7 Falls Zipline - Philippines

Link to zipline video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvPptZBz1aA

First time I saw this zipline video on a Youtube video and ever since I wanted to do this. And my main purpose of visiting Philippines was the Zipline. If you’re planning this trip, this is how I planned it. 

You’ll have to get a flight to General Santos airport. Air fare is not that costly. Internally I took 4 flights in Philippines with Cebu pacific airline. Nothing to complain with the service.

Once you arrive at GenSan airport there will be people holding boards for taxi. You can go to one of them and ask to drop you at General Santos City bus terminal. The people who are holding boards have 100 pesos as the fare, but the driver took 300 pesos from me. He said it’s a fixed price, and to be fair it’s like a 20km, 30 minutes, ride.

At General Santos city bus terminal(Or GenSan City bus terminal or Bulaong terminal) take the bus(Yellow bus) to Koronadal( Or Marbel). It’s displayed in the bus windscreen and it shows how many stops (1 stop, 2 stops) as well. Take the direct bus to Marbel. Bus fare is 85 pesos. It took like 1 hour to Marbel bus terminal.

From there you have 2 options.

Option 1

Take another bus(Yellow bus) to Surrallah Integrated bus terminal, and then take a van or Jeepany to Surrallah bus terminal(Or Lake Sebu). Bus fare is around 30 pesos. Surrallah Integrated bus terminal to Surrallah bus terminal(Lake Sebu) Habaal-habaal ride will be like 100 pesos.

Option 2

Once you get off at Marbel terminal, take a van straightly goes to Lake Sebu. Do don’t have to bother finding a van, there are people shouting at you saying different destinations’ names and you just need to pick the one who’s shouting “Lake Sebu sirrr, Lake Sebu maam”.

I took the Option 2, as it was one less headache to bother. Van fare is 80 pesos. On your way you’ll pass Surrallah Integrated bus terminal. Then you’ll arrive at Surrallah bus terminal(Lake Sebu).

Here something interesting happens. It’s good for the tourists. At the Lake sebu bus terminal, they collect your information and they give you a motor bike driver and whole throughout the tour he’ll be with you. The drivers know each and everywhere and tours are listed and priced. For the 7 falls it’s like 40 pesos, half day 300 pesos and likewise. Those are very fair prices. Other thing is, if something bad happens they would know how to trace you, as they know with whom you went with. Get the mobile number of the driver and whole your tour can be done with him. Once they get your details and they will give you the driver, and he’ll take you to your hotel.

Why motor bike rider?

Roads in Lake Sebu are terrible as it can be. Not even bikes can make it sometimes, a tractor would be the ideal. The motor bike drivers know every place there. I stayed in Sun rise garden lake resort, just it is the closest to the zip line and I thought I would make it alone. But I’d recommend Lake Sebu Mountain Log Resort. They do email replying as well.

Simple fact I recommend Mountain Log Resort is, From my GenSan airport to Lake Sebu ride wasn’t pleasing as much as I thought. I was travelling solo, felt so isolated once I got there. All I wanted was getting off from that place as soon as I could once I’m done with Zip line. So I asked a cab from Sun rise garden lake resort people and they told me fare is 3500 pesos. Considering the mental stage I was in, I’d have agreed to 5000 even. But the thing is, before my tour, during the days I booked my accommodation; I sent few emails to several other places as well. Mountain Log Resort is such place and they offered airport pickup for 2500 pesos. So the normal price should be like that. Another thing to suspect the fare was, we normally pay the driver after the tour. But next day morning when I went to the reception, they asked me to pay it at the reception itself. I felt they cheated. So that’s why I don’t recommending them.

So, zip line.

On weekdays Zip line fare is 250 pesos and weekends and holidays its 300 pesos.

There are 2 zip lines, 740m and 420m, for a one ticket you can ride both the zip lines. And there are photo booths as well. For 200 pesos you can get a softcopy of your both the zip lines’ rides. There are 2 more photo packages as well.

Once you get to the other side of the zip line, there’s another zip line to come back again. But bit lower to where you’ve originally started. By the time you reach there, your motor bike driver will be there to pick you. He’ll pick you from there and take you to your hotel or maybe other places you want to visit in lake Sebu.

I’m not sure I’d recommend this for a Solo traveler, but I had no harm there, and definitely worth the amount I paid for the zip line considering the adrenaline rush goes through your veins.

I arrived at the Zip line starting point like 11 am, and I saw the reception has “CLOSED” board. I was so daunted. But the motor bike driver asked me to wait and brought the news they are having lunch and once they finish they’ll open the counter. I was little surprised to hear 11am lunch but it was just my 2^nd day in Philippines so I thought these people must be having early lunch. Later 3,4 days I figured the reason. There was a small boutique there, and an old TV. Rather than having the lunch, most of them were around the TV watching a boxing match, even my motor bike driver. That day I thought as they don’t have anything to do till others finish their lunch so they watch it, but after 3,4 days in Philippines I figured what a fad they have for Mani Pacciquo. They worship him. That was a Mani Pacco’s match and all were watching it. To worsen the things, Mani Pacciqo’s born city is GenSan. Then same-city-fit as well. So I had to stay till 1.30pm till Mani Pacciqo finishes his match. Anyway, I’m glad that ever after such long awaiting, I got to do the zip line ride. Though it says 7 falls zip line, you can clearly see 2 waterfalls only. But there are 7 waterfalls. Ever since I mentioned to a Filippino that I went GenSan, the reply comes as “ aaah Mani city, you went Mani Pacciqo’s city”

Tweet

How to visit Banaue - Philippines

There are 2 bus services that can take you to Banaue. Which is cheap, or else you can hire a private vehicle. Bus journey is like 10 hours. All the buses leave at night. 2 bus services go to Banaue. Florida and Ohayami. Florida is a the super luxury one which a toilet inside the bus. Ohayami is luxury but you don’t find a toilet there. You’ll get 2 breaks during the journey. As it’s night, you can have a good sleep. 

I booked these buses through www.pinoytravel.com.ph Absolutely a fantastic customer care which I’ve never experienced in my life so far. My email thread with them led like 20-25 email thread but they were really helpful with finding me the every bit of detail I wanted. So I highly recommend them. Bus fare for each bus service doesn’t exceed 600 pesos including Pinoy Travels commission. Compare to their email supporting service, that small commission of 50-60 pesos is worth paying.

 I’ll direct you from Manila airport. You’ll have to get to Florida or Ohayami bus terminals. Both situated closer to each other.

Getting to Florida bus terminal from Airport was bit messy for me. I was coming from Palawan. Airport to Bus terminals are like 15 km away. 

But Pinoy Travels guys have advised me due to Manila traffic it could be a 1 hour ride. As well as taxi fee is like 200 pesos. I realized the value of their advices as once I landed in airport, I came out and was looking for a taxi, One guy came to me and asked for 2500 pesos for taxi fee. In Philippines white taxi cars have meters and yellow taxi cars don’t have meters. Never get into a yellow taxi without confirming the fee. Issue with white cars is, if you don’t know the surrounding well, drivers will take rounds till their fee get more. Best solution is Uber. As prices are fixed. That Uber tip was also given to me by Pinoy travel guys. Those tiny little information matters a lot. Bus departure times from Manila are, 10.45pm(Florida), 10pm(Ohayami). And Bus fares are 530 pesos(Florida) and 450 pesos (Ohayami). Only Ohayami buses operates Banaue to Manila. Departure time is 7pm and bus fare is 450 pesos.

I took the overnight Florida 10.45pm bus to Banaue. I reached Banaue around 7.30am. Joel was there to pick me. It is a free picking and dropping. The main reason why I selected them, One less trouble of getting fooled by Taxi. But when I reached there, It was a place where you cannot find lot of luxurious stuff. Climate is fine. Bit cold. Unpredictable rains, landslides as well. One thing to note about bus journey is, as per the reviews I've read before going, Bring your warm clothes as bus drivers used to put the maximum A/C on. But for my case, I didn't notice it much. Maybe I was sleeping or Maybe bus drivers have learnt their lessons after many complaints. 

As I figured there're 3 key personnel in this place. Denvil, Joel and Ronie. All are very friendly, very helpful and you can trust your life getting isolated with them. First day I did the Banaue view point trail with Denvil. He took me safely. I was travelling solo but he took the every measure to keep me safe. Next day I did the batad trail with Ronie, which is absolutely fantastic. Joel took us to the starting point by his van. It was supposed to be a habal-habal ride. But previous evening I showed Joel 2 nasty cuts in my legs during a random chat. So Batad trail morning he told he'd take us there from van. They are such nice people. If you want to see original rice terraces, You should visit Batad. 

It is one of the 5 UNESCO world heritage sites there, Banaue rice terraces are not a UNESCO world heritage site due to some modifications made later. If you want to see original rice terraces, You should visit Batad. It is one of the 5 UNESCO world heritage sites there, Banaue rice terraces are not a UNESCO world heritage site due to some modifications made later. 

I've attached in the photos about the trail and the prices. 

For a solo traveler I thought Banaue is bit expensive, But for a group it may not as costs are divided. Let's say you want to do the Batad trail, Guide fee is 1300 pesos and Habal habal fee is 1000 pesos. Habal habal will wait till you come from trekking. It's like a 4-5 hour trek. 

I stayed at Bogah Home stay. Rice Home stay is situated in the same place. Only divided by 2 boards. The place has food you want, Coffee, tea and other soft drinks. Rooms are comfortable. 

Hot baths available. WiFi is considerably fine. I spent 2 days(1 night) here. Ronie escorted me to the Ohayami bus terminal. That was also free. 

No ATMs in Banaue. But there's a joint you can do foreign exchange. 

I was traveling solo. But Denwil, Joel and Ronie took a good care of me. I’d suggest these guys to anyone who wish to visit Banaue, You can trust your life with these 3. 

I couldn’t do a separate video on Batad but Ronie took me to see a waterfall as well. 

Also Joel drove to show me several other rice terraces as well, which were not included in my tour I booked with them. Couldn’t visit the last one due to a heavy landslide. I’d highly recommend these 3 people and Bogah Homestay if you’re planning to visit Banaue. 

In case you interest, I’ll leave the Facebook accounts of them so you can contact them before you plan your tour. 

Denwil https://www.facebook.com/denzky.batangog?fref=ts 

Joel https://www.facebook.com/joel.ognayon?fref=ts 

Ronie https://www.facebook.com/ronieking?fref=ts 

Tweet

Whale Shark Watching - Oslab Cebu Philippines

I came to Cebu-Mactan airport. Then I took a taxi to South Bus terminal(Taxi fee is 300 pesos, but I gave 350) Don't mess up the bus terminals, as there's North Bus terminal as well. 

At Southern bus terminal you should take Yellow bus goes to Tan awan via Oslob. Every 20 min a bus leaves. I asked the bus driver and bus conductor to drop me at the whale shark briefing center, as my stay was very closer to that. Bus fare is 165 pesos.

Reviews I read said Bus terminal to Oslob was 3 1/2 hours journey but it took 4 1/2 hours. So it was the most mentally torturous night I spent in Philippines, as very next day I had a flight to catch at 2.20pm after watching whale sharks. So I gathered as much as details from Stop 'n shop people, the place I stayed and they instructed me well. So I went to the briefing center around 5.30am, 3 min walk from Stop 'n shop, got myself registered, Sharp at 6am they started briefing and by 6.10am I was on a boat to see whale sharks. Snorkeling with whale sharks fee is 1000 pesos and you get 30 mins, Diving with whale sharks is 3000 pesos and you get 1 hour. But I felt more fun is with snorkeling.

It was a quite short stay. But I heard there are waterfalls that you can visit in Cebu, I wish I could too but my sole intention was seeing whale sharks in close proximity. It was an amazing experience. Very cheap as well. It doesn't cost you much. Good for solo travelers too, very very exciting adrenaline rush for very small amount. Absolutely worth the experience.

BTW by 7am I came to my hotel and took 7.30am Yellow bus back to Cebu. Every 20 mins you get a bus. And I managed to come to the airport 2 hours before the flight.

Stop 'n shop tourist Inn

The best place I stayed in Philippines. It was like 6.30pm I arrived there. Went there only to watch whale sharks. 3 min walk to the whale shark briefing centre. Clean rooms, Clean toilets, hot water bath, clean linen and even they've kept you a kettle and Milo. Life saviors. 2 girls who talked with me were very kind and much helpful with the details I wanted to know. Without a doubt I'd suggest this place to anyone. Perfect budget joint.

[P.S. They didn't pay me for this. Just sharing my honest idea]

Tweet

Solo Traveling Tips

Tip 01 – Have your own notes

Write down everything that you want to know about where you're going. Your flight details, taxi fares, routes, even mine had weather predictions.

  

This is my note to Zipline. First flight time. Then I had a taxi to take to bus terminal. Taxi fare is there (Philippines taxi drivers are complete another story). Then I had 2 busses to take. Bus fares, estimated travel times, additional advises also there. That information I found reading TripAdvisor and Google Reviews. Then hotel phone numbers, booking references and everything.

I knew I'll be landing in completely alien places. To be familiarized, I took printouts of Google maps and places. You might not have internet where you go, your battery may be dead, but still you can use this.

People who have been with me on trips (The ones I get to organize in SL) know how I organize stuff. Finding places to making routes. Simply I don't want anything to miss after going 200, 300km. Googling is the best way to find information.

Tip 02 – Update someone

Have someone updated about your journey. Easily you can use WhatsApp or Viber.

The ones you pick to update should have a decent history of replying WhatsApp messages at least. In my case these 2 and my parents knew where I was, where I'd be going, estimated time to destinations, and time to start panic. Once I made to my destination points, I updated them. Just small WhatsApp messages. Also they all had hard copies of my schedule of stay, Hotel phone numbers and detailed itinerary.

  

I'd trust my life with these 2 any given day. And of course these 2 knew more than my parents. The crazy stuff I'd be doing and all. My mother still doesn't know about the zipline (Even still, January mid). And not a word about Whale Sharks. She's sensitive as a sensitive mother can be. See how she's panicked for me for standing on 2 feet water, but she doesn't know that I swam with whales :P

In Philippines, Police shot at sight if they suspect you as a drug Lord. (Hope you're aware of their new President, if not refer some western media. But Filipinos love him. He's doing a good job; just the issue is his mouth). Civil casualty, as their President himself said, it's civilians responsibility to take care of themselves. Kill a drug lord, no bound for civil deaths, but reward is 50000 pesos (close to $1100). And human trafficking and kidnapping rates are very high. (Even my 2 friends will learn this part now. I knew but didn't want them to give extra headaches). And be very careful with Philippine taxi drivers. Those are concerns for Solo Travelers. That's why updating someone is important

Tip 03 - Secret pockets, Fake wallets.

I got my tailor to make 2 extra secret pockets in my shorts. He charged me only Rs 100 (like $0.75) for each pocket. I clearly told him this is what I'm going to do, this is how I want them and sizes. In that pocket I used to keep my very valuables like passport, and greater extent of money.

I used 2 wallets, one real, and one fake. The real one is more than a wallet as it was a present from my Granny. When I was in grade 8 (2002). Since then I kept it and under no circumstance I'd let myself to lose it. Fake wallet also had 2 expired debit cards and lesser amount of money, which I used to pay taxi fees, bus fees and for goods I bought at shops. If I ever encountered a robbing sort of a situation (Note 'IF' ), I'd throw away the fake wallet and run. The time robbers busy with fake wallet would've been enough for me to get my head out of danger, that’s what I thought, if I ever got into trouble. But nothing like that happened. Philippines is absolute safe to travel. But you never know. Better be prepared. These are very easy things to keep your stuff securely. Even for the local trips, I hope this would help. These photos I took in Oslob, the night before I went to see Whale sharks.

Tip 04 - Medical kit.

I had medicine for stomachache, toothache, Panadine, Detol, Plasters, ASAMODAGUM, bandages, Siddalepa, Wintegeno, and few tablets for any kind of pain. Also that liquid to clean eyes in case a refuse stuck in my eyes. I'm a bit regular customer in Nugegoda Cargills, as you know they've a pharmacy. I know those guys and I told them what I want, they got my medicine important-as-they-thought prepared (Since I know them, I didn't have to give a prescription. And last year I went South Korea, back then also they got me prepared the medical kit). I spent like Rs 400 or 500 for that. Nothing much, very simple. Used it when my legs got wounded in El Nido while snorkeling. Wintegeno I used for legs after trekking rice terraces. You never know what to expect, so be ready

Tip 05 - GLUCOSE! GLUCOSE!

Traveling burns your calories one heck of a lot. Taking 2 packets of glucose was accidental but one of the wisest decisions I've made. Recently I was calculating my travel km within Philippines. It was 4543 km. Just to give you an idea, Colombo Manila distance is 4562km. I traveled 1896 km on the road and 2647 km on air. 9 days, 6 air routes, 8 planes, 8 take offs. Trust me when I had my last flight to SL from Kuala Lumpur, as soon as I got on to the plane, I fell asleep. I felt the plane was moving, so I thought it was on a runaway. Then suddenly I woke up, by then also I thought it was still on the runaway. Once i checked my watch only I knew it's been good 45 mins since we've started flying. Traveling is exhausting, you get lack of sleep, and you need energy. Except for the transportation I drained lot of energy doing trekking, swimming, of course thinking as well. So, GLUCOSE is your nectar. You don't necessarily need to have it, just add it to your water bottle. Whenever you feel fatigue, have 2,3 sips. One of my biggest challenges was to stay without getting fainted. If I fainted at any point, things would have happened in ways which I don't even want to imagine. So, have glucose with you.

This is very vital.

Tip 06 - Personal Kit

Other thing is personal kit. I had wet wipes, ( In case you fear of nature calls and water . So, substitutes. පිලිපීන් කාරයො නම් හොඳට පස්ස හෝදන ජාතියක්, so whole lot of wet wipes I took there, I brought them back  ). 5 Maliban Gold Marie, Sugar packets and tea bags. I'm a Maliban Gold Marie fanatic (Not Tikiri Marie) so I took them just in case. And it was very useful. Couple of nights and 2 bus rides, I missed something to eat but biscuits kept me away from feeling hungry. Plus glucose water. Sugar I couldn't find small packets but those days we had our annual office functions, so I took few sugar packets Mount Lavinia people(the ones in BMICH) kept when they served Morning and evening tea . So, that's how I solved sugar issue. Big packets, 1st time open, big headache. Small packets, one time use, end of story. Unless for these I would have been in a serious trouble. Gastritis, headaches and all. So, have some separate food for yourself. I didn't do this but I'd recommend, take few Milo packets with you. The place I stayed in Oslob, Stop 'N shop Inn people seriously need to be praised for this, they've kept Milo packets and a kettle inside the room. Didn't find it anywhere I went. Life saviors. I took these pics there.

Tip 07 - Mental Preparation

You've money, you've a destination to get lost, and now you can do solo traveling?

Na na you can't do it like that. At least I don't recommend it. Solo traveling needs some guts, I'm not boasting but to do the amount of things I did in Philippines alone need some serious balls. Just telling you before your pseudo-confidence put you in danger. During solo traveling it's you, yourself and ONLY yourself. That's a weird mental feeling. You'll realize this in the very moment you get isolated. So, before traveling abroad, do a solo travel within your own country first. 

As for Sri Lankans Arugambay would be ideal as it's rural, tough conditions, but a tourist area, though there are Sinhala speaking people, majority muslims speak Tamil. Some tuk tuk guys don't even understand Sinhala. [But they do know 50 in English(Taxi fee)]. So, get yourself lost among your own people first. Feel the solo traveling feeling, in case you can't bear it, you still can give up and come to your home easily.

At least go Kandy and spend 2,3 days traveling each place alone. So you'd know the level of mental pressure you'd be absorbing( I did all those crazy stuff forgetting my travel insurance at office ). Preparation is the key, I did solo traveling here, took 2 diving lessons before I went. (බයවෙන්නෙපා, මහ ගානක් නෑ රුපියල් 500යි. scuba diving is costly), read truck load of reviews, watched zillion amount of YouTube videos. By the time I went to zipline, I even knew the best camera angle. I do take risks for adrenaline, but calculated risks. Simply 'Risk nothing, has nothing'.

So, mental preparation is the final tip. There were downs. But, whenever I was passing that tough patch, I thought "by the time I hit my 60, will I regret not doing this when I was 27?". 

You only have one life to live.

Tweet