Hundred Islands : For your information its 123 Islands

Bitter about my friends pictures uploaded in Facebook, I made plans with my ever “go everywhere” boyfriend to hit another roadtrip.
I have never been to Hundred Islands and though I heard about it from some friends, never did I put it on my to-go list, but after browsing blogs and seeing amazing pictures of the place, I changed my mind and decided for it to be my first summer getaway. With two of girl pals (Cath and Rhea) and Dy, we waited at the bus terminal of Victory liner Cubao where we bought tickets for the last trip to Alaminos. We left Cubao at 10:50pm and set our bodies to the best sleeping/sitting position for the 5-6hours drive.
We arrived in Alaminos by 530am, got into our tricycles and straight to our resort at Island Tropic. I found the place thru Yahoo, the room was decent and very clean, and there were 3 double deck beds, for a total capacity of 6 persons per room. We got the island tour package for Php1,500 inclusive of full board meal and am/pm snacks, own boat, entrance fee to the islands, and one night accommodation, not bad at all. For the second night we only paid for the room of Php2,000 inclusive of breakfast. For me, the place is the perfect accommodation for anyone who would like to visit Hundred Islands.

We tried to sleep some few minutes but we couldn’t get any more power nap in our system, so after coffee and more chitchats, we changed to our island hopping outfit and off we went for a day at Hundred Islands.
We first went to Governors Island, another hundreds that we saw are jellyfish, the locals told us it’s that time of the year again. Our tour guide (2 boys) told us we have to climb the cliff...time to do cardio while on vacation by climbing 123 steps to reach the perfect view of the famous scattered islands. The huffing and the puffing to get to that spot was worth it, but the place was too small, it’s not advisable if there are lots of visitors at the same time to be on that place.

After clicking our cameras away, we went around to see another “hundreds”...bats! one islands are called Bat Island, there they were, sleeping soundly by the trees....yay! We told our boatman to bring us to another island where we can stay and if possible empty of tourists. Right across the Children’s Island is the small Scouts island. Surprised by the white sand, the crystal clear water...I couldn’t believe that I ignored Hundred Islands for so many years! Except for few dead jellyfish, the place was perfect. I loved it there. We decided to stay there until after lunch.

After some time the girls and I heard the little monsters inside our tummies and opened our lunch pack from Island Tropic. For morning snacks, we had suman and puto, and for lunch...it was heaven! Pinakbet (Ilocano style! Loveee ‘et!) with famous Alaminos longanisa on top and two big grilled boneless milkfish. Along with the lunch pack are drinks (water, iced tea and sodas good for 4) and more suman and puto for pm snacks.

We decided to pack up and say goodbye to our little island of paradise and asked our boatman to bring us to another tourist-less island. We passed by the crowded Quezon and right across we saw an empty place and decided to stay there for a little bit of sun and more swimming. This time we all enjoyed snorkelling, too bad, we all forgot to bring one, so we borrowed the one from the boatman’s kid and we alternate on using the kid’s abused goggles. I can advise that people should bring their own snorkelling gear whenever they go and for me, that would be the last time I would forget to bring it.

We went back to our resort few hours after lunch. Showered and decided to take a nap. Market trip that afternoon to check out the famous mouth watering Alaminos longanisa and bangus (milkfish) Dagupan. We decided that we would buy our pasalubongs the next day so it will not stink in our room.

Back in the resort for dinner, though I can’t remember what we ate, the quantity and the quality is just superb! The owner even gave us fresh tuna that they served as sashimi complete with wasabi and soy *yum* and tales of the Hundred Islands, where the resort owner revealed that actually, it’s 123 Islands. Dinner while we watch cable tv, the place was quiet, the waiters are helpful, the owner and his family are friendly and one thing I couldn’t forget was...I was full. Amen for good food!

Full and not up for sleeping yet, the girls together with dy and I went for a night stroll in their town plaza where they celebrated a local holiday (sorry I wasn’t able to get what was the celebration about) but there was live band, food stalls and tiangge (shopping stalls for souvenirs). After going around, we felt hot and sticky already, we remembered the vodka that we bought earlier, we thought ice, vodka, humid night...perfect!

The waiters of Island Tropic, were kind enough to give us freebies! (Ice and usage of their glasses and even an ice container). The Bar, salty chips and watching Hating Kapatid...it was a night of being laid back and just enjoying a relax time inside our room, or to sum it up, a gimmick for 30+. Our happy hour ended up as soon as I start yawning. We went to bed and snooze until we fell into a deep sleep...except for Cath.

The next day, Alaminos is bright and shiny and happy to greet the tourist! It was a perfect day for another beach trip. We had our mouth watering breakfast of Alaminos Longanisa, fried rice and fried boneless milkfish, it was again, yummy....

At 9 in the morning we were all set to travel for one hour to Bolinao where we decided to spend our last day. We went to town by tricycle and as per direction of the helpful waiters we got into the van going to Bolinao. For 55 per person and an hour travel, no traffic, we reached Bolinao town in no time! We got off the old Bolinao Church, but we didn’t go inside to respect church goers, as we were all in beach outfits. We arranged another tricycle ride going to Patar Beach and the old Cape Bolinao Lighthouse. This is going to be my second time to visit Bolinao, previous company outing was the first one.

After almost an hour of bumpy ride, we got off our 3 wheeled service and ask Manong driver to wait for us. For the ride, he was asking for Php500 for the whole trip, beach, lighthouse and caving, but the haggler in me acted out and we got him for Php400 (since we are 4 I think it was just fair, Php100 each).
Patar beach is beautiful, it was worth the trip. There were huts for rent and stores where you can buy food and ice. The sand was clean and creamy, though when you get to the water, its a bit rocky.
We stayed there until 2 in the afternoon and went to lighthouse and another stop over at enchanted caves (where hundreds of Koreans are dipping and we decided to skip the cold dip. Finally we found our way back to Alaminos, where we bought our pasalubongs before heading back to our resort. After packing our longanisa and milkfish with newspapers, we headed out to the plaza where we had a not-so-okay dinner...we should’ve stayed in the resort to eat. Anyways, Cath’s daughter was scheduled for a pictorial on her ballet recital so we decided to go home early than the original plan. We took a nap after dinner and 30 minutes before midnight, we were on our way to bus terminal waiting for the 12:30 first trip, but then a bus pass by so we went ahead to save time.

By 5:30 am we were strolling on the busy streets of Cubao. Cath waited for her husband to pick her up, while Rhea went to ride her bus going to Sta. Cruz Laguna and dy took me home to Pacita.

All in all it was a pretty great vacation, cause we were able to enjoy the sun and the beach of Pangasinan and by Sunday, we were already with our families and still have time to rest before we go back to being a corporate slave the next day.
For information of where we stayed and package tour : http://www.islandtropichotel.com/

Expenses:

1. Cubao-Alaminos (Victory Liner) - Php370 (one way)

2. From Alaminos bus terminal to resort via tricycle Php100 per person

3. Island Tropic Resort - Php1,500 (Island package tour)

-inclusive of overnight accomodation for 4/full board meal (1 day)/ entrance fee / boat service

4. Alaminos - Bolinao via shuttle van Php55 per person

5. Bolinao town - Patar Beach/Cape Bolinao lighthouse service (roundtrip) Php100 per person

6. Bolinao town - Alaminos town via bus (cause we missed the van) Php65 per person

7. Alaminos - Cubao Php350 each

Total: P1,415

Parque Espana Residence Hotel: 3 Bedroom Suite for one night only

I love hotels, the polite service of the crews, the nice comfy bed, the fluffy pillow, the smell of fresh flowers...it is pampered living.
I was given the one night stay at Parque Espana in Alabang, and who else are the perfect companions for these kinds of freebies? My boys! (Enzo and Dy).
As early as 10am we were already wandering around Alabang Town Center, I was looking for a really nice classic bag where I can use for work and play. After bag searching I contemplated with two different bags and I ended up not buying anything at all. The boys though had fun at Timezone.
After lunch we headed off to Parque and checked in where, the 2 bedroom suites are all fully booked, so they upgraded us to...tadah! 3 bedroom suite...soooo sweet!
Our room at 1605 was just perfect. We entered the room and all we could say was “aaah, wooow...” The room was huge! I looooved it.

The room has got that homey feeling, maybe because you have your own dining area, kitchen, maids room, living room, a bathroom right next to the kitchen, and 3 bedrooms (the biggest room has its own bathroom).
We stayed at our suite for the next few hours, Enzo got busy with my iphone while Dy and I relaxed in our room and watched a movie. By 3pm, we took Enzo to swim at the top floor of the hotel. It was cold but Enzo, just like any water baby, enjoyed his swim.

Posing inside one of the bathrooms

For afternoon snack, we head off to Cavite, where my soul sister introduced me some killer beef mami (actually not just beef, but everything on it, chicken, pork, even egg!) I’m not an avid fan of noodles, but for this one, I’ll make an exemption. We went to Festival right after Cavite, straight to Wendy’s burger (geez, aren’t we so hungry?) anyway, we bought some popcorn and bacon cheeseburgers for our movie night in our hotel.

Night view from our room

The stay at Parque Espana was nice, the hotel is not so big but the people were nice enough to feel that their service is really sincere.
I recommend Parque Espana to anyone who loves to stay in a hotel with a touch of your own home.

With my boys

Special thanks to Odette for a wonderful night at Parque!
For more info about Parque Espana, visit their website: http://parqueespana.net/

Nagsasa Cove and Anawangin: In a relationship in Zambales

I was pretty excited, this trip was a first, and the first after a looong vacation from my gypsy mode kind of life. January, my boy friend and I decided it was really time for a real roadtrip. No private car, no hotel accommodation and no airports. I haven’t tried travelling with someone you are involved with. I always travel with friends, family or work colleagues. I once went out of town with someone I was dating, many moons ago, though it was by land, I felt I was travelling first class while I sit on the passenger side of his X5 BMW, reading the news paper channelling the first lady wearing my white linen pants, white shirt and checking my email on my laptop once in a while.

Now, officially in a relationship, happier than ever, huge back pack on my bag, I went to Makati to meet him where I saw my guy sitting inside SM department store with his mountaineer look. If I think my backpack was huge...his was enormous. We went downstairs to the food court to have dinner before catching the 11pm bus ride. After shopping for some snacks Dy and I took a cab from Makati to Pasay Victory Liner bus terminal.
The place was crowded with people going home, travellers, tourists, and vendors. Dy and I settled in one area and waited for almost 4 hours. We did everything to kill time, from whining about my work, to watching videos through my phone, eating “taho” as we alternate in yawning. The bus finally parked in front of us, he went and checked in his mini house (as what I call his enormous backpack) in the bus compartment and finally settled ourselves in our seats while Dy covered me up with his “malong”. I fell asleep right away and besides 11pm is way past my bed time. The swaying of the bus, I was awaken with our bus swaying through Olongapo City. It was pretty scary, I tried to sleep it off but I couldn’t so I woke up Dy, he tried to ignore me but the charm worked eventually.

We finally reached the town of San Antonio at 3:30am. A tricycle driver holding a cup of coffee greeted us if we are going to Pundaquit. The tricycle was fast but not a short ride. I could feel the morning mist hitting my face, I was quivering, I could feel Dy’s arms turning like chicken skin. It was soooo cold, three trench coats will do it.
We arrived at 10 minutes before 4am at Wild Rose Beach Resort. The resort advised us to only pay P50 for the ride, but we decided to just give P100 since it was so early he wouldn’t get any passenger at that time when he goes back to San Antonio. The place was like a house turned into a resort. I called up our contact person, and he woke up and opened the gate for us.
He directed us straight to our room where Dy and I crashed in immediately and fell asleep until 6am.

After breakfast of tocino and sunny side up egg, we went to meet our boatman who was also recommended by the resort. We paid 1,500 for the boat ride to Nagsasa and Anawangin Cove. We left at mid morning and the waves were still manageable.
Nagsasa Cove is an hour away from Pundaquit. We passed through Anawangin and saw campers on the island. Nagsasa is beautiful, we were greeted by the locals and stayed on one of the tables and chairs owned by Wild Rose Resort. Dy and I took a walk with my camera and tripod and walked around the beautiful cove of the island. As I’ve read through some bloggers, the place doesn’t look like your typical beach in the Philippines. The pine trees around the island stood out and I could smell that strong pine scent. After taking pictures, Dy and I went ahead to visit one of the falls near the island. Our guide, Lito, an aeta who lives in the island walked ahead of us, not really caring if we can keep up with him or not. But it was okay, Dy and I had fun while we pass through tall grasses, a stream with huge rocks and a lot of carabao poop. The falls was really small but really cold, Dy never dared to go down, while I did my best jumping style into the water (too bad Dy didn’t caught it in my camera).

After lunch we headed to Anawangin and were greeted by campers and mountaineers. We even saw a friend of ours, Adie who were on a trekking trip with other mountaineers. Originally, we planned to stay overnight at Anawangin, we had our tent and that’s about it, lacking from other things we decided that we will just do our camping some other time.

We left Anawangin Cove in the afternoon. We braced ourselves to a roller coaster ride back to Pundaquit as we hold on to each other and praying we make it in one piece. Several times it felt like we were about to tip over, I was pretty nervous about the ride and thankful that Liv wasn’t there cause it might scare him and not ride a banca for the rest of his life. The waves were big and strong, it was making our trip longer than it should take. Finally almost near the shore, a group of local people helped us to safety by pulling our banca. It’s a warm feeling that I was there to witness that people still help one another. My Gratitude Highlight of the trip. It didn’t matter if Dy and I were soaking wet when we finally reached Pundaquit, we were safe.
The next day, we went strolling down the beach. It was windy, drizzling and dark clouds were covering the islands. As early as 7am the waves were crashing and forming foams on our feet. We took pictures of surfers and watched them enjoying their rides. It looked like the day will be rainy, we just hoped that the campers and everyone there will be safe all throughout their trip. For me, it was still a great day, to be able to experience that trip with Dy. Our first roadtrip was a success and of course, romantic, we couldn’t wait to plan another one soon.
We got home the same day, my ever loving Dy took me home, I was feeling sick and really tired (that very moment, I was soooo thankful I have my boyfriend to take me home). Zambales is another trip we are sure to come back. I will have Lorenzo with me (and his life jacket) and definitely we will stay in Nagsasa Cove for a night.

Dumaguete: Awesome Apo Island Trip

May 15-17, 2010

If you’re really not so close with the people you’re travelling with and it’s a free trip, you might as well have a blast and make sure you have a book, charged mobile and huge memory card for your camera. Another 3days and 2 nights free ride, this time around in Dumaguete, exact destination…Apo Island Resort. I’m off with people from work, and most of them…not really my travelling buddy type.
It was the annual company outing, I was excited about the trip, sad about the dates (the last day of the trip (17th) was my son’s 9th birthday, it was devastating but since I know I could still make it on his birthday...that matters and nothing else...well, maybe a nice tan) We left Manila bound on the earliest flight to Dumaguete at 7:05am. We arrived and were transferred to 3 vans waiting for us to take us to the ferry port which will take for another 30 minutes ride to get to the resort. The moment we got off the van we were greeted by huge waves…I saw worried faces, and some popping anti dizziness pill. The motorized banca was big, I didn’t have to worry a thing, it could fit 20 people on it (we were 19, plus 3 banca crew) The trip took a little longer than 30 minutes because of the waves, but you could almost see the island as if it’s just really close.

We arrived in the resort with the breathtaking view of the place, the water turning clear green to deep blue, we could see fishes when we were still on the boat. With 3 girls, we were assigned in the room called Lower Triton. The best view of all…well at least for me, but ours was the only nipa hut and by the looks of the rooms…theirs look waaaay better (later I’m thankful that we got that room…the breeze comes right inside the hut, no tuko or gecko and its located right under the shade of the mountain so it’s comforting to have that kind of ambiance unlike the rest). The Apo Island Resort is small and I immediately feel the serenity of my official vacation when I changed into my new pair of hot Roxy swimsuit. Within our stay, we were able to swim with the fishes, weird sea creatures, sea snakes, explore the clown fish village and see Nemo 10,000 times, watched and be amazed of live corals in different shades, fishes with weird faces…and long noses, but the awesome thing that happened to me when I was there…I got to swim with tortoise! Large ones! I chase and took their picture…and our guide, Ruel even took my picture while I go and try to get closer with a tortoise. It was an amazing experience for me…What more if you get to swim with Butandings in Sorsogon?!!!
I was amazed on how rich the island of the marine life. Compared to Boracay and the other commercialized beach resorts, Apo Island offers a lot to diving and snorkeling enthusiast. Don’t get me wrong, I love Boracay for its powdery white sand, beautiful people and the attitude it brings to your stay there, but Apo Island gives me you that feel-good feeling. I was sitting by one of the beach chairs outside our nipa hut wearing a smile of amazement thinking ‘am I really in the Philippines?’ You can’t help not to promote our country when you see places like that, you just feel proud that we have that here, but most of the beautiful resorts are owned by foreigners which can be sad too. I still hope my retirement plan will push through, there’s only two: living life to the most healthy way by owning a farm and having the privilege of squeezing your own tomato sauce straight from your garden…or wearing your hot pair of swimsuit and a permanent tan lines for the rest of your beach life.

For more info about the rates and resort, please click on the link: www.apoislandresort.com

For more pictures on this trip please check: http://islandermaui.multiply.com/

Carabao Island: first destination for this gypsy...Romblon

San Jose , Romblon
4.19.2010



My first ever beach trip for the year 2010 happened last month with relatives of 4 adults and 5 kids. My ever so generous cousin Ate Vienne paid for everything, airfare, resort and food for 4 days and 3 nights in the beautiful Carabao Island in Romblon, a 30 minute boat ride away from Puka Beach of the famous Boracay Island.



With all the chaos that happened in NAIA 3, we finally boarded our 72 sitter to Caticlan. The flight was on time and after more chaos arranging 5 kids on a sitting arrangement, we finally took off. We arrived in Caticlan hungry to start our vacation. As I was pulling luggage after luggage, I saw my cousin chitchatting with a tattooed tall white guy, then another tall guy appeared. Turns out they were the present management of the resort where we will stay. The tattooed guy was Martin, the other non-tattooed was Hilmut. Two men helped us with our bags and led us to 3 worn out…really worn out vans. Just after few minutes, we pulled over the ferry station and helped us through. The ride was 45 minutes, it was almost 5pm and the waves were strong, some got seasick, but was able to hold back while my Liv and Nico enjoyed the bumpy ride. Finally our banca got closed to an island, we got so excited to see that the place seems quiet and not commercialized as Bora. For another 3 minutes we walked to our resort…and were greeted by…a beautiful, quiet place called Ivy’s Vine Resort. Excited like a poodle on heat, we unpacked and changed into our vacation outfit. For the rest of that afternoon the kids enjoyed a quick dip while I breathe thick sea salt air.


Martin and Hilmut prepared our dinner that night and served us pork & beef curry, it was surprisingly delicious! They also served us vegetable salad with vinaigrette dressing. I loved it!



Warned by the Germans, the lights go off at 11pm and will be back by 4am. We thought, it’s cool, I mean, I’m sure its not that hot and we’ll probably sleep off the no-fan night. We were wrong.
Once the lights went off…I could feel beads of sweat forming on my forehead…tossing and turning, the kids woke up and couldn’t sleep. I got off the bed and walked out of the veranda with the emergency light. For few hours, we were up and fanning ourselves until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore…I had to go to bed.



I heard a clicking sound…I woke up and turned around, my cousin took a picture of me and my nieces on our very best sleeping moments. I stood up and the beautiful shoreline greeted me…aaahh! This is what I live for…after few minutes, the kids woke up one by one and the boys started to play around chasing crabs, while my cousins and I ran to the nearest place with coffee. The local bakery was only 5 minute walk away from our place. For 3 mornings, we spent few minutes there and were greeted by locals with smile on their faces, they would offer us a seat, a coffee, a bread, I would smile back at them feeling nice. It gave me some time to practice gratitude, the town locals were all very nice. By 8am the Germans together with their local chef, Cathy served us our hearty breakfast. The foods in the resort were all delicious, except for the pancit that we had (it was just a little bit salty) but the rest…I loved them all! Especially the vegetable salad that they always serve.



That day is for island hopping and for the kids to enjoy some snorkeling experience. We only went to Puka Beach, snorkeling area, then we settled to have lunch at one part of the island near Lorenzo resorts in Bora where again, another lovely lunch of seafood, before heading off to Boracay to buy some pasalubong at D’Mall. We set off to go back to our own hideaway mid afternoon, the kids were tired and between you and me…I remember my stomach cursing me.
As soon as we got back, I went straight to the shower room and took a refreshing bath to take out all the salt on my skin…and sand on my butt.


The next day, my cousin arranged for 5 motor bikes to take us to the other side of San Jose. As I hang on to our driver, I sandwiched my kid between my legs and sang him his favorite song. I usually do that when I feel that he’s starting to get nervous. We arrived on a beautiful beach in San Jose, where residents of Romblon quietly live in front of a long stretch of white sand and clear blue sea water. It was haven for me. There was no resort, they told us that they will just wait for us while we go for a swim. Although the waves were strong at that particular day, I fell in love with the place. After an hour of playing with the waves, we all went back to our resort and enjoyed a quiet afternoon.




The rest of our trip was enjoyable, it was a chaos though, I mean handling 5 kids was like managing a day care center. We got back to Manila just in time and I saw my dad waiting for us. I kissed my nieces and nephews goodbye and thanked my cousin and her best friend (whom we all love because she is uber nice!) for a wonderful summer getaway.
I recommend Carabao Island to anyone who would like a taste of Boracay for few hours and retired to a quiet place at night. Romblon is a place if you want to breathe and think and practice a lot of gratitude.




*since this was free trip (a treat from my cousin) I cannot give you a breakdown of our expenses. All I remember was the Cebu Pac airfare which was a bit high because we had a late booking.


For more info about Ivy’s resort, you can visit this site: http://cicetaiwan.com/

Panglao Island: Trip and Treat in Bohol

10.30-11.2 09

My parents dropped us off to NAIA terminal 2 around 6am on a Friday morning. They kissed their grandchild goodbye for a 4 day beach trip with me. He and I have been waiting for this getaway for sometime now. It’s going to be a long weekend for us, 4 days and 3 nights at a beach resort in Panglao Island. Enzo can’t wait to see a starfish again and I can’t wait to wear my new green swimsuit and tan away to the sound of waves.

PAL flight took off just in time and in just one hour, Enzo and I are already inside a white car with a driver from the resort chatting his way to get a tour package out from us। Unfortunately for him, it’s my 3rd time to visit the Bohol, and I’ve been to all the tourist spots।

As soon as we walked our way to our resort, I could already feel that familiar smell, that familiar feeling. The beach salty air becomes thick, and like the rim of a margarita, I can taste it on my own lips. But this trip is all motherly bonding. I can’t have alcohol nor dance naked (it’s not like, I can…but) the point is that, this is a trip for my kid to enjoy the beach.


As this trip was travel agency prepared, I checked us in smoothly at Isis Bungalows and we went to our room, changed, with camera in hand, we went straight to the famous Thai restaurant in the resort. I ordered my first Thai food, Enzo had carbonara pasta and we both finished it up with mango shake. Most of their food ranges from Php200-350, some serving can be good for sharing, some are not. As soon as lunch was over, Enzo ran towards the beach shouting “wuhooooo!!!!” “wuhoooooo!!!!!” I was afraid he would take off his clothes like a crazy guy….i waited until he finally made his big splash....no butt showing. Good. When I checked that he’s fine, I went back to my beach chair with my book. For full 4 days we would be doing such as Enzo sings “no chores, no sleeping early, no school…I love it” But in our 3 nights there, he would usually retire by 7pm due to exhaustion from playing by the beach and swimming.

Our first evening, I was excited to try on their Tom Yung, Thai food. Isis Bungalows offers Thai food with their very own Thai chef, of course she looks like a Filipina, but you would know that she’s not when she starts talking, her accent is very different. Enzo ordered buttered chicken fillet, which he loved. Tom Yung was a success, it wasn’t too spicy though, as I forgot to request but all in all it was great.
We hang out on the beach chairs and took several shots of us fooling around. It was windy that night, Enzo and I decided to take a walk, but we didn’t go too far as I was feeling a little tired and fighting a cold that could ruin my vacation. We went back and settled in to our big bed, cuddle up, turned on our tv, turned the air condition up and went to sleep.

The next morning, up by 6am, my little boy was kicking and excited to be in the water again. We had our breakfast by the beach, I enjoyed the deluxe breakfast (bread, ham, sausage, bacon, butter & jam, coffee and fruit slices) while he tried their Filipino rice, dried fish (danggit), egg and mango juice. Of course, knowing my kid, he took my bacon and happily had his breakfast. That particular morning was windy, there were waves and it wasn’t the calm water beach we like. We took a walk after, we went to North side of the beach which is where the Alona Palm Beach Club is located. The sand bar is way, way, way better than in Isis. So for catching up the sun, to just lay down, enjoy a book, enjoy your music and relax, it’s the perfect spot. I love wide sand bar, it’s just beautiful. Enzo and I settled down, I let him play with the sand, while I watch our things and get back to reading Anthony. Before it hits 10, I told him we should get back for lunch and rest, he hates it of course. But he gathered his snorkeling gear and came to me while we walk back to our resort. We stopped by at Ooops Bar and treated ourselves with banana split. After lunch, we stayed under the coconut trees in front of our resort, I enjoyed having my new phone with me, as there was wi-fi around the resort, so that was a good thing. Enzo played his gameboy and I catch up with some friends online.

That afternoon, we went for a swim in front of Alona Palm Beach, less rocks, less seaweeds. We stayed for few hours and went back to Isis just in time for shower and dinner.
On our 3rd day, we were blessed with calm water and just baby waves. We could see fishes swimming around on shallow water. So after breakfast, Enzo and I immediately changed and bathe ourselves with sun block and pulled a beach chair and enjoyed our morning swim. That night, I decided to treat us for a nice dinner…enough of Thai food. We went for a walk through the small and big lined up restaurants and bars along Alona Beach, it was a mixture of Boracay and Puerto Galera scene. Dinner time, we had baked oysters, Enzo’s favorite chicken barbeque, baked potatoes, kilawin and sweet and sour pork. We didn’t stay outside for long, Enzo was dozing off already after we ate. That night, I scared the shit out of me while I lay in our bed watching horror movies.

Our last day, we woke up just the same and went for a stroll along the quiet bars of Alona Beach. The bars and restaurants were still closed, no tourists, the locals were up and were seated along the stretch of white sands, they greeted me with a smile and I politely smiled back. Enzo was trying to catch those little white crabs while I walked along and shoot every corner of the beach to make sure I take home with me the beautiful scene of our last morning on the island.
Finally we reached the far end of the beach, we walked back to our resort and on our way, I saw this local little girl, probably about 5 or 6 years old. She was running her way towards the water…naked. She was giggling and she had this expression on her face like it was her first time in the water, no clothes, no shoes, no problem. I took a couple of shots and I was a bit hesitant at first cause I might scare her away. She saw me clicking at her and she gave me a very innocent child smile, I smiled back at her…all this time Enzo was trying to ignore that his mom was taking shots of this naked little girl, he felt shy and covered his eyes most of the time.
For the whole morning, we enjoyed the beach one last time, had breakfast and lunch and packed our stuff and ready to go home. I could see from Enzo’s eyes that he is tired and he just wants to go home. We waited for more than 2 hours for the car to take us to the airport…over those hours we waited, Enzo was frustrated with just waiting there. When we got to the airport, the most unfortunate thing happened (well, at least for my kid), our flight that afternoon was cancelled due to mechanical problem of the aircraft. My 8 year old couldn’t started crying out of frustration. I calmed him down and got ourselves into the hardest part of our trip...lining up to be accomodated for the night. PAL took care of us and sent all the passengers for that flight to the nearest hotel that night, paid for our dinner and breakfast. When we got to hotel, Enzo, who cried his eyes out…was finally himself again…jumping from one bed to another and enjoying his cartoon network shows.

The next morning, everyone was up and early for the special flight. We boarded the plane and took off 7:30am from Tagbilaran and reached Manila an hour after. My mom was there waiting for her “apo”. They had my work clothes and I changed on the way to work.
My Panglao trip was such a relaxing time for me and Enzo…just a little bit of hassle in the end but it was nothing compared to what the island gave us, a vacation.

For more info about the resort: http://www.isisbungalows.com/

Baguio City: In the City of Strawberry Jam and Peanut Brittle

8. 29-30.09

Famously known as the City of Pines in the 80’s but as I looked around over Mines View, all I could see are houses over houses. Baguio was still breathtakingly beautiful to walk around, a place in the Philippines where you’re allowed to wear fur coats and boots anytime of the day. Over the weekend my roadtrip group and I decided to drive to up north to Baguio to spend a pre birthday getaway for me and Jun (Ina’s fiancé).

The last time I was there, I was with my bestfriend Mich, (both single at that time, Mich now married and on her way to delivery room for baby no.2…I’m still single, obviously) we were being spontaneous as we packed our bags for a day trip to Baguio. Leaving Manila on a public bus at 12 midnight and arriving Session Road at 6am. Mich and I got crazy as we went around to tour the city for a day only and even crazier for buying sacks of vegetables (mostly baguio beans and potatoes) and dragging our sacks to bus terminal with all other shopping bags. It was one of my unforgettable roadtrip ever.

This time around, I was sitting comfortably at the back of Jun’s car, with my son Enzo, Pin and Ina on front. We decided to take a road trip, stay for a night and take loads of pictures as Ina requested prenuptials pictures for their wedding next year.
My dad drove us to Alabang at 2:00 in the morning to meet Ina and Jun (Pin stayed at our place the night before). The couple arrived 30 minutes late but we’re still on time, it was Saturday morning we’ll be smooth sailing across SLEX for sure. Enzo fell asleep half way through SLEX and we stopped at the last gas station in NLEX before entering SCTEX (Subic Tarlac Express Way). We thought we need to pee as per advice to us there’s no gas station yet in SCTEX…this is another case of “PEE NOW or FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEE”.
4 cups of coffee, a carton of milk and Julie’s cheese streusel pandesal bread, we had our first meal together outside the gas station’s store listening to Bob Marley. After stretching our legs and few shots, we went back on the road. The drive through SCTEX was fast, before I knew it, we were driving through towns of La Union already at 6 in the morning. We had another restroom break and bought “taho” for much needed sugar to keep us up. Another hour and a half…we were already driving through Marcos Highway. As per researched, we found out that most travelers recommend to take Marcos highway than Kennon Road. The latter way was more steep and narrow, and I would recommend for all to take Marcos highway too. The drive was a breeze except when we were almost there, I could feel kuya’s car crying. We need to stop gas up, but this time we were already in Baguio, you could tell by the breeze, it was not the usual cold breeze…it was cold, cold Baguio breeze.

My mom, a regular Baguio traveler, told us if we were on a budget trip, we should stay at Teacher’s Camp. A place handled by the Department of Education where obviously teachers stay when they have out of town sessions. I’ve been to Baguio several times but I have never stayed at the camp. I have heard and watched a couple of spooky stories about it. Teacher’s Camp is one of the haunted places in the City of Pines. We parked inside and got off to check the room. We reached the lobby and someone guide us to 2 nd floor of the White Hall. Our feet creaked through the old wooden floor, a musty smell caught us and immediately send some creepy thoughts in our mind as we looked at each other. The caretaker unlocked one of the rooms through the dark hallway, 4 old beds lined up like hospital beddings with one pillow each, the room was dark and the only light was coming in from the big window on one side of the room. The girls and I gave each other the nod that translates to:

Ina: “I’m very much open to another option”
Maui: “I don’t want to die here”
Pin: “Moving on…NOW”

We basically flew out of the place and right back along the road of Baguio city. Leaving us with no plan or reservation, our hunt for a place to stay for a night began. We went from mid-range hotel to rent-inn private house to room only. The girls and I split into two, Pin and Ina went downhill, and I went on the other side, Jun and Enzo stayed in the car parked in front of a 3-star hotel that was too expensive. I found one, called up the girls and they found one too. I went straight to where they were at. It was a private house that has 2 floors. I found Pin waiting at some sort of lobby area while the owner cleaned up the last vacant room. Finally an old lady showed up and led us to some sort of a basement, she told us it’s the only vacant room available. From the look outside it already didn’t look good, inside…it was worst. There was no word to describe how awful it looked like and she was even charging us more. I didn’t even have to think about it, I gave it a look and off I go, I waited for the girls to come out of their senses. The two girls were being polite, as they told the old lady they will think about it and will call her. We went to the place I found, Medrano’s Apartelle. It looked nice outside, very modern. We went inside and checked the room and we all agreed that it was the best place and we couldn’t waste anymore time as we only have 2 days to explore the city. We negotiate with the price and we got the unit that has 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, a small kitchen with refrigerator, chairs, dining table for 5, it was perfect for us (room rent P2,500 a night). We immediately unpacked and settled in, Pin and Ina (both perfect homemakers) got busy in the kitchen cooking lunch. Enzo was in bed playing with his gameboy, Jun was on the other room, resting and I was sitting on one of the chairs watching cable tv. I didn’t bother to help my girlfriends for some reasons:

1. The place was too small for us 3 women to work around.
2. I am not really the “homemaker” type.
3. I was feeling extremely tired (the next day I got my period).
After lunch of adobo (chicken and pork) and laing, the girls (again) cleaned up and off we went to explore Baguio City. We took a cab to take us to the Mansion, the place where all the first family spends their vacation when they are in town. We took pictures and I also took few shots of Ina and Jun for their pre-nuptial wedding photos. I was excited to do it, I really like photography and I was hoping to develop if ever I have talent for it (I’m planning to buy enlarging lens this year). Although I only have the lens kit from my Canon 1000d (18.55mm) I tried hard to capture best shots of the couple.

We took few more pictures and decided to walk from The Mansion to Mines View, when we heard some sort of a weird sound like there’s a huge march of people coming toward us. We looked at each other and in 2 seconds, Pin realized it was a heavy rain coming, we could see the clouds and the downpour like a black carpet covering us all. We ran to the nearest waiting shade along with the other vendors. We got stuck under that shade for 30 minutes or so. I told them either we take a cab and bring us to Mines View even with the rain, at least we’re already at our next destination or we just sit and wait for the sun to come out and waste another minute in our overnight stay in Baguio. They agreed and we hailed another FX. In Mines View, the sun was coming out slowly, I covered up my precious son and my dear camera and hurried to the nearest store. We stop by for some shots at this one store that has sunflowers on one side for picture taking. We took several shots and went on to see some sights!
Over Mines View, we posed with a beautiful gentle giant St. Bernard dog, famously known as Douglas, but the photographers were calling the dog “PJ” (a nickname perhaps?). There were few around Mines View, Douglas was the most expensive stardog in Mines and its P50 per group picture with 3 shots.
As we moved on we went over the edge to enjoy what we went for…the view. Enzo hold on to me trembling, he’s afraid of heights. I tried to calm him and let him know I got him and need not to worry but to just smile at the camera. He tried…but he still looked constipated on his pictures…poor baby.
After going around some stalls for pencils made from pine trees, Ina and Pin stopped by a grilled dry squid. I let Enzo tried it…he finished it but gave me the last piece.
Next stop, pasalubong On our way to Good Shepherd to buy some goods to bring home, there was fog on the road, we could hardly see our way and amazed at the same time of what we were experiencing at that time. Baguio at this time was indeed very much different to Manila.
In Good Shepperd, it’s where you can buy all the goodness of jam, strawberry and ube, it is also the best place to buy peanut brittle. With all list done, we took a walk by the view and took more shots of the coldcoldcold fog. It started to drizzle so we decided to go back to our place as we cannot go walk with all our bottles of jam with us.
Back at the inn, the rain hasn’t stopped. The girls and I went to the market and we left one little boy and one man who’s trying to catch some much needed sleep.
Pin, Ina and I went off to buy some vegetables for tonight’s dinner. We still had some leftovers and Pin took charge of cooking some veggies. We retire early that night as Baguio’s temperature turned cold.
The next morning, we got up early except for Enzo who was still in neverland. The girls (again…im not included) prepared breakfast and boiled water for coffee, we settled for some leftovers (again), as long as there’s caffeine mix…I’m cool with leftovers.
For our 2nd and last day, we went to Wright Park hoping to catch some sun for our photos. I’ve been to Baguio a couple of times but I could not remember the park, I remember the horses when I was a kid…but when we arrived that morning, it was a stranger to me. The horses’ hair was colored pink, periwinkle and other gay colors. Enzo was of two minds about riding a horse, but then after giving more time to think, he decided not to.
We walked around the park and enjoyed the cold air and horses’ shit smell for few more minutes before heading out to Botanical Garden just few walks away from the park.
Basically, a large garden with souvenir shops inside. As we tour around and take pictures I began to squeal like a piglet when I eyed a dead snake few feet away from me. A small dead snake.
The rest of the group, including my 8 year old son took a closer look at the scary dead snake…while they keep saying “poor snake”.
We took another fx to take us to Pink Sisters church. My mom reminded me to visit them and pray inside and wish. They have a petition box where we can put our prayers in.
The pink little church looked just like any ordinary small churches, but inside, there was a gate that divides the mortal and immortal. The pink nuns were seen kneeling and praying on the other side and the public would have the space on the door side. Then one by one, the nuns came in and the church was full of pink sisters praying and singing a tune that sent me to bliss. It also made me feel like being on the set of the old movie Sound of Music, I could hear myself humming “how do you solve the problem like mariaaaaa” listening to their voices was like being high and nothing but pure calmness.
After a blissful trip we thought we’d walk from Pink Sisters to another church, the Baguio Cathedral. Not even halfway there, we decided we needed to take another fx. We got off and we heard the mass from the outside, it was in Ilocano…and although I can understand a little I can’t go on and translate to others the rest. Pin and Ina went to peek inside the church and I took a picture of it from outside.
The last stop was to buy our vegetables at Session Road. Pin and Enzo decided to camp inside the comfort of Mcdonalds while, Ina, Jun and I went inside the wet market for the last time.
After packing up our stuff inside Jun’s trunk, we settled inside the car and we got ready for another long drive back home. We were shocked on what we saw on our drive to Marcos highway, a zigzag road of nothing but thick FOG. I asked Jun to open his headlights for safety, we drove through thick white smoke and we opened the car window and enjoyed the cold air. Pin took out the video camera and I took the camera for some shots. We even have to stop somewhere to get a close encounter with something that we don’t usually experience, for few minutes we just stayed there.
We got back on the road, stopping every once in a while for bathroom break, eat and let Jun stretch his legs, 4 hours later we’re back on Edsa. We took Pin home first, and then Enzo and I were dropped off in front of our house. After greeting each other “happy birthday” Jun and Ina went off home. Enzo and I were tired, sleepy with bottles of jam, peanut brittle, fish sauce and vegetables. Baguio was a trip! it was great that we were able to enjoy it with that kind of weather, damp but it met our expectations, cold, foggy and worth road tripping to.

for more help on your Baguio trip, try this link: http://www.gobaguio.com/