Monday, January 13, 2014

BATANES : A Picture Started It All. And A Pursuit Ensued

*Today is a slow day so I think I'll blog*

BATANES!

I have never heard of this place before, only stumbled on it while researching Palawan one fine day.

Flying there isn't cheap, so I stalked the airlines for a while before taking advantage of a promotional fare by Phil Express (still not cheap I tell you) and buying it on the spot without even checking if I would be able to get away on those dates.

I slept at NAIA3 for the night, and again for the return trip. Too lazy to get a room for less than a day and I'd rather save the pesos to spend on Batanes.

Pictures of Batanes were unbelievable. Seriously. Try googling them and you'll see what I mean.

My camera and skills are not able to capture the beauty of this island, so go ahead please I beg you to go google for the superb photos taken with fancy cameras by professional bloggers and photographers.

*You're welcome :) *

Okay here are some pictures (random order! again!)

GORGEOUS. I need all the synonyms to that to describe the views. 

At the Boulder Beach. Round boulders, thrown up from some volcanic eruption hundreds of years ago. History lesson from my guide, I have forgotten by now. Sorry!

Tukon Chapel, designed by the Abad family. Very quaint!

Fundacion Pacita. Exclusive and classy place to stay and dine. With a price tag.  They don't open all year through though. Seasonal business.

The Abads. Owners of the place. Artists and local Ivatans.



Benches at the Fundacion Pacita.  I have more pictures of this place somewhere. 

At the Fundacion - it means May God Bless You All in Ivatan language.

 
At the viewpoint and 'pintu gerbang'.

It was super breezy I could get blown off the roof of this place. It's a PAGASA weather station, the northernmost in the Philippines but no longer in operations after storms blew away some equipment. The views were amazingggggg.

 
How did I get up there to the roof? I had to climb up and up (excuse my bum shot)
I did feel a bit gayat but was okay. Got a gash (bleeding shit) on my right thigh near the top as you have to maneouver your body in such a way to climb out of the stairwell. Champ. LOL

The Japanese Tunnel. Spooky,damp, cold and dark inside. 

You could exit the other side of the hill. 

The Basco Cathedral. The churches here are lovely. Google for Batanes churches. I went to a few.

Er, I don't remember the name of this church. Will update when I find my notes. 

 Wavebreakers? Wave watching here is a fascinating past-time.

A wharf (looks natural), beautiful from top of the cliff. Apparently some of the boats here are illegal foreign fishing boats seized by the authorities.

 I continued to gasp at every other turn at how beautiful the views are. It just takes your breath away.

It was exciting touring the island on a motorbike. I wish I could drive one, but I had to be content as a pillion rider on my guide's bike. This road goes through a cliff.

"Blow Ur Horn" is uniquely Batanes. No other place has this (legal) traffic sign.
It is everywhere along the winding curvy road and cliffs.

The Ruins at Song Song beach. This village was wiped out in a tsunami hundreds of years ago. I went down to explore closer and found some piglets in one of the ruins. Some one used it as a pig pen :)

Selfie on the bike!

Posing at the entrance to the town of Ivana.

This church in Imnajbu is very special. It is the spot where the first Holy Mass and the first Baptism was performed on Batanes soil in 1682.



Trying to be Wonder Woman. hahah. This was another absolutely gorgeous spot for views.
You see how I got so tanned? I just sat there soaking in the sun for so long, no cares. It's too beautiful. And I get extra Vitamin D.

Entrance gate to Rakuh Panyaman (some call it Marlboro County, but we should respect and use the local name). I made myself useful and went down to open and close the gate.

I sat here. For an hour.
Under the bright sun. Cool strong breeze. Surrounded by green rolling hills and the blue sky above. A view to die for. Is this how Heaven could look like?

Got style or not? Me and my ride.



The Fountain of Youth, at a fishing village called ...Diara? I can't recall right now.
The waters were so cool, and you could bathe here.


More views of rolling green hills.

You don't wanna know how many selfies I took! LOL

One of my favourite pictures which I will never get tired of sharing, hahah!

That's just a bit of Batanes for now. I just wanted to share some the pictures and poison your mind.

Enjoy!
#LandscapeJunkie

1 comment:

  1. My ghost! I should have found out about this place before you did! Grrrr! :-D Very lovely place even in pics. I can already imagine myself being there. Gotta fit it in my traveling calendar. But seriously, I still wonder how I never knew about the existence of this place before. Blueks! :-0

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