Flying to Busuanga Island Coron, Palawan

Do you ever get tired of the usual summer getaways like Boracay and Puerto Galera? If you’re after the party and beach babes, then go there. But if you want to experience a not too populated and commercialized vacation place, then you should try exploring the unblemished island of Busuanga in Coron, Palawan. Last week, my wife and I together with some travel blogger friends (Nina, Eric, Ferdz), went on an adventure trip to Busuanga Palawan.

Travel time from Manila to Palawan usually takes 1 hour and 20 minutes as you see them advertised in the websites. But thanks to SEAIR, we arrived at our destination in just 35 minutes! Aside from making the most out of the abs of celebrity endorser Marc Nelson, SEAIR is also known to have the fastest flights to its select destinations like Palawan. The sooner you get there simply means more fun and adventure time for you and your friends. Agree? You can also take the much cheaper but agonizing 24-hour Superferry boat route if maximizing your travel schedule is not too important.

After the pleasant half-hour trip via SEAIR’s 32-seater Dornier 328 Aircraft, we touched down at the Francisco Reyes Airport in Coron, Palawan. There was a lot of construction and expansion work being done at the airport. So this means that Palawan is being developed to be a prime tourist spot in the country. I just hope our government will not be too aggressive on this so as not to make Palawan too commercialized.

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

From the airport, we went on a 45-minute jeepney ride going to the town proper for Php150. The jeep will drop you off at the lodge or resort you’re staying or somewhere near. Just make sure you tell the jeepney driver ahead of time. Although it was a very bumpy and dusty ride because there were no concrete roads yet, the scenery was breath-taking. The air was really fresh. We passed by the Yula King cattle ranch. I didn’t see too many cattle but I do remember seeing horses doing what stray dogs usually do here in the streets of Manila. It was a bright sunny day too. Our timing was perfect.

Staying over at Crystal Lodge

It was Ferdz who took care of our reservations a week before the trip. We initially planned on booking at Sea Dive Resort, a popular place to stay because they have air-conditioning. But we ended up staying at Crystal Lodge.

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

The nipa-hut style cottages are nicely situated along the seashore on stilts. So you have a nice view of the sea and the islands across. Very beautiful. There are mangroves as you walk along the narrow passage made of old, cranky wooden planks. One wrong step and you can find yourself swimming with the little fishes underneath. The whole place is somewhat primitive and that what makes it so beautiful. It was as if we were living in a fishing community together with the Coronians (better known as the local people of Coron, Palawan). Crystal Lodge does not have air-conditioning but the rooms and hang-out areas are very cool and breezy all the time. It was so peaceful and relaxing over at Crystal Lodge. At times, we would just sit around a bamboo bench and wonder how we could stop time so we can stay longer in this island paradise.

I noticed more foreigners (usually the backpacker tourist type) prefer staying at Crystal Lodge because it’s the place closest to Mother Nature so to speak. And they’re cheaper than the other hotels too. Gail and I rented our cottage for Php1,200 for 2 nights. You can check out their website over here. On the other hand, if you prefer a more convenient place with modern facilities like most Pinoys on vacation coming from Manila prefer, then you’ll probably sleep more comfortably over at Sea Dive Resort. You can see their website over here.

Crystal Lodge and Sea Dive Resort are both located inside the Coron town proper. So the wet and dry market, carenderias, scuba diving centers and shops, airline offices, bars, restaurants, and other establishments are just a walk away. Or maybe just take a tricycle for Php8 per person going to nearby places within the town proper.

We came to learn that Crystal Lodge was being leased and managed before by some foreign businessman who also operated Dive Calamianes, a popular scuba diving center in Coron. I guess the lease contract already expired this year so Crystal Lodge (as of June 2008) is now being managed by its Filipino owners.

On our second night, we kinda experienced the “nightlife” in Coron. What happened was, the electricity went out which lasted the entire night. It would have been pitch black if it weren’t for the brightly lit moon and stars that night. The place we stayed did not have a generator for back-up power. So it was quite an experience for the five of us, all in a single file, finding our way cautiously through the wooden planks back to our cottages with only one flashlight.

(To be continued…)

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

Photo by Gail dela Cruz-Villanueva

It’s going to be a bigger and better 2008 Philippine Blog Awards event. The blog awards is open to all Filipino bloggers. The aim is to recognize the local bloggers who use blogging as their medium to express themselves or the group they represent in their respective niches.

Please help spread the news (perhaps by posting about the blog awards on your blog or site). Might as well use the official blog awards banner graphic above if you are going to do so. The details on the venue, time and dates will be announced in the near future. Thanks.

• If you’d like to sponsor this event or know someone who might be interested, you may send an email to philippineblogawards[at]gmail[dot]com for the Sponsorship Package or fill out the blog awards sponsorship form.
• Just like last year, if you’d like to volunteer by lending us your time, skills and talent, please contact Gail of Kutitots.com at kutitots[at]gmail[dot]com.

Photo Project: Hot Air Balloon Fiesta by Abe
Where Can You Find Photos of the 11th International Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta? by Rico
Bloggers Are Full Of Hot Air by Jayvee
come away with me by Jobarclix
Balloon Fiesta - 11th International Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta by Anton
Up, up, and away! by Gail (who stole my initial idea)
Photo Day with bloggers at the Balloon Fiesta by Sasha
Hot Air Balloon Fiesta by Markku

Mine is “Hot Air Balloon shots from a Nokia cellphone” since I was the ONLY one who did not have a digital SLR. We arrived at Clark, Pampanga at around 530am. Enjoyed watching the balloons fill in with hot air. By 8am, all the balloons have disappeared into the sky. We stayed for a few more hours to watch navy people fall out of the planes with parachutes of course, then witnessed some airplane manuevers. By the time we were all nose-bleeding under the scorching sun, we decided to eat at VFW. Here’s my pics:

The Festo balloon

The balloon with the condom-like logo

About to take off…

Festo balloon again

Gail with the stranger who borrowed my chair

Caught in the act… Abe and his dates

Sasha with her new Canon Rebel XTi (400D)

Me and Gail

“The Philippine Blog Awards aims to recognize notable Filipino-owned blogs in their respective niches — a venue to showcase notable blogs with quality content that engages readers from around the globe.”

After the blog parteeh comes the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards. Another historic event that is being put up by bloggers for the benefit of Filipino bloggers. If you missed out the Parteeh, then here’s your chance to become part of another worthwhile event. Visit the official site now to see how you can be part of this.

It’s so frustrating when a tech support guy cannot resolve his own tech problems. I get the error message above after installing the Nokia PC Suite software that was bundled with my N70 Music Edition. The installation finishes but when you click on “Get Connected” that opens up the Get Connected Wizard, then you click Next, the error then shows up. You have no choice but to close the program then a “Failed to detect available connection types! Please reinstall Nokia PC Suite” error pops up. Installing the N70 via the usb cable installs ok (no bangs in device manager). The problem is with the PC Suite. I’m running WinXP Pro SP2. If anyone knows how to resolve this, then please let me know. I have already tried the following:

1. Uninstalled all Nokia programs and even used the Nokia PC Suite Cleaner 3.5 then reinstalled PC Suite 6.81 from the CD.
2. Did #1 again then tried installing the latest 6.82 version which should be compatible with the N70.
3. Did #1 again then went in the Registry to delete the Nokia folder under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE and everything pertaining to Nokia under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes. Then reinstalled PC Suite 6.82 again.
4. Did everything again without Zone Alarm or AVG AntiVirus running.
5. Researched on the Nokia Forum and tried a solution found by Miksu: Click Start, Run, type “C:\Program Files\Common Files\PCSuite\Services\ServiceLayer.exe” /service. But I got a ‘Could no be found’ error.
6. Even a 5300 and 7610 would not work with the PC Suite because of the error.

If anyone knows the fix for this, please let me know. I’ve been dying to transfer our scandal video clips to my PC so I can upload them in this blog. (Joke!)

What: Blog Parteeh! 2007
When: January 27, 2006 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Where:
6th Floor (Poolside Area)
Classica Tower 2 Condominium
HV dela Costa St., Salcedo Village,
Makati City 1200

For more details, visit Blog Parteeh! 2007.

This event is sponsored by: Sheero Media Solutions, MyJournal Philippines, FeedText, Inc., Migs Paraz, A Bugged Life, The Blog Herald, b5media blog network, About My Recovery, Pinoy.Tech.Blog, Enthropia, Inc., Krispy Kreme Philippines, GMA New Media, Awesome Philippines, Codamon.com, Boracay.com.ph, Recipes.com.ph, WebMaster.com.ph

Technorati Tags: blogparteeh07

After much deliberation, the committee decided to count all sets of the game between Esthetica and Teleperformance for reasons that Esthetica made their complaint AFTER the 1st match has already been played; and that the said player of teleperformance was in a uniform of the same color. The committee recognizes that such an issue was never a problem with the rest of the teams in the league as made clear during the game of Esthetica and Sideout.com wherein team Esthetica asked Sideout.com for their approval, before the match started, regarding 3 of their players without uniforms. This decision is FINAL.

On the fines and penalties, the issue has already been explained. It will be imposed.

Team representativs have always been privileged to speak their minds in this tournament, heard, and considered for whatever issues they want to raise up. Registration fees on its own do not cover the expenses of this tournament. In case it you don’t realize it, this is a business, not a charitable institution - courts are paid for despite being an inhouse tournament and everyone is aware that our court hours do not come cheap - and that’s just part of the expenses.

I suggest that next time anyone decides to join the tournament, read everything carefully. If you don’t agree on any part of it then don’t join.

I apologize to the other team representatives for having to go through the inconvenience of receiving the past exchange of emails. A bunch of you have made clear your sentiments about this and I thank you.

Raine Romero
Sport Manager - Volleyball
Clubsixfifty Sports Center
150 E. Rodriguez Jr. Ave, Libis
Tel: 6370.650
Telefax: 6311.356

Miss Player of the Game: Lucky!!!

The team seemed hopeless at first as only 7 of us attended the game last Saturday against HeroTV. Most of the players who were not able to come had previous commitments, some had emergencies, visit to the dentist, sked problems, and a few were just not in the mood and has given up. Thanks to the 7 people who came, team E-Telecare survived another game forfeiture. As always, Irene arrived at the last minute.

The first set was obviously the best as team E-Telecare managed to give HeroTV an upsetting first set loss. They started with their second stringers and perhaps thought that our team was such a weak team no one could even spike the ball properly during the 5-minute warmup. They were wrong because we fought hard and earned each point we made. At the 20-20 all mark, they subbed their top players but it was just too late. The momentum was on E-Telecare’s side and we were so determined to win we actually won, 25-23.

When your game is off, all aspects of it is off. Out of at least 6 jump serves I made throughout the game, only one went in. The team was relying on me for offense but all my attacks were off target. Even reception has become a weakness. Good thing we have Lucky who, for the very first time since game 2, played as an Open Spiker. His consistency was enough to let us win the first set. Ivan provided good defense while Ernest and Arky’s setting were also consistent — at least less careless violations. As for Lots and Irene, ummmm they both get A+ for attendance. Team Hero TV had to use their top players all the way to ensure they win the second and third sets.

This game proves that anything can happen in the game of volleyball. We had fun causing upsets to top teams like Hero TV.