BICOLANDIA GETAWAY: Touchdown in Legazpi, Albay

I know I am not even halfway through my India Series and here I am now, starting a new one.

Pasensya naman.

It's just that I had a grand time in Bicol last week together with my whole staff at work that I can't help but share it to you ASAP.

So  pagbigyan na, okay?  

I promise that reading this series will get you all excited about this destination.

Image borrowed from Matnog, Sorsogon Facebook Account

We were a big group of more than 40 members that left Manila on  a cloudy Sunday morning.

Kebs na the gloomy weather, we brought our own sunshine naman, hihi!

Kinabog namin ang NAIA Terminal 3 sa dami at ingay namin.  Even inside the
plane, we were all over.  Ang saya saya lang!

As expected, the plane ride was with turbulence.  We were, afterall having EMONG in our country's area of responsibility.

Pero we all believe that there is nothing that a fervent prayer could not do.  

The Big Boss (and the small boss? hehe) was present.
It definitely made the day more special.

We were touching down in Albay faster than we could unbuckle our seatbelts.

Yahooo, welcome to Bicol! 

With no less than Mayon Volcano to welcome us gleefully!

At the airport, we were met by a smiling Kuya Lando, whom I have met when we came to Bicol  more than a year ago.

At may ganyan ganyan pang nalalaman. O ha!

He then brought us to what would be our house for the night - Mayon Backpackers Hotel.

I like it here - no frills, homey and cheap!

We then prepared lunch for the whole group after a quick trip to the market.

Parang nasa Canteen lang eh. :)

And, when everybody has eaten, we all geared up for what would be the MOST EXCITING part of our getaway - An All Terrain Vehicle ride to the foot of Mayon and back.  Yipee!

It was the ride that the rich and the famous took when they went to Bicol kaya feeling "sosyal" kami talaga.

Ninong Manny tried it! :)

And more recently,

Pareng Zac was there too!
Thanks Teachers Neri and Beng for making a cameo here. 

So we wasted no time, we each took an ATV and away we went for a real EXTREME adventure!

Syempre, picture picture muna ulit bago mapasabak sa matinding adventure.

It was so so so fun.  It was actually my second time already but still, I enjoyed it immensely.

At one point during the trail, I whispered to J that my dream is to do the trail ALONE without any guide at all so that I could drive at my own desired speed and perform stunts I know I could do without anyone telling me to stop. Haha!

J led the whole group.  

We were more than 30 in all.

Just imagine the fun and thrill when you are in the company of friends!

At first, it was just plain driving.

Then we started going through slopes.

What made it even more challenging is that we were going through natural terrain.  

Definitely NOT MAN MADE!

Many times during the trail, we had to hurdle many rivers to get through the other side.

We had to stop midway just to capture the moment and feel everything in.

We were very close to the majestic volcano.  

Perhaps, the closest that you could get to it.

Ready for the second leg.
LET'S DO THIS!

We can't help but pose for a picture when we realized that we are really very
near the volcano na.  What a surreal feeling indeed!

    Just had to take this picture.
    Because of the Volcano ha.  Not because of Kuya Guide who kept on egging me
    not to go before him.
    Kating kati na kaya ako humarurot. Hmp.

Towards the end of the trail, super difficult na talaga to drive through it.

Wala na halos na trail.

I must admit I got a little scared here. 

After a few more minute of wild ride, we reached the foot of Mayon and had to walk a few meters.

Mahaba-habang lakaran din huh.  Kering keri naman ng mga Co-Teachers ko.
Asus, pampicture lang yan.  Kakafagud kaya.

And then, we had to climb a steep mountain of boulders to get to  a better view of the Volcano.
It was actually a helipad said to be owned by the owners of Misibis Bay.

Tapos noon, all hell broke loose.
Kanya kanya ng picturan! Haha.

According to age ba ang posing nito? Bwahahaha

We were so tired when we got back to our starting point.

But we were all happy despite the muscle aches we were experiencing all over our bodies.

Before going back to the backpackers hostel, sumegue pa kami muna sa Embarcadero to feel for ourselves the nightlife in Legazpi.

As expected, we were dog tired when we reached our hotel.

Good thing the other Teachers who chickened out n joining the ATV experience the last minute offered to do the marketing and cook our dinner. Hooray!

We capped the night with a mini Program sponsored by the new employees as part of their "initiation rites".

Star studded ang gabing ito!

What an eventful day.

May susunod pa ang kabanatang ito ha.  

Wait lang kasi my two and a half year old kulit wants my undivided attention.

Magpapakananay muna akech!