Wednesday, March 02, 2016

Picturesqueness: Batanes #gawinMoNaLahat

The hiatus was long enough so we tried our feet at Batanes, the trip was expensive but was well worth it. I encourage you to visit the place, you'll just need three full days for 3 half day tours to appreciate the beauty of the island.  The last week of February schedule worked for us, the weather was perfect, either that or we were just lucky.  No picture can replace the experience.

B e l o w   E c o n o m y   C l a s s
We took Skyjet to Batanes, from what I heard it has one flight for Monday, Wednesday,
Friday and Sunday going to and from Batanes. Here I am seated below the economy class.
We got the tickets for 14k at an expo.

A m b o y   H o m e t e l

The first time I heard the term hometel, catchy!
Booking at Amboy Hotel came with a service ride,
this is me seated with the check-in luggage.
The hotel reservation and guided tour also included breakfast and lunch.
Everything cost around less than 8k

The room is fully furnished!!! It was quite surprising and not what I originally expected.
Good service and a nice place to stay, I highly recommend it.
The room is air-conditioned and comes with a ceiling fan, fascinating.
The hometel's facade, newly developed definitely an eye catcher
The rocky beach is just across the road in front of the hometel
There are other places to swim in which is more elegant than the beach at the hometel front
 I advise you to choose another location
V i e w p o i n t

First breath taking view I saw; Vayang Rolling Hills is awesome indeed
First picturesqueness of me with the rolling hills
Just like any other attempt, I do suck at timing a jump shot
shit!
Chamantad-Tinian Viewpoint; awwwww amateur shot doesn't really capture
the grandness of Batanes, go see it for yourselves
This picture of me at  Racuh-a-payaman or Marlboro country doesn't
bring justice to the place :)) I love observing nature while lying on green grass
C h u r c h
Oh well the photographer might still be drunk, this is Simbahan ng Basco
My friend Serena doing a cartwheel in front of
the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Chapel
This is a miniature replica of the Simbahan ng Mahatao
Rene went on to have an Attack on Titan pictorial here
Poor little old me, I ended up being the food for the titan
The church has a blank book library where you can write your wishes on
a blank page of a book.
I wished for world peace "like a boss" and drew doodles of ugly dolls and what not.
L i g h t h o u s e   a n d   t h e   l i k e s
I climbed up the Basco lighthouse and it taught me a very important lesson
Never ever climb a light house again
It may look the same but the Tayid Lighthouse gave us the needed rest and
time to sit, chat and relax by the viewpoint
They really love their chit-chats, them Pointwest people
I found a Sunshine Recorder at Basco PAGASA complex and played around with it.
I turned the instrument into the ever seeing eye of Turny Burny, my precious
Not much photos were taken inside the dark reconstructed Japanese tunnels
but I managed to take a picture of the bright exit; glad the spelunking was over.
The Traditional Vernacular Houses at the UNICEF nominated town

Another jump shot attempt that resulted to a fail, yup the roof is that thick
and yeah I fell down a drainage
B e a c h

Took this from the hometel's beach front, the smoke streak at the left
adds flavor to the sunset at the middle, ten!
Spent some time sitting at the Valugan Boulder Beach
Until I managed to screw it up by a boulder misstep
trapped! help me...
The visit to the white beach is one of my favorite!
I was so captivated by Morong Beach that I was not able to take a picture of it
At least I get to pose with these two people in black by the rock arch formation
My friends tried to do a century tuna video commercial here
but just like all of my jump shot attempts it was also a fail
Mahatao Chawa is one scary place, the waves were unpredictable
Glad that everyone was safe

C o n s u m a b l e
I visited and met the owner of the honesty coffee shop,
she was kind and warm hearted; and I was so darn honest
We brought in Korean Rice wine at Batanes for our after tour sessions
Coconut Crabs are a specialty and are a delight
One restaurant that serves great food is Fundacion (Fundathion) Pacita
So there you go, a five star place to visit that would definitely empty your pockets.  The experience was a high and definitely worth every peso. Ano pa hinihintay nyo ipon ipon na!