Leyte Adventure: How We Survived a 3-day DIY Tour
November 15, 2016
Our recently concluded Leyte
adventure is one of my many unforgettable vacation experiences. No itinerary,
no accommodations made before the travel, no plans...a total adventure.
Nevertheless it was still successful and memorable. We survived a 3-day DIY Leyte
Tour - with an endless road trip and challenges in looking for a place to stay.
Looking for a place to stay is
one thing that I always do first when traveling and our Leyte tour is the only
exemption. I guess we were too busy at work that we somehow forgot to
plan our travel. Well, we tried looking for a travel package and let them
arrange everything for us but we were too late. We started looking for a travel
agency just few days before our tour hoping that we could still book a slot but
I guess luck wasn't favoring us that time. Next time, we will check online
booking sites like Traveloka.com so that at least we would have our
accommodations covered. Less stress, more savings in hotels.
So our last option was a DIY
tour. We started reading blogs to gather information on what to do in Leyte,
where to go, how to commute and best and affordable places to stay. We read
different posts and we decided to copy some details from Travel With Maria's blog post. We also get some ideas from Out of Town Blog and Blessed not Lucky's blog post.
The highlight of our Leyte Tour
is Kalanggaman Island, so we decided to have an overnight stay in the island on
our first day and spend the remaining 2 days in Lake Danao in Ormoc, waterfalls
chasing in Biliran and touring in Tacloban City. We just actually came up
with this plan a day before our flight. Luckily, we were still able to reserve
a slot in Kalanggaman Island when we called the Tourism Office. Let me share
with you our 3 days DIY Leyte Tour.
Day 0
12:40 PM : Arrival at Tacloban
Airport.
·
Take a jeep from the airport and tell the driver to drop you off
at the New Bus Terminal.
01:30 PM : We reached
Tacloban New Bus Terminal and took a Van bound to Palompon.
·
Travel Time from Tacloban to Palompon is roughly 3 hours.
05:00 PM : We arrived at Palompon
Jeep/Van Terminal.
After arriving in Palompon we
head straight to PACCI House where we stayed overnight. It was just walking
distance from the terminal and right beside the highway so finding it wasn't a
problem. The only room available was their Dormitory Type Room which costs
Php4,000 good for 6 persons. Since we were 3 they gave it to us for Php1200
(1200/3=Php400 per person). It was like a standard room with 3 double-deck
beds, air con and in-suite CR but has no TV. There's free Wi-Fi but could only
be used best in the lobby. We would only be staying there for a night anyway so
we took the room. Besides, it was raining hard that time so we didn't have a
choice to look for anywhere else to stay.
I personally recommend to stay
here as it is very accessible and it is walking distance from the tourism
office, market, convenient stores and it has an ATM. There are 3 banks in
Palompon proper. Metrobank, PNB and Landbank, all have ATM's.
06:00 PM : We had our dinner at
the PACCI House's cafeteria.
06:30 PM : The rain stopped so we
decided to go out and roam around the area.
08:00 PM : We head back to the
PACCI House and had some rest.
Day 1
06:00 AM : Woke up, freshened up
and had a morning stroll at the port.
It was probably one of my most
relaxing morning moments, walking around the market with the overlooking sea
and a breath of fresh air and also, I must say that they have the cleanest and
clearest water in the port compared to other ports I have seen. The water is so
clear that you can see the bottom, which has lots of starfish and different
multi-colored fishes. Some locals are even fishing just right there.
 |
| Look! The water is so clear that you can see the starfish at the bottom. Take note, this is in the port. |
07:30 AM : We went to the market
and bought food and supplies that we will be needing in our overnight stay in
Kalanggaman Island.
08:00 AM : We went to the Tourism
Office for the registration (entrance fee, boat and tent rental).
The boat ride costs Php3000
good for 20-30 persons. Since we were only three and we don't want to pay that
much for a boat ride we decided to wait for other tourists so we can share a
ride and pay less. Day tour and overnight stay has a different entrance fee
rate. You can also rent a tent or bring your own. There is no potable water in
the island so bring enough water. I will be posting a different article about Kalanggaman
Island tips and good to know info's.
11:00 AM : We depart from
the jump off point in Palompon to Kalanggaman Island. We were with a group of
students who also stayed overnight in the island.
12:00 PM : We reached Kalanggaman
Island.
Stunned! Yes I was stunned with
its amazing beauty and crystal clear waters. It was one of the most beautiful
islands I have ever seen. I have been to Boracay and Palawan and they were
amazingly beautiful in their own ways. Kalanggaman Island is known for its long
sandbar stretching from both ends of the island and a crystal clear water
surrounding the area.
 |
| Kalanggaman Island was also included in Rappler's 8 Beautiful PH destinations to visit this 2016. |
We spent the whole day enjoying
the natural beauty of the island. Photo ops, swimming, photo ops, eat and photo
ops again, haha. Watch out for my next post about our Kalanggaman Island
experience.
Day 2
11:00 AM : Boat ride from
Kalanggman Island back to Palompon
12:00 PM : Lunch in Palompon
01:00 PM : Went to the terminal
and took a Van bound to Ormoc
Our next destination was Lake
Danao in Ormoc. We were in fact a bit behind our schedule coz the boat who
fetched us from Kalanggaman was late.
02:00 PM : We arrived in
Ormoc Public Terminal
A tricycle driver was offering
us a ride to Lake Danao for Php1500, it was too expensive so we didn't take it,
only to find out that the multi-cab going to Lake Danao already left. According
to the locals one last ride will be at 4:00 PM but there's gonna be no ride
back to Ormoc until the next morning. We were not sure if there's any place to
stay in Lake Danao and we didn't have a tent so we decided not to go and just
head back to Tacloban for our city tour the following day.
So if you guys want to follow
our itinerary you now know what to do. Leave Kalanggaman Island as early as
possible, probably around 7 or 8 AM. If there's one thing that I learned about
our Leyte Tour it would be to allot ample time for the road trip.
06:00 PM : We reached Tacloban
Since we didn't have any
accommodations made, we spent around 30 minutes looking for a pocket-friendly
place to stay overnight. We check a couple of lodges and inns but they were all
fully booked , thankfully we found one lodge with an available room. We took
the basic air conditioned room with twin sized-bed, small TV and an
in-suite CR. The room costs Php750 for two persons plus Php80 additional since
we were 3.
We had our dinner at the
nearest fast food and then we headed back to the lodge to rest from a tiresome
road trip. So literally, we spent our second day on the road, lol.
Day 3
06:00 AM : Woke up, freshened up,
and packed our things.
We decided to rent a tricycle
for our Tacloban City tour and we were lucky to have a nice and friendly
tricycle driver, his name is Kuya Omer. We agreed to pay him Php500 for the
tour, so he became our personal driver and tour guide for 4 hours.
Leyte is most famous for its role in the reconquest of the Philippines in World War II. On 20 October 1944, General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore on Leyte, saying, "I have returned", but the Japanese did not give up so easily, as the ensuing Battle of Leyte proved. The convergence of naval forces resulted in the four-day Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history. (source: Wikipedia.org )
08:00 AM : We commenced our
Tacloban city tour.
·
MacArthur Landing Memorial Park
·
San Juanico Bridge
·
We also visited the ship which ran aground in Tacloban during
typhoon Yolanda
·
Leyte Park
·
Kuya Omer also brought us to where we can buy pasalubongs
·
Sto. Nino Shrine
12:00 AM : End of city tour.
Since our flight back to Manila
was scheduled at 5:30 PM and we still had 5 hours to kill, we decided to go to
the Robinson's mall and watch a movie, lol. So we had our lunch first and
watched Doctor Strange . It was cool coz we got to watch Doctor Strange for Php195,
haha. We would have spent Php270 or more if we watched it here in Manila.
02:00 PM : Went to the airport
for our flight back to Manila.
We still rented Kuya Omer's
tricycle as our ride to the airport. We paid him Php150. He was nice,
accommodating and helpful. He was also a Yolanda survivor and he told us his
story and what really happened when the typhoon struck Tacloban. We were glad
that somehow we were able to help him even in a simple way. If you will be in
Tacloban and plan to rent a tricycle for a tour, you can look for Kuya Omer.
Too bad he doesn't have a cellphone so there's no way to contact him. If you
happen to be staying in Leos Lodge he is usually there, you can ask for him.
 |
| This is kuya Omer, a yolanda survivor! |
No plans made, no itinerary
made but we were able to pull off our Leyte Tour. It was indeed an adventure. There are still a lot of beautiful places in Leyte that we haven't covered on our 3 day tour. Next time around I will surely plan my trip properly and honestly, I'm really not good in DIY travels, lol, or maybe I just need to get the hang of it.
Stay tuned for my upcoming Tacloban City Tour and Kalanggaman Island Experience posts.
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