Snapshots: Sunken Cemetery, Camiguin, Philippines

As a late Halloween post, an on-time All Saints' Day feature and an early All Souls' Day commemoration, this week's photo is one I took of the Sunken Cemetery in the island of Camiguin, Philippines.

The cemetery was buried underwater after a volcanic eruption in the island in 1871. Over a century later, a huge cross was installed to mark the location of the cemetery. You can actually take a boat and reach the platform where the giant cross is built, and from there, if the tide is low, you can look out into the water and make out some of the tombstones that were buried during the eruption - either that, or my eyes were playing tricks on me when we visited.

Snapshots: White Water Rafting, Cagayan De Oro, Philippines

I know a lot of students will be having their sem breaks this month, so I thought I'd write about two sem break destinations perfect for a barkada. On Saturday, I'll be posting about our trip to Cagayan De Oro, Camiguin and Bukidnon last year. If your group is adventurous and - let's face it, you also have to be a little crazy - this trip is for you!

I've previously made a few posts about Mapawa Nature Park in CDO, but I've yet to share pictures from our white water rafting adventure - until now! White water rafting on the Cagayan De Oro river was definitely a great way to cap off our four-day out-of-office adventure, but I reckon it'll be just as fun for people taking a break from school.

Snapshots: Dive N Trek Resort, Batangas

Every summer, my family and I stay for at least a weekend in Dive N Trek, a dive resort in Bauan, Batangas. The shocking truth is none of us are divers - at best, we swim and snorkel. But the brilliant thing about this resort is that all you have to do is jump off the dock and voila - marine life! It's also a great place to rest and relax because it is literally in the middle of the sea and by the edge of a mountain, and can only be accessed by boat.

Here's a picture of some guests arriving at Dive N Trek. I took this picture as we were waiting for our turn to hop on a boat and sail home after a restful summer weekend by the sea - if only every weekend of the year could be spent the same way!

Snapshots: Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

My friends and I are off to the beach for the long weekend for some much-needed R&R! On Saturday we fly to the esteemed beaches of Boracay - certainly not the quietest beach in the Philippines, but I am hoping for some quiet "me" time to reflect and think about life in general, chori burger and margarita in hand. :P

In anticipation of the weekend, here's a picture of a beach in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. I remember swimming a few meters away from the shore here and being able to feed and snorkel among schools of fish. It's a lot of fun until they start nibbling on your finger instead of the bread you're holding out for them. :)

And this is completely out of topic, but wow, WAY TO GO JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO ON WINNING THE US OPEN MEN'S SINGLES FINAL AGAINST ROGER FEDERER! I loved how, when he was asked if he was going to buy something to treat himself using his US Open prize money, he answered "Maybe cheesecake for my [21st] birthday." Too cute! I'm still a Rafa fan but I have to hand it to this guy, he's got nerves of steel for sure, and so young at only 20 years old! VAMOS DELPO!

Snapshots: Rappeling Down a Waterfall, Mapawa Nature Park (Cagayan De Oro, Philippines)

In keeping with the thread of adventure pictures, here's picture #2 from our Mapawa Nature Park trek, and on this one I'm rappelling down a waterfall. It's not scary at all really, and all five of us got through it quite easily.

Once you get the hang of it, it's also quite fun to leap away from the rock over and over as you go down by the waterfall. There was also the sound of the waterfall crashing down the pool below which added a bit of a thrill. Quite a refreshing descent, I have to say!

Snapshots: Mapawa Nature Park, Cagayan De Oro, Philippines

Here's a picture from a trip I had with friends from work - Ayi, J-anne, Jon and Nill. We met when we were fresh grads trying to get into the Management Training Program of the company where four out of the five of us still work today. We went to Camiguin and Cagayan De Oro with a side trip to Bukidnon on one of the most adventure-filled trips of my life so far.

This picture was taken during the trek we did at Mapawa Nature Park, where we were slid off a waterfall (as the picture depicts), told to jump from a 20-feet cliff into cold, deep water, and made to rappel down a waterfall. The experience was exhilirating, the views were amazing, and the entire trip made for a great bonding experience for five yuppies trying escaping the rat race for at least a long weekend.

Snapshots: Macau (2007)

I'm off to Macau tomorrow! My friends and I are spending the weekend in Macau to watch Zaia and to bungee jump (hopefully!), after which we'll head to Hong Kong - two places that are definitely very tourist-y, but hopefully the bungee jump and the street food will keep the long weekend from becoming just an out-of-the-country shopping trip.

So I took this picture on my first trip to Macau around two years ago. It was one of those small alleys within Senado Square that led to nowhere. I thought it made for a nice picture though.

That's it for me this week, back on Tuesday then! Won't be able to write about my HK-Macau trip just yet but I'll definitely be posting some pictures or something, we'll see. :)

Snapshots: Puerto Galera, Philippines (2007)

I took this photo on my first solitary trip to Talipanan Beach, Puerto Galera. I needed to walk from Talipanan to White Beach in order to catch a boat home and chanced upon this girl who I assumed lived in the village along the road. I thought her billowing dress and her dainty walk made her a great subject for a photo.

Snapshots: Macau (2007)

This was our tour guide's hand, raised above the many bobbing heads as she and our tour group weaved through the tiny streets of Macau in 2007. At the end of this month I will be returning to Macau to watch Cirque du Soleil and - wait for it - bungee jump off Macau Tower! If I find the guts, that is.

Snapshots: Bantayan Island, Philippines

If you've been around this site, most likely, you would've already seen this picture. It was taken in the summer of 2007, the summer I graduated from college. I was on a graduation trip with classmates, and instead of going to the student-laden shores of Boracay, we opted for the more peaceful Bantayan Island in Cebu. It was a great trip, and you can read all about it here and here, my very first posts on this travel blog.

The Last Weekend, Part 1: Saturday Stories (In which we travel to Pampanga and back on a three-stop roadtrip...and a movie!)

October 4, 2008.
No nitty-gritty details, no itinerary. All I had was a wishlist - of places to go, things to see, food to eat - and a ticking clock on the last weekend before I was assigned back to Manila for work. On the surface, this meant that I had to move out of the place I had rented in Pampanga and that, after the weekend, I would need to return my car and once again depend on public transportation to get around (and I wasn't looking forward to it).

But what it all really, truly meant was that after five exciting and memorable months, it was time for me to write on that final page destined for fabled farewells, so that I could say "so long" to the life I lived as a sales trainee in South and North Luzon, and settle back into the life of a cube-dweller in Manila.

Needless to say, I was set on making an adventure of that Last Weekend.

Fortunately I had two friends, Edell and Mabz, who were willing to join my thinly-planned trip. And on Saturday, we left Manila and took a drive north to Pampanga. On top of moving out of my apartment there, three other things were on my To Do list:

1. Visit Bacolor Church, half-buried due to the Mt. Pinatubo eruption of 1991.
2. Visit Betis Church, also known as "The Sistine Chapel of the Philippines" because of the beautiful paintings found in its interior.
3. Try Aling Lucing's famous sisig!

I knew that Bacolor Church was in, well, Bacolor, and Betis Church was in, well, Betis, and I could accurately pinpoint where these towns were in the Luzon map I had bought a few months prior. I figured that was enough. One could always ask for directions. And it was a Saturday! The laziest day of the week! I didn't want a strict itinerary on the laziest, supposedly most unstructured day of the week!

If my two friends were disconcerted at the prospect of driving into a strange town knowing nothing else but its name, they didn't show it. I suppose they knew me well enough and had grown accustomed to my randomness and minimalist planning style. They are friends for keeps.

Bacolor Church

Our first stop was Bacolor Church. From the North Luzon Expressway, we took the San Fernando exit and inside San Fernando drove along the main road, familiar to me because of my many route rides in the area a few weeks prior. We found the rode that led to Bacolor and once within the town, started to ask around for the specific location of the half-buried church. It took a number of instructions from various people and a few u-turns before we finally got to our destination.

Also known as San Guillermo Church and the Nuestra Senora del Santissimo Rosario, the Bacolor Church is a baroque-style church built in 1576. In 1991, the Mt. Pinatubo eruption buried half of the Bacolor Church in mud and lahar.



Since then, the interior of the church has been renovated. From the inside, it has the customary look of a typical church in the Philippines, save for the half-circle windows found along the side of the interior that look out to essentially nothing but the ground - they were obviously windows meant to be placed at much greater heights. From the outside, however, it isn’t hard to notice the apparent squatness of the church, hinting at the depth upon which it was buried.

Betis Church

Our next stop was Betis Church, in Betis, Guagua. I had been to other parts of Guagua a few times prior but never to Betis, but with the map, a bit more of asking around and looking for road signs, we managed to find ourselves in what is supposed to be known as "The Sistine Chapel of the Philippines".





And Betis Church didn't disappoint. The paintings inside the church were pretty impressive. My favorite (and Mabelle is with me on this) would probably have to be the angels singing in a choir - I remember inheriting a Bible Stories book from my mom (she or one of her siblings had owned it since they were children!) with similar-looking illustrations. We spent a considerable amount of time just staring up at the ceiling, in awe of the paintings.




There was also a museum beside Betis Church, so we checked that out as well. It was mainly of paintings and statues and pictures of the priests of Betis Church over the years.


Catch Part 2 of The Last Weekend: Saturday Stories, coming soon!

Some pictures by Mabelle Reynaldo. Thanks dude!

The Last Weekend, Part 2: Saturday Stories (In which we travel to Pampanga and back on a three-stop roadtrip...and a movie!)

October 4, 2008.

After Betis Church, the food trip started! I had been told about Guagua's legendary chicharon, and had once been to the store that sold it - a tiny, hole-in-the-wall, blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of place. It took us a while to find it - it turned out to be the most difficult place to locate out of the entire trip! But it was super worth it. The place is called Galan's Gen. Merchandise, and they sell Galan's Chicharon (naturally). Here's the address:

Galan's Chicharon
#06 San Roque,
Guagua, Pampanga

They sold different varieties of chicharon at Galan's - even one with reduced fat! But we figured, we weren't going to be coming back to Galan anytime soon, and it wasn't like we ate Galan's chicharon everyday, so we said so long to "eating healthy" and went for the original, contains-all-the-oil-and-fat-in-the-world, my-nape-will-be-hurting-from-this-but-to-hell-with-it Galan's chicharon. We also brought some as pasalubong for our families - my parents were thrilled.

After our heart-stopping, cholesterol-inducing quest for the famed Galan's Chicharon, it was time for another I'm-going-to-need-a-bypass-surgery-next-year destination: Aling Lucing's Famous Sisig Place!

A few months prior to our road trip, tragic news broke about Aling Lucing, the woman who invented the sisig recipe in the 1970's. I'm not sure how it affected her sisig's popularity, but in any case, we were still looking forward to eating roadside and trying the sisig that started it all - these days Papanga is well-known for its sisig, so much so that they have a Sisig Festival every December to celebrate it!

Aling Lucing's Sisig place is literally situated on the side of a busy intersection in Angeles, where the old railroad used to be - it's not for the squeamish. I don't mind eating at carinderias and roadside stalls and buying food from street vendors (except when I'm in Manila - I have to think twice about those things when I'm in Manila. Maybe it's because I grew up in the province and was rased to believe that Manila streets are dirty, bacteria-laden places. I love the isaw in UP though! But more on that later.), so it was no problem at all, and the whole look of the place got me a little excited - eating at a place like that wasn't something we did everyday.

After lunch, we decided to drive back to Manila, but not without stopping at the gas station where we ate Razon's halo-halo. We could've gone to the original, but I hadn't a clue where it was found in Pampanga. Besides, there was more to be done in Manila!

It didn't take long to drive back from Pampanga to Manila, where we hung out at the Marikina Shoe Expo in Cubao and bought random trinkets - a necklace with a massive masquerade-ish mask pendant for me, and a favorite romance novel title for mabz (there's always a serendipitous moment waiting to happen at a second-hand bookstore, and don't you just love it when it really does happen?). After checking out a number of stores, we were off again, this time to UP Diliman, where we were to meet our friend Aldous to have some isaw and dessert at Chocolate Kiss!

Overall, a road trip with friends is probably one of the best things to do on a Saturday. And the best part is, you don't need to spend a lot of money or do a lot of planning to actually make it happen!

Filipina on Flip Flops: The Best of 2008!

Jason Mraz once wrote, "My home isn't about being grounded in one corner of the planet. It's about being in love and being lost in the middle of an amazing adventure, witnessing sunbursts over horizons of every time zone". Truer words have never been spoken.

Here's to the memories of all the trips and travels of 2008!

click on image to enlarge

There's nothing like the joy you feel when on the road, heading off to a strange new place, either alone or with friends. I was very fortunate to have experienced that feeling so many times in 2008 - it was one of my goals of the year, and I think I really took it seriously and amazingly made it happen!

There's just something about traveling that's good for the soul - it reminds us of freedom, rekindles a wary spirit, brings imagination back to life. And being young and free and free-spirited and imaginative, I believe, is the best way to live. Which is why - you know what I'm going to say next, and however cheesy it's going to sound, I'm going to say it anyway - traveling equals living. Travel = Life. I'm not sure it's the same for everybody, but it sure is what it feels like for me, at this age, at this time in my life, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Another thing that's great about traveling: it makes us miss home and consequently, and quite ironically, keeps us grounded.

Onward to 2009 then, and to more traveling!

The Places I Visited in 2008:
Bohol
Nasugbu, Batangas
Laiya, San Juan, Batangas
Boracay
Camiguin-Bukidnon-Cagayan De Oro
Dive & Trek, Batangas
Dumaguete-Siquijor
Iloilo-Boracay-Guimaras
Pampanga
Puerto Galera, Mindoro
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia

And while we're on the subject of 2009...

As you can probably tell, I have a lot of catching up to do with my blogging if I'm going to write about the trips I made last year (and a few in 2007). As a resolution of sorts to start this year of blogging and traveling, I'll be writing about these past trips, and hopefully I'll be done with the posts before the start of summer '09, when most of my trips take place. And to make this commitment official (and provide me with added motivation), I'm officially giving this project a name:

So check back often for updates! Happy new year everyone!