What happens?

Like duh..those who are weak should improve themselves. Regardless of race and ethnicity, every one who has the will power will constantly seek change and improvement in themselves.

Philippines (Manila, Sagada, Boracay)

HOLIDAY!

FOR ONCE..a 10 days holiday after a long three years struggle for a decent degree. Though I didn't graduate with a decent result...due to certain issues of mine which happened during my second semester, I only got an OK result. But heck, I graduated! I mean, yea...I got a second class but I think I did fairly not to bad during the semesters -- the very least, I know my directions and that I truly know how to research and write my own reports without much references. (Hell yes, I am proud).

Anyways, this blog is all about holiday and not my personal rants/achievements/goals whatsoever. The place where this curious bunny thumped on recently was :

PHILIPPINES

A land of islands and...basically nothing truly amazing about these islands...
I mean...okay...before I step onto the plane, I was telling myself that it's not true of what people have commented on Philippines. I believe that there are certain beauty in this place. Natural beauty, in terms of both sights and sounds.

For starters, Airasia's promotion tickets are downright cheap and a plus point on top of it is that my aunt has a place there. So, a fresh graduate as yours truly here jumped instantly at that idea when the idea was popped by Elise. Really, I'm like, "Philippines...hmm...tickets are cheap...I have a place to crash when I'm in the city...wth, let's go!"

But honestly, Philippines…the only word that comes to me was Manila and other than that, everything else is fuzzy because no friends of mine have been to Philippines to share tales with me on that country. Perhaps, the next word that comes along was Arroyo. LOL…

I have an uncle, though, who have been to Philippines and all he told me was that the place is nothing interesting. Even having an aunt there doesn't help much because on the whole, she doesn't like the place; food is bad, air index is terrible.

Therefore, this Blog is to offer those who wish to visit this land, an Unbiased Review.

First off, I grabbed the tickets way early in the year (in January, traveling in May) at RM 296 (to fro all inclusive)...OMG...

And I happily went to the airport despite that level 5 warnings of H1N1 global invasion was issued by WHO sometime in May. A lot of people was traveling (domestic, international, I don't know but there are A LOT of people there) with only the conscious few donning a N95 mask (I assume they know what mask to buy for effectiveness) but, it seems like not many who know how to use it.

I, being a semi-conscious person, bought, brought and wore mine during my journey -- adhering as best I could to the guidelines. I also took plenty of fluids and have my vitamins as usual to minimize my risk. Well, some people would say, "Why are you being paranoid? You die when the time comes and there's no avoiding".

Fair and true enough but I'd tell that person right into their face. "Just because you are healthy and breathing at this moment, it doesn't mean you are not increasing your risk to the virus. Bloody hell, it's an airport and you know well what is happening in the world, what is the hurt to take a precaution?"

Once you are in a crowded place, you are exposed and true, if you already are exposed to the virus, it doesn't matter if you are wearing a mask of not. But to me, it's a chance for yourself when you lower the risk of catching the virus. It's a matter of chance. 50-50 and 'nuff said. One can never argue when the opposite party doesn't believe in your point of view but I hope this post also spread a message across to readers on the importance of giving/grabbing a chance for yourself.

But of course, before I put on my mask, I had some light breakfast at OldTown (sardine-packed with people!!). Oh, I always love their toast (not much the coffee) but damn, this is the worst ever toast that I ever had from OldTown! Such lousy quality control and right, it's over-priced as well (just because you are at an airport? I hate that idea).

See? They didn't bother to even slice the bread properly and there is absolutely no kaya at all! (There was..if you weigh it to 2 decimal points)

Ahh..whatever...I actually had breakfast..these are just for my itchy mouth. About half an hour later, Lise and I boarded a plane and 3 hours and 55 minutes later, we were at Manilla's Clark Airport! Smooth landing and just like the time when I flew to Bali, I saw this majestic Mount Taal (instead of Kintamani) )

The airport have a tongue twisting name: Diosdado Macapacal International Airport (little did I know that it was named after the 9th President of Phil). Well, not really difficult to pronounce...just that it's difficult for me to remember the whole name. Ah, we'll go with Clark, LOL...so upon arrival, there were these dudes who were so excited seeing us wearing our masks. One was holding an European passport and I so much felt like asking him, "Hey, which isolated part of Europe were you in? We were wearing a mask for a purpose even though yes we know that there was no cases in Philippines yet at the time we went". It's never a sin to take precautions because after all, it is an airport. One fool even shouted across to his friend at the luggage waiting area saying that he needed a mask. Oh yea, good riddance if he catches something.

Anyways, we were picked up by a friend and the journey begun. An eye opener for me is that these Filipinos built their houses under the highway. I can't snap a pic of that though because most of the time I was in a tinted car (most cars there are heavily tinted; protection from the sun and gaze I s'posed) and the photo turns out to be really dim. Anyways, just imagine the flyover at Pudu with wooden houses built beneath it and that's what you get.

The first stop of the day was S & R Shopping Membership (ala Tesco) lookalike hypermarket. Everything comes in bulk and in HUGE size. If Tesco has 40% of extra large canned food, here, it's 70%. I freaked out at this ox tongue. Is an ox's tongue really that huge? How do we cook it? Boil it in water? Fry? Ew...

We bought some stuff at the store and honestly I don't know what has got into me. I just can't live without chocolates for whatsoever reason and for the 10 days, I was relying on my Hersheys which I got there, as my energy life saver. I got a large packet Hersheys' assorted nuggets and mashmallows at RM 30 and RM 9 respectively (according to the rate of RM0.076 : 1 Peso). I kept the mashmallows though...gonna make chewy chocolate mashmallows later on.


In these 10 days, I went about Quezon City, Manilla, Makati, Tagatay, Baguio, Sagada and Boracay. Personal sentiments aside, I will give you my best and most unbiased review of the Cities of Philippines Island (Quezon, Manila and Makati--basically I'll coin these 3 places under a group: City).

C i t y . . .

I would summarize the city in 3 'Overs'...that would be over-populated, over-polluted, over food production (or maybe not since they have such a large population) and over-sized. Honestly, the jam in this city never N E V E R ends. It goes on from, I don't know...morning till 10 at night? Really, from the 38th floor of my aunt's unit in Makati, one can see miniature cars zooming and queueing in line all day long.

Cars inclusive of buses, private cars (mostly 4 wheels drive) and ...
Tricycles...

And jeepneys...cute ain't there? Some are really well decorated with light bulbs and fancy drawings while some are just plain. I never try these vehicles when I was there as it was not recommended by the locals (they suggested us not to travel alone in them without the companion of a local especially when I look like a Korean to them....WHICH HONESTLY I DO NOT KNOW WHY...I always have this impression of Korean being fair...and c'mon, you've gotta admit it that I am a shade darker than them...it is so obvious~)

Besides, one also get to see a lot...LOT...of buildings. It's common to see writings on their roof too. This one below, was one which I zoomed in using my Canon Ixus 7.1mp camera..HAHA..so what I don't have a SLR? My pics are still looking good..EHEM... (okay..I'm just jealous..the quality is definitely one hell of a difference)


But c'mon, give point and shoots the credits they deserve too. They are handy, convenient and most of all, the pics are really not that lousy.

Hehe...it is what it is worth.

Anyways, being the city of Philippines, it is dotted with cars and hell lots of skyscrappers and little houses. The town planning to me, is very messy: You'll see a high rise beautiful building next to a worn and old office. You'll see chicken in their cages at the petrol station. You'll see 4 lanes well paved road with impatient drivers overtaking at the speed of light (amazing that their accident rate is rather low -- according to the locals) and reflexes of a trap-jaw ant.

Due to the education system (which follows that of the states), one can easily spot some words which was used differently from Malaysian. Well, I assume that this structure resembles a bus stand since I do not see any unloading bay nearby but instead of the word 'bus stand/bus stop/dropping off', the government chose the word 'unloading'. Please don't mind me, I just find it amusing :)p
And of course, you'll see tons of human in the shopping mall (which I am so not used to..one fact is that I hate crowded mall!!) !
Honestly, you get nothing much in the city but malls and fast food joints. I don't know how they survive but from my observations, it seems as though the spending power of the people are rather limited and yet, one do not see any vacant space in the malls (famous ones) of Philippines. I was told that most Filipinos earn only a mere 5K ph per month. Thus, it struck me as rather amazing that these malls do not seem to have any vacant spaces.

I must say that things in the city is not cheap. When you convert the price of these merchandises back to MYR, the prices are almost the same as the stuff we got here in Malaysia. Only difference would be the style and brand. I supposed they (the stock purchaser) have better taste that those in Malaysia (eyes roll) because at RM 150 at Zara, you can get better looking clothes than that in Malaysia.

Haha...

Not only that but I also observe that there a only a handful of caucasians in the city. As in you do not see a lot of caucasian couples/family/ladies/backpacker but in contrast, you'll be able to spot a lot of caucasian men with Filipinos (either as a couple or in a family).
Seriously! Now I welcome comments on this.

T a g a ta y . . .

After the city trip, Lise and I tagged along with Ken and Aiza to Tagatay, where Mount Taal lie.
It is a place where most city folks would visit as it is located very near to the city..around 1 hour and 30 minutes drive at most. I am fortunate enough to be able to tag along in a private car, so I'm sorry that I can't offer a better description on how to get there and where is the best place to stay. But I heard that one can get there by bus.

I was told that the common activity there was horse riding up the mountain towards the crater of Mount Taal. Well, I didn't manage to do that and even if I do have the opportunity, I'd think twice. Why? Coz it's a bloody ACTIVE volcano with occasional trembling detected! Gosh, my horse wouldn't on earth be able to outrun the flowing lava -- for sure. Then again, after my confession to a friend, she told me that it's an experience of a lifetime. Well, I can't deny that but really, I'm a timid kitten.

Haha...I was having bad thoughts, you know. That if this volcano decided to erupt in the near future, I think the City will be doomed with pollution and pity the homes in Tagatay. All life will not be spared...but nay, that's just my imagination. Look! How serene the volcano is!

Ehem..on a lighter note, we had a good dinner there at Ken's vacation house. We set off to Tagatay at night and upon arrival everyone is practically starving. Most stalls were close but we catch one just in time and they kindly prepare food for us. (I guess also it was because Aiza was there that they so willingly and happily do so for us..haha..oh well, celebrity did have their effects, LOL).

When we reach the place, we quickly set up the dining table -- in the middle of the road. Exactly. Glad that no one there drives at night since people go there only during their vacation...so yea, we dined safely. hehee...


Honestly, I have to agree that chickens in Philippines taste really good. Roasted ones are so crispy and flavorful! The ones below are pork and trust me, their pork soup is yummy! I don't know if it's because we got it at this particular store in Tagatay which is why the food is really reallly good.


After dinner, the lovebirds went on their own while Lise and I wander around the place. We saw this really creepy abandoned lot which has grasses and weeds growing all over the place. Eerie and scary because all around that area, all houses, even unoccupied are not run down like this one. All the more frightening is when I saw a cross projected on the wall.

Well, we went past it and never turn our head back. Haha...I should had taken a photo maybe?

Anyways, on the next day, we went to this lovely place called Sonya's Garden. It's a dining place where you can have all you can eat buffet lunch of salads and pasta. Needless to say, by far, all mangoes that I had in Philippines were all so sweet and I have to mention about the salad sauce...it's simply delicious. This place serve salad, bread, pasta, free flow drinks (of juice and tea) and dessert (of fried nangka roll and chocolate cake -- ones which I don't really fancy...the rolls were overfried and the cake was too dry but the salad were so so so good!). All for only P600 (well...okay..it's a lil' pricey for just salad and pasta...)

Sonya's Garden is also filled with little spots (such as rattan seats and poster beds) for photo taking purpose:
Now..next up...SAGADA...the highlight of my trip!

S a g a d a . . .

Basically it's my highlight. After a series of 'wonderful' happenings, I finally managed to go against all odds and bumpy roads...and reach Sagada safely. This place is pretty hidden up in the north, even further than the ever famous Baguio.

In brief, there are 3 routes to Sagada and they are:

Baguio - Sagada Route
Banaue - Sagada Route
Manila - Bontoc Route

(Go on and try the links. They are some of the best which I came across and are pretty informative for first timers like yours truly here. I particularly enjoyed this site on Baguio. These sites gave me a rough idea of where/how to start up my journey

What attracted me so much into making this journey are the Banaue Rice Terraces and the Hanging Coffins. The former is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which age about 2000 to 6000 years old. Like all ancient structures, these terraces; fed by age-old irrigation system, were shaped by the hands Batad indigenous people in the mountains of Ifugao. It is so large that it was said that the steps--put end to end, would encircle half the globe. Amazing structure ain't it?!

While the later are even more amazing. It demonstrated the determination and culture of the ancient people who climb all the way up the cliffs with minimal tools to aid them -- to hang self made wooden coffins at the edge. This is a culture of a minority group in certain region of China, Indonesia and Philippine. Being the Me, who want to see what the world has to offer her, obviously is dying to see these amazing ancient testimonial of human strength.

Ahh, and this bring me to a sad and disappointing story which I shall rant on another separate space.

In this blog post, I aim to share my travel bits -- which I must say, I regretted not to visit the Banuae Rice Terrace and have a closer look at the hanging coffins.

But I did made it to Sagada and did have a look at the coffins...and left my bunny prints in the caves :)
In order to conquer Sagada, you really need to have the determination to do it because (like I said) of the long hours (12hours of traveling in a bus for Christ's sake!) and bumpy roads.

The first half of the journey to Baguio was fine because you get to be comfortable in a spacious air-conditioned bus (which got real cold in the night; so it is a must to bring along your sweater! Anyways, since both Baguio and Sagada are located way high above sea level, it does get pretty cold at night). Due to the fact that the road to Sagada is dangerous narrow all the way up the mountain, buses only operate during the day. So, one would have to take the night bus to Baguio, in order to make it in time to reach Sagada in noon.

According to the information obtained online, the best two buses that travel to Baguio would be Autobus and Victory Liner. However, according to a local, he mentioned that he has never heard of Autobus before (hm...readers, I need your verification, thank you), so Lise and I got the Victory Liner tickets at P430 at its Cubao station. The bus leaves at 9pm and we reach Baguio at about 4am in the morning. The journey takes about 6 hours and honestly it is like a luxury when you compare to the bus taken to Sagada. (And it has a new and good looking station too)

Upon reaching, we got a cab to Dangwa Station which is less than 10 minutes away and though I forgot how much was the fare, rest assured that it was cheap..maybe around P50 or so. Again, I do not know why, even in the dim light, I look Korean to the cab driver.

The bus to Sagada starts to operate at about 5 plus in the morning but due to our ignorance (plus it was too dark to navigate ourselves at the station), we went to a nearby cafe for our breakfast. I was so used to Malaysia's tasty mamak Milo kosong panas, that I thought the Milo there suck big time. I mean, really! They gave you a big glass of hot water with just a packet of Milo. Totally not enough for me because it is really really diluted! I need at least 3 packets!

This is the Dangwa Station. It was packed with Jeepneys and buses in the mid-noon.

It amused me to see a Dental Laboratory. Haha, it kinda freaked me too when my mind was playing images of how it would be in a dental Laboratory (like a horror movie called .. hm.. i forgot the name but it was about this psycho dentist who drills his unsuspecting patients)

God-loving community (then again, we all do need God's blessing every now and then especially in one's trip to Sagada)

p/s: they are a music loving community too and I really appreciate that the driver played soothing jazzy and sometimes love hits from the 80s and 90s for his passengers

Lizardo Bus


There are two buses to Sagada and one of them is the Lizardo Bus (at P220). It resembles buses which you find in Seremban...haha...honestly, a little bigger than Malaysia's long forgotten Mini Bus but with almost the same condition. These buses-- though far from comfortable, serve as the most important vehicle for the residents; as can be felt from the picture above. They travel 6 hours up the mountain, with all sorts of stuff taken with them...food stuff, clothes, electronics and even fertilizers.

I don't know how they manage it but to me, this journey of 6 hours are pretty okay -- ONCE in a while (A long while..HAHA). So, in this ride up the mountain, what I experienced was the beautiful mountain sights and the view of a poor country.

In the photo above, you can see (Okay, the big banner of Jollibee, a fast food joint which can be found JUST EVERYWHERE; as common as MacD in Malaysia...gosh...the love of fast-food of Filipino is comparable to any western country) a mix of brick and zinc houses...how colorful they are and...how unplanned the town is. These houses, mostly built with zinc are practically littered all over the place. Colorful as they are, they look quite pretty from far but when you get nearer to them, you can see that they are very very basic (imagine how noisy it would be on a rainy day...and what happen during the hot days?!). Then, do you notice the wires? Electric or telephone lines...they are not earthed; both in the city and village area.

But these people are coping well...very well. I don't know how recession is affecting them but as always, it never affect the youngs. This little girl (pretty!) in the photo is a lovely soul. She was so active during the long and strenous journey -- even tried to play bus driver by sitting in the driver's seat! What I admired in her is her restlessness; good thing that she and her siblings never get bored during the journey. You know how kids are, when they are bored, they will just cry themselves tired. However, these cuties play by themselves, eat sweets and fried pork skin (pig is baboi in Tagalog and the only word I know by heart....hahaha)

The square structure below is the bus stop, I guess...it looks like it...
After 6 hours in the bus (reach Sagada at about 12 plus), just enough to tire you but not enough to kill and break you into pieces, we arrived at Sagada!

The first thing we did after registering (paying P20 or so...I don't remember) at the Municipal Hall, we went to Residential Logde to get a room at P250.
The room is by far...okay...I would give it s 3/5 and it is quite clean (but be sure to get a mosquito for the night and bring scarf for yourself -- to cover your head for the night (too), because it will prevent you from being disturb by insects)


Just don't look up the ceiling. It has these black spots and little webs at the corner.
And...I would appreciate if they 'tile-up' the bathroom, clean the hand wash basin and...maybe adjust the water pressure....

Anyways, it's okay since I'm not like staying there for the whole week.
If I get to visit Sagada again the next time, I would definitely try George's Guesthouse. It looks more inviting from the exterior. After we get changed into our shirts and pants, we went to the Municipal Hall to get ourselves an adventure trip -- Spelunking! We climbed high and low, into the water and out; through 3 caves -- Burial Cave, Lumiang Cave, and Sumaging Cave (at P400). It took us about 3 hours to complete it and boy, I survived those slippery rocks and bats' dung!

It was really chilling in there that you can see your own body heat evaporate into the air. The guides were really helpful and no matter how challenging the caves are, rest assured that the guides will take good care of you. (That is, unless you let your own fear get to you and you have a really poor physique).

What amazed me was this boy, about 10 years old maybe? He was a cheerful one jumping up and down, here and everywhere in the cave without being afraid of tripping at all! You will be surprised by this Baguio boy, seriously! Initially I thought he was with the guides and have been going to the caves ever since he was a young child. So, less did I know that it was only his second time to the caves with his family...haha...and there he was, already treating the rocks and bones as his play pen. Oh yea, you read me right, (human) bones -- these caves were location of a burial ground (where coffins were stacked on top of each other) and the ground got so terribly shaken by earthquake(s) that all bones and its coffins were shattered and scattered all over the caves.

Well, I do not know if I did step on some, but I prayed silently for forgiveness if I did. Hehe...not good to step on deceased's bones -- so visitors, respect alright! Don't take bones home as souvenirs (hey, some people do that okay!)

We take photo at this famous spot; which I commonly see in the bloggers community...and I must say that I was so ill-prepared in this sense. I got my water-proof pouch but due to all the climbs, the guide offered to carry our belongings so that they don't get wet or broken (ie: camera and phone); so I didn't manage to take many pics in the caves. I could have bought a Kodak disposable camera but then again, it's fine for me not to get it for this trip (want to know why? please head on to my ranting blog).
I'm glad that I took this photo -- to show the water! Clear and chill you to your bones and yet, the Baguio boy was a real courageous young man -- he took a dive and swim in it until his mother asked him to get out of it!!We were all starving after emerging from the caves, 3 hours later and after a hot shower (a real must after spelunking, you will appreciate it sooo sooo MUCH), we head down to the ever recommended Yogurt house. the setting is lovely with an artificial fireplace. Food wise, it was alright. The yogurt...I'll give it a rating of 3/5

There was this over friendly cat which initially took the seat next to me and after sniffing around, it decided to jump on my lap. I pat its butt a little to signal it not to disturb me and yet it wouldn't budge! See! Over-friendly and even wanted to join my meal. I have to carry it down to prevent it from getting too comfortable with me. Geez. Cats, please behave! After a presentation I saw during my internship at IMR (and re-inforced by a subject during my third year), I got cautious with cats -- the host of Toxoplasma gondii A note to mention here was that no foreigners (especially Caucasians) were seen throughout my journey from Manila to Sagada, not even one backpacker (perhaps most are alert with the numerous kidnapping cases occuring in Philippines) and it made me on my guard too (even though I seem to be with a local in the form of Lise...LOL...you see...a lot of Filipino thought she's one of them). I supposed it is because Sagada is not that commercialized yet and it is still a place spread by the words of mouth. I was quite surprised that after 3 weeks back from Philippines, I saw an article in TheStar featuring Luzon and guess what, they even highlighted Sagada! So, Seeeeee! Sagada is not an isolated place (Which mean to say that if you are not significantly different looking, I supposed, it's a pretty safe place to go to).

I'm quite relieved in the end to see some Caucasians and Koreans in restaurant somehow. I don't know why but maybe it made me felt a little safe that there are foreigners in this far part of the North. I am after all, a tourist. Hehe...thus, it made me felt like an over-adventurous fish-out-of-the-water for being at a place where no other foreign tourists have been too (which of course, was proven that I'm wrong...foreigners do know about this place! So next time, I must earn enough to hire a good local guide to bring me to truly explore Philippines).

After dinner, we took a walk around to check out where the Lemon Pie House. Geographically placed on the east of Malaysia, the sun sets earlier in Philippines and by 8pm, it was pretty dark already. Therefore, it is understandable that a curfew was issued to prevent people from loitering after 9pm.

On the next day, we woke up early to catch the 10am bus back to Baguio. Honestly, you'd need 2 days to truly explore the beauty of Sagada. Hence, we missed the spectacular sight of the Hanging Coffins as our breakfast and chess game at Sagada Lemon Pie House had took away an hour (woke up at 6am, had breakfast from 7am to 8am). The lemon pie and lemon juice are wow...GOOD! 4/5...not too sweet or sour and it's just nice. (A little comment: There are rooms for improvement on the crusts :) )

Price wise, man, it was cost only P150 for a WHOLE pie. Try to get a whole pie in Kuala Lumpur, geez, it will cost you at least RM 50. What was done was a little walking and see a Hanging Coffin from far. Better than not seeing it at all, I supposed. Oh well.

In short, I would say that Sagada is not for those who is not interested in Nature because there truly has got nothing to offer except for Trees (plenty), ancient artifacts (coffins, bones), Caves (spelunking), cool air (not so fresh in the bus-waiting area) and Mother Nature (Trees and more trees). Moreover, if you cannot brave yourself for a long strenous journey in a less than comfortable bus (with you being the only non-Tagalog speaking foreigner around in the bus), then Sagada is not the place for you.

The above: They got really used to riding on top of a vehicle...amazing!

Frankly speaking, regardless on what most commented online, the English level of Filipinos in this area is alright; not that fluent and some even have difficulty understanding the language. In tourist-flocked places, their grasp of English is alright but not beyond basics.

So, a little miscommunication, we missed the 10am bus and took the 11am one. The latter bus was filled with only the worst seats left -- that were the rear ones...where it got bumpy most of the time. We survived that anyways and reached Victory Liner's station on time to catch our bus back to Manila.

Regrettably, we didn't visit Street Market as planned (as I planned) due to the lack of time (which I actually planned time for). As a consolation, the journey back was wonderful. Not many people were on the bus and as a result, I was able to lower down my seat to the maximum and got really comfortable until people started to got onto the bus along the way. Another 6 hours down the road, I was back to the city. The best prize of being in the city was the 24 hours Home-service Massage. It is heavenly...truly heavenly and guess what, during my stay with my aunt, I had massages almost every night...the service offered was good and cheap! (only P250 - P300 an hour)

B o r a c a y . . .

Now, the last highlight of whole journey, the jewel of Philippines, I now present you with...Boracay Island. I went in May and I think that is not the right month to go to because the sea is green with seaweeds. A tourist whom I met there told me that the best time to go is October.

During the time when I was there, with exception of the seaweed-filled sea, the sand, wind and its mango shakes are the things which I think one should go to Boracay for. I'm not particularly into the clubs there (nor the bar which sells its 21 shots). I'm more into relaxing on the beach chair/hammock with a glass of cooling shake (which is actually ice blended :)p ) ; listening to the crashing waves and enjoy the wind. The wind in Boracay is always blowing and wow, that was The Life.

The above: Sand castles are a common art in BoracayI hardly swim there due to the seaweeds...it gets glued to your skin and gave me the itch...that's why I opt to just stay under the coconut tree shade and sleep...hehee...and read a page or two from the book which I borrowed from the resort (a boring thriller--i'm thrilled to death).

During my visit there, I stayed in Fat Jimmy's Resort. It is clean and overall, I'd give it a 4/5. The lack of one score is due to its location which is just next to the garbage dump. The Resort is about less than 5 minutes from the White Beach and costing P2000 per person for a night (There were 5 of us).

The notice pasted on the wall is kinda funny...It said 'Tattoed items are charged'...LOL...Why don't they print 'You'll be charged for vandalism'?

Food wise, it is alright. Like I said, the cream of the crop would be the fruit shakes. Never try anything funny like peanut butter chocolate shake because you'd regret the very moment the fluid reaches your tastebud.

So, I'd say what you pay during your dining would be the ambience. It is one hell of a romantic place and a great venue for buddies/couples. Rest assured that you can have those long deep conversation or some nonsense chat the whole night long. Of all that they have on the island, I think I would prefer burgers from Biker's Club (I think that was the name...I don't quite remember) but of course, the one below was my creation (the heart chili sauce and mayo). The drink was a non-traditional Halo-halo. Personally, I don't quite enjoy the drinks in Philippines (except its Fruit Shakes) because they are too sweet for my liking. But I like this sweets which I first got from Tagatay. It's a replica of Rabbit sweets and is only for the sweet tooth. It is made mainly from sugar and condensed milk and when you pop it into your mouth, the soft little roll melts and gives you solidified condensed milk. LOL...I don't know if that is the exact way to describe but it does feel like that.

Ahh...the 10 days came to a stop very quickly and of all the people I met, both my aunt's friends and the group in the photo below are by far the warmest people whom I can ever meet in Philippines.
The swimmers above introduced me to Sisig (Sizzling Pork and Eggs) and they really are a friendly lot. What I appreciate most was that eventhough English gave them "nose bleeds" sometimes, but still they tried their best to share with us their tales and jokes.
I hereby say Thank you peeps :)

Well, what more can I say about Philippines? Hm...that it is not exactly a place where you can shop for the cheapest/unique things. On the contratry, things in the country are kinda expensive even at the minimal (due to food and accomodation..so I'm really thankful that my aunt offered me a place to stay--thx!) and transportation is a little not convenient. There are cabs everywhere but during peak hours, they don't usually take you -- or they do, but they wouldn't use the meter; because the traffic there is a killer.

Now, would I want to go back to Philippines? I supposed because I miss the massage treatments there! LOL..

Regrets

Regrets, I have few,
But today, one pops up, fresh and new,
Should I have been more focused and studious,
I will not have this regret which made me furious,
I have a dream and I dream big,
For mankind and for the weak,
But today, I have to let go of my dream,
And to leave it as it is...a dream...

Nonetheless..I will try..I believe that if I am meant to be...I will be.