Sunday 22 April 2012

[Philippines] Taal/Pinatubo

Dates: 5 April 2012 to 8 April 2012

It was Good Friday weekend in Singapore, and Holy Week in the Philippines, when we decided to take a short trip to Manila. By the time S, K, M and I arrived in Ninoy Aquino International Airport it was rather late but fortunately, S' dad had arranged for his friend to pick us up. We checked into Our Melting Pot, where S and K had a room to themselves, M had a room all to himself, and I moved into what I thought was a 6-bed girls' dorm, only to find out that it was actually a 6-bed mixed dorm - came as a bit of a surprise when the first thing I saw when I walked in was Spanish Guy, sleeping in the bunk bed below mine, walking about in black briefs complaining in what sounded very much like French-accented English (or maybe I'm just really bad at this) that the air-conditioning was too noisy. 

We woke fairly early the next morning and headed to Tagaytay with Philippine Adventures, which organises hiking trips to Taal volcano, located approximately 50km south of Manila (click here for more information on the hiking). Taal volcano is situated at around 400m above sea level and is an active volcano which sits within the Pacific Ring of Fire. While the Cuexcomate volcano in Mexico is considered to be the world's smallest volcano, Taal volcano is considered to be the world's smallest active volcano - ooh exciting! 

There's more - Taal volcano is essentially what is also called Volcano Island, and this island is located within Taal lake, which fills up a volcanic caldera and is therefore in itself located within a volcano. So we are in that sense looking at a volcano within a lake within a volcano. 

And here's where things get a little bit more confusing - within Volcano Island, there is a very pretty crater lake which is, according to Wikipedia, "the world's largest lake on an island (Volcano Island) in a lake (Taal lake) on an island (Luzon), and it in turn contains its own small island, Vulcan Point". Talk about a mouthful. 


{K getting bullied by S // Smiling like crazy with - here goes - the world's largest lake on an island in a lake on an island and in turn with its own small island, in the background}

The Philippines Adventures website states that there are two trails to reach the crater lake on Volcano Island: (i) the Spanish Trail and (ii) the Kenney Trail. I think we went with the Kenney Trail, but what we experienced seemed to fit the description of the Spanish Trail (i.e. we got pestered to get horses, got passed by quite a few people on horseback, and dust whipped up by horses' hooves came our way).  

{Edited photo of the crater lake}


{Holy Week procession: on hindsight, we were incredibly glad to have been in the Philippines during this period}

The next day, we went trekking on Mt Pinatubo, also with Philippine Adventures (click here for more information on the trekking). Mt Pinatubo is an active stratovolcano located at approximately 1,485m (1,745m before the 1991 eruption). Yes, there was a massive eruption in 1991 - only the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century and the effects of the eruption were apparently felt worldwide, with global average temperatures shifting downward by about 0.5deg Celsius! 

{Standing atop an old Toyota 4x4}

{I think this was before the approach to Crow Valley, a rather surreal moonscape}

{Gorgeous Mt Pinatubo}

{Group shot just before we decided to have a go in the hot spring behind us - it was hot, but well worth it!}

{Boats moored by the lake - get on one for a quick ride to the hot spring // Volcanoes make me happy}

{Extremely pretty, but bear in mind that parts of the trail can be dangerous. Touch the rocks and step on the ground as you go along and you realise that everything is SOFT. The entire area is filled with landslide-prone lahar cliffs and landslides have killed tourists in the past. As we were walking back to our jeep, rocks fell from one of the 2 cliffs flanking us on both sides}

{Group shot, having reached the crater lake after a brisk 1.5 hour walk. Average walking time is around 2-3 hours}

And that concludes our short bros trip!

Observations:
- We'd thought the entire country was going to be busy with celebrations and all the stores were going to be closed, but Manila is an incredibly bustling city and things worked out well in the end. On Friday and Saturday, we were trekking on Taal volcano and Mt Pinatubo respectively, and even then there were eating places open late into the night and come Easter Sunday, everything was fully open by then and businesses looked to be in full swing.
- One thing I wish we'd tried more of was Filipino food - Wikitravel makes reference to a stunning array of food and some of it seems pretty out there (think Balut, a fertilized duck embryo that is boiled and eaten in the shell, feathers and beak and all). We hadn't done proper food research and all the good food places we wanted to go to were closed on Saturday, so there didn't seem to be a lot of options, but  it sure seemed like there was no shortage of fast food restaurants to choose from!


2 comments:

  1. Hi, I came across your blog - very nice! I'm going to Manila soon, and I only have time to see either Taal or Pinatubo, which one do you recommend (I don't mind the distance, but I only have one full day)? Many thanks!

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  2. Thank you! This is quite a tough question because I really liked both places. I would suggest checking with a tour operator if you can do Mt Pinatubo in the morning and Taal in the afternoon - it will be tiring but absolutely worth it! If this is not an option, then I would go with Mt Pinatubo, because it really feels quite special sitting in a jeepney driving by a moon-like landscape and then trekking for a few hours to Pinatubo itself. I would recommend walking fast so that you reach Pinatubo before the crowds get there and you have the whole place to yourself for a bit, and then go for a dip in the hot spring! - Kate

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