Nap Time Rocks!

Magaling, magaling [LP]

kung paano ginagawa ang mga icons na ganito, hindi ko alam. they’re good at what they do, or dahil din matagal na nilang ginagawa ito sa kultura ng mga Malay (which is predominantly Islamic pala).

ito so far ang pinakamataas na statue ng isang Hindu god na nakita ko sa Asya, na mukhang mas mahaba ang height kesa sa reclining Buddha ng Thailand (kung patatayuin). it stands at the foot of rock formations with sheer drops. hindi rin masyado kita sa tabi nito ang 270+ na steps paakyat sa cave na ginawang temple. hindi na ako nakapasok dahil hindi siya kasama sa itinerary namin at medyo nagmamadali na rin.

nakarating ka na ba sa Malaysia at nakita mo na rin ba ito?

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Litratong Pinoy theme ngayong linggo: Magaling/Husay

Feb 2010 | right outside of KL, Malaysia | Canon EOS 400D Rebel Xti

Batik [LP]

isa sa mga exhibit sa Sentosa Island sa Singapore.

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Litratong Pinoy theme ngayong linggo: Batik/mantsa (spots)

082009 | Singapore | unprocessed

Please do not…

leave your things unattended:

kuha namin ni P, isang film collaboration kung saan ginamit niya ang film at pagkatapos ay ako naman ang nag-load nito sa kamera. ang result? double exposure. =)

ito namang litrato sa taas ay kuha nung New Year 2008 sa isang gas station papuntang Subic. hindi namin malaman kung saan dapat mag-cr ang mga babae kasi mali naman yung tinuturo nung karatula. kaya tawa kami ng tawa. labo =)

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sa wakas nakasali ulit ako ng LP!

Sa mga pag-lakad ko… [lp]

marami na rin akong nakitang dahilan para ma-amaze ng todo sa gumawa nito. not like i’ve been around the world. lalo na siguro no? southeast asia palang nagalaan ko. shempre ok sana kung around the world someday, pero ok lang. lilibutin ko muna ang Pilipinas. promise ko yun sa sarili ko eh.

sa isa sa mga lakad ko recently, ito ang nakita ko.

at ito. wala ka nga lang makikita sa litrato, pero alam mo ba kung saan to?

nakarating ka na dito? grabe pala talaga pag nakapasok ka sa underground river na to. talagang ma-aamaze ka sa galing ng formations doon. isa talaga ang Palawan sa mga last frontiers of nature. alam niyo bang pwedeng mawala na yun in a few years’ time? binenta kasi ng gobyerno natin ang rights na idevelop ang pinakamahabang stretch ng beach sa Pilipinas na matatagpuan lang sa Palawan (nalimutan ko yung town, San Juan yata) para gawing Boracay II. haaay. yun lang ang masasabi ko.

kayo, ano ang pinaka-favorite niyong lakad?

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salamat sa Admin ng LP para sa opportunity na makapag-share ng isa sa mga lakad ko dito sa Pinas. sakto talaga ang theme dahil gala talaga ako sana nagustuhan ninyo!

Tags: Litratong Pinoy, palawan, underground river

Palawan, part 2

i’m all the more convinced how blessed the our country is with natural wonders. if what i saw in puerto princessa are some of nature’s 7 wonders, then the world hasn’t really seen much of what we have.

grabe, sa busuanga lang, the islands there are.. hmm. i don’t even have words for it! that’s in busuanga (at Club Paradise in march). walang sinabi ang Hunda Bay. no,  didn’t misspell that. basta, Unda ang root word niya pala. well, at least that’s what it says on the tourist board at the port.

Brgy. Sabang beach front, lunch stop over

like i always say, nothing beats traveling with good company. my trip to palawan wasn’t exactly all r&r. but one thing i like about this group is we all have the same philosophy: all work and no play makes a dull employee! hehe.

ang buko, bow. lunch at Brgy. Sabang stop over

if i gained another pound, blame it on the seafoods. hay, i love the food there. fresh, big servings, and mura! we had beach front buffet lunch on the way, and that was such a good way to start the week.

a natural rock outcropping found on the way to the underground river cove

i promised myself that i will take pictures of the scenery in palawan, even if cliche or how many times it’s been photographed by a million other people. i still had to have them too.

i won’t post much of what i saw inside the caves of the subterranean river; i’ll save that for later.  it’s enough to say that it deserves to be on the 7 wonders list.

the mouth of the underground river caves

the ‘cathedral’ formations inside will actually have full impact when, you’re standing at the wharf (before boarding the boat going to the underground river), you see 2 lumps of mountain looming starboard of the wharf. it’s almost impossible to believe that they’re almost completely hollow inside. our guide said that of all 8.2km of the river, there’s a dome area as big as Makati City. sort of like the grand finale of the river tour. unfortunately though, only 4.2km is navigable for tourists so we only got to see 2 of the highest peaks of the caves. even then, it’s such an overwhelming experience.

an authentic Vietnamese meal, w/ homemade rice noodles and the best garlic toasted bread

tired and appetites worked up, never mind the stench of the river all thanks to bat crap and urine, we stopped over at the Vietnamese Village. it used to be a settlement site for Vietnamese refugees and now there’s just 2 families living there making a living out of making rice noodles for Pho Hoa. trivia but they do have a restaurant there that make the best noodle soups.

the king crab, the biggest crab i’ve seen by far

also a must try is The Legend’s Tours package, which brings you to all of Puerto Princessa’s must see places, and a side trip of buffet lunch (food will always, always be part of our itinerary) at the Pandan Island beach front (again). fishermen there offer the fresh catch of the day like rock lobsters and king crabs.

unfortunately though, some of their catch include momma lobsters and momma crabs that still have their (millions of) eggs attached to them. the locals usually set them free.

so there you go for now. if you plan to visit puerto princessa (or busuanga, that’s why this is my Palawan, part 2), and you want to know what the best things to do there are, ask me.

tayo na ulit

because i’m back! bati na tayo ulit

as always, Rexi didn’t fail me though there were times i wish i had a Canon D10 or an Olympus mu, only for convenience of course.

but the photos have to be processed, archived, and uploaded first. so ito muna.

Break muna tayo

… kasi I’m going to Palawan tomorrow and be home Friday pa!

the underground river (that stinks pala, by the way) awaits me and Rexi. that’s my camera (Canon Rebel Xti kasi, ngayon lang nabinyagan for more ‘poetic’ license). hihi.

and i’m super excited to take photos.

so break muna tayo blog, ha? see you Friday.

Sale! [lp]

The Great Singapore Sale 2009, dito lang yan sa Singapore (san pa nga ba?)

lahat halos ng mga establishments na pinuntahan ko sa Sg ay may placard ng sale. kasi panahon ng GSS, hanggang July yata.

excited ako nung una pero nung nanghinayang nakong bilin yung isang pakay ko sa Sg, wala na. hehe. pagod lang kakalakad. pero ilang tips sa mga may balak pumunta anytime soon:

• must try ang cereal shrimps and pepper crab. sa No Signboard Seafood ko lang nakain yan, pero malamang sa ibang restaurants meron din. yaan lang orderin mo at rice, pwede na
• kailangan mo din kumain sa Makansutra or Gluttons Bay sa tabi ng Esplanade Mall. nandun lahat ng streetfood na masarap. must try and carrot cake at chicken wings
• mukhang favorite nila talaga ang chicken wings kasi lahat ng food establishments meron nun sa menu. masarap naman talaga
• IKEA! kailangan mo puntahan yun (bus 33, 64, o 195 depende kung san ka galing)
• bumili ng metro card kung walang tour guide at balak mo mag-ikot. 1 card lang for both train and bus rides. mas madali pagsakay-sakay
• at kailangan mo sakyan yung attraction rides sa Clark Quay

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EOS 400D, cross-process. Sg, Jun2009.

Sg Part 2: all things aquatic

hay P, if you were there, you’d love these too.

an all-Australian exhibit was setup at the Marina Square right beside our hotel, and one of them was Splatter’s. i couldn’t help but smile everytime i passed by their booth because the walls were filled with nice square paintings of comic artwork by Christopher Martin (like the one on the left).

the pop artwork were all so cute, selling for about S$40 – S$100+ per piece (which are also available to order online). if it weren’t so hard to pack them and bring them with me home (had a really small luggage), i’d have bought at least one.

but since i couldn’t, i brought Buster home instead.

(click the photo to find out what’s scaring Buster)

it’s an added bedtime reading for me and Mia. it doesn’t have anything to do with water i know, but it’s still one of those things i love.

the second day was as tiring as the first. went shopping at Vivo City at the bay area, which turns out not to be such a good idea if you’re going to Sentosa afterward. you end up riding the Luge with bags in between your legs and that’s not comfortable.

one thing i realized (no, make that several) going around Sentosa’s Underwater World are:

1. not all animals appreciate being pet. take the sting rays for example. there’s a pool area where you can touch the starfishes and the sting rays, and unlike the starfishes who are good at hiding their disapproval, some fish can actually jump out of the aquarium to tell people how irritating it is to be patted and grabbed and startled all day.
2. some people are just hardheaded as much as they are probably deaf (or blind, whichever applies). i don’t want to be racist but i just cannot for the life of me appreciate how cultural differences are nice when you’re in a looong queue, it’s scorching hot, and someone really smelly pushes their way ahead of you when there’s clearly a line to be followed. darn it. it seems to be not an isolated case since it happened to us twice in separate locations. what happened to the universal rule of order?
3. and then some people have no appreciation of other living things. they go to these attractions to satiate their curiosity and to get bragging rights that they were there. it’s sad how, within a few years, the Night Safari had become a circus and it’s so hard to keep tourists at bay. it’s obviously prohibited to use flash photography in several areas where there are animals, but like i said, there were still people who couldn’t understand.
4. sometimes attractions like the Ocean Park, the Underwater World, the Night Safari, etc. are better off unknown and unpopular. i get that they have to make money, but when it gets trampled on by many people like those described above, it feels like it’s not even worth it. the cages of the animals stink, otherwise carefree species are forced to remain in 4×5ft cells, it’s really just unfair to be prodded at and be made spectacles of sorts. it’s not really in their nature to be made captive.

about 7 years ago, i saw how nice and quiet Sentosa Island was. now, i’m not so sure i’d be saying the same thing. it’s so commercialized, they’re even building resorts and a Universal Studios park there. nothing against development but for a place so small and with such booming tourism… i just don’t know…

speaking of changes, the light and water musical show has really improved a lot. it’s still amazing, but with a lot more effects.

the fireworks are great, and i bet they really spend so much on this considering they show it about twice or thrice at night everyday. anyways, need to get to postprocessing photos now..

Sg Part 1: death defying acts

i thought i wouldn’t live to tell the story.

it was a smorgasboard of seafoods and fried rice, enough to feed a whole army. and it was a bit expensive (’a bit’ is the understatement of the century). it was our first meal in Sg, and i thought it was going to be  my last.

we were served 6 courses that we had to finish off because yeah, it was that expensive. sayang naman.

but in all fairness to the No Signboard Seafood restaurant, i had a taste of the best cereal shrimp and pepper crab i’ve ever had (like i’ve ever had them before). a must try when in Sg.

and then we went to the IT Show at Suntec, right across our hotel the Marina Mandarin along Raffles Quay (or Boulevard). it was crowded. ‘crowded’ is the second understatement of the century. if i come down with flu anytime within the next 10 days, it’ll be mainly because of that.

it was a logistical nightmare, but who cares, it was the best place for all good IT deals. a section on the 3rd floor was dedicated to all Mac products and accessories. the whole 4th, 5th, and 6th floors were all for brands like Samsung, Canon, Olympus, HP, Nikon, etc. there were also booths selling generic brands and items/accessories.

i survived the shrimps, crabs, flying viruses and the catastrophic sneezing of unmindful people. maybe, maybe not. we’ll know 10 days from now.

high

the following chronicles my recent brush with death. haha, or maybe not.

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the ground rushed out from beneath my feet, falling about 37 stories downward. the only thing suspending me in the air was a 4 foot wide steel walk that would have been the same as wire mesh.

the ropes above securing me gave no assurance whatsoever at that dizzying height atop the country’s tallest hotel building, the Crown Regency Hotel in Cebu. i was horrified from the moment i stepped out onto the ledge and was still terrified as i stepped back into safety.

of course the safety lines, the “heights people” (as i would like to call them), and the entire facility were safe and tested, but for acrophobic people like me, that does not mean anything. well maybe it does, but it does little to calm the nerves.

i could not, for the life of me, let go of the safety ropes even for a second, thinking that if i did, i would begin the plunge to my imagined death. it was funny that compared to some of my companions then who were self-professed acrophobics i, the one who refrained from declaring my profound fear of heights, freaked out the most in the whole of 20 minutes.

but the sunset at that height was magnificent, the view breathtaking. that was such an unforgettable experience.

and as if i didn’t get enough,

i rode this baby.

yeah, yeah. acrophobic, shmophobic. but this was DIFFERENT. nothing like being strapped on to a metal platform with nothing between you and the ground, tilted at 50 degrees downward. this, the Philippines’ first Edge Coaster, was crazier than the Sky Walk. if you have super zoom, you’d see my knuckles and nails are deathly white gripping the railing.

jump to today, sunday. i’m still alive. the Sky Walk is great done in groups and is a good team building activity. the Edge Coaster if you’re acrophobic and you really just have a death wish. haha. the heights didn’t kill me, so i guess if that did anything it was to prove to myself that fears can be conquered.

i also have slight thalassophobia, the fear of large bodies of water like the sea. but that can wait. one at a time.

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our photos of getting 100% naturally high in Cebu

Everything Everywhere

I envy this guy. I think bestfriend P will too.

Everything Everywhere: Around the World Travel Blog

Sold his house, put his possessions in a storage place, and booked a flight to see the rest of the world.

Envy, envy.

Travel (wish) List

I’d like to see the world, one place at a time. You can consider this my travel bucket list, in no particular order.

• Camiguin (”Island Born of Fire”) and its sunken graves, falls, hot and cold springs, white beaches (of course!), and Mantigue Island
• Palawan and its underground rivers (the last time I was there I was ’stranded’ in an island… a very beautiful one)
• Pagudpud
• Batanes
• Bohol and its beaches
• Kota Kinabalu, Borneo and its beaches
• Bangkok, Thailand
• Paris, France
• Italy
• Greece
• Singapore
• Hong Kong and Disneyland!
• Caramoan, Camarines Sur
• Cairo, Egypt
• Sydney, Australia
• Tywyn and Wales
• Anchorage, Alaska
• Spain
• Nassau, Bahamas
• Cayman Islands
• Georgia, the country
• Edinburgh, Scotland

I guess I’m really just a free spirit. Will update this from time to time.

Mia’s First

First Baguio trip and first strawberry taho, that is. We went to Baguio about 3 weeks too early for the Panagbenga Festival last February, but so what. Mia still got to enjoy the strawberry flavored taho (only in Baguio) and horseback riding (well you can’t say you went to Baguio without at least riding a horse once in your life). She was so happy to ride the pony at Camp John Hay that she kept pointing at every horse she saw and shouting “horse!”

I, on the other hand, loved the bonding time. Buti nalang it’s one whole week that I’m not going to work. I hope we get to spend it on the beach!

Ikaw san lakad mo?

Life’s a beach

This is as of now, my favorite photo. Not because of the beer, but because of its picture-post-card-perfect framing. Love the colors too. Hay, I really miss the beach already.

Canon EOS 400D. Club Paradise, PWN. March 2009.

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Ilang beses ko na rin ginawang subject si Mia para sa LP entries ko. Kasi naman, mga natural models ang mga bata. Ang sarap nilang kuhanan ng litrato dahil sa mga candid moments.

I always love to take photos of Mia’s smile.  She’s just such a happy little person!

And by the way, happy 1st anniversary sa lahat ng ka-LP!

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This week’s theme: Paboritong Litrato

Tags: beach, club paradise, Litratong Pinoy