Wanderworld

Happy 2018! So… it took me yet another year to finally finish this Batanes series. 😀 Just like my last excuse, life happened (yes, I’m officially a wife now), so this blog was abandoned. But now I’m bored so let me try to put back some life to this blog, haha.

Biking around Batanes and the airport

I mentioned in my last blog post that we got to explore Basco airport after our half-day Sabtang Island tour. Since we had a lot of free time in the afternoon, we decided to go to the airport. Why?

Because Basco airport serves as sort of a park in the afternoon. It only caters morning flights due to the town’s tricky weather. Interestingly though, once there are no more departing and arriving flights, the airport stays open for everyone during the afternoon (which is actually kinda risky, if you think about it).

Anyway, the airport is where locals and tourists hang out to jog, walk their kids and pets, bike, and watch sunsets. The first time we went there to “explore,” we simply walked around, took pics, and waited for the sunset, which you get to enjoy in full view.

On our last day, we tried exploring Batanes on two wheels–biking around the town, its neighborhood and town center, and the airport, and boy, was it a challenge.

Biking around Batanes in itself is tiring because of the uphill routes, but biking at Basco airport’s runway was more physically challenging. Riding toward the mountain view was very difficult because the path is uphill and the pavement’s texture is different. Obviously it’s not meant for bike wheels but airplane wheels, haha. If you love a physical challenge though, you’ll probably find it exhilarating.

North Batan Tour

Since we pretty much explored the major tourist attractions during our first day in Batanes, we just decided to hire a tricycle to take us to the other tourist spots we weren’t able to visit.

Since we don’t have a contact person, we asked the help of our homestay’s owner, Mr. Atunay, who was very helpful during our stay. He hooked us up with a tricycle driver who took us to the remaining sites we wanted to visit: Naidi Hills + Basco lighthouse, Vayang Rolling Hills, and Fundacion Pacita. We just agreed on a fixed price regardless of how long we do the tour or stay in one place. Sorry, but I already forgot how much we paid for the tour.

Anyway, here are pics of the places we visited:

Naidi Hills + Basco Lighthouse

Vayang Rolling Hills

Fundacion Pacita

Don’t miss the restaurant here, Cafe Tukon, which offers awesome views and delicious food.

Notes:

• If you wish to bike around Batanes, there are some shops in the town where you can rent bikes. Pick mountain bikes instead of Japanese bikes so you won’t have a difficult time riding around town.
• For cheap Batanes accommodation, check out Atunay Homestay. The house has two fan rooms, 1 bathroom, living room, kitchen, dining room, TV, and huge balcony. When we stayed there, no one was occupying the other room, so we had the whole house to ourselves. We were also served a delicious breakfast on our first day. Plus the owner/host is awesome. 🙂

Travel date: March 2016