Birthday Celebration - Part 2 in Boracay

So, we only had a day to make things really memorable.

We woke up early to start the day beautiful. We were a little worried that rain will ruin the day since it’s a little gloomy and windy. But that didn’t stopped us to enjoy the day. Right after breakfast we went to Puka beach. Our landlord said it is one of the tourist spots of Boracay. We had to take a 15-min ride to get there. There were only a few people present. I can say the place was more suitable for sporty events rather than a family area. We were like swimming in an abandoned island — dramatic. hehe. We really did enjoy the water.

Look, who is the star of the whole day?	Don’t mind this *grin*

Upon deciding to go home, I was bewitched by all the vendors! Haha! It wasn’t really funny because my pocket really got empty. Thank god they were not accepting credit cards! I wonder if they got voodoo dolls in their tents. There are a couple of beautiful accessories that we found. We really took advantage because we really got the best offers since their sales are almost zero. We finished all our negotiations with the vendors around 11am already so we decided to get something to eat. We found a restaurant near the beach. It was more like in a residential area so I did not find out the name of the place but the food was so good that even kapampangan tongues* were pleased. I love their fish dishes, specially the tanigue and sinigang. It was very different from my mom’s dish. Overall, the food is 5 star.

This is not the restaurant I was talking about, I just love that shot.	eek, can you even see my family??

After we satisfied our stomachs, we went straight to our mini island hopping. The island hopping only cost us P1,500 for 6 people. In this season, you can really get the best deals. According to the locals, prices starts to get higher as early as February. At March, everything in the island starts to turn to gold. The island hopping would normally cost P2,000 for 2 people and could go up to P5,000! Actually that was their little sales pitch so I was pumped up even more to try it out and that is how they got me. I guess they were very good eh? Probably works of the voodoo dolls again.

i love the flag

It ends up though that I wouldn’t trade anything else for that experience! And I even got it cheaper! Yey! We had snorkling, more snorkling and another snorkling. I also tried the helmet dive, also known as reef walking or undersea walk. They are going to make you wear a gazillion kilos of helmet and then make you walk 7-feet under the water. In order to attract fishes, they would give you a piece of bread, an ordinary bread, and fishes will start to come at you. The fishes really love them. Maybe they were trained to do that in order to please tourist.. don’t you think? *grin* Anyway, it was still really a very beautiful experience. And we had a little bit of action which made the experience more exciting! I saw a snake on Gerold’s path (Gerold and I were the only brave pipz who tried it) and I was pointing like crazy to the tourist guide about the snake. Then the guide tried to stop the snake, grabbed his head and they rolled and rolled underwater! Actually, that was just a made up story. hehe. The truth is, the guide panic a few seconds or maybe milliseconds and tried to keep gerold away from the snake’s path. Thankfully they both coordinated well and we were back to feeding the little, colorful and fashionable fishes. I even tried to touch plants that hide when you try to touch them. They are probably the “makahiya” version underwater. Since it was unexpected, we weren’t able to prepare the camera for an underwater experience. Poor camera it could not make it. The guide tried to sell us another service though, P500.00 for a few clicks underwater! I just said no and to think I can photoshop myself and would cost me less than 500 (I guess he was just not a good seller :p).

After the helmet dive, we went to a protected area in the sea to see more fishes and a lot of corals. Unfortunately, storm Frank really destroyed the place. According to the locals, it will take another 10 years for the place to come back to it’s old beautiful self. There were still fishes and I was happy to find people who takes care and not destroy of our nature. And who also would have taught that you can have buko juice in the middle of the sea? Haha! Very creative people, there were two small bangka who were selling fresh buko juice! And it was very affordable. That was another something new for the day.

Lastly, we had some timeout by shopping in d’talipapa. Errr.. shopping again? I just tried to stay away from it the very best I can and I was successful! Woot! But then I was already hungry and a unique restaurant offering cooking service caught our attention. This is in d’talipapa and their scheme is that you buy your ingredients in the nearby wet market, a couple of feet away, and they will cook it for you. The service range from 100-300 pesos for a kilo, depending on the kind of food you want. They already have a menu so you just have to select and no, you cannot tell them to cook something they do not know and do not offer. So we bought a blue marlin, prawn (I was eyeing for the lobster but it was already out of budget) and tanigue. If you do not care about the place, this one is for you. Why did I say that? Because as I said earlier, the wet market is just a couple of feet away from the restaurant and it is an open area so you can smell something fishy nearby and I mean really fishy. hehe. But this is a must try in Boracay.

this is the cooking service restaurant, don’t mind the place, just eat the food

So here is the summary for those people who just wish to know where to go instead of reading my novel:

• Helmet dive - P600.00 per person
• Island hopping - P1,500 - P5,000
• D’talipapa
• D’mall
• Puka beach which is at the other end of station 1, 2 and 3
• Restaurants offering cooking service in D’talipapa

—
* I just made this up but anyway, in Philippines, Kapampangans are people from Pampanga and our province is tag as the culinary center of the philippines so you get the point?

Birthday Celebration in Iloilo

I am a year older again! Yikes! Time is running out, my bungalow house has not been started yet and my yacht has not arrived. I need to swim more and dig more. Well, I did the swimming more but less the digging because my last birthday celebration required me to do so.

My family and I went to Iloilo last November 7 and the next day we celebrated my 18^th birthday in Shamrock beach resort with my boyfriend’s family and relatives. Joan (a friend) was teasing me in SMS that I was namamanhikan (entreat) which I think was partly true, haha! I again met his family and his most beloved lola who is 94 years old and I was so surprised and impressed that she was able to travel for 2 hours to get to the destination and still swam in the beach later that afternoon. The weather was cold because it was raining a little. My lola at 70+ barely moved at her time. The most who enjoyed is my nephew who refused a couple of times to get out of the water even with the weather. The best part is that everybody enjoyed and that made me happier. I just only wish I had a cake! (no sweets for me *snip*)

The next day was the Boracay day. We left Iloilo terminal at 6am because it was the earliest schedule in the nearest bus terminal. We travelled 6 hours from Iloilo to Caticlan and thank goodness Ceres bus was comfy. It was still the longest travel ever but I got to see Aklan and Capiz. At the last mountain route, I already felt dizzy. The curves are worst than Baguio and because of my starving little stomach, dizziness attacked me which is really very rare for me. Although I must admit that even at that state I liked what I was seeing, the surrounding place was beautiful and my mom got already excited (and me too!) seeing the Boracay island (it’s her first time).

Arriving at the hotel past 1pm, we were all starving so right after getting our bags in the room, we went straight to Mang Inasal. The bad thing is that since we were so hungry I forgot to take some pictures :(. But the worst experience you can probably have at that time and I think a little funny is that right after we ordered and sat at the table, Lhex (my nephew) started to mumble to his father “uu.. uu..” (means nature is calling ASAP!) and my poor brother left immediately without asking us the direction of the hotel nor did he brought any mobile phone and as expected he was lost. He came back after an hour and was starving to death. Morale lesson: bring a cellphone ALWAYS!

To give a little excitement to my narrative, I’m going to divide it into 2-part story. I’m getting dramatic lately. haha. Actually, the next 2 nights in the island are really exciting (for me) so a single post could make this one a novela. So see you next time!

**UPdate: Here is the part 2 in Boracay

Tag! You’re My Friend!

This is a “FRIENDSHIP OFFERING” with someone whom you know, would like to know and would like to be friend with.

The mechanics of this is to copy and paste the image in your blog, link back the person who tag you and share or spread this friendship badge to 7 or more bloggers that you knew or think you are friends with.

This was actually a birthday gift from neri — a friendship tag! naks! I’m touched pero kuripot p rin. hihihi..

I am giving this tag to some of my online and offline friends namely: Neri (hahaha di nmn bawal magbalik eh), Junelle, Donna, Hannah, Cyrose, Munis and Phpcurious.

Dreaming of snakes

I had a dream about snakes last week or last 2 weeks ago and I still wonder what it means until now. I do not remember exactly the sequence but as far as I can remember, I was holding a snake gently and then suddenly I accidentally squeezed his neck. I think the snake was alerted of danger so he kept on biting me and strangled my hands. After that, I was hysterical because I was afraid to die. To my surprise, nothing happened to me. And then I woke up. According to some dream interpreter site, it could mean a problem in life.

Gillian Holloway, Ph.D. identifies being bitten by a snake as meaning different things. She says, “In many dreams a single snake will come to bite you, and you may in fact be bitten after a brief struggle. To your amazement though, you will not die, and may find that the situation is not as bad as you thought.” According to Holloway you have this kind of dream if you are struggling with some problem, relationship or challenge. “Such a snake-ordeal is an important signal that you are going through a kind of initiation; a psychological and spiritual trial that has the potential to change your life for the better if you deal with it bravely and with a clear heart. You may have to give up something you thought you couldn’t, or take a stand for your principles or faith.”

Source: dreamsnightmares.com

Snake Bites
When one is bitten by a snake in a dream, this often actually points to overcoming a situation that appeared dire. The a snake bit dream may point to learning to overcome a situation and regain your power in life. Snake bites can be viewed as in injection of wisdom, rather than life threatening venom.

Source: bellaonline.com

Actually, I think that is true. At that time I was in a middle of uncertainties. I was uneasy and a little lost with what is happening in my life. And now I totally understand it. I received a very bad news last Friday night. I do not want to elaborate the case but we have been waiting for that moment for more than a year. Before the news last Friday, we already received that that dream will become into a reality by November but due to problems in our economy (fall of 2 giant companies), it had to be canceled. There were already a lot of plans made and they were all ruined as well. But you know what, it was not really that bad! We are not going to die nor are we going to starve. I am more at peace because I know every time fate closed a door to you, there will always be a new opportunity that you can explore. We just have to learn to open our eyes and thankfully I did. I saw a new opportunity coming at me. And I am happy.

Count the sheep and sleep - it works!

Source: Flickr

Who says counting sheep are for kids only? I just proved to myself that this method really works! I’ve been sleeping really late a couple of days already and this is the method I use. The reason I think is that it helps me stop thinking about anything. My mind becomes peaceful and I do not have to worry a bit about anything. OK, I’ll start counting now and hopefully I can wake tomorrow early without the eye bugs!

WordCamp Philippines 2008 Memories

I’m so excited to blog this but did not find enough time to compose it last week. Well after I got home on Saturday night, I tried to watch PDA but tiredness really struck me so I went to my bed and fell asleep shortly. I woke up around noon the next day. I managed to blog my Octoberfest experience and then took another round of sleep. hehe.

Anyway, going back to my wordcamp experience. Junelle almost laid out the whole story and I could only add a little details but you’ll get the whole picture of my experience too.

At 6am, I kinda feel a little alive. We went to Lisa’s place to get dressed and then they escorted me to the LRT (thanks again to the group). It took me only a few minutes to get to St. Benilde where the Wordcamp event took place. I’m happy to see Junelle already there because I could not tell how much longer I could stand on my own. The event is well organized and great! I love the lauriat from Chowking! I hope next time we can ask Max to donate some chicken :D.

While in the event, I missed some talks specially the how to create a theme by Gail and Matt’s introduction. I was sooo sleepy I wish I was at home at those moment. I was day dreaming I was in my bed. Hehe. I still manage to listen to some talk though and I was able to ask Matt Mullenweg for a picture. Yey!

As for what I learned in the event. I think I can create plugins from now on! My favorite part though is the SEO plugins list. I am not much into SEO but I am curious so I went to Hans Koch talk about SEO and he gave 11 plugins. It was really helpful because up until now I installed only 2 from those he gave me. Haha. Below are the list of those suggestions. (If it’s unethical, let me know though so I can erase them asap.)

• All-in-one SEO Pack
• Wordpress SEO master
• Crawl rate tracker plugin
• Google sitemap generator
• Redirection wordpress plugin
• Similar Post plugin
• Ultimate tag warrior
• KB Robots.txt
• Add this social booksmarks widget
• WP Backlinks
• Internal link building plugin

Those are the only thing I was able to grasp. We left early because Junelle still had a flight to catch. We were not able to catch the Powow section of Matt where anyone can ask questions. Oh well, maybe next time if there is a next time. The moral lesson here, I should not try again to stay up for 36hours!

OctoberFest 08: The First Time Series

I like to try new things because I don’t want to grow old regretting because I did not try when I had the chance. October Fest 08 is a lot of first time to me.

(btw, I decided to also express myself in Tagalog, my first language. It’s just hard to express my true feelings using a language other than Tagalog.)

So here it is. It’s my first time …

• to be in a party till 4am and we have to drive from Pampanga to Mandaluyong just for that! Some of my friends tagged me lakwatsera although I am not. Naka-trip lang. LOL
• na makipagsiksikan sa mob, ung as in hindi kana makagalaw and I literally mean di ka na makagalaw sa sobrang dikit dikit ng mga tao. Words from Neri, “para kang na-rape”. The maniac are taking all the chances to do their evil stuff. I was willing to go home at that moment already. Then bouncers let the girls in first but we got scared when they (bouncers) started to lift the women in order to pass the bars when there is in fact a small area on the left side where we could get it. I felt sorry for some of the women because they were kinda harassed in a way. Ggrr, men, men, men.. Bigs was so pissed off at that idea and she really looked for other way. I so much love Bigs for that! I was saved from another harassment.
• to see a lot of bouncers! haha! and bouncers holding hands! haha!
• to drink 1/4 glass of beer (I tasted beer before but I only had a sip). Never really like the taste until now. I wonder why they don’t offer sweet beers. Haha.
• to watch a concert where there were many artists. I never knew third eye blind sang the songs I liked. Now I know! I also saw spongecola, southborder and spongecola even it was just in the monitor. Our male friends weren’t able to enter the place after the bouncers let the girls in, so we just decided to enjoy the party outside. Before we left though, I had the chance to take a glimpse of the third eye blind. Overall, it was enjoyable, too bad I did not hear Nyoy sing. Too bad really. I am his fan.
• to meet people with different personality.
  Lain is to accommodating, I felt the warm welcome and sincere desire to make sure I had a good OctoberFest experience. Well, you still did
  Raymond, the person with the dry wit, reminds me of my friend in college.
  Bigs, made it possible for us to enter the party. I love Bigs diskarte, truly a Capampangan!
  Lisa, allowed us to change clothes and get some rest in her apartment.
  Melay, the person I talked to half of the time while the others are busy fighting the circumstances. We really did not do anything, not even support! Haha! We were the princesses.
  Ji and Bigs BF (I forgot his name), I did not had the chance to know them a little more, hope I do next time.
  and of course Neri, wasn’t a first time to meet her (ofcourse) so I would not say anything:P But she was the one to invite me so thank you.
• to seriously fight with sleepiness because I had to attend the WordCamp at 8am. We went in McDonalds after the party and chatted about anything and everything about college life, highschool craziness, serious work stuff and a lot of funny funny stories. Thanks to the group for all the help, really really really appreciate the gesture. Imagine, they had to stay up and court me to the LRT so that I can attend the WordCamp event safely. I’m touched.
• to be part of the new Guinness World record breaker for the longest beer bar. They beat Taiwan’s record of 220 meters with 603.5-meter-long beer bar, with four concert stages to boot.

Was that a lot of first time? Even we did not able to get inside, I still think the experience is awesome. Couldn’t exchange it for anything else. Here are some photos:

OctoberFest + WordCamp = Eyebugs

I need drugs for tomorrow! It’s whirlwind decision for tonight. Pano ba nmn kc ininvite invite pko ni Neri sa OctoberFest Kick Off party. Eh syempre makikita ko mga fans ko dun kaya di ako makatanggi. I don’t want to dissappoint them. Kaya eto, naghahanap ng panggising for 36hours. Alis kmi dito at 6PM tomorrow and then partying till 4AM in the morning tpos at 8AM may Wordcamp pko! waaaa. Ilang extra joss b kailangan ko dito? Haha. Well, I am excited pa rin. Haha. It’s going to be a bloody bloggable event.

Para sa mga kaberks ko sa ibang lugar, read here para sa locations baka available din sa inyo.

The iMax 3d Experience

It isn’t just a movie, it is real. The characters are only a couple of steps away from you and the dinosaurs could have swallowed me anytime. I do not know how many times I have closed my eyes because of fear. I do not know how many times I raised my hands because I was trying to reach the comets or the trees. No, I’m not crazy, this is the iMax 3D experience!

I love the glasses!

Have you tried it? Your missing a real great movie experience. It’s a little expensive but it’s worth the experience. P350.00 depending on what kind of film is available. We watched the dinosaur film because it was the only 3D film that time. There are only a few films available in 3D format but I still believe you will enjoy it. Maybe in the future, filmmakers will start offering this type of movies. My only concern though is that my eyes gets a little strained due to some movements. Otherwise, it’s great!

Currently, only Mall of Asia has an iMax theater.

I met Wall-E

I met Wall-e! Yey! I’ve recently watched the latest movie from Pixar and I had a great time. The love team of Wall-e and Eve (I pronounce it as Eeeva) is soo cute too. I was thrilled when I saw him in the SM Discovery Science Center in Mall of Asia last August 22. Here is our picture together: