My birthday’s just around the corner. This year, it’s not actually on a day you want to celebrate it because it falls on a Black Saturday and most people in our neighborhood (well our family is) wants to just keep their Holy Week, well, holy. I am not expecting a big celebration. My mom’s just preparing food to share with my titos, titas and cousins. And a bit of swimming too.
For me, it’s a 4-day rejuvenation week. To catch up on TV shows, books, travel posts and more stories to tell. And let me start this story-telling weekend with a little treat from the university that helped shaped me into becoming who I am today.
Arrived in mail today.
I love it. It’s true that it takes a long time to grow young. Very appropriate quote for a birthday card. I appreciate what they did here, and I hope fellow Lasallians get the same greeting card too.
Animo La Salle!
Happy weekend, folks! I hope you have a blessed one. Stay safe!
It’s definitely the time to start managing my time. But it’s too difficult to say no to a long afternoon of TV shows marathon. Or a long hours of doing nothing. But this has to stop!!! So if I cannot keep up, maybe my phone and data plan could help me. Haha!
It’s been a whole since I posted here. I’ve been really preoccupied with work and adjustments (it’s taking me a very long time to adjust) that it’s hard to find time to write and update everything that needs updating. But I’d like to share something with you guys. My siblings are looking for old photos to put in picture frames for the new house and they put up this photo of me and my older sister. This has been one of my most favorite photos ever. We look so innocent and cute here! This was when we were still in Saudi Arabia.
We booked a snorkeling + island tour + Crystal Cove trip during our first day’s hang-out-by-the-beach hour. We got it for Php 1500 (2 pax on a paraw) – I know it’s expensive. But hey, I didn’t really know how much that trip should cost! Anyhooow…
We woke up just in time for our 9 AM appointment. That gave us time to eat breakfast at the hotel. You can choose from the two options: an American breakfast or a Filipino breakfast.
We are rice-lovers therefore: Chicken Tocino with scrambled egg,
and Longganisa with scrambled egg:
Small portions but they weren’t bad at all.
We met up with Romnick (09309125619) who is supposedly our boat guy but on our way to the shore, we transferred to another boat guy named Sherwin (I think it was Sherwin).
The paraw travels longer, that’s for sure. Snorkeling was bad though, the waves are too big. We took ample photos at the Crystal Cove, that’s for sure. Our boatguy-turned-tour guide was kind enough to hold my camera the entire time to take our picture practically everywhere. Here are some photos in Crystal Cove:
There are several coves or caves on this island that you can visit. Entrance fee is around Php100. A lot of people come to Island Cove to have their lunch in one of the cottages available. They bring in lunch baskets, utensils etc. and there are also available comfort rooms around. There is nothing really going on here but what interests me is the mini-zoo available for the guests’ appreciation. And this guy:
because he seemed so out-of-place.
Hmm. This looks interesting:
We were supposed to visit another island after the Crystal Cove but we got so hungry from all that walking and boat ride we decided to skip that part. We freshened up and headed to Bistro Valhalla for lunch.
I forgot to mention that 3 meal coupons came with the final voucher we received from Cash Cash Pinoy after payment. And this was one of them (photo above). I thought the fried chicken will be just a normal dish but when it was served, I was SO wrong.
It was very juicy, delicious and crispy. We should have ordered this for dinner instead.
We headed to Real Coffee and Tea Cafe (Station 1) to order some Calamansi Muffins. We placed our order and asked them if we could pick them up the following day instead. And I think because most people do this, they asked for our name and contact number and the time of pick up.
We paid for our 6 boxes and headed to the grotto to take a few photos. It’s around 2 PM and the sun is high – we decided to buy drinks at Jonah’s Fruitshake.
While waiting for our drinks, we saw these foreign girl BFFs who were re-applying make up and sunblock. They had their DSLR on the table. And I almost cried when I saw it:
So much dirt and sand. It’s so sad!
We spent the afternoon swimming and talking and almost falling asleep. And when the sun started to go down, everyone brought out their cameras and took photos. So we did too!
We went back to the hotel, freshened up and went back to Valhalla to order dinner. We ordered soup (french onion and mushroom soup) even though the weather’s hot. Haha!
And the perfect way to end the night? Drinking your Green Tea Cream from Starbucks by the beach.
Last February, I had a project with my previous job that gave me the chance to meet David Archuleta. It was just a simple coverage interview that will only need two to three staff.
But, I requested for five all access passes. Total of six actually, (including our driver) for a simple production. Why?
Me (of course, I’m heading the project)
Carlo, my brother (he’s a big fan, as a production assistant)
Jojo, my travel buddy (as our production assistant also, plus we get to “date”-ish during the fireworks display)
Maricar, our then-OJT (to add hours to her OJT work, and she’s a big fan too)
Tolits, our camera guy (for the well, camera)
We asked permission from his handler if we could get a group picture with David and when she said yes, the two big fans decided where to position themselves. Lo and behold, the final output:
So they can crop it and get to post the cropped photo as their profile picture in Facebook. Very smart!
That night, I told my mom about the project and how we were able to take a photo with my brother’s strategic position when it hit me – MY MOM WAS A BIG FAN OF DAVID ARCHULETA. His season with American Idol is I think the ONLY season she ever watched. She adores him because he’s a very humble person. And even though he is the youngest among the finalists, my mom thinks he is far better than everyone. I felt really bad because she asked for the pictures and just said “Sayang!”
Oh well. Sorry mother, I forgot.
After the interview, we took a few clips of the event and even stayed for some fireworks display. Photo above is the VIP area.
Here are some photos of the fireworks display using my Canon S100, some in fireworks mode.
February 11, 2012 – South Korea vs Malta
(South Korea played 2NE1′s “I am the Best” haha! I enjoyed it so much)
I feel really bad for neglecting my blog for a few months now. I was really really really busy with work, the old AND new.
I was in a transition phase for the past months and my projects with my previous job is keeping me from updating. Everything’s in my draft bin, I just haven’t found time to proof-read everything.
Anyway, just to give you a quick update and to also give you an idea of what you might be seeing here in a couple of weeks, after the January trip, we:
- went to Boracay in February
- tried Toastbox in Greenbelt 5
- tried Hong Kong Cafe in SM MOA
- tried Mr. Kimbob in SM Southmall
- ate at Mary Grace Greenbelt 1 (my first time actually)
- went to Cebu-Bohol last May
- went to Cebu-Bohol last weekend
Crazy right? I still have to finish the Road trip series. I will as soon as my adjustment period ends. Stay tuned! Kiss kiss mwah.
We badly needed a vacation last year and because I went to Bolinao a few months before, I insisted we go here for our summer outing. With each paying Php 2,000 for accommodation, food and transpo expenses, we had one of the most awesome summer trips we’ve always wanted.
We rode a northbound bus to Pangasinan and I slept throughout the trip so I don’t know where exactly we got off. But here’s what I’m sure of: we went to Kevin’s house where we had breakfast while waiting for our hired van to take us to Bolinao. Our group stopped by the market to buy water and food to cook and grill in the resort. I was still dizzy from the lack of sleep so I stayed in the van while they shop. Hehe.
We originally planned to stay in Bing’s resort but we changed our mind because:
The room was still unavailable
The room was not beach front, you have to cross the road to reach the beach
My contact person was not available when we got there
Beach was small and kind of dirty
Grilling station was a bit dirty
There is only one available hut in the area
There is also a big group having their team building / outing and we’ll be overpowered and annoyed if we stayed there
We felt it was not our beach.
So we apologized for the inconvenience and left, and looked for another resort. We went back to the start of the resort-filled beach front stretch and stopped by SCL Garden Paradise Resort. We were so happy with the place (you can check out the video below for proof)! They gave us a room big enough for 7 people. We unpacked the shopping bags and started cooking lunch.
We had salted eggs and tomatoes, grilled pork chops, hot dogs etc. Just thinking about what we ate that day makes me hungry.
After lunch, some of us decided to take dip, others played frisbee, some volleyball.
That afternoon, our frisbee friends taught us how to play the game. I initially thought that frisbee is just a catching game. I thought you just have to catch the disk. But you actually have to RUN and pass the disk to your side/base to get a point. I was not ready for this. It was a rough fun game though.
After a tiring game, we hung out and talked and took photos!
We just had to do a mini-photoshoot!
I forgot what we had for dinner but I was really glad we stayed in SCL because the staff were so nice and friendly, they let us use the cooking utensils they have there! I guess it’s open for all the guests because when we left, another batch of visitors went to the dirty kitchen to prepare their dinner. I love it!
They have a videoke machine too but a group of teenagers was using it so I can’t say if the songs were updated or not.
Nope, we didn’t go night-swimming because it was too dark and dangerous, but you can opt to sit on the sand, listen to the waves and watch out for falling stars with your cold beer!
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Day 2 is a going around Bolinao day.
We said goodbye to SCL Garden Resort
We’ll definitely go back there.
I want to stop by the gorgeous rock formations but the sun was still high and too early to take pictures, and well, we didn’t think we’d have enough time . Instead, we passed by the Enchanted Cave:
From what I remember, there is a different entrance fee for those who want to take a bath inside the cave. We didn’t plan on swimming so just paid for the cheaper fee. The water is really cold down there so if you have a lot of time to spare, I suggest you have your lunch there and experience the icy cold water inside the cave.
We also stopped by Cape Bolinao:
And took a looooot of photos. The lighthouse itself was a beauty even if it’s small. Good thing the sky was clear, we had a lot of good photos
We had a hearty lunch at Bolinao Seafoods Grill just for over a thousand pesos. We ordered chopsuey, a plateful of sizzling mushrooms, pakbet, liempo and my favorite, crispy bangus! YUUUUM!
This photo above I took last March 2011. This is the sign inside the restaurant but they have a different name posted outside the gates. I’m a bit confused too. But you can immediately see this place (right side) before you reach the main road (coming from the resorts area).
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Perfect weather, awesome beach, great company = epic weekend!
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Check out our Bolinao Trip video and outtakes here, compiled and edited by Kizia
I’ve been trying to write entry almost two weeks ago but I’ve got tons of to-do from my day work. So I’m just gonna post this one photo instead. I miss updating my blog already.
Day 7 was not the most interesting day because we were too sad and depressed to even move our butts and make the most out of it. It’s like we easily surrendered to the fact that we’re going home, back to the arms of our day jobs, back once again to reality.
Bear with me as I slowly say goodbye to our epic 2011 trip.
I might be posting pictures during down times (aka my ‘missing Korea’ moments. Maybe not. But I’m pretty sure I will.
One thing’s for sure: WE’LL DEFINITELY GO BACK HERE. We’ll create more memories, take more pictures, see friends, meet new people, explore more places, eat a lot and fall in love all over again.
Stay tuned! Kiss kiss mwah.
