Visiting the lovers Pandin and Yambo

It was a sunny day... and a holiday.
And before the rainy season comes, we made another land trip this year to a place that's so near yet at times seem so far - the lakes of San Pablo!

I came upon the idea when I started to look for 'travels to other bodies of water other than the common beach'. When we were in Iloilo early this year, I've also seen this featured in one travel show. And the food looked yummy, and the lake looked inviting.  And as the place is only around two hours drive from my house, and having the road warrior traveler part of my year's objectives, I decided to give it a try.

We started the day late. We left our home in Paranaque at around 9AM and we made one stop over to have a quick breakfast, let our car rest and check the water levels.

We arrived at Lake Pandin at past 1PM. There is ample parking space, if you are bringing your car. You'd need to trek for around 15-30 minutes, depending on how fast you can go. Some of the parts is a bit steep, coupled with the scorching heat of the sun at that hour, the trek, though quick, can be very tiring.

Unfortunately, the place was packed. And since I didn't make any reservations beforehand, we were put on the list last. It doesn't matter if you arrive early, if someone with prior reservation arrived before you got on the balsa, they will be prioritized. So to be safe, make reservations.

We had to wait for around two hours as people with reservations continued to arrive. Fortunately, there was this monkey named Budoy who gave us a bit of entertainment by continuously asking for food. And mind you, he doesn't like bananas! He keeps on dropping the bananas, but he looooved the fries. He also knows how to open a bottled water. And yes, he also eats halo-halo!

At around 3PM, there were fewer people arriving so when three balsa came back from its tour, we were seated. (But we still had to wait another 30 minutes, probably because of some misunderstanding, our food is not yet prepared)

Finally! Lunch is served!

The typical lunch is Tilapia, Hipon, and Ensaladang Pako. They also serve buko juice and bottled water for drinks. However, as we didn't get to reserve before hand, the food they ordered may not have been enough so our shrimp got replaced by fish bakuli and the buko juice was replaced by a 1.5L bottle of Coke.

The balsa ride takes around two hours and includes lunch on the balsa, a visit to a grotto, a trek to view Lake Yambo and picture taking in the "swing" made by a small branch in U-shape. You can also take a dip in the lake but there are no shower rooms. There's a clean restroom though where you can change to dry clothes.

The drive was long, the trek was tiring, the heat overwhelming, the waiting was stressful, but it was all worth it the moment our balsa sailed and we got to enjoy the simple yet delicious lunch in the simple yet wonderful surrounding.

This travel is also relatively cheap. Below is a list of our expenses:
Around Php 500-600 worth of gas for a 1.0 compact car (roundtrip)
Php 165 toll from Bicutan to Calamba exit (one way)
Php 25 toll up to Sto. Tomas exit (one way)
Php 360 per head (Balsa ride around the lake, inclusive of meals)
Php 100 tip each to our trek guide and two bangkeros
Php 50 parking fee

That's less than PHP 3,000 for a group of 4! So what are you waiting for?!
Come visit the lovers Pandin and Yambo now!

Sama na sa Zambales

The 2015 summer is halfway through and we haven't explored enough, so we decided to proceed with one of the adventures that has been pending on my list for so many years now ~ to explore the islands in Zambales.

No airfare needed! Just a car and gas worth around PHP 1,500 for a 1.4 small hatchback. (You can also travel by commuting, there are lots of blog and sites that give direction on the bus you can take). As we passed by NLEX and SCTEX, there's also the toll fee.

Coming from Marilao, Bulacan, our total travel time going to Pundaquit is around 4 hours which includes a number of stop over to check our car's water levels and to have a quick lunch. We stopped  at gas stations on the way and at Harborpoint in Subic where we had a quick lunch at Sumo Sam, and went around for window shopping :p

Because we currently have a lot of concerns about camping overnight (particularly with the lack of "comfort" rooms), we decided to stay in a resort in Pundaquit.

Megan's Paradisio Beach Resort

The rate for the small room that we've got is PHP 1,800. We made a reservation only a month before by calling and texting the numbers in the site. We were asked to make a deposit for half of the total price to reserve the room.

We booked for an island hopping trip with the resort, They were the ones who arranged it with one of those renting their boats. It doesn't seem to be the season for visiting this place as there were no lines or waiting necessary. The island hoping we got is priced at PHP 1,500 for a small boat. Because our checkout time is at 11AM, we asked to start the island hopping tour early at 6AM (yes, this is already early for us :p)

Because it was the last night of ABSCBN's Forevermore, and there's no TV in Megan's, we decided to hop over the resort beside them - the Canoe Beach Resort. We had a simple dinner there while watching the show's ending together with a bunch of people who were probably booked in that resort.

The next day, our island hopping begins!.

Camara Island






Capones Island







Anawangin Island


Camara Island is pretty small. Most tourists would just drop by to take pictures and move on with their trip. Capones Island is a bit bigger. There's waves, rock formations, woods, sand, and sun. You can take a dip but the waves can sometimes be big so be sure to wear your life vests. And then there's Anawangin, where the others seem to pale in comparison. I don't mean to downplay the beauty of the other islands, maybe it's just my preference, but Anawangin gave me a certain kind of feeling ~ sort of being at peace with yourself and with nature while at the same time enjoying an adventure with it. We swam and played with the huge waves here (of course still wearing our life vests,and aqua shoes that were eventually washed away by the waves :( ) We only spent an hour or so in this island because the boat ride takes around 30minutes and we have to get back before our check-out time.

While riding the boat on the way back to our resort, I immediately felt the longing I rarely feel. Gosh! I really loved that place. Someday I will be back! And when I do, I want to be adventurous enough to camp overnight. On our way back, we stopped at Subic Freeport Duty Free and had our lunch at Meat Plus.

And as the home of the original Razon's halo-halo was on our way, our last stop before heading home ~ something sweet:

Guimaras - Iloilo Trip, let's Go!

Travel Details: MNL-ILO-MNL for Php 2,696.92 via Cebu Pacific
The time of our arrival in Ilo-Ilo is a little past 12 which is the perfect time, just in time for us to get a ride to Otiz Wharf, a ferry to Jordan Wharf and a tricycle ride to our hotel of choice. (Tricycle is the main mode of transportation in Guimaras)

Accomodation in Guimaras: Raymen's Resort
Plus Points:

• Affordable price
• Hot and cold shower is working great
• Beachfront
• Good food and Sweet Guimaras mangoes always available in their canteen

Minus Points:

• The room is so small, the CR is also very small and has a certain smell
• The walls are very thin with most of the sounds getting through
• Some of the canteen's staff are also not very attentive
• They did not provide the wifi password head on. I had to go back to the front desk to ask for it and its signal is intermittent.

DAY 1 P.M.
Guimaras Land Tour
Our first stop for the land tour is the famous Pitstop. It's a restaurant that serve mango in different dishes. They have the Must-Try Mango Pizza,  mango spaghetti, got mango shake, and of course mango desserts. They also serve regular food like bbq, adobo, and other pizza flavors. Next, we head on to the Trappist Monastery, where we bought some pasalubong. We also visited the Mango Plantation but we were not able not able to come in. We just saw the expanse of mango trees from the road. Lastly, we visited the Guisi lighthouse, where we had to traverse rough roads with lots of sand that our cameras became full of sand afterwards. The view at the top, though, is worth it.

DAY 2 A.M.

Guimaras Island Hopping Tour
First stop: SEAFDEC @ Igang Marine Station
This stop is such a good start specially if you'd like to learn a few facts about fishes and fisheries. There was so much to learn! Some of the trivia shared to us are:

• Female Snappers are bad! They bite similar species and thus need to be separated from males and even other females.
• Seabass males become females as they grow old.
• Giant Lapu-lapu are born female then grow up to be males. This species is also one of the laziest and is thus a good investment. And they can reach up to 125yrs old! 

(They even shared to us the best way to cook specific kinds of fish, but not knowing how to cook, I forgot all about it hehe.)

Second Stop: Ave maria islet is a small island with very fine sand.
Next Stop: Baras Cave - the boat that we've hired is big so we didn't really get to to enter the cave, but we did get to take some pictures.
Last Stop: Nagtago island - Of course this is my favorite because I got to experience holding and taking a picture with a pawikan. We also got to have a lovely swim for some time in this island.

DAY 3 Bye-Bye Guimaras, Hello Iloilo Proper

After checking out of our hotel, we rented an L200 to get us back to the wharf and proceed with the Iloilo part of our trip. We dropped by a shop that sells mangoes and lots of other goodies  like otap, tarts, and butterscotch that are made from mangoes.

Iloilo City Proper
Accomodation in Guimaras: GoHotels
Plus Points:

• Affordable - Our room was priced at PhP 1,014.45 good for two
• The location is just right inside/beside Robinson's mall (it's like within the same buolding but the emtreance is outside. So when we watched the Insurgent movie in Robinsons movie world after a long day out, we did not worry about getting back to our hotel).
• The comforter really provides comfort, allowing us to regain our energies through the night.
• The bed is bigger. Equipped with a TV and a remote controlled a/c, this really is value for money.
• I also loved their comfort rooms with their super shower. 

When I saw the room, I almost wanted to just sleep through our stay. But having not eaten lunch at 2pm is quite a challenge to both of us, so we headed to have a taste of the original La Paz Batchoy.

Decos-Original La Paz Batchoy La Paz Public Market

D-I-Y Ilo-ilo Tour
We were supposed to go to Netong's but it seems manong taxi driver did not know where Netong's is located, or maybe he got confused when I said La Paz Public market so we went to Deco's instead. We are not Ilonggos and we can't tell what exactly is the difference between the la paz batchoy here as compared to that served in Manila.. It has the noodles, the laman-loob, and chicharon. I was so hungry that I almost finished one extra serving (extra is how they term the serving with the most (laman) but my travel buddy didn't quite like the food specially the bitter taste of the laman loob.

Our next stop was Camiña Nga Balay. We had a little misunderstanding with the driver, with him thinking we were referring to a literal house made of stone and so brought us to one even though we have told him to stop on the location being pointed by google maps.

We had a tour of the house and learned about the history of the house and the story behind the steep stairs. We had some biscuits, hot chocolate and a molo soup right after.

We also went to the Iloilo City Hall. I read somewhere that the 360° view of Iloilo is part of the iloilo city tour itinerary so I included it in our list. We were guided by one of the employees to the roof top and we get to take shots of Iloilo top view. We next went to Calle Real. We went there a little before 5pm and got a shot at day and waited in I-mart for it to get dark and the lights to be turned on, so we can take another picture at night.

We had out dinner at Buto't Balat near SM Delgado, where we tried seafoods. We had baked oysters, ampalaya with egg and sizzling butteted shrimp. The food here is excellent. If only not for my worries about my tummy reaction and high cholesterol, I would have finished all our orders!

DAY 4 SEE YOU AGAIN ILOILO

Our departure from Iloilo is scheduled at 2:50PM. Again, this is perfect timing, giving us one more day to go around for a bit, pack up, check and head on to the airport. We decided to do to Esplanade. Today, being a weekday, the place is very peaceful. There are not much people around, mostly those that are just passing by. The place is very clean and is perfect for a jog. I wish we can have places like this in Manila.

There are a number of restaurants located at Esplanade, and we chose to ate at Ramboy's, known for Aklan's best chicken and liempo.

Wishes on Faulty Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is a sick love story so they say. In the literal sense.

The book tells the story of Augustus "Gus" Waters and Hazel Grace Lancaster, both of whom had had experience with the Big C. They became friends, fell in love, went to Amsterdam and met with the author of An Imperial Affliction, a book that ended without an ending. It's a love story and more. 

The story I guess can be summed up in the last few lines of the book - "You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say, in who hurts you. I like my choices. I hope she likes hers.." (*avoiding spoilers*)

I used to think that I can save someone from suffering the pain that I can cause. By staying away, I thought I was giving the person a favor by not experiencing the pain in loving someone like me, but I realized I'm robbing that same person of something else - the freedom to choose the person who provides that pain, that hurt.

Quotes:
"Apparently, the world is not a wish granting factory."

"Sometimes it seems the universe wants to be noticed."

"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities."

"I cannot tell you how thankful i am for our little infinity. I wouldn't trade it for the world. You gave me a forever within the numbered days, and i'm grateful."

"Funerals, I have decided, are for the living."

"Pain is like fiber. The stronger it is, the more it's worth."

"Grief does not change you, it reveals you."

"It occurred to me that the voracious ambition of humans is never sated by dreams coming true,  because there is always the thought that everything might be done better and again."

"The marks human leaves are too often scars."

"The real heroes anyway are not the people doing things; the real heroes are the people noticing things, paying attention."

"That's the thing about pain, it demands to be felt."

"Sometimes people don'tunderstand the promise they're making when they make them.... Right, of course. But you keep the promise anyway. That's what love is. Love is keeping the promise anyway."

"To be with him was to hurt him - inevitably. And that's what I felt as he reached for me. I'd felt as though I were committing an act of violence against him, because I was."

"In freedom, most people find sin."

"It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you."

"She wishes to spare you pain, and you should let her. You may not find young Hazel's logic persuasive, but I have trod through this value of tears longer than you, and from where I'm sitting she's not the lunatic."

"No matter how hard you kick, no matter how high you get, you can't go all the way around."

POU

If you're an 80's or 90's kid, you probably remember the Tamagotchi Toy. It's a very small gadget that fits in your pocket and contains a virtual pet that you feed, bathe, and play with. It grows, may get sick, and may eventually die.

Reminiscing about all the fun in my childhood, I tried to look for something similar in the Google PlayStore with my very first Android powered mid-range smartphone.

A number of trying hard apps are there, some even using the name itself.

There are also some pretty nice apps that's got talking birds, cats or dogs, and the graphics and some of the features are actually amazing.

But nothing caught and retained my attention the way POU did.

What's Pou?

Pou is an alien pet, that's actually a little bit shaped like poop.

Like Tamagotchi, it starts out as a baby that needs a lot of care.

The first time you play with it, it's a simple triangular shaped, colored brown, small pet without any clothing. The rooms of its house may look bare. But this is what makes it so fun. You play the games, earn some money, and you get to modify the way your pet and its house looks.

What's Fun about it?

You and/or your kids get to take care of a pet without the hassle of taking care of a real pet (Note though that I do not in anyway deny that real pets can provide us a different kind of satisfaction.)

Moreover, the developers just never seem to stop to create new games that will satisfy the diverse followers of the game. So expect to have an update on the app every now and then!

• KITCHEN/FOOD - Never has any restaurant offered a wide array as Pou does
• BATHROOM - Choose your bath tiles, soap, shower, etc.
• LAB - oh yes, you get to give your pet some potions and energizers
• GAME ROOM - The number of games you can play with just about considers a number of other games available on the market (Want brain games? Try out Sudoku, Memory or Find Pou; Into virtual basketball? Try Hoops; Love Flappy Bird? Try Jet Pou), and many many more. Oh did I mention, you can also play with other Pou pet owners!
• BEDROOM - Design your pet's own room by choosing its pillow and lamps and wallpapers. Make sure to make it sleep a lot to re-energize!
• OUTSIDE - Pou can go outside! Water the flowers in the garden, take a ride, swim in the pool or play football.
• SHOP - The number of things you can shop just keep on expanding, it feels like having a small pet store next door that turns into a huge pet mall (from household items like lamps, shower, wallpaper, to cosmetics like lipsticks and eye shadows, to clothing and apparels, tattoos, drugstore, food, you name it!)
• ACHIEVEMENT - but of course! how else can you attract the generation of today without tracking their own achievements?!
• ACCOUNT - Ever afraid your gadget might just crash and you lose all the achievements you've worked hard for? Worry no more as you just have to sign up for an account using your email and your progress can be saved anytime
• CONNECTIVITY - If you have an internet connection, you can easily meet new people with their own Pou, play with them, and sign on their guestbooks, and like how they look..
  

Cebu Cebu pag may time

Airfare
As the usual basis of my travels, I booked a trip to Cebu because of the airfare promo by Cebu Pacific. My roundtrip ticket MNL-CEB-MNL was bought last July 2013, at a price of Php1,358.04 only.
The time of travel is just right, because there are numerous daily flights going to and from Cebu. This enabled us to maximize our 3-day stay.

Hotel
It was my first time to book through Expedia. They had the lowest rate - Php 3,231.91/night for a Superioir room for two.
The room was okay - no spectacular view, the bed was nice and comfortable, bathroom was clean and large enough, aircon, ref and tv are working, though there were cable signal problems during our stay.

The hotel has a nice pool and a beach that's enclosed by a man made wall. They also have their own restaurant so you don't really need to go out for your meals if you aren't really planning on eating anything specific outside. But I think it is rather priced a little high. We only tried their longanisa breakfast meal and it was just okay. Nothing fancy for a fancy price.

And we were also required to pay an incidental deposit, in the amount of Php 3,000, even if the hotel booking has already been paid for. I think this may be a policy in most hotels, but it would have been appreciated if we were advised ahead when I contacted them directly some days before our travel. Their staff were nice enough but were not as nice as some other local places I've visited.

Eats
Part of what I've learned and appreciated during our trip to Korea was food. If you don't try something new or special to the place you're visiting, it would feel like your travel isn't complete. Taste is another sense that has to experience. In Cebu, these are our main food trips:

Fredz Sutukil

Located just beside the Lapu-Lapu Shrine is a place much like Dampa here in Manila, where a number of eateries selling fresh seafood cooked in the way you please are located side by side. A number of them will rush to you the moment you step in the compound and shout their various marketing blahs.

We chose Fredz Sutukil, and ordered for crabs cooked in butter garlic, Lapu-lapu cooked the Sutukil way (Sugba-Tinola-Kilawin), Guso (seaweed), and of course our favorite drink! There was an ingredient charged to us - the Lukot, which was used for the tinola (but we were not advised ahead). The food was more than enough for four people, but it was too pricey. Our total bill reached Php2,000.

Larsian

A little bit like Mercato, with fewer choices, Larsian is like a market with various sellers, mostly of grilled food. What's unique is their sticky rice rolled in a triangular shape and wrapped in leaves. They leaves 10pcs for each table and they just count how many you've consumed, to be added to your bill, And oh, you eat with your hands, though they give you a plastic glove so you don't get all messy.

Their isaw, much like in Boracay, tastes fresh, without the sandy feeling in your mouth, as is typical of isaw in Manila.

CNT and Zubuchon

Two of the best lechon eats in the city of Cebu. Which is better? I can't quite decide. Zubuchon's lechon is chopped in smaller pieces and is more crispy, while CNT is more tasty and has that thin layer of fat beneath the skin that makes some people crave more and more. It's up to you to decide. But should you ever visit Zubuchon, their Kamias Shake is a must try. (We've always neglected the Kamias tree in our backyarduntil I've got a taste of this! I wonder how would their Lolomboy (Duhat) Shake taste like...mmmm...)

Transportation
Since our hotel was located in Mactan and most of the places to eat and visit are in Cebu City, our mode of transportation was mostly taxi. There are tricycles available but I'm not sure they can bring us to the city. We might need to ride a public jeepney (which looks a little different from what we have in Manila), but the roads under construction  and the heat of the summer would not make the travel very pleasant.

Itinerary
Day 1 - City Tour
Upon arrving in Mactan Airport, we headed straight to Cebu City for a quick tour. The taxi driver offered to bring us to the various tourist places for Php 1,500. These are the places we visited and their corresponding entrance fees:

• Fort San Pedro (entrance fee of Php 30)
• Magellan's Cross and Sto. Nino Basilica
• Casa Gorordo (entrance of Php 40)
• Taoist Temple
• Lapu-Lapu Shrine
• Allegre Guitar Factory
• New Susing's Guitar

In Magellan's Cross, elderly women who hold a bunch of colorful candles, will come up to you, tell you they'd pray for you, with each candle color representing a part of your life. The woman asked for my name, and upon answering, she immediately went to a prayer chant, holding all 10 candles. Each candle costs Php 10. After her prayer, we placed 5 of it in Magellan's cross, then leave the other 5 inside the Basilica.

Day 2 - Whale Shark watching 
The original plan actually was to go to Bantayan Island after the City Tour. However, with the calamity brought on by Typhoon Yolanda, and not being able to get much updates about the current status of the place, we had to change our plans. We decided to have an encounter with the Whale Sharks instead (also known as the Butanding).
I've booked a package from Oslob Whalesharks website for Php 3,750 each. This already includes the transfer to Oslob, breakfast and lunch, the whale shark encounter, a short trip to the falls, and all the fees that has to be paid.

Our additional expense was just the souveneirs and the rent for the underwater camera at Php500.



We also went to Tumalog Falls, where we had to ride a motor (Php50), and trek for about a minute. And we were welcomed by clear pristine waters. 

Had I brought my towel with me, I couldn't have resisted the urge to jump!

Day 3 - Swim/Relax/Shop for Pasalubong

Day 3 was a relaxing day as we spent the morning taking pictures along the beach, swimming for a little bit in the pool, having breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, and packing our things.

After checking out at 12noon, we went to buy our pasalubong, starting with Shamrock to buy some Otap, then to the market for some Danggit, and to the factory of Guadalupe dried mangoes. Aside from the normal dried mangoes we love, they also have chocolate covered mangoes and other variety.

Our total expenses is around Php 10,000. And this is quite high, considering the hotel we got and the mode of transportation we availed of. If you're feeling a little more adventurous, I believe you could slash this down to half.

Words by Dumbledore and More

I'm a late bloomer for Harry Potter, I know. Well, I never thought I'd be engrossed in reading this series. But I was. Maybe because somehow I was brought into a magical world, away from all the stress of reality. (Though I'm still far from being a fanatic.) And yet, there are very nice quotes from the headmaster and others that are very much applicable to reality. Below are my top 10 favorites:

"The trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them." - Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

"Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself." - Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

"The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution."
- Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals." -Sirius, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

"Curiosity is not a sin, but we should exercise caution with our curiosity..." - Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

"Understanding is the first step to acceptance, and only with acceptance can there be recovery." - Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

"We are only as strong as we are united, and as weak as we are divided." - Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

"Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." -Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire


"No good sittin' worryin' about it, what's comin' will come, an' we'll meet it when it does." - Hagrid, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire