Camperspoint Philippines

Philippine Biking Associations and Websites

Mounir Chaouche — 2007-04-25T15:04:40Z

Bugoy Bikers - The idea of this site is to collect information about mountain biking in the Philippines. We have biked almost the whole Visayas and would like to share our experience with you.

PinoyMTBiker - Philippines' Mountain Biking Community covering mountain bike topic, Info, News, Events, Pictures, Forum, Travel, Gear Reviews, Community, Fun Rides, Bike Commuting, Make Friends. The site focus on the Philippines, but welcomes cyclists from all over the world.

Rides of a Lifetime - By Marc Obrowski

Marc Obrowski — 2006-08-03T14:03:28Z

More and more expats find out how to combine living in Manila and cycling. Just outside the city they find unexpected biking destinations with provincial serenity and a far away feeling.

The cry of a monkey, then silence again. The three men are looking across a bomb crater at the large building. Its dark windows stare back. It is burnt out, destroyed but still standing. The jungle and the monkey have retaken it.

None of the men talk. It is neither their knowledge of the thousands to have died here, nor the strange beauty of this unfortunate place that awes them most. It's the silence. As if the island were still trying to compensate for the deafening explosions that reverberated all the way to Luzon more than 60 years ago. The Spanish, the Americans, the Japanese and the Americans again. The men found traces of all of them. And they found the complete destruction in their wake. Ruins in silence telling the story.

Corregidor Island in silence? - Only by bicycle

This was Corregidor island earlier this year. The three men were two friends and myself.

But this was more. It was Corregidor re-visited. We had come back on our mountain bikes. No need for the tour bus, the tour guide on a blaring loudspeaker, the fixed route and noisy co-tourists. This time we were free to explore Corregidor's obscurest corners at will. And we were are all alone.

All this seemed so far from Manila. It is hard to believe that no bus or car is needed to get there. We simply rode from Ortigas Centre to the Cruise Terminal at the CCP Complex (Sunday morning - no traffic) and from there on the boat to Corregidor.

It is as true as it is against conventional wisdom: If you live in Manila you can still enjoy great cycling - with no need to worry about traffic. You just have to know where.

Bulacan - a nearby place with a far away look The carabao is deeply unimpressed. It approaches us at frightening speed. This is relative speed though. The carabao in relation to the dusty ground is trotting along at its usual pace. But we are zipping on our mountain bikes around the bend and with an elegant swerve pass the indifferent big animal.

The cheering from the crowd on the cart behind the beast tells us: We are the first bicycle tourists here. Again.

We pass our admirers, the ground becomes firmer, goes downhill now, we click into higher gears, fingers on the break levers (ready for the next carabao around the corner) and with perfect speed we ride along the river bend.

Water so clean it invites us to jump in at once, but the ride got us hypnotized. No-one wants to stop or be anywhere else on the planted than right here. In our cycling paradise. And we are not on some remote island. We are just outside Metro Manila in Bulacan.

Manila's compatibility with cycling is under doubt, to put it mildly. Manila itself, that is true, seems to do everything to make life for cyclists hard and sometimes short. But it has left us some niches and escape corridors. If you know them then nothing stands in the way between your bike and some of the greatest cycling trips of your life.

Throughout the past 3 years I have seen more and more expatriates taken up cycling again.

Manila to Subic - ride with a trick

The lights of Subic Bay. At last.

But rejoice not too early my fellow riders for it is another twenty kilometres to our infinitely comfortable beds at cosy Baloy Beach. Twenty, they say, another twenty after the 90 we have done already, up steep mountains, along the route of the infamous Death March of Bataan and through frightening forests!

My esteemed cycling cohort, I hear your concern, but have we not enjoyed magnificent views from those mountain tops and ridges? Their heights must be scaled first and in pursuit of this quest have we not taken pleasure in the Zenic serenity of our long stretches in first gear?

The bicycle, the bicycle surely, should always be the vehicle of novelists and poets.

That's how Christopher Morley (a well known American poet) put it, but my cycling buddies could not care less for my poor attempts at combining the two arts.

They are not listening; in fact they are not even there any more. One had taken flight in a Jeepney some 15 kilometres ago; the other two disappeared in a private car shortly thereafter. I feel guilty. Maybe I should not have lead them to a detour up Mount Samat (very steep, one extra hour of intense pedalling).

This tour clearly had its ups and downs, literally and figuratively. But it also showed again that the Philippines is a country of many options. Even in remoter areas you always find a solution (like the ubiquitous Jeepney) should bike or rider not make it.

I meet my bike buddies again at our hotel at Baloy beach. I prepare myself for some critique but there is none of that. They are happy. And with reason so.

Who would have thought that you can ride from Manila all the way to Subic along super scenic roads, smoothly paved, yet almost free of cars?

There is a trick of course and it's the ferry from Manila to Port of Lamao in Bataan. It simply bypasses all the things you don't want to see.

The ferry returns in the evening, so day trips along the coast in Bataan are another option.

The Manila cyclist has choices so aplenty it would fill a book to describe them all. Here are only two of my favorites.

1. Corregidor Island.

Pros: Scenery, serenity, safety, seclusion and scary ghost towns. It's five stars for all of the above. Virtually no car traffic. Nice boat ride (open upper deck). Very few places on the planet beat Corregidor as a cycling destination.

Cons: It's not big. Even if you try all roads you can hardly ride more than 30 kilometres. The boat returns far too early. It will cost you P1300 (lunch included).

Vehicle: Good for road bikes, better for MTBs.

Ironically this prime cycling destination was de facto unreachable to Manila cyclists until recently. Sun Cruises, until recently the only tour operator there, stubbornly refuses to carry bicycles on the boat. Fortunately there is now also Prestige Cruises, who are bike-friendly. There are trips on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

How to get there:

• Choose a Friday, Saturday or Sunday (Sunday is best)

• Book your seats with Prestige Cruise. Contact Bong from Prestige on 0927 5555502 or 02 8328967, tell him you are bringing your bikes.

• Ride to the Cruise Terminal at the CCP Complex on Roxas Boulevard. If you come from around Makati or Ortigas Centre, take Buendia Avenue. It is a good run, especially on Sunday mornings. • 7am check in at the terminal, pay P1299 per person (it includes lunch)

• At Corregidor, being a tourist off the guide's leach, they make you sign a paper where you commit (smile) not to damage the place. After thousands of bombs dropped by foreigners they obviously have become cautious.

• You are back in Manila by 16:30.

2. Bataan to Subic Bay

Pros: Great scenery, long ride (80km to 110km), steep sections, no traffic.

Cons: You may arrive after nightfall. The ferry to the port of Lamao has no open deck (only a closed air-conditioned, TV-infested cabin.)

Vehicle: Good for MTBs, perfect for road bikes with low gears.

This one is for real riding. After a ferry trip of an hour and a half (use it to sleep and have breakfast) there is nothing to slow you down all the way to Subic but your own weakness.

It's smooth pavement almost all the way, but strangely there is almost no traffic at all.

Also for this ride you need no car or bus if you live in Manila. Start pedalling from your doorstep.

How to get there:

• Book a trip to Lamao (Prestige Cruise, contact Bong on 0927 5555502).

• Book a room. At Baloy beach rooms start at P1000, check out Harley's (047 2246922), Mangroves (047 2227909) or Shaevens (047 2239430).

• Buy the Central Luzon Map from Accu map (e.g. at Power Books) and check the route.

• Ride to the Cruise Terminal at the CCP, pay and board the ferry.

• Have breakfast (bring your own) on the ferry or sleep, you won't see much inside the closed cabin.

• From the pier go right on the Roman Expressway. After Caput go left. At a small T-Junction after a few kilometres go right (not on the map) then left on the Linao Highway. If necessary ask for the way to Mount Samat and check your map.

• At the turn-off to Mt. Samat to the left (there is a sign) you have the choice of going up the mountain and back or to continue straight. The trip up and down will add some steep 10 km and one hour to your trip.

• Follow the Linao Highway, check your map and if you have, bring a compass. It's not difficult, but not all the turns are no the map.

More rides to consider:

Marikina river banks. You can ride there from Makati or Ortigas. Marikina is in fact building a whole network of bike tracks.

The Maarat trail just behind the newly-built Timberland development near San Mateo in Rizal. This trail is a classic among local cyclists and features quiet mountain roads, steep inclines with only the occasional great view on Manila to remind you that you are not hundreds of miles away.

Briton's Hilarious Comments on Philippines

catseye — 2006-06-27T11:33:37Z

Matter of Taste

By Matthew Sutherland

I have now been in this country for over six years, and consider myself in most respects well assimilated. However, there is one key step on the road to full assimilation, which I have yet to take, and that's to eat BALUT.

The day any of you sees me eating balut, please call immigration and ask them to issue me a Filipino passport. Because at that point there will be no turning back. BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in a piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually after dark, presumably so you can't see how gross it is.

It's meant to be an aphrodisiac, although I can't imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than crunching on a partially formed baby duck swimming in noxious fluid. The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but basically it is not considered macho to eat one without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws. Some say these crunchy bits are the best. Others prefer just to drink the so-called 'soup', the vile, pungent liquid that surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus...excuse me; I have to go and throw up now. I'll be back in a minute. Food dominates the life of the Filipino. People here just love to eat. They eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called, in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, merienda ceyna,dinner, bedtime snacks and no-one-saw-me-take-that-cookie-from-the-fridge-so-it-doesn't-count. The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from the open packet that sits on every desktop.

You're never far from food in the Philippines. If you doubt this, next time you're driving home from work, try this game. See how long you can drive without seeing food and I don't mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food. I mean a man on the sidewalk frying fish balls, or a man walking through the traffic selling nuts or candy. I bet it's less than one minute.

Here are some other things I've noticed about food in the Philippines: Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice - even breakfast. In the UK, I could go a whole year without eating rice. Second, it's impossible to drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn't the same without gambas or beef tapa. Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house without baon (food in small container) and a container of something cold to drink. You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants on. And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat with a spoon and fork. You try eating rice swimming in fish sauce with a knife.

One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people always ask you to SHARE their food. In my office, if you catch anyone attacking their baon, they will always go, "Sir! KAIN TAYO!" ("Let's eat!"). This confused me, until I realized that they didn't actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their boneless bangus. In fact, the polite response is something like, "No thanks, I just ate." But the principle is sound - if you have food on your plate, you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who may be even hungrier. I think that's great! In fact, this is frequently even taken one step further.

Many Filipinos use "Have you eaten yet?" ("KUMAIN KA NA?") as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location. Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other Asian cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: Spicy dishes like Bicol Express (strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked with coconut milk; anything KINILAW; and anything ADOBO. And it's hard to beat the sheer wanton,cholesterolic frenzy of a good old-fashioned LECHON de leche (roast pig)feast. Dig a pit, light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on a stick, and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm... you can actually feel your arteries constricting with each successive mouthful.

I also share one key Pinoy trait ---a sweet tooth. I am thus the only foreigner I know who does not complain about sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on. I am a man who likes to put jam on his pizza. Try it! It's the weird food you want to avoid. In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell, items to avoid in the Philippines include pig's blood soup (DINUGUAN); bull's testicle soup, the strangely-named "SOUP NUMBER FIVE" (I dread to think what numbers one through four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste, BAGOONG, and it's equally stinky sister, PATIS. Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even risk arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like Australia and the USA, which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell from more than 100 paces.

Then there's the small matter of the purple ice cream. I have never been able to get my brain around eating purple food; the ubiquitous UBE leaves me cold. And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that KALDERETANG KAMBING (goat) could well be KALDERETANG ASO (dog)...

The Filipino, of course, has a well-developed sense of food. Here's a typical Pinoy food joke: "I'm on a seafood diet. "What's a seafood diet?" "When I see food, I eat it!" Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals--- the feet, the head, the guts, etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names, like "ADIDAS" (chicken's feet); "KURBATA" (either just chicken's neck, or "neck and thigh" as in "neck-tie"); "WALKMAN" (pigs'ears); "PAL" (chicken wings); "HELMET" (chicken head); "IUD" (chicken intestines), and BETAMAX" (video-cassette-like blocks of animal blood). Yum, yum. Bon appetit.

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches"— (Proverbs 22:1

WHEN I arrived in the Philippines from the UK six years ago, one of the first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has provided a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since. The first unusual thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has a nickname. In the staid and boring United Kingdom, we have nicknames in kindergarten, but when we move into adulthood we tend, I am glad to say, to lose them.

The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls and boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy for anyone over about five. Fifty-five-year-olds colleague put it.Where I come from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten to death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never make itto adulthood. So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious, Peachy or Apples. Yuk, ech ech. Here, however, no one bats an eyelid.

Then I noticed how many people have what I have come to call "door-bell names". These are nicknames that sound like - well, doorbells. There are millions of them. Bing, Bong, Ding, and Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used in even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding-Dong, Ting-Ting, and so on. Even our newly appointed chief of police has a doorbell name Ping. None of these doorbell names exist where I come from, and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear.

Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was called Bing, replied, "because my brother is called Bong". Faultless logic. Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where I come from "dong"

is a slang word for well; perhaps "talong" is the best Tagalog equivalent.

Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before encountered people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning. The secretary I inherited on my arrival had an unusual one: Leck-Leck. uch names are then frequently further refined by using the "squared" symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a while.

Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming their children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy. More imaginative parents shoot for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy, Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best to be born early or you could end up being a Baboy).

Even better, parents can create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey Pie) or flowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip). The main advantage of such combinations is that they look great painted across your trunk if you're a cab driver. That's another thing I'd never seen before coming to Manila — taxis with the driver's kids' names on the trunk.

Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the phenomenon of the "composite" name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus, Joseph and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, believe it or not). That's a bit like me being called something like "Engscowani" (for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). Between you and me, I'm glad I'm not.

And how could I forget to mention the fabulous concept of the randomly inserted letter 'h'. Quite what this device is supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name. It results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)?

How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names like John Smith. How wonderful to come from a country where imagination and exoticism rule the world of names. Even the towns here have weird names; my favorite is the unbelievably named town of Sexmoan (ironically close to Olongapo and Angeles).

Where else in the world could that really be true? Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be called Cardinal Sin? Where else but the Philippines!

Note: Philippines has a senator named Joker, and it is his legal name.

A word for tourists heading Palawan

catseye — 2006-06-27T09:37:28Z

I have been to Palawan on several occasions and have found it to have a flavour of the wild west. If you leave the main town of Puerto , you are on your own. Outside of the city limits there are no police or any other emergency services. Pirates still operate around the coast and murders are common and unreported. The island is one of the most beautiful on earth and the life style you can lead on a limited budget is great.
Chris (...) - 16. Public Contribution- Your Stories

Typical Transaction Costs

catseye — 2006-03-31T16:57:35Z

Typical Transaction Costs - Purchases from Individuals

* Capital gains tax - 6% of actual sale price. This is usually paid by the seller but in some cases the buyer is obligated to shoulder it. For business properties or titles owned by corporation, however, the percentage goes to 7.5%

* Document stamp tax - 1.5% of the actual sale price. Usually paid by the seller but in some cases the buyer is asked to pay for it.

* Transfer tax - 0.5% of the actual sale price.

* Registration fee - 0.25% of the actual sale price.

Typical Transaction Costs - Purchases from Developers

* Capital gains tax - 10% of actual sale price. This value might be expressed as part of the sale price.

* Document stamp tax - 1.5% of the actual sale price.

* Transfer tax - 0.5% of the actual sale price.

* Registration fee - 0.25% of the actual sale price.

The Energizing Bicol Express

catseye — 2006-03-08T16:39:55Z

Ingredients:

½ kilo green elongated chilies (julienned)

200 grams shrimp paste (unsalted)

4 cloves garlic (minced)

1 whole onion (chopped)

¼ kilo pork (cut into tiny pieces)

¼ kilo tomatoes (chopped)

4 tbs. vegetable oil

1 cup coconut milk, extracted from 3 coconut fruit If using an instant coco powder which is available in many Asian stores, 1 medium sachet dissolved in 1 cup of water is enough


bicol express

In a pan or a wok, sauté garlic, onion, and tomatoes in oil. When onion is slightly cooked, add pork. Fry the mixture for 2 minutes until pork turned a little brown, and then add ½ cup of water. Boil until water is almost gone and pork is completely cooked. Then add shrimp paste. After three minutes, add in chilies. Without overcooking the chili, or in a minute, pour in the coconut milk. Simmer until mixture is dry. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot or cold with rice. This dish is best eaten with fried fish or fried meat.

Daily News and Public Affairs

catseye — 2006-02-24T09:38:04Z

INQ7.NET

PREDA NEWS PAGE

PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE

Events & Activities

catseye — 2005-10-26T05:59:26Z

Mayor Tinga Mountainbike Cup June 17 MTB riders and fans in Metro Manila shall have the opportunity to check out the latest Fast Track Circuit in the center of the city in Taguig for a weekend of mountain bike cross county circuit and four cross events this June 16-17, 2007 at the Fast Track Circuit.

For the first time within the center of the city at Fast Tracks this mountain bike competition shall be held and promises in the future more events of a series of mountain bike races are to be had. Since its convenience as being 15 minutes away from the city business district the Fast Track multi purpose circuit meets international safety standards with perimeter safety fences, rest rooms for participants and public, clubhouse, cable TV, billiards hall, medical room and the works.

Classes to be run are the Midget ( 12 0 16 yrs ), Youth ( 17 - 22 yrs ), Juniors (23 - 29 yrs ), Masters 1( 30 - 39 yrs ), Masters 2 ( 40 and above ) Pro, Women's, Four Cross Challenge and the Jump competition. Practice and registration ( P300 ) shall be on Saturday June 16 and late registration ( P500 ) and races on Sunday June 17, 2007. Supporters of the event are City of Taguig, Brothers Burgers, Rush Energy drink, Sabak MTB Shop, Dans Bike Shop, Elixir Trading, Waffle Time , Chris Sports and Coca Cola.

The Fast Track Circuit is located in the Taguig Hall of Justice along Gen. Santos Ave, Upper Bicutan, fronting Camp Bagong Diwa. Upon exiting the SLEX in Bicutan head towards Laguna Bay and follow Fast Track signs, circuit is on the left inside Hall of Justice.

For more info check out www.namssa.org or email: xtremeworx@hotmail.com or call 0917 8992363

An Ideal Place To Relax

catseye — 2005-10-05T07:38:40Z

On Aug. 2004, I was called to visit the remote area of Bohol's P.C. Garcia Island called Lapinin on some maps. This area is easily reached from cebu by ferry via Tubigon and then a 1 hr. taxi. Pump boats can take you from Ubay to the Island. As of now, there is only one formal "resort" on the Island, built in a very pretty section of the Island, surrounded by lush greenery and a nice beach with plenty of coral. Visayas Breeze Resort has some basic accomodations and have a boat and some motorcycles. The Island offers some neat Hillocks for climbing, backpacking and offers terrific views to Camiguin Island and Leyte. The people are very friendly and the place is safe from all but petty crime. If you are looking for a remote place to relax, this is the place!

Robert Grigsby

Indiana, USA

Romblon Resorts and Hotels

catseye — 2005-07-11T04:47:33Z

Romblon, Romblon

Talipasak Beach Resort

Falmar Pension House

Romblon Plaza Hotel, Tel. No: 507-22-69 or 507-22-77

Marbel Hotel

Feast Inn

Bay View Resort

Cabanbanan Resort

Palm Garden Atoy Mortos Beach Resort

Blue Hole Diver's Beach Resort

Odiongan, Romblon

Shellborne Hotel

Haliwood Inn

Magdiwang, Romblon

Morales Lodging Inn

Muros Family Resthouse

Ransay Rent House

Sta Fe, Romblon

Tourist's Inn

Asi's Inn

Dolly's Place

White House

San Fernando, Romblon

Jenmar Lodge, Tel. No: 362-20-37

Bernie's Inn

Sea Breeze Inn

San Jose, Romblon

Carabao Dive Lodge

Carabao Beach Resort

Others:

RGF Paradise Island Beach Inn - Bgy Mabini, San Andres, Romblon

Benocot Beach Resort - Bgy Bunsoran, Ferrol

Puro Island Resort - Puro Island, Romblon

Tiamban aqua Beach Resort - Tiamban Romblon, Romblon

Villa Del Mar - Agnay Romblon

Geneva Riva's Place- Looc, Romblon