DIY: Iloilo-Guimaras Adventure

This year, one of my most anticipated trips was that of Guimaras. I've been reading good reviews about the place that even on  the rainy month of August, I pursued the plan.

Firstly, thank God that He gave us three very good days, sunny and no rain, despite the heavy rain on our arrival in Manila on the third day. Despite the suspension of Zest Air flights, we were transferred to PAL hassle-free. 

While waiting for our flight

Iloilo-Guimaras trip is one of my many DIY trips. So let me take you to the activities and expenses we go through as we enjoy Iloilo and Guimaras within budget. Since I traveled with my friend, Julie, we shared the expenses. 

DAY 1 
2:00 a.m. - Departure Manila - Iloilo (4:20 a.m. flight moved to 8:55 a.m.)
11:20 a.m. - Travel from airport to SM Iloilo by shuttle van 
12:30 p.m. - Travel from SM Iloilo to Ortiz wharf by taxi 
12:50 p.m. - Travel from Ortiz wharf to Jourdan wharf by boat 
1:10 p.m. - Register at the Tourism Office 
1:30 p.m. - Travel from Jourdan wharf to Smallest Plaza, The Pitstop Restaurant for lunch by tricycle
3:30 p.m. - Check in at Raymen Beach Resort

Please note that we waited six hours for our flight at the airport so we are crunched for time for Day 1. The original plan was to commute via jeepneys or passad, as it was called locally, since we're on time restraint, we traveled by taxi and shuttle vans. Travel time from Manila to Iloilo: 1 hour and 5 minutes. From the airport to SM Iloilo, approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on traffic. From SM Iloilo to Ortiz Wharf, 10 to 20 minutes depending on traffic. From Ortiz Wharf to Jourdan Wharf in Guimaras: 15 minutes. Travel from the wharf to the resort, standard fare for tricycle is P250 for the first hour, preceding hours is P150. Travel time and rates within Guimaras from the port via tricycle depends on the places you want to visit. We stopped at the Smallest Plaza for some photo ops and decided to just eat lunch at The Pitstop and then went straight to the resort. We contracted the same tricycle driver on our travel back the next day.

Here's our expenses for Day 1.

EXPENSES                                    TOTAL                      DIVIDED BY 2 
Air fare (Zest Air one way)             1762.00                        881.00 
Coffee Seattle's Best at Airport        300.00                        150.00
Shuttle van                                    100.00                          50.00
Taxi to Ortiz Wharf                         170.00                          85.00
Boat to Guimaras                             30.00                          15.00
Tricycle (2 hours)                            400.00                        200.00
Lunch at The Pitstop                       499.00                         250.00  
Raymen Resort (Y. Bell Room)          700.00                        350.00
Raymen Resort entrance fee               50.00                          25.00
Raymen Resort dinner                      370.00                        185.00

TOTAL EXPENSES DAY 1                 4381.00                      2190.50 

Our lunch at The Pitstop is  only P280 for two but we can't help ourselves but to try the mango shake and the mango pizza. Also, our dinner at the Raymen Resort Restaurant is a bit expensive because we opted to try their various seafood menus.

DAY 2
5:30 a.m. - Wake-up call 
6:00 a.m. - Swimming
9:00 a.m. - Breakfast
10:00 a.m. - Check out at Raymen Resort
11:00 a.m. - Guisi Lighthouse 
12:00 p.m. - Trappist Abbey Monastery
1:00 p.m. - Guimaras Adventure Park (Target Shooting)
2:00 p.m. - Jourdan Port
2:20 p.m. - Travel from Jourdan to Ortiz Wharf by boat
2:40 p.m. - Travel from Ortiz Port to Ong Bun Pension by taxi
3:00 p.m. - Check in at Ong Bun Pension
3:30 p.m. - Late lunch/early dinner
4:30 p.m. - Rest 
7:00 p.m. - Check out Iloilo Nightlife

The "rustic" Guisi Lighthouse

When visiting Guisi Lighthouse, we paid P10 entrance fee. Target shooting fee per person is P170, plus minimum of 10 bullets per person at P10 each. Tricycle fee is P400 for the first hour, preceding hour is P150. We consumed 4 hours during our trip.

Target shooting

DAY 2                                        TOTAL                      DIVIDED BY 2
Breakfast                                   180.00                            90.00
Guisi Lighthouse entrance fee        20.00                            10.00
Pasalubong shopping at Trappist                                      294.00
Target shooting fee + bullets        540.00                         270.00
Tricycle (4 hours)                        850.00                          425.00
Boat to Iloilo                                 30.00                           15.00
Taxi to Ong Bun Pension                79.00                           37.00
Check in at Ong Bun Pension        545.00                          272.50
Dinner                                         90.00                            45.00

TOTAL EXPENSES DAY 2             2334.00                        1167.00 

We didn't have reservation at the Ong Bun Pension. The only available air-conditioned room was a single deluxe room at P495. We paid P50 for the additional person.

air-conditioned single deluxe room

DAY 3
7:00 a.m. - Wake up call
8:30 a.m. - Travel to airport by taxi
10:20 a.m. - Flight Iloilo to Manila

We went to the airport at the earliest time possible because our Zest Air flight was cancelled. Luckily, our flight was rebooked for the 10:20 a.m. flight Philippine Airlines.

Our reliable driver for two days in Guimaras, Mang Raul Galon.

DAY 3                                  TOTAL                        DIVIDED BY 2
Breakfast (Jollibee)                100.00                             50.00
Taxi to airport                      400.00                            200.00
Airfare (one way)                 2696.00                          1348.00
Airport tax                           400.00                            200.00
Additional Pasalubong                                                  300.00

TOTAL EXPENSES DAY 3      3596.00                           1798.00

TOTAL EXPENSES 3 DAYS    10,311.00                        5,155.50

Please bear in mind that I used P700 just for pasalubong. You can make the budget smaller if you're in a group. 

Raymen Beach Resort
Address: Poblacion Nueva Valencia Guimaras
Telephone nos: (033) 396-0252 / (033) 396-0383
E-mail add: raymenbeachresort@yahoo.com

We made our reservation by e-mail. In fairness, they acknowledged our reservation and as we're checking in, they allowed us to check first the room/kubo before they checked us in. The kubo that we reserved has no toilet, so we opted the other kubo with CR. Hassle-free checking in at Raymen Resort.

Ong Bun Pension House
Address: corner Quezon-Ledesma Street Iloilo City, Iloilo

Contact number for tricycle driver, Raul Galon, to be followed. 

Happy travels!




                              

Zest Air: How I Love and Loathe You

August 15, 2013. Our trip to Iloilo was planned way ahead, hence the promo tickets that we bought from Zest Air. Julie and I were so excited about the trip that we decided to start it with a dinner and a movie on a Thursday night. Our flight was 4:20 a.m. Friday morning so we made it a "walang tulugan" event.

August 16, 2013. Being at the airport at 2 a.m. just to be advised that our 4:20 a.m. flight was moved to 8:55 a.m. I don't even understand the airline staff explaining why our flight was delayed. This is a first for me with Zest Air since I've been using their services since 2008. My flights were always on time.

Killing time at the airport...

My first time to sleep at the the airport uncomfortable. Waiting for our flight for six hours was insanely boring! That is if you've got enough sleep, but we haven't had any so we tried to sleep anyways. I even lie my back on the chairs but after a few minutes, ouch, backache! So I then tried to sleep sitting. I had just a headache after an hour. After a few more minutes of turning on our seats, we gave up. No more sleeping! A cup of White Chocolate Mocha from Seattle's Best helped us to stay awake.

Then comes the departure. Smooth sailing, I might say. Yada-yada-yada, usual flight instructions and everything. 

Then at the arrival, the plane already landed but we can't get off the plane because one of the engines was still running and the pilots wasn't able to stop it. 
We waited almost 30 minutes for advise from Manila base, as per the captain. Super tense moment! Then finally the doors opened, but there are no steps/ladders for us to get off! I'm already sensing tension between passengers at this time. Then moments later, to ease the tension, I think, an old man from the back commented, in Ilonggo, and this is what I understand on what he said: "Ano ba yan, delayed na nga, ayaw mamatay ng isang engine, pagbukas ng pinto, palundagin pa mga pasahero." He said it jokingly, that's why we couldn't help but laugh. Tension eased. 

Then we continued our journey to Iloilo City and Guimaras for our weekend adventure.

August 17, 2013: "Dear Valued Guest, please be informed that all Zest Air flights on Aug. 18, '13 have been ordered cancelled. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused by these cancellations..." says the text message that I've received Friday night.

CANCELLED FLIGHT! But then I told myself, just calm down, everything will be all right. But in my mind, I'm already cursing the airline. I tried calling the customer hotline but I couldn't get through. I tried calling several times to the point that I asked my cousin to call them also in Manila while I am in Guimaras.

Now I feel much better, relaxed, calm. I will enjoy my weekend because this is just one of the downsides of travelling. At least I experienced it locally and not in some foreign land. Tomorrow is another day.

August 18, 2013: Checked out from Ong Bun Pension then off to the airport. Since we were notified of the cancelled flight, we brought foods for the long wait because we anticipated the chaos in the Zest Air boarding pass ticketing booth between their staff and the pissed off passengers, just like what we saw on the news the night before.

We went straight to the ticketing booth. I saw that there's only two passengers on the line, I thought, this must be good. 

I handed my confirmation ticket to Kichi, the Zest Air staff, and she apologetically explained about the cancelled flight. Even the Zest Air security staff apologized to us. Then Kichi said that we will be transferred to Philippine Airlines and that there's two flights available for that day: flight for 10:20 a.m. and the other is at night. I automatically chose the 10:20 a.m. flight since it's 9:00 and we're already at the airport. 

We waited for the boarding pass for at least 10 minutes while we ate our breakfast in one of the benches beside the booth. We just sat there while Kichi ran back and forth from Zest Air booth to the PAL ticketing office.

Thankfully, we didn't wait long to board the plane. Our flight to Manila was on time.

Eventhough Zest Air pissed me off with the delayed flight and the cancelled flight, they makeup for it with the fast rebooking of our flight back to Manila, along with the apologies we got from their staff. 

As I said, this is just a bump in travelling, you have to have a plan B. But then my plan B slapped me in the face with the MV Thomas Aquinas sinking, plus there's a low pressure area brought by typhoon Maring. I got scared travelling by sea.

Great weekend getaway to Iloilo and Guimaras, plus the misfortunes at the airport, equals some lessons learned and experiences earned. Happy travels!

Southwinds in The South (Where Else?)

Summer 2013 was fast approaching to its end. The problem? I haven't done any out-of-town itinerary doing summer-y things i.e. beach swimming anyone? Instead, to make up for the summer months that I haven't been to the beach, along with Bell and Daryll, we went swimming in one of the hot springs of Pansol, Laguna. It was an out of the blue decision and like most of my friends say, spur-of-the-moment trips are better than the planned one.

We decided it to be night swimming since we have work on Saturday. Bell is from Cavite while me and Daryll is from Makati so we decided to meet Bell at the resort. Due to traffic, Bell arrived earlier. The receptionist allowed her inside the resort's restaurant even though we don't have a reservation.

 The resort: Southwinds Resort. The price: P1185 for a standard fan room. Actually, the room is priced at P985 but there's an additional P200 since we are three. One thing we noticed: the bedroom is as big as the bathroom, and that's good. The resort's entrance fee is included but no breakfast. We brought our own food. Good thing there's TV with cable.

The room with complimentary tissue, soap and shampoo

The food in case we get hungry

Even though the resort is crowded, we enjoyed our time there. I swam until 11 p.m. because I felt under the weather. My head aches that I excused myself early.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed the night swimming.

One of the four swimming pools of the resort

The fourth floor hallway where our room was

Gutom much?

Waking up at 5:30 a.m. is a real treat for me because I got to see the sunrise from our room. God is so good with a beautiful thing like that. I opened the door and the sun smiles at me.

Hello, sunshine!

After a light breakfast, we continued the fun. Photo op here and there and then off to the pool again. It's cold early in the morning but it doesn't matter, it's hot spring!

 

Mt. Makiling on the backdrop

Kanta-kanta rin pag may time!

Playtime before checking out

We had a great time at the resort. The photo op continues even as we were checking out. Before we leave, we were handed a discount card for when we return. Time for round two!

Southwinds Resort
Pansol, Calamba City, Laguna, Philippines
Telephone Numbers: (049) 502-8060 and (049) 502-8854