Beautiful Bicol: Magayon Mayon!

Been dreaming of seeing Mt. Mayon's perfect cone shape since I've learned of it in one of my Sibika at Kultura (Civics and Culture) classes back in elementary. This visit was almost 20 years in the making! All I can say was, "finally" ~cries~

Without further ado, here are the places we went to in Albay, for multiple million-dollar views of Mt. Mayon:

1. Along the highways of Camalig

We drove from Daet to Naga and ate lunch at Chef Doy's Gourmet Restaurant with the beau's family and relatives. After that, we drove from Naga to Albay and luckily saw Mt. Mayon, clear of clouds. Of course I snapped some photos! The beau's parents were very supportive, we even stopped multiple times just to get good views! We also stopped by the small baduya/sinapot/maruya stores along the highway for some merienda~

Ahhh! Day 1 of chasing Mayon and she graced us with her beauty! Lucky!

   Also, yummy dishes from Chef Doy's! This one's Paella Bicolana.

Crispy Kare Kare! Sinful!

 Leche Flan na may Pili (milk and egg custard flared with pili nuts) 
cos you gotta eat pili nuts when in Bicol hehe~

 I personally loved this steamed plantain-guava-coconut milk combo called Pinakro (Bicol's Ginataang Saging) ♥

2. Quituinan Hills, Tinago, Camalig, Albay

Next destination was Quituinan Hills. If you're not versed with the roads in Albay, I think it will be hard to spot cos the road that leads to the place is very narrow and the signage was small. I was just very lucky that the beau's dad grew up in Albay so he knows the area. There's an entrance fee of 20php/person and 20php/parking. There were lots of horses just grazing on the wide field when we went there. You can ride it for a fee but I chose not to.

 Mayon was covered with clouds this time but what I liked about this place is that it's so wide and breezy! 

Ofc, a photo with the beau!

 Also, golden hour, so I was able to take a handful of portraits, one of which is above lol!

3. Sumlang Lake

Probably my most favorite place in Albay! I loved the view, the balsa/raft boats, design, everythinnnnggg~ Here, we were able to try the famous chili ice cream from Soccoro Lakeside Restaurant! Yum! We spent the rest of the afternoon just taking photos and admiring the sunset view- of course Mt. Mayon was present!

 Hi, Tita! 

 People can use the raft boats free of charge! Yasss!

Even the beau's parents weren't able to resist this picture-perfect vchair/boat/view haha!

Chili strawberry ice cream so yummyyyyy!

Just a little before sunset, people were heading home but we stayed. And I'm glad we did...

 I mean look at this...

 and this...

 and thissss ahhhh so pretty!

 We went inside not to dine but to check the interiors out heh~

  It's very pretty inside! Even the bathrooms omg!

 This reminds me of my Mama's dresser in our house in Malolos~
Ahhh I left this place with really happy eyes!

4. Red Labuyo Restaurant/ Airbnb place/ Daraga Parish Church

As if going to three places for viewing Mt. Mayon was not enough, we booked a place to stay for the night with the view of Mayon still! It is in the same building as the Red Labuyo Restaurant. And I'm really glad that throughout my stay in Legaspi/Albay, Mt. Mayon kept on showing up! I'm one lucky tourist!

Our airbnb~

Lovely facade of Daraga Parish Church~

5. Cagsawa Ruins Park

After having breakfast at the famous food joint, Biggs Diner, near our Airbnb. We then hurriedly went to Cagsawa Ruins (remnants of a 16th century church built by the Franciscans), just a few minutes drive.

 I missed eating tapsilog (tapa, sinangag, itlog) so of course I had to order this haha!

Happy faces, happy tummies~

 Hello, Cagsawa!

 Can't believe I'm here! I only see it in books before until this day haha!

 This would have been a good photo if Mt. Mayon decided to show up but that's okay~

This belfry and parts of the facade of the church were the only ones remaining after Mt. Mayon's most violent eruption back in 1814. If you happen to go here, you might want to go to Cagsawa National Museum nearby.

6. Legazpi City Domestic Airport

Mt. Mayon didn't disappoint until the very last end. Just look at the photos below! Ahhhh! Whether you're admiring the famed volcano near or far, on land, water, and even up above, it shines bright and blinds the beholder like a diamond! Well that's a pretty lame comparison lol but you get what I'm saying okay hehehehe~

And just like that, my Bicol trip came to a close. I know there are still a lot of things that I have missed out but I know for a fact that I'm coming back... so til next time! For the beautiful people who were with me during this trip and for all of you who spared my Beautiful Bicol posts a look, thank you so much! ♥

Beautiful Bicol: Calaguas Island x Balagbag Island

As promised, here is the second part of my Beautiful Bicol blog series yayyyy!!!

On my previous post, I hinted that the next one will be all about sun, white sand, and blue waters. If you have guessed Calaguas Island, then a big thumbs up for ya!

Let's start this, shall we? ♡

Our group left Daet for Paracale around six in the morning. From the tour guide's place (Ellen's Calaguas Island Tour, details at the end of this post), we walked for a few minutes to the port where our boat was waiting. After about 2 hours traversing the deep, blue waters and encountering occasional waves, we finally made it to Calaguas! Hurrah!!!

One of the kuya tour guides offered some hot coffee while they prepare for our lunch. The waiting was not in vain for we were presented with a very delicious seafood lunch cooked by another kuya tour guide, Kuya Bing! Ahhhhhh I felt like I was in seafood heaven!

It was still scorching hot so the beau, another friend, and I decided to explore the island by foot instead of swimming. And this was what we witnessed... ahhhhhh! We even saw brittle startfishes, hermit crabs, broken corals (and okay barnacles, lots of them lol) near the shore!

Come afternoon, we soaked in the cool and clean waters of Calaguas while it was raining (yup of all days, it rained this day lol) and the rest was history~

We were then served with a sumptuous dinner! Ahhh I loved everything! We were even served with authentic Bicol dishes! We were so full so we decided to stick by the shore and stargaze for a bit before calling it a day. ☪︎

Fast forward to the next day, we woke up around six in the morning, had some coffee, then set off to trek up to "Small Baguio". It was an easy one cos we passed by cemented pavements going up the hill. The view was very beautiful! Of course, we took lots of photos!

For some reason, these dogs appeared out of nowhere and even escorted us on our way down~
 Thank you, bitchezzz (pun intended lol)

We went down after we've lusted over the view of Calaguas. A wonderful meal awaited us!

There were more foooodddd but I was too hungry to take pictures of everything lol

Our group packed up our things and waited for the boat to be ready. While doing so, some of us went for  one last quick dip, including ya girl, of course~

 I thought trekking will take a whole day so I just only brought one swimsuit so I just reused it on the second day lol

Included in our tour package was an island-hopping feat and some of us added the snorkeling option with which we paid 200php each for. We paused near Balagbag Island to look at the flora and fauna underwater- awesooooome!

 I don't know how to swim "properly" so imagine my nervousness lol but they say you gotta jump when you gotta jump~ Glad I faced even a single of the gazillion fears I have this day!

Thanks to the beau's dad for the snorkeling photos!

Then, we continued to Balagbag Island, got off for some quick trek and got amazed omggg! Super beautiful viewwww! They didn't call the place Batanes-like for nothing!
The photos from here onwards were taken by just my iPhone, since I didn't wanna risk my camera while on the boat so I had it tucked safely in my bag that was in turn, covered with plastic~

Peace out Balagbag!

After breathing in the view, we availed of the fresh coconuts/buko for 20php each near the entrance of the island (oh, btw, they asked for a 50php/person island entrance fee). During this time, I learned that Balagbag  Island is called such because it is a horizontal island among the numerous vertical ones around. Balagbag is the Bicolano term for horizontal.

We were supposed to go to another island but the waves were getting bigger so we just opted to head straight to Paracale Port and eventually go back to Daet. We had our late lunch of Bicolano dishes at Pratesi Cafe before going home and getting a home service massage! What a loooong day!

 No food photos of what we ate at Pratesi Cafe cos we were all starving at 2PM!

This post is very text-and-photo-heavy, so thank you so much for reading until this point! Hope you liked it! Soooo, any guesses on part three of my Beautiful Bicol series? Hmmm! Watch out for it, yeah? *wink*

Ellen's Calaguas Tour 

https://www.facebook.com/ellentotanes/

Pratesi Cafe

https://www.facebook.com/Pratesi-cafe-139165519592408/