September

A lot has been going in my life this month. I don’t blog about them very much though. All of a sudden, I felt like blogging about them here will just be too, I don’t know, invasive.

I’ve been feeling miserable lately. I may have smiled a lot in the past few weeks, but deep inside, I’m a big depressed shit. Thank you to my friends for their presence and support.

Enough of this emo crap though. Allow me to share some of the highlights of my September:

 

We “celebrated” Telaw’s birthday a day late, although we had dinner and coffee on September 17.

 

Random Friday night out with the girls from work.

 

My grandma and my aunt Glenda left for the US mid-month. We found out my great aunt had cancer so my grandma had to push her trip a month early!

The Barbie x Local Fashion Designer exhibit at SM. The clothes were sooo adorable. Buti pa ang Barbie, nabibihisan ng mga magagarang damit… sana ako din! LOL

I went out on a random lunch date with my college best friends, Karla and Leonard.

Omay turned 22! She had their finals on her birthday, but we went to her school and surprised her with balloons and cake to celebrate! We ended up having dinner at Yellow Fin with her family…

…and to Kapalong for an extended celebration!

When I got back from Kapalong, I found out my whole family stayed in Apo View Hotel for the rest of the weekend. Dad was in town for a business trip.

 

Lady was in town! We had coffee when we got back from Kapalong!

The days are obnoxiously HOT considering it’s September already. But clear blue skies are LOVE.

Despite all the bad feelings I’ve been having, I’m still very happy that I am surrounded with the most amazing people in the world. But well, I’m looking forward to a new month very much. Hello, October! I can’t wait to start next month’s adventure outside the city!

 

okthxbye

One is nearer God’s heart in a Garden…

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God’s heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.
~Dorothy Frances Gurney, "Garden Thoughts"

I have always wanted to have a garden, but I’ve learned early in life that my thumbs are pinker than green, so I leave the planting to the experts. But that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate plants and beautiful landscaping! In fact, I very much love being in a garden! It’s peaceful and beautiful – the same things I aspire for in life.

While I was in Kapalong last weekend, I didn’t miss the chance to visit the famous Alegre "Resort”. Omay’s dad’s prayer garden is very beautiful! I wanted more time to stay there and take more photos! But for now, here’s a picspam!

I love colorful orchids! Very pretty!

This was the first time I saw the world-famous WALING WALING orchid up close! I only see the lighted plastic ones in the city’s main thoroughfares. lol

Omay’s dad also has pomelo’s in his garden! At the walkway, you can really just pick pomelo straight from the tree!

 

At the end of the walkway, there’s a 2-storey gazebo perfect for lounging – and parties!

And oh, if you might have noticed, this photo set is a pre pre-nuptial photoshoot of Abe and Omay. Haha.

 

Abe = Avatar? Really now?

   

Shot from the Gazebo’s upper deck.

 

Ligawan?

This 10,000php worth of bougainvillea will be the first to greet you in the garden!

I think we’ve found the perfect place to host the Alegre-Salvador nuptials 10 years (haha) from now, yes? Just imagine how many more plants Tito Jonathan will be growing here in that span of time! LOL

 

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Happy 22nd Chic!

We celebrated Chic’s birthday as a conclusion to our adventures! I think it’s the 3rd time we celebrated a birthday in Nanay Bebeng’s! As usual, buffet overload!

 

As usual, their dessert table was a hit for us! Leche flan, and mangoes and cream FTW! Also, their Kare Kare – pork and beef – are delicious!

Here we go again with plate stacking!

Eleat was joined by Chic’s mom, Tita Elena, and Chic’s best friend since grade school, Yen. Cheers to kababuyan!

We didn’t want the night to end yet, so we decided to go to K1 again for some Wii action!

  

We played Tennis, Boxing, Bowling and Golf! Chic said we were soooo competitive. I was like… YEAH?!

The doctors were only supposed to stay for “10 minutes” because they had to study. But they stayed for a whole hour! RB, Donna, Chic and I decided to finish a couple more Tennis matches before we left.

Yellow was obviously “COLOR OF THE NIGHT”.

Another great night with the bestest friends in the world! Thank you Eleat!

Happy birthday Chicababes!

 

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River (ROCK!) Tubing

I therefore conclude that we are not the luckiest group when it comes to water-related adventures.

The first time we tried bonding over an extreme sport, we went White Water Rafting during the summer. Result: low water level. The second time we attempted it, there was no water at all for River Tubing in Danao, Bohol! And just last weekend, we went River Tubing to very low water levels that felt like we were Rock Tubing instead! LOL.

As mentioned, Chic was in town for the weekend. And she arranged for us to go River Tubing for Sunday – we all said yes around midnight the day before! Talk about SHORT NOTICE!

 

The River Tubing guides brought us to the middle of nowhere. Just to give you an idea of how primitive the place we were brought to:

 

One way roads! OMG. The motorcyle with sooo many cargoes had to stop so we could pass through, and the guides had to help push so the motorcycle could cotinue moving up the mountain!

 

And oh, since Omay and Donna were not able to join us, I brought my siblings Karl and Kim to tag along.

When we got to the drop-off point, we still had to trek the mountain carrying our tubes (salbabida!) to get to the river for like 15 minutes!

After the trek, imagine how happy we were to finally see the river!

But OMG would you look at the river! WHERE IS THE WATER?! I saw PAGASA share this weather forecast on TV (for Kadayawan): Expect rain and thunder for the whole weekend. UHMM. YEAH. WHATEVER.

  

But WEEE. We still had a lot of fun (and cuts and bruises)!

Though the water level was very low – the rapids were still super awesome!

 

Looked fun, eh? The most exciting thing about River Tubing is that aside from your vest and helmet, there is nothing anchoring you to your tube! So anytime you encounter a rough rock, or a really strong rapid, I wouldn’t be surprised if you capsize – THAT’S THE BEST PART, THOUGH! I couldn’t even begin to count how many times I fell off the tube! However, I fell even before I got to the “best bend” among the rapids! HUHU

There was this really cool “pool” right before the last major rapid! If you don’t fall off the tube often, you won’t really get wet. But well, while I fell and fell – I still jumped and jumped and jumped! I loves it!

The low-down: RIVER (or ROCK! hehe) TUBING is super fun! It’s a bit painful and slow when the water level is low, but I’m pretty sure it’s gonna be wet and wild when the river is flooded! It’s a definite must try! It’s cheap, so you have to bear with roughing it! Go go go! 

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Happy Kadayawan!

Night out with Eleat Part 2! When we had dinner at Ranch and Reef and then played Wii at K1 last Thursday, there weren’t any photos, so I am just gonna flood you with photos from tonight. Woohooo!

         

1) Dinner at Yellow Fin. Yen joined us! Yay!; 2) Got a “free” Globe tattoo sim with my Battle of the Bands ticket. I now have a globe number.; 3) The stage. The Tent was packed tonight!; 4) Unlimited drinks: The Bar and Emperador Lite!; 4) Omay getting her Apply Vodka; 5) Twins; 6) Supposedly a stolen shot; 7) The beautiful Chic and her new haircut; 8) Moved to Blugre; 9) Blugre’s Cappuccino Jelly Dessert; 10) Omay and her choco torte cake; 11) A stolen shot, finally!; 12) Another night out with some of the world’s bestest friends!

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Destination: BOHOL (Day 1)

I’ll be doing this blog in a slightly different format as the Cebu one, so yeah. Just saying.

It was too soon to leave Cebu, but we had to because we were going to beautiful Bohol! After cramming in a few minutes to visit the Sto. Nino Church, we rushed to the pier and said our hasty goodbyes to my dad who was awesome enough to drive us around very late the night before, and very early that day! (Love you, Daddy!)

Lady, RB and I with the Bohol first timers: Frank and Chic. Bryan took the photo.

 

Check out Ocean Jet’s Libreng Balik promos. Super sulit. Though I’m not sure if we really were able to get them. Haha.

Thank you, Coke

When we got to Bohol, the Territory Sales Manager for Coca-Cola greeted us at the pier. Daddy was the one to arrange transportation for us in Bohol. We just had to get ourselves on the island. Absolutely hassle free!

The 6 of us would also like to thank Coke for providing us with Viva Natural Spring Water that should’ve lasted us for more than a day, but Frank and Chic devoured in a few hours.

Pinoy Hospitality at its Finest

So yes. First stop in Bohol. Can you guess where? Clue? Bohol is very famous for this especially during May. Guessed it already??.. Oh what the heck. I’ll just say it. Haha. FIESTA!!!!!!!! Yes! Everyone should experience Bohol’s very famous fiesta season at least many times over!

There really is nothing like a barrio fiesta! We were planning to have lunch at one of Loboc River’s floating restaurants, but the TSM Teddy Montejo was adamant that we go to one of their MEP’s for lunch. We seriously had no idea whose house party we were crashing – but that’s the beauty of fiestas, everyone, even complete strangers, are welcome in ones home. Pinoy Hospitality at its finest!

And OMG. ONE SHOULD NOT MISS EATING “HUMBA” FROM A BOHOLANO HOUSEHOLD. SUPER SARAP! And their tortas are also really good! NOM NOM NOM. Unfortunately we had to eat and run, because we were scheduled to do the usual touristy trap in Bohol for the benefit of the first timers. Personally, I’d rather have stayed at the beach, but it wouldn’t be fun without the crazies in my life.

Tourist Trap

It was a very sunny day when our boat docked at the pier of Tagbilaran. But towards the foot of the hill going up to the Chocolate Hills center, it suddenly rained cats and dogs!

 

At first thought, it was such a bummer because we had to climb 200+ steps up the peak to have a great view of the stunning chocolate hills that is all sorts of awesome in that part of Bohol. IDK where I got my information, but I was told that said chocolate hills are abundant with limestones, remnants from the days when Bohol was still submerged underwater. Or so they say.

Thank goodness the rain stopped while we were halfway up!

Our next stop was the man-made forest we passed by going to and from Chocolate hills! The place looked so nice! And it was so cool! We need more of them trees in this planet!

So yes. The hotness Lady is crazy.

During my previous visit to Bohol back in Summer ‘09, the Coke people brought us to the hanging bridge in Carmen. And so, I’ve also suggested that we go there. It was everyone’s first time there but mine.

Last year, there was only one bridge. But they’ve apparently built another one to improve traffic. Personally, I think that’s a bummer because one of the thrills of crossing the bridge (especially for scaredy cats!) is when you have to meet someone in the middle of the bridge going the opposite way! It was still cool though. It was fun shaking the bridge and stuff, thank God I’m not(really) afraid of heights.

And of course, a Bohol trip is not complete without even seeing the tarsiers!

We went to the Tarsier sanctuary in Loboc River. Personally, I pity these tarsiers. They have to contend with the obnoxiousness of humans day in and out. There are still so many tourists who never read and keeps flashing their cameras very near these poor creatures. Tsk tsk tsk. They should just leave the Tarsiers, world’s smallest monkey, in their natural habitat.

And speaking of obnoxious, there’s also this little annoying monkey there that doesn’t like me. Haha.

Unfortunately, we never got to cruise the Loboc River for this trip. But we got to take photos while at the tarsier place though.

One of our last stops before heading to the hotel is to Albuquerque, Bohol where we found Prony, the largest reticulated python in the country, AND the even more exotic “Marimar”.

What is usually in everyone’s first places to visit, we made into one of our last for our first day. From the snake place, we went to one of the island’s oldest church: Baclayon

 

I’ve been to this church many times already, but I’m still amazed at the grandeur of the place every time. I love the altar!

And oh, we made a pit stop at the Blood Compact site also in Baclayon. It was a very quick stop before we FINALLY head to the hotel.

The Hotel

We stayed at Cherry’s Home Too in Panglao. I stayed there last year with my dad and brothers.

There were 6 of us, but we got the Quadruple Room. According to the website, the room is good for 4 but really, it can fit until 8! It was very big! But but but, we were given the room 13. Superstitious much? Haha.

 

And they also have a pool and jacuzzi (that doesn’t really work. LOL)! But yeah. I love their pool. Bryan, RB and I “chilled out” there before dinner that night, and when we were too tamad to go to the beach!

So if you’re looking an affordable place to stay at in Panglao, I’d recommend this “hotel”.

Food Trip

At the hanging bridge, I was finally able to eat GINANGANG again! I don’t know what it’s called in English – Grilled Bananas? LOL I loved it!

We walked the length of Alona Beach that night in search of a place to eat. We ended up at the end of the beach and had dinner at Alona Tropical.

The food was good, and they served it quickly! Wee. Not much pictures though.

The Beach

Panglao Beach = World Class. I love love love Panglao Beach. Our first foray to the beach during our trip was after our dinner. Still, Panglao Beach is love love love even in the dark.

We went home past midnight already, I think. But we didn’t sleep immediately. Hello Facebook and Twitter all night! Haha.

The Friends

I just have to say this… it was weird spending soooo much time with people I’m not always with for the past few years. Chic got annoyed at me because I was too bossy (as usual) ~ oops. Sorry bru! Haha. But Lady and I ~ we’re getting used to travelling together. Haha. Hello, Hong Kong! We’ve already practiced the: I-Picture-You and You-Picture-Me routine. Haha.

OMG. Friends! We really made it!

And oh… last!

I haven’t seen this in a long time!

Santa Cruzan FTW! I can’t remember the last time I saw a Santa Cruzan! Ang saya! We saw this on our way to Baclayon! Nice!

And that ends Day 1!

 

okthxbye

Destination: CEBU

Originally posted at Eleat and Co.
June 5, 2010

And just when summer is about to end, Eleat and Co. went on an unforgettable adventure in Central Philippines! Yes! Level up na kami ngayon! Out of town na ang drama! Weeee!

QUEEN CITY OF THE SOUTH

You know you’re in Cebu when, while riding the cab, you pass by a store named “DAPNEY” (Daphne)! But I love it anyway. Yay for seeing my dad after a month!

Getting There

An early start for the weekend! Bryan, RB, Frank and I met up at the Davao Int’l Airport already, while Chic came in from Manila, and Lady was already in Cebu. I won a little basket during the in-flight game in Cebu Pacific! Our flight left Davao 30mins early. There’s supposed to be an hour difference in our flight and Chic’s but because of the change in ETA, we decided to meet up with everyone at the condo already instead of the original plan of waiting for Chic at the airport.

Accommodation

Thanks to my Tito Jerry for the free lodging in Cebu! We stayed in his condo unit (right across the hallway from my dad!) for a night! Weee! The girls stayed in the bed while the guys made do with the couch and the floor!

  

Transportation

We took a plane to Cebu, and while we were there we used public transportation before my dad went to pick us up in The Terraces for dinner! From then on, free ride!

Just for fun: we bought our Cebu plane tickets on sale last February. We spent around 2,300php for round trip tickets. And for the benefit of those going to Cebu, public transportation (Jeep!) costs around Php7 generally. Taking a cab is also not so bad. The traffic’s a little heavy but if you’re going somewhere near, I think it would be okay.

Tip: At the airport, do not take the yellow airport taxis or the fixed rate taxis right outside the Arrival Area. Instead, cross the street going up to the Departure Building and walk up the stairs. Turn left and head to the other end of the building and there you’ll see the regularly metered taxis!

Food Trip

Moon Cafe

We decided to have lunch at Ayala’s The Terraces. It took us a while to choose which place to eat because there were just lots of seemingly nice restos! In the end, we settled for Moon Cafe. With its name, I originally thought it was a Chinese Restaurant (read: Moon Cake), but it turned out to be a Mexican-inspired food haven.

The place was pretty warm – not so good considering it was scorching outside – and super packed. It was obvious the restaurant is popular in the metro. The food was also delicious! Of course we had to get Chimichanga because we don’t really frequent places that serves them! Nom nom nom.

Must Try: Baby Back Ribs! Not so expensive and oh so yum yum!

Casa Verde

When my dad agreed to have dinner with us our first night, we both decided to bring the crowd to IT Park’s Casa Verde. My sibs had been ranting about it when we were there last year, and because I haven’t been there, I decided to try it with the friends.

My gosh. You really wouldn’t believe how affordable the food it – considering their serving size! Daddy and my brothers were right, the food there is divine!

Must Try: Brian’s Ribs. For only Php188, you’ll get a plateful (and more!) of awesome steak goodness!

Sight Seeing

We actually didn’t have much time to sight-see while we were in Cebu. We went to Ayala for lunch. Bryan, Chic and Lady said that The Terraces looked like a mix of Trinoma and Greenbelt. We also went to SM. I wish we also have a North Wingversion here in Davao! The boys went with Lady to her school at CIM. And later that evening we had dinner at The Walk in IT Park. IT Park is pretty self explanatory. Most major call centers in Cebu are located there so there are a lot of 24/7 establishments outside the area. It’s like Cebu’s very own version of The Fort.

Of course, the best sights of Cebu can be seen from the 38th/37th floor of Crown Regency Hotel via the Edge Coaster and the Sky Walk. From there, you can see a great view of the city including their White House inspired Capitol building.

Before leaving Cebu for Bohol, we couldn’t miss going to Basilica de Sto. Nino and Magellan’s Cross. The church never fails to give me goosebumps when I go there. Oh, not the creepy kind! It just feels so holy and happy when I’m there.

MUST TRY

When going to Cebu, never miss the opportunity to drop by Crown Regency Hotel’s 38th and 37th floors! The Extreme Adventures that are the Edge Coaster and the Sky Walk are a must! For the Edge Coaster, you will be seated in a coaster that goes around the side of the building, and that can incline up to 55 degrees, giving you a view of what lies below the 38th floor. It’s stomach churning! I don’t think we dared incline it to it’s full angle – that’s how scary it was for us, but we sure had fun! As for the Sky Walk, while the waiting takes a really long time, it’s very exciting because you get to walk in a glass pathway that surrounds the outside of the hotel’s 37th floor. The only thing between you and the ground are the glass and the harness.

 

The downside to these activities though are the cost of the photographs. The rides are ok, but the photos are way over priced! We had to pay 550php per pair for only 6 photos for the edge coaster; and 1300+php as a group for 20 photos for the Sky Walk because we weren’t allowed to bring our own cameras. BOO. HISS. But the expense notwithstanding, it was a pretty cool experience!

That’s it for Cebu! Watch out for my next blog on Bohol!

 

telai

 

Click HERE for original article link.

ELEAT, March 2010

   

Thanks to Chic, we really went all the way with our adventures last month! We weren’t even given enough time to think things over. Things happened in just a *snap*! And it was so awesome!

I can’t wait for our May adventures!

 

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The Moymoy Palaboy Project

I never thought I’d get to see the YouTube sensation that is Moymoy Palaboy perform live.

When Chic told me about their show, I wondered how they’ll be able to perform their YouTube hits live. But these guys are TOO TALENTED! It was awesome how they really know their thing. Their timing was perfect. And it was amazing how they got to memorize all the lyrics and the choreography that goes with it. 

But while they are pretty good performers, I do think that they need to brush up more on their “hosting” skills. There were still some dead spots in the program. Their spiels in between numbers were awkward because they seem more comfortable with their lipsynching. They sang live though and I must say they have pretty good voices. It makes me kinda interested to listen to the rest of their album.

My friend Lady was able to go up the stage during their second to the last song. She “sang” WANNABE by the Spice Girls with Moymoy Palaboy and Roadfill.

Despite how tired we were from our earlier adventure that day, Moymoy Palaboy successfully entertained us and made us laugh so hard (especially during the Bohemian Rhapsody performance!!!)

It was another awesome Eleat experience!

After the show, we had dinner with the other VIP’s including Moymoy Palaboy and Roadfill.

Of course we grabbed the chance to take our photos with them!

 

Many thanks to James and Rod (the men behind Moymoy Palaboy and Roadfill) for graciously allowing us to take photos. Thanks also to Chic and Tito Danny Pabalan for inviting us to the show! What an awesome way to end the day!

 

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P.S. I love Roadfill’s hair! I think we have something similar here at home that my sibs use during Halloween! LOL

Frozen Yogurt at Coffee Cat

One of the things that I miss most about Manila is Frozen Yogurt (Red Mango!!!)

So when Coffee Cat brought it to Davao, it was one of the happiest moments in my life!

After having dinner at Cafe Andessa, my barkada and I went to Coffee Cat for our healthy-ish desserts!

While I was already full from the yummy dinner, I couldn’t help but binge on these yogurt goodness. I got a medium sized original frozen yogurt with Strawberries, Special K and Chocolate Syrup. YUM YUM YUM.  Frank ordered a similar one but changed the strawberries to blueberries. (eew. gaya gaya! LOL)

I think Lady got the mango and pineapple with corn flakes. I didn’t get to try it though but it’s all good because I’m not a big fan of pineapples. And I think Chic had the blueberry and peaches? Not sure. We forgot to take pictures!

So anyway, if you haven’t tried frozen yogurt yet, go try it now! It’s really delicious! It has this sour-sweet taste that I’m obsessed about. I also really like the green tea frozen yogurt but they don’t have it already at Coffee Cat. They have Chocolate Yogurt instead. You can mix and match different toppings for your froyo (frozen yogurt) so have fun inventing and creating something that you’ll absolutely love!

And while the Yogo FroYo in Coffee Cat is yum, I still prefer Red Mango’s, or White Hat? Hmm. Hopefully, Red Mango and White Hat will come to Davao when Abreeza opens, yes?

 

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