Huwaw Davao! :)

I am a traveller. I love going to different places and experience their culture.

This year, I wished to go to Vietnam to celebrate my birthday but I changed my mind and thought of travelling locally instead. I wished of going to place in Mindanao since that's the only major island group that I haven't been to. We really get what we wish for. A week before my birthday, my council and I flew to Davao for a council meeting and at the same time bond with our Davao teammates. :)

I love Davao! It was love at first sight. Davao has a charm of calmness, openness and serenity. As we cruised our way to the hotel from the airport on Levi's car, I felt how the city welcomed me into it. :) What made our stay in Davao more enjoyable was the company of the loving Davao 49ers. We bonded like we were old friends and shared stories like there was no tomorrow. Here are some of the photos: 

DAY 1

 Hello Davao! :)

 Logging in hours for the Bar Review. 

 At Francisco Bangoy (Davao)  International Airport

 A welcome treat at the airport

Lunch. 

 K Steak serves buffet for only 170.00 Php with at least 5 choice of viands 

and unlimited grilled pork, beef, chicken and fish. Rating: 8 

 Powerful Voice with the Davao LEAPers. :)

 I love taking photos of vehicles in a particular locale. Here's one. 

DAY 2

Day 2 was fun day. We went to Outland Adventure, The Repentor in Ma-a to go zipline. It was my first time to go ziplining. Wooohooo! :)  

All geared up! :)

After the first 600m. Wooh! That was awesome!

Part of travelling is experiencing the local food as well. We were so blessed to have friends who treated us so well. Tito Jon and Anot cooked food for us. 

Instant Favorite: Kinilaw na Tuna!

Steamed Sea Bass

Sinigang na Sugpo sa Calamansi at Sabaw ng Gulay

No oil Fried Chicken

      

Anot's Chicken Salad

 Grilled Pork Chop. Favorite.

Crusted Cream Dory with Tomato Sauce

My Davao Experience will not be complete without having anything with Durian. Levi and the rest of the Davao LEAPers invited us to have Durian Halo-halo at Aling Foping's.  Durian halo-halo is a mixture of Durian Jam, Nata de Coco, Pinipig and Durian Ice cream topped with crushed ice and laced with fresh milk. Yuuum!

Daghang Salamat Dabaw! :) I hope to go back to you soon. :) 

african safari and writing a book

Since I am bedfast for the past few days with nothing to do but sleep, flick the remote, watch dvds (or let the chattering put me to sleep) and tweet, I felt so useless. I thought of doing a lot of things. Now that I feel a little better yet still incapable of going out and doing stuff, I thought of re-writing the things I wanted to do in my lifetime. I recall writing them down but I am not sure where I have placed it. Perhaps, that list is in one of my diaries piled in my stash in our other house. I usually cross out the things I've done already.

Now, I will re-write them as I can remember. 

1. Experience the REAL African Safari.
2. Zoobic Safari
3. Backpack in Europe (Spain, Germany, France, Italy, Greece and UK)
4. Southern Exploration (CDO, Davao, Bukidnon and Camiguin)
5. Lead sing for a full live band
6. Sing with an acoustistic band
7. Have a kiddie party on my birthday
8. Participate in a WYD abroad (Canada 2002)
9. Learn conversational French (Gahd! I have been wanting this since 2005. All I now is how to count! )
10. Travel in Japan eat in one of their Izakayas, bathe in one of their hot spring pools and see the cherry blossoms.
11. Meet Mickey Mouse
12. Have photo with the Merlion
13. Visit Universal Studios
14. Swim with the Dolphins
15. Travel alone for at least a week outside the Philippines.
16. Shop in Thailand. 
17. Ride an Elephant
18. Sleep all day
19. Have my dream house
20. Own a beach house
21. Kiss in the rain
22. Bathe in the rain
23. Whitewater raft in CDO
24. Bathe in a falls
25. Go to Coron
26. Go back to Coron. ;)
27. Eat authentic Lechon Cebu in Cebu
28. Lounge in Boracay
29. Set foot in Japan  (actually, just a stopover)
30. Own an all-day breakfast resto
31. Own a bookstore
32. Japanese food overload
33. Pen Pals @Manila Peninsula
34. Date JLC and Derek Ramsay.
35. Finish working on the photobook
36. Top the Bar
37. Learn to play the guitar
38. Polish playing the piano
39. Climb Mt. Pulag
40. Climb Mt. Pinatubo
41. Visit Mayon Volcano
42. See Mt. Fuji
43. See Mt. Mayon for real!
44. Eat authentic Bicol Express
45. Experience Batanes
46. Spend a White Christmas
47. Get over my fear of the deep
48. Learn to Scuba Dive
49. Pagudpod
50. Sky Dive!
51. Write a book
52. Act in a play
53. Sing in a choir
54. Play Ultimate
55. Play Ultimate (Frisbee) again
56. Marathon
57. Run
58. Watch World Cup Finals Live!
59. Glide through a zip line
60. Work in a fun law firm
61. Grow the tshirt printing biz
62. Grow the atchara biz
63. Red Ford Escape
64. Eat Durian Ice Cream
65. Get inked (henna at least)
66. Volunteer for Gawad Kalinga
67. Become a life coach
68. Love like crazy
69. Have a photo shoot
70. Have a glamour photo shoot
71. Read all day
72. Cook a feast
73. Throw a party for my birthday
74. Give free hugs
75. Box
76. Plant trees
77. See Wicked
78. Watch plays
79. Be gadget-free for a day
80. Learn how to jump rope
81. Bike
82. See Halong Bay
83. Eat street foods
84. Shop til you drop
85. Die rich
86. Invest in stocks
87. Become a multi-millionaire
88. Send kids to school
89. Adopt a dog
90. Teach
91. Dance 
92. Record songs
93. Fly a kite
94. Jump in a trampoline like crazy
95. Randomly give money away
96. Carry a bag with lots of money inside

Hmn... I guess that's all for now. I'll keep updating this list.

Eat, Pray, Tacsiyapo! in no particular order with Carlisle and Bee

After our bar exams, I joined Carlisle, her mom and her lola in visiting the Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan. Since Bee is in La Union, we asked her to join us also. So, she drove from LU to Manaoag. It was a very long drive, most of the time I was asleep but the stops are surely fun.

We left Manila around 8am. It was a little late because Carlisle's lola still had to come from Batangas. Thanks to SCTEx, we arrived Manaoag at past 11 am. We lit candles for the intentions we are praying for and attended the 12noon mass.

 Manaoag Shrine from afar

 Mine

Bee saying her prayers before lighting the candles

 Outside the Church while waiting for the 11am Mass to finish

It was Fr. Jerry Orbos who said the 11am Mass

In front of the Church

L-R Carlisle's lola, Tita Evelyn (Carlisle's Mom),

Carlisle and Me

After the Mass, we decided to eat in Matutina's in Bonuan, Dagupan (a nearby town). It is very famous for it's delicious and fresh seafoods. Tummies are all crumbling by 1:30pm. We arrived at Matutina's at around 2pm.  And here are the main stars of our lunch:

We also had Boneless Bangus, Sinigang na Baboy, 

Inihaw na talong with Bagoong and BBQ. Yum!

And of course, before we leave... :)

After stuffing ourselves to the hilt, we went back to Manaoag for Lola to kiss the image of Our Lady and to buy some pasalubongs for her friends. It was already almost 5pm. On our way back to Manila, Tita Evelyn wanted to drop by Isdaan, a restaurant alongside the National Highway of Tarlac. The ambience of the place was superb. Guests are lodged in separate kubos where they will eat. These kubos are placed on a barge floating on a man made fish pond of carpas. :)

Ponds are 9ft. deep

Carlisle and I enjoyed ourselves because of the statues of well-known people around the park and three security guards. :) We later found out that the material used for these statues are lahar ashes.

Ninoy Aquino, Cory Aquino and Cardinal Sin and Erap

The three Stooges este guards.

Of course, I wouldn't miss a chance of a photo op with one of my favorite superheroes:

Iron Man! Tony Stark, I ♥ you. :)

We ate dinner. Tita ordered Adobong Pusit, Bulalo, Green Mango Salad and Spareribs (which is not in the photo). Nom, nom, nom. :)

You can also find in the place the infamous Tacsiyapo. I have always thought of going here after the Bar and I am really happy I did, more happy it is unintentional though. :) According to them, Tacsiyapo is a word used in their local dialect to express disgust or frustration. The attraction though, provides of a wall where you can throw various things against like plates, glasses, vases or TV if you please. The goal is to release "anger". Talk about healthy anger management. Haha. But a little pricey though. :) Each medium sized plate costs Php 18. The cheapest is a mug at Php 15. :)

Guess which part I targeted

Above are stuffs sold at respective amounts 

to be thrown against the wall. 

Carlisle released her first plate. :)

I threw 3 medium sized plates and it felt nice. :) Video to be posted next time. :)

my tuesday treat

... because I finished Book I and the Family Code yesterday. (May pingot na nga lang ang manok ng kinuha ko ang picture na ito. :) )

Current Song:  I Miss My Friend by Darryl Worley

prince of persia, sands of time

"It is said some lives are linked across time. They are connected by an ancient calling--Destiny."

 

Today, I took some time off after a long day with Jurado and saw Prince of Persia with Zeny.  I remember playing this game on my black and white screened computer, waaaay before plants vs. zombies wanted to eat our brains out. It was one of those computer games I was addicted to, standing par with Carmen Sandiego (Okaaay, my age shows here). I should say that Disney gave enough justice on this one--fairly made for an adventure movie. I brought to the edge of my seat the whole time. Although, SM Cinemas should be sued for refund since there are around four portions that are obviously cut (not to mention the poor resolution and muffled sound system. We should have really drove off to Makati). Going back to the movie, although it was good, it was also too Disney-y--everybody happy! Jake Glyllenhaal was hot--perfect!

 *Poster says: Defy time. I'd rather not. But I wish I can make it move slower. :p

 

reunions feel like an old pair of shoes

Tonight, I spontaneously decided to meet up with Doyti, an old friend from an inter-uni organization I was part of. Conversations over dinner and coffee with someone I haven't seen for years now was something I needed this week. Luckily, we were both free and finally we were able to get together. After hours of catching up, re-telling stories on old loves, and a few commentaries on Philippine politics, I was already contented on this pitstop.

On my way home, I "picked up" Melvyn, another friend from waaaay back in high school along the road. Hahaha! He was hailing the cab behind the one I was riding on when I called him from my rolled down window. I asked him to hop in (since our houses were just several blocks away) and we ended up finding ourselves talking over cups of tea and frap about our lives, people and yesteryears.

Am really happy that no matter how much time has passed, you'll still find old friends whom you can just pick things up from where you left of, know that things have changed but you have not really changed at all. :)

Describe Tonight: COMFORTING


Oh! By the way, I bumped into two other friends whom I just exchanged hellos with. Nice eh?

free trip to bora!

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after midterms

This nice and subtle happiness of reading, this joy not chilled by age, this polite and unpunished vice, this selfish, serene life-long intoxication.  ~Logan Pearsall Smith

- Thanks, Ted. =)

ULTIMATE!

After years of ignoring a friend's invitation to play Ultimate, I finally gave in last night! (I learned last night that the game was called Ultimate and not Frisbee, which is brand name of the disc) It was beginners' night and of course, we were taught the basics of throwing and catching. I "played" three games (although technically, i just ran), but I did have fun. :) Am coming back next week for another two fun hours of running, passing, and catching. :)

I have no intentions of playing competitive yet, but I surely want to play and have fun. 

two old movies and a teeny-mommy flick

Seen with Wena (and Anthony) on DVD after a tummy bursting lunch in Casa Reyes. :) 

date with bunso

Went to the third sesh of the Feast this afternoon. Had late bfast/lunch at Megamall. Strolled. Had coffee to cap the day.

Ulitin natin to Kath. :) It was super fun. Alabyu. Hugs.

fly, fly

I suddenly felt I wanted to go abroad. Nah, not do an exodus and leave the mess the Philippines is, but simply to have a down time and recharge. Yes, school has just started. But looking back, I realized I really never had a real "vacation" since the year started. Besides, senior year has been too fast-paced (which is expected anyway).

I miss the smell inside airplanes. I miss the view from the top. I miss the busy airports.

Bottom line, I want a getaway. It's been more than a year since my last trip and too bad our Taiwan trip for Christmas folded up. Maybe Singapore is a good destination. That way I can visit Des again. Maybe in summer.

Oh, summer come soon. =)

booze-ing

Finally! I've figured out how to paste this video. I have been having problems uploading it on my Multiply site, but thanks to Bianca's Obama Video which at one point pushed me to think harder how to actually embed a video from YouTube here in Blogger. (I refuse to ask, I am quite proud, y'know. Although, I did asked her, but I figured it out before she actually replied. Hahahaha!)

So, the video...I stumbled upon it, once, while browsing Inquirer.Net. Aaannd I was fascinated with all the variety of beers available it this place they call Beers Paradise. Hmn...

This place deserves a try. (evil grin)ü

More on beers...

Last Valentine's Day, I learned that there is Choco-Flavored beer marketed in Japan. According to the news article, it's made up of several kinds of malt which give its chocolate-y taste (Sounds like MIlo. Hahaha!) Alcohol content is 8.9 percent.

Interesting, huh?

And since Kath is in Kobe, I immediately asked her to bring me home a bottle. ;p Hopefully she finds one.