Western Luzon Road Trip (Cavite-Pangasinan-Zambales-Bataan-Pampanga-Cavite Series) [Part 3 of 3]

 

Bataan Sisiman Bay

We reached Bataan at 3:00 PM and picked a resort to spend the night. We stayed at Raven Resort and Log Cabin (www.ravenresort.com.ph). The place is nice and the houses inside are big. It is more of a subdivision with a pool. ^_^ As soon as we pay for our room at the guard house, we went straight to Sisiman Bay in Mariveles, Bataan to catch the *sunset*. While all our bags were still inside the trunk, we immediately hiked the way towards the shore. Unfortunately for us, the sun was behind the cloudy skies, so no sunset for us. Another thing, the famous lighthouse along the beach was washed out months ago by a storm. We just enjoy what we had – ourselves, the mountains and the rocky shore.

We were the only visitors around the area. Medyo dulo na kasi ito ng mabatong beach. We could even see Manila area. We did not catch the sunset again because it was cloudy, so we just made fun of ourselves. Hehehehe!

Joseph was so sick when we went back to the resort; he has fever and barely spoke because of headache. Wifey Khen was so there to-the-rescue, such a nice view. With our little portable stove and lots of groceries at hand, we cooked our dinner inside the room! Hahaha. Parang bawal pero tinuloy pa din namin. LOL. We ended up filling the whole room with the smell of fried egg and hotdogs.

 

Bataan Mt Samat

The next morning, after we finished our breakfast and packed all our things, we checked out at the resort and headed straight to our next destination – Mt Samat in Pilar, Bataan. The road to the mountain was quite a challenge; I think similar to Baguio. I searched in Google map and found this that made my eyes got bigger! Oh my, parang roller coaster. No wonder madaming riders ang nakasabay naming paakyat.

 

They allow people to climb up to the top but just a few minutes before we reached this door, the guard put the "No Power" sign board in front. T_T

Mt. Samat souvenirs

We spent most of our time taking pictures of Blue kasi biglang sumikat ang araw. It was cloudy the whole morning.

Because Jospeh has acrophobia LOL, he was not able to do this jump shot!

Bataan Pawikan Conservatory

When I knew about this next place, I almost jumped! Hello??? I love turtles!!! … not as much as I love cats but …they are turtles!!!!!! Century old creatures, sleepy, slow and they are precious.

Before we reached Pawikan Conservatory, we stopped by at a local Japan Surplus store along the highway. They have pretty interesting stuffs there like bikes, appliances, cabinets, tables, chinawares and almost everything!

There are bikes!

Different kinds of china wares

Just before the sunset, we reached the conservatory. Oh my! We learned that Pawikans breeding season is from October – February! Weeee. The day before we went there, there were few eggs hatched and gave baby turtles we let go to the shore!

Here are Dory and Nemo. Hehehe. Wala na kaming maisip na name eh

Bawal tong ginagawa ko dito kasi nangangagat pala tong oldies na pawikan. Don't worry, hindi ako nakagat. Hehehe.

If you visit Bataan, please do include this place in your itinerary. It is nice to help the people who run this place, which from what I learned were former pawikan eggs busters who were selling eggs for their living, eventually left that kind of job to help conserve our precious Sea Turtles. Spread this! 

Subic Dinner

As we reached Pampanga, we had our last stopover at KFC Subic. We were all pagod and almost lowbatt lalo na yung mga drivers. May nakaaway pa kami na mommy sa counter LOL… ^_^v  I must say I enjoy this trip a lot. If I would be given a chance to do it, I would do it again with the same people. Maybe we could try the Eastern part next year J …

 

To Marc, Khen and Jo:

Without you guys, this road trip won't be as fun as what we had. I'm looking forward to many more years of adventure, thousands of mileage, taste local foodies, swim in nicest beaches, catch beautiful sunsets, burn hundred gallons of gas and count many more stars at night with you three!!!

~~~***~~~

Western Luzon Road Trip (Cavite-Pangasinan-Zambales-Bataan-Pampanga-Cavite Series) [Part 2 of 3]

The Search for Potipot Island, Zambales

Trust me when I said Pangasinan was the only one on our “sure” list. We never reserved any boat or booked any hotels to stay in for the night – we only kept our precious tablet PCs and cell phones with GPS and Internet!!! Technology ruled in this road trip.

We travelled south from Pangasinan to Zambales via Dasol and Santa Cruz for about 2 hours. Potipot Island lies within Barangay Uacon (pronounced as “Wacon”). As we reached Candelaria in Zambales, we knew we were very near our destination because according to our GPS, we were. At first, all of us were very confused as we saw several sign boards about boat rentals/resort banners, but none seemed caught our instinct to choose them. When you visit Potipot Island, you have the option to check in on a resort along the shore line of Brgy. Uacon and hire a boat that will take you to the island.

We were originally planning to camp on one of the islands in Hundred Islands but we decided to do it in Potipot. So instead of checking in to any resort, we only looked for a boat that will take us to the island. It was around 3:00 PM, we ended up entering a small road with a sign board “To Potipot Island/ P400.00 Boat Ride”. It was a remote place, which has a bunch of kids and most people were so confused to see us – which, by the way, bothered me a lot. O_o We asked someone that could take us to the island and it seemed that what we were doing was something that is not normal. Hahaha! But then, we finally closed a deal from a local bangkero for P800.00 (back and forth). Since no resort for us, our bangkero offered a nearby lot to park our car. At first, I was not convinced to do that but we all took the risk even though we were so scared that something would happen to our car.

After the car fiasco, we immediately loaded our things to the boat. I think, for the rest of us, I was one of the most excited about the camping!!!! After 5 minutes, we hit this small patch of land with fine white sand surrounded by clear waters.

These are the things that you could do in Potipot Island:

1.    Swim in the clear waters

2.    Throw physical games at the beach

3.    Picnic with your family or friends

4.    Build sand castles

5.    Lie under the sun

6.    Take pictures, tons of pictures

7.    Pick fruits within the island

8.    Camp overnight

9.    And my favorite….stargaze under the magnificent sky at night

We spent the night cooking hotdogs, eggs and worrying how we could fit into a tent with only 3-person capacity. Hahaha! Marc ended up sleeping outside the tent… awwww. The night was very very cold. Joseph was not feeling well that night and we all hardly taken decent bath. Mga gusgusin kami. :-)). But if given another chance, I would definitely go back there. That is how I love camping!

The next morning, we had back aches and colds :)) Hahaha! We had one last round of early morning swim. The water was very cold and calm. That morning was a gloomy,cloudy one. Unfortunately, no sunrise for us in Potipot...

The boat picked us up at around 9:00 AM the next morning. Thankfully, our car was safe – just with hundreds of small hands, finger, nose and forehead prints on all windows! Hehehe.

The original plan was to go to Anawangin and Capones Island right after. But plans changed, we decided to visit Bataan!!!

Subic Pampanga Side Trip

Geared up with our GPS, we decided to go to Subic for some groceries and to gas up our car before heading to Bataan. The gas was as low as P46.00 pesos around the area! I could not believe it is as high as P58.00 pesos now as of this writing.

Before we hit Subic, we encountered areas fogged with white dust in the air. The wind was crazy as we passed this bridge along a very large open area along San Narciso. We could see where the dusts coming from.

After completing our grocery list in Pure Gold and gas up at Petron, we headed straight to Bataan.

 

Western Luzon Road Trip (Cavite-Pangasinan-Zambales-Bataan-Pampanga-Cavite Series) [Part 3 of 3]

 

~~~***~~~

Ilocos Video (1st Installment)

This video was taken from our Ilocos Norte trip :-)

edited by Joseph Guerrero

Antipolo Team Outing

Last April 30, we had our team’s summer outing for this year at Antipolo, Rizal. It was just an overnight party overlooking Metro Manila! The view was awesome. Kahit na umulan ng kaunti at nagkandaligaw ligaw kami sa bayan, hahaha! …we still made to the top of Cattleya Resort by 8PM.
Ricky, Maqui and Red took care of the foodies, while I got in-charge of the awards ^_^v

Here are the winners of the cool awards:

Diligence Award – Meeyeow
Look-A-Like Award – Ed(Ely Buendia/Dennis Trillo/Ramon Zamora) & Rudy(Rudy Fernandez)
Smiley Face Award – Julius
Mister DotNet Award – Ed
Miss DotNet Award – Shiela
MR/MS Congeniality – John/Meeyeow/Gems
The Rookie – Rjay/Teng
The Veteran – Migs
DotNet Got Talent Award – Julius
Momerable Ticket Handled - Julius

Clearly, Julius bagged the most awards! Next year daw wakeboarding naman :-))

Back To High School

Our company’s year-end party celebrated the popularity of high school oomph this year! Yeah boy! I was actually imagining myself in a cheerleader or in a sexy librarian outfit when I first heard of the theme… hahaha! But our team decided to wear school uniform instead, not bad naman.

I borrowed Jelly’s uniform and I had my cutie little skirt customized in Imus.

Chiri: "Kuya, ganito po kaikli yung palda." (showing my preferred length of the skirt)
Kuya Modista: (Looking back at me, confused) "Saang school ka ba iha? Baka maexpelled ka nyan?"
Chiri: "Hahaha, Kuya pang costume ko to sa party namin!" ^_^

 

My team bagged five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) from a high school picture guessing game and seventeen thousand pesos (P17,000.00) for the choir singing contest ala-Glee!

 

Bonggang bongga!

 

Monito-Monita

Ages ago, I first heard of the word Monito-Monita during December holiday season. Unang unang beses kong narinig yon sa mga kapatid ko. . . noong mga panahon na kasagsagan ng kanilang kabataan :-) at ako ang “beybi” ng mga grupo nila.

That would be one thing I missed since I transferred to work in Makati, wala nang nag oorganize ng ganong activity. I remember receiving a “supporter”. Whaaat? (yung parang brief na ginagamit ng mga nagbabasketball hahaha! Something naughty kasi) from Ate Malou, muntik pa yata kaming mag away non kasi hindi ko nagustuhan hahaha. Kung mapag kukwentuhan siguro ulit namin yon ngayon, hahagalpak siguro kami ng tawa.

This year, kung meron nang nagsisimula ng monitor-monita nila, eto yung mga suggestions ko:

Idea 1 – Something Cute and Fluffy

Idea 2 – Something Long and Hard

Idea 3 – Something Alive

Idea 4 – Something Colorful and Fragrant

Idea 5 – Something Sweet and Green

Idea 6 – Something Sparkling

Idea 7 – Something Soft and Round

Idea 8 – Something Soft, Wet and White

Idea 9 – Something Black and Yucky

Idea 10 – Something Weird and Memorable

Idea 11 – Something Salty

Idea 12 – Something sticky

Idea 13 – Something Red and Wet

Idea 14 – Something White and Fluffy

Idea 15 – Something Tall and Dark

Idea 16 – Something Healthy
Idea 17 - Something I Personally Made
Idea 18 - Something I Bought at 711
Idea 19 - Something Orange-y
idea 20 - Something Oily

Happy holidays!

Advance happy birthday to my loving sister, Dith!!!!

Happy happy to you and me!!!

From Japanese To Chinese To Italian

This food trip would probably end this week. I will be on morning shift until December 17, so no more resto hunting for me in two weeks. 

We ended up at Amici in Ayala Triangle Garden for the final jam. :-) It was a lucky night for us! We got to watch the finale of Ayala Traingle Light Show (with fireworks!!!) and a buy-one-get-one pizza from the soft opening of Amici!!! Bongga!!!

fiUs watching the dancing lights. Lowbatt na aang phone ko kaya hindi kinaya ng flash! 

The best among our orders. Simut saraaaap! Mike scrape all the goodness at the bottom of the plate!"Tirhan mo akoooooo"

Spinach and Chorizo!

Buddies!

I will miss you guys! Sa muling pagkikita!

^_^v

Worth The Wait At The Mix

It is a fact that I really do not have the full capacity to exploit what I have paid for in a buffet restaurant – lugi talaga ako! :-D Ha!ha!ha! My tiny little stomach cannot bear the foodies after the first round pa lang - buset! Not even half of my payment! Tiba tiba talaga sila sa akin :-/

Last holiday, after a week of planning (:-D yes, we plan our next food adventure habang kumakain pa), YakiMix at Greenbelt 3 was the target resteee! The whole group usually brings packed dinner from Monday to Thursday, kaya madali kaming maumay sa pantry :) 

We arrived as 7th on the queue, whaaaattt???? Tamang gutom, we decided to check out other restos at the ground floor – unfortunately, our hearts pulling us back to YakiMix hahahaha! We went back being 3rd on the list, Yey! hindi na nakapag antay yung iba!

At around 7:00pm, our table was ready! I remember everybody went straight to the buffet table! Hahahaha! Gutom na talaga. And the rest is history…

We also saw celebrities like Nonoy Zuniga, Marco Sison and the girl from Star in a Million.

A classic Gems, hehehe! 

Gems even had to congratulate me for passing the plates test! LOL! The waitress did not know that Warren put all the leftover meats under the Sinigang soup! Baka kasi pagbayarin kami sa sobrang food! It was really the cherry-on-top of a fabulous dinner!

Pepper Everywhere

Finally, Pepper Lunch for dinner! 

It was a holiday and we decided to go all way to Pepper Steak  at Greenbelt 5 for an exciting dinner. No special occasion but we have to spend atleast P400.00 for the reimbursement. I was actually kind of hesitant to join at first because of work (LOL, nakakasama talaga ang work sa pleasure!) but Warren did the deed again! In other words, napilit ako ng todo and I enjoyed the dinner!

I was not able to finish my meal kasi nagmiryenda ako ng rice and spring rolls sa Jolibee earlier that day. Yes, kanin for miryenda! Hahaha. Mahina talaga ang tolerance ko sa gutom, and if I have to choose between my stomach and my thighs, alam nyo na ang pipiliin ko! Hahaha :-D

And the most exciting part, I got to be updated  with the latest chikkas I totally missed during my Australian Shift weeks!  Bonggang bongga! Bashiiiingg!

For Pepper Lunch, try their Pepper Rice (around P250.00), one of their base menus at saka eto yung pinakamura! I love the juicy corn kernels on top and the tiny lice-like sprinkled pepper on the rice. Yum yum. Watch out for the oil sizzles, it’ll make your face look like a world without eskinol! Hahaha. And be ready to smell like beef and pepper! Achoooo!

Hindi pa tapos kumain, may plano na sa next holiday . . . YakiMix! :-)

A Weekend Less Planned

 

 

Sheh, Ate Malou and I had a half day out to Tagaytay last weekend. Somehow planned but not as much as our other gimmicks like parties, but still pushed through. Sheh had to request change in schedule three times! Hehehe.

 

Tagaytay is totally different from what I know since the last time I went there. There are a lot more leisure hubs to visit this time! Ate Malou treated us at the mushroom burgers because she was late and “Hindi pa kami umo-order kasi inaantay ka namin”. Yum! Yum! And I took care of the Starbucks treat at SUmmit Ridge. We talked about the new things ... and the topics that never get old mostly -- until the sky poured heavy rains at around 6:00PM.

 

 

 

 

Our next plan is to visit Bag of Beans Coffee Shop and Bakery and Frozen Yoghurt along Tagaytay hi-way... maybe next month.

 

I really need that town out. I felt so stressed lately with my work schedule. My eyes usually get red at around 12 midnight. I couldn’t look at the computer monitor continuously.

 

Ooops, sorry, I couldn’t resist telling this: I am now dreaming of pizza! Pizza with pasta and mojos of Shakey’s, cheesy pops supreme of Paizza Hut, new york’s finest of Yellow Cab, Quattro formaggi of Joey Pepperoni and four cheeses for Amici – are randomly flashing in my mind!!! Waaaaaa

 

 

My First 5K

Reaching the finish line was, for me, like hugging your parents on your graduation day after you get your medal. It was an extraordinary feeling and one of the proudest moments of my life. Photographers were line up just beneath the finish banner, waiting eagerly for the runners to get an extraordinary shot all the way through their high-end lenses, and I told my self, “kaunti na lang!”

 

 

This was actually about 50 meters away from the finish line. At this point, my back was still beating aching but I had to keep going! Wesley,thanks for tagging! 

 

 

At the mid of the last kilometer, I had to be left behind by my running buddy, Gems, as my right back was already aching, a sign that I had to slow down. “Gems, una ka na, hahabulin na lang kita!” I reached the end of the race a minute after her. At the finish line, we were all-smiles! The 3-month training did pay-off! We waited and one by one, each of our colleagues has completed their own races (5k/15k).

 

Here are the happy runners

 

 

 

Me, Gems and Pem with the famous (pala) Coach Rio. Everybody was eager to take pictures with him, and so we did kahit hindi pa namin sya masyadong kakilala.

 

Amazingly, I met my old college classmate, Wesley, at the race whom I never saw in ten years! It was very nice to see him again. Another amazing thing, I saw Che, my ex-officemate posted pictures on Facebook at the same spot we had our pictures taken! We did not see each other at race but she confirmed it on FB ;-D I look forward to see them on my future races.

 

Three months of training and preparation was fun as I was with my friends. It wasn’t actually easy to get yourself jogging in the middle of the night at Ayala Triangle but with them, with similar goal to get fit, have fun and have a balanced life, we did it successfully.

I was very very happy that all went well as planned (from the race ... to our first weekend barkada mall date after the race), of course aside from finishing the race at 42 minutes!

 

 

The race was actually just the beginning of that crazy fun fun fun Sunday. We went to Dave’s place to pick up his daughter, Nicca, for our breakfast. Then we headed all the way to Libis Eastwood to have some carbo-loading-all-you-can-eat-breafast at Somethin’ Fishy. We had to offset the sweat of course! After that, we went straight to Warren’s condo and had some good sleep. At 4PM, though it was raining all day and roads were flooded, nothing stopped us going to MOA for our late lunch at Don Henrico’s Restaurant. Buffalo wings are great! Then for the final stop, we watched the overpriced P200 Inception movie! Awesome movie! That was actually our first metro getaway on weekend. We usually go out of town but nothing like that one.

 

 

 

 

That race is the start of another adventure in my life. I used to see fun run only on television! I am so proud I got to be part of it. I have to credit Brando for all the encouragements. My lifetime fun run goal is 1000k… and to ENCOURAGE OTHER FRIENDS TO JOIN!!!

 

 

Meter check: 5k out of 1000k ;-D

 

 

Good luck, Buds!

3rd & 4th of July

 

From a crazy seafood birthday party to body-aching badminton session to chicken-all-you-can dinner, this weekend really ought to come with overloading happy hormones!!! ;-D

 

The Seafood Party

Good for our barkada, nobody has allergies on sea foods. These are actually our favorite since our ITC days. This party is the celebration of our birthday. Mine was last 13th of May, Gabu and Ate Lanie were last 24th and 22nd of June, respectively. Our last get together prior to this was almost half year ago during our year-end party in 2009.

 

These cakes were gifts from Melay. I wish she was there.

 

I asked Sheh to host the games and she did not fail us! Sheh, two thumbs up from us! The games were awesome! Good job, Sheh! First was Pinoy Henyo. Galit nag alit si Ate Lanie kay Ate Rina kasi hindi nya mahulaan yung “Zambales” :-D

I had my turn and I played it very well! Naks! Hahaha

 

 Food were prepared by Ate Lanie, Ate Rina and Paul! Sa uulitin!

Ang laki na ng  mga inaanak ko... Pauline, Gabu and Adrielle

 

More than ten years of friendship... eto na kami ngayon! Hulaan nyo kung sino sino ang buntis... wahahaha

Tinay, Ate Rina, Ate Malou, Sheh, Ate Lanie and Antuah: Thank you for the friendship and all the support I needed. Thank you for always being ther for me through think and thin. I love you all!

Too bad, I was not able to attend Dave's party! T_T Late na kasi, At 6pm I was still in Cavite. I know naman wraptrac pips are soooooooo understanding, dba? Muah!

Kuya Joel's Birthday!

At lunch, we were able to celebrate Kuya Joel's 38th birthday after we went to church last Sunday. Ate Doll prepared her best Sinigang na Baka! Ang saraaap! And fresh tahong from the sea! Hehehehe. Kuya Joel, thanks for taking care of my sister and my nieces! God bless you!

3-Hour Badminton

Until now my back is still aching! I even have to move my legs very slow so it wont hurt anymore... Nasobrahan yata kahapon. I want to say thanks to Sheh for organizing and to Derek for coming even for a very short notice. Don’t worry, dadayo naman kami sa Raquetas next time!

Being sporty is one of my frustrations in life. I don’t look like one pero nangarap din ako minsan na maging isang magaling na swimmer! :D Wahahaha, anyway I am just happy that I was able to run almost 5 kilometers in one night and do badminton once in a while.

Next week, tara badminton tayo!

Chicken All-You-Can!

Natuloy din sa wakas! We thought this Max’s promo has ended last week but it turned out that it was extended for 2 more weeks! ;-D weeeee! All in all we had 6 quarters, mine is only two! We also ordered Desert Sampler and Unlimited Sago Gulaman, kaya siguro di kami nakarami ng chicken, tapos nag order pa ako ng rice! The fats we burned during our badminton have been offset right away with our dinner! ^_^v wala rin.

 

 

Every labas nung may dala ng Chicken, kumukuha kami... 
... Unlimited Chicken - Awesome!
Unlimited MAX'S Chicken - Ano baaaaaaa!

 

...Untill my next  kwento! Thanks for dropping by!