Bataan Excursion

The whole castaways....Faculty and Staff of Green Fields International School

Our Bataan Excursion....which was supposedly for three days but it was cut short. Anyways, we had lots of fun during the trip.  =)  with ESL teachers - Bianca, Darryll, Allan and Bert....some of the ESL teachers were on vacation so they missed a part of their life (just kidding)...

It was my first time in this place. I had a super, amazing, wonderful, and satisfying experience.  I just wish there was enough time to relax, enjoy the games, explore the place and splurge on food................=)

This was the picture of the resort....taken by my co-teacher.  It was not a special camera like SLR but they were able to capture a fantastic shot.

Well it's not actually a white, fine sand type like Boracay. The sand on the beach was fine and the water was clear.  What I like most about the beach was that underneath it there were no water species/creatures that would suddenly burst out of the water.  There were some small jellyfish but it was not harmful, actually it stings but the pain was tolerable. hahaha.  

At around 2pm or maybe 3pm, we went for a little boat ride to a different island.  Actually the scenery was the same like any boat rides I've been thru, the places we went were not that amazing but what I noticed was the calmness of the place and the island.  It was still preserved and not so discovered at all.  Here's a pic of where we went to...

These are some of my shots when we were on the boat.....

In this picture, my camera was in the normal setting and I just focused the shot near the sun's light.  I was trying to capture both the sun's shadow and the sun itself.

 In this picture, I put the settings in a calm mode and because of that it reflected the bluish color of the sky and the sea. 

It was around 5pm and we just finished our boat ride.  I was currently exploring the settings of my camera.  I don't have SLR guys but as my friend/mentor Rikki (he was a semi-professional photographer-hahahaha) told me that everything is all about the LIGHTS...and of course the LENS...and because of that I've taken his advice of checking the light.  Then I try to adjust the settings to make the trees look brighter and greener and VOILA- I have this pic! nice!  

After the island escapade, as I've mentioned our vacation was cut short but before going back to the real world we passed by some historical sights in Bataan.  First, we went to the Dambana ng Kagitingan dedicated to the martyrs of the war in this place.

 Left (author) Right (Bianca)

In the shot below, I was not the one who took this (again) it was my co-teacher and it was really an amazing shot.

Down below was taken by yours truly.  I was not able to climb the steps all the way to the cross but by the looks of it...uhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmm.....The day that time was extremely hot! I think I really got burned during this time and not when I was on the beach hehehehe.  That is why the place is not an easy task but it's all worth it.  It is really a sacrifice to reach God....the view upstairs was so fantastic.  Plus, you can actually go inside the cross using an elevator.  I'm not good with the length or meters in order to describe how high was it but I should say that it feels like you're in heaven when you reach the top.   You just have to pay an entrance fee of 10 pesos and then you will be able to see the whole range of Bataan-at least for me.  

 

 A view from the top of the cross.

In this part of the trip, we were able to go to the museum, but taking pictures were strictly prohibited.  In the museum were pictures during the World War in the Philippines.  The pictures taken were not as ordinary as what we always see in the museum because some pictures were explicit like Japanese soldiers abusing women, children whose bodies lay dead on the street and many more. 

Before we go home, I saw that the flooring of the whole place was unusual.  It was in a form of a cross, so I asked my friends to sit down and pretend like they're saying a prayer or doing a ritual.  Actually my friends were kind of participative and cooperative when I take their pictures.  I had many pictures of them than myself and that was the reason why they didn't bring their cameras with them because they know that they will be the official photographer of the trip.  For me, it was fine because my goal was to take pictures and souvenirs of the other unexplored places in Philippines.  This was my second trip since I came here last September 2010.  So, I'm enjoying every part of  my tour/ exploration.  See you on the road pare ko.  =)