Traveling

The Indonesia trip I took several weeks ago is the last personal foreign trip I am taking this year. Other than it's expensive to travel, I think I already had my fill of foreign trips this year, with two exciting destinations in the first quarter of the year - Siem Reap, Cambodia and Indonesia.

Traveling is always fun.  It became more fun when Seat Sales and Piso Fares came into the picture. Suddenly, there is a surge in region-trotting Filipinos; I was surprised to learn that Filipinos make it to the top five of tourist arrivals in Cambodia.

Travel blogs documenting travels and whatnot have also dominated the blogosphere, and many are joining the bandwagon. My friend and former co-teacher has gotten herself a URL to aptly describe what she is and does: Ang Lakwatserang Guro. At one point, I was fearing that this blog was turning into one, but I reasoned and told myself that traveling involves some form of commuting, as well. 

On one hand, because traveling seems to be the vogue, many grab every possible  vacation leave, holiday or ticket sale to make a contribution to tourism but go on borrowing credit cards and money to make that Asian dream destination happen.  I hear stories of friendships falling out because of this. As a personal rule, I shall only go to places I can afford; thus, US, Europe, Australia, Latin America or four-fifths of the world is still off limits.

So, I am doing domestic travel in the meantime. I recently went to Tacloban with friends. Why Tacloban? I really don't know, but it happened to be one of the many places in the Philippines I haven't gone to. So I said yes to my friends who planned the trip. Besides, I always look forward to new and exciting destinations. 

Like in my Dumaguete Trip, I was not to make expectations, but I had to make sure that I go to Sto. Nino Shrine (Romualdez Museum) and San Juanico Bridge. I was not disappointed for I got to see them all. See the photos:

The signs says, "WELCOME to San Juanico Bridge"

 "San Juanico Bridge" just used to be the answer to the often asked question in Social Studies: "What is the longest bridge in the Philippines?" Seeing it for myself was surreal; it used to be just a concept, an idea when I was growing up in Mindanao. 

The Sto Nino Shrine was a pretentious display of ill-gotten wealth, as it is now owned by the PCGG. The museum was in a sad state, and ventilation was  poor, so touring it during summer is not the best of ideas. Still, it was an interesting look into the lifestyle of the former dictator and his family.

Tacloban offers other picture-worthy sights like the ones below:

The Provincial Capitol

Leyte Landing Memorial

The Park at the Leyte Landing Memorial was relaxing

We did not cross the San Juanico Bridge for nothing. We went to a beach resort called Calawayan in Easter Samar, just an hour's ride from Tacloban. It was a beautiful resort, but not for those on a tight budget like me. hehe.

As with all traveling, there is a point of embarkation. The Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport is our entry and exit point in Tacloban. All four flights that arrived within the hour of our departure were all filled, hence, the very crowded airport whose airconditioning was of little use to the weekend travelers.

Daniel Romualdez Airport

Outside the airport

I personally like this shot of the airplane.

With the trip over, I am generally happy that I took that trip to Tacloban and saw the sights for myself, with the company of nice people. Also, the trip taught me a lot of things, and not just the history or geography kind of lesson. I will write about them in future posts, maybe.