Bohol ~ explored!

Best summer getaway ever! you have to include Bohol in your vacation spot list. I'm proud to say that our country has the best beaches in the world! better than Hawaii! when you visit the Philippines, make sure you go to Bohol!

1. Visit the blood compact thingamajig. i never really pay much attention to the historical details (sorry) as long as i know its relevance, ayos na.

2. Visit the famour Baclayon Church~ one of the oldest and preserved in the country.. this chruch is centuries old and has a museum upstiars.. (bawal pics dun eh)

3. All day tours will include a lunch in one of the floating restaurants in the Loboc River. Buffet starts at 300 per head. the cruise takes off with lunch and runs for about an hour or more. you get to cruise along the river and have 2 stop overs where the locals (kids and senior citizens) perform in front of tourists on floating stages. nice!

4. No visit to Bohol will be complete without seeing the famous Chocolate Hills! i rememeber hearing the alamat for this one- they are poopsies of giants! weheheh.. nways, you get to climb 200 steps to reach the highest viewing deck. then official photgrapers would offer to take airshots of you by A CLIFF! scary! yung tipong pag nagkamali ka ng talon, mamatay ka

5. the philippine tarsier: what i know about these guys: smallest mammals? they are pretty gross.. their tails look like that of a rat's, their fingers... like the scariest animal in the whole wide world. cant even mention it here.. after taking a pic with the little guy, i realized how gross they were.. not cute at all. i freak out when they jump from tree to tree.. ewwwww!!!!

6. Osang's Broas - the best broas so far.. they live at the back of the Baclayon church. they use this old stove to bake their broas (thin and crunchy bread with sugar on top). too bad coz when we went to osang's house, they were not selling anything since their stocks ran out due to fiestas in 2 towns! they sold us their deformed broas and we begged them to sell us 2 small bagas and one large bag. the small bag was only 40 while the large bag was 60. when i went to this large souveneer shop, they were selling the small bag for 68 pesos.. nanay ko!

7. the hanging bridge - i went 1/3 of the way. it was too wobbly for me and i got scared. mwehhehehhe.. but for picture purposes again, tried to be brave!

7. our tour guide also brought us to a small butterfly farm (entrance was 20) owned by someone from new zealand. learned lots of interesteing stuff..saw a butterfly playing dead, butterflies mating, changing colors, etc. nice!

8. Balicasag Island - a marin sanctuary~ divers love it here.. you rent a boat going here and then you rent a small boat (100 per head) going to the snorkeling area. you can also rent flippers and snorkel stuff for for 100. our boat man was the cuzin of our life guard in bohol beach club. when we got to the island, there was this big family waiting for us.. they had a small resto where one of the ladies managed it, her sister in law sold us accessories na sobrang mahal! their brother in laws and siblings served as guides to the snorkeling area. the island only has electricity at night.. their inihaw na pusit, liempo, and parrot fish were to die for.

9. on the way to balicasag, you can request your boat man to bring you to the site to go dolphin watching. you can only do this at 6am but if it's overcast, they still come out at 10am. there were around 10 more boats that morning when we went out for dolphin watching.. this is really cool since you get to see them in the wild! they act pretty much like when they do a show

10. on the way to the Chocolate Hills, you will pass thru around 3 km of man-made forest. really nice mahogany trees

Thank you to MelRons for the beautiful pics..

Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo

This zoo is a must-see if you visit bangkok. it's an hour away from bankok by land. our tour guide charged us 1200 bhat for this (PHP1800) and it includes a van and buffet lunch..

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when we got there, we had lunch first since we just came from the temple tours. the elephants were out and you can purchase bananas to feed them! nice! i wanted to do it so badly.. but then our tour guide wanted us to see the crocodile show which started already when we got there =( here are the baby elephants out with some students on a field trip..

The crocodile show was in their native language. but then you still get to enjoy it since the guys did stuff like wrestle the crocs, put their heads inside etc. take a look:



(this is a bad view of one stunt but the guy's head was literally inside the croc's mouth)



(after the show the audience gave the guys some tip)

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after the crocodile show, we went to the see the elephant show. it's the first time i saw elephants playing soccer, doing role plays of going into battle, picking out weeds and pulling logs.. i must say.. sobrang cute nila!! hehe..

then after the show, you can ride them elephants! at an extra cost nga lang.. and you can feed them again.. riding an elephant was one of things i wanted to do ever since.. whenever i see people doing that on tv, naiinggit ako.. the ride was pretty scary for me.. i didnt expect it to be too high and without any safety belt hehe.. just sit on a chair and hold on.. our elephant's name is PON.. i asked our "driver" to just make him walk.. hehe.. baka tumilapon ang lola mo pag tumakbo yun..

after the show, we had our picture taken with huge tigers.. i grabbed one by the tail! hehe...

Chatuchak Weekend Market It!

i'm not sure if this is true but they say that the CHATUCHAK WEEKEND MARKET in Bangkok is the biggest "tianggian" in asia.. so this is a must-see for bargain hunters.. they say it's like divisoria.. for me, it' s a mixture of divi, the old greenhills shopping center, and an ugly version of tiendesitas.

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during weekdays, some shops are open. but then they recommend that you go during weekends to see it in full swing. people fr the province go there to sell as well. you will find everything here.. take a look at some shots i took from my phone. was not that comfortable bringing my camera since i expected it to be really crowded..
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my friends and i were looking for a place to have lunch.. we were looking for one of teh only 2 air conditioned restos in the place. the heat in bangkok is pretty much like the one we have in Maniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllllllaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh
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Here is a sample of what a hallway would look like. swarming with people.. this is the girls clothing section.. i like! the store, junk shop had a pogi salesman! hehe.. the dude with long-hair doesnt look like he sells stuff there.. para shang model! ehehehe.. hindi bagay magtinda sa chatuchak.. may store kaya sha dito??

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iris and i liked this store kasi ang cute ng mga pouch! we had difficulty though talking to the girl in charge since she doesnt know a single english word.. so we communicate thru calculator. kahit mag-barok ako ng english: "we get 3--- you give us, 30.. yes?" she would just stare! sowsss..

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one of my regrets.. i saw a GOOFY puppet na wood.. sobrang collectors item! they were selling it to me for 400 baht~Last price.. that's around 600 pesos.. eh aanhin ko naman ito? sasabit ko sa pinto? magpuppet show mag-1? pero ang ganda!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the pinocchio puppet looks silly though.. and gay.. ehehe..

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some students use their talent to earn money. here's a little girl playing her musical instrument and people would give her some spare change for that. there was one kid dressed as a kikay cowgirl with a super short skirt and boots and make up.. the works~dancing! and the mom was right next to her, like a pimp! gusto kong hampasin!

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nways, my chatuchak trip went well.. bought lots of stuff and pasalu! i also saw some sexy stars from manilaaaaaaaaah.. dun din nagshopping..

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when you visit bangkok, go see chatuchak and you will get the best bargains. wear light clothing and be prepared for thick crowds. be careful also, there are a lot of items that are cheaper when you buy them here in manilaaaaaaaaah..

Cebu it!

first time to visit cebu ever... here are some things i will remember about cebu:

1. taxi cabs give you your change even if it's only 1.50 pesos! sows! dito parang kulang pa yung bayad mo nun! and, some cabs have their meters on the rearview mirror which takes me a while to look for it.. hehe

2. the enourmous pile of danguit and pusit and "tabuan" ba yun? that strong odor that sticks to me from head to toe, inside-out!

3. the magnificent borloloys! super cheap! variety is enless and prices are the best! borloloy attack. super cheap stuff are found in mactan shrine ba yun? um, robinson's mall (which by the way they call robi heehee), and a palenke at the back of cebu city hall. here are the stuff i bought from robai.. mga 1/3 ito ng lahat ng accessories na nabili ko for pasalu and moi...

4. TOP(S) - counterpart of antipolo in cebu. nice view! first time visitors get to ring the bell and make a wish. though it was a bit foggy that night, the view was still nice. .

5. the yummy food of chika-an, golden cowrie, dessert factory, cafe laguna, joe's chicken inato and parklane hotel buffet!

6.doni~ a local who has a shop in the prklane hotel lobby. she sells swim and lounge wear from the u.s. Designer at panalo ang mga material! you can bargain for the price if she's there and she'll give you a beany baby of your choice! i got a purple turtle! this is me looking over some good selections! (photo from pauline)

7. the nice places we visited..

8. and best of all, the people i've spent my trip with(ma'am sue, pauline, sir nick, and iris).. go team cebu!

my weekend

had a good but tiring weekend:

FRIDAY: had dinner with my HS friends at POLU KAI in serendra~saw my super close friend nung freshman high-THEA..last time i saw her was 10 years ago!~had a good talk with my girlfriends about our lives and how we all turned out to be~had good food at polu kai~ but i think should have eaten at TRIO in the fort instead since they had yummy pizza.. kaya lang sobrang busog nako~had iced cappuccino instead kahit sobrang sakit na ng throat ko~and! TIN told us her story of getting engaged! (kilig!!!)

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dyan, tin and me at polu kai. jacky and ashley arrived after a few minutes..

that's tin's ring.. she and SHERWIN are finally engaged! congratulations!

SATURDAY: woke up late~arrived at work 11am~ left at 330pm~went around glorieta~saw a nice polka dot skirt on sale~went home to pack for splash island the next day

SUNDAY: woke up at 4am~attended the 630am worship service~met up with noel's cousins at splash island~stayed in the wave pool for 10mins~went on the slide with salbabida twice~ went around the river eckeck twice~went home and slept~ had super runny nose and bad cough while we were out~would have enjoyed more if we werent sick

noel and dessagirl = super sick after swimming

MONDAY: sick leave.. hehe..

ka-eck eckan sa buhay

at first it looks like i'm wrapped in gauze. mwehehehe.. i though cucumbers are supposed to relax your face. this feels VERY uncomfortable. i had these for 20 minutes on my face. waha! oh well, i guess i'm not one of those spa people.. (oh, i had a bad week.. i shall spa this weekend!)

i think washing my face with soap will be real fine for now. but the ponds commercial said we start aging at 25? nyaha!!! so wat to do?


this on the other hand feels much better... (ang laki ng binti ko.. hehe) i like foot spas and scrubs.. i should get them more often para mabawasan ang mga kalyo ko. ayaw ko kasi magpapedicure kasi nasusugatan yung paa ko lagi and nagpe-peel yung cuticles ko.. i asked the lady what the rose petals are for. decoration chuvanels lang daw. akala ko may powers din sila magpaganda ng paa e.

Things you can do in HK

1. Get fasyon tips from peeps ober dr. i personaly liked the way people dressed in hongkong. since it's still winter, most girls wear boots with skirts and jeans. sobrang cool! some of my friends think they are baduy. i, on the other hand, totally enjoyed their fashion sense. take a look at pix i got from the mtr (mrt satin) and mcdo. their wardrobe is totally inspired by the 80's with wild colors and polka prints matched with plaid and stripes. even their hair are 80's/anime inspired! wish i could pull this off!

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2. Shopping. siyempre, hindi mawawala ito. kahit anu pang pigil ang gawin ko, hindi ko kaya. mwehehe.. but i got good bargains tho. you can go in street markets, malls that look weird and scary (yung tipong nasa basement tapos parang maraming goons), or at really classy malls with designer stuff. if you buy in the mongkok night market, things are really expensive. but if you go to the dubious malls i mentioned, you will find real nice tops for hk$25 each (forex is hk$1 = php7.5). but if you to stores like giordano, bossini, g2000, u2, esprit, you'd get really good bargains pagnataon na sale talga. like in tung chung (spell check) if you buy 2 items, you get an additional 20% off the sale price! o diva? here is my sis and i in mong kok night market. i'll be posting pics of the stores where i got real good discounts.

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3. Theme Parks. masarap mamashal dito kasi everything is so accessible through commute! you can walk, take the train, bus, or ferry. i'm proud to say that i'm pretty good with the hk mtr already.. hehe.. iwan moko sa kahit anung station, and i'll find my way back. dito pag nagcommute ka, sobrang hasle! my sister, her boyfriend, and noel and i went to disneyland and ocean park. my parents didn't bother to go at nagikot nalang sa mga tindahan ng intsik. we were also with divine, ptr. demi's daughter. she's out tour guide! the girls liked disneyland more while the boys enjoyed ocean park better. i guess it's because of the rides. we had a free ticket for disneyland so i'm not sure how much yung entrance. from admiralty station of the mtr, bus ride and entrance for ocean park is $hk 208. mejow mahal.

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4. Visit friends. we spent our sunday service at Church of Christ in Hong Kong located in Central. it's a congregation of around 60 and most are females, working in Hong Kong. the rest are permanent residents and most are filipinos. ptr. demi and ptr. sunny (he will now be moving to dubai) are the ones taking care of our brothers and sisters who need a lot of encouragement since they are far from their families and usually have difficult employers. they are so warm and super nice! last 2003, one of the girls, si grace, brought us to a nearby market. she's now moving to canada.. if you're around hk, you might wana visit them. nakaka-bless!

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