chasing sunsets, taking chances April 12, 2008
Posted by the caterpillar in Random, Travels.1 comment so far
“Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;
and the landscape lay as if new created
in all the freshness of childhood.”
–Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
observing the sunset while on a moving vehicle
9th of april 2008 | wednesday
sta. rosa, laguna
i could have asked the driver to stop for a little while so i could take a better picture but i didn’t.
“hello…”
“…see you soon.”
the sun was a full orange circle under the clouds. the vehicle i was riding on was heavily tinted. the SE phone did more than i expected — the pictures are not way too blurry considering the vehicle was doing past 70.
roadtrip! March 8, 2008
Posted by the caterpillar in Friends & Family, My Fave Entries, Random, Travels.2 comments
“A friendly look, a kindly smile, one good act,
and life’s worthwhile.”
–Author Unknown
1st of march 2008 | saturday
gurls’ day-out in southern luzon
maybe together we can get somewhere
any place is better
starting from zero, got nothing to lose…
the plan was to drive from calamba, laguna all the way to pagbilao — one of the municipalities of quezon province nearest to bicol — and enjoy a pristine whitesand beach in pagbilao grande island. well, we had more than that!
from calamba to batangas to san pablo to nagcarlan to majayjay to lucban to pagbilao grande island and all those places in between that we had to pass by…
marked!
one car. five gurls. one long road trip. unexpected destinations. wonderful day. fantastic way to start a month!
first spur-of-the-moment stopover
san pablo city
multiply photo album: roadtrip: san pablo city stop-over
san pablo city of laguna is one of the philippines’ oldest cities and home to seven lakes — sampalok, palakpakin, yambo, bunot, pandin, muhikap, and calibato.
we made a stopover and went to see one of the said seven lakes.
03.01.2008. san pablo city stopover: one of the seven lakes
another spur-of-the-moment stopover
nagcarlan, laguna
multiply photo album: roadtrip: nagcarlan stop-over
03.01.2008. nagcarlan stopover: nagcarlan underground cemetery
nagcarlan underground cemetery was used as a burial site from 1845 until 1981. it also served as the secret meeting place of the revolutionary leaders in laguna in 1896. in 1981, it was declared a historical landmark and placed under the responsibility of the national historical institute.
ghost stories? don’t ask why we didn’t take pictures while we were underground. just visit the place and, if you want goosebumps, ask the site custodian 
by the way, nagcarlan is also famous for sweet lanzones.
03.01.2008. nagcarlan, laguna: all gurls
spur-of-the-moment stopover #3
majayjay, laguna
multiply photo album: roadtrip: majayjay stop-over
from nagcarlan, we continued with our trip, and passed through liliw — a place in laguna province known for very affordable footwear. we decided not to stop to shop around so we satisfied ourselves with just looking at the footwear shops through the car windows. we drove through slowly, eventually passed through more country roads, and saw more countryside sights.
then, we made another stopover.
03.01.2008. majayjay stopover: taytay falls
it was drizzling and all, the drive to the place wasn’t easy (thank God, we were on a 4WD!), and it’s a long walk to the falls but… the sight’s all worth it!
stopover for lunch
lucban, quezon
multiply photo album: lucban stop-over
for lunch, we swung by kamayan sa palaisdan in lucban, quezon. ambience there was great and we got precious memories of awesome-tasting food!
03.01.2008. lunch in lucban: kamayan sa palaisdaan
it felt nice to be walking on bamboo bridges to get to our choice of floating bahay kubo (nipa hut). all the food we ordered tasted way soooo good — and that’s not because we were just so hungry. it’s not a crime to admit that we’d been munching on the way.
for our lunch, we ordered ginataang sugpo sa pako, pork sisig, laing, spare ribs, sinampalukang manok, inihaw na tangigue, and rice. we got calamansi juice, green mango shake and fresh buko for our drinks. while waiting for our order, we had pilipit — a native delicacy.
i was beyond being “officially” busog because food tasted very, very good. i told the gurls, “help! busog na busog na ako pero gusto ko pa kumain. parang nasusuka na nga ako sa sobrang busog.” haha. actually, we all felt that way.
destination: pagbilao grande island
pagbilao, quezon
multiply photo album: pagbilao grande island
the drive after lunch got more exciting. we passed through tayabas, calumpang, sariaya, and lucena before we got to pagbilao and the whitesand beach that we were after.
pagbilao grande island is a beautiful place.
03.01.2008. trekking to the beach
to get to the whitesand beach, we parked the 4WD and went on a trek… first, through a narrow footpath, then through a walkway, down a riprap, on a rocky shore, up a hill, through a forested area, through the caretakers’ gate, down another footpath… until the beach, aptly named puting buhangin, revealed itself.
03.01.2008. experiencing pagbilao
the sight was… wow! we had fine white sand flirting with our feet! everything looked so clean and serene. the best thing was, for an entrance fee of PhP50 per person, we had the place (including kwebang lampas — the nearby cave) all to ourselves.
03.01.2008. destination: pagbilao grande island
when it was already almost sunset, we left the beach and went back to the hill where we spent a little bit more time watching the awesome play of colors in the sky.
03.01.2008. almost sunset in pagbilao
truth be told, i did not know of pagbilao’s existence before. southern luzon residents, especially those from pagbilao, ought to pardon me for my ignorance. i first heard of pagbilao only two weeks ago, when my certified gala officemate mentioned it and coaxed us to go there with her. she volunteered to do all the driving. fuel expenses? travel party’s responsibility.
03.01.2008. members of our travel party
all in all, each of us shelled out PhP750 for the trip. that amount took care of our contribution for the fuel that took us all the way to pagbilao (including our sidetrips) and back to calamba, for our sumptuous lunch, for entrance fees, and for the food & drinks we took with us on the road.
03.01.2008. all that in one day
in just one day, we went to see a lake, we visited a historical site, we hiked our way to a waterfalls, we had lunch on a place defined by floating nipa huts, and enjoyed spending time on a beautiful beach — all for a good budget.
03.01.2008. some sights along the way
…and the sights we saw along the way were priceless.
ever-there February 16, 2008
Posted by the caterpillar in Friends & Family, Random, Travels.add a comment
“General opinion’s starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed but I don’t see that — seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it’s not particularly dignified, or newsworthy - but it’s always there.”
– from the movie, Love Actually
there are a lot of people whom i can run to and be with. i have both family and friends.
during the past few weekends (throw in a few workdays, too), this is something i was made more aware of — when i had to move from one fun-filled overnight session to another just to make it from one circle to another. i am not complaining. why should i? so what if i had to dash from batangas to laguna to metro manila and vice versa?
it’s fun to be stretching my energy to the limits (but i’d like to believe i have boundless energy, hehe) and i always get to have a great time dashing through it all, anyway.
thank YOU so much.
02.01-02.08: weekend photo craze with the p6peeps
this overnight with the p6peeps was followed by an overnight with the ids99 peeps. ids99 pals, when do you think our pictures will be uploaded?
02.09-10.08: still looking sooo bright!
a two-day grand event, a celebration of 10 years… and still counting
i do have both family and friends and they are ever-there. with family, i do mean the whole bunch — papang, mamang, brother and sisters, cousins, uncles and aunties, and friends of the family — who do care and who make complete the very idea of family. with friends, i do mean REAL, trusted (and tested by circumstances) friends.
i do not consider myself lucky to have them — i consider myself BLESSED. very BLESSED.
i hope you are, too.
guess where i’m off to after posting this… i’m getting a haircut and will be spending time with EVER-THERE people.
chasing the last sunset of 2007 January 3, 2008
Posted by the caterpillar in Bisdak!, Flashbacks, Friends & Family, My Fave Entries, Random, Travels.5 comments
“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!
a ‘dear diary’ entry December 24, 2007
Posted by the caterpillar in C'est la Vie, Friends & Family, Random, Travels.1 comment so far
“…and when i looked Your light was everywhere!”
pooh. it’s my december and nothing much is happening. let’s see…
when december came in, i — as written previously — bought good reads, hied off to metro manila, enjoyed an afternoon with yoni my travel buddy, had my hair cut a bit, had a hair spa, met with tiff, enjoyed a yellow cab pizza, had a foot spa and a chair massage, invaded a music booth and, with another p6peeps member, made videoke masters out of ourselves. i went back to my place in laguna rather late but the trip was all in all okay and i really had a nice weekend. i saw a fireworks show, too!
12.02.2007: videoke addicts in denial, hehe
i soon had a trip to batangas. i saw gwen garci there but no, thank you, i didn’t go there for her – i’m blessed, i had better sights to enjoy! i loved the night air, traveled back to laguna late at night, really felt grateful for my carpool buddies, and slept well.
after a productive workweek, another weekend came and i made a trip to metro manila. i got together with my p6peeps friends in trinoma… ah wait, what was i saying? nothing much’s happening? of course, by now, you do realize it’s a lie. hahaha! when i say it’s MY december, it’s NOT an empty claim!
owkey, now, back to my story.
i made a trip to metro manila and got together with the rest of the p6peeps in trinoma. after approximately 75 thousand years, i was finally able to visit trinoma for the first time. whew! one year ago, it was still a facility under construction. sm north used to be my place — not for any other special reason — but only because it’s the nearest and most accessible shopping/cinema area from my then UP diliman. uh, where was i?
8th of december 2007
saturday
triangle north of manila – trinoma
i enjoyed dinner with the p6peeps in lamesa grill. actually, we took a lot of time deciding where to eat. we went around, went up, went down, then went up and around again before we were able to come up with a decision. typical p6peeps decision-making scheme, i should say! haha.
by the time we got our table in lamesa, we were already very hungry. we must have been really starved because even before the waiters could finish serving all that we’ve ordered, we were already gobbling up — and all the food was gone in no time. even my memory failed as i could not recall — except for the fact that there was an assortment of seafoods served on platters — the names of the orders we made. after dinner, we still felt our stomachs could take in more — plus the night was still so young, anyway — so we swung by the krispy kreme establishment in trinoma and ordered donuts and caffeinated beverages. yum, yum.
magic on the bus
from trinoma, my friends and i rode on a bus to get to our next stop. i was already very sleepy by the time i took my seat and i really wasn’t in the mood to do much thinking anymore. with eyes already half-closed, i simply fished twenty-peso bills from my pocket and stretched out my hand just enough so my friends can easily take them bills when it’s time for fare. BUT whoa! just soon after the bills left my hand, there were twenties on my palm again. i didn’t have to count… i knew by weight approximation that my money already ‘grew’.
it seemed my friends pooled their twenties and, when one of them, decided to pay for all of us, dumped the collection of orange bills on my still outstretched hand. i, in turn, unceremoniously dumped all the bills in my pocket and stole a nap… no issue there; because by virtue of p6peeps’ magic, the bills became legally mine.
9th of december 2007
sunday
market! market!
i spent the earlier part of the day with the p6peeps guys — randz, anwar, and edson. we went around and around market! market!, had a lunch of steamed crabs, grilled squid, ampalaya, and liempo ’til we all felt bloated and kept laughing our heads off at randz, our hotseat victim of the day.
we later invaded a music zone booth and gave in to the videoke addicts in us. tiff and jerk came to join us. thanks to randz’ curiosity and his restless fingers — think of ‘what does this button do?’ here — we were able to avail of free songs in between the songs that we paid for. eureka! it’s better and cheaper than video-singko!!!
“naay libre na song basta…”
12.09.2007: the music booth invasion
after singing our hearts out — we used up 3 timezone cards, go figure! — we went for dinner but only after i finally bought myself a konoha headband from comic alley. yoohoo!!! it’s an early birthday gift for myself. i’d been wanting to own one ever since i saw a photo of my friend’s son wearing a konoha headband. AND then, one fine day, i finally got one! die-hard naruto fans will surely understand this. hehe.
i received christmas goodies wrapped in christmassy wrappers from my officemates over the next few days. i lost track of how many lunch outs we had. then, another weekend came…
15th of december 2007
saturday
trip to subic
if you could only read the SMS exchanges between yoni and i on the 14th of december, you wouldn’t really believe we’d get anywhere. we were, as usual, walay klaro.
i was wanting to go. she was wanting to go. i didn’t want to decide on the time. she couldn’t decide on the time. she had things on her mind. i had things on my mind. she was tired. i was tired, too. we agreed not to push through with the trip and i said i was gonna make other plans with other people. i tried.. BUT… but… but…
it was already very late in the evening when i sent yoni another message and said i wanted to push through with the trip. she wanted to push through with the trip, too! so…
here’s the ‘one-point lesson’ from my travel buddy and i: all’s well for people who agree on one thing even in the absence of ‘detailed plans’ — “kung dayon ka, dayon ko.” what’re we travel buddies for if not for that, right?
detailed plans??? what’re they?
our gameplan was simple: go to subic and buy some chocolates from duty-free. anything more (or less) than that’s something which can be left to fate… or whatever.
getting to subic just by impromptu asking
from laguna, i made my trip to cubao to meet up with yoni. in cubao, yoni and i went to a bus terminal and asked people in uniform how we could get to subic. we were told to ride a bus bound for olongapo city. we did that. we bought our tickets and got on a bus… this was around noon. 3 hours, a long trip spent on some napping, talking, and munching, and several countryside scenes after, we found ourselves in olongapo. at first, we weren’t sure about our stop… but all the people started getting off the bus, anyway, so we got off, too. hehe. we were doing real adventure!
“welcome to the city of olongapo!”
yoni and i welcomed ourselves to olongapo. we didn’t want any people to take advantage of our being strangers to the place so we pretended nothing was amiss even though deep within us some degree of worry was brewing. wasn’t it cool?! we were already in olongapo and we knew subic was just somewhere… and yet we had no idea how to get there. by the way, we had no map with us, too. yup, yup, we had no map!
we stuck to what was safe and found temporary ‘refuge’ from a nearby mcdo. wahahahaha!!! after our late afternoon snack — a sundae never fails to do its wonders — we were finally able to pull together some courage and went up to the nearest security guard and popped the ‘question of the hour’ — pa’no po pumunta sa duty-free?
so there… we rode on a jeepney and went to the GATE. we made the mistake of getting off at the other gate though. hehe. we had to walk a bit more before we found whatever it was we were supposed to find – even though when we got there, we still had no idea what it was – we just knew that was already it! more hehehe.
gameplan check — destination: subic. yup, we got to subic! so check. buy chocolates: yup, we bought chocolates! that’s another check. then, what about the bonus adventures??? you mean, like walking around and enjoying the wind, karting, and scouring the weekend market and bargain shopping? heheheeh. we did those, too!!!
giving in to NFS: need for speed
ehhehehe… we went KARTING!!! yup, yup, we gave in to our need for speed! weeeeeeeeeee… karting’s always been one of the things which i find fascinating. so when i saw the go-kart circuit in subic bay freeport zone, i really felt the urge to be on a kart and speed-drive around and around!
pictures? except for the built-in cameras of our phones, we didn’t have a camera with us… but we do have photo souvenirs of our karting stint in subic; we just haven’t uploaded them yet. in the meantime, here’s a photo of my other ever-loyal travel buddies…
“kung dayon ka, dayon pud ko”
anyway, yoni and i did not get lost in subic and we’re able to accomplish what we went there for, after all. we were able to buy our chocolates — supposedly yoni’s chocolates only but, hey, when i saw them chocolates i wanted to buy them, too. yup, yup, those chocolatey goodies and more.
we realized we didn’t have much time to explore the entire place since we had to make our way back to manila by 7pm. while we were walking around, we took a mental note of the places we won’t be able to see just so we could check them out the next time we’ll be back there. yup, we’ve got plans of going back there! as to when… we don’t know how soon… or late for that matter. what we know for sure is this: basta kung dayon ka, dayon ko.
it was already 10pm when we reached cubao. i was supposed to make the trip all the way back to laguna but it was already late so i decided to sleep over at my aunt’s house in makati. the next day, i woke up early and brought myself to laguna just in time for my tagaytay trip with the p6peeps.
just to make one thing clear, the whole point of our subic trip was not really about the chocolates. it was about getting to subic without any clear idea how to get there and without contingency plans whatsoever.
it has always been on my to do list to just get on the bus and hie off to wherever it takes me. i’d like to think i’ve taken at least one step closer to that.
there and back again
i’d like to say ‘there and back again’. in just a span of 24 hours, i went through both the north and south luzon expressways twice and still went further.
whew! call it a marathon trip. from laguna to cubao to subic to cubao to makati to laguna to tagaytay. it was tiring a bit — i won’t deny that — but it was what i wanted for a birthday celebration. it’s my way of simply declaring, hey world, i’m 25! weeehooooo!
the 15th-16th of december weekend was the weekend before my birthday and, because my birthday fell on a workday, i sought ways to celebrate it ahead! BUT then again, if you take a look at MY december, it’s safe to say it’s really a month-long birthday celebration… hahaha.
16th of december 2007
sunday
p6peeps’ day-out in tagaytay
since i first went to tagaytay in 2002, i have yet to miss a year. 2002 — i was there. 2003 — i was there, too. same goes for 2004, 2005, 2006 (i was there twice!!), and now, 2007. tagaytay’s definitely one of my fave places and, what luck, i’m currently living just very, very near it! hehe.
12.16.2007: 5 p6peeps at the picnic grove
12.16.2007: fun by the pine tree | spot the difference!
tagaytay. check. great friends. check. cool wind. check. great natural smell. check. nice greenery. check. bargain shopping. check. mushroomburger trip. check. meaningful adventures with drizzles and fogs. check. happy times. check.
12.16.2007: life is good…
more, more, more
more christmas goodies in christmassy wraps came. my birthday came and, of course, the birthday greetings came, too — THANKS, THANKS FOR ALL THE GREETINGS AND THE GIFTS!!! — hehe. i shared birthday chocolates and ice cream. i bought myself another birthday gift – a design-it-yourself starbucks tumbler, yehey! our company’s christmas party came and we had a fun trip to ayala-alabang village where we celebrated and even had videoke and dance craze bonding. we got entertained by a superb choral group, too! on the last workday before christmas, we had christmas lunch and milestone celebration at poquito mas.
21st-22nd of december 2007
friday night & saturday
tiff and jerk’s 2nd wedding anniversary & p6peeps’ christmas party
whew!!! so what if the christmas rush traffic was very, very horrible? i had so much fun! videoke fever ’til the early morning hours… and seemingly non-stop dance revo craze right after!!! wooohooo!! my throat didn’t hurt from all that singing but fatigue sure set in because of all those dance revo steps i had to do. for crying out loud, my legs still hurt as i write!
23rd of december 2007
sunday
home, here i am!!!
“christmas won’t be christmas without any presents,” says jo march in little women. i say, “christmas won’t really be christmas if not spent at home.”
so, here i am, grateful that i have a real home to call all these years… and really happy and proud to be home with my family.
i’m home and gunning for adventures… hometown peeps, what’s the gameplan? ehehe.
HAVE A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A GREAT NEW YEAR, Everyone!
