Pinoy Heritage

Heritage Trips featuring Cultures, Traditions, Nature Trekks

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Photography captures of Beautiful Sunrises or Breathtaking Sunsets over varied locations.

Nature Trekking

Mountains, Falls, Terraces, Caves, Rock Formations.. Everything About Outdoor Adventures.

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Food Reviews, Foodie Post, Food Photography

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Island hopping trips, Underwater adventures and Exploring Peninsulas and Island Groups

Showing posts with label Heritage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heritage. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Negros Occidental | The Ruins in Talisay


NEGROS OCCIDENTAL | The Ruins in Talisay
Ruins of Italianate Architecture


No ghost, but like a mausoleum of a decadent past with memories of those who created and called this Mansion home; The Ruins of The Lacson Mansion.


The Italianate Architecture with Neo-Romanesque Columns fascinated me the most. Though I wouldn't consider it an Architectural Marvel, the Haciendas of Negros are really something to behold at the time when Dons and Sugar Barons lay claim to most of these lands. We took less than an hour to explore the place and be fascinated by the History of the Ruins and the opulent family behind it. A worthy side trip if I must say when you are visiting Metro Bacolod.

Friday, January 3, 2014

My December Moon


My December Moon
A Year End Love Affair


A flitting image in the night sky, peaking through grey clouds, taunting, giving light and taking it back, seeking redemption, a chance to inspire, a moonlight in a polluted Manila sky, these are but a few fleeting thoughts I had in me while I stared at the moon on a chance night of weekend before Christmas.

Watching the waning moon as it light the cloudy Manila Night sky, there are no stars to accompany its tableau, still it is visibly hovering in the heavens, alone as it seemed conveying a message of hope.


Monday, November 4, 2013

Kalinga | The Harsh Road To Lubo


KALINGA | The Harsh Road To Lubo
Keeping The Camaraderie Alive


"Like all great travellers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen"
- Benjamin Disraeli


I am sharing some of the landscape photos taken along the road, hand held photos shot with the noontime sky rendering the landscape flat. Cramped as we were with our conditions in the truck, and getting the trip held up as it is every hour as the truck hits the bumps along the road, the scenery kept us happy and the presence of comrades holding on makes us want to move forward in making this trip remarkable.

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Kalinga | A Day Spent At Lubo Part I


KALINGA | A Day Spent At Lubo Part I
A Sykes Outdoor Tsinelas Ni Juan Outreach


Overlooking a valley with a pristine river running in between. Lubo village is that cluster of houses in the rice terraces.

It was easily the longest weekend of my life, well one if those anyway considering the number of hours spent traveling to reach this place, not only that, what we went through can be spelled in epic proportions that a simple blog post may not be enough.

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Laguna | Nagcarlan's Historic Underground Cemetery


LAGUNA | Nagcarlan's Historic Underground Cemetery
Creepy Underground Crypt


The customary walk to reach the church with a burial site beneath it.

Curiosity got the better of me, but I wouldn't miss seeing this crypt if it were the last thing I had to do in this day. I've got a fair share of visiting graves, cemetery's and creepy crypts, but this underground cemetery in Nagcarlan proved to be one of the creepiest old edifice I've seen. Mind you, I didn't discern any bad vibes or restless haunts in its corners.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Batangas | Galleria de Taal


BATANGAS | Galleria de Taal
The Country's First Camera Museum


The Philippines First camera museum, a Bahay na Bato neglected ancestral house that became a gallery to showcase rare vintage Camera's.

By this time, after looking inside some of the Old Ancestral Houses in the Heritage town of Taal Batangas, we had our fill of them. Galleria de Taal proved to be different, because it doesn't enshrine people who are long dead. We didn't choke on historic information that we will soon forget, instead we feasted our eyes on some of the rarest camera's, restored and glorified in their pedestal. We even had a glimpse of the most expensive camera this gallery had, which is in the first photo shown above, cast out from a body of 24K pure gold. Makes me glad I had Nikon Camera slung on my neck.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Batangas | Apacible House


BATANGAS | Apacible House
Taal Heritage Town Photowalk


Yet another must visit house in Taal, Batangas. The house of Leon Apacible is a 19th Century bahay na Bato marked by National Historical Institute (NHI) as a place where Jose Rizal, Mariano Ponce and other Filipino National Heroes would gather. Leon Apacible himself was an Officer of the Revolutionary Government, a lawyer, a judge and a Lepanto delegate to the Malolos Convention.

The house is well preserved, as it was donated by the descendants of Leon Apacible to the government due to its Historical value, the house itself felt like its had lived through times. Certainly it is old, with the displays of Caruaje on the entrance, the showroom of old photographs, anterooms and marbles floors, muebles and antique figures, unlike any other heritage houses I visited today where what is left are impressions of an era long gone, this house feels like it has blended in this day and age with people actually living in it. I say probably, kudos to NHI for the restoration and how this house is being presented to the public.




What looks like an in house garage where the restored Caruaje is what greeted us upon our entrance. This was one of the last houses that we visited for this day. I was already tired and yearning for a cold bath since I took this trip right after my night shift work. Not even being with some of the bubbliest travel bloggers I am with could perk me up. Still I trudged on knowing that this house is special, and it was with its own charming appeal. 

Mirrors, a lot of them, antiquities with shiny surfaces, glass pedestals, even the shiny gloss of portraits hung in the walls. The wooden floorboards, intricate stairs lined with iron rails, and the colors or mahogany varnishes all over. I've never been to a house shinier than this. The rooms, bath in filtered light from glass paneled windows provide gloomy atmosphere to the auras around. I've always been one to feel auras, gift of discernment I got from my mother, but I don't think I'm otherworldly or supernatural or a physic if you believe in one. I just know when a place has a presence, discerning good and evil in ways I can't explain. The Apacible house left me feeling uneasy but that we are welcomed. I guess we should feel more grateful for the rich heritage we have, and this heritage of Taal is worth exploring.















Francis Balgos is a Call Center Agent, Weekend Travel Warrior, Amateur Spelunker, Sometime Surfer, Newbie Mountain Climber, Photography Enthusiast, Certified Beach Bum, A first born son, Faithful lover, True Explorer...

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Monday, March 25, 2013

TRAVEL GUIDE | Baler, Aurora


TRAVEL GUIDE | Baler, Aurora
The Surfers Haven


Baler is a charming provincial capital of Aurora and location of the famous surfing site for Luzon due to waves coming from the Pacific. What’s so endearing about this lovely town is that it is not limited to the experiences from the beach. Covering a vast plain and some forested area rich with local floras and faunas, natural falls some with famous majestic cadence, rock formations along the coastal areas that is a delight to landscape photographers, and even so for the rich political history and historical contributions this quaint little town and the province it uphold offers. Most but not all, I’ve explored in a day aboard a local tricycle with a hired humble driver.


Saturday, March 16, 2013

Benguet | Fire Mummies Of The Philippines


BENGUET | Fire Mummies Of The Philippines
The Pride And Rich Cultural Heritage Of The Ibaloi's


Photo was taken at the home of our guide in Mt Timbak. We registered before we were escorted to the burial sites of the mummies, the house has a very nice view of the Mountains before it, including Mt Pulag, and this dirty kitchen was homey with charm akin to it.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Batangas | Marcela Agoncillo House


BATANGAS | Marcela Agoncillo House
Taal Heritage Town Photowalk


Like the other Heritage Houses we visited in Taal, The Marcela Agoncillo House is another Casa de Agoncillo. Could be said as the 2nd Agoncillo house because of the most prominent resident this house had ever had. The Marcela Agoncillo house was actually built by Marcela's grandfather Andres Marino. By any means, this is the ancestral house she grew up. Built in the late 1700's and known today to be one of the oldest house in the town of Taal. Heirs of the family had donated this property to the government and is now being maintained by The Department Of Tourism.

The house was turned to a museum and monument commemorating the making of the Philippine Flag, as was Dona Marcela Marino Agoncillo's legacy to our nation as the weaver of the first Philippine Flag, gaining her the title of The Mother Philippine National Flag as its principal seamstress, its the same flag that was hoisted from the window of Emilio Aguinaldo's House in Kawit, Cavite. Check this link to know more about the making of The First Philippine Flag from the National Historical Commission. 


On the entrance, one had to walk through a walkway that looks like a parking lot in the ground floor. Before taking the staircase is the commemorative tableau of 3 women sewing the flag. The three women are Dona Marcela herself as the central figure, flanking at her sides the little girl is her eldest daughter Lorenza and other girl is Delfina Herbosa de Natividad, a niece of Jose Rizal. Before we were to mount the staircase to where the grand salon of the house is place like any Spanish inspired houses, we first went through the small library and museum just a couple of flat forms from the ground floor. We were briefed by a guide of the house with the brief history of the prominent historical figure that had called this home. On this library is the hired weaver showing us how weaving is done. Taal may have a lot of Heritage houses, but only a select number of Historical Landmark, this is what makes this house apart from a lot of Kastillan houses in Taal.

Its a grand house, reminiscent of the glory and richness that adorned its halls. Exquisitely sculpted wooden boxes (Bauls), Chinese and Edwardian furniture's,  the all too familiar Capiz Shell windows, four poster beds, and the everlasting feel of old wood. 




Impersonal and otherworldly, these are but some of the impressions I got from this house. Spacious and open aired, though the family was Illustrado in rank and the children's of Felipe and Marcela Agoncillo all grew up to be highly educated and religious, their old rosary beads left not an impression of themselves. Their old crumbling books fall in decay on the shelves. As was, I wandered in the house swimming in my own imagination, enraptured by the creepy rooms and the baby grand piano by the door, the full length mirrors so clear I can only assume that silver adorned the back of this heavy glass. It's hot, its forlorn and may even be a grave of rich memories, of ages long past whose legacy continues.






Francis Balgos is a Call Center Agent, Weekend Travel Warrior, Amateur Spelunker, Sometime Surfer, Newbie Mountain Climber, Photography Enthusiast, Certified Beach Bum, A first born son, Faithful lover, True Explorer...

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Pala-lagaw reserves the right for any watermarked pictures posted
No pictures should be downloaded or copied without permission from the blogger.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Batangas | Agoncillo Heritage House (White House)


BATANGAS | Agoncillo Heritage House (White House)
Taal Heritage Town Photowalk


A few minutes walk from the Minor Basilica, this Agoncillo Heritage House was our 2nd location to visit. This is the Casa or House of Don Gregorio Agoncillo, one of the Agoncillo's great patriach and an illustrious Batangueno. This one is being referred to as the white house. Being impeccably painted in white, it stands on a busy corner of an intersection proudly and very prominently.



Saturday, January 26, 2013

Batangas | Basilica De San Martin De Tours


BATANGAS | Minor Basilica De San Martin De Tours
Taal Heritage Town Photowalk



Monday, November 26, 2012

Aurora | Trekking Ditumabo Mother Falls


AURORA | Trekking Ditumabo Mother Falls
Aurora's Enchanting Mother Of All Falls


 The mother of all Aurora's Falls. Certainly a well deserved name by just looking at that 140 feet drop. Luckily, I get to take on this trip on a cloudy day. Aurora province is like a lush garden, and trekking the 1.3 km from the Aurora Mini Hydro Plant was like a dream walk in a forested park.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Aurora | Diguisit Islets


AURORA | Diguisit Islets
A Scenic Place, Beautiful And Romantic In Its Own Way


The salty estuarine spray, the windy afternoon on a grey cast sky, of men fishing with rods on the edge of rocky shore, the non stop music of water splashing on the rocky edge, of golden pebble like sand and of evading the gatekeeper to avoid paying an entrance fee of Php 10.00 these moments makes me remember this short visit to the nice islets of Diguisit in Aurora Province.

Our friendly, young tricycle driver is in the photo above, showing his melancholic side. Glad to have meet him for this day, and of this he never knew that he became a subject of my photograph.

Monday, November 12, 2012

Aurora | Caunayan Falls


AURORA | Caunayan Falls
Cold Spring Waters And A Rich Foliage



Monday, November 5, 2012

Aurora | Balete Park


AURORA | Balete Park
Enchanted And Gargantuan



Placed in an enclosure, much like a park. This tree is so big I have to get far away, much far If I intend to place the tree in the entire frame of a picture. This photo is already is a long shot but still I only got half of it in the frame.

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Sagada | Splash From The Big Falls


SAGADA | Splash From The Big Falls
The Long Trekking And The Big Reward




" Buwis Buhay" or death defying, the term Pinoy's love to use when they do something that pushes them to their limit. The long trekk along the Aguid Rice Terraces just to get here in the Bomod-ok Falls (Big Falls) of Sagada is tiresome, being in an open rice field expose to the sun. It's no wonder people would call this "Buwis Buhay, likened if you have been missing on cardio exercises as this would likely burn all the calories taken at breakfast prior to trekking. The big reward awaits, and while I push myself, struggling along with my water bottle and heavy camera to witness this wall of cascading natural wonder, I relent while taking a lung full of the freshest Sagada air.

Monday, June 11, 2012

Sagada | Trekking Echo Valley


SAGADA | Trekking Echo Valley
A Church, A Cemetery, A Valley Of Pines And Hanging Coffins




As part of a day tour, this is more of exploring Sagada's cultural heritage. Being that this trail is very near the centro of the town, Trekking Echo Valley starts by visiting the small church that looked more like one of those american county churches, very much charming and quaint. The church looks at home as framed by huge Pine Trees and unique architectural design.

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Culion | A Church Perched On A Hilltop


CULION | Immaculate Concepcion Church
An Idyllic Church Perched On A Hilltop


 Culion is a scenic silent town that is rich in history, the place itself being part of the Calamianes Group Of Islands in MIMAROPA Region. I was in my day 1 trip to Coron, as expected of any Palawan Trips, I was in for a water fun adventure. Our quick trip to Culion was more of a quick visit before we drop to Banana and Malcapuya Islands, though I was aware of the history of this place, I was brought to a history ride by visiting this humble town that has been famous the world over. After a film showing of Culion's history in the Museum of Archives we went about the town, one of the first edifice that caught my attention is their Church of Immaculate Concepcion.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Capiz | Santa Monica Church Of Pan-ay


CAPIZ | Santa Monica Church Of Pan-ay
An Old Parochial Church And A Big Bell


Municipality of Pan-ay is a silent small town with rich Spanish colonial history. It's a coastal town found on the eastern side of the provincial capital Roxas City and a good 20 minutes jeepney ride, snaked all across it as a National Highway that links all the municipalities on the eastern side of Capiz.