braggies: Exploring Corregidor Island, Philippines (Part 1)

One of the under rated tourist attraction in the Philippines is the Corregidor Island tour. According to our tour guide, there are only over a hundred thousand local and foreign tourists who visits the island. This is very minimal I think so because the Corregidor Island has so much to offer to tourist. But I guess because of the monopoly of just one company who provide tour to the island makes it less popular and less accessible to tourists.

I got the opportunity to finally explore the island two weeks ago. The ferry that will bring us to Corregidor left at CCP Bay Terminal was delayed by more than an hour due to clearance problem from the Coast Guard. So instead of arriving at 9:15 ETA, we arrived past 11:00am. The ferry was full due to group of Tourism students on their school tour. Upon arrival I immediately board at one of the Tranvia buses and soon as it was full, the driver hurriedly left the pier and proceeded to the first stop of the tour as instructed by the tour guide who will tour us the island. While traveling, our tour guide mentioned that to avoid over crowding at a certain place, the nine groups will not be visiting stops that will ensure no two groups will be arriving at the same place at a time. It was a welcome news because while inside the ferry earlier, the students were very noisy and there is no way they will behave nicely while on tour.

Our first stop is the Light and Sound show at the Malinta tunnel. The show is half an hour long, and the entrance fee of Php 150 per person is optional for Day-Tour, but included when you are on an Overnight-Tour. The Malinta tunnel was constructed to facilitate passage through the hill, and later on became a bombproof shelter of the Philippines and American military forces during world war 2. The tunnel has 13 laterals on the north side and 11 on the south side. The lateral is another tunnel with a dead end and built perpendicular to the main tunnel. The light and sound show presentation highlights the major events that took place during the war. It was here that then Philippines president Manuel L. Quezon took refuge and conduct his oath for second term as president. The show is one of the highlight of the tour not to be miss.

After that we proceeded to Corregidor Hotel for an hour lunch. The buffet Filipino food was delicious and it is free as part on the day tour price.