South Road Travel Advisory 2024

I have written several travel articles encouraging motorists to try the Lucban/Tayabas route coming from eastern part of Metro Manila to avoid the heavy traffic along AH26, especially from San Pablo City to Lucena City. That section of AH26 is infamous for standstill traffic during summer season, especially Easter holidays.

Nowadays, there are more gas stations on both side traveling along AH26. The cheapest would be around Tiaong and San Pablo area; however, there are a few cheap gas stations before Atimonan. Gas is realively cheap also in Ligao, Albay.

The rest area at Quezon National Park in Atimonan, Quezon. The restrooms are also clean and well maintained.

After the pandemic, I tried taking the Lucban/Tayabas route going to Cainta, Rizal, thinking I wills have a couple of hours of travel. Lo and behold – the road less travelled is now famous for motorists. Going to Cainta, I noticed more motorcycles are plying the route and they can be very slow especially in the zigzag portion of Laguna (the provincial road there is a bit narrow). Going to back to Sorsogon, I noticed this time that more and more SUVs are also taking the said route, thus, it’s difficult to go beyond 60kph, let alone overtake in a narrow provincial highway. Of course, the view is still breathtaking and road widening was happening in Laguna area.

This is a portion of AH26 (Atimonan) lined with lutong bahay restos. Lolo Ompo comes to mind. But it can be difficult to get a seat due to high number of travellers.

Nowadays I would recommend to traverse the SLEX-San Pablo-Lucena route due to wider road. I tried it almost two years and so far, the traffic is tolerable.

Last year, when going to Manila, I would leave around 12pm avoiding the heavy traffic along Quezon area. By night fall, I should’ve cleared Andaya Highway and once I hit Lucena area, it’s a bit late for locals to be in the street – less tricycles and more trucks on the road. By the time, I was in San Pablo, there were less vehicles in the highway. And when I was in SLEX, it was a breeze – though there was a time, I got stuck for almost an hour in SLEX for no specific reasons except tons of vehicles were entering Metro Manila.

Coming back to my beloved Sorsogon, I would leave around 4am from Manila to avoid the heavy traffic in Tiaong/San Pablo area. And you will reach Lucena around 7am which is still okay in terms of traffic in the vicinity.

Those said timetable doesn’t exceed 13-hour drive either direction. The only reason it goes beyond that because of unforeseen events.

This year, I tried to leave 3am regardless if I am coming from Manila or Sorsogon. If coming from Sorsogon at 3am, I cleared Bicol region in less than 5 hours (my only rest was going to the restroom and buying a cup of coffee in McDonald’s along Andaya Highway). By 11am, I was already in Tiaong and encountered heavy traffic in front of SM City Santo Tomas (like 20m). But taking the SLEX was quick and smooth. I was in Sucat Road by 130pm just enough time to do errands.

Leaving Manila around 3am, I should be in Sorsogon City by 2pm. But I had to take a nap (I was driving alone) a couple of times, and also check my cargo at the back from time to time. I reached Sorsogon City at exactly 3am.

Mayon Volcano and its beautiful cone. This picture is taken along AH26 just before Camalig (perhaps Tabaco)

Lastly, I don’t pass Nabua-Naga City area anymore except going to Manila (I am a bit apprehensive taking the mountainous route of Bula-Minalabac at 4amish in January). Going back, I also skip the said route and just taking the provincial road from San Fernando and exit in Ligao (just near the DPWH’s weighing station). 

Ingat tabi sa biyahe pirmi!

Harvesting Santol is Never Fun

Santol or cotton fruit is a seasonal fruit. It’s normally available June and July period.  It can either be eaten as a fruit: sucking up the pulp from the seeds or eating the rind by dipping it in the salt. In some cases, the rind is grated using the same tool used to grate coconut meat. The grated santol rind is used as a main ingredient for the coconut-based Sinantolan.

People tend to take it for granted how difficult it is to harvest the Santol fruits from its trees. Its trees can go up as 3-story high (at least, in my observation). First, climbing the tree is not easy – there are no branches to hang on in the lower portion – a strong upper body strength is needed to pull oneself up. Once one is up in the branches ready to get the fruit, they tend to drop the produce in the ground – good luck to the person waiting and looking for the dropped santol. Then, one has to pick it around tree — if one can find all of it.

No wonder I heard sad stories about people getting hurt badly after falling a Santol tree.

Of course, there are easier way like using a thin bamboo pole with a bag (normally a simple plastic bag) and a knife at the end. 

The attached gallery in the blog tells the story – harvesting Santol in the hard way.

The author witnessed how difficult it is to harvest Santol fruits during the season. To fill in half a sack of rice, around 4 trees have to be harvested from. All of them are approx. 3-stoy high.

Author’s Note: We tend to freeze the grated rind for a few months so that we get to enjoy the Sinantolan even after the season.

San Juan (Roro) – Salog Access Road Gallery

This road traverses Salog River from Brgy. Salog, through Brgy. Bibincahan and eventually exiting towards Brgy. San Juan (Roro) just beside Ambrosio Labrador Elementary School.

This is the road connecting Brgy. Salog and Brgy. San Juan (Roro). This picture is facing north with the Pocdol mountain in the background.

This short dirt road is the remaining unpaved section that connects Brgy. Salog and Brgy. San Juan (Roro) along the bank of Salog River.

Trinx Brave 1.1, 4 Years After

In 2020, I shared my short experience with my full suspension mountain bike, the Trinx Brave 1.1. Even before pandemic, I started looking for a full suspension frame to replace my old bike, also a Trinx DVR600 with 26″ tires. Not because it looks nice but my body had a hard time taking the beating during a trail ride. And taking the mountain trail in Sorsogon was worse because it wasn’t maintained and usually rocky.

Thus, when I saw the Trinx Brave in Hometown in August 2020, I decided to buy it, lest somebody buys it first (there was a shortage of bikes during that time). Though the Brave 2.1 looked more attractive (it had 10s Deore gearset), Brave 1.1 was approx. PHP7K cheaper. I am a cheapskate so I bought the latter. I didn’t regret my decision since then. Well, not really…

After 1.5 months, it has now a 1×9 drive train – Sagmit cogs 11t-50t, Mountainpeak pedals and 34t Racework crankset.

Riding Comfort  at the Trail

Since a few trails were nearby, like the San Lorenzo trail or Maricrum trail, I get to enjoy Brave’s rear suspension. The up/down motion of the rear wheel in an uneven terrain really worked perfectly, provided I was standing in the pedals. The large tires, 27×3.4 have strong grip of the ground even if it is muddy.

Small drops with varying height works pretty well with the Trinx Brave 1.1.

And when going downhill, because the MTB is heavy (approx. 15kg), no need to pedal and just control the descent while the momentum does the rest.

The spring-loaded fork worked pretty well bouncing up/down in the trail. I don’t remember the stock fork bottoming out. But darn it was heavy!

The challenge is that it doesn’t fit in my bike rack. So when going to farther trails like Rolling Hills in Brgy. Cumadcad, Castilla, I had to fit it in tbe back of compact SUV; when the back seat is folded, 27rs MTBs can fit – only driver + passenger can be accommodated.

My back rack is purchased for hard tails and Trinx Brave 1.1 doesn’t fit at all.

The Ride

In a few instances, I had to go cycling with my cousins to Rompeolas. I noticed that I had a hard time pedaling. For one thing, the stock cogs were smaller than my DVR600 and the whole bike was really heavy.

And it still bounces even if the rear suspension is locked. After checking the net, this is normal for full suspension. Such extra motion while pedalling in the road waste some energy.

The heavy weight (though I realized how light a full sus MTB when it costs >PHP250K) is also expected from a full suspension bike due to extra moving parts. For a couple of years, I simply shrugged the weight until I couldn’t. It was just unbearable pushing the bike under the sun (mostly in Rolling Hills and Pangpang trail).

Nowadays, I cherish its heavy weight for improving my stamina. Cycling from our place to the trail head (around 4.5km) is always a good practice, especially it’s a bit uphill.

Upgraditis

Within a couple of months, I bought a crank (Racework) and Mountainpeak pedal (still being used as of this writing). Then, I replaced the original cogs with Sagmit 50t cogs – it didn’t work because the 9s LTWoo RD wasn’t compatible; I could only shift to the 2nd gear but I left it as is for a couple of years because it looked nice.

Then SRide was introduced in the local market. I decided to forego LTWoo due to risk in buying online (there was no Elite series in Hometown). I checked SRide reviews and seemed favorable. It was a 12s gearset and it only cost (that time) approx. PHP7K. And I didn’t need to replace my rear hub. It also comes with a crankset.

Then, I just had had enough of the spring-loaded fork (it was a XCR 100mm) and replaced it with an air fork, MountainPeak with 120mm travel and lockout. The bike lightened up by almost 1kg! But I don’t get to use its 120mm travel because I have had close encounter when going downhill and a few times I almost went over the handle bar because the fork would suddenly depressed down.

I also found a carbon seatpost and replace the metal seatpost. No impact at all, except it looks nice.

It stayed that way until….

After 4 years…

In 2023, my bike was hit by a motorcycle. To make the story short, portion of the bike was damaged.

The front rim was twisted and the spokes simply broke off. The front hub was damaged beyond repair. The SRide’s RD was a bit twisted but according to the technician could still be repaired. The seat was torn as if a dog bit it into pieces. The handle bar was twisted also. The frame had no damaged, and so was the suspension links; the rear shocks seemed not to be damaged as well upon checking by the technician.

I decided to replace the parts, including the SRide because I couldn’t risk it getting stuck when I am in the trail. This time, I splurge a bit – it has still a 12s gearset but now it’s a D6100 Deore (with that, I had to buy 1 pair of hubs to support the microspline model of Shimano’s). The seat is also branded (didn’t regret it after my first ride).

Later on, when I brought it to Legazpi to have the fork checked, it turned out that the rear suspension was leaking oil. The fork was also busted. I had the 2 parts repaired. The technician was convincing me to purchase a 2nd hand Rockshox fork but I didn’t bite (not yet).

As of 2024, the remaining orig parts of Trinx Brave 1.1 are the full sus frame and its rear shock, shift levers and the seatpost clamp. The rest were replaced for different reasons.

With the sun is always up (El Niño) lately, I decided to enjoy the nearby trails before it gets buried by farm-to-market roads. And before it rains again for the next two years.

I am still tempted to buy new stuff for my full sus but so far, I could still resist it. There’s no strong reason to buy new parts, unless the prices of the stuff would go down. Well, there’s this Rockshox Judie in Hometown that’s 50% cheaper compared 4 years ago.

Hamos na, birisikleta kita!

Sorsogon Random Picture

The author chance this view before he goes downhill in Brgy. Guinlajon.

Revival of Bacon Community Airport

The revival of Bacon Community Airport (RPLZ) must be older than me. I even made an article about it almost 2 years ago. My original article in 2011 discussed the possibility of reviving it and even suggested to host aviation school, or convert it into an EPZA or an agro-industrial zone. Though statistically irrelevant, a few comments do not agree in its revival.

This is the main entrance of Bacon Community Airport (soon-to-be Sorsogon Domestic Airport) via a dirt road from the Bacon-Sorsogon Road. circal 2011.

Interesting though, on September 22, 2020, a certain Cesar J (Cesar J. Balmaseda?) left a comment that the former Gov. Chiz Escudero was planning to turn it into a sports facility for softball/baseball and archery for the Palarong Pambansa 2023 (eventually held in Marikina, NCR).

What’s interesting is that Bicol International Airport (BIA) is now a host to a flying school – Topflite. One of my original recommendations in 2011!

Topflite Academy is a mainstay of Bicol International Airport. Their trainers are easily noticeable when looking down at the apron from the departure terminal.

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SocMed Articles

On March 9, 2023, Sorsogon Public Information’s Meta page posted regarding the public heraring in the revival of Sorsogon Domestic Airport; this might be the official name of the planned airport. On March 10, 2023. Sorsogon News’ Meta page also mentioned the same topic. According to the article, this is the preliminary phase of the consultation process to discuss the construction of the Sorsogon Domestic Airport. On July 9, 2023, Meta page of Sorsogon 101, it mentions that the proposed design for the said airport has been release.

On March 12, 2024, a certain Dong Mendoza in Meta page posted a video of the start of the clearing operation in relation to the Sorsogon Domestic Airport.

I did encounter one news article in Meta mentioning about complaints from local farmers due to lack of compensation for the felled coconut trees as part of the clearing operations for the airport. I can’t find it anymore as of this writing; most likely it was taken out.

Because of this new development, sellers of land near the area – Brgy. San Roque, Brgy. San Isidro, perhaps even as far as Brgy. Maricrum, Brgy. Balete, Brgy. San Vicente and Brgy. Bibincahan – are posting land for sale. Go or no go, the land in those area will skyrocket.

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The Good

Prepare for the onslaught of tourists. Even w/o the domestic airport, tourism in Sorsogon is hitting the roof. In 2019, 147K of tourists visited the province. In another PNA article, it mentions that 852K tourists were welcomed in the province! 

A white beach along the coast of Bulusan is a tourist come-on.

Tourism brings more jobs for the tourism industry. If one can consider the peripheral effects, like transportation, food service, construction (of new tourist facilities), etc., it can be humongous for the province.

The Isla de Blas cottages (Matnog) in stilts reminds the visitors of Maldives, minus the luxury.

Overall economic activities will surely pick-up! And the tourists will need quick transpo from the capital or major cities like Cebu or Davao City! And that’s where Sorsogon Domestic Airport, obviously, will come into play.

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The Lingering Question

This is not a question if we if its affordable or not (I think the province/national government can). Is it really practical to have the province its own commercial airport (with the big emphasis in the commercial)?

Back then, those who could afford to buy a plane ticket did so because land transportation was really terrible or simply have limited trips. Nowadays, you have lazy boy busses plying the Sorsogon-Manila route; the road from Bicol International Airport (BIA) to any towns in Sorsogon is amazing compared to the rest of Bicol region.

You don’t want to build an airport that’s only relevant during specific holidays in a year.

Even connecting flights to other major cities in the country are almost non-existent in BIA – only Cebu-Daraga route is available and it’s not even daily; though it can change during peak season. And for the longest history of aviation, only Manila and Cebu (favoring the former) are connected to Bicol. Even Diosdado Macapagal Airport is not getting its fair share of flights for the same reasons – not enough passengers to go around.

If one sees 3 planes in BIA, one of the planes is for Cebu-Daraga route. Otherwise, there’s plenty of space in BIA for more flights.

Will the situation of passenger volume will increase in the future, most likely so. But with the rate of progress versus the way our government works, perhaps not in the next decade. And I want to be wrong.

And don’t start the discussion about rehab of Bulan Community Airport (RPUU).