Early this March my friends and I planned a short weekend trip to Bataan to finally visit our friend's beach house there. Bataan isn't exactly one of the most exciting places to go to relative to other places in the Philippines. It maybe because of its proximity to the capital which makes it one of the default places to visit just like Batangas. But as I would always like to believe, there's always something new to discover so I was partly thrilled nonetheless.
I read somewhere on the internet about the lighthouse in Sisiman Bay. I got even more excited when I saw stunning pictures of the lighthouse scattered all over the web. I knew I had to see it so I recommended that it be first on our itinerary. My friends are also suckers for lighthouses so they welcomed the idea of visiting the place even if it would take us to the very tip of the Bataan peninsula.
We drove for around 4 hours and got lost a few times until we reached Sisiman Bay where the fabled lighthouse is supposed to be located. Ideally we would have left earlier in order to witness the sunrise over the bay but we ended up arriving with the sun already high up.
We parked in front of a burnt down structure of a house from which you would walk a couple hundred meters to gain a good vantage point of the lighthouse. Local children welcomed us as were anxious to see the lighthouse.
Unfortunately though we were informed that the lighthouse has already collapsed. The lighthouse was brought down by a strong typhoon. We could not believe this so we still pushed through walking through boulders to see even just the ruins of legendary structure. True enough there was nothing there to greet us; Just the foundation lying flat rising just a few meters from the water. Nothing there to serve as evidence that a lighthouse used to stand there.
We went back to the abandoned house instead to look around and take some pictures before leaving...
After a disappointing visit to the lighthouse, we pushed on and went to the Bataan war memorial. This is on top a mountain where US and PH forces made their last stand before being defeated by the Japanese during World War II. Here you will see the huge cross-shaped monument to signify the heroic efforts of those who died defending the country before being completely taken over by the Japanese. You can actually go inside the monument and take an elevator going up to the view deck where you will see a panoramic view of the Bataan Peninsula.
Then after we proceeded to my friend's house where we spent the rest of the day bumming and fooling around.
P.S. All pictures taken with Instagram APP :)
No comments:
Post a Comment