caterpillar talk

“In the right light, at the right time,
everything is extraordinary.”
–Aaron Rose

i spent the last week of 2007 practically sprinting from here to there and spent the first day of 2008 in a similar way. whew! you can say “LAAGAN!” and i’d just chuckle.

i was still in tangub city with my family when one of my awesome friends — sealdz — sent out an invitation to watch 2007’s last sunset in OUR iligan. knowing i’d be back just in time, i said yes to the invitation… and la daaa daaaaaaa… swish swish flick! just take a look at the photo album i published in multiply to get glimpses of what i and a few of my hometown-slash-great friends said yes to! it’s quite a year-end special.

the wonderful sunset experience was made even better because somebody — a stranger to us — approached us and asked if he could take pictures of our group. since it was a dslr nikon camera that we saw him cradling, we didn’t dare refuse and we became instant models!

we had fun with the point-and-shoot cameras that we brought with us. we had more fun when somebody aimed his dslr cam at us and the sunset.

actually, with the sunset-painted sky as our oh-so-natural backdrop, only our shadows could be seen in the fantastic shots… but they were such fantastic shots! they’ll definitely find their way to our respective friendster (& whatever) pages once we get hold of our own copies.

by the way, ENJOY 2008!

“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather,
always bring your own sunshine.”
–Anthony J. D’Angelo

early last week, the ids99 peeps in metro manila (and nearby places) received through text and e-mail a notice for a laguna weekend. everyone seemed interested to be part of the trip until the threat of a super-typhoon loomed and the plan seemed to fizzle.

BUT when saturday (december 2) came, the laguna weekend got pushed through! my ex-travel buddy (read: yoni), yeli, and i hied off to los baños (LB) to meet up with our hosts for the weekend, kenny and eldani — whooo, rhyming names!

12.02-03.06 destination: laguna!

except that we walked the distance from the cubao mrt station to the bus terminal where we boarded the bus that took us to los baños, yoni, yeli and i reached our destination in laguna without much difficulty. well, we had to endure walking through people traffic and under the heat of the late afternoon sun in cubao. we also had to ask a lot of people for help along the way since we’re not quite familiar with LB despite having gone there before… but, all-in-all, getting to laguna from metro manila was a nice travel experience.

it helped a lot that kenny was being a responsible host. after giving us instructions on how we could get to his place via a jeepney, he waited for us at the corner leading to his house. if he had not, we could have gone past his place and we would have found ourselves temporarily lost.

the night stroll in UPLB grounds
when we got to LB, it was already close to sundown. however, we still had to wait for the couple, rose and ilian, before we could finalize our plan for the night… so we waited for their arrival from sta. rosa.

so as to make the most of our time there, kenny gave us a night tour around the UPLB (university of the philippines - los baños) campus grounds… aside from introducing the landmarks and sharing a lot of trivia, kenny also told us maria makiling stories along the way. both yoni and i agree that he has a bright future at being a tour guide!

just some of our early evening photos

uh, actually, we had no exact plan for our laguna weekend. we just went to laguna and it was a come-what-may situation from there. we figured, we could either go hiking then camping or night swimming… either in hot or cold pool…

bad news, good news… you can never tell
it was around dinnertime when i received rose’s text message saying she and ilian won’t be joining us in los baños after all. because our expectations have already been built up, kenny, eldani, yoni, yeli, and i really felt disappointed. we tried to convince them to change their minds. however, our all-out efforts were not enough. they have decided.

then and there, our party of five decided, too. we’re gonna have a blast… enjoy the weekend… elicit their envy!!! mwehehehehe… how very immature! well, if the succeeding pictures are to be taken as proofs, that decision did us good!

at this point, allow me to say that this write-up is dedicated to my laguna weekend partymates and, more importantly, to those who did not join us despite having been invited.

in this article are doses of what you’ve missed… kung inggit kayo, tama lang ‘yan. mainggit kayo! bwahahaahaah…

fun dinner by candlelight at LB square

had rose and ilian joined us in LB, our party would have gone night swimming. after they rejected our “please get here” pleas for the nth time, we gave up and… dyan dyaraaaaaaaan… we scrapped swimming and decided to drive to tagaytay instead.

from laguna to tagaytay
after dinner, we all got inside eldani’s car and off to tagaytay we went!!! BUT first, we made a stopover at sta. rosa…

some shopping and pictorial

we went inside the nike store, looked around, and enjoyed ‘chronicling’ yeli’s shopaholic tendencies.

tagaytay, tagaytay!
the drive to tagaytay was quite long but it was far from boring. there was so much to talk and laugh about along the way, especially since we’re all of the same age and iliganons and, therefore, have a lot in common.

the december night air that greeted us when we got to tagaytay was so cold to the skin. nevertheless, i was glad that we brought ourselves there that night. after all, tagaytay happens to be a place so dear to me…

laguna in tagaytay
we went inside cafe lupe. while the guys negotiated for a table, us gals went straight to the railing where we could still make out the silhouette of the taal volcano. for a moment, yoni mistook taal lake for laguna lake. hahaha… finding laguna in tagaytay, eh?? under the canopy of a star-lit sky, yes!

how’s LAGUNAYTAY for a destination, huh?

enjoying the night inside cafe lupe

yeli aptly put it when she said this with amused expression: “kuyaw kaayo ta ba. sa manila dili jud ta tig-bar, tapos nianhi tag tagaytay para mag-bar!” (translation: we’re weird. in manila, we don’t go to bars… but we came to tagaytay for a bar!) hehehe…

the way i see it, when we’re in manila, we just don’t want to do what others usually do… instead, we’d rather have the things that bring us closer to home — like inom sa balay. we don’t go to bars despite the fact that, for people in manila, the idea of a night life is almost always associated with “bars”.

tagaytay is not metro manila… and i think this is our excuse for being in cafe lupe that night.

it was a fun night! we saw the performance of two bands — one fronted by a male and female duo whose singing and fashion styles failed to pass our vocal and fashion tastes, and another fronted by monique, a lady performer whose talent and looks more than compensated for what the other band lacked.

it was monique’s momma though who got the crowd’s loudest cheers that night. her cool momma belted out alicia keys’ if i ain’t got you and chaka khan’s through the fire oh so well. we all became momma’s instant fans!!!

photo op with the lady performer’s cool momma

when we were about to leave the place, we played starstruck and requested for a photo op with the singing momma. it turned out, the momma was a bisaya herself. she hails from cebu… and she’s the one wearing pink in the pictures.

party of five in tagaytay
yeli, kenny, yoni, eldani and i

on our way back to laguna, i fought off sleep by counting how many “colette’s” signs we passed by starting from tagaytay. i managed to count 14 although i knew there were more — some signs were not discernable due to the dark.

we were supposed to still go to “kenny’s bar” in LB, but when we already got there, we changed our minds and instead opted for sleep. understandably so, it was already way past midnight and we were tired from traveling and the unexpected turns that we had to go through.

back in laguna

ah, what’s the story here?

however, wonder of wonders, when we finally got to our hosts’ apartment, yoni and i got back the energy to fight off sleep. i played five-star sudoku while she took pictures of yeli, kenny and eldani. after awhile, i got tired of my chosen mindbleeder so i helped yoni with taking pictures…

look at what we did to my mineral water bottle! see the san mig strong ice label? mwehehehe. it’s a memento from our tagaytay night.

eldani’s excuse for hitting the mattress ahead of us? “kamo daw kuno mag-drive pa-tagaytay beh.”

in the end, it was still yoni and i who went to sleep ahead of the rest. eldani’s trip to dreamland was interrupted by the arrival of kenny’s friends for their “nightcap”. us gals were also invited to join the gang but only yeli gave in to the invitation. yoni and i preferred to have our zzz’s — it was already near 2 o’clock in the morning.

sunday, 3rd of december

12.03.06: one fine sunday morning

when we woke up, it was another happy day. after a morning photo-session, yeli, yoni, eldani, and i went out for an early morning drive and to buy liters of fresh milk (actually we bought liters of chocomilk) from DTRI (dairy training and research institute), while kenny prepared breakfast…

after our hearty breakfast, we all got inside eldani’s car again and had another morning drive. we stopped by UPLB’s main library and had another photo-session — this time, in front of the campus’ infamous pegarao.

pegarao: the pegasus and carabao hybrid

the eldani and kenny show

enjoying pook ni maria makiling

pa-picture-picture lang

12.03.06 laguna getaway moments

…and that pretty well tells the story of our laguna-turned-lagunaytay weekend.

what can i say? we’re the masters of spontaneity. we make do with whatever circumstances come our way… and we make excellent springboards out of setbacks.

’til next time… whenever that will be!

p.s.

here’s how our text/email exchanges went after our lagunaytay weekend:

Kenny: Thanks for spending your Weekend at Los Baños with me and Eldani, it was such a great time…

Yoni: Nalingaw jud ko even if daghan set backs. Infernez na offset jud ang akong hell week sa office. Basta kay lingaw jud given the unforseen circumstances. Asa pa ka nakakita ug Laguna weekend nga nag midnight sa Tagaytay, wahehehe!!!

Val: Dili jud ta palpak. We know how to weather circumstances.

Yeli: Salamat for making my first outing with high school batchmates memorable. Lingaw man diay noh. Sa uulitin…

“On behalf of every Filipino, we invite you to come and see
the cultures, attractions, and sights
that make up our 7, 107 islands.”
– the Biyahe Tayo! travel advocacy campaign

you’ve been warned! this is one very long post (with 12 photos). to make up for the hiatus? you bet. hahaha…

first, let’s have a run-through of what i’ve been up to. i packed my things, bade my room and roommate goodbye, left diliman, went home to my family and my iligan, traveled to davao, attended a scientific conference, met bisaya bloggers, had a memorable eat-all-you-can experience, hied off to samal island, went home to my iligan, traveled with my family to tangub city, and… well, you get the picture: from one experience to another, from one circle to another, from one place to another!

got backpack, will travel

i packed my things…
i knew that the moment i’m done with “thesis my quest” i wasn’t going to stay any longer in metro manila, so i assumed the mindset of “i’m leaving, i’m finally leaving”.

things weren’t easy.

one week before my scheduled departure, i wasn’t prepared to go. i was out in corregidor and enjoying my trip around that very historic rocky island. all thoughts of finally going home to iligan and leaving metro manila were temporarily set aside. i had not yet bought my flight ticket. i had not yet made any flight reservations. i had not yet packed my things.

i was stalling.

nonchalance | whatever you call it…
during the days leading to my departure, concerned individuals noticed my nonchalance about the entire matter and were curious to know if i’ve already packed my things and done this and that. i… i had no ticket, i had no box to pack my gazillion things in, i still had to sort all my stuff, i… i knew i was really going and yet i did not have the heart to really prepare for my trip home. i went on living day after day as if i wasn’t moving out so soon.

as early as september, my family and close friends knew that i was going home on the 22nd of october (sunday)… yet i only moved to have my flight booked on the 20th of october (friday) and i only set out to purchase the flight ticket the next day (saturday). more than that, i only started packing less than 24 hours before my flight. talk about only doing things at the last minute!

after buying a balikbayan box and packaging tape, i went to sleep when i should have started packing right away. when i woke up, i tinkered with my computer, logged on, and put off sorting my things to a later time. i was really stalliiiinnnng. i eventually dealt with the box. i secured its bottom and the edges with layers of packaging tape… as slowwwwwlllly as i could. as i was doing that, i was stupidly singing “leaving on a jet plane”, and my roommate couldn’t help but be amused. when i saw my box already sturdy and ready to be filled, i decided to stall some more. i went back to facing the computer, absent-mindedly blog-hopped, and then… i listened to my rational side. “okay, okay, i can’t put things off anymore. i’m packing.”

packing frenzy…
pack, i did! i turned off my computer, dealt with my computer/printer cables, cleared my desk, pulled my books from the shelves, and got my clothes and stuff from the cabinet. close to ten hours and several trash bags after, i still wasn’t ready to go. i realized i had too many things and i couldn’t bring all of them with me in one go. my books alone took all the space in my oh-so-big maleta. the rubber on one of the maleta’s wheels broke off due to too much weight! hahaha. with the balikbayan box already so filled with my clothes and with no extra big box to pack the rest of my things in, i had no choice but to temporarily leave a lot of my things behind — under my roommate’s bed.

i got so busy packing and arranging things inside my balikbayan box and maleta (and stuffing trash into garbage bags, too) that i did not get to sleep during the night anymore. at 9am, i still was far from ready to leave for the airport — i’ve already taken a bath but i was not yet done packing.

my flight’s estimated time of departure was 11:45am. i was only able to leave diliman at close to 10am. ah, talk about me courting flight misadventures!

blessings…
good thing, all the universe conspired for me that day. i had a helpful roommate who saw me off at our dorm’s entrance walk. i got a taxi with a genuinely nice driver. a good dispatcher helped me with my things in the airport and even got me a porter who patiently dealt with my 77 kilos of baggage. i was able to catch my flight. i got reunited with my family in cagayan de oro city on schedule. all of us, including my oh-so-heavy baggage, safely got home to our iligan. for all those, i am very, very grateful.

oooops! sorry…
bad thing, i forgot to pay my porter. in my excitement over the fact that i was given clearance to board the plane despite arriving at the airport way after the second call for securing boarding passes, i forgot about my porter! waaaaaaaa… i’m ashamed. i swear, i’ll seek him out when i get back to manila and pay him several-fold to make up for my lapse.

i traveled to davao…
i got home on the 22nd of october (sunday). on tuesday night, 24th of october, i left home and made my way to davao city… alone. i took the 11pm bus going to cagayan de oro (CDO) city. the bus was the non-aircon type and, well, i could best describe that bus ride as biyaheng langit! hahaha… fast and furious speed. the bus arrived in CDO in no time and i was able to catch the 12mn non-aircon bus going to davao. la la laaa…

from iligan to cagayan de oro to bukidnon to davao for me!

bukidnon-davao (BuDa) land trip
the trip to davao reminded me of the beatles’ “the long and winding road…”. the road to davao was really looooong and wwwwiinding. it took long enough for me to go through that cycle of falling asleep and then waking up several times. hehehe.

i got to appreciate a lot about that trip though: i liked the cool air. i witnessed a beautiful sunrise. i saw the fog that enveloped the mountains. i loved the fact that even if i was traveling alone, i did not get bored nor scared. i did not know the streets of davao but i did not worry. i was bold enough to take on a que sera sera, what will be will be attitude.

davao city | 7am, wednesday, 25th of october
i got off the bus that took me there from CDO. i got on a taxi and told the driver to head for marfori heights. i got to marfori heights alright and was able to locate the house of my labmate in no time. yes, once again, all the universe conspired for me! hay, what a lucky child i am!

why was i in davao? for some nerdy and geeky major reason: a three-day scientific conference. i went to listen, participate, give a talk, and enjoy the company of my labmates and scientist friends. no kidding. i have proof!

10.25-27.06. some conference pictures…
disclaimer: no, that “atomic” item, that’s not my slide

i had another major reason, too: another october travel adventure. ooh la la. traveling is really one of my passions!

while in davao, i took the opportunity to meet up with the bisaya bloggers there. i skipped one conference dinner and spent time with the davao-based bisaya bloggers.

evening, thursday, 26th of october
kars and i agreed to meet in ateneo de davao. when i got to ateneo (which, by the way, is the only place i was familiar with in davao aside from my host’s house), kars was not yet there. it was raining hard that night and she was having difficulty getting a taxi. the one i saw standing on the steps of the main entrance was shawty. it was our first meeting ever! when kars eventually arrived, the three of us made our way to the venue and had dinner at suka’t sili. let’s see… my labmates and i had dinner at luz kinilaw on wednesday night and we bisaya bloggers had dinner at suka’t sili that thursday night.

we ordered liempo, stuffed squid, inihaw na tuna belly, and iced tea. shawty ordered a bottle of red horse, too. while waiting for our food to come, we talked and talked about our bisdak existence and i took pictures of kars and shawty. when our food arrived, i took more pictures. hehehe. it can no longer be denied that i’m so shutter-happy.

from the venue, we decided to move to matina town square (MTS). as we were making our way out of the compound, it rained sooooooo hard! cats and dogs, man, cats and dogs… and na-testingan jud ang among pagkalaagan! instead of being deterred by the rain, we became more determined to get to MTS. while waiting for a taxi to come around to the already seemingly flooded loading/unloading area of the compound, i played with the camera and took more pictures. come high or low water, i couldn’t be deterred from my attempts of documenting my get-together with the astig bisdak bloggers of davao!

we were eventually able to get to MTS. there, shawty ordered blugre’s durian-flavored coffee for me. she said that i should taste it so i did — it was oh-so-good! and that’s coming from me who happens to be not a big fan of coffee — i rarely (as in very, very, very rarely) drink coffee. while in blugre, another bisaya blogger whom i have not met before came to join our party. jerry came with his lalabs, ava, whom i’ve already met more than four years ago as my indoor group rapporteur in tagaytay. wow, small world!

10.26.06. bisaya bloggers in davao

it was a sober but fun night for the five of us: shawty, moi, kars, jerry and ava. i told shawty i was willing to glug alcohol as a courtesy shot for her but even that courtesy shot, i wasn’t able to have. the time for me to find my way back to my labmate’s house came too soon.

friday, 27th of october
my third day in davao started right. it’s amazing how just one simple text message from that one person could make my day, hehe. i felt i must have done something right… or maybe it’s just all the universe conspiring for me once again. cool noh?

in the afternoon, after the last series of conference talks, my labmates and i went to see the crocodile show in davao’s crocodile park.

10.27.06. davao crocodile park

what did we see? exotic animals. colorful birds. playful monkeys. hyper-active ostrich. iguanas. an owl with cute eyes. rabbits. eagle. snakes. local chicken. leopard cat. turtles. monitor lizards. crocodiles. big and small crocodiles. cute baby crocodiles. far-from-cute adult crocodiles. moving crocodiles. open-mouthed crocodiles. hungry crocodiles. ferocious-looking crocodiles… and a very able tightrope walker who dared to play on the rope several times, seemingly oblivious to the danger of falling into that mossy pool filled with, you guess it, crocodiles!

after our trip to the crocodile park, we trooped to nanay bebeng’s in marfori for an eat-all-you-can dinner. sulit! actually, it was our thank you treat to our generous host family.

10.27.06. eat-all-you-can dinner at nanay bebeng’s

saturday, 28th of october
my labmates and i started the day early. we trooped to the apo view to meet up with another group. then, together, all of us got into this public utility vehicle that took us to the sta. ana wharf. our destination from there? the island garden city of samal!

10.28.06. yey, samal for a saturday destination!

island garden city of samal
fancy name for a place? sounds like paradise? …but i guess the island lives up to its island garden city stature.

we got to samal island by swimming the entire distance from davao city. nah, just kidding! we took a ferry ride…

10.28.06. on our way to samal

isla reta moments
our group got off the ferry at sta. cruz, talicud, island garden city of samal. the beach that awaited us there looked majestic from afar… and it really was! white sand. clear seawater. nice beach. all ours. the sun beating down on us as we had fun on that part of the island gave us that complete tropical island feel!

10.28.06. island getaway pics

10.28.06. at the beach resort

10.28.06. at the beach resort, too
tropical food, glorious food, wonderful food

our samal island getaway moments? sight-seeing. talisay-tree climbing. swimming. starfish-ing. picture-taking. eating: durian and marang. more sight-seeing. more swimming. more starfish-ing. more picture-taking. more eating: chocolates, chips, inihaw na isda, inihaw na manok. more swimming (worth mentioning at least twice! hehe)… and snorkeling!!! we found nemo there!

10.28.06. end of our group adventure in samal

from samal, we hired a pump boat to bring us back to davao city. we were kinda hoping we would still be able to go all the way from magsaysay to malagos for us to visit the philippine eagle sanctuary. we really tried to beat time… but our best efforts were in vain. we were able to leave samal too late. when we got to malagos, the eagle facility was already closed. huhu. just as well, at least, we were given a good reason to look forward to our next davao visit (whenever that will be)!

i went to tangub city…
i got home to my iligan from davao on the 29th of october (sunday). on the 31st day of october, i traveled again! this time, i was with my family.

from iligan to mukas, lanao del norte to ozamiz to tangub city for us!

10.31.06. another travel
the family that travels together, stays together

my papang, mamang, two younger sisters and i (too bad, my kuyang is currently away) traveled to tangub city. what i liked most about this recent trip’s the fact that it was the first time after a long, long time that we went to tangub without the family vehicle. the experience of us having to transfer from one ride to another and having to carry our respective bags (instead of just dumping them together in the car) seemed so novel to me, although i’ve already had that kind of family experience too many times more than 10 years ago.

you don’t have to say it. i know my skin color stands out! in the pictures, i look like lasaw na champorado put beside whitish lugaw — fine with me because i like my color. hehe.

why tangub city? it’s my papang’s hometown.

it’s now the 4th of november. our family just got back from our trip.

oh, on a side trip to our relatives’ place in bonifacio, misamis occidental, my sisters and i had some rafting fun…

bamboo rafting, sister bonding

p.s.
(1) another “dear diary, i traveled, i hope this does not bore the reader” article has been brought to you by me. hahaha.

(2) if you don’t find this boring, then you’ll gonna wonder where my next destination will be… pray i’ll tell. maybe you should just keep being posted.

(3) for another independent account of my night with the bisaya bloggers of davao, click here.

dragon boat rowing. selling ice candy in front of malate church. trip to thailand manila zoo. selling bottled water in the streets of makati. ice skating in megamall. relay in mandaluyong. all that during one fine saturday!

it all started with gail asking the manila-based bisaya bloggers to block-out their may 20 schedule for her. her group, the YUPPeace (young upbeat professional for peace), was organizing an amazing race-inspired activity and she wanted the bisaya bloggers to participate. fun-loving people and adventurers that we are, zimm, kuya toto, jory, sealdi and i said yes. we committed ourselves to join the one-day activity eventhough we had no idea of the tasks that will be assigned to us. the mere mention of "amazing race" was interesting enough… nice bait so we bit!

the details we got from gail via SMS were: may 20, 2006. meeting place: CCP parking lot, manila bay. be there 7am. wear blue shirt. bring swim wear and goggles. medicines, if you need any. extra money. extra clothes.

ulk… swim wear. goggles… and what?! manila bay?!

when i saw the words "swim wear", "goggles" and "manila bay" i think my eyes popped out, my head spun, and i quickly reconsidered taking back my "yes". there was just no way i was going to take a dip in manila bay… not even with the promise of a million pesos. nooooooooooo…. sure i can get crazy enough to walk on very fine broken pieces of glass, burning coals and tightrope but dip in manila bay?? no way!

gail's reply to my request for "no manila bay dip" assurance wasn't quite assuring: part of the game. not sure if there will really be swimming. bring swim wear and goggles, just in case. be there on saturday, 8am (not 7am as originally scheduled). wear blue shirt.

since i was looking for adventure and after some summer fun, i forgot about backing out and found myself and my backpack in the manila bay area on the morning of may 20, saturday. zimm, kuya toto, jory, gail and the YUPPeace were already there when i arrived and the activity was just about to kick off. ahh, i admire my timing! (let's just forget that i was actually late and gail somehow worried that i got lost in the manila jungle. hehehe.)

bisaya bloggers + YUPPeace = amazing race

amazing race YUPPeace edition 2006. 3 teams, 3 colors: yellow. red. blue.

bisaya bloggers in blue!

1st challenge: dragon boat race in manila bay

i thought i'd never get around to being part of a dragon boat rowing team. what do you know? the opportunity came to me last saturday and i grabbed it with much excitement. yes!!! i'll no longer wonder what it's like to be on a dragon boat, rowing. i've experienced it!!!

after a warm-up session, all of us participants had a crash course on dragon boat rowing courtesy of one of the key people of the national team (read: 2005 SEAGames dragon boat race champion). we were shown how to hold the quite expensive oars (PhP3K each and imported from canada) properly: one hand should firmly hold the "T" and the other should be on the "shaft" to control the angle of the "blade". we were told that "stroke" means right and "bow" means left. the other terms we kept track of were "backwater", "standby position" and "entry".

yes, we're eager learners… but somebody got distracted by the "barako" bodies of the SEAG rowers, hehehe.

then, it was time for the real thing… the dragon boat could hold twenty rowers but for our challenge, only ten rowers were needed: five on the "bow" side and five on the "stroke" side. the experience was great!!! i loved it!we, members of the blue team, learned things so fast. we're so proud of our performance! when we were already out there in the middle, our instructor and "drum beater" asked four of us in the "bow" side to change positions to maximize the team's potential. the act of standing up and walking on the boat was quite exciting (and scary, too). gail and i had to let out our ear-piercing shrieks because, at one point, we thought the boat would overturn (and you could just imagine what's next!) due to all the motion of people standing up. fortunately, my much feared dip in manila bay didn't happen. all of us had our share of very minor splashes of manila bay water on our arms and thighs though courtesy of how we moved our oars in the water when we were told to row hard. it was such a grand experience to row as a team. every merciless ray of the late morning sun and every drop of water on our skin was worth it! gail, who got kissed by the water (hahaha…), could attest to this.

the dragon boat experience of the yellow team and the red team captured on cam.

the rowing team to beat

after the dragon boat race (what race? the blue team had so much edge, i said so. hehehe), all teams got the 1st clue and raced towards the next stop: fountain area beside aristocrat restaurant, in front of malate church.

leading the pack: happily making our way to the grand fountain

agile and addicted to winning (gail says we have major issues on rejection and losing, that's why — and i agree with her), our team got to the fountain area ahead of teams yellow and red. in fact, zimm and kuya toto were able to rush to the venue ahead of the game marshalls who're to give the task and the next clue! talk about agility and ability!

task: sell 20 pcs. of ice candy (PhP5 each) in the bay area

hehehe… imagine us (read: people in blue, sweaty from the walking/running we had to do in order to get from the CPP parking lot area to that grand fountain in baywalk) selling ice candy to people we don't know and convincing them to shell out PhP5 for ice candy that actually costs only PhP2! we're quite good, we completed the task in no time and got the next clue for the next stop.

we all got on a jeepney in front of malate church and egged the driver on to go as fast as the streets would allow and head right away to manila zoo!

smiling faces: we're going to the zoo!

task: give the scientific names of hippopotamus, african lion, leopard, eagle owl, tiger, philippine cockatoo…

wanted: scientific names! ack!

only four of our teammates were allowed to go inside the zoo to look for the scientific names. the rest of us waited outside…hay! this task took more time than what we were willing to spend. it's the marshalls' fault, not our teammates'! (hahaha, gotta blame others! *winks*) as a result, the yellow team caught up with us and we lost this round to them. what?! yellow team got our precious lead from us? we lost our preciousssssssssssss?

anyway, while we waited for our teammates to finish their task inside the zoo, we camped by the zoo's entrance and played a fun round of "shagidi shagidi shapopo". we followed jory's graceful movements while chanting. in no time, we were quite a sight! we shamelessly provided a short-lived entertainment showcase by the zoo's entrance with our cultural dance-inspired actions and "shagidi" chanting. oh, what fun!!!

at the zoo's entrance

our next stop was somewhere in filandia. we rode on a jeepney (taxi cab rides and hitch rides were not allowed by the marshalls) and got to this car shop…

task: car washing!

when we got to the shop, the yellow team was already there. three of their selected members were quite done with putting "shampoo" on the car they were tasked to clean. as for our team, we had to wait for a car to drive in…

…until finally, dzan dza raaaaaaaaan… fanfare and drum roll please: jory and gail found a new calling… car washing!

after they made the car look squeaky clean, we got our next clue and off we went to the next stop: don bosco - makati… to catch up with the yellow team.as soon as we got off the jeepney that took us near don bosco, we immediately headed for the spot where the game marshalls were… to ask for our next task.

task: sell bottled water (15 bottles at PhP15 each)

this task made us realize how very difficult it is to convince people on jeepneys and on the sidewalks to buy bottled water. it's not easy to find yourself on the street calling out to people to buy something from you. moreover, it is quite disheartening when the people you're trying to sell to completely ignore you. lesson learned: at least acknowledge the presence of the vendor. even if you don't buy anything, be kind enough to at least make the other person feel that you're aware of his/her presence… it means a lot to a person who's making an honest living.

blue team eventually completed the task (after the yellow team did and before the red team got their share of bottled water to sell). we had our lunch and after a few minutes of rest, it was our time time to proceed to the megamall for the next task.

at this point, we were able to catch up with the yellow team as we managed to get on the same train with them. hehehe. when we got to our stop in ortigas, teams blue and yellow raced against each other to get to the skating rink.

task: ice skating

only 6 members of each participating group were allowed to do this part of the game. the 6 "skaters" of each team were required to make two complete trips around the rink without holding the sidebars. lucky for us, there are members of our team who really knew how to skate… blue team (our team!) was the first team to get the clue for the next and last stop. we were quite a sight as we (and the yellow team as well!) rushed out of the megamall. destination: don bosco - mandaluyong for the final showdown.

task: swimming relay

who won? blue team with the manila-based bisaya bloggers, of course!

the team, our team: where winners belong.

do i still have to say that we had a saturday that's so full of fun?

—
click here for more pictures.
photos included in this post are courtesy of val, zimm, and gail.

“Breathless, we flung us on a windy hill,
Laughed in the sun, and kissed the lovely grass.”
–Rupert Brooke

one of the things i find therapeutic is being out in the sun… to feel the wind against my hair and my skin, to breathe in the fresh scent of the living grass, to bask in simple joys under the great sky, to see that the world i live in is still beautiful, to believe that, despite looming roadblocks and inner turmoils, everything is still okay. what can i say? i’m a child of the living world and a fan of the great outdoors.

whenever i feel all my zest for life is in danger of being zapped out, whenever i feel i need recharging or even just a simple time-out, whenever i’m after a home-y environment, whenever i’m longing for light moments… in my mind, i know where to go. OUT!

and OUT was where i was last saturday afternoon. i took a break from swimming in the mental soup called ‘my thesis’ to spend time with the manila-based bisaya bloggers who gathered together (again!) for a picnic at the UP sunken garden.

happy picnic buddies at the sunken garden:
“tito” miki, kars, val, jors, sildz, and “tito” zimm

i could say that it was a picnic that didn’t involve so much planning — it was a product of spontaneity — yet even before we could finish spreading out sildz’ made-in-iligan straw mat, we found out that we brought so much food for the activity! we had lechon manok, liempo, pancit malabon, lumpia, rice, green mangoes with bagoong, boiled peanuts, liters and liters of softdrinks and mineral water, and a pack of jelly ace. we also had cooked bugas nga mais and bulad nga pinikas! (wow, kalami ba gayud! straight from jory’s opol, misamis oriental yan!) it was a food-fest picnic! the abundance of our food was so overwhelming — my bisaya friends and i were compelled to greet one another ‘happy fiesta!’ ha ha ha…

bulad and mais for a bisdak fiesta!

because we had so much food, we were not able to gobble up everything eventhough all six of us could boast of a very healthy appetite. we had a lot of left-overs. even so, we were so food-crazy that saturday afternoon — when we saw a mamang sorbetero (male ice cream vendor), we did not pass up on the opportunity to buy cones and cones of yummy ice cream from him.

finding happiness with the tiling-tiling ice cream!

of course, we had our photosession with mamang sorbetero and his colorful ice cream cart.

we had so much fun that afternoon, we attracted attention from the other people who were there at the sunken garden. not only was our picnic mat a food showcase that even the flies couldn’t resist from going near it, not only did we swarm around the ice cream cart as if it was the first time in our lives to see one, not only did we have a swell time “observing” the bodies of the frisbee players playing nearby, we were also making so much noise as we joked and talked to each other using our tatak-bisdak loud voices. as usual, jory, our official booking manager and gimmick planner, took the spotlight. a couple also on a picnic couldn’t resist from letting out a chuckle when jory oh-so-unbridledly read-aloud for us the latest text message he received…

“if you think that the shortest way to a man’s heart is thru his stomach, you’re thinking ancient. That theory had long been gone when blow job was discovered.”

ooops. you did not read that from this blog! anyway, lawgaw og lingaw gyud pag mga bisaya magkatapok-tapok! as i would always say, “kay bisdak lagi…”