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Friday, October 26, 2007

Eastern Samar: Overnight in Borongan, Eastern Samar

They call Borongan, Eastern Samar the City of the Golden Sunrise. I finally arrived there after a four-hour van trip from Tacloban City. I asked the van to drop me off at the beach house of my brod, Councilor Jesse Solidon, where I was to stay for the night.

After getting settled, we took a pump boat to nearby Divinubo Island where they are currently organizing an eco-tourism project among the locals.

Aside from it's white sand beach, I was told that behind the island (the side facing the Pacific), there were caves as well as a light house. But since it was getting dark, we could no longer hike to that side. What is peculiar about the island is that during low tide, you can walk to it since a land bridge of coral rocks emerges. This I saw for myself the next morning.

Borongan has a lot of potential as an eco-tourism destination. It's a good place to invest for surf camps. In fact, locals were surfing when I arrived. There are several waterfalls in the city inlcuding Tres Marias, Masakpasak, Hinahanginan, Binabalarawan, Cansoriyaw, Mono, Pangi, Tagpuyucan, Bihid, Kaputian and Tumaligis Falls. There are several caves to explore too. You can also go white-water rafting (that's if you have your own raft since no one has set-up there yet). And I was told the coral reefs are also worth the dive.

I slept early since I literally did not have any sleep the night before. Although I got to enjoy some of the night scenes of Borongan such as watching crabs crossing the street or fireflies light up a nearby tree. The next day, I visited the historical core of the city. I passed by the monument and ancestral home of the local revolutionary hero Major Eugenio S. Daza, as well as the Borongan Cathedral and the Santiago Monument in front of it. Sad to say, the old Borongan Church was demolished a long way back and what's left of it is its circular belfry. There are only two other places where I've seen circular belfries namely Tumauini, Isabela and Mexico, Pampanga. But just like Borongan, Mexico's old church is gone.

Anyway, we proceeded to the town of Guiuan one hour south of Borongan, which is at the southern tip of Samar Island.

9 comments:

  1. hahai eto talagang master ko of travel blogging hnd na kumukupas... Visit mine too and I wish makita kita in person hehe

    www.albertology.blogspot.com

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  2. whoaa! you've been too many places already. Your blog is very very informative. keep them coming. I'll link you up!

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  3. Anonymous8.11.07

    Hi Ivan,
    I enjoyed checking out your blog. I'm a recent grad in Silicon Valley, and I've just started a company that is mapping the blogosphere to our world. Here is an example of a blogger in Georgia who's plugged in: http://www.verveearth.com/landing/#type=user&id=772. It can be fun to explore different localities.

    It's an easy process to get on board, and I can be reached at clayton@verveearth.com for questions or feedback. If you resonate with the vision of painting a global canvas of voices, please give VerveEarth a mention.

    Cheers! -Clayton

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  4. hello sir ivan!

    we'r from borongan city, are u our kabungto?

    thanks for featuring our native land in ur blog.

    we have here a new group aiming for the natives to unite and discover, protect and share the heritage of eastern samar. we hope u'll join or support us with our misions. our first project is urugyas, pls. check at: http://urugyas.googlepages.com.
    thanks

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  5. Anonymous18.12.08

    great post! I love Borongan and E.Samar.

    I have written about and photographed many places around Borongan - http://easternsamartime.blogspot.com/

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  6. Anonymous30.6.09

    hi ivan,

    i really enjoy reading your travelogue, very informative and entertaining..thanks for featuring eastern visayas here in your site, makes me wanna return home!! (btw, i'm from eastern samar) you should have tried calicoan surfcamp, i hav heard great feedback about the place, though havnt been there myself..

    keep posting more!!
    tin

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  7. I was in Guiuan, but I didn't have time to pass by Calicoan. Maybe during my next trip.

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  8. Anonymous17.4.12

    nice

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  9. Hi Ivan.. Thanks for your blogpost. My mother was from Eastern Samar but its sad to say I haven't posted anything about my mom's province.. Your post just inspired me to do so.. Hopefully my next destination will be Eastern Samar. I'll link you up to my blogs too. And by the way I'm an avid fan..

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