Exploring Corregidor Island, Philippines (Part 2)

Gen. McArthur Park and the Lorcha Dock

After the hefty lunch our tour guide brought us to the Bottomside, the lower part of the island. The island has an interesting outline that shaped into a tadpole.  The head rises prominently to a large flat area which coined Topside, the center of activities of the island. The plateau that interrupts the upward slope from Bottomside to Topside is the Middleside.

The Bottomside part of the island was our first stop after having lunch. Gen. Douglas McArthur Park, South Dock, Lorcha Dock, North Dock, Barrio San Jose, Administration building, San Jose Chapel, and the Gen. Wainwright Memorial are all can be found here. At the Lorcha Dock is where Gen McArthur boarded a ship leaving the island to Australia and made a promised "I shall return".  A statue has been erected at the spot where he bid his goodbye and turned into a park named after him. His famous remark is inscribed at the foot of the statue. Another park nearby is the Gen Jonathan M. Wainwright Memorial. Constructed in honor of his determined leadership, courage, and resolution to the very end during the war.

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.

Coming back home

I was in the Philippines for two weeks. I took the opportunity of spending the chinese new year holiday back home, and by availing the remaining 5 days vacation leave for the year, and applied 3 days of no pay leave, it sum up to 14 days of extended vacation. Most of the days were spent supervising my unscheduled house renovation. The simple plan of just adding two rooms turned into a major house renovation in which I am afraid its completion will took sometime. So my planned Caramoan Islands trip again did not push through, and  just hope it will be a reality on my next vacation, third attempt. I'll make sure.

Exploring Georgetown

The main attraction in Penang is the old town district of Georgetown. The colonial era straits architecture is evident here. Other than the Georgian buildings and shophouses scattered around town, there are chinese mansions, Indian temples, mosques, and churches  to due many ethnic groups who settled in Georgetown.