What to do in BICOL?

Have you ever seen Mayon's perfect cone? Tasted their finest Bicol express and Laing? What ice cream flavor is exotic but worth a try? I think its their chili ice cream. If you haven't visited Bicol, you might want to read my story about my Bicol experience! 

I went to the Bicol region twice 2015 and 2017. I say that, Mayon's perfect cone never failed to make me say one word that best describes it. "AMAZING". I went there through an airplane ride for 40 mins from Manila and a really long but fun road trip via car.  That's how easy it is. Bicol is just near Manila, or like me I'm a Batanguena, its very near Batangas. If there are upcoming long weekends you can now plan your Bicolandia road trip! Believe me, Mayon is worth seeing or let me say, its instagrammable!

HOW TO GET THERE

Air and land travel are available from Manila to Legazpi. Direct flights from NAIA/Legazpi Airport. From Manila to Legazpi is around 45 minutes. Taking a car is a bit longer and dragging but its worth it!

• By air, PAL, Cebu Pacific, CebGo and AirAsia have Manila/Legazpi flights. Cebu Pacific and AirAsia usually have promo flights that are cheaper.
• By land, we actually rented a van for the whole gang with a driver. Its roughly 9 hours and 25 mins or more, depends on the traffic and the time you left your place. Make sure to leave early! We actually just used wave to go around! But we started from Batangas, where I live.

WHAT TO DO IN BICOL

First, to witness the beauty of its very own Mayon Volcano! That perfect cone will definitely move your own mountains.  It is a stratovolcano that erupts very frequently. I heard some stories when it erupted, its ashes were found even in our neighboring countries. 

Second, to swim with Donsol's whale sharks or the so called "Butanding". I swear they are different from what I had experienced in Cebu. In Cebu, you will ride a boat and bring you to the ocean where you can still see the ocean floor and the whale sharks or the butandings come really close to you but in Bicol, the boat man told us that its really nature, that they'll bring us in the middle of the ocean, if we saw on lucky us, if none, sorry. We had 3 hours to search for whale sharks that time. It was really deep, you can't barely see the ocean floor, and they don't come really close to the boats and humans unlike in Cebu, they feed them thats why they come really close.  It was so hard to take a photo with them but it was fine, swimming with the gentle giants are always on my bucket list and it really feels amazing!

This, is by far, the nicest photo I had. Haha! I was so afraid that I might hit them with my flippers, bu then the boatman said, they whales are still really really far from us, they are just huge that's why I think I'm so close to them. The mommy whale sharks are as big as the buses, and the baby ones are as big tall me. (I'm 5'3)

It was really a struggle to go in and out of the boat but it was fun! When the Kuya's said "JUMP! THERE'S THE WHALE" you really need to jump. I swam with only flippers and mask, because I know how to swim, but if you can't, you can wear a vest! :) 

Me and my friends enjoying Donsol's beauty!

Actually, this site where you can do whale shark watching is very near our hotel. We just rode a tricycle from our hotel. You can actually book it with our contact. Her name is Ate Willsy from Elysia Hotel her contact number is 09064052272. She is also the one who scheduled our firefly watching tour. Which I don't have a photo because my phone and go pro or any camera cannot take a photo of them. But I promise it was magical, I felt like I was in the movies. They will take you on a boat ride and bring you to a mangrove forest, it was a little scary because it was really dark, but yeah, you cannot see fireflies in the morning, you really have to do it at night time. :)

Third, enjoy the view of the Cagsawa Ruins. The Cagsawa Ruins (also spelled as Kagsawa or Cagsaua) are the remnants of a 16th-century Franciscan church, the Cagsawa church. It was originally built in the town of Cagsawa in 1587 but was burned down by Dutch pirates in 1636. It was rebuilt in 1724 by Fr. Francisco Blanco, but was destroyed again, along with the town of Cagsawa, in February 1, 1814, during the eruption of the Mayon Volcano.

Fourth, go on a little ATV Adventure right at the foot of Mayon. It was really fun, you'll get to drive the ATV on the mud and river. At the end of the trail, you'll have a perfect view of the Mayon Volcano. A lot of kids also do motocross here, they only use their motorcycled (the tall ones I don't know how it is called) they jump on rocks and make their motorcycles jump with them. It was a little thriller. 

Fifth, Mayon Planetarium. Some may find this a little boring but I promise, you'll get a close look to Mayon. It was a place where you can watch its history, when it erupted, what it caused the people living near the area, and what the people did to survive that time. It was really high, it was so cold at the top, and you will really see a closer look of Mayon. We even bought plants (bonsai) and some rocks made from its lava. 

That is not Mayon on my back. Mayon is right infront of me. We enjoyed so much the spectacular view of the Bicol region from up here. 

Sixth, visit Lignon Hill. In here you can actually enjoy also a very scenic view of Bicol and do some adventures. There's a zipline ride, but it was too short, we didn't tried it because we think it was just a waste of money. We just ate some crackers up here, and took photos. We also tried the chili ice cream in this place. 

Mayon is always picture perfect.

Me and my family enjoying the view.

Seventh, visit some neighboring beaches. Since we don't have much time to visit Caramoan (but definitely soon we will), we opted to visit a laid back resort. This is Victoria Bay Resort. We actually had our lunch here, grilled some food and went swimming.  

We went on a little swim. Of course, all weekends during the summer season are meant for beach trips!

This place looks pretty amazing too! 

Eight, Visit Sumlang Lake

Eight, visit Sumlang Lake. We also had our picnic on this place. It was really instagrammable. You can actually ride on rafts and roam around the lake. Of course, with Mayon's view.

This is how it actually looks like from the lake. There are swings, tree houses, nipa huts, and pretty chairs to relax on. 

We really enjoyed our road trip to Bicol.

WHERE TO STAY IN BICOL

• Elysia Beach Resort - I really recommend this place. This is where we stayed during the first time I went to Bicol. This property is 1 minute walk from the beach. Showcasing an outdoor pool and views of the pool, Elysia Beach Resort is located in Donsol, just 29 km from Legazpi. Guests can enjoy the on-site restaurant. Free private parking is available on site.

The pool is in the middle of the vicinity. It was so relaxing to stay. We stayed here for a night but it was worth the price. It was a bit pricey but it was totally worth it!

Nipa huts are all over the beach front area. It was perfect for picture taking. 

This view all to ourselves! Not much are checking in. When we went here, there are only few people checked in and most of them are foreigners.

Sunset watching was really amazing!

And of course hammock by the beach! :) (Some of my dreams are just like this, to lie down on a hammock by the beach, ride a camel by the beach, or ride a horse by the beach) 

Thanks for reading!