The South Road Adventure

The South Road Adventure

 Road Trip From CamSur to Metro Manila
(South Road Series 1) 

The South Road refers

to the stretch of Maharlika Highway

from Manila to Matnog, Sorsogon,

and connects the island of Luzon to Visayas.

Source: http://www.motorcyclephilippines.com/forums/showthread.php?226470-Manila-Matnog-trip-looking-for-map

 My family seldom travel by car to Manila.

The last time I remember taking a bus was in

1999 on my way to Denver, Colorado when

our flight was cancelled due to bad weather.

After almost 14 years- we decided to travel

from Naga To Manila thru the famous thoroughfare.

Source: http://www.motorcyclephilippines.com/forums/showthread.php?226470-Manila-Matnog-trip-looking-for-map

We promised our daughter a wakeboarding holiday

at the Nuvali after she completed her mastery exams

in her home schooling program and she has

been complaining that CWC was crowded with foreign tourists

and the queue at the wake park was kilometric.

Stray

Naga City  to Manila

We would be taking a Ford E 150 van

for the trip to Acacia Hotel in Alabang.

That van was almost fuel- empty,

...and we gassed up full tank

at Petron in Concepcion Grande

with a total cost of 5,697 +++

We were finally able

to leave at about 9 AM.

We passed by thru rustic CamSur towns of

Milaor, San Fernando, Pamplona, and Libmanan

One downside of traveling on Philippine countryside

is that they all look the same and the town centers

are so identical it’s hard to tell one from the other.

 

We had our first toilet stop in Petron Sipocot.

They have clean toilets, and a well stocked

convenience store and gift shop.

This is an ideal rest area as you prepare for the

long drive to Manila before entering the

long, lonely stretch of Quirino Highway.

^^^ The road to the left leads to Quirino Highway while the one

 on the right leads to Sipocot Centro and Daet Camarines Norte

Also called the Andaya Highway-

Quirino Highway  would take you to

the town peripheries of

Lupi, Ragay, and del Gallego.

 

These towns are formerly called

railroad towns as they were accessible only by

Philippine National Railway trains in the past

until Quirino Highway opened in the 1990’s.

 

 

This highway also serves 

as an exit way from Bicol-

 

...and the gateway to Quezon Province thru 

the town of Tagkawayan,where the road condition 

turned from good, then bad,  to worse.

…Quirinio Highway  would take you back again 
to Bicol thru  Sta. Elena, Camarines Norte

until you exit the Quirino Highway.

It is where we spotted the Legazpi based Pares King.

We would have loved eat lunch there

but it was only about 10: 30 when we passed by

and was too early for lunch.

We’ll eat there on the way back.

I promised my family.

Then, just like passing the a Twilight Zone

you would later find yourselves being back again 

to Quezon Province thru the town of Calauag.

It was already nearing 12 noon and we had been

traveling for almost almost 3 hours so

we had another toilet stop at Petron Calauag

and bought some snacks for the kids.

And off we went our way to Manila-  passed by

 the traffic -choked Lopez town center…

 

…to the progressive town of Gumaca-

…where we stopped at the rows

of very popular seaside restaurants

that apparently serve fresh seafood dishes…

But we were disappointed to see

that these rows and rows of seafood restaurants

were nothing but rows and rows of

 dilapidated ramshackle within the highway.

The food are pre-cooked and displayed on glass counters

right beside the very dusty and very busy highway.

We decided to eat somewhere else-

and started looking for a  fast food restaurant

with better sanitary standard.

The kids were getting bored and hungry

until we reached the scenic town of Atimonan.

 This is where the excitement began…

 “Monte- Mar y Cielo”- this quaint little town

has the best natural attractions with everything on it.

Green Mountain on the one side of the road,

the beautiful ocean on the other side

and the clear, blue  sky on the backdrop… 

I asked the kids to watch out for the statue

Of the mermaid sitting on a rock.

“There’s the Mermaid”- they chorused

as we passed by this iconic landmark

of this seaside town.

The Sun, the Sea, the Mountains
and even a mermaid-

what more can we ask for?

A real rain forest perhaps?

O, Yes- they’ve got one !

 

A virgin rain forest is what one get to see

at  the “Zigzag Road”  Atimonan/Pagbilao

bypass road that winds around the green

Sierra Madre mountain range.

 

This ribbon- like  road 
is popularly known as ‘Eme”




...the Spanish pronunciation

 for the letter “M”-

,...derived the ‘M’ shaped
 winding stretch  of zigzag road.

This very scenic mountain road

serves as a boundary to the town

of  Pagbilao Quezon...

…and leads the fast rising 
city of Lucena.



This is where we stopped for lunch

at a local Jollibee store by the highway.

The good thing with these giant fast- food chains

Invading the countryside is that

they provide the weary travelers

clean and comfortable air- conditioned restaurants

with neat and tidy toilets,

Hot comfort foods,







...and refreshing treats-

fast and easy.

After our Lucena stop,

We  further drove to the progressive towns

Sariaya, San Pablo,  Candeleria,









...and Alaminos which gave us a

perfect view of the famous Mt. Banahaw.

We we’re particularly impressed with the new

Sto. Tomas, Batangas expressway entrance

to the south super highway.

It was very modern and motorists are greeted

by the very scenic view of the fabled Mt. Makiling.

The modern expressway took us to

a leisurely drive to the highly progressive

Laguna towns of Calamba and Sta. Rosa.

The South Superhighway
... was not crowded at that time-





....and we arrived at the 

Acacia Hotel in less than an hour.

We traveled a total of about 9 hours

from Naga. to Filinvest City in Alabang -

... the E150 gas tank was still half full

and consumed about 3000 pesos in gasoline.

Not bad for a huge comfortable van.

Manila to Naga

On our way back to Naga,  we stopped
 by Shell Station at the Southsuper Highway to gas up

and bought some coffee from Starbucks.

We didn’t have so much stops except 
to buy native souvenirs at a roadside
handicraft store in Lucena

....and for a 3 PM sumptuous lunch

 at the Pares King In Sta. Elena,
(which I would rave in my future blogs)

It was an aseptically clean restaurant 
that serves delicious home cooked meals.

We arrived in Naga after 8 hours-

1 hour shorter than our trip four days earlier

due to lesser stops.

Pointers for South Road  Motorists

The sea-food restaurant row at the seaside community in Quezon

 is very popular meal stop for motorists.

I would not recommend this for family traveling with kids

since their meals are pre- cooked 
and are just displayed on glass caged counters.

Most of the restaurants are dilapidated ramshackle,

with windows opening directly to the dusty highway.

Fast food chains like Jollibee, Chowking and McDonalds’

are aplenty once you enter the town of Gumaca.

I would recommend Pares King.

It is a spanking clean restaurant in Sta. Elena

that serves really delicious freshly cooked meals.

You may also try their pre- cooked turo- turo if you are in a hurry.

But for family traveling with kids- take the freshly cooked orders

as they serve it fast after 5 to 10 minutes only.





Read More of my South Road Series Blogs here;

The South Road Adventure

 Road Trip From CamSur to Metro Manila
(South Road Series 1)

Jollibee Lucena Diversion

Tidy South Road Meal Stop

 

Pares King

Best South RoadMeal Stop

 

Acacia Hotel

Filinvest City Alabang,   Metro Manila

 

Nuvali’s Republic Wake Park

Manila’sRich Kids’ Enclave

 

Pancake House

Solenad, Nuvali