The 27th season of Survivor USA is now taping in Palaui Island, Anguib, Poso Robo and Gotan. The new season will feature returning survivors playing against their family members and loved ones. (from Cagayan North)
Survivor Season 27 — Survivor: Bloo...
The 27th season of Survivor USA is now taping in Palaui Island, Anguib, Poso Robo and Gotan. The new season will feature returning survivors playi...
Magalawa Island
We took the last trip of Victory Liner Caloocan to Sta. Cruz, Zambales Friday. Armada Resort (where we're staying) agreed to fetch us when we arrive e...
Mt. Batulao
"Andaming bato! Kaya ba 'to Batulao kasi maraming bato?" (insert sound effects for corny joke here) I had a hunch that the Maculot trip won't push ...
Mt. Gulugod-Baboy
Mt. Gulugod-Baboy (525+) Anilao, Mabini, Batangas Difficulty 2/9 I don't always join hiking trips, so everytime I get invited to one, I make sure...
Sunday Music
Sunday music is what I call old music (70′s and backwards specifically). I used to have a love-hate relationship with Sunday music. I grew up in the rural and the very limited FM stations our radio could reach play old music for half a day on Sundays. I would wake up to The Beatles, Engelbert Humperdinck, and many other ‘old-sounding’ voices and ‘old-sounding’ sound (does that even make sense?). Yung tunog-luma. Tunog-plaka.
Sometimes, I would hate it. (Mostly because I was growing up and starting to like ‘noisy’ and whiny (now that I think of it) music.) But then it would come to me that the lolos and lolas may be looking forward to Sundays so they could listen to the music of their time. That thought would certainly make me feel better.
Having no choice but to listen to these old songs at least 4 hours each week, I learned to appreciate them. Here are some of those oldies but goodies that I love:
Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel (1971)
The Tennessee Waltz – Patti Page (1950)
Sad Movies (Make Me Cry) – Sue Thompson (1961)
The Last Waltz – Engelbert Humperdinck (1967)
Moon River – Andy Williams (1961)
Magalawa Island
We took the last trip of Victory Liner Caloocan to Sta. Cruz, Zambales Friday. Armada Resort (where we’re staying) agreed to fetch us when we arrive early morning. The travel took 5 hours because the bus kept stopping to get passengers. We asked to be dropped at Palauig market so we can purchase supplies first. A little later, some tricycle drivers offered to take us to the port where the boats going to Magalawa are (Php80/pax, and the 4 tricycles we hired packed 4-5 people in each vehicle). One trike (and 4 of us) would have to stay a bit and wait for the market to open. The other tricycles went ahead and we just waited for the others at the port. The road to the fish port was rough, and you have to endure 30 minutes of that bumpy ride. (On a dark desert highway, cool winds in my hair…).
We arrived at the fish port just in time to witness the sunset. When everyone arrived, we took the next boat (c/o Armada Resort) to Magalawa. (Armada Resort offers tour packages. We availed of the 2 days 1 night package (bring your own tent) cost Php1200/person, inclusive of meals, boat ride to and from the island and snorkeling.)
We pitched our tent upon arriving in the island, had breakfast and off to the sea. Our companions didn’t stay long in the water because there were many jellyfish in the area we chose, but Anj and I went to the front side of the resort which was safer from jellyfish. We spent the afternoon drinking (the guys) and playing cards. Then the girls (except me and Timmi) went for a siesta. Once the hammock was set up, I went for a nap, too, thus missing the ‘good time’.
Late in the afternoon, we went to check out the other resort (actually we only wanted to take photos of the fire tree in their entrance). Refusing to risk getting bitten by dogs in the community, we turned around and took the longer way to the other end of the resort where the mangrove is.
The night was spent in downing all those alcohol we brought. We grilled the pork (rare, so rare most cuts were still bloody, we ate it anyway) and hotdogs (gone in seconds). There was too much we didn’t finish everything. BUT if we had source of potable water we would’ve finished everything.
I didn’t wake up for the sunrise the next morning (although, I was already awake when the girls woke us up, I just refuse to go outside and tried to get back to sleep). We left for Manila before noon. I had too much happy memories of the trip but too lazy to write about them. I can’t wait for the next getaway with the bunch of cool people that are my officemates!
Weekly Photo Challenge: Pattern
A portion of the Periodic Table display at The Mind Museum (Taguig, Philippines)
Mt. Batulao
“Andaming bato! Kaya ba ‘to Batulao kasi maraming bato?” (insert sound effects for corny joke here)
I had a hunch that the Maculot trip won’t push through. Mara’s going to Pulag on the 24th to 26th and I thought she’d maybe prefer to just rest than go to another hiking trip. This hunch made me tag along to Karen and her friends’ hiking to Batulao that weekend. When Lian and Mara learned about this, they wanted to join, too. So it’s all set, Batulao on Saturday and Maculot on Sunday. Because we suddenly turned hyperactive.
What’s good about these trips I’ve been having lately, people bring cars (if you notice the sudden change of this blog’s title). What’s more awesome with this trip, we rode a Montero to Batulao. Thanks to Karen’s friends. :)
So I went hiking with a bunch of fun people. Yes, they were easy to get along with, but the thing is, most of them are afraid of heights. And they chose just the right mountain to go hiking to for the first time. It turned out to be a long hike (longer than usual) because we had to wait for each other. Nakakalula ang daan, one mis-step and you’ll fall into the ravine. At one point I felt dizzy while crossing this narrow trail, with ravine on both sides, I had to concentrate on keeping myself focused, just focus on the trail, kept walking while telling myself, I can’t die, I can’t die. And I did not! Although when in the bus on our way back to Manila, I was having this wild thought that I’m actually dead and I’m just having a ‘The Others’ experience. How do I stop thinking morbidly.
But anyway, I’m alive! I have to say Mt. Batulao was the hardest mountain I ever climbed so far. Mind you, that was just a minor climb and it felt like every single muscle cell in my body ached several days after the climb. It’s all worth it. Here are snapshots of us and the picturesque Batulao.
We climbed up under the scorching heat of the sun, and went down under the pouring rain and thunderstorm.
