Warning: This is a long post…
It’s been pouring hard these days so before raining days totally invade Pinas I’m now posting about my adventures during summer. It was different from my past summers, many travels this time! Yahoo! … Having my life brand new in one… Precious God! Too bad I miss the YFC-ILC in Naga… We’ll maybe I’m old enough now… Yak! 🙂
So hopefully my ‘Dory’[that blue fish in Finding Nemo] life will spare me for now and have a good memory of what I’ve been through these past few months..
At Home in Leyte… March 28 – April 9
I know… I know… It’s long been due but I decided to have it included here so I am only writing about it now. I went home a week before Lent together with my bunch… Yipee! Mama, Pao-pao and Ivan along… Nothing could be better… Good thing my Tita, Mama Liling paid for everything… Thanks Mama! Kudos to you! The most generous person I know…
I stayed there for about a week… And because of the Lent break, I had almost two weeks off from work… Spending few days having wonderful and almost happy rest days at home if only the cable load didn’t expire which brought us to tuning to the only free channel for 3 days… I can still hear the Batangas’ Governors’s ad on that channel playing on every gap… With that song! [Batangas.. Batangas.. Dangal ang lakas ng Batangas… ] hahaha… Oh yeah! Even my nephews know the song after a few gaps…
Oh Well! Well! Two weeks is still Awesome two weeks spent so away from Oracle’s select statements, Unix‘s directories and more… [I can hear She saying: Kadiriiii!] 🙂
We started our time there by of course, visiting Papa’s grave… It’s been long since we went there together… Few relatives were added on the place which almost confused us on where the right spot is… Good thing Mama was there… She really is a good wifey… She just knows where it is by heart… Astig!
I spent some time baby sitting the cutie Ryquin a few times… He let me handle him the first time even though he doesn’t know me yet and known to be aloof. Even Ryan [his Papa] was surprised he came to me… Bad thing… He realized I am a stranger during the next few times I was around. He is a grown up now… he was a just a few days old when I first saw him a year ago… Keeps on moving around and picking on things… No wonder he was hurt with the hot water from Shemai’s water dispenser when we visited her… hehe
I went to see Shemai one time with Quennie and Ryquin… She’s having a baby soon! Yipee! Though we can’t do joy rides anymore…who cares! 🙂 She let us see her baby’s first photo in her womb from her last check up… Galing… Hoping everything goes well so we’ll have a healthy kiddo to care for soon… Nice Neng!
I watched the senior graduation too at my high school where I got to see and hug my teachers before… Glad to see Missed Mom C, Warm Mama Ester and the ever Cool Sir Ramon [no hug from him syempre.. . hehe ] there! :=P
Happy to see Yul, Rainier, Fritzie and Ryan during my loitering around town…
Mama and I went to Maasin to do some thing in SSS and get tickets for Kuya. I also grabbed the chance to see Sheng and be with her even for a while. She’s been teasing me to treat her in Jobee since she learned that I’m coming. So a good Ate [waaah!] that I am, we invited her to have lunch with us. We had a good chat and laughed like we always do when we’re together… Upaw was with us too… Telling silly stories about his time at school…
I spent 2 days by the sea… Swimming in Dapanas… One was with Mama, Paolo, Ya Maxi and the kiddos… Eating the left over from lunch and playing in the water all by myself like I never been there before… Even if Paolo was shouting teasing remarks at me for never minding the clear sky and the big possibility of me getting ‘sunog’… hahaha..I love the sea, what I else do they expect me to do…Dangas Tagaw! Hahaha…
Next was during Quennie’s birthday… Together with Hilbert and Ryan, we cooked her two cute chickens in the backyard for a good Halang-halang galore [Kalooy sa Manoks! 🙂 ] So the with yummy vian cooked and bahaw [cooled rice] ready to go… We headed to the beach buying some drinks and some extra goodies along the way… [minus Ryan this time]… There were just the three of us eating all those food and yet we handled them just right [mga Taks! :=P ] It was a Sunday so many people including some familiar faces from high school were enjoying the place too which made the moment more fun! We’re supposed to stay there until it starts getting dark but an old man who’s obviously drunk started to bug us that we decided to go home instead… Badtrip! But still it was FUN!
Since Shemai can’t do the joyride with us… I still experienced the thrill with Hilbert and Quennie… [Thanks Kuya for lending us the bike] We had great time biking at night around town, getting ourselves full with ice cream one time to end Quennie’s day! We even tried going for ‘nilamaw’ [fresh buko with milk] one afternoon where Hilbert climbed the tall trees and kept on scolding us from above because the Pasaway Duo was doing it all again… Quennie and I are taking to buko flesh from the shell and instead of putting it in the container, we put straight it to our mouth, answering Hilbert’s noise with an excuse of just tasting it if its ripe just right… He didn’t accept it of course… hahaha… Stating that he’s all tired climbing and making sure to keep himself intact while the two us just picking the bukos and giggling at the taste of the fresh buko for free! No sweat treat! 🙂
All in all, I think it’s an awesome vacation I had! Even if it was strange at first thinking that I’m going there and Kulit is not around for the first time and bad me for not visiting the Pedotera’s place [Tita was expecting me I heard… Bad Dangas! I wasn’t just used on going there without Kulit and me known now to be a family member’s girl… Hahay!… Swear! I’ll be good next time…] .
Oppps! I still had fun… Having good times with my folks at home, laughing with the olds, got to play with my cousins, clear weather by the sea and being with nature, seeing my old good friends… Simply spending time there… LEYTE is really HOME awesome HOME…
Rockin in Subic… May 12
It was a Capability outing so there were hundreds of us loaded in three tourist buses going to White Rock in Subic[Zambales is more appropriate I guess]. It was a clear day so it was nice to be in the beach though it was extra hot that day which made it painful to the skin at times plus it was very humid too…
I was sitting next to Missy during the whole trip talking and laughing about anything which I enjoyed a lot. I didn’t mind taking a nap even if I woke up very early to make it to the said “5 am” meeting time at MSE which of course never happened.
The place is nice. There were even facilities under construction. I like most the wide area in the center where there are hammocks underneath the palm trees which was so refreshing to hang out to. I also like the pathways at the back of the main entrance building. The vines all around looks so ‘Greeky’, it must look so romantic at night. And the bath area near it was so cool… It’s an open area where they put steel above and let vines grew in there to cover up the place from the heat of the sun… Even the walls of the area were covered with vines too… It’s like taking a bath inside a room yet so near with nature! Astig nun! I I want something like that in my own home in the future… [Ehem Kulit! J ]
The resort caters a lot of activities too especially for the sports buff… Aside from the water activities, you can also do golf, volleyball, bowling, football and more… I didn’t go for the water fun though but I tried my luck in bowling together with Missy and Michelle… And I was good enough for a first timer… Maybe more on tsamba! Haha… And I therefore conclude, it wasn’t my cup of tea… I think I enjoyed playing futsal more than just sliding balls down the alley… Maybe because I felt more into the game when I’m running around… But my playmates did well! Kudos to Missy! For doing extra well… Galing nya… Strike kung strike! J Thanks to Anna and She too for taking pictures… FUN!
We played some parlor games before lunch. And it was great playing such kiddie games again. I participated in the blow-the-flour-in-the-container-to_get-the-marshmallows game which made my face and hair full with flour of course and I run the half size soccer field trying not to trip myself over the big the big wheels and going under some post doing an obstacle course relay with my teammates… We didn’t win though missing the cash prize for some pizza… But still it felt great!
We spent the afternoon taking pictures around the place… Taking a break by sipping a glass of fruit shake in a dollar rate… We missed Fruitana right away… J Then taking our baths in the bath area I mentioned above for maybe half an hour just because the place it so cool! I loved it!
We left the resort before it gets too dark… Maybe a few minutes before seven in the evening… Spent most of the time sleeping and wondering why Oh why its still Pampanga after a long time… Bad campaign period which made us got stuck in traffic jam for a long time!
I was home at about 11… Not bad for a day spent miles away from QC and with the sea, much food, good resort, and super cool bath area [can’t get over.. haha] all the way! White Rock… Rocks!
Precious Ilocos…May 18-20
Travelling around Pinas is always my dream. Being someone who hails from Visayas, the geography [what a term! Hehe] gave me opportunities to travel not only around my region but also into some places in Mindanao to visit some relatives that are settled there. But talking of Up North, Zambales used to be the farthest place I’ve been to. So the want of traveling the Ilocano speaking provinces [Baguio, Ilocos, La Union and more] is a dream by heart.
It was late last year when I started hearing the Pagudpud craze… So I tried to do some research [Bravo Google! J ] about the place. To be described as the “Boracay of the North” is something and being a beach lover that I am, it’s the next place to be! I learned that it’s in Ilocos and probably at the tip of the island of Luzon and the thought of that long road trip just excites me…
Good thing my team mates have heard about it too so after not having team building activities in the past few months and the funds being saved up. We excitedly planned a summer getaway we will never forget [who will forget that trip… That trip from Laoag to Pagudpud that early Saturday morning… Enough! Hehe… I chose not to discuss more…] ! And of course it has to be in Ilocos to realize our Pagudpud desires!
Good thing our Big Boss in France was on leave that Friday so he allowed the whole team to be off from work on that same day too that’s why we spent Thursday night sleeping in the bus on our way to Ilocos for good 8 hours [we actually thought it will be longer] So we were in the Vigan Bus Terminal just when the sun was up!
Then it hit me… It felt strange to be in a place where the dialect I totally don’t understand [it felt like the times when I heard mass in Waray and Pangalatok many years ago where the only word I got was Amen… J ].
We started our day with a breakfast in the plaza, where else but Chowking [what?! Still city food! Hehe]. We rode tricycles [bad driver for charging us unfairly] going to the town plaza where establishments were located. On our way there, we were already amazed with the old structures around, even the eating areas and other establishments have an old feel to it including their style.
After eating and leaving our bags in Eli’s relatives for a weight free walks, we started our tour by renting Kalesas [ours, I’m with She and Missy, was Jorge J ] to bring us to the tourist spots around which Vigan is famous for. We visited an old church [with a wedding when we got there] with a bell tower famous to be the location of the fight scenes of the old action movies [it was said that even FPJ did shoot a movie up in the tower]. Up above you can see the whole Vigan… a very pleasant view. Too bad the tower especially the very old bell is full of vandalisms from the former tourists who were trying too hard to be cool to leave their marks. Panget!
Other places we visited while in enjoying the Kalesa ride were a local museum [it was an old house of the Burgos family, if I remember it right, including the famous Fr. Burgos of the three martyrs] which stores very old artifacts of the earlier times and even the old furniture that the original residents used to have before. It felt creepy a few times! 🙂
We also went to one of the many potteries in the area. A potter was even game enough to show off his skills and did a vase while we were in there.
We also visited a paradise garden where there are many very good looking plants and animals were taken cared of. It was refreshing to be in there for the temperature was very warm that day.
The place we visited to end the Kalesa tour was Chavit Singson’s Baluarte. It was nice to see ostrich! So huge! Hehe… Felt like a kiddo again… There were also ponies that look like midgets… cute! Cute! Kids can even ride them for free… There were also deers, tigers, reptiles like snakes and iguanas, and birds too… The place is so big… It was a good sight to see…
Then the Kalesa brought us to plaza where we had lunch! We’re all hungry at the moment to look for somewhere else to eat that we settled at Max’s right away and have a sumptuous meal.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in Calle Crisologo [the famous postcard street]. We took our time going around the shops and buying pasalubongs for our loved ones left in Manila and even for ourselves. And took loads of pictures too… Sitting in one of the benches after getting tired of walking back and forth, we can’t stop on pondering on how the place that we just usually saw on pictures and movies was where we were at that very moment. Walking in there felt like taking a trip back in time. Felt so good and it made me proud! Pretty Pinas!
We took our things just before it starts getting dark to go to the bus terminal that will take us to Laoag but only after we took some time by the small cafeteria serving the delicious Vigan ensaimada…
We reached Laoag after a couple of hours and we were fetched by a van to Archie’s relatives’ home. They were very warm. We ate our dinner and had my first taste of their famous bagnet! Sarap! We took our turns to have ourselves freshened up then we called it a day all excited for the Pagudpud trip the next morning.
After waking up early the next morning and had wonderful breakfast, we headed to Pagudpud but not in a bus which we originally planned but in a more comfy van. And not just in a van that can tour us around without renting tricycles anymore but loads of food too! Thank you so much to the family that adopted all nine of us in Laoag. You really know how to treat your visitors by heart! Astig talaga!
We saw the giant windmills on the way and their really huge! Hehehe… Then the driver took us to a grotto where little falls were flawing from the mountain side… The water was so cold. While going there we passed by the viaduct where we stopped for a while and took some pictures. The view was so amazing! Postcard perfect!…
Then we headed back to our route and went to Blue Lagoon where the tag “Boracay of the North” brought to life… The place is secluded… No hotels and bars yet which makes the place extra special… Just cottages where you can eat were available and a small area where you can find the CRs and bathrooms. We settled and ate our bountiful lunch there. The water is crystal blue and the white fine sand felt very good in the skin… We enjoyed the place so much that we didn’t mind staying under the heat of the sun sunscreen-free! Sunog!…
After lunch and enjoying the place and the water, we headed to Saud beach. We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon there and we even rented a room so we can have a good place to freshen ourselves. Though the resort sucked big time for the water in the shower room was just filtrated sea water! Ang sama!… We took our swim later in the afternoon and spent a few hours in the resort resto where we had some fresh buko juice and played sungka which was fun! We just slept after while waiting for the rest to get ready then headed back to Laoag and got on the bus that took us back to Manila.
The Ilocos trip was indeed a great one! It made me feel like I finally conquered Luzon… haha… Looking back… Pagudpud is really one of the ‘it’ places for the beach bums… And Blue Lagoon is the beast place there is…If you love the beach and want quiet moments as well… Be close to nature and have fun… Go there and stay in there for I think it’s the best in town!!! Sobra! Blue Lagoon… I heart you and I shall be back…
It’s the longest road trip I had without a family member with me which made the whole trip lonely at times. I even felt homesick when we got to Laoag…heheh… Maybe because I just wanted them to feel the same happiness that I felt wondering around having fun… I felt selfish at times…
But still I treasure it for every trip I had was an experience I cherish where I learned to deal with things I don’t face in my everyday life… The long trip and the expense that goes with it were all worth it.
And yes, Ilocos… You are Precious!
Fun in Bulacan…[June 9-10]
It’s our capability’s sub-team turn for a summer fun… [Just when the rainy season started… hahaha] Good thing the weather was very fair that day. Not a single heavy cloud at sight. We had it in 8 Waves in Bulacan. It was my first time there… I’m not really a big fan of pool resorts but I think I enjoyed the place a lot. The waves were huge! way big than what we have in Leyte 🙂 So cool! The hotel was very nice… We stayed there overnight and indulge in Pancake house… hahaha…Made me think of going back…
So there! My Summer 2007 at its best…
Travel is such a strange thing… It makes you go away and when you come back… A part of you was left where you’ve gone and somehow you came back home different and feels much better…
La Belle Vita 
