying |
|
| Lunch in SM |
Hiring a boat was pretty easy. Rates were pretty much fixed at Php 2,000/boat that could fit around 12 people. Our lunch? We brought our take-out lunches from McDonalds. Oha!
The Hundred Islands National Park is composed of 123 islands and islets. The islands and islets beckoned. There is Big Brother’s House. Since I am not an avid watcher of the series, I didn’t even know it existed.
The first stop was Governor’s island where we paid the Park Fee of Php 20/head. A bit of a trek to reach the top. There were ropes to hang onto.
But the view was worth it.
Let the conquering begin!
We could view the crowd in Quezon island from a distance and we didn't feel joining the party there. We requested our boatmen to dock at the nearby Lopez Island instead.
Our guide suggested we try the jump at the Marcos Island. It was a short climb from the shore and on top of the island was a cave called Imelda Cave. After a small flight of stairs there lies... water. Locals encouraged us to jump. They jumped first and we followed suit. It was suck a cool experience that I jumped twice. Teehee!
More photos taken at Cathedral Cave. We had fun playing with silhouette pics.
Then it was time to head back. Our room was steaming. No aircon, poor ventilation. The electric fan cannot appease the heat. After toasting in the sun, I was not looking forward to baking myself to sleep.
Fortunately, the transient house was right in front of the Hundred Islands Hotel – which had generator that can power airconditioning through the night. Come night time, we were all sweating in our room and we all decided to transfer to the hotel. The hotel had a videoke machine at its lobby so we just sang our frustrations out.
Morning came we dragged ourselves out of bed. It was the last day of our getaway and reality was close. We agreed to proceed with the side trip to Manaoag Church. This cost us an additional Php 1,000 for the gas and vehicle. We finally reached our destination - Manaoag Church - after three hours.
We then proceeded to our long trip back to reality. Of course, we did some pasalubong buying along the way. Tupig was good and cheap in Pangasinan (Php 5). Since we were all already famished, we had our lunch past 3pm in SM Pampanga (?). Haha.
Great advice, Excellent attention to details, way to go! Please continue amused us with your travel experiences and shortcomings :)
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