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Showing posts with label Philippines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Philippines. Show all posts

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Color Manila Nite Run @ BGC

http://www.proactive.ph/colormanilaniterun/main.php
Dinner at Mercato
Pre-run
I finished my 5KM run in 40:46! (Less than 5 or 10 sec for taking this picture)

Not bad considering that I haven't run in years and didn't take the warm-up before the run seriously (plus I wore a friggin' rubber shoes during the event. Don't judge.)
I. DID. IT.
Totally worth it!
Friends that run together, stay together.
Post-run, Pre-party
We run, we PARTY.
The party begins. 
Party lovin'.
No fucking filter.
Awesome lights. 
With Philippine Volcanoes player and model ANDREW WOLFF ♥ 

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Puerto Galera: A Beautiful Escape

At last, we made it happen. The three of us have been wanting for long to get away from the routine, the mundane, the common. Thus we searched the map of Luzon for a possible destination in which the total expense is relatively cheap as we only had meager budget allotted for this trip. 

As the master planner of the group, I was in charge of the itinerary, bookings, and other plans. Successfully, we all made it work. Need proof/s? Browse or read on. ;)

After having breakfast at Jollibee in Turbina,
we took a Jam Liner bus to Batangas Pier.
We left the terminal around 7:30AM. 
The trip from Turbina in Laguna via the Calabarzon road to Batangas
took us only an hour and a half and I must say that, as first timers,
we really loved the green and lavish scenery of nature from our windows.
We hardly slept and just stared at such beautiful view.
So we arrived at Batangas Pier at 9:00AM.
Here's our photo before we boarded the ferryboat. 

Our fellow tourists and vacationists.
They looked more excited in person though. ;)
Not a hint of seasickness at all.
Our happy and energetic souls after surviving an hour and a half trip on the sea.
The boat did rock us, but we rocked it more!
Our first photo and first steps on Puerto Galera soil.
This is our cottage.
We only paid PhP 1000 for one night. Good deal!
Visit their site: http://mountainbeachresort.com/
Puerto Galera is divided into three main areas: White Beach, Tamarraw, and Talipanan.
White Beach is the most commercial with its long chain of bars, restaurants,
souvenir shops, tattoo shops, hotels, etc. It is also the hub for Puerto Galera's 'night life'.
Not sure what's in Tamarraw area but there also cottages and inns there.
We stayed in Talipanan, the most serene and private of all.
That's what we aimed for anyway. 
Before we set out to our activities planned for the day!

The 'Day Life': a bombardment of photos


The photos we took were overwhelming, thus I'm posting just 10 of them and hopefully they would give you a glimpse or an impression of how truly serene the beach was and how relaxing and liberating it was to have a vacation in this beautiful spot in the Philippine archipelago. 

The 'Night Life'
@ White Beach

Fire dancing at the White Beach.


Next: Bar Hopping.
Not your typical Girls' Night Out! :D
To make a long story short,
we drank 2 pitchers of that and we all PASSED OUT. ;)
A photo op with the gay-tentainers.
They made an entertaining performance
we tipped in a little amount for their talent and guts. 
Mindoro Sling - a foe for the sober and a friend for the drunk.

Although this was a 2-day vacation, more or less we only spent 24 hours on the island, 4 hours on the sea for travel, and the rest for more commute. 

OUR FINALE.
Final stop @ Leynlie's Bar II for a refreshing cup of Mango shake,
drinking it under the coconut tree and overlooking a panoramic view of the sea.
It was pretty nostalgic already, for we knew we would be missing the island.
Plus we hated the commute on sea so we didn't want to board the boat just yet.

Farewell.. almost.
Tan?
And we're back to where we came from - the Pier.
Vacation's over.
So is this blog entry. 
I keep blog entries like this because someday, I think it would be better not just to browse through photos but to read through their captions as well. Pictures speak a thousand words, sure, but written words are more accurate and since time might smear or smudge our memories, it would be nice to keep a more vivid record of how great it was spent. :)

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Give me a break, give me a view

Just when I needed a break from loads of grueling school work and a taxing part time job, a simple and intimate out of town to this little city with stunning, scenic beauty calmed every atom in my body and soothed my state of mind. The view of Tagaytay from the top reminded me why it is so good to live in the Philippines. Lately, I have been pretty cynical when it comes to matters involving my country but my faith in its natural beauty never fails. Just take a look at these photos (excuse my poor photography skills and the limited view I've captured) and see what I'm talking about. 

Among the facts and promises that they teach us in school, especially in primary and secondary levels, to boost our love and pride for our country, I must say that they spoke true about this one: that the Philippines is a rich country when it comes to natural resources. Indeed. With 7,107 islands comprising our archipelago, I doubt if one will ever ran out of natural beauty to explore and marvel at. That is why it is my earnest hope for every Filipino to see views like this more often than they bother to do so, so that they could see this goldmine that we have in our hands and hold on to it, celebrate it, and nurture it ─ instead of letting them foreigners take the most out of what is ours. This country is blessed; unfortunately, some of us choose to believe the other way (I am somehow, sometimes guilty of this) and some tend to overlook or even ignore this fact.   

One of the many cities and tourist destinations that we take pride in is the city of Tagaytay. The following photos from the top pose a striking view of the city's lush and verdant regions.  


It was the perfect ending to a semester that's almost over, and a new phase in my life that's just begun. 

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Sunday Breather

With only eleven days left before the end of classes this semester, just imagine the exhausting and depressing line-up of deadlines and other activities that glares from our worn out calendars. Everyday is procrastination day and we are live zombies. There's no worry though; after this hell week, I'm sure lots of us are going to get pampered, real well. In my case, I and my college best friends have plans already and right now, it is the only thing that is keeping us sane from all the load of school work that we are drowning in.

Anyway, I don't have much time to write and probably this is the crappiest blog entry I have ever written so let me just get this over with (nevertheless I love you, dear blog). 

So some of my relatives from the Bicol province came over today because my cousin was going to take the USTET (University of Sto. Tomas Entrance Test). Today was her big day and although we were very supportive, we pretty much left her in the campus with a cousin from her mom's side who goes to UST.

So I ditched all my school work today and his is how or where I got unzombiefied (hey that word does exist in zombie land):

TASTY DUMPLINGS
Masangkay St., Binondo, Manila
Dumplings
Silver Roll Bread
Hongma
Porkchop with Rice
This really a must try! It's one of a kind in Manila.
The meat are sliced so thinly yet the strong flavor is still there.
This meal will never fail your hungry stomach. 
S&R Membership Shopping
ASEANA-BACLARAN Branch
S&R is your Costco equivalent in the Philippines
S&R: http://www.snrshopping.com/
Costco: http://www.costco.com/

After hours of grocery shopping, this is the hungry customers' next stop.
Because right now this is the closest I could get to New York! 
This is simply HEAVEN IN MY MOUTH.