Alapad Rock Formations - Batanes

Who can forget these majestic rock formations in Alapad, Batanes.

Looking closely at the shore reveals colorful fishes swimming and feeding beside live corals in the crystal-clear water of the sea.

It's been years since I first went to Batanes
and a voice always screams in mind: "I want to be there again!"

Boulder Beach of Batanes

The Chadpidan Boulder Beach is another popular tourist spot in Batanes. It is known for its numerous, massive, round boulders stretching along the shore of the whole beach.

Historically, the boulders are spewed from Mt. Iraya, a now inactive volcano.

Strong waves from the China Sea helped to smoothen the boulders over time.

 Not only to tourists, the place also serves as a leisure place for the Ivatan, the people of Batanes.

Vayang Rolling Hills, Batanes

One popular place for viewing both seascape and landscape in Batanes is the Vayang Rolling Hills found in Northern Batan.

It boasts for being a great place for tourists to see the other major and inhabited Islands (Sabtang and Itbayat) of Batanes.

The land in Rolling Hills Batanes was once divided and marked by fences by a public official but the Ivatans prefer their native communal lands preserved. Only the concrete fence posts now remain in the place.

Marlboro Hills of Batanes

More popularly Known as Marlboro Hills, Racuh A Payaman serves as a communal pasture land for the cattle and horses of the Ivatan people in Batan Island of Batanes. Racuh A Payaman literally means wide pasture.

An Ivatan can choose to bring his own herd of cow/goat to the pasture land or just tame some wild animals that can be found freely roving in there.

"Alongside with numberlessness, Filipino space is also boundless. Indigenous culture did not divide land into private lots but kept it open for all to partake of its abundance." - Ed Lapiz

It's too good the area is wide enough to accommodate tourists that can safely explore a big area of it since many of the animals found there are really undomesticated.

Many agree that the movie Sound of Music should have been shot in this beautiful place of Batanes.

A Weekend in Batanes

Just visited Batanes, the northern islands of the Philippines, last weekend. It is the only place in the Philippines with four seasons in a year. And I still feel the same excitement I first felt if ever I visit there again.

After a less than two hours of plane travel from Manila to Basco in Batanes, the cool breeze of spring welcomed me along with the majestic mountain of Iraya near the SEAIR airport.

Unexpectedly, my friend and I saw the "Mike Pua & company" sign waved by one person in the waiting area. He and Ryan, our tour guide, accompanied us to to ride in their tourist van and dropped us by at the hotel afterwards.

Within a few minutes, we were already ready to start the tour to compensate the one hour we've lost while waiting for the delayed arrival of the plane in Manila.

One thing I've learned is to keep taking pictures while the tourist van is moving. There are so many great sceneries we passed by that I won't let a single one not to be captured by my camera.

From time to time, the tourist van stops for our closer view of the culture and community of the Ivatan people.