Gone Surfin'

Gone Surfin’

It was the start of summer (March, 2013) and the gang decided to have weekend getaway. Our Pulag guide, Alain, mentioned that he has a place in Baler so we said tara let’s Baler. Alain arranged everything... the van, accommodations, tour, food. He wasn’t able to come with us but he entrusted us to his friend who became our driver.

We left Makati late Friday night. It was a 5 hour ride with stops somewhere in NLEX and Nueva Ecija. We arrived around 5am and the resort staff was still sleeping. We rested for a little while, fixed ourselves and headed to Baler town for some breakfast and city tour.

I didn’t know anything about Baler except that it was in Aurora, which was used to be a part of Quezon province. I wanted to see the church where Anne Curtis and Jericho Del Rosario filmed Baler the movie.

After the so-called walking tour to the museum, we found ourselves trekking to Ditumabo falls.

It was a quick and easy hike. Got to cross some streams.

"baby falls"

Ditumabo Falls

The trek got us really hungry for lunch. We went to this small buffet place. The price was P150, a steal should I say. Food was Filipino and limited, I guess around 10 viands, but it was delicious.

After some rest from lunch, it was time for surfing! No pictures since we just had a buffet! Tummies and rash guards are awful combinations you know!

surf class, we got some discount!

The next morning, we had our time at the giant balete tree.

Then surfing time again before heading home.

Schengen Visa Application (Netherlands Embassy)

The highlight of my 2014 was my European Tour. I never imagined in my life that I would have the opportunity to set foot in Europe. Well, as a typical Pinoy, my dream destination is the US; then when I started working for an Australian company, I added that country to my list as well.

You see, I have a friend who had her heart broken about 10 years ago. Little that she knew that it will be the reason for her to stay away and find herself in Europe. Fast forward to the future... she’s now found her love, got married and settled there. She came home with her hubby 2 years ago and while catching up with what have beens she asked if I wanna visit them. Without much thought (well, took me 5 seconds to see if I could save up for my plane fare) I said yes!

Well, my trip to Europe wouldn’t be possible without a visa. I only applied for Schengen visa since I didn’t plan to go outside Schengen area (maybe I’ll see UK or Ireland some other time). I filed my application at Netherlands Embassy since my friend lives in Amsterdam. Here’s how it went...

Checking In

So now I’m back. Can’t believe it took me a year and a half to finally update my blog. Well, I’ve been busy you know! I don’t wanna mention the reasons why it took me a while to post ‘coz they’re all excuses. You know the pinoy saying ‘pag gusto may paraan...’ so I’ll just admit that yes, I was lazy.

Anyhow, I got tons of stories to tell and I can’t wait. Unfortunately, my old laptop crashed. No, that wasn’t accurate. A water container slipped from the table and literally crashed on to my laptop. So photos from few of my escapades were gone. Thankfully, some were posted in Facebook.

This blog’s layout needs a major renovation so for now I’ll just play with the templates ‘til I could come up with something pleasing to the eyes. See you soon!

Surviving Sagada Part 2

Woah! It's been almost 3 months since I last updated. Sorry for that. I've been busy with new work, and settling in to the new city... But enough of that! So now... back to Sagada!

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We took the first day off to recuperate after our misfortune. Keith joined Rodel and me for our own "city" tour to take some photos... We tried looking for those old Igorot huts and got to see some rice terraces upclose instead! 

For dinner, we decided to try out Salt & Pepper Diner. They different "flavors" of grilled chicken cooked their way. I had this:

It was also my first time to try out mountain tea. I'm not a tea lover but I loved it! I tweeted this picture and @SurvivingSagada suggested that next time I should try it with milk!

Surviving Sagada Part 1

Our leave policy changed last year and that resulted to limiting the carry over annual (vacation) leaves (AL) to only 10 days for Asia-based staff. It's supposed to force us to have work-life balance. But I simply don't get it as it would just require us to use 30days of AL this year then be back to use 20 ALs (assuming we still want to have 10 ALs carry over) as what we have been doing in the past. *roll eyes*

So with 10 additional ALs to spend last fiscal year, it was hard to think of how to spend those wisely (by wisely I mean relaxing, budget friendly and memorable). So Keith, Rodel and I thought of extending our trip to the Cordilleras after our Pulag adventure. Initially, our plan was to spend a night in Baguio to rest then Sagada the next day or two, then Banaue before going back to Manila.

I didn't really know much about Sagada. It was just that it is a must see town in the Cordilleras, aside from Banaue which is known of its rice terraces. All that I could remember was my geology professor speaking about limestones in Sagada which proved that the Cordilleras was under the sea.

Damn Summer!

Summer heat spoils it all!

I got plenty of things to do... clearance from my previous job, requirements for my new company, unfinished business... etc!

The high temperature these days really takes my mood off. News says 8 more weeks in this weather. Aaargggh!

Pook ni Maria Makiling

I was born in Mt.Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna. Well, my lolo used to work for FPRDI (formerly FORPRIDECOM) and stayed in one of the agency's staff housing in Forestry (UPLB's upper campus). Even if we're no longer living there, I still consider it my home.

How ironic is it that I call Mt. Makiling home but I haven't actually explored the place. I haven't climb its peaks or even reach the mud spring. I tried climbing the mountain with some friends but we've only got to see the flatrocks (the actual creek, not the bar!). So note to self: ask friends to climb the mountain and revisit tourist sites such as the Makiling Botanical Gardens, Boy Scouts of the Philippines, National Arts Center / Philippine High School for the Arts.

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Temperature is really insane this summer! In a few hours that I'm home, I'm literally dripping in sweat. So, I told my mom that we should go swimming. My brothers didn't want to leave so it was just me, my nephew and mom who went.

Laguna is known for its hotsprings. Dipping in warm water is totally out of my mind. I want something cool that could freshen me up, but near and not expensive.

There are 4 pools in Mt. Makiling if I'm not mistaken: 1 in Makiling Botanical Gardens, 1 in UPCO (UPLB staff housing), 1 in Boy Scouts Jamboree and 1 in Pook ni Maria Makiling. The pool in BSP Jamboree has a reputation. I haven't been in botanical gardens for years and I'm not sure if the pool there is still open but even if it still is, it's not an option since it has a side which is more than 10 ft deep. The pool in UPCO is small and we're no UPLB faculty/student so X mark there.

I've been in Pook ni Maria Makiling several times but haven't tried the pool there until last year when friends from college visited and we decided to go campus touring in UPLB. It is actually not maintained by UPLB but by the National Parks Development Authority under the country's Department of Tourism. The park is known for its olympic size pool (not sure if it still is under the new standards). Entrance fee to the park is 25 pesos while swimming fee is 40 pesos. For 65 pesos to cool the body off, it is actually cheap!