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Around Panay Island Day 9 (Travelling to Bacolod City)

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Day 9 I took RORO in Dumangas as instructed by Charvi. This is an alternative way to reached Bacolod from Iloilo. For a cyclist, you can reach the port without passing Iloilo City if you are cycling from Kalibo via Capiz. The fare is cheaper, road and view going to the port are nice. I informed Sarge about my estimated arrival and he picked me at the port to drop their home since it’s been quite a long time since I visited their home in one of my Sophie Business trips. After I dropped my bag, I went to SM Bacolod to find an optical store to replace my broken eyeglass. For someone with 350/400 eye grade, the salesclerk said the promo of 1,000 is not applicable to me. Sounds misleading but there’s always what we called please asked for more details. I paid 2,000-2,500 I forgot already since I wrote it late and unfortunately that said eyeglass as of writing now broken. Though they are still trying to do upgrade selling I firmly said NO. No more budget I said to the salesclerk, just...
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Travelling Bacolod to Iloilo City to Jaro to Pototan

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Day 15 Sarge father dropped me at a port with his tricycle then I went to Bong2 Shop, the famous Bacolod Pasalubong Shop before securing boat ticket to Iloilo. There’s a lot of passengers going back to the nearby city. Surprisingly, my seat number happened to be with our neighbor on the island. It may sound weird but I am quite surprised as I listened to her personal life stories all throughout the trip not because it’s personal (sharing personal stories no matter how sensitive is common in Filipino Culture) but I never know she’s suffering from that aspect of her life. This is our first time to chat after more than 15 years as neighbors. It made me realized I really had terrible social skills or maybe it’s just me being an introvert. The story got some happy ending so it’s not really sad after all but I admire her openness and vulnerability. I am no longer sure but I arrived Charvi place past lunch and hurriedly fix my stuff. I left immediately to avoid cycling at night...
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Around Panay Island Day 7& 8 Iloilo (San Joaquin to Jaro, Iloilo)

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Ilo-ilo (San Joaquin to Jaro) Day 7 It’s raining last night so I moved my tent under one of the resort shed. I can’t sleep well compared to my usual stay on tent but still considered a good night because I felt safe. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to charging station so my phone got battery empty the next day. I went to reception area to charged then use my spare digital camera to shoot souvenir photos. I learned the trick how to take own photo by changing camera settings to a continuous shot. A new discovery for me. :-) Simple things I learned and found out after 4 years having this camera.          I checked my bike before leaving, went for breakfast then finally bid goodbye around 8am. I stopped in Miag-ao Church for lunch, rest for few minutes then immediately continued cycling heading to Iloilo City hoping to catch up Charvi (my highschool friend and classmate). She will be my host in Iloilo to whom I am planning to leave my bike...
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Around Panay Island; Day 6 Antique (Siraan, Anini-iy to San Joaquin, Ilolilo)

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By: Maryan Leaving Kruuhay Antique The sun's up. It's refreshing to wake up knowing you overcome your fears and it's now over. Our mental power was so strong that it can make or break fears. Since I am young, my life decisions had some patterns. My choice is always opposite of what people think will be better for me based on my personality. When I failed accountancy, I took marketing as a course. It's the first major brave thing I remembered that I did on my entire life considering that this involves a lot of presentation and social interaction. Whenever I did class presentation, I worry not about the topic but more on how I am going to deliver it without sweating and trembling voice which usually almost made me cry. I could no longer remembered how I survived each class but all I know I never escaped or avoided any single presentation no matter hard it was. Still Big waves. After playing with waves, I went back to my accomodation for breakfast. I ate all the...
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Around Panay Island; Day 4 - Antique (Lauan - San Jose - Hamtic)

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By: Maryan Brgy. Lindero, Lauan Antique Day 4: October 13, 2017 (Lauan-Bugasong-San Jose-Hamtic) Auntie Kekel cooked breakfast and insisted to eat before leaving. They asked about my itenerary and told me I can spend a night with our relative in Hamtic since I am heading to Anini-iy. No contact number, they gave the full name and some instructions how to find the house. Uncle also pick some guavas and bananas (backyard fruits) for me as "pabaon". The food was enough to be fed for 3days but of course I still need to eat rice for a balanced meal. We took photos for remembrance. First stop is Bugasong, I drop by and say Hi to their son whose store centrally located in the town but did not stay long since I am expecting a long day ride considering the weather. Auntie & Uncle I lost my tripod remote so not easy to take pictures. Yohann advised I can explore the use of timer so I slowly learned how to explore this settings. I am always holding the phone only f...
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Around Mindoro Island (San Jose to Puerto Galera to Naujan)

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By: YOHANN FROM SAN JOSE TO BULALACAO I spent my morning with Cheryl and her family. I was happy to be able to stay because I was not much motivated to cycle… I was still feeling tired. We went to the taekwondo course attended by her kids. Young people were between 4 and 16 years old. The most experienced were helping the master and they were correcting kata done by beginners.   It was nice to see all these teenager, spending their energy on the dojo. It has also been the opportunity to discuss with one of the person who developed the taekwendo practice in Mindoro Occidental. The master explained me that he tried several martial art before focusing on taekwondo which is according to him the best balance between fight / self defense / self-control. He also told me that Filipino government push to make this sport popular and to identify young talent. Taekwondo is an Olympic game, so it could be a good exposure for Philippines if they managed to get some titles. Upon comple...
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Around Mindoro Island (Batangas to San Jose)

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By: Yohann Date: I already had the chance to go three times to Philippines. The two first time was to visit my friend in Naujan – Mindoro and the third one was to visit the country jumping from a touristic place to another one. These experiences were very different but complementary as I had the opportunity to discover Filipino lifestyle but also some wonderful landscape. However, my first trip remains the most memorable because I spent 2 weeks inside a very nice local family sharing their daily life. I learnt a lot and re-discover some values which have not the same weight in the French society. That is why Mindoro is so special for me and it was obvious that my first cyclo touring trip out of Europe should be there. I have to admit it is not much challenging as it makes an average distance of 50 km a day. However, the challenge was to organize my time to close the island loop, to share some life slice with people met on the way and to visit the surroundings. To keep more ...
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