The World is my Playground

*ALL PHOTOS IN THIS ALBUM IS MY PROPERTY *
Please ask permission and give credit if you will be using it

Finally, I was able to go back to my dad's hometown in Sibale Island or as what is officially known as Concepcion, Romblon. It is also known as Maestre de Campo during the Spanish times. It is a small u-shaped island just about 1.5-2 hours away from Pinamalayan, Oriental Mindoro by motorboat. The island has a total land area of 2,330 hectares and the terrain is hilly and mountainous with narrow plains along the shores. It is a very beautiful island and the people are generally very God-fearing, friendly and hospitable. You'll be amazed because the only vehicles in the island are bicycles and motorcycles. Mostly people go on foot to go about their daily routine. :)

It's been a long overdue vacation that I've been waiting for sooo long. Childhood memories of swimming in pristine blue waters, hiking on top of the mountains, drinking coconut juice fresh from the tree and staring at starry skies at night have been constantly on my mind. My family usually goes there every Holy Week but due to school and work schedule conflicts, I was always left out. :(

So when my grandparents and tita who are here in the Philippines for a brief vacation from the States and Canada decided to go to Sibale, I jumped at the chance to go with them. They together with my mom, my cousin Nico and my brother Paolo went there a few days ahead of us and on Friday, my dad and I, Tito Romy and my cousin Gabby followed them. It's especially memorable for my cousin because it is going to be his first time there. I can't wait to see the sun, the beach, and just chillax over the weekend!

We left home at 1am Friday morning, rode a bus bound for Batangas in the Buendia Terminal and arrived at the Batangas pier at about 5am. Then we rode the Starlight Ship bound for Caticlan. I would have wanted to ride Supercat since it will only take 45 minutes instead of the 2 hr ride it will take for the other ship but their earliest departure is at 6:30am. I think we got to the Calapan port at about 7:30 am. I had a pilot friend who was in Calapan for his flight instruction class and he offered to take me and my dad to Pinamalayan on his plane but unfortunately we had to catch the only motorboat schedule bound for Sibale so we instead rode an FX going to Pinamalayan. It took us about 2 hours. When we got to Pinamalayan, there was still time to spare so we had lunch first at the Hongkong Chinese restaurant we always go to near the port. We were supposed to leave at 11:00 but I think we left at about noon because we had to wait for one passenger. There is only one schedule everyday so if you are left then you have no choice but to go the next day or if you're super rich, rent your own boat to go the island. There were a few stops in other barangays before we finally docked at the townproper. It was almost 3pm when we got there.

After eating a hearty lunch, we spent all afternoon visiting various scenic places and taking photos..