World of Wonders in the 7th Wonder

It wa a trip i can't resist. When Dom told me he was planning for a weekend trip to Batad I immediately said yes (without thinking). Not only did I join but I drag two of my colleagues as well to Batad. 

Thank God Edz and Madam Patel was game on this trip or I will not have someone to talked to and asked to take my picture! LoL.

It was an overnight trip, and as always it was a struggle for me to travel and sleep at the bus. But the morning after the trip this scenery welcomed us at the restaurant we're eating (for breakfast).

Hola Banawe!

#itsfuninthephilippineswiththisview

Oriental breakfast for me and the girls

After an hour of breakfast, chitchat, photo-ops and what not, it's time to depart to Batad via a jeep that Dom rented out (it was included in the trip fee). Almost everybody want to ride at the top of the jeep but since it's already past 9:00AM and the sun is all up me and the girls decided it's better to ride inside the jeep. As Madam Patel would say "ayokong umitim!"

Kami na ang best in skin-care!

Micamyx, Dom, Alex.....

And the rest of the gang!

As like my first trip in the Cordillera last Holy week, the road are still a heart-thumping experience ride. There are some areas where it's a dirt road, one way only and with landslide on the side, but most of the road are paved naman in fairness.

Going to Batad is already an adventure while even riding a jeep

Rocky Road!

For almost an hour trip we need to disembarked from the comfort of our jeep and need to do the trek to Batad. It was an hour trek but with the view like this it's worth it diba?

The hills are alive with the sound of music..

One of the terraces along the way

Lovely, Energetic and Full of Energy Madam Patel and Edz

Finally. we arrive at Batad, first thing we did was list up our name in the tourist register station.

Maayos ang pila namin (may disiplina) jejeje

This way to our accomodation

And here's the view of our accomodation. Outstanding!!

More to come on trekking at Batad

Superstitions!

Together with the coming of New year comes the age old superstition of our people and with our own families as well. Some of those superstition are wearing polka dots fort New Year (which signifies more money in the coming year), 12 sets of different round fruits for good luck (heck, we didn't ever complete this one since my sisters always ends up eating all the grapes before midnight!), blowing up firecrackers to drove away the negative vibes from your house (sayang ang perang pambili ng paputok!!!) and what not.

Anyhow, I list up some of superstition which I just learned last 2011....

1. Getting married in a church with very strong structure. Strong structure = strong married life.

I actually learned this info from my good friend Shane who was married in San Agustin Church. True enough it was an old saying that you should get married in a church with reputable and strong structure. One thing that comes to my mind is the mighty San Agustin Church! It was the only church in Intramuros that survives WW2. It's in my bucket list to get married here hahahaha.

All Hail to the Mighty Church!

2. The Lion Dragon statue of China

According to the receptionist at our hotel, the lion dragon statue means goodluck and prosperity to the owner of the house. No wonder every house/ building/ temples/ establishment in Beijing has this on their doorstep. Hmmm..makabili nga ng ga-higanteng statue para sa future bahay ko.

Lucky Me?!!?

3. Visit the Church first before going in a vacation
According to Kuya Efren, before daw kami maglamyerda sa Cebu City we should at least go to the Church first par ama-bless yung vacation namin. And so we did! Ayan may ibidinsha! LoL. It was indeed a fun filled vacation at Cebu and Bantayan Island. Da best!

Thank you Lord for the Blessings ha!

4. Wood carved gods of the mountains
I have a secret to tell you. Afraidy Aguillar ako sa mga ganitong bagay na makikita sa Banaue! Waaaaaa!!! But just the same, the time I went to this place (twice last 2011) I simply pay respect to them and asked for safe passage expecially when we do the trekking in Batad and Kalinga (will post the story soon!). Nevertheless with the help of prayers narin our trip was a success and accident free pa. Yay!

Hellowh powh!

5. Shiny, Shimmering Splendor! The golden door knuckles of Forbidden Palace

Well, technically it was not only in Forbidden Palace that you can find this huge door knuckles but in Temple of Heaven as well. I think most of the Palaces in China have these one. It was plain curiosity when we we're in Forbidden Palace that all the Chinese people who passed by the door simply touch or grasp the knuckles before entering the premises. Shempre hindi ako papatalo, I did the same when I passed by the huge door of F.P. And according to our receptionist (see item 2) touching the knuckles daw means good luck. Niaha! Buti nalang nakahawak ako kaya puro blessings ako nugn 2011. (note to self: magpalagay rin ng ganitong pintuan sa bibilhing bahay para swertihin, kasama ng higanteng lion dragon statue. pag hindi pa ako sinuwerte ewan ko nalang!)

Ms Olive and her trademark pose (i.e. pa-cute and innocent effect pose)

For 2012...

Will head up to the beach come Summer 2012

(Calaguas Island, Camarines Norte)

Study more about Philippine History and Culture

(Statue at San Agustin Church Museum)

Overseas Travel and Leisure!

(Mutianyu Great Wall, China)

Eating delicious cakes and pastries by Floro

(Blueberry cheese cake)

More Trekking and Mountain Climbing for 2012! Wohoo!!

(Batad, Ifugao Province)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL AND GODBLESS US MORE IN 2012

Left Unguard at Bantayan Island

Hola peeps! Before the year ends i'd like to share my vacation adventure at the famous Bantayan Island off the coast of Cebu Island. I have to admit at first I was disappointed with it (will tell you alter why) but during the course of the trip I fell in love with the place already and I want to go back next summer here.

From Cebu Cit we boarded a bus that took us on a 4 hour ride to the Port that will lead us to Bantayan Island. It was a smooth ride in fairness and less traffic unlike here in Manila. We arrive at the Port an hour before noon and we missed the 11:30 ferry trip! Yikes! Next trip is at 1:00PM. Not bad.

I think the ferry trip took an hour, because me and my fabulous companion doze off during the trip. It's siesta time naman kasi! LoL! Also i prefer to sleep than watch the ferry move because I'm not a big fan of water bound vessels.

Upon arriving at the terminal in Bantayan Island, the resort service van pick us up.Don't you just love hotels with free airport/port transfers? It's one of my necessities when I travel, I don't care much on how crappy the hotel's service or how small their rooms are but as long as they have transfers that ok with me =).

After checking-in in our hotel and freshen up a bit (which is a small but cozy hotel fronting the beach(sorry i forgot your name!)) we decided to explore the beach right away. It was 3:00PM and it was hot, very hot I tell you but that didn't stop us from hitting on the beach.

There's a sand bar 30 meters off the coastline and it was awesome!!

The sandbar (which is not man made) creates a mini lake between the coastline. It was nice considering the water temperature from the ocean is cold while here at the mini-lake it is luke warm. Very very nice.

Unfortunately, our vacation was scheduled on the monsoon season, hence the dark clouds hovering above us in less than an hour. Also the monsoon season makes the waves even bigger and stronger hence the presence of large swath of seaweeds on the seashores of Bantayan island.

But the little rain didn't damp our exciting spirits. We had a nice merienda afterwards then took a nap, then stroll around the area and drink Tanduay Ice while eating our dinner on a roadside makeshift canteen. Crazy! Para lang kaming tambay sa kanto! We went home drunk and happy =P.

When morning come, the owner of the hotel offered us a tour on the Virgin island off the coast of Bantayan Island. With a reasonable price (Php 1500 for 3 pax) we grab the offer. But since we woke up early and the bangkero is nowhere in sight we decided to drop by at downtown to go to the market for our lunch.

Suprise! Suprise!!! It was Nutrition month pala and there we're kids parading in downtown Bantayan. Ang cu-cute! Sayang I didn't brought my camera that time =( But what excites me the most was the Bantayan Augustinian Church right in the middle of the town. It was old but grandioso! So beautiful!!! Turns out it was one of the oldest Catholic Church in the Philippines, makes me wonder though why did the Augustinians built a church on an island instead on the mainland like Negros or IloIlo perhapds? Anyhow it was beautiful and majestic, the Old charm of Roman Catholic is still there, ala San Agustin Church in Manila lang!

After the quick trip to downtown, we proceed to Virgin Island. We passed by the port hence the photos of the ferries and fishing vessels from Cebu and other parts of Visayas.

After 30 minutes of travel we landed on Virgin Island. It was awesome!! Also the name of the island speaks to itself. There was no water and electricity line in the island!! We do need to pay for rental fee and boat parking fee to the caretaker of the island.

Our mode of transportation

It was white sand, blue green waters and no people! It's like the place is ours! LoL!

The island is a great place for snorkeling, lot's of colorful fishes and some corals can be seen even near the seashore. But since i don't know how to swim nor snorkel I just content myself by looking at the fishes from above the water =P.

Powdery white sands, almost the same as Boracay!

There's a volleyball net on the island as well. Naiwan daw nung previous vacationers =P

Pa-dramatic effect na shot! LoL!

The controversial buri made fedora hat! Hahahaha! =P

Ate Cathy taking a moment of silent under the heat of the sun!

All in All, Bantayan Island was amazing!! The people are great, the place is heaven for dried foods, the culture is cool, the beach is awesome and most importantly the people knows how to protect the environment which is actually great because it is their source of livelihood via Tourism. Kudos to the people of Bantayan. I really hope I could return to your place this summer 2012!

More to post before the year end =P.

Season's Greetings

Yes, ako po yang nasa picture and yes pumayat po ako! Hahahaha!

Mula sa siyudad na walang window time during color coding ako po ay malugod na bumabati sa inyo ng Manigong Bagong Taon! nawa'y patuloy po tayong basbasan ng Poong Maykapal ng mga biyaya at magandang kalusugan sa 2012!


p.s. this shot was taken from Mt. Pico De Loro in Ternate Cavite last November 2011. Didn't manage to took my camera on the said trip because the weather is unpredictable, and true enough our day of descend it rained very hard. Yikes! Thanks to Dom for this awesome shot =D.

Todo na T.O.H.

We woke up early (again) on our last day in Beijing. Olive want us to visit Mao's mausoleum as early as possible since the attraction is known to attract thousands of visitors. Turns out nearly almost ALL the tourist who was at Beijing have the same thing in mind.

Riding the train and off to Tiannamen square, the throngs of people who greeted us at the entrance of the square made my nightmare into a reality! Almost all people where going to the mausoleum! Yikes! I kid you not when I tell you that the line is almost 2 kilometers long! ! And with the heat of the sun (it was the middle of summer naman kasi!) and slow moving line we've decided t's a bad idea to  visit the place.

All types of people I've seen on Tiannamen Square!!

Thats' where the Great Mao is laid to rest, ala Macoy lang ng Ilocos. 

The Swedes are coming!!!