My seatmate from our PHILTOA media van excitedly told me how magnificent the view was from their room window as we tarried back down to Venezia Hotel’s swanky lobby. Dang, I was booked on the wrong side of the hotel and all I can see from our floor to ceiling sliding doors were treetops and the colorful residential roofs of Legazpi City.

Venezia Hotel’s facade is quite different from an ordinary fancy hotel’s architecture. In fact, it doesn’t look like a hotel at all. At first glance, I thought we’d be staying in a complex of townhouses inside a subdivision. And yes, the hotel is built inside a subdivision in Legazpi City.

The perfect cone of Mayon Volcano loomed on the horizon. It looked impossibly enormous. My co-driver revved our ATV and we zoomed towards the famous Philippine icon. This is probably the closest I’ll ever be to the deadly volcano.

I don’t know how to drive, be it a motorcycle or a car; so you can tell how hesitant I was to drive my own ATV. But the thrill of riding through a lava trail is simply more powerful than my hesitation. I listened carefully as the guys from Your Brother Mayon ATV Tour briefed us for the coming adventure. No racing and no overtaking; follow the marshals. Roger!

Pans, spices and chopped chicken portions were rolled out at the 1st Colonial Grill’s al fresco dining area. Before having lunch, we’re gonna have a cooking demo of one of Legazpi City’s premiere restaurant’s bestseller, tinutungang manok.

The restaurant is located just a few blocks away from Legazpi’s city center. I remember checking this place out almost exactly a year ago to have a taste of their famous, or should I say infamous, sili ice cream. I’m not sure if it’s also included in our menu today, but I’m excited nonetheless.

It was the third day of PHILTOA’s Bicol media familiarization tour. We were not even on the our last leg of our trip yet but everyone was already scouring the side streets of Legazpi City for souvenirs and pasalubongs to bring back home.

To perk up the group, our van first headed to the city’s baywalk. The weather, however, remained sullen and where I once witnessed a splendid view of the great Mayon Volcano, now there were only thick gray clouds. We were halfway in the van when the rain started to pour.

I’ve seen photos of Albay’s perfect-coned Mayon Volcano from the window of a certain hilltop hotel in Legazpi City. The beautiful but deadly mountain exposed in almost its full glory except for wisps of rare lenticular clouds circling near its crater. I was expecting all that and more as we checked in for our second night in Bicol at the grandest hotel in the city, The Oriental Hotel.

Legazpi City sparkled under the darkness of early evening as we dropped our bags and lay our weary selves on The Oriental Hotel’s soft beds. After a few minutes of rest, I quickly got up and checked the view from our balcony. We were directly above the hotel’s pool area and just beyond that, the rest of the city lay in electric luminance.

It was a lovely evening and Mayon would’ve easily been seen from my vantage if not for the starless sky; rainclouds blanketed the night.

The initial image that impressed on my mind when I heard that we’re having dinner at a restaurant named Waway’s at Legazpi City is that of a tussled, long-haired Robin Padilla of Philippine Cinema wearing his signature Waway fisherman’s hat serving unlimited dishes of laings and pinangats.

Well, I got those Bicolano specialties right, but no gangly, strutting Robin Padilla in sight.

Waway’s Restaurant, which is located on one of Legazpi’s main thoroughfares, is named not after the character played by the bad boy of Philippine Cinema, but after the restaurant owner; Aling Laura Cristobal. How Laura translated to a nickname of Waway is anybody’s guess.

For two days straight we planned to shoot the sunrise from Legazpi City’s seaside boulevard. And for one reason or another we always failed to wake up early.

For our last day in the city, we finally managed to get up on time. We hurried to the baywalk to witness the sun rise opposite the majestic Mayon Volcano. We were still a bit late for the golden colors but it was enough for us that the elusive volcano showed up under its usual blanket of clouds.

A twelve-hour train journey from Manila to Naga City and another two-hour van ride, we finally arrived at the Albay’s Gateway City. With our backpacks still on, we headed straight to Legazpi City’s tourism office and requested for a media pass.

A few hours later and we were weaving in and out of the colors of Ibalong Festival.  We were sweating like stuck pigs under the sweltering midday heat, but we totally didn’t mind.