Thursday, April 8, 2010

Pangasinan: Tondol & Bolinao: Distances, Expenses, Etc

TimeKm ReadLocationNotes
9:27 PM0Angeles City
Tondol BeachP5 per head; Free Parking: cottages @ P150 and P200 for day stay and +P50 for overnight; P10 for rinsewash; P5 for toilet use. There are variety stores from private houses, and some of these rent rooms @ P1000 for overnight. They said it was good for up to 10 persons. The price is apparently super negotiable as not so many know this place yet. Maki Pulido's family also lease a bungalow, 3 bed aircoon rooms with videoke and a balsa cottage for P3500 a night. For the route from Quezon Road to Anda, if you're travelling at nightime, make sure head lights are all working. It's totally dark out there. We had coffee at the ANDA market where there was a bakery open. From there on, expect the pavement to be rough. It seems it has been cracked by an earthquake. When we arrived, there was nobody in the beach resort, though the gates are open for pedestrian. We came in and took an early morning snack. After that, we took a nap and waited for the light. Around 5:30 AM the caretakers arrived 1 by 1, and that's when we paid our fees.
8:48 AMDepart Tondol Beach
9:23 AM208Quezon Road -Anda T Junction
9:36 AM219Germinal Public MarketChow Time: We spent P165 for 4 rice, 2 seafood ginataans, 1 pork viand, and Monggo. Water is served free. Bought some stuff and had seafood especialty brunch. My mom can't cook good seafood except for tilapia, bangus, squid, and other more common ones, so I took the chance to try out their culinary, under the assumption that they should be good at their craft. Indeed, it was a hot spicy and creamy delight for their ginataans.
10:13 AMDepart Germinal
10:38 AM226.3UP MSIclosed for renovation so head straight to Patar beach with Balingasay River on the route
10:55 AM242.5Balingasay River
11:50 AM247.3Cape Bolinao LighthouseYou'll pass by Enchanted Cave and Cindy's cave en route to the lighthouse. We had to scout for a resort to stay in overnight that's why it took us an hour from balingasay river to Cape Bolinao, but it shouldn't take everybody else that long, though consider a rough road on the way.
12:26 PM249.3Cindy's CaveP150 for 5 people. Cindy's cave is somewhere before the Ligthouse and before the White Sand Beach. We thought that the water at Cindy's cave is most ideal when sun is high up as opposed to swimming in the beachfront
1:43 PMDepart Cindy's Cave
2:00 PM253.7Patar White Sand Public BeachP30 Parking Fee; P100 for Cottage (regular P200 but since the cottages are good for up to 20 persons and there were only 5 of us, we nogitiated for half price); no entrance charges but be ready with a lot of coins for you'll have to pay for P5 per pail when brushing or doing call of nature. Think twice before rinsing because the underground water is no different from the sea water. Hence, the rinse isn't really a rinse. In our case, we though about spending the night there instead, but the caretaker said we'll have to pay another P200 for the cottage, on top of the P100 we initially paid, and another P300 for something like overnight fee. That equals P500 and it wasn't worth it compared to the rate we got at D'Odero Resort for a more comfortable lodge.
8:07 PM257.2D'Odero ResortNegotiate the Room RatesCall Beeboi 09204526157. He's overly kind. Because of the discount and hospitality he's shown us, we invited him to drank, and his wife got him spanked the morning…
2:21 PM284.2Depart Odero'sleft Odero Resort. The odd thing about the kilometer reading was due to the fact that we had to travel that much kilometers out to the town proper and back to get ice for our alcohol session the night before.
3:21 PM295.1St James Church (Bolinao Church)This is just along the germinal public market at the town proper.
4:01 PM313.2Bolinao Falls, Samang NorteRough and dusty Road and slopes. There is no entrance charge to the falls, and the house closest to it has a wall painted: Parking Area for Bolinao Falls, though that wasn't really necessary as very few go to this place and you can literally park everywhere...it's a forest. There are no toilets and washrooms...so, that should  be a clue..dump everything that has to be dumped beforehand.
6:09 PMDepart Bolinao Fallsleft Bolinao Falls
6:37 PM317.9Quezon Road (highway)
7:31 PM361.9SUAL Public Marketscout for Shrimp Pastes and anything else. We got mangoes and surprisingly, we had multiple free tastes...something like 1/4 of what we actually bought.
8:00 PMDepart Sual Marketleft SUAL PUBLIC MARKET. There were a number of huts just right after SUAL Market that sells your pasalubong. A lot of Watermelon vendors on the way to tarlac too.
11:32 PM456.7Shell Station (Jehovah's Witness), Tarlaccoffee and Balut (don't buy here, it's P13, and the duck fetus is quite huge..i mean huge. And, the egg is in El Nino mode). From the roadside vendors, you can get Crab Pastes along the way.
2:35 AM534.8Angeles CityFinal Drop. Everybody Else has been dropped at their respective homes by this time



Carpool: Hyundai Getz model 2007. Passengers: 5 including driver. Gas Loaded: Unleaded @ Flying V Clark for P1500 enough for the back and forth trip. Date of Trip: 4/8/2010


break @ Anda public market

coffee @ bakery next to the public market







entrance to tondol beach










9 comments :

  1. We went to Bolinao just last summer and had a blast! I love the view from Patar Lighthouse and the beach there!

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  2. Do you have some photos ng room na pinagstayan niyo dun kisa D'Odero Resort?

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  3. i do...if you send me your email add, i'll try to reply with the photo

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  4. hey can u send me the photos of the room too? thanks. mimitadabu@yahoo.com

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  5. hi cerys... thing is my laptop is in pampanga and im in manila. will try to do it next week..

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  6. Where did you stay in Bolinao? Is it nice, clean and no ipis? Takot me sa ipis at daga...hahaha...No place to have a decent meal there even the ones mentioned by most travel bloggers. It's just like being in Manila. You have anything on Subic, where to go there, and have a frugal fun time without spending too much? I saw your post in PinoyExchange which led me to your blog. You can check out my blog too here:
    http://phinoyesque.wordpress.com/

    Thanks to your travel blogs. I'm always on the lookout for places to visit in the Luzon area.

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    1. in subic town u mean? you have access there to silanguin cove. in bolinao, you can try that carinderia behind st james church.. try the ginataang pagui.. in bolinao, i always stay in odero resort. it's in ilog malino

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  7. I forgot to mention that we went to the same Tondol beach that is shown in your photos here about 2 weeks ago. I was not exactly enamored by that place. I heard about Maki Pulido being a resident of Tondol but all the Pulidos I heard lost in the elections that they ran in. Someone even pointed at the home of the Pulidos there. The roads there are narrow and rough. Still needs some serious development. The government is still inadequate in supporting most of our poor communities.

    Do you have recommendations on hotels or transient accomodations in Baguio that's clean, warm and not charging an arm and a leg?

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    1. for baguio, i don't have an idea. never got interested since that time it has gone crowded :-(

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