Riding the famous bridges of Leyte

CEBU, Philippines - One of the greatest adventures for big bike enthusiasts is riding around our neighboring islands, and the island of Leyte is a favorite because it is a short 4-hour Roll-on, Roll-off boat ride from the Port of Cebu to the Port of Ormoc. It was a gloomy Saturday dawn last Sept. 24th and we were expecting a wet weekend ride with the Star Touring & Riding Group Chapter 2301. The group spearheaded the 1st Star Rally 2011 that included small motorcycles to ride with the big bikes, to train them as future big bikers.

From Ormoc City, we passed by the town of Baybay, passing through Mahaplag to the newly finished Agas-Agas Bridge for a total of 80 kilometers from Ormoc City. Agas-Agas Bridge is part of the Phil-Japan Highway and is dubbed as the “Tallest Bridge” in the Philippines with a height of 75 meters from the bridge floor to the bottom of the ravine.

Having such spectacular view, the Agas-Agas Bridge has instantly been transformed into Southern Leyte’s major tourism destination and an adventure zone. Someone decided to put a Zipline over the bridge and down into the bottom for one of the most exhilarating rides of your life. I don’t know the exact length of the zipline, but towards the end of the cable you could hardly see those who rode the zipline.

From the Agas-Agas Bridge, it was a short 30 kilometer run to the town of Sogod, then passing through Liloan Town which is another 40 kilometers away, we stopped by the town of St. Bernard, where one of the country’s greatest natural disasters happened in Barangay Guinsaugon five years ago. You can clearly see that the scarred mountainside has turned green, yet you can still see the outline where the mountainside collapsed.

From St. Bernard, we rode back to Abuyog, passing through Olot, Palo and finally Tacloban City where we stayed at the famous Hotel Alejandro. This was the residence of Alejandro Montejo, preserved and turned into a World War II Museum. Tacloban City after all was the temporary capital of then Pres. Don Sergio Osmeña, Sr. when he landed with Gen. Douglas MacArthur on Oct.20,1944.

From Tacloban, it was a short 11 kilometer ride to the most beautiful bridge in the Philippines, the famous San Juanico Bridge, that connects the islands of Samar and Leyte. I’ve been here so many times before and it is still as breathtaking as the first time I saw it. Finally we started riding back to Ormoc City, but had to pass through Isabel, Leyte for a luncheon hosted by the Young Star Riders inside the Pasar Complex. Despite the threat of a typhoon, we were never rained out. Our last leg of the ride, was the 35-kilometer run from Isabel to Ormoc City, where instead of waiting for the 10:00PM boat ride back to Cebu, we got invited to stay at the residence of Mr. Nelson Yuvallos where everyone took a swim in his swimming pool to rest our tired bones… after all, we rode a total of 500 kilometers from Ormoc and back to Ormoc City. It was a great ride, lots of fun and above all, a very safe ride to the beautiful bridges of Leyte.