THE PLEASING City of Ormoc has been marked by most
people as City by the bay. It is the largest city by land area
in the island of Leyte. The city has a stunning Ormoc bay
that overlooks the beautiful Magsanga mountain peak.
Before the destructive attack of the typhoon Yolanda
in 2013, the city faced a devastating typhoon on the 5th
of November 1991 that submerged some parts of the city.
After the two highly destructive natural disaster
ruined the beautiful City of Ormoc, it gently got back on
it feet.
The people slowly returned to a normal state of living
and slowly regained one’s strength.Nowadays, Ormoc
City’s tourist attractions are progressively getting the attention of many travelers from different places of the world.
And one of its main attraction is the Lake Danao Natural
Park. A guitar-shaped lake nestled in upper barangays
(villages) of Ormoc City. It is simply the largest fresh water
reservation in Western Leyte.
Well, let me share with you about my invasion in the
beautiful attractions of Ormoc City. This is actually one of
the unforgettable travels I had so far, because visiting the
city of Ormoc is not really on my list.Over the weekend,
my plan was to come over again to Camotes island since
I was not able to see all of their natural attractions during
my 1st visit way back last year.
It was a sunny Saturday at around 12:30 in the afternoon, I arrived at the Ocean jet ticketing office in the port
of Cebu to get a trip ticket for Cebu-Camotes. It happened
that the next trip schedule is 3:00 PM and I can’t afford to
wait for 2 hours and 30 minutes before the next scheduled
trip. I became impatient because I just came from working
overtime and was feeling exhausted. And that made my
mind a sudden change for that weekend trip.
I quickly approached the teller and asked if there are
any available sooner schedule to any Visayas destinations.
The teller promptly replied, “Yes Sir! Naay para CebuOrmoc 1:30 PM”. (“Yes Sir! there is a schedule for CebuOrmoc at 1:30 PM” ). After hearing it, I was not hesitant
about buying the ticket.
Since this is an unplanned trip, I immediately pulled
up my Agoda online account and searched for cheap hotels
that I can possibly stay in Ormoc City. I even posted on
Facebook and asked assistance from some of my friends
who knows about the City. Luckily, I have one virtual friend who’s originally from Ormoc and he just arrived that
time from Cebu. What’s even good about this unplanned
trip was that he voluntarily accompanied me in my quick
jaunts to the Lake and the newly discovered natural wonder of Ormoc which is the Sayahan Falls. (Nhagz piece about
Sayahan Falls was re-printed in this paper last week, however,
a correction as to the distance have to be made. He originally
printed 72 kilometers away from the City, but actually, it is just
around 30 kilometers, more or less. Gaas is around 25 kilometers
away and the falls is estimated to be 3 - 5 kilometers hike from
the village.)
After the 3 hours of traveling, I finally sat my adventurous spirit in the City of Ormoc and got ready to get
lost. And briskly started a dealing for a motorbike to take
me to Rizal Street where the pension house that I booked
is situated. Well, enough of my personal thoughts about
what I did during my first day in Ormoc. Lol! Because I
just stayed inside the room and decided to hit the hay early
After gaining consciousness on the next morning
that is full of excitement. I got a chance to take a simple
breakfast in the number one snack house in Ormoc, the
Mayong’s Bakeshop. I tasted their bestseller cheeseburger
that only cost me 40 PHP.
At exactly 7:00 AM, my friend and his Dad finally
arrived riding on a motorbike. While driving up going
to the mountainous part of the province, I was pleasantly
surprised its rich green sceneries and the cool temperature.
My friend told me that it is because the mountain going
through Tongonan village is the second highest peak in
Western Leyte. Also, the location of the lake is highly elevated and about 650 meters above sea level.
After 30 minutes of driving, a big sign along says
“Welcome to Lake Danao Natural Park”. I quickly jumped
from the motorbike and immediately moved nearer to the
entrance and paid for the amount of 25.00 PHP.
When I finally saw the spectacular Lake, it was really
astounding because it is really huge. Aside from that, the
lake offers the very best of nature plus some exciting activities to enjoy such as kayaking, boating and floating cottage.
I was able to take a pleasant ride on their floating cottage
that gave me an opportunity to experience and explore
more ways into the heart of the lake. While spending my
time enjoying the ride on the lake, we had lunch as well
as we requested someone to cook for us some tab sisig ir
“bland clams” from the lake.
There were a lot more activities to try in the lake but I
had enough with their floating cottage ride. In this place,
you can also enjoy a full body massage offered by some
local therapist there. It only costs 250 PHP for an hour
whole body massage.
Before proceeding to our next destination which is the
newly discovered waterfalls in Brgy. Ga-as which is the
Sayahan Falls.
I tried to have some chit-chat with the 2
kids who lives there who’s name is Clark and Brian. They
told me a lot of interesting stories about the lake. Many
divers attempted to dive to get the measurement if how
deep is the lake. Unfortunately, no one was able to get
the measurement successfully. But there is one story that
makes my eye teary. I was told that the lake looks extremely
attractive before the typhoon Yolanda. I can really see how
tough it was for them. And it is truly inspiring that they
are able to overcome and how the tragedy made them
better.
This story makes me more proud being a Filipino
because despite of the challenges we can still smile and
remain optimistic.
While we are on our way to our next destination, I
discreetly smiled and realized that visiting the Lake Danao
is one of the best travels I had and this is something I have
always to share about with my friends.
I am so thankful that I was able to step my foot in
such beautiful place. I am so grateful to spoke with the
locals because it encourages me more to inspire people
through traveling by sharing the experiences I had and
the learning that I received from the people we encounter
and interact with.
