the viewing deck: Eastern Visayas Transprovincial Saga (Leyte)

sogod-calbiga-tacloban-ormoc
5th solo-backpacking journey
november 11-14, 2010

objective: to visit the best tourist spots that fits my taste and budget accordingly.
additional tasks: to experience bungee jumping at the philippines'highest bridge and spelunk the philippines' biggest karst formation

eastern visayas transprovincial saga (southern leyte)
eastern visayas transprovincial saga (samar)

continued...

important note (leyte):
The chief cities of Leyte are Tacloban City, on the eastern shore at the northwest corner of Leyte Gulf, and Ormoc City, on the west coast. Leyte today is notable for the geothermal electric power plants near Ormoc. However, Leyte is most famous for its role in the reconquest of the Philippines in the World War II. On 20 October 1944, General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore on Leyte, saying "I have returned". However, the Japanese did not give up so easily, as the ensuing Battle of Leyte proved, and convergence of naval forces resulted in the four-day Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leyte_(island)

DAY THREE:
ORMOC AND TACLOBAN CITY, LEYTE

woke up early then went immediately in ormoc public terminal. rode a multicab bound to milagro, then habal-habal ride for lake danao. this lake is a crater of dormant volcano. there are nearby rebels as per my friend told me but i ignored him since i was there already. spent some photo-ops then went back to habal-habal drop-off. i'm having my 2nd thoughts to visit the pineapple plantation field which is also a highlight part of ormoc city but i'm thinking about the bus sked so i decided to go back to downtown.

danao lake (crater), ormoc city

downtown of ormoc city

at 1000H, i rode an ordinary bus bound to tacloban. there was a heavy traffic jam occured, almost 4 hours of travel time arriving in the new bus terminal of tacloban. coincidentally, world's famous filipino boxer manny pacquiao has his fight on this day which made the roads and the streets an almost ghost town. most of the locals were in the RTR plaza for free live public viewing. i rode jeep bound to baras for mc arthur shrine in palo, few photo-ops then went back to downtown. as per my research there was an icot-icot tour for tourist who wants to visit famous spots of tacloban and nearby town that starts in RTR plaza but upon questioning every people around, i concluded it was another hoax, i waited for so long and wasted much precious time. i didn't know why or maybe its because of pacqiao's bout.

san juanico bridge, samar-leyte (philippines longest bridge at 2km)

in addition to not making it to the last trip bound to samar (imagine 1615H last trip is done), i did not made a formal photo-ops in san juanico bridge, waaaahh!! i was just fortunate back then on my shots in ordinary bus aboard going to calbiga. so around 1630H, i decided to leave tacloban city and go back to domestic airport. one more thing, an almost wrecker of my day, my departure time was 20 minutes earlier so afer check-in, i just spent estimated 10 minutes in boarding gate. what a real pinoy local adventure here !