elle's tinker toes ♥♥♥

Overnight camping is what brought us here. There could have been other places but what made us pick this place is that I actually have never been to Bataan. At 5AM, we stuffed our bags and tent in the car and drove towards Bataan.

I chanced upon Subic Waterfront Resort and Hotel for its budget friendly accommodation. For a Premium Suites, it's only P1650 per night with free set breakfast for 2. Not bad. Making reservations on their website - http://www.subicwaterfronthotel.com - was easy. Confirmation was quickly sent to my email address.

On our second day, we all woke up at 4am after sleeping so early the previous day. Imagine, we were all in zzzzzzzz at 6pm! We were supposed to wake up at 9pm to party at downtown but I guess our restlessness took over. We ate Tapsilog at a nearby eatery just along Canelar Street, around 250 meters from our pension. It is open 24/7. Streetlights illuminated the road and we're down walking silently and peacefully at 4:30 AM.

I've seen a black sand beach, gray sand beach, yellow sand beach, white powdery sand beach, but never a pink sand beach. This beach can only be found in Great Sta Cruz Island in Zamboanga and when I learned about this, I knew it was time to mark the map! We booked plane tickets waaaayy even before the Zamboanga seige happened in 2013. As February 7 2014 was approaching, I was feeling doubtful if it's worth the visit considering the risk.  But yes, we came and we saw and we bombed... the hell out of the experience!   ~ o ~ o ~

Dinosaur Island Park is located in Clark Freeport Zone, Angeles City, Pampanga. Since we live in Marilao, its just an hour away via NLEX from Marilao Toll Gate. We exited at Mabalacat Toll Gate, then followed the road that leads to Clark FreePort Zone. The signs are easy to follow, so going there is easy as a breeze! :)

When we visited Ilo-ilo January of this year, the original plan was to side trip in Guimaras. But after a lot of thinking and pondering, Bee and I decided to skip Guimaras and go to Islas Gigantes  instead. We had an amazing experience in Islas Gigantes but I promised myself I'll go back and see The Mango Capital of the Philippines!!! And so here it is...

My friend and I planned that when we reach Bacolod Airport, we'll go separately and we'll just meet again in the airport for our flight back home. It was a good idea as I've always wanted to try travelling solo. As they say (and I believe), it's a very fulfilling and liberating thing to do. But as my departure date came approaching, I started to feel hesitations if I could do it. A 4-day trip was too long for me to roam around all by myself and the thought of leaving Bee in Manila saddens me... I guess, I was not prepared yet. I still need to muster enough courage to finally complete task. Someday. I promised myself. Generally, our itinerary is this: