Weekends in Magalawa

Weekends in Magalawa

It was the last day of the work week for us, which was unfortunately not a literal day but night (call  center folks can so relate to this) so we had to go directly to the bus station from the office so we can make it to our destination at least before 14:00. We arrive at Victory’s Kalookan bus terminal at 5:30 but were not even able to ride the 6:00 bus (they have a bus departing every 30 minutes) and had to take the 6:30 bus - that’s how many travelers they have so if you want to ride the earlier trip you have to be at least an hour before the desired departure time. We were supposed to be riding the bus directly going to Sta. Cruz ( Iba Zambales) but the first bus bound to Sta. Cruz only leaves at 7:00 which would give us 1 more hour to basically do nothing so we opted to take the bus going to Olongapo. We dropped off the Victory station there and rode another bus bound to Sta. Cruz, you just need to tell the bus conductor to drop you on the way to magalawa Island if you opt to take this route.

On the way to Olongapo surprisingly I found it hard to sleep (I always slept on bus rides) maybe because I had enough sleep the night in the office :D. Anyway, so we arrived on the road to Magalawa at around 13:30 and rode the tricycle to take us to the port to Magalawa. The trike ride is really an adventure by itself as the road is rocky  but it was fun except it was very dusty so have something to cover your eyes, nose and mouth. After around 20 minutes of the bumpy tricycle ride we arrived at the port which is probably the fishermen’s port as well as we saw barrels of fish being transported so it’s a bit messy place. As always the boat ride is entertaining, knowing you are above water and safe is one of the best feeling in the world, while hoping the boat won’t sink for whatever reason at the same time.

Arriving at Magalawa I told myself it was better than Boracay, well this depends on your preference of course. I prefer Magalwa because it was peaceful, no clubs, no people roaming around selling you stuff and the food was great. I felt like we got more than what we paid for with the food (package from Armada resort is 1500PHP for a Fan Kubo Accomodation – varies according to your group size) plus the free equipments for snorkeling. Since the Island is private you will really find the peace you are looking for sicne the owners decided to cater only a certain number of people where they can still maintain the island’s cleanliness and tranquility as I was told by one of its owners (the Island is owned by a family). I really liked their idea, and even dreamed for a moment to have my own island and resort and who knows I might really be blessed with one. :)

It was great to meet the people taking care of the island, and even meeting those other visitors trying to find whatever it is that they are hoping to find in the island. Traveling really does give you a better perspective in life. Seeing new people and beholding a newfound beauty tells you that there is more to life than all the hurt, the pain and the confusion. I know, I sound very lonely but I’m not, at least not anymore – we all have to go through these things at some point in our life but remember we just got to hold on and look forward to discover another beautiful creation. Seeing the grandeur of nature reminds us of God’s sovereignty, telling us that He is in control.

Below is the link to Armada Resort's site so you can check on their rates:

http://magalawaislandresort.com/

Below are the pictures taken from my phone (these are raw pictures so you know what to expect):

 me on the nose of boat (don't know what it is really) on our way to the island

 

below is our food on our first meal at Armada (we felt like being in a five star hotel and I haven't been in one so :)..

my early morning shot that raft you see in the background is tied to the small boat that takes us to the snorkeling site...

Last meal at Armada

the following photos were taken by Ragie:

since Ragie took this picture, she is the one who isn't her, thsi was our first meal here btw.. :)

good morning!

the friendly dog, they have lots of this kind...

a group shadow shot...

Breitling Jet Team Performance for the Hot Air Ballon Festival 2013

Here's the video for the Breitling Jet Team as promised. This will give you a glimpse of their peerformance but definitely does not justify it. I am not good at editing videos so I basically cut and remove some parts joined the videos on movie maker. Trust me, you'd rather see them with your own eyes.

Hot Air Balloon Fiesta - 2013

Last Feb 24, (this year of course) I had my first out of town for this snakey year. J Well, actually I had a dayhike climb to Mt. Batulao last Feb. 16 but it was already my second climb so it wasn’t really that exciting though it was fun and tiring at the same time because I was on a night shift the friday night and went straight on hiking for the whole Saturday. Well, I didn’t consider it an out of town because we didn’t have  a sidetrip in tagaytay. L Ok, so before this blog talks about my Batulao climb instead, let me go back to my or our first Hot Air Balloon Adventure. I was with my girl friend Tal and her sister Mary and it was the first time for all the three of us to witness this festival.

We thought we were a little late (the event starts at 6:30 am) because as soon as we moved past the gate the first balloon flew, after a while though we realized that the spot we where in was actually a good vantage point because all the balloons were suppose  to pass that way. A little tip for those who want to see this in the next year – you don’t have to get closer to fence unless of course you want to take bigger pictures of the balloon. Nevertheless, our eyes feasted on the fancy decorated hot air balloons (not the balloons that I thought the air blows away but they had pilots). Humpy Dumpy, the sunflower, the Firefighter Truck and the tulips were the Balloons that stood out for me. I felt sad for the elephant shaped balloon (from Guam if I remembered it correctly) though because it wasn’t able to fly, maybe because they were not able to fill it’s trunk with air as it wasn’t that windy ( don’t take this seriously as I hae no idea how to fly a Hot Air Balloon :D). There were also skydivers who graced the event (I am dying to try this God-willing) but the real Darling of the show was the Breitling Jet team performing Aviation Tricks (or whatever that was called) which makes me want to marry a pilot. I mean they were close to perfect; they made formations they called criss cross formation, the avenger formation and some parts were jets crossed opposite each other in a very dangerous distance you’d think at any moment they’d collide. They also made their jets fly in a really straight vertical direction and make it go down in the same way, I can’t imagine how they learned that. It must be very uncomfortable or impossible to pilot a jet while it swirls around – and I will never be able to do that – I’ll just climb mountains to experience the cheaper but equally rewarding kind of high.

After the Breitling Jet team, viewers who brought their kites along with them were given their chance to play around. We felt that we had more then what we paid for (250PHP) with just the Jet Show, so we decided to go home early as it was scorching hot and we were not very interested on their noon events we decided it’s time to go back to the metro.

Below is how you can get to Clark’s Omni Aviation Complex assuming you are from Cubao:

Ride a bus to Dau (Victory Liner)and from there ask around where you can ride a jeep bound to Clark Main Gate and from there you need to ride another jeep that will take you to the Aviation Complex. If you’re bringing your own car use your GPS. :P

Below is the link to their official website:

http://www.philballoonfest.net/ 

This is basically my first travel blog ( a project for my Online writing subject which I decided to continue) – a plan I had for a long time now, so forgive any grammar errors, paragraph/sentence construction and any other errors. I blog for fun and to share my adventures (whatever) because someone once told me, the greatest story of your life is the one written by you. 

enojoy these few pictures, i'll be uploading a video of the most amazingBreitling Jet Team soon (ran out of time, sorry)