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Dios Mamajes, Batanes! A Batanes Travel Guide
Batanes had always been the dream. I’ve been to quite a few places here in the Philippines and around Asia, but Batanes always remained elusive — it’s either too expensive, and the only time when...
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A Tour of North Batan, Part 1
Batan is considered to be the main island of the Batanes group. It has the most population, for it has the largest habitable and arable land area. The municipality of Basco is in north Batan. Our first...
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A Tour of North Batan, Part 2
A little story: My fears about meeting an accident right before my wedding came to a head when, to the surprise of everyone except me and my close friends, I fell into the gutter of a crowded but...
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Sabtang Island, Part 1: The Savidug stone houses
According to rumor (and the great thing about guesthouses is that everyone makes chika there), a famous Filipina actress who went to Batanes alone decided not to push through with her Sabtang tour...
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Sabtang Island, Part 2: On the way to the Chamantad-Tinyan Viewpoint
When you tour Sabtang Island, you actually only see the eastern side of the island, one that is near the coast. After visiting the stone houses of Savidug, we took a long road to our next destination....
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Sabtang Island, Part 3: Morong Beach, and more on the vakul
Perilous roads make for grand views. It’s true for the Cordilleras; it’s also true for Sabtang. Coast of Sabtang Island The southernmost part of Sabtang that we were able to reach during our tour was...
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A Tour of South Batan, Part 1: Mahatao
Unlike the previous two days, when the sky had been as blue as any Philippine summer sky could be, our third day in Batanes foreboded rain. Signal no. 2 had been forecast the day before as typhoon...
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A Tour of South Batan, Part 2: Uyugan
Brgy. Imnajbu (pronounced im-nah-boo) in the municipality of Uyugan has a very cool name and one of the smallest populations in the Philippines — just over 100 people! Its rugged landscape is...
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A Tour of South Batan, Part Three: Ivana
I just love how unique place names in Batanes are and how they make you pout your lips as they create sounds and stresses you never realized existed in a Filipino language: Kayvaluganan. Mahatao....
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Batanes after a storm, and some musings on traveling
It was three in the morning. Power was out, and the air inside our room was getting suffocating. I, however, dared not open the window. I’d been up awake for more than a couple of hours, watching the...
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