i only had 5 hours of sleep last monday, and had to work the next day.

south-east asia → philippines → benguet → baguio city

so, baguio trip over last weekend. it’s a city in northern part of luzon, and popularly known as the summer capital of the philippines. often times before, people are surprised to hear that i’ve never been to baguio. well, it may not be very close to manila, (some 250 kilometers north that will take about 6 hours on road) but i guess it just becomes a requirement that a filipino must at least be in baguio once..and at 24, i think it’s really a bit late that i’m going to this town only just now. for first timers, it’s also popular to kiss the earth/ground in baguio once you get off the bus!

we got there around 4ish in the morning on a saturday (leaving manila friday at 10.30pm), and it’s a bit chilly. this place is elevated by some 1500 meters from sea level, that makes the temperature mild and cool especially during december and early parts of the  year. well, in general (except for batanes group of islands), geographical location of philippine provinces has little thing to do with the climate. i mean, those in northern part of the country doesn’t mean they have cooler weather. it’s more of the altitude that makes the place mild and breezy.

we were actually here to witness the panagbenga festival. it’s a flower fest that draws thousand of tourist from manila or other local parts of the country, and as well as international travelers. rest for a bit on saturday morning, and then went to central area to get breakfast and witness the morning parade. it’s not yet the flower float parade (which is for tomorrow). it’s street parade, people dancing with costumes of different colors and design ranging anything from flowers, to native ibaloi clothings, to pizza design. some parade entries are sponsored by commercial establishments like greenwich, jolibee, or sm. you wouldn’t imagine how hard is it to look for a decent spot to take pictures! we squeezed our way up and down the pedestrian, swiftly cross the streets illegally, shove other people (well, you can’t avoid sorry), but it’s all worth it and the weather being not so hot is a little bit relief.

i like taking pictures of people. especially the natives when i’m in a different place, and i like it more if they could look at the lens and give even a faint smile. however, i’m also a bit scared and hesitant because first: they might get mad if you spot on unfriendly ones; second, they might not like having their face exposed and scattered over the net. well, indeed it’s strange if some people you don’t know would take a picture of you! this is especially true for local native people that are not really in costume or attire (unlike the picture on the right). it’s a bit awkward because you are having interest of somebody’s appearance in their normal dress. so, you deem that there is something peculiar in the way they look, which in this case might lead to a little confusion just like when my friend asked a lolo (elder man) if she could take a picture of him. the lolo answered, "sila na lang" (literally, just them), plus pointing to the parade. however, some are cooperative, just like the one above.

after watching the parade, it took us more than 1 hour looking for a taxi before finally giving in and just had lunch at nearby SM. during this time, i swear you would have a very hard time grabbing a cab. most taxis in baguio are the bigger FXs, but there are still some cars…taxi rates starts at 25 pesos, and 1.50 pesos there after. so it’s cheaper than manila. in SM, they have taxi queue, so we decided to go home and have some rest first. later at night, we went to this place called nevada square and stayed longer that we weren’t able to get up early the next day to see the float parade.  

on second thought, i’m really just after seeing the floats and the flower itself rather than those personalities boarded. so after painstakingly looking for session road for lunch (ended up in pizza volante), we went to athletic bowl where they put the floats minus the prima donnas.

more picture –> here

Ako ang Pangulo. Wala nang iba.

Then, you better act like one.

http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20080226-121379/Arroyo-caught-in-web-of-own-lies

http://uw1.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=110234

i’m going to be somewhere cold over the weekends.

south-east asia → philippines → metro manila → taguig

so i’m in the office right now, all set to go to baguio tonight. ‘had teriyaki boy for lunch (tabemashou!) in market! market! and got some advil in case migraine stricks at the most inconvenient time over the supposedly cold weekend. it’s going to be panagbenga flower festival there, and it’s my first time see baguio! so a bit excited but unprepared as well ’cause i only searched the net a little this morning on things to do and see there.

the bus we’ll be taking will leave manila at around 10pm later, and the ride is about 6 hours. that is, on a regular occasion. and since it’s festival and long weekend (no work on monday, yahoo!),i guess it’s going to take longer. we’ll see…

i’ll get back soon!

would you trust my belaying skills?

finding wall climbing at sportskamp a bit undemanding , we went to try wall climbing at market market. this one is indoor, at the topmost floor of the building, alongside cinemas. unfortunately, my battery died out, so not so many pictures.  

i admit i felt a little scared at the beginning despite this is my second time climbing. well, it’s much higher, with more obstacles and curves along going up. the rocks to cling on are less as well, scattered not so close to each other and some are just too flat. not to mention, at the top, you get the view all the way down from the 4th or 5th floor (not sure) to the ground floor of the mall which is a little bit a jumpy sight.

apart from climbing, i get to do some belaying! so it’s some improvement to my climbing skills..hehe

i think i’m reading much children’s book.

when i had lunch with lyelle the other day to pick up a book to give to jun, i glanced at fullybooked’s top 10 for children and was amused to see that i’ve read their first top 2 in rank…and as a matter of fact, i was looking for another children’s book that day. hehe

it’s ‘things not seen’ by andrew clements. he’s famous for his children’s books with large pictures and bold text, sort of like picture books but i guess ‘things not seen’ targets more of the young adult category. actually, the book cover doesn’t show it’s a kiddie book so i think it’s fine to carry this around and not reveal my childish taste in literature…hehe it’s only 251 pages, so it was quick. nonetheless, it’s really a delightfully pleasant read.

it’s about a teenager boy, bobby, who woke up on an ordinary day and found out the day to be not so ordinary anymore because he’s just gone, like turned invisible. he told his parents about it, who of course didn’t believe until he demonstrated some magical invisibility acts. bobby can’t see himself, so it took time for him to get use to it. imagine yourself walking down the stairs, you can see the stairs and everything clearly yet you can’t see your hands reaching the railing or your own feet touching the steps! (of course that’s when you don’t have any footwear). the book was able to deliver how is it like to be invisible very well.

he then met a blind girl, alicia, in the library..and because she can’t see him, she’s someone safe to talk to. however, he eventually got into a situation that he needs to tell her and then her parents. together, both families find ways to uncover his mystery, and then develops a bond of understanding and trust.

it’s fiction, of course, but the book was written good enough to put in lessons and insight that are thought-provoking, profound even. the plot is simple, narrating superb, and if you want to read something light and easy, this is a nice choice.

amazing race asia 2 is over.

as we don’t have the privilege of cable television at home, i have to download things i watch. one of these is amazing race. ‘been watching the american version before, and of course when the asian version came out, i added it to my download list.

nothing much to say about the first asian race as in the first two eliminations, both 2 filipino teams were booted out. in the second race, (which i just finished seeing this morning) it’s more exciting because a filipino team (mark and rovilson) really showed big chance of winning. if i’m not mistaken, they won 8 out of 12 pitstops (that’s 2/3 of all), of which seven are consecutive, and never came in worse than 2nd save for the last race. unfortunately, the last challenge was badly done by rovilson, which ultimately ended their chance of winning.

although their celebrity presence is all throughout the show, like they seem to have scripts when reaching the pitstops, a lot of times they talk to the camera or they wore some kind of distinctive clothing prepared for the race, it was very nice of them to be proud of the philippines, carrying the flag until the end despite their clear knowledge that they ended 3rd.

and having said that, being proud of our country is one of the most thing we lack exercising; and at the moment, the last thing we could logically do.

speeding ticket is not existing in skyway.

‘had my new fastest drive record at 160kph yesterday!, a few 40kph more than my previous top of 120kph. i think item’s (name of the car) 1.30 engine can still do beyond that, however i chickened out when i saw cars approaching ahead already. it was in the skyway, on my way to work. ’just interested to know the max i could do.

a lot of dragonflies are in my stomach.

do i really have to prove i speak enough ingles?

wet clothes are bigger than dry clothes.

south-east asia → philippines → batangas → san juan

with the cloudy dark sky last weekend, obviously it’s not yet summer…but still we went to this fantastic beach in san juan batangas. i went with a couple of new friends from lawson. it was actually my first time to a beach in batangas province, and i’ve heard so many good things about this particular district in batangas, san juan, so ‘was really excited. the place is called ‘La Luz’. website for more info -> here

unfortunately, we only had the weekend for leisure. so we were on our way to batangas early saturday, and back manila bound a little bit after 12pm sunday. travel time is about 4 hours each way coming from makati area, and as i live in the south, they just picked me up at an expressway caltex station in laguna area. (sorry for being late though, hehe)

we got there a little early before check-in time (1pm), so just took a couple of pictures while waiting for lunch..and tried the see-saw for kids..finally, lunch, which is not bad. we preordered all our meals for our stay ’cause the place seems a little bit private and there’s no other place around where you can get food. all foods are okay i guess, and priced just right. 900 pesos for a buffet lunch , merienda and dinner on saturday, and a buffet breakfast on sunday, which i would have turned into a brunch (because of long travel time ahead) only if didn’t have that slight hangover from saturday night drinking. 

talking about drinks, ’twas a little bit mix of everything. boys drank mostly fundador, a bit tequila and gilbeys, and splash of baileys. 7-up or sprite (can’t recall) for chaser. well, thanks to my dad’s ever insatiable alcoholic genes, i didn’t get drunk honest, nor vomit… just a little dizzy. ‘was even able to run get some water to drink before dozing off.

apart from drinking, eating, taking photos and being merry, we swam, played our very own version of football (that was after multiple failed attempts of playing decent volley). mind you, we even have rules! including hand ball penalty, hehe. score was 1-0, us one, and then just stopped when 2 among us got injured… there was a wooden raft a few meters by the shore and i figure it’s nice to have some jumping and diving again! i’m a terrible diver and a belly flap expert. nevertheless, i still enjoyed trying it despite my chest totally red! i just don’t know how to do that head-first-splashless dive, so would a karate-side-kick be cool instead?

of course, trip wouldn’t be complete without checking out marine life around this spot. so once again made use of my snorkeling set (a good investment). we were suppose to get in a boat and go snorkeling somewhere else sunday morning, but everyone hardly got up at 6, so we cancelled that. but still, ‘was really surprised by some of random corals and species that you can find not too far from the shore. blue-neon small fish, orangy big fish, silver with black stripes fish, plain silver fish, some rare fish with purple spots. diversity really! from my own experience, i would say that marine life, at least for snorkeling, is best around these areas of the philippine water. i mean, mindoro-batangas area. no doubt it’s a lot lot better than what you can see in subic area, or aklan, puerto princesa, and alaminos. but that is not to say those places are half bad!

this was also the first vacation and out-of-town of my beloved holga! (which i was able to shoot a good roll of fuji superia. sorry can’t shoot more, 120s supply is limited, and will probably have it developed shortly).

more pictures from the trip –> here

i woke up yesterday and today with a sore body.

well, not really too much aching, probably my 3K or 5K regular runs helped…but still a little bit aching backs and arms, upper torso…but i guess this is nothing too much to take alaxan or any pain reliever. it’ll soon go away! and for some reasons, sometimes i think it feels right! hehe i mean, at least you know that something happened to the physical thing you’ve done recently. thing is, we tried this wall climbing. this is an ultimate test if you really can carry your body! and fortunately, i guess i could handle myself.

the place is called SportsKamp, at the Fort. apart from the wall climbing, they have several sports facilities like gym, batting cages, boxing gym, indoor basketball/volleyball court, and a small football area.

basically, there are two kinds of wall. one straight up, and the other with a little obstacle hump in the middle part right before reaching the buzzer. for most of us are first timers, i think these two kinds of walls are a good start. they’re not that much high, and you have loads of choices of rocks to cling on, hehe.

here, i don’t have access to any gyms, let alone free gyms! so the only exercise i get is running on a treadmill, and a pair of 14-lb dumbbell in my room. so some activities like this is good for the body.

plus, the wall climbing venue is far too close our office to ignore! see?! that’s our office behind (of course, the one finished, hehe)

i think i tried the wall like 3 or 4 times each, my hands were soring then, my feet alright ’cause i have my shoes on. best record on the plain wall was 25.7 seconds, not bad! and on the other wall was like 39 seconds or so.

we had the place total of 2 hours, and was kind of surprised that the place is almost empty..considering it’s a friday night..probably, most people just want to hang out after a week’s work and do nothing muscle-requiring physically-demanding activites.

of course we had to eat something to regain our powers, so we walked towards market market, and luckily on the way, krispy kreme red logo was lit, which means we get to have free fresh donuts, which also means, we have to get in quick before they stop bringing on free fresh donuts..hehe..it was actually my first krispy kreme donut! not bad, just too much sweet for my liking, i guess. i was satisfied with the free one, so just got a bottled raspberry to quench. we passed by fully booked..and for some reasons, i’ve been addressing this bookstore as ‘page one’ hehe…perhaps, ’still have part of my mind back in hk. i looked for this book i recall by the title ‘things unseen’ by clements, and it’s not in their database…later on, i remembered it should have been ‘things not seen’! haha..so will probably check it out next time.

passing by serendra of course, which is loaded by human beings of higher socio-economic-capacita…then straight to market market for a stick of ineng’s barbeque.

i just realized it’s a little bit funny, i mean, how even places dictate one’s financial capacity. from the other side of the road, you see cars stopping by foyer dropping the elite. crossing the street, you head to market! market! the fountain dead now, the park bombarded by the masa and the sound and atmosphere is more welcoming. just across the street, yet worlds apart. but it’s not that i’m descriminating or something! just merely a thought, an observation.

and going back to the climb adventure, more pictures are up here!