First Night: A Little Place Called Oregon (Hundred Islands Trip: March 28-30)

It all started out through a friend’s insistence on breaking away from her overtime-loaded work. I, who was bored with my current job, easily welcomed the idea of a vacation. At first we were four, then we were six, seven, eight, and ended up being four again. Unfortunately for us four vacation whores, we had to shoulder the reserved slots for our supposed two companions who backed out during the last minute.

Though our original plan got screwed up several times, we still made it to Hundred Islands in Pangasinan. With a tight budget but strong determination to have fun even for just a few days, we set out to Alaminos, Pangasinan via Victory Liner bus in the EDSA-Cubao terminal. We originally intended to leave at 3:00 p.m., but boyfriend and I got to the terminal at a little past 3:00, while my friend’s office buddy got stuck at traffic and arrived at around 4:00. If the ideal system—a bus leaves every hour from 4 a.m. until 9 p.m.—ensued, we would have made it earlier in Pangasinan. But since the system in the terminal was effed up, we were able to leave via Alaminos Bolinao bus at around 5 p.m., this accompanied with confusion and grumbles on the effed up seat and ticket numbers.

The trip was five hours loooonggg. By the second hour of our trip, I was already bored and hungry. Since we left an hour before the evening struck, the trip promised no enticing views. A few minutes before 10 p.m., we were still among the very few passengers left in the bus. All first-timers in Pangasinan, we were told by our travel agent to get off at the Victory Liner terminal in Alaminos, which we did at a little past 10. From the terminal, we had to take a very short tricycle ride to the place we were staying at, an apartelle unit in the Oregon Building, prepared for us by Refinne JG Travel & Tours, the official travel agency of Hundred Islands National Park. If we only knew how near the place was to the terminal, we all would have preferred to walk than pay 10 pesos each for the ride.

The Place
Oregon Building was typical of the apartelles you usually see in provinces. It was located in the bayan, which meant we were a 10-minute trike ride away from the Hundred Islands National Park. It had four floors; the rooms occupied by Refinne JG Travel guests were on the third. Upon reaching the third floor, we were welcomed by a small waiting area and a receptionist table. Kuya Rene, the caretaker, led us to our room, which was at the farthest side of the hallway. The little hallway had a mini-bar, where a hot and cold water dispenser and set of glasses stand.

“Wow, mini-house!” were the words that came out of my mouth when I first saw our room. The place actually looked like a little house with a loft. The doors (wooden door plus screen door) open to a dining set with six chairs, with a widescreen 21” inch TV on the corner of the area and a kitchen sink on the right side with cabinets below it. An empty personal refrigerator was at its right side. There was a door at the far end of the room, which led to a veranda where the guests can hang their wet clothes. The veranda offered a view of the lush trees of the neighbors and a little of the city road. The bathroom, which I thought was clean and big enough, was situated at the farther left side of the room.

At the right side of the area stood a little black stairway, which leads to the loft. The loft houses two double-sized beds. The area was equipped with a small, not so effective air condition unit and a medium-sized electric fan.

All in all, the place was chic. But we did find the location of the TV unusual, as it was obscured by the dining set in the downstairs area. We actually considered taking it up the loft so we can watch TV while we were comfortably snug in our beds, but it was against the house rules, not to mention the unavailability of the cable plug upstairs. My other personal concerns was the lack of mirrors (I’m vain and I’m a woman, ergo I need mirrors!). The unit only had a small oblong mirror in the CR, which meant you can only check how you look if you go downstairs and enter the loo. Plus, if you look at the mirror, all it can show you is your face up to your neck, unless you move it around to check out other areas of your body. Hehe. The beds in the loft also had no dividers between them, which would require you (if you are of mixed genders) to dress up and do your afterbath (read: naked) rituals in the CR. The CR had no hot water, which scared me at first, but the water there was not that cold so it was okay. The unit also had no closets, so we were forced to keep our already crumpled clothes inside our bags during our stay. Lastly, I expected the apartelle to include basic amenities such as toothpaste, toothbrush, perhaps a few drinks in the ref, but what was only provided was a tiny Safeguard soap and a sachet of Sunsilk shampoo in the CR and three towels (we were four).

After a short exploration of the place and the TV channels and a little picture-taking, we wrapped up our first night at Pangasinan.