Travel: Leyte to Southern Leyte
Date of Travel [ Sept 3-7, 2012]
One of the perks of research field work is that you can sneak in a few sight seeing here and there. We traveled more than 1500 kms from Los Banos, Laguna to Tacloban, Leyte. From there, it was a fun road trip ahead.
Tacloban City is the Romualdez’ lair but I’m not gonna start with the politics in the area – its masalimuot.
(Photo by me)
In Ormoc City, we went inside their very large, modern, and expensive city hall. After the interview, we had a brief tour of the hall. What impressed me aside from their in-house software development program was their expansive Sangguniang Bayan Hall. Sessions are open to the public and they can actually sit more than a hundred comfortably.
(Photo by Cayo Katigbak)
We also dropped by Sto. Nino Shrine and Heritage Museum or now known as the Romualdez Museum, one of the Marcoses’ ancestral house. It is now under the Presidential Commission on Good Governance (PCGG).
(Photo by Cayo Katigbak)
We paid 200 pesos each plus 200 for using a camera inside. Inside the ‘house’ is a chapel and rows and rows of rooms with various themes (from places such as Palawan to objects such as shells).
Here with Derek and Ms. Pam (Photo by Cayo Katigbak)
From the mirrors with seemingly 3D crystals to the velvet stairs, mother of grand ballrooms, and ubiquitous portraits of the couple, the house is indeed a mighty and quite disturbing reminder of the excesses of the Marcoses’ wealth. Oh, but a nice house for picture taking.
Here, the gang’s complete.
At the far end of the house (or the actual house itself) were the extravagants rooms of the Marcoses. Imelda’s room (Ferdinand has his own room) was sooo big that her bathroom is actually bigger than the room I stayed in when I was in college (which is pretty standard already).
Imelda Marcos’ bath tub. ( (Photo by Cayo Katigbak)
After interviewing the environment officers in Palo, Leyte, I just had to have that photo with the bronze giants. The monument marks the spot where General Douglas Mac Arthur with the American Liberation Forces landed in 1944 after the World War II.
(Photo by Cayo Katigbak)
I MUST also have that photo in the San Juanico Bridge, 2.16 km bridge connecting Samar and Leyte.
Another interesting spot we visited was Sabin Resort at Ormoc City. We might just visit this place again. The food is quite expensive but I think it matches the place’s whole feel. They have live singers too and we took quite a liking to one guy’s voice.
In Sogod, Southern Leyte, we also tried their 800m zipline, 300 feet (or more), with speed that could actually reach up to 110kph. It’s atop Agas-Agas Brige, the tallest bridge in the Philippines. The zipline was just a year old and does not have its photo-booth services yet.
I am currently writing this entry while on the road again – here in San Fernando, Pampanga after traveling from Iba, Zambales. Will write about his trip soon.
