Do you believe in love at first sight? Well I do ♥ While browsing the internet for places to go in Iloilo, I stumbled upon numerous websites featuring the Islands of Concepcion and just like that, I instantly fell in love with the place and I knew this is where I wanted to celebrate our second year anniversary.
We went to Iloilo last March 4,2012. Upon arriving at the airport, we rented a van that would take us to Tagbak Terminal in Jaro District which took 40 minutes and from there we rode HPQ bus to Concepcion which took almost 3 hours.
I was glad that both my boyfriend and I are sleepy heads so we were able to catch a snooze during the bus ride but I still didn’t expect for the travel time to be that LONG! We arrived at Concepcion at around 10 AM and we went straight to Hotel Junbee which is only a 5 minute tricycle drive. The room we were assigned is a bit shabby but who am I to complain? Our room rate was only Php 850.00/night and just to be fair, it is the only DOT accredited place in the whole island and there is an outdoor pool which is a plus for me. We just took a rest for 2 hours and after that we went straight to the bayan to meet our boats men.
The boat we rented for our island hopping is quite big for 2 lovebirds and 3 boatsmen but that was the only one available that time. It was also quite expensive because it is rented per boat and it cost us Php 2,000 for the whole trip (Php 1,500 – 1 island plus P500 for each island).
We first went to Agho island which is almost an hour from the mainland. As soon as we reached the place it already felt like paradise. The island is uninhibited apart from the care takers, the whole beach was covered with pure white sand and the shoreline is ankle to knee deep for at least 10 meters. But what’s extraordinary about Agho is its magnificent view of Mt. Manaphag located at Pan de Azucar Island. The mountain is the highest peak all throughout Concepcion and it appears as though half of its height is submerged in the water. The entrance fee is only Php35.00/pax and we spent almost an hour there. It was almost perfect except for the fact that it was cloudy that day and I was expecting the sun high above us and the blue skies to provide a picturesque view of the surrounding but nevertheless it was still worth.
overlooking pan de azucar
We then went to Pan de Azucar which is the largest and one of the most populous island in Concepcion. Unlike in Agho, you won’t be able to swim because of all fishing boats parked in the shoreline. A nice local welcomed us and became our tour guide all throughout and he even challenged us to climb Hampangan Rock that has greatest view of all the islands as well as Mt. Manaphag (which is the tallest peak in Concepcion) The climb itself is a bit challenge to us because of the steep height and also because both my boyfriend and I are quite hungry already but our weariness vanished as soon as we were on the top because the spectacular and breathtaking view.
It was already 4 PM and as soon as we got back in the resort, we ordered our lunch/dinner and gobbled our food in a matter of minutes. We planned to swim in the pool but because we were both dead tired, we were already fast asleep before 8 PM. So much for tagging ourselves as an adventurous couple…
learn more about Iloilo through this website. It helped me a lot during the planning of the entire trip 🙂
http://www.exploreiloilo.com/
little miss travel bug 