When visiting a new place, one can always go the easy route and book a travel tour package through an agency. Although such travel packages are not readily available for Marinduque. Most packages available are centered on Bellarocca Island. Since we wanted to watch the Moriones Festival, we opted to be adventurous and create our own itinerary. We haven’t visited Marinduque before and we do not know anyone from there so our sources were travel blogs, Sidetrip Magazine and the official Marinduque Tourism and Marinduque Government site. Since, I haven’t found any single authoritative and complete travel guide to Marinduque, I decided to create one with the hopes of helping some future adventurous traveler create his own adventures in Marinduque.
So here is a compilation of my travel blogs as I explored the beautiful island of Marinduque.
Marinduque: A DIY Itinerary
The Land of the Moriones: Experiencing Marinduque (Day 1)
The Land of the Moriones: Experiencing Marinduque (Day 2)
The Land of the Moriones: Experiencing Marinduque (Day 3)
The first few articles will detail our itinerary and provide tips for if you want to visit the place as well. The succeeding articles will tell you in detail about our experiences in Marinduque and my personal reflections on them.
So enjoy as you read along and may you discover, just as I had discovered, the beauty of the heart-shaped island ofMarinduque!
The Wonderful Places of Marinduque
I should have written this post ages ago – while my experience was still fresh; my emotions still raw. But nevertheless, the emotions remain as the memories are still etched in my mind.
It was in April 2012 when our company decided to send all middle and top management managers to an all-expense paid vacation to Donsol, Sorsogon. Of course the highlight of this trip was the Butanding Interaction for which Donsol was so famous of. We were all excited. I was doubly excited since my biologist nature was craving for some nature interaction. I guess receiving a biology training makes you excited for anything bio-related.
The trip started great. During the first day, we were scheduled to do the side itinerary which was the Firefly watching. Although there was not as many fireflies as I imagined, I was still amazed at the solitude of the entire river that night, the vast view of the starry sky and of course, the glory of the fireflies surrounding trees in huge swarms. I got more excited for the next day which was the time we were scheduled to go out and interact with the famed gentle giants.
My excitement kept bubbling as we went about the motions of selecting our gears, watching the interaction guidelines video, meeting Allan Amanse who was our BIO (Butanding Interaction Officer) [later I found out that he was “the BIO” who has served all famous persons from local celebrities and politicians to international royalty] and boarding the boat which would take us out to the open sea. I was beside myself with excitement.
As the minutes turned into hours and we were still left at sea searching and searching for the butandings, my excitement slowly dissipated as hope slowly vanished. I was afraid we would be like the many other tourists Allan said was unfortunate enough not to see any butandings. I suggested that perhaps we can go snorkeling at some coral reef point just so we can at least get ourselves wet and then perhaps the trip won’t be such a waste. As it turned out, that was their common practice – to bring guests to some snorkeling point just so the guests could still feel that their trip to the middle of the ocean was not in vain. Sadly enough, there was no great diving points. The coral reefs in the area were severely damaged by illegal fishing methods that it was a pain to see the dead corals. Having witnessed real, live coral reefs which were protected and as thus, healthy and living, I can’t help but pity the place for having no real coral reefs.
I was not yet over my sorrow for their dead coral reefs but we already got word that the whale sharks have been spotted. We went back to our boats and the race – and horror – began.
I was walking in centro yesterday morning. I was on my way home after my shift. I was struck by the cleanliness of the air and the utter freshness of my surroundings. It had just finished raining and the environment appeared to have been cleansed of its previous day’s debris. If only one could preserve air, I would have done so at that very instant, This was downtown Metro Naga we’re talking about yet the air smelled as clean and as fresh as any farmland.
It made me remember my recent trip to Manila, wherein I was once again subjected to its polluted surroundings. Somehow I couldn’t quite imagine how I managed to survive in the years I’ve lived there. The air was now suffocating to my untrained senses – I have long grown accustomed to the freshness of the rural life that I have quite forgotten the atmosphere of Manila. The experience made me all the more grateful to be working and living in the province. Maybe I wouldn’t really switch places after 2 years.
That recent trip to Manila also gave me the opportunity to come into close contact with the afternoon rush hour. Imagine being squeezed tight in the MRT train at the first terminal station. And imagine the horror of approaching, station after station, filled with numerous passengers all trying their best to get inside the train. I swear I heared the PA system at the train stations pleading for passengers to no longer choose MRT as their mode of transportation! To think that MRT started its 24/7 operations that day and still the number of passengers were horrifying.
And so I am thankful, immensely, despite the small salary, that I get to work in an environment free of polluted air; an environment that the only thing akin to rush hour is the mad rush to be the first passenger alight the shuttle bus – which can really sit ALL the passengers, except in some rare instances of miscalculation. And despite all my apparent misgivings and talks about boredom and job fulfillment, I am thankful for where I am now, Indeed I am.
manila has a certain charm for me. i know i ran away from the pollution and the heavy traffic and the rush hour and all the pressures of the urban life but still there is a part of me that would long for a taste of manila life every now and then.
i know it is not the things i ran away from that attracts me to it. i believe what i find charming is the lack of a dull moment in manila. it seems the city is awake 24/7 and there is no fear of being stranded anywhere due to lack of transportation. living in the heart of urbanization for 5 years then suddenly making a complete turn around to live in a rural spot does indeed highlight a lot of differences.
but i guess the greatest charm manila offers me is the thought of independent living. living here in bicol places me under my parent’s roof and within their easy reach. not that i am complaining. i love having someone cook for me and do my laundry and look out for my daily needs. i know how difficult it was looking after one’s self when one is living alone. i know how difficult it could get when one is so tired from a day’s work only to return home and find out there is laundry to attend to and there is food to cook.
so i guess for now i am content where i am. manila is charming. yes she is. and every now and then i will be returning to her – experiencing the charm she offers. but for the meantime, the rural lifestyle is working hard to charm me as well.
i was in singapore/malaysia for four days. nope i wasn’t on vacation. i was there courtesy of the company i work for – nuskin enterprises. it was a free business incentive trip. i got to stay at 5 star hotels, tour around the city and see some of its famous spots (well those that time allowed) and even buy some souvenir items though admittedly you really need lots of cash to shop in singapore. but the food (which was all free for us courtesy of the company) was so superb! it was great! grabe ang astig ng singapore. as in..ang linis ng buong
area nila. mahal nga lng mga bilihin kasi halos kapantay na ng sing
dollar ang us dollar.
pero more amazing than singapore was the conference that i attended.
as in super inspiring yung mga tao dun. i have met people as young as
me who has earned about a million us dollars in the span of one year
by sheer determination and hardwork. and best of all is that these
people are really friendly and down to earth. they are ever so willing
to teach you how they did it because they believe with every fiber of
their being that it is possible for you to achieve it so long as you
believe in the power of your dreams to motivate you to achieve the
greater things in life.
grabe! super ang galing nung conference. as in i learned a lot from
all these people. and i’m quite excited to reach the same level of
success as them. i may not be there yet but i know with certainty that
i’m getting there. and its not because i’m lucky or anything. but
because i believe it to be possible. and as our theme goes: DREAM IT.
BELIEVE IT. DO IT.
so guys believe in your dreams. no matter how impossible they may seem
or if no one else believes in you and everyone calls you crazy. they
say pangarap nlng daw ang libre sa mundo kaya kung mangangarap ka
malaki na. pero sino nagsabi na ang malalaking pangarap klngang
manatili na pangarap nlng??
