Backpacking Philippines: Suroy-suroy Leyte: Tacloban City DIY Tour

Suroy-suroy Leyte: Tacloban City DIY Tour

Still sleepy after spending the night in Ormoc, Tutubi woke up at 5:30am, took a quick shower and breakfast and flagged a tricycle that took him to the Duptours terminal to catch the shuttle to Tacloban...

He needed to be at RTR Plaza in Tacloban by 9am to join the Icot-icot tour, but sadly, with usual planned trips, it didn't materialize. Duptours van arrived late and it was raining heavily in Tacloban thus canceled Tutubi's hope for the guided tour of Tacloban City.

But just the same, even with the rain, there's still plan B and a plan C...with a service car courtesy of a friend, plan B did materialize. He went around Tacloban City in the middle of a pouring rain with brief lull or a slight drizzle in between managed to take pictures inside the car:

Leyte Provincial Capitol, a historical neo-classical building where General MacArthur and President Osmeña announced that Tacloban was the temporary seat of the Commonwealth government.

CAP building, formerly called Price Mansion, on Justice Romualdez Street: the official residence and headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur during the liberation of the Philippines in 1944. Now owned by College Assurance Plan (CAP)

The Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum, where you can see on display the different priceless art objects said to be gifts to the former first lady Imelda Marcos during her trips abroad.

Several government buildings line Magsaysay Boulevard e.g. Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center, Bulwagan ng Katarungan and University of the Philippines in the Visayas, Tacloban campus. There's also the Family Park; statue of the Image of the Crucified Christ; statue of Maria Kannon, the Madonna of Japan that symbolizes peace at the foot of Kanhuraw Hill; the Philippine-Japan Peace Park and the Balyu-an Tower.

Sto. Niño Church on On Real Street is the the main Catholic Church in the city (there's also the Redemptorist Church nearby). Beside it is the People’s Center and Library and the Sto. Niño Shrine and Heritage Museum.

Redoña Residence on Sen. Enage Street corner T. Claudio Street, is a two-story wooden heritage house with capiz windows.

Maria Kanon Madonna of Peace Shrine, foot of Kanhuraw Hill, (madonna of japan) made from single slab of rare miyagi stone

Buddhist Temple in Anibong District, Tacloban City at the foot of a hill. A beautiful 2-storey pagoda where monks and Buddhists make their worship, prayers, and offerings.

Did you know where Tutubi went after the Tacloban City Tour eve if it's raining?

wait for the next posts :P

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Tacloban Travel Tip:

If you need a guided tour of Tacloban City that includes in their itinerary the MacArthur Landing Memorial National Park in Palo town (no mention of the Palo Cathedral) and a brief stop over at San Juanico Bridge, you may join the so called Icot-icot tour organized by the Leyte Tourism Office:

City Tour Fee (includes the ride, tour guide and the entrance fees at the Sto. Niño Shrine)
PhP100 for the morning trip
PhP150 for the afternoon trip (inclusive of entrance fee a visit to a bucolic farm resort in Babatngon, Leyte)

Where to catch it:
RTR Plaza in Tacloban City

Trip Schedule:
Daily at 9am and 2pm

They have a minimum number of persons joining for a trip to take place or if less than that, you can pay for six persons i.e. PhP900.00 and you'll have the multicab and driver/guide all for yourself for three hours.

Labels: Churches, Eastern Visayas, Leyte, Museums, Tacloban City, Temples

posted by GingGoy @ 9:18 PM,

16 Comments:

At Nov 25, 2008, 3:07:00 PM, pieterbie said...: Wow, that looks like a great place, good photo material!
At Nov 26, 2008, 10:04:00 AM, Sidney said...: Nice buildings...nice architecture...

Oh... I finally updated your links...
At Nov 26, 2008, 1:06:00 PM, dodong flores 도동 플로오리스 said...: Hi, tutubi. I could reflect I was doing this (your term) "DIY tour" even before. Unfortunately, I was using film SLR back then and most films left undeveloped finally lost...

Thanx for sharing these nice set of photos plus the story. I haven't had visited this part of the country so the write up got me excited. (My mother's originally from the province of Leyte ;) )

Will try to visit again for the next entry. Just don't post too fast so I could catch up. Hehehe... (just kidding - busy lang talaga sa trabaho)
At Nov 27, 2008, 1:32:00 AM, escape said...: now im quite satisfied seeing these photos as again we missed to see this place when we went to ormoc.
At Nov 27, 2008, 11:43:00 PM, Che said...: Hello tutubi!

Wow!my clan are leytenios! you should see my smiling face browsing your pics!:) beautiful shots!

cheh
http://moderately-confused.com
At Nov 28, 2008, 10:20:00 AM, carlotta1924 said...: nice tour! looking forward to your next posts ;p
At Nov 29, 2008, 12:48:00 AM, Anonymous said...: wow!!!nice place, nice picture....meanwhile i added u as a friend in my blogroll...cheers!!!
At Nov 29, 2008, 7:00:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Thanks for the tour. I love the architecture! What a pity with the rain, but that's travel life :-)
At Nov 29, 2008, 5:23:00 PM, x said...: nice place! i love the colonial feel to it! thanks for sharing, tutubi. the archtechture is really cool.
At Dec 2, 2008, 5:19:00 PM, Unknown said...: i've been to tacloban a couple of times, but i've never been to these places. thanks for sharing your experience :)
At Oct 4, 2010, 2:29:00 PM, Rocks said...: Hi there! We're ging to Tacloban on Oct. 7 and your site has been the source of almost all my info from airport to hotels and tours. Thanks so much!

we will try to catch this Icot-icot tour.
At Oct 30, 2010, 6:50:00 AM, promding chamimay said...: hello! :-) we didn't catch the icot icot tour din... but we had our DIY tour too! i think that was more fun... talking to locals, asking them for directions... i enjoyed that part sooo much!

love the food trip we had at tacloban and our own tour... we went to as far as Imelda's place in Tolosa! :-)

http://promdingchamimay.blogspot.com/
At May 8, 2011, 2:34:00 PM, Anonymous said...: FYI, the picture with caption of Redoña Residence is not the one. The picture is the former house of then Leyte Governor Benjamin "Kokoy" Romualdez (brother of Madam Imelda Rumualdez-Marcos and the father of current Leyte 1st Congressman Ferdinand "Martin" Rumualdez) and we call it "the Nipa Hut Complex". Unfortunately, the place is being occupied as offices by different national and provincial government agencies like LTO, PENRO and PCGG. Some private entities occupied the frontside of the complex and converted into a commercial-use-for-lease space. The place was once elegant and grand but when PCGG took over the place, believe as a part ill-gotten wealth from the Marcoses, it become disaster. I know this place because I'm living nearby to this place.

The Redoña Residence is located at T. Caludio Streets walking distance from this place. Here's the glimpse of the Redona Residence (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:REDONARES.JPG), the official residence of then President Sergio Osmeña, Sr. while with Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur during the World War 2.
At May 9, 2011, 9:26:00 AM, GingGoy said...: anonymous, hehe thanks for the clarification. i asked a friend to confirm it but wasn't sure. i think i'm going to go back there to leyte twice this year :P
At Feb 28, 2013, 6:55:00 PM, Anonymous said...: Cool. Love the place. Yah stayed at go hotels. Thumbs up!
I also went to those places...
At Sep 8, 2017, 10:33:00 AM, Anonymous said...: Hi Tutubi!
Great pictures! I can't wait to see these places soon. I was just wondering if your Icot icot tour was booked or you guys just walked in. Hence, would you provide me the contact number of person in charge? Hoping for a reply

Thanks!

Suroy-suroy Leyte: Tacloban City DIY Tour

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