PH Vacation [Apr - May 2011]

Southeast Asia → Philippines → Luzon → Oriental Mindoro → Puerto Galera

I have been sick the past 2 weeks, which is right after being back in Singapore, and I didn’t intend that, of course. The timing was so bad because I needed to be at tiptop shape for the marathon training. With the event coming in less than 2 weeks, I’m now making out the most of my free time training but cautious on not overtraining myself. Last Saturday was the longest run I had since the Standard Chartered’s half marathon (Dec 2010). At about 18 or 19km mark, I begin to feel serious sharp pain on my left knee, the same knee that has been complaining before, and met an accident in Langkawi. I had to drag myself to finish 20.91km, and I can feel I was intentionally not bending my left knee as much as I do with my right. Frankly, I am not tired yet. I’m confident running out of breath or being tired is not a threat to my full marathon quest. I guess I have enough endurance, but apparently, my knee is troubled.

I had it checked and xrayed at the Philippine Orthopedics last February but they found nothing. I wasn’t advised to stop or refrain from running so I guess I’m good. I notice the pain happens when I stop suddenly or when I abruptly change my pace considerably. It’s not like muscle pain, which in my opinion is something easier to bear, and muscle pain is too soon to attack while I’m still running. The pain is sharp similar to a broken bone, or when you lose your footing, or when you smash yourself against something hard. I can still manage to run while it attacks, but as soon as I stop, it will be even more painful.

Yet, I’m still determined, so we’ll see that next weekend.

I forgot to mention anything about my last vacation back home, which was very quick. My sister’s wedding went fine. It’s not a big occasion really, with only about 60 or 70 guests. All my relatives from my father’s side boycotted it, but they were all invited. Less stomach to fill, the better. I still have to post pictures I took from the event, but I didn’t take that much anyway. There were swarms of paid photographers and videographers and I don’t want to ruin any chance they have to capture the moment.

I’m happy to be able to take a proper break and spend time in the beach. I was in Puerto Galera, in Mindoro, for 2 days with a group of highschool barkada, and this is the same group I’ve been with to the same destination 5 years ago, plus other road trips and adventure to Palawan, Alaminos, Subic, Tanay, etc. It was nice to see and spend time with everyone again and relax. I know I was at home just last February, but I’ve been so occupied with my sister’s shooting then.

Although it was the beach we came for, we spent more of our time not on the beach. We ran out of time to do snorkelling, but we’ve than that before so we made the decision to take a hired multicab to elsewhere. Destination is Tukuran river/falls, which is more or less an hour from White beach, with stopovers in a hanging bridge, a panorama view of the sea, and less exciting Tamaraw falls. Once reaching the small village of San Isidro, we had to ride on a carriage pulled by a 4-year old nameless carabao, which we later named Karl. All 7 adults, plus Kuya Charlie, the “driver”. It was my first time to witness a carabao fully at work, and you couldn’t describe strong the creature is. It only consumes wild grass and water yet it’s extremely powerful and efficient. It hauls us downhill and uphill, wading across running stream without hesitation except once when he needs to shit (hehe).

Tukuran falls is a series of falls with deep pools and rocky edges. I liked the sport of rock climbing and hopping from sides to sides although it was a bit daunting having no harness. I don’t have a lot of pictures in the wet part as I don’t have my waterproof camera with me, and I’m not risking (much) Billy, my Canon camera. I highly recommend visiting the area next time you go to Galera. Don’t mistake it with Tamaraw falls, which is closer. Not that the latter was bad, but if you like something off-the-beaten-track, Tukuran is the choice. We paid Php 2,500.00 for the multicab (for all 7 of us), 50 pesos each for Karl (the carabao), and I guess another 20 pesos each for environmental fee. To save you from computing, that is 427.14 pesos each, and the tour takes at least half day. We started early at about 5 or 6AM, and we were back in White beach at 12 noon. We stayed in a cheap but clean and air-conditioned room with television for Php 2,500.00 a night. Just thye basics, no hot water or swimming pool. This was even grand as we went to Alaminos before and stayed in a 900-peso non-airconditioned room for a night! The 80-minute boat transfer from Batangas pier to White beach, Mindoro is Php 450.00 roundtrip at the time of this writing (May 2011), there’s an environmental fee of Php 50.00 each, and a terminal fee of Php 30.00.

That was my third time to the island and it has changed so much in the last 5 or 6 years. When I was there first time with my family, they don’t have ATM, and the nearest was in Calapan. My sister and I had to ride a tricycle and spend almost 2 hours each way on the rough road. Now, they have ATMs in a nearby town, and van services ply from the beach to Calapan City.

Mindoro is also known for hiking and is home to arguably the toughest trek in the Philippines, Mt Halcon. Death and accidents are not unusual to the area, but still I’m looking forward to going back and conquering the summit.