Destination: Camarines Norte Part 1

Replica of the first Rizal monument

This was my first visit to the Bicol Region and I know friends who are from that province. I am starting a series of blog posts during my time and experiences in Camarines Norte. We left Manila around 5:30 in the afternoon by a private vehicle provided by the Provincial Tourism Office of Camarines Norte. The group  is composed of Bernard Supetran, PR consultant, Benjamin Layug of Business Mirror and Byahero, a travel website, Joselito Cinco of Manila Standard,  Kara Santos of Sunday Inquirer and yours truly. We arrived at Bagasbas in Camarines Norte at 1:30 in the morning which totals seven hours of travel by land and we stayed in Bagasbas Lighthouse Hotel Resort along Bagasbas Boulevard facing the Bagasbas beach.

Camarines Norte is found in the Northwestern of coast of the Bicol Peninsula, which forms the southeastern section of Luzon. It is one of the six provinces of Bicol Region. The major industries Camarines Norte is proud of are jewelry making, fishing, aquatic products, processing of queen pineapple and tourism. Camarines Norte has a total land area of 232,007 hectares composed of twelve municipalities and is divided in Tagalog and Bicolano speaking towns. Total population of Camarines Norte is about 470,654. The ratio of population density is 202 persons to a square kilometer. In my next blog post, I will feature the churches of Camarines Norte that are celebrating their four hundred years.

Posted previously at : http://mvlnunez.blogspot.com/2011/02/destination-camarines-norte.html#ixzz1jEs44Mia

My Corregidor Adventure Tour Challenge Experience

Last December, I was able to join the first Corregidor Adventour Challenge along with the traditional media practitioners from different newspaper publications upon invitation of Bernard Supetran ,PR consultant. I was the only blogger then. In this post, I am going to spoil some details but not narrate in detail to maintain suspense for those who will decide to try it in one of the Corregidor tours in the future. This was my second time in Corregidor. The first was during a boy scout camping. We toured Corregidor just like any other tour guest.

There were two groups of four. To distinguish the Adventour participants from regular tour guests, we were required to wear the Adventour shirt and equipped with a sling bag containing bottled water, energy bar, scratch paper and pen. We were also given a large searchlight for the dark areas.

One of the obstacles was to find puzzle pieces inside balloons at the starting point to form a map. Another obstacle is to requires you to solve word puzzles. Another obstacle requires to walk blindfolded by one team member guided by another without spilling paper cups filled with water. The last one obstacle is a real challenge that requires teamwork which I will not reveal.

Getting up from an old Japanese escape tunnel

What makes it fun was unlike the regular touring, this is more exciting. You travel the island on foot and get to go through a dark Japanese duck walk tunnel crawling with large geckos. You don't get to do that on a regular tour and it's really an immersing experience which makes it a better tour alternative for me. The Adventour is also ideal for group dynamics and team building especially if you are into Amazing Race type of activity. The Adventour Challenge is now called Adventure Tour Challenge. To inquire about Corregidor Adventure Tour, contact Sun Cruise at (02)527-5555.

Previously posted in: http://mvlnunez.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-corregidor-adventure-tour-challenge.html#ixzz1jDL4OQrp

Hotel H2O

I first heard about this hotel when I was invited to attend the Asian launch of a Fox series, FlashForward almost two years ago. When I got there, I just found out that it was still in progress but it is operational and I was one of the privilege to be the first to stay. The room has an internet cable connection and an office desk, a vault.

The bed is a queensized and the bath room shower is also unique. If you are not occupying the seaside with a window, you will have a better display of an aquarium instead. It is unlike any hotel, I stayed at. It would also be an ideal place for photo shoot. There is also a bar that is located on a seaside and some restaurants that you don't see in usual places. Hotel H2O is located at Manila Ocean Park.