Leyte Memorial and a Detour!
Everyone’s getting hungry and it’s now time for lunch. We drove into downtown Leyte and stopped at a very much recommended restaurant. We parked the cars near the entrance and these local boys took time out to pose in front of the Gem.
We checked out Ocho restaurant which is famous for its fresh seafoods.
Posted in front are some of the recommended food to eat.
The place was quite packed as it was Sunday and people were eating after attending their respective church services. We decided to order right away and JP was assigned the task of choosing what we were gonna eat for lunch.
We had grilled squid, Grouper in Taosi sauce, sea grapes and fish eggs…
the fish belly with eggs was really delicious…
….the kids had a blast eating shrimp and roast pork.
After consuming all the food that we ordered, JP and Rouel did some updates on the blog as the place had free wifi.
Chad ordered some desserts for us, leche flan and buko pandan.
After lunch, the gang set off for the Leyte Landing Memorial, the site of General Douglas MacArthurs’ return to the Philippines (October 20, 1944). We were advised to go during daylight as the place is not that safe at night. From this photo you would think the statues are life sized….
…. up until JP comes into the scene begging the general to take him to America.
After doing a quick GPS check, we realized that we can actually reach Mindanao if we drove for another 160 kilometers away from Leyte towards the port of Liloan. We didn’t know the ferry schedule but we all decided to take a gamble as it was still early.
We drove through some of Leyte’s beautiful coastal towns and mountain passes. The roads were really nice, perfect for driving. We stopped at this bridge, high up in the mountains for some photo ops…
The Cressida looked really nice on the bridge. The fog and rain added a lot of character to the shot.
Joao decides to take a look at what’s below the bridge… plenty of natural vegetation… the bridge resembles some of the bridges JP tried out for bungee jumping in the past.
After two more hours of driving we finally reached Liloan port, our jump off point to Mindanao. Yes, you read that right, we’re going to Mindanao!!!
We inquired with the local authorities about the ferry schedule and we were lucky because a ferry was leaving for Surigao at 10pm.
After paying our fares we went for quick dinner and took our cars into the loading area. This will be our second ferry ride and Rouel always make sure that the ramp is set properly so our lowered cars would be able to get on board without any major issues. Usually, the buses and trucks are loaded first into the belly of the ferry.
Last to board are the private vehicles, that’s us. Rouel enters the ramp head on to avoid scraping the ramp.
Once in, he executes a u-turn so the car is facing forward when we get to our destination.
JP on the other hand reverses the Gem into the ship.
The dynamic duo are now side by side…
… and all set for Mindanao!
