On my way home. Davao City to Camarines Sur.

For the past few days, me and my friends have visited some of the best destination in the CARAGA Region. We’ve visited a lot of beautiful places. I’m pretty sure I’m going back to this region to visit and explore other beautiful beaches, coves, islands, caves, waterfalls, et cetera. There are still a lot to visit in CARAGA Region. So far, we’ve visited the Surigao City’s Basul Island and Mapua Pebble Beach. We’ve also visited the Bucas Grande in Socorro. We also visited Hinatuan’s Enchanted River and Bislig City’s Tinuy-an Falls. We did a lot of adventurous stuff. We did a lot of funny things. Sumakay ng skylab or that habal habal na may katig. Madalas din kami naiiwan ng mga last trip ng bus so we always ended up looking for other means of transportation in order to reach our destination.

At Butuan City terminal

So now, tapos na ang bakasyon namin. My friends already left the beautiful island of Mindanao at bumalik na sila ng Manila. But for me, I still need to travel by land and by sea para makauwi sa bahay ko. So I started my travel back home sa Ecoland Terminal sa Davao City. I arrived at the terminal at around 9pm and since I still need to finish some online job, hindi muna agad ako sumakay ng bus at nagtrabaho muna ako online habang nasa bus terminal. There are lot of buses going in and out sa Ecoland Terminal. Pero sa oras na 9pm na, mga papuntang Butuan and Cagayan De Oro na lang ang karamihan na nakapark sa terminal.

Anyway, my plan was to ride a bus from Davao to Surigao City, and then from Surigao City, I’ll ride a ferry at the Lipata Port in Surigao City to Benit Port in San Ricardo town in Southern Leyte, and then from there I’ll ride another bus bound for Tacloban City, and then from Tacloban City I’ll ride a van bound for Allen, Northern Samar. However, at around past 9pm, there are no more bus bound for Surigao City, and there are only bus bound for Butuan. I said to myself that I’ll just ride the last bus for the evening that is bound for Butuan City and then from there, I’ll transfer to another bus bound for Surigao. The estimated travel time is 8 to 10 hours and I don’t want to arrive so early in the morning in Surigao City and that’s the reason I decided to just wait for the last bus bound for Butuan.

Bachelor bus terminal at Butuan City

So while at the terminal waiting for the last Butuan bound bus, another Bachelor bus parked at the other bus lane. Ang nakalagay sa bus signboard ay ORMOC. Oh, lucky me! A bus that will go straight to Leyte. So I just said to myself that I will just ride the bus bound for Ormoc para mabawasan na ang bus transfer na gagawin ko. So I rode the bus and it left the Ecoland Terminal at around 11pm. I paid around 690 pesos for the non-airconditioned bus. Yun ang pamasahe from Davao City to Sogod, Southern Leyte. Sa Sogod na lang kasi ko bababa kasi yun ang junction going to Tacloban and Ormoc. I just slept most of the trip kasi medjo kulang din yung tulog ko for the day. The bus arrived at Lipata Port in Surigao City at around past 10am. I was hoping na tinatarget nung bus driver na makahabol para sa 10am ferry  schedule ng Montenegro RORO pero hindi pala. Nagstopover pa kasi ito ng matagal sa Butuan City at nagstop over pa malapit sa port para maglunch break. And because we weren’t able to make it for the 10am ferry schedule. We then ended up waiting for the 2pm schedule.

Lipata Port, Surigao City

At the Lipata Port, I just surf the internet to kill time. There’s nothing much to do in Lipata Port. I was still sleepy and I was a little bit tired but I don’t want to sleep baka kasi maiwan ako ng barko.hehehe! There’s one thing that I observed sa pamasahe sa barko. Kung ang sinakyan mong bus ay isasakay sa RORO at tatawid ng ibang port, you have that option na ihiwalay na lang ang bayad mo sa ferry at huwag ipasama sa computation ng bus conductor. Pwede din naman na sabihan mo ang conductor na isama na sa babayaran mo sa bus fare yung charge ng ferry fare per person. But here’s one thing that makes me wonder, yung bayad ng ferry from Lipata port to Benit port in San Ricardo ay 140 pesos lang. Pero kung ipinasabay mo na ang bayad mo sa ferry sa bus conductor, sisingilin sayo ng conductor ay 210 pesos and that’s almost a 70 pesos difference. At ang ibibigay din na ticket ng shipping line sa conductor ay 210 pesos, at ang ticket na ito ay sya rin ibibigay ng conductor sa pasahero. So kung ikaw na lang ang pipila sa shipping line office, mas makakatipid ka ng 70 pesos. So I wondered kung para saan yung 70 pesos na patong. May komisyon ba ang conductor?  But anyway, hindi na ko nagtanong pa at bumalik na lang ako sa pagtulog sa barko.

Benit Port, San Ricardo town, Southern Leyte

Passengers lounge of Benit Port, San Ricardo town, Southern Leyte

After an hour and 20 minutes later, we arrived at Benit Port and the bus then continued its trip to Ormoc, but another unexpected stopover occurred. Nagkape muna ang bus driver and conductor sa Liloan. I was already getting worried because as I know, masyadong maaga ang mga last trip sa Leyte and I might end up na maiiwan na naman ng byahe from Sogod to Tacloban City. By the way, after we arrived at Benit Port, I saw these other Bachelor Bus that is bound for Tacloban and I told the driver na lilipat ako ng bus pero iniwan ako nung Tacloban bound bus kaya hindi na ko nakatransfer. Akalain mo, tinakbuhan ang pasahero. Tsk! Tsk! Anyway, I arrived at Sogod at around 5pm and as I expected wala ng bus at van papuntang Tacloban. I tried to ask around if there are buses at the Sogod-Liloan junction na dadaan papuntang Tacloban, but all locals said there’s none. So I just waited for the buses that will pass Sogod that are bound for Manila but the two buses na dumaan won’t allow passenger to ride their bus if the passenger is not bound for Manila. Lugi daw kasi sila kasi yung dapat upuan ng pasahero na papuntang Manila ay ibibigay na nila sa papuntang Camarines Sur lang. Kaya ang resulta, I ended up spending the entire evening at Sogod Terminal and just waited for the first trip of the van bound for Tacloban which is 4am.

Near Benit Port. I'm still 190 km away from Tacloban.

So ayun na, and that was already Wednesday. It was Monday evening when I left Davao City and I’ve been travelling for more than 24 hours now. So we waited for the van to reach its maximum seating capacity and by around 5am, we already left Sogod. The van has a seating capacity of 18 person na dapat sana 15 lang. I paid 150 pesos for the van fare and 2 hours later, we then arrived at Tacloban City. Hindi ko na nagawang magikot ikot pa sa Tacloban because I have that goal na makarating ng Camarines Sur before Thursday or that’s before 12midnight. Ala Cinderella lang.hahaha!

From Tacloban City, I rode a bus bound for Catbalogan City in Samar Province. It’s a 3 hour bus ride but if you’re riding in a van, it would only take 2 hours but it is 70 pesos more expensive. I only paid 80 pesos for the bus fare but for a van, it would cost 150 pesos. I arrived at Catbalogan City at 10am and I just took some pictures ng plaza nila and the provincial capitol of Samar province. After taking some pictures, I then proceeded to the van terminal bound for Calbayog City. Gusto ko na sanang dumiretso na ng Allen port but naisip ko na sayang naman kung hindi pa ko magikot ikot ng Calbayog City, which is 2 hours away from Allen town na lang. So I rode the van for Calbayog City and I paid 90 pesos. An hour and a half hour later, I finally arrived at Calbayog. Nagikot ikot lang ako sa town proper at pinicturan ang simbahan at city hall nila and then naghanap na ko ng sasakyan papuntang Allen but just my badluck, 1pm pa daw ang mga van. And it’s only 11:30am and I don’t want to waste time waiting for the van.

City plaza of Catbalogan City

The provincial capitol of Samar Province, Catbalogan City

So naghanap ako ng ibang paraan and there was a jeepney bound for Allen. Sumakay na ko sa jeepney kahit na alam ko na medjo mabagal na mode of transportation yun but at least hindi ko kailangan magsayang ng oras sa paghihintay. I paid 80 pesos for the jeepney but since medjo maaga pa, I decided na magdrop by muna ko sa Spice of Life Beach in Barangay Buenos Aires, Victoria town, Northern Samar, which is just a mere 15 minutes ride na lang going to Allen.

Calbayog City Cathedral

city hall of Calbayog City

Spice of Life Beach. a.k.a Spice Beach. Victoria, Northern Samar

Medjo matagal nga yung byahe ng jeep at napaidlip na din ako. It took around 2 hours bago nakarating yung jeep sa Victoria. Kung van, it would only take 1 to 1.5 hours of travel. Since the beach is just near the national highway, I don’t need to ride another vehicle. I just walk straight to beach and I was kinda tempted to swim but I don’t have that luxury of time. A few minutes later, after taking some beach shot, I left the beach and then rode a tricycle to Looc Port, Allen town. It’s just a 15 minutes tricycle ride and I only paid 15 pesos. By the way, there are two ports in Allen town. One is called Dapdap Port and the other one is Looc Port. But most passengers going to Matnog, Sorsogon or those bus going to Manila uses the Looc Port. It is much larger compared to Dapdap Port.

I left Looc Port at 4pm and I arrived at Matnog Port, Sorsogon at 5pm. The fare for all ferries plying the Matnog Port to Allen Port route are all the same at 120 pesos only. The travel time is 1 hour to 2 hours depending on the sea condition. From Matnog port, dumaan muna ko sa Matnog public market para magtanong tanong ng mga boat rate for Capul, San Antonio and San Vicente, which are towns in Northern Samar. May mga bumabyahe kasi na mga banka sa Matnog going to those towns.

ferry bound for Allen, Northern Samar. 

the busy Matnog Port, Sorsogon Province

finally! I'm back in Luzon

Tikling Island. You'll pass this island if you're bound for Allen or Matnog

After ko magtanong tanong ng information, I then rode another bus bound for Camarines Sur, and then after 4 hours of travel passing the province of Sorsogon and Albay, I finally reached CamSur. I then transferred to a motorcycle or habal habal para makarating na sa bahay. So I did reach my goal of arriving before 12 midnight or bago pa maging Thursday. So far, medjo nakakapagod yung byahe ko pauwi. It took me almost 2 days of travel para makarating ng bahay, from Davao City to Camarines Sur. Masasabi ko na isa yun sa the best travel experience ko. The longest travel so far. My CARAGA Trip was so worth it. Kahit nakakapagod, exciting pa rin. I covered 4 provinces in Eastern Visayas Region and 4 provinces in CARAGA Region. Sayang at kulang yung pera at oras ko. Sana nacovered ko rin yung Biliran province and Eastern Samar province para nakumpleto ko na ang buong Eastern Visayas Region. But anyway, there’s always a next time to visit another province. For now, I need to save again for those long vacations and I need to replenish my zero balance piggy bank.hahahah! Thanks for reading this verrrrrrrrrry long story.hahahah! Oh, hindi ba sumakit ang mga mata nyo?hahaha! Til next time!