Adventure + Work

I don’t want to mix business and pleasure or work and pleasure. But I am so amazed with one place I visited in one of my inspection at work. The structure that I inspected is a Repeater Tower located on the foot of Mount Banahaw in Lucban. Most of us think that the Mount Banahaw is located in Dolores Quezon. But the other peak of the mountain is actually in Lucban. I know this because I’ve been there before during my college days when I joined a mountaineering club in my university. Anyway it’s been years and years and lots of years since my last climb on a mountain, so I’m excited to gear up as a mountaineer again but this time with a helmet.

First a brief description of what I am going to inspect. A radio repeater tower is a combination of a radio receiver and a radio transmitter that receives a weak or low-level signal and re-transmits it at a higher level or higher power, so that the signal can cover longer distances without degradation. Does it sound too technical? Anyway just think of an antenna or satellite dish with a building beside it. I was tasked to conduct an inspection of this facility (the building beside it, not antenna). As I said earlier it is located on top of the hill. I’m so excited and a little bit worry because I am not sure if I’m still fit for this climb. It’s just a hill but according my survey it is a steep climb.

And so we prepare to ascend the hill. Together with me are the linemen and some local residents. As we trek thru the dense woods, we passed a bamboo bridge. It’s just a bamboo, stock on each other with no nail to hold it together. It’s not that unique but I like the look of it so I took a shot of it. We don’t see this everyday in the city.

After some steep climb, I can feel my heart pumping fast and my legs are getting heavy. I can also feel the pulse in my neck because of exhaustion. We took a rest and while resting, one of the guides said that owner of coconut trees in from of us is his uncle. He took some coconut from the tree give us some. To my surprise the water of the coconut or buko is sweet and cold, it’s like it’s coming from refrigerator. I’ve tasted a lot of buko juice from Real, Infanta, Pagbilao, Batangas, Gumaca, Batangas, Laguna, Bicol etc., all are freshly picked and opened but never tasted like this. Maybe it’s the temperature of the place, a heavily dense tropical mountain, Banahaw.

Buko time!!! 

And finally we reached the place. The tower that you see is not my company's facility. We believe It’s a globe tower and behind it is a military camp. Our repeater is on the right side. 

This is the satellite dish beside the building of repeater tower

Upon reaching this peak, I'm again amazed by the beauty of my surroundings. It's a good thing that we have a good visibility even though it pour from time to time. From this place we can see the Town Proper of Tayabas and Lucban. 

at the back is Mount Banahaw de Lucban

After declaring my work as “mission accomplish,” we went home to our boarding house tired, sweaty, dirty and bruised from the sharp leaves and spikes from the bushes. But in the end of the day I’m happy. It’s not like every day we get a chance to do your job with a little action like this. J

Malagonlong Bridge

From my first day of deployment in Tayabas, my fingers are very itchy in photographing some old structures in Tayabas and near by municipalities. One of them is the Malagonlong Bridge. Malagonlong Bridge is located in Barangay Lacawan Tayabas Quezon.It is an old bridge made from stone. Its just one ride from my work place or you could say its just down the road. I wanted to shoot this bridge for so many times but I'm so busy with work and had no free time to shoot. Its a good thing our company conducted a tree planting in that barangay and I am also a participant in this activity. But the bad thing is I didn't bring my DSLR, I left it at home and all I had is a small, cheap, point and shoot digital camera which I also use in conducting an inspection at work. I don't have a choice, I have to make the best out of it. I remember Chase Jarvis said “The best camera is the one you have with you.” So here are some snap shot of the bridge.

But first here a reason why I had a chance to photograph the bridge, the tree planting. Here is my co-worker doing his share.

Here is the one end of the bridge if your coming from the Tayabas Proper.

This bridge is so old its already covered with grass. This shot was taken on the middle of the bridge.

Now this is the actual bridge. I went down to the bank of river to have this shot. There is a stair beside the new bridge to get down. They build another bridge beside it because it is no longer passable by vehicles, although according to the locals, it can still withstand the load of a fully loaded truck.If you want explore the bridge, just parking your car beside the new bridge and walk around. The road side is wide enough to park a couple of cars. I'm still not that satisfied with this photo. I think I will be back for more with my DSLR to shoot long exposure but for now I think this will do.

Road Trip to Balagbag Falls Real Quezon

Summer is almost over and I thought that I haven't been to any beach this summer so I decided to go to a nearest beach around Metro Manila. I ask my wife to come along but she couldn’t come so I invited some of my friends. Most of them are not available because it’s so sudden and others are undecided. I told them that it will be a road trip on a motorbike and I will go on anyway even if they can’t. Three finally commit, so it’s finally "GAME ON!"

The initial plan was Batangas but since we are on motor bike we decide to go to Infanta to enjoy the zigzag road of Liabac. But then again we still want to enjoy the beach so we lessen our travel time and stay at Balagbag Falls, Real Quezon.

Balagbag Falls is a three cascading falls with a beach just a few meters on its downstream. It’s a better choice; we can swim to both beach and falls. This is not my first time at Balagbag, actually I can't remember how many times I've been there.

We leave Pasig about 4:30am and we use the route of Angono-Morong instead of Antipolo. We drive none stop until we reached the intersection of Siniloan-Famy-Real-Infanta Road. We stopped at 7-11 to grab some stuff. After a few minutes of rest we’re back on the road.

While traversing the zigzag road, we can’t help to enjoy ourselves with the beautiful view of the Siera Madre Mountain Range. Now I remember, this is the reason why I love to ride in the provinces. Fresh morning air touching your face with the scent of wet grass and vegetations, simple provincial houses and wood carving on the side of the road for sale, water strait from mountain as a water source of the locals and many things that we can’t see every day in the Metro Manila . In one spot of the road we stop to take some pictures and enjoy the view.

That's me on black jacket

After a few minutes we reached Real Fish port. Here we bought our lunch, squid and some hard skin fish, I forgot it’s called. We will not stay in a resort or a hotel so we don’t have any accommodation or any access to cookware and utensils. We plan to camp on a beach just a few meters away from the falls and grill the fishes on open fire with an aluminum foil wrap on it which we bought in 7/11 earlier.

Around 9:30am we arrived at the Balagbag Falls, park our bikes fixed our bags and gears, paid Php 20 for the entrance and head straight to the falls.

This is Jon trying to attempt a jump that never happened

This is the reason why sometimes I hate my DSLR. Everyone enjoys dipping in the water but I can’t just leave my camera anywhere without the fear of losing or damaging it.

After some dipping and swimming for a few minutes we head to the beach to set our camp and lunch. While setting up the tent, I realize something is wrong; I only bring one pole of the tent. I need two to make it stand. I have to improvise to utilize my tent. Good thing I have a rope in my bike compartment and used it to hang the apex of the tent to a tree and made an improvised long peg, made from bamboo, to secure the base of the tent.

On preparing the food, we didn’t have problem in setting fire, our problem is, the supposed aluminum foil that I bought earlier is not aluminum after all, it’s plastic. I mistakenly pick up the wrong item geeez! Again I have to improvise. The first idea is to wrap it in banana leaves but didn’t work. Next, use sticks like barbecue but we’re having trouble turning over the fish and squid. They keeps on falling to the flame. Last attempt, I remember in Discovery Channel how the hunters in the Amazon cook their catch fish in the jungle. I tried to copy it and it works.

Lunch is almost done!

After lunch we had a little siesta. I took a nap on my hamok , other under a tree. It’s a very relaxing 

afternoon but when we woke up we noticed the low tide sets in. Now we can’t swim, the rocky bottom shows up and their sharp but this won’t stop us. There are pockets of water everywhere so we just wonder around and look some marine life to play with, like little kids.

The original plan was to stay overnight at the beach. But in the afternoon rain pours very hard and my unconditioned tent doesn’t fit this kind of condition. After the rain we decided to pack our things and head back home. Our bags, clothes and other things, except camera, were wet. We left Real around 6:00pm and arrived at Pasig around 10:00pm. We were wet, cold and tired, but did we regret this trip? Not me! We are after for an adventure and adventure is what we get. Planned trip is a good thing for those who want a hassle free vacation but sometimes spontaneous trip gives us more trill and excitement. Other travelers say “it’s not about the destination… it’s about the travel.” But for me,” why not both?”

my last shot before the heavy rain...

Buraburan, Buhi Camarines Sur

The home town of my mother in Bicol may not have a beach for us to dip in, but it has many springs and waterways clean and fresh from the mountains. Its the greenest and cleanest place I've ever been. They have many public pools from springs. Its running water so it's clean even wen it's rain.

This photo shows the cascading water from the pool to down stream which the locals use for their laundry.

Another stream that we cross while trekking to another swimming spot in the area. I hope that this places remain as it is. This place don't have a swarm of tourist and vacationist... yet, if ever time comes that tourist discover this places, I just hope the local government will implement a strict rules and regulations regarding ecotourism to maintain its natural beauty.

Lake Danao in Polangui Albay

Its been two(2) years since my last visit to my mothers home town in Buhi, Camarines Sur, I already listed the place I'm planning to photograph. One of them is Danao Lake, its a very small heart shaped lake. It may not be good for swimming because of the dead trees and branches under the water, but the place is good for picnic or just nature tripping. I took this shot almost six(6) am, I failed to prepare early and scout the area before setting my gears.

Locals says that there was a community here when a tornado brings strong winds and waters killing almost everyone in the area. It is estimated that the lake is 20 to 25 meters deep.

I heard this boy from a distant singing. I thought he is just a few meters away to my surprise he is in the middle of the lake. His voice is amplified may be my the wind from the lake to the banks. He is trying to fish for sinarapan or tabios, that's what locals called it, the worlds smallest commercialized fish.

Its quarter to seven(7)am when I left the place. A bit disappointed that I stayed there for just a few minutes because the sun is already up and didn't get as many shots as I expected (sunrise shots). But its okay at least I've seen another lake and the next time I'll be more prepare.