Maupay Nga Adlaw!

Good day to you dear reader! I can see in the traffic stats for this blog that most of the traffic comes from abroad, particularly the US and Canada, Europe and Australia. Probably, you're all Nortehanons homesick of your hometown.

As an added treat, you can email me at northernsamar@gmail.com to ask for requests of a place to have a story from complete with photos of that place, if possible.

Meanwhile, a friend who lives not outside the Philippines but still pretty far, Manila in actuality, wants to see the famed huge house in Pambujan near the beach, unfinished till now, that she heard of owned by a Pambujanon married to a Canadian. Here are the photos, i hope the owners won't mind though.

Catarman has no sidewalks

Catarman is the capital town of the Province of Northern Samar. But the town's sidewalks are far from being presentable, if at all existent. Some 5th class municipalities in Northern Samar are far more superior than Catarman's.

It is really a shame for Catarman as a provincial capital, it should be a good example for the rest of the province. What will first time visitors to the province will say. Shame...

On national tv, in its yearender GMA 7's investigative show, aptly called "Imbestigador" showed the Catarman airport as a rundown airport with pedestrians and vehicles using the airport runway as a road. The mayor of Catarman missed the point in the tv interview by complaining that there are only 3 flights to the province every week. What's with that. How about improving the airport and its security instead.

No wonder that Catarman has no working sidewalks.

Biri Rock Formations

Photos and video of a group of students from the University of Eastern Philippines aka UEP, Catarman campus, on a picnic in the famous rock formations in Biri.

Biri, an island municipality located off the northernmost part of Samar island, is home to beachfront resorts and vacation houses. The Biri rock formations was the locale for a Richard Gomez, Dawn Zulueta and Maricel Laxa movie in the 90's directed by Chito Rono. Director Chino Rono fell in love with the place that he built a vacation house in the area.

Biri island is a favorite destination for Northern Samar locals and balikbayans and is getting to be a hideaway among foreigners too because it offers a more genteel ambience than a party island like Boracay..

A day tour around the island in a local mode of transpo called a "habal-habal" can be an adventure-like activity too and is the only way to get to any point in the island and a sure way to enmesh in the local culture.