The time of our arrival in Ilo-Ilo is a little past 12 which is the perfect time, just in time for us to get a ride to Otiz Wharf, a ferry to Jordan Wharf and a tricycle ride to our hotel of choice. (Tricycle is the main mode of transportation in Guimaras)
Accomodation in Guimaras: Raymen's Resort
Plus Points:
- Affordable price
- Hot and cold shower is working great
- Beachfront
- Good food and Sweet Guimaras mangoes always available in their canteen
Minus Points:
- The room is so small, the CR is also very small and has a certain smell
- The walls are very thin with most of the sounds getting through
- Some of the canteen's staff are also not very attentive
- They did not provide the wifi password head on. I had to go back to the front desk to ask for it and its signal is intermittent.
DAY 1 P.M.
Guimaras Land Tour
Our first stop for the land tour is the famous Pitstop. It's a restaurant that serve mango in different dishes. They have the Must-Try Mango Pizza, mango spaghetti, got mango shake, and of course mango desserts. They also serve regular food like bbq, adobo, and other pizza flavors. Next, we head on to the Trappist Monastery, where we bought some pasalubong. We also visited the Mango Plantation but we were not able not able to come in. We just saw the expanse of mango trees from the road. Lastly, we visited the Guisi lighthouse, where we had to traverse rough roads with lots of sand that our cameras became full of sand afterwards. The view at the top, though, is worth it.
DAY 2 A.M.
Guimaras Island Hopping TourFirst stop: SEAFDEC @ Igang Marine Station
This stop is such a good start specially if you'd like to learn a few facts about fishes and fisheries. There was so much to learn! Some of the trivia shared to us are:
- Female Snappers are bad! They bite similar species and thus need to be separated from males and even other females.
- Seabass males become females as they grow old.
- Giant Lapu-lapu are born female then grow up to be males. This species is also one of the laziest and is thus a good investment. And they can reach up to 125yrs old!
Second Stop: Ave maria islet is a small island with very fine sand.
Next Stop: Baras Cave - the boat that we've hired is big so we didn't really get to to enter the cave, but we did get to take some pictures.
Last Stop: Nagtago island - Of course this is my favorite because I got to experience holding and taking a picture with a pawikan. We also got to have a lovely swim for some time in this island.
After checking out of our hotel, we rented an L200 to get us back to the wharf and proceed with the Iloilo part of our trip. We dropped by a shop that sells mangoes and lots of other goodies like otap, tarts, and butterscotch that are made from mangoes.
Iloilo City Proper
Accomodation in Guimaras: GoHotels
Plus Points:
- Affordable - Our room was priced at PhP 1,014.45 good for two
- The location is just right inside/beside Robinson's mall (it's like within the same buolding but the emtreance is outside. So when we watched the Insurgent movie in Robinsons movie world after a long day out, we did not worry about getting back to our hotel).
- The comforter really provides comfort, allowing us to regain our energies through the night.
- The bed is bigger. Equipped with a TV and a remote controlled a/c, this really is value for money.
- I also loved their comfort rooms with their super shower.
When I saw the room, I almost wanted to just sleep through our stay. But having not eaten lunch at 2pm is quite a challenge to both of us, so we headed to have a taste of the original La Paz Batchoy.
Decos-Original La Paz Batchoy La Paz Public Market
D-I-Y Ilo-ilo Tour
We were supposed to go to Netong's but it seems manong taxi driver did not know where Netong's is located, or maybe he got confused when I said La Paz Public market so we went to Deco's instead. We are not Ilonggos and we can't tell what exactly is the difference between the la paz batchoy here as compared to that served in Manila.. It has the noodles, the laman-loob, and chicharon. I was so hungry that I almost finished one extra serving (extra is how they term the serving with the most (laman) but my travel buddy didn't quite like the food specially the bitter taste of the laman loob.
Our next stop was Camiña Nga Balay. We had a little misunderstanding with the driver, with him thinking we were referring to a literal house made of stone and so brought us to one even though we have told him to stop on the location being pointed by google maps.
We had a tour of the house and learned about the history of the house and the story behind the steep stairs. We had some biscuits, hot chocolate and a molo soup right after.
We also went to the Iloilo City Hall. I read somewhere that the 360° view of Iloilo is part of the iloilo city tour itinerary so I included it in our list. We were guided by one of the employees to the roof top and we get to take shots of Iloilo top view. We next went to Calle Real. We went there a little before 5pm and got a shot at day and waited in I-mart for it to get dark and the lights to be turned on, so we can take another picture at night.
We had out dinner at Buto't Balat near SM Delgado, where we tried seafoods. We had baked oysters, ampalaya with egg and sizzling butteted shrimp. The food here is excellent. If only not for my worries about my tummy reaction and high cholesterol, I would have finished all our orders!
DAY 4 SEE YOU AGAIN ILOILO
Our departure from Iloilo is scheduled at 2:50PM. Again, this is perfect timing, giving us one more day to go around for a bit, pack up, check and head on to the airport. We decided to do to Esplanade. Today, being a weekday, the place is very peaceful. There are not much people around, mostly those that are just passing by. The place is very clean and is perfect for a jog. I wish we can have places like this in Manila.
There are a number of restaurants located at Esplanade, and we chose to ate at Ramboy's, known for Aklan's best chicken and liempo.
