It was Friday, 23rd of May, when we braved the chilly night and took a nine-hour trip to the South. The destination was Sta. Rita Island Beach Resort located in the heart of Del Gallego in Camarines Sur. I was with the company of my boyfriend and his officemates. Yeah, right. It was another office outing which I did not regret joining.We played various sports (table tennis, billiards-just the boys, beach volleyball-it was my first time to try the sport and I really had fun) the whole day in between meal times. I also found a starfish lying (or was it buried?) on the sand and saw a jellyfish swimming in the water when we went out to the beach. And yes, we took several photos as expected.
What's a better way to end summer than another fun outing? I'm so glad to have had a wonderful summer filled with outings in different awesome places in the country. I'm really grateful I was blessed with wonderful people who always go the extra mile to make me happy. Thank God for them.
Now that summer's over, I look forward to the rainy season with a big smile and a positive attitude. Tira-tira! :D
What's a better way to end summer than another fun outing? I'm so glad to have had a wonderful summer filled with outings in different awesome places in the country. I'm really grateful I was blessed with wonderful people who always go the extra mile to make me happy. Thank God for them.Now that summer's over, I look forward to the rainy season with a big smile and a positive attitude. Tira-tira! :D
Update: You may want to know the 10 Things I love About Cebu City.
May 9-18, 2008. Three provinces. Two travelers. One memorable summer vacation.
Edwin and I never planned it. Things went into place and it just happened. He was on official business in Cebu City on the first week. We met up there before that week ended, that was the Day 1 of my short vacation. And the fun all started from there.
We spent our days in the Queen City of the South with our Cebu-based friends (Taps, Noe, Merfe, Chivs, etc.) who went the extra mile to make us comfortable and happy during our short stay. We tried new restaurants, visited churches, strolled in malls, celebrated Mother's Day (Merfe is going to be one soon!) on the beach and caught up on each other's lives. Blissful!
From Cebu, we headed south to one of the cities in Negros Oriental to pay a visit to my parents and my younger sister who reside there. It was the onset of a typhoon but we never minded. We got there soaking wet, literally. It was a good thing we didn't get sick. At the time. I got sick a little later (on my way back to Manila). Actually, I went there to check on my family. I was happy they were doing just fine.
It was not too long before we got to Bohol. We stayed in Edwin's family's house. His grandparents took good care of us. We arrived just in time for the town's fiesta on the next day. The celebration was not so colorful but we managed to have fun going from house to house and eating whatever was offered to us. Haha. The next day after the fiesta, we (Edwin, Jan2x and I) met up with Edwin's cousin Jick in Tagbilaran City. We had a late lunch, visited a tourist spot and strolled around the nearby towns using Jan2x's nice, red car. Before I knew it, our Bohol stop was over and we needed to go back to Cebu for our plane trip back to Manila.
So many things I wanted to do, so little time. And money. Haaaaay. Maybe next year again. Hehee. Anyway, it was one heck of a summer vacation. Sulit, ika nga.Restaurant Tips:
1. When in Cebu, dine buffet style at Port Seafood Restaurant (walking distance from Water Front Hotel-Lahug) for P199 (lunch) and P299 (dinner). This is a steal, I tell you! Seafood are aplenty, served fresh daily. Ambiance and service are pleasant, food rating is above average.
2. When in Tagbilaran City, a good choice would be Prawn Farm (it's a resto, not really a prawn farm or hatchery) located inside Island City Mall. It's fine dining but the price is relatively cheap. They serve fresh prawns and other savory dishes, mostly Filipino food. Don't forget to order the baby back ribs and adobong pusit for main dish and make sure there's mangga with bagoong alamang on the side. Allot P300 per head. Ambiance is cozy. Service is quite slow but the food is something that's worth a second visit.
Zambales is one of the provinces in the Philippines known for their beautiful beaches and scenic islands. Last May 3-4, 2008, my fifth summer adventure happened in San Antonio and Capones Island, Zambales. It was another ICTO trip that lasted two days and a night.
We got billeted at Megan's Beach Resort in San Antonio. Immediately after having our lunch on the first day, we rode a boat and paid a visit to Capones Island. What a wonderful day it was! We spent four long hours in the island. I swam and swam and swam. I'm not a professional swimmer but I had lots of fun. My Superfriend and I took tons of photos of ourselves while the rest of the gang were busily roaming around the area.
We didn't see the century-old light house for which the island is famous, though. I learned from Superfriend that we docked on the other side because the side where the light house stands was rocky. Ok lang. I think of that as a good reason to return to the place.
As usual, I left Zambales darker than ever. But at least I had fun. After all, summer is all about getting tanned, enjoying the beach and bonding with friends.
My Superfriend is one talented lady. Aside from being a natural-born dancer, she’s also a singer. In fact, she’s a proud member of our very own OP Chorale, an all-Malacañang employee choir group. Last month, she invited me to join their summer outing (April 12-13, 2008). Since my schedule was free, the answer was immediately yes. It was one lovely weekend spent on swimming, eating, videoke-ing and picture-taking, plus making the most out of everything that had been caught in between those fun activities.The OP Chorale members had been so warm to me. Thanks, guys. One good thing I notice about the outing was that food was aplenty. Great job, food committee. If only I don’t gain pounds easily. But I do. After the outing, I got fatter. Super thanks pa rin. The outing was fun, fun, fun.
We also stopped over at Our lady of Manaoag Shrine in Manaoag, Pangasinan on our way back to Manila. It was my first time there and I think that made the outing more special to me.
I wasn’t able to borrow Edwin’s digital camera, so we got by using Superfriend’s Nokia N77. Here are some of the photos we took:
coffee beans, anyone?Delicious dinner was served at Ate Edna’s house right after our arrival. She is one of our suppliers and was kind enough to serve as our hostess for that night until the day we left the place. She and her family accompanied us to the resort where we stayed overnight. The entire chilly night was spent night swimming, eating, videoke-ing and playing around the resort. My officemates and I, together with our guests (family and significant others), had a great time.
On the morning of the next day, we had a tour of Ate Edna’s garden (a family business) and took a lot of photos. Lemme show you some of our best shots:
sitting pretty
with Mitch and Jen
waiting for more food to arrive
almost frozen
Edwin and Kenneth
with Shy
by the Mickey mouse plants
all-girl pic
with the SYsters (Jen and Shy Sy)
with Edwin
for cut flowers, etc., you know where to order
Overall, the experience was awesome. I can't wait 'till our next office outing.
It was work-related alright, but I had fun as much as I do when I travel for pleasure. I was with my officemates in Baguio City from March 16 to 22 for a PMA event hosted by the President. We were the ones in-charge of the preparations, from the flower arrangements to setting up the quadrangle. Of course, venue was Mansion House. I was so happy to have seen Adel and Obot (her PMAer boyfriend who had graduated then) during the event.Before I go on with my story, lemme share with you the 10 Things to Do in Baguio City for that one enjoyable trip to the City of Pines.
Despite the busy schedule, our group still had the time to visit the strawberry farm at La Trinidad and had our fair share of ukay-ukay finds at Maharlika Bldg. And yeah, one cold night I dragged my officemates to my favorite restaurant Don Henrico's -Session Road for a dinner because I want them to experience the delish food there that comes in really big servings.
When we went back to Manila, we were lucky to have stopped over at the gigantic lion statue (a famous Baguio marker) at Kennon Road. It was Shy's (my officemate and friend) first trip to Baguio and we used that excuse to take photos on the spot.
All in all, it was an awesome official trip to the City of Pines.
'Till my next summer adventure! :D
Summer has finally arrived and I'd like to embrace it by doing things that I love. To kick things off, we went to a theme park on March 1 and had lots of fun.
The Manila Ocean Park (MOP) is the first world-class "oceanarium" in the Philippines. The people behind it come from the same Singapore-registered firm that runs four oceanariums in China.
MOP has a wide variety of marine animals showcased in five different sections (agos-flow, bahura-the reef, laot-fishing ground, kalaliman-the deep and buhay na karagatan-living ocean) located along a 25-meter long walkway tunnel with 220 degree-curved acrylic walls. On the second floor of the building lie the other two attractions: the overhang tank (which can be seen from inside the tunnel) and the pating corner which houses various shark species. The soft opening of the oceanarium took place on February 29, graced by Phil. Tourism Authority GM Barbers and PGMA herself. A day after that we joined hundreds, if not thousands of people, who wanted to be first to take a peek of this newest attraction in town.
On a different note, I am quite disappointed that when I called up MOP customer service prior to our departure to inquire if they accept credit cards for payment, the lady I talked to said yes. However, when we got to the ticket station at MOP, the lady at the counter said they don't accept plastic money yet. But guess what, there was a credit card machine beside her. Was it online? I believe so because we regularly use such a device in La Cocina de Tita Moning where I work part-time. I guess they probably just opted not to use it to make their service a little faster, what with the long lines and rows in front of them. It was a good thing we brought some cash with us, otherwise we would have gone home straight with a big frown on our faces.
We were a group of seven (six adults and a kid) when we toured MOP. We took a lot of photos, as usual. I found it very amusing to see school of fish and other groups of marine species swimming and playing and having fun, as if they knew there was a big audience around. Though the place was jam-packed with people posing for pictures left and right, it was still festive and fun. Except for some discourteous MOP crew who kept on shouting "No flash photography, please," in a very loud and irritating manner. I was not guilty of using flash but that made me slightly uncomfortable. I wonder if the management knows about it.
There are still other facilities under construction that, as what I've read from the posters, include a mall, a hotel, shops and function rooms. Meaning, it's not just a theme park, it's a huge complex where people can have fun in more ways than one. What an awesome marketing concept!
And oh, did I mention that there is a nice view of the Manila Bay at the back of MOP? If only the waters were as clean as before, it would have been a breathtaking scenery.
Aside from photos, we also took some videos which you can view here. Stay tuned for my next summer adventure. :DEntrance Fees: P400 for adults; P350 for kids; P250 for students
Contact No(s).: +632 567-7777 (DL); +632 5672309 (FL)
Location: Just behind Quirino Grandstand, Manila
Attire: Casual
Rule(s): Flash photography is not allowed
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My Life Adventure in Photos
World Buzz Today
Budget Shopping Galore
Foodiestation
My Life Adventure in Photos