Albay, Bicol

here i am, reminiscing old times again. oh life, time past so fast.. can't believed it's almost 7yrs since my last vacation in bicol (mama's hometown), baryo 'bay' in Ligao City, Bicol. this is one of the most beautiful places i'd ever been and so close to my heart - plus the fact that many of my relatives from mother side, live and raised there.

i still remember the time when i rode the tricycle on it's roof. si mama was so mad at me and kept on screaming for me to go down but i insisted to stay on top for the experience ofcourse. hehe! we went to 'bukal' to swim, together with the whole clan. you can't believe it - almost 16persons in 1 tryke. grabe tlga! i'm so amazed.. how come it was able to run pa! whew.. then i just found out that kind of scenario is common pala in any provinces.. very rare daw kasi ang transpo vehicle that's why. i met and befriended many of my age in the vicinity. that was so fun. we walked / talked / drunk / swam together. day and night i felt so fulfilled. i can't forget those days.. such a wonderful memories. 

it became the tradition for the family that every summer, particularly 3rdweek of May, they'll visit their hometown.   to catch-up, to see other relatives, to swim and bond, and to participate in fiesta every 19th of May. making sure that everyday is a beautiful journey for all us ('bakasyuneras'). 

i was so blessed that this year, i was given the chance to visit this place again. if before we rode train (pnr) from manila to ligao, now i booked a flight going to legazpi to saved time. from legazpi, 45mins of travel via van or bus going to ligao. so all-in-all i just spent almost 3hrs of travelling and i'm totally away from the lights and hustle of the city. vacations mode on! yeaaahhh!

May 19-22, 2011

since i only have short vacay. i didn't make any plan hehe! i just let things happened nalang. luckily, my ate salve (pinsan) made my own itinerary. i arrived on may 19 -fiesta mismo and it's my niece lianne joy's birthday. so many foods and busy people. i just watched the prusisyon and sayawan sa plaza at night. also i enjoyed watching beautiful lanterns. 

on my 2nd day, my cousin guided me on the way to mayon resthouse and vera falls via motorcycle. you'll enjoy the view from mayon rest house. it's one of the perfect picnic grove in town.

 on our way to vera falls

 dang going down

 love at first sight =)

 lil' falls can't hurt you.. big one does

 love this shot. so natural

 buko!

is this paradise? priceless! literally. 

3rd day, woke up so early. 6am! we went to cagsawa church, one of the most popular tourist destination in albay, bicol under daraga municipality. the church was destroyed by the eruption of mt. mayon on year 1814 - that killed thousands of people. now you can only see the church bell and behind this is the clear image of the perfect mt. mayon.

i love this blurry pic

it supposed to be clear... haha!

sorry.. hiding in the clouds

then after that, it followed with a lOoooong drive! we're off to sorsogon via motor! san ka pa! almost 2hrs din un ah.. we wanted to see 'butanding' - whaleshark. well known animal here in sorsogon, bicol. P3,500.00 rent for a boat for a max of 6pax excluded P100.00 /pax for the registration fee. it's kinda expensive ah.

 due to the fact that it is so expensive esp for the 3 of us.. we didn't give a shot.  Not worth to spend almost 4k box just for the view of an animal =) hehe! also.. hearsays butanding shows more often early in the morning.. e past 11am na when we got there. maybe nextime i'll be able to make it.. much be better if i'll go with a bunch of friends. can lessen the expenses pa diba!
on the other hand, we just enjoyed the other side of not renting a boat to see live butanding - photo shoot! resorts in sorsogon are so pleasant, nice ambiance, beautiful surroundings, clear and blue water.. so love the appearance of the beach.

refueling... it's a long drive after all. our wander isn't over yet! we still had time to stroll and enjoy the ride =)

improvised stop light (flag este).. do you see the old man holding 2 flags? green and red.. he's trafficking. road is under construction and so to avoid collision that man is the key.
here's another - look at the boy, i wonder what he was saying at that time.. can't understand. we stopped coz we saw the red flag and turned our attention to this boy.. i tried to gave him some penny but he refused to accept it.. so i just on my camera and took a shot then all of a sudden he smiled at me and asked for a one more shot. un pala yun! hehe.

next stop - ZOO! bwahahaha... oy ha, not all people got the chance to visit a zoo, especially if the zoo is in Albay.. haha. it's really big inside maybe 5x bigger than the manila zoo. super spacious e. so many activity rin that you may able to do. you can rent a bike or a kart. there's also a place where in you can picnic and bond with your family. there's lot of gazibo. P10.00 entrance fee.
let me show some animals that caught my attention =) so cute! wala lang...hehe

 3 feet carabao

nice shot.. don't know what kind of bird it is.

 the big ones!

mother hen?

adarna

 palawan bear cat

 big kalapati

 such a caring mother *sweet*

we went up again... go to higher place! hill hill hill. P20.00 entrance fee. pay per view! hehe. not bad coz you wer able to see the view from high above.. you'll see the whole legazpi city... including the runaway! they also offfer zipline for only P250.00.

 top

 plane runaway...

there's also a hill that we went up just near our place in ligao - kawa kawa park. a hill without a hill top. wasn't  able to post photos of it right now (slow connection) Boooo! you may refer to my FB account for more pics by the way... 

after a couple of hours stay in lignon hill, we'd went to daraga and visit one of it's old church. 

"our lady of gate parish" (inside shot) 

 outside shot

my last shot of mt.mayon... took it in 70degrees restaurant beside the church. 

MAGAYON!