"The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation."
Since its establishment more than 2 years ago, Cebu Scoopy Club (CSC) has already planned, or at least envisioned that the club would not just create riding and fun-filled activities but also do efforts of giving back to the less fortunate or to the community. There were suggestions of feeding program, tree planting, community service and so on. But due to busy schedules and other activities and/or priorities, the plans haven't been materialized. Until now.
On October 24 to 26, 2014, Cebu celebrated the grandest and most-awaited bike festival of the province, the 6th Annual Biketoberfest initiated by Star Touring and Riding Association. This year's slogan was "Go for a ride, carve the classic path, star keeps rolling on the road.". This 3-day event was joined by a lot of clubs of Cebu City and nearby towns/cities and even joined by solo riders. It was held at the IT Park, Salinas Drive, Lahug, Cebu City. A lot of big bikes like Harleys and Ducatis, customized bikes and also the popular smaller cc-ed bikes attended.
In line with this activity, 3 Honda scooter clubs of Cebu decided to form a single group to unite all Honda scooters, Beat, Scoopy and Zoomer-X. The 3 clubs, Cebu Beat Riders, Cebu Scoopy Club and Zoomer-X Club of Cebu formed into Honda Scooters Cebu. Honda Philippines, Inc. (HPI) and Honda Motor World, Inc. (HMW) also never failed to support the 3 clubs, as always and so, they decided to initiate a ride for the Honda Scooters Cebu, the first ever. The proposed route was Cebu City-Balamban-Toledo-Naga and back to Cebu City via Minglanilla and Talisay SRP.
From the day we bought our Honda Scoopy in January of this year until today, we have experienced no major issues with her. She didn't give us headaches so far. Even a basic flat tire, no, we haven't experienced it with her as of this point. Even with using her aggressively, on rough roads and terrains even on no roads, she brought us to where we want to go without any hassle. So if any of you have any questions about the reliability of this scooter, I can attest that this Honda Scoopy is an investment where your money is worth every penny.
August 24, 2014. Our last day in Bohol. I couldn't believe that time passed us by so quickly. It was like only yesterday that we just arrived in Bohol. We could extend and have another go round at the beaches of Panglao Island but we found out our budget won't let us do it. Hahaha! But we can still do more on this day before heading back to Cebu. So without further blah-blah, let's start with the first trip of the last day of Bohol, the Mag-aso Falls in Antequera, Bohol.
August 23, 2014. Around 5:30 in the morning, we woke up and talk a little bit about the details for our activity for the day, the Bohol Island Loop. This loop excludes Panglao Island since we have already looped that. Hehehe! The details of the plan was actually quite short, as usual. Have breakfast and lunch where ever the situation suggests. Hahaha! I can't find more words for introduction now so let's get started. Lolz!
August 22, 2014. Our plan for the day was to take the countryside tour. No, we were not going to pay for those countryside tour packages because we have Mesha (our Honda Scoopy). Hehehe. But we needed a map. I had a map in my phone but I would prefer a tourist map. Unfortunately, we were not able to secure it the day before (August 21, 2014) because it was a holiday and the tourism office was closed and then on this day, we were planning to go early so the tourism office was still closed at that time. But you know what? Part of having a great adventure is to look for it. To heck with the tourism map, let's scoot Bohol's countryside tour without it. Read on. :)
We have long wanted to visit Bohol and tour around the island using our very own Mesha, our Honda Scoopy. A week before, once we learned that August 21 was a holiday (a Thursday), I immediately filed for a leave for August 22 (Friday) so that we can have Bohol from August 21 to 24 (Sunday). I also informed my daughter's teacher that she won't be coming to class on August 22. Hehe. August 25 was another holiday but we opted to make it a rest day. So that would give us 4 days and 3 nights in the magnificent island of Bohol. Let's proceed with the details and read on. :)
After a grueling ride from Bogo to Tuburan via Daan Bantayan, we finally reached our relaxation destination: Molobolo Spring. I heard a lot of good things about this spring but as we all know, we never really know how good a place until we tried it ourselves. And yes, this spring got my 2 thumbs up. :)
This is the second part of our Cebu Loop Series. This ride was probably the longest with us on the road. We learned a couple of things on this ride.
First is that, the road from Hagnaya (or Bogo?) to Daan Bantayan has the longest straight road that I have ever tried. I mean, literally, the road was mostly straight. Kind of like road for drag racing. If you are not in a good mood to ride or drive in this road, you'll feel sleepy. A really long stretch. We didn't take a turn when we reached junctions because we wanted to reach the northern most part of Daan Bantayan but after a couple of kilometers of straight roads, we were finally greeted with rough roads. We tried to continue for a kilometer or so but after seeing that this type of road is slowing us down significantly, we opted to go back down that straight cement road again. OMG, that straight road was really tiring. No twisties to let you enjoy. I am not a speed freak.
Welcome to our Cebu Loop Series. This is the first part of a total of 8 blog posts. The original plan was really a Northern Cebu Loop because we have already done our Southern Cebu Loop last Holy Week vacaction. But along the way, we managed to change our course and do a whole Cebu Island Loop (on coastal roads) instead.
As a Filipino rider, the ultimate riding experience would be a Philippine Loop. I have read about the budget needed and also watched the videos of this couple who did it using big bikes. But before I do that and I don't even know how soon can I do the Philippine Loop, I will do Cebu Loop first. The original plan was actually just a northern Cebu Loop because we already did the southern Cebu Loop in the Holy Week of 2014 but we changed plan once we got to Molobolo Spring. I was challenged by my wife to just continue and do the Cebu Loop halfway of our northern loop. I have managed to group the whole loop by 8, separated by 8 facebook albums. Hopefully I can find the time to blog about each part. :)
But to see the whole Cebu Loop in 10 minutes, watch my humble video below:
July has been a very busy month for me and I love it :). First, I had my birthday ride, followed by the nationwide Unity Ride Against Stupid Laws initiated by MRO and it was also MRO Cebu's first ever unity ride coordinated by yours truly and then last July 27, we had the Cebu Scoopy Club July 2014 Ride. The itinerary was going to Mama Mary's Castle in Lindogon, Simala, Sibonga, followed by a quick visit to Argao Nature Park in Argao and then hitting the very nice beach of Dalaguete Beach Park. It was all fun and relaxing. The weather was great when we rode from Honda Philippines Cebu Office in Lahug up to Dalaguete. The sun was not always up and if it was, it's not scorching hot. Best weather for having a ride.
"Do not dwell on how old you are but how much you have achieved and how much you can achieve with the time you have left in this world."
Well, it's that time of the year again where you reflect on your life events of the year that has passed. Okay, it sounds like a New Year and you bet it is. It's a New Year for me. It's my birthday (weeeeee :) ). And no, today is not my birthday, it happened already a couple of days ago and obviously, I'd like to keep it myself in this post.
So, where did I spend my birthday? First, I invited some Cebu Scoopy Club members to join me in a simple burger breakfast ride to Balamban. Early in the morning, we met at Shell in Lahug near JY Square and about 7:00AM, we rode off to the beautiful (well mostly) roads of Transcentral Highway, from Busay to Balamban. It was a fantastic ride especially the part where there were fogs on the roads. Then, we stopped at Felixberto's Burger and Hotdogs. We ordered burgers and yes, I paid for all burgers we ate. It's supposed to be my birthday but I guess I got used to it. LOLZ!
130 kilometers on the road but actually, it was more like 150 km.
This ride happened in March 22, 2014. That day was supposed to be an EB (Eyeball) ride with the Cebu MCP members to Felixberto in Balamban. Everybody was busy I supposed so it didn't pushed through on the last minute. We also didn't properly setup the schedule and everyone didn't really confirm 100%. So, what happened was a memorable family ride with my wife and daughter.
The ride started from Mandaue City, then to the Transcentral Highway to Adventure Cafe, up to Balamban Town proper Gaisano Balamban, down south to Toledo City, turned to Naga City to the east, Minglanilla, drop by at Tubod Flowing Water then back to Mandaue City via SRP. Around 150 kilometers on the road, our first time as a family. The Dumaguete City ride was only me and my wife. I left my daughter under my cousin's care.
With that, let's start the story which I would tell in pictures. Captions are provided. :)
With that said, let me begin the story of our journey. We were still in Sumaguan, Argao and we planned to go back to the town proper to visit the first church.
1st Church: St. Michael the Archangel Parish Church in Argao.
It was still early in the afternoon. We planned to go up the mountains in Argao. No, not for adventure but to visit some of my wife's relatives who lives there and we would also spend our night there instead of spending some bucks on a pension house. We stayed in a pension house on a Good Friday from Alcoy because it was already a little late and we haven't informed any of my wife's relatives that we would be in Argao in that day and that we would stay on their houses because again, that was unplanned. lolz!
So, we planned to chill a little bit and killed some time in Argao Nature Park. As the title said, it was already our 2nd time there. I haven't blogged the first one because I don't think I was actively blogging at that time. And as far as I can remember, that was also on a Holy Week.
On a Black Saturday early morning, I texted my cousin how they were doing. They were still in Tingko Beach in Alcoy and we were already in Argao (Abella's Pension House). They were enjoying the sunrise as well as the morning swim in the beach. For us, since we were already in the hometown of my wife, we visited a few of her relatives there in the morning. Then in the afternoon, we decided to check out the Riverstone Castle.
The reception and parking area of the Riverstone Castle.
After a long trip from Alegria (Batong Malunhaw) to the southernmost part of Cebu in Santander going northward to Alcoy, we finally reached Antig Tingko Beach in Alcoy. The nice white sand beach where foreigners and locals come together to beat the summer heat.
Here is a couple who toured the Philippines on big motorbikes. I think they also have a backup car with them as you can see in the videos. Maybe of the same setup with the US TV series Long Way Round where the backup vehicles don't always go with them. It's totally cool having all the resources (money and time) you need to go on a Philippine Loop.
Okay, I am not doing a Philippine Loop on a motorbike in the coming days or months. Just not yet. I am still gathering information about the financial part of it because it's going to take some big bucks to be able to complete this (big at least for me). I think this will be the ultimate ride for a Filipino rider. Somebody has already did this and he was solo and also using a Honda Scoopy. That ride proved the reliability of this scooter. I was pretty amazed that the scooter did not encounter any problems aside from the common flat tire/air problems. That post convinced me that using my Honda Scoopy to loop the entire Philippines (okay, not totally because the ride will mostly be in coastline roads) is perfectly doable and the scooter will be very reliable. I haven't had any problems encountered with Mesha (my Honda Scoopy) and I do long rides on weekends.
The Game of the Generals, also called GG as it is most fondly called, or simply The Generals, is an educational wargame invented in the Philippines by Sofronio H. Pasola, Jr. in 1970. It can be played within twenty to thirty minutes. It is designed for two players, each controlling an army, and a neutral arbiter or an adjutant. It needs the use of logic. The game simulates armies at war trying to outflank and outmaneuver each other. As in actual warfare, the game allows only one side's plan to succeed. Certain strategies and tactics, however, allow both sides the chance of securing a better idea of the other's plan as the game progresses. Players can also speak with others during matches, hoping to make a false impression on where the flag is.
I made an online version of this game around last year. I was pretty curious about Node.js, a new technology at that time that was buzzing the software development industry on the web. It was basically javascript for the server. Javascript has been extensively used on client-side codes (in the web browsers) alongside other technologies like Adobe's Flash. I have always been a big fan of javascript so I got out of my comfort zone (PHP and ASP.NET) and wanted to build something in order for me to learn this new technology.
Honda riders who were from Negros and Cebu joined the much awaited Honda XRM Carafun 2014 Visayas Leg on June 21-22, 2014. Cebu Scoopy Club has been privileged to be invited to the said event. The event was held at Aroma Beach Resort in Manjuyod, Negros Oriental. Cebu Honda riders met at Honda Philippines, Inc. (HPI) office in Lahug, Cebu City at around 5:00 AM. Other clubs were also invited especially 2 groups for the XRM club, this was their event but all types of Honda motorcycle riders were invited. There was the Honda CB110 Club, Honda Wave Club, Honda XRM Club and of course, Cebu Scoopy Club. We started the ride to Manjuyod, Negros at around 7:00 AM but before that, we were given free jerseys. The ride was around 200 kilometers which included the ferry ride from Lilo-an Santander to Tampi. It was definitely a long ride but it was enjoyable since there was less traffic and the country side roads were always a pleasure to ride with.
We left Batong Malunhaw and started the road trip to Alcoy via Bato and Santander. We heard Alcoy's beaches were really nice. The roads were really good and most of them were in the coastline so great views on the way as well. So that was a really good round trip south of Cebu. These were the southernmost area of Cebu and it was our first time and it was Good Friday.
Early morning snapshot of Batong Malunhaw Beach Resort.
After our night swimming in Kawasan Falls, we tried to find some good place to rest. My cousin brought with them their tent in case we can't find any available rooms. Us? We didn't bring any. I was confident we could find some rooms there but all rooms in Badian are fully booked. It was Holy Week. Luckily, Jun (our Kawasan tour guide) told us about a nice place to rest in Alegria. Batong Malunhaw was the name of the resort. Since we were on motorbikes, we went to that resort. The roads from Badian to Alegria were really dark. Both of our motorbikes have stock headlights. Although mine has hazard and underglow lights. We didn't speed up even though the roads are nice because it was just too dark.
So, we failed to have our vacation in Moalboal because we really did not have any idea which part of Moalboal where those nice white sand beaches were located. We continued heading south and we thought Moalboal to Badian was a short trip because it was just the next town. Well, maybe it was just a short trip but because it was our first time to go there, we thought it was a long one. We even thought maybe we have missed it because we had been riding and we didn't see any signage of Kawasan Falls. Until we saw this health center with a big map. My cousin then checked the map and we found out that Kawasan was still a few meters away from there.
After we trekked the nice roads of Carcar-Barili, we found ourselves in the roads of Dumanjug, Ronda, Alcantara and finally Moalboal. It was quite a longer trip than we expected. We thought Moalboal was relatively near in Barili but it was not. The roads from Barili to Moalboal were really nice so we enjoyed the road trip really well. Nice sceneries, fresh air, no traffic.
So when we were in Moalboal, we thought, "This is it. We will spend our summer vacation here."
Mesha just reached 5,000 kilometers. Let's celebrate!
Mesha has been very reliable, fantastic, awesome scooter for us. She still manages to give some instances to amaze me. Now that she is 5,000 kilometers older, we rode her to the challenging steep roads of Cebu Tops and then to the rough, steep roads which have a lot of holes and stones (you name it). Mesha might have expected a therapy and not this. lolz. But I will bring her tomorrow for a change oil service as well as evaluate if there needs to be done something special.
Tuslob is dip, while buwa is bubble. So, dip (the rice) when it bubbles). :)
I recently heard about this new food craze here in Cebu. I don't think it's really that new but it's definitely new to us. Tuslob-Buwa is what it is popularly called. I saw some photos of it and you can't help but drool at how people eat it. It's quite tempting to try so try we did.
I searched on the internet on which outlet or restaurant best serve this type of dish. Some say Azul although I haven't been there, others will say that the "original" Tuslob-Buwa in Pasil is the best (original based on friend's comments, I didn't bother to investigate further) but most people say it's the newly opened Papart's Tuslob Buwa in Tipolo, Mandaue City. I haven't tasted the Tuslob-Buwa in Azul or in Pasil (I saw a video of how people eat Tuslob-Buwa in Pasil and I don't honestly recommend it) but I must say that Papart's Tuslob Buwa tastes really good. It's a must-try!
When city people mentioned that they want to go to Simala, more often, they actually refer to the Sacred Castle of Mama Mary. Northern Cebu's counterpart is St. Benedict's Monastery. Although it doesn't have the grand castle, it's the closest comparison to the Sacred Castle of Mama Mary in Simala, Sibonga, Cebu.
We started the trip at around 7:00AM. Then, we took our breakfast in the public market of Carmen. After that, we headed straight to St. Benedict's Monastery. Since this was our first time, we got lost even though it's located on the side of the road. A little complicated story so let's just leave it at that. lolz.
You only have to trek the road going to Uragay Spring and Durano Eco Farm. The monastery is after around a kilometer from Durano Eco Farm.
Once you get there, it's actually obvious because of the entrance arch with the big name on it: St. Benedict's Monastery. It's very visible on the side of the road.
So, we failed our Camotes Islands Vacation plan and so we headed down south of Cebu. We (with my cousin's family) met at 7-Eleven at Caltex Gas Station in Highway, Mandaue City. We started the trip at around 11:00AM and then trekked the SRP roads. When we reached Minglanilla, we were greeted by heavy traffic including towns of Naga, San Fernando and especially Carcar. Wow! Again, this was exodus day from the city so we should have expected this. We were on motorbikes thankfully that although it was hot and tiring (especially the driver), we filtered through the traffic at an acceptable pace. When we reached Carcar, we were already hungry so the best way to feed these grumbling tummies was Mang Inasal and I shouldn't be surprised if the place was packed with customers which it was. Summer teaching us patience, lolz.
Our plan for this year's summer vacation was to go to Camotes Islands. Our planned big activity for the island was the Camotes Islands Loop. We were also planning on going to the different beaches, caves and waterfalls in Camotes. Those were basically the activities for the 4 holidays of Holy Week.
3:30 AM on a Holy Thursday and we were awake and ready to roll. We prepared everything the night before so all we got to do was to drink some hot choco and be on the road.
Osmeña Peak, aka 'OPeak' is said to be the highest peak of Cebu. It is said to be around 1,000 meters above sea level. It is located in Sitio Lapa, Barangay Mantalungon, Dalaguete, Cebu. Mantalungon is said to be "Cebu's Summer Capital" or "Little Baguio" because of its climate and it's probably the coldest part of Cebu. You can actually think of the hills or mountain ranges here to be Cebu's counterpart of Bohol's chocolate hills although they aren't really chocolate-colored hills.
The casts for that ride was myself (of course), my wife and daughter with our ever reliable Mesha (Honda Scoopy). Together with us, I also invited my high school classmate and good friend "Iko" with his girlfriend "Louella" with their Honda Wave.
5 people, 2 Honda bikes, fine weather, let's roll on...
The entrance to Papa Kit's Marina and Fishing Lagoon.
Ziplines are very popular nowadays as almost everyone are wanting to try this type of adventure. They say it's a great stress-buster and I think I agree with that. After I rode the pirate ship in St. James Amusement Park in Mandaue, I have been thinking twice about doing these type of crazy adventures. If you look at the pirate ship, it looks to be really simple and you can't help but wonder why people are shouting when they ride it. It's just like a giant swinging ship anchor. It looks really simple until you try it yourself. Now, I won't belittle these type of rides. So if you get my drift, I am a little bit nervous about trying a zipline. And not just your regular, couple-of-meters zipline but an 800-meter zipline, said to be the longest in Cebu. My wife and cousin are pushing me to try it (of course, with them). I was not planning to give in but I guess the pressure was too overwhelming. LOLZ.
Note: Riding solo can be alone and can be with a back rider. Solo means a single motorcycle. There can be riding alone solo and riding in tandem solo.
Mesha posed at a nice spot going to Top Garden in Busay.
As long as I can remember, I haven't tried riding solo and alone. Okay, except when going to work and running some errands. What I meant is a relatively long ride alone with no back rider(s). My wife and daughter always want to tag along. This time, I tried to ride solo and alone and at the same time, finally posting our Cebu Scoopy Club sticker in Felixberto Burgers and Hotdogs in Balamban (Felixberto).
My ride began at 10am. I checked the tire pressures and I figured I needed to add more PSIs to both tires. For a Honda Scoopy stock-compatible tires, 29psi front and 33psi rear. Then, I gassed up at Shell Maguikay. After that, I looked at Mesha (my Scoopy) and she's totally untidy so, I went to Fibroworkz and Carwash first to wash her dirt up. Php50 for a motorcycle wash. They don't offer wax, only free tire black which I don't like to be applied to Mesha. I don't know but I feel paranoid about sliding my wheel while banking when there is tire black applied to Mesha's tires.
Before Mesha (our Honda Scoopy) arrived, I have already read about this club of Honda Scoopy riders here in Cebu. I learned about them in a thread in istorya.net and this club almost always has long rides every month or so and that invigorated my desire to join this club. In order to become a member, you just need to join the Cebu Scoopy Club (CSC) facebook page and of course you should have a Honda Scoopy obviously. I've been in this group for about 5 months already. The group was formed 2 years ago around May. It looks like there was no official date but the anniversary is celebrated every May on a Saturday and/or Sunday. This is my first time to join their anniversary ride.
I found out about this TV series by way of reading some comments in the blog of Kara Santos (Travel Up). When Mesha came to us, I really can't find the time anymore for watching movies and TV series. My weekends would have scheduled rides and during weekdays after work, I need to do the things that I supposedly do during my weekends :). I still watch some movies and TV series but it's not as often as it used to be and for a good reason. And this is one of those movies that I would like to watch because I can relate. Episode 1
The episode started with some narrations about how Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman had this idea of riding around Spain.
We are halfway through the month of May and rainy season is just around the corner which means, riding will be less often by then. Although, PAG-ASA predicted an El Niño which starts by the middle of this year and ends for almost a year, there's no stopping the rainy season so, unpredictable rains will come any time of the day, everyday. Besides, El Niño was reported to strengthen by the end of the year. Okay, I am not saying that El Niño is a good thing because it's NOT.
The Planned Ride
So, summer season is almost over, let's try to make the most of it while it's still here. Technically, there is no summer season in Philippines. My initial plan was doing a solo ride somewhere in the northern part of Cebu but my wife wanted to come along (again) with our princess.
Plaza Independencia - Lover's den? More like family den. :)
I have been in Cebu for most of my life but I have never been to Plaza Independencia and Fort San Pedro until now. I passed the place a couple of times already but I haven't really gotten inside of it. Plaza Independencia has a reputation to be a lover's den. Some people view that as a negative connotation. Most of us really view the place as a family plaza. It's a relatively large plaza and well maintained. It's seated beside Fort San Pedro, considered as one of the smallest and oldest fort by Spanish colonizers here in the Philippines.
Her name is Mesha. My daughter named here that. :)
I recently owned an automatic scooter just this January of this year. It's a 110cc (108 technically) scooter with a retro look, Honda Scoopy. I have always wanted to own a motorcycle or a multicab so I (or we) can easily navigate around the city or have some trips to the countryside.
Admittedly, I wasn't a fan of scooters because back then, scooters are loud and slow. I was talking about those 50cc scooters like the Yamaha Chappy in my teen days. This is not meant to belittle those scooters but I just don't like them. So, I started to look at motorcycle forums and see what people's most choices are.
