Balyuan Tower

This place used to have a watchpoint tower made of iron railings and a "tower" at the top. It kept being renovated all the time, until it was finally demolished. The tower was used as a lookout point for Moro pirates. This arena-like area (added in the 80s) is used for concerts, competitions, free outdoor movies, and cheap dates. You can buy streetfood barbecue behind it. This looks out to the bay (and to the tower) and you can see the sunrise and moonrise from here.

It's called Balyuan because this was the place where the bigger Sto. Nino of Basey Parish was exchanged with that of the smaller Sto. Nino statue of Tacloban. 'Balyu' in Waray means 'exchange'. A festival is held here every year to celebrate that exchange. The statue is supposed to be miraculous.

(Of course, balyu could mean 'trade'. Balyuan, a place where you trade.)

Inside the Sohoton Caves

"Sohot" is a Visayan word for "crawl through". So, Sohoton cave means "a cave where you crawl through a rock."

Another path!

I got bitten with this month's theme day. So here's another path photo. This leads to Sohoton Caves.


(Photo by Arlene)

Basey Church

This is the bell tower of the Basey Church, built in 1795(?). The church stands on top of a hill and was destroyed by a typhoon in 1880 and was restored again. This and the convent beside it were used as a hospital for US Marines during the Balangiga Massacre in 1901. It also served as a refuge for Filipinos during the Japanese occupation. What's interesting about this church is that egg yolks were used to build its foundation. Or was that egg whites? For more information, you can visit Samar's website and Heritage Conservation Society's blog.

Marjorie's Garden

Inspired by Hilda's post yesterday, I wanted to post my favorite chocolate cake because, sorry Hilda, from the choices offered in the display, there wasn't anything there that attracted me. For me, nothing can top this chocolate cake at Marjorie's Garden (in Basey, 30 minutes from Tacloban). I haven't been there for awhile though, so I'm not sure they still serve it. In fact, I heard the coffeeshop was sold to a Filipino. Marjorie's Garden used to be owned by an American named Marjorie. I will post a photo of this charming place someday, it was where I shot the sunset photo.

Tacloban sunset

Sunset over the San Juanico strait. The strait separates Leyte from Samar island so technically I am taking this photo from Samar.. thus a Samar sunset? To my knowledge, I haven't seen a sunset in Tacloban yet, it's always sunrises or the orange sky in the distance, sign that the sun is setting somewhere we can't see. Sunsets are always covered by the mountain ranges or by coconut trees. You've to cross over to the Samar side to see a sunset as beautiful as this. I took this photo from a hill near the San Juanico bridge, the mountains in the photo are on the Leyte side.