Lights in the City

December
Metro Manila

Cool breeze, food, carols, greetings and gifts, these are signs that the Christmas season is upon us. Among all the festivities, one of the things that I truly enjoy seeing is the city being adorned with lights and decors. Here are some spots you might want to catch before the season ends :).

GMA from MRT station (Phone Cam)

Ayala Triangle Gardens

Nativity scene at the Ayala Triangle

Christmas Village - Meralco Compound (Phone Camera)

Nativity scene -Meralco Compound

Great Celebration in Subic!

October 9-10
Subic, Olongapo

Aisa's birthday celebration was one of a kind... uniquely celebrated in Subic!

Subic was a childhood vacation destination of mine. We used to go there with the Ledesma clan. We would rent a house and just hang out, play board games and eat! (Eating is definitely a favorite pastime).

This time around, my trip to Subic was filled with activities! Thanks Aisa for inviting me to a great celebration. Thanks also to John, Nikki, Sir Fernan, Marco, Cherry, and all of John's friends :)

Catch a glimpse of the activities we did:

Tree top adventure, tree drop (for the more adventurous)

Tree top adventure, superman ride

Mongolian spread :)

Yummy Fajitas (overflowing drinks not pictured)

The celebrant!

Zoobic

Imelda and the CCP

June 20, 2010

Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila

It wont hurt to take time to know our own culture and history.

Last Sunday, we took the "Living La Vida Imelda Tour" of Carlos Celdran. Carlos Celdran is really an amusing performer. Much of the tour was just story telling, but I never got bored. In fact it was really intriguing, funny and interesting. The tour was expensive at Php 900 per person (for a 2.5 hours tour) but it is something different and enjoyable. So if you have the extra cash I recommend the tour.

Just a notice to those who are interested: the tour has slightly adult content. Also, be open minded and have a sense of humor. The tour is not about being pro or con Marcos, its about looking at what happened in the 70s through different angles. After all, Despite all the despicable deeds you can mention, the Marcoses did leave us some things (e.g., infrastructure, CCP complex, etc..)

*some pictures to follow

** Travel sights need not be limited to going to far flung places. So to add more to this travel blog I'm thinking to buy some travel book of Metro Manila, so I can explore the local vicinities. (Just a thought, or maybe just an excuse because I currently am not able to go to far flung places)

Sagad sa Sagada

May 24 - 28, 2010
Sagada, Mt. Province

We went to Sagada for adventure! :) Sagada can be best appreciated by the fit and the adventurous... but anyone who appreciates nature can fall in love with this place.

Rachelle and Paolo have been to Sagada before so they made all the arrangements for us. Keeping up with all the activities in Sagada was a real challenge. But we all made it through! Apart from the strenuous and fun activities, we also enjoyed Sagada food! Servings are big in Sagada. :)

Strenuous activities + Good food + Good company = Great fun

Below are pictures from our trip

From right to left (Nathan, Sir Cruz, Sir Gobi, Mark, Rach, Me, Jo, Pao)

Hanging coffins

Bomodok falls: trek and swim

Rice terraces along the way

Mt Ampacao: trek and camp

The view from Mt. Ampacao

Crystal cave: Spelunking and surviving

Cliff rappelling

Blog title courtesy of Jo Cantor
Pictures courtesy of Rachelle Red

Cambodia: Kingdom of Wonder

May 15 - 18, 2010
Siem Reap, Cambodia

Siem Reap was the main destination of our vacation with my brothers, sister and sister-in-law. True to its new tourism motto (Kingdom of Wonder), Cambodia was really a place of wonder.

Siem Reap was a curious place for us, from its culture to its history to its structures. Siem stands for the Thais and Reap stands for victory. Siem Reap literally stands for victory over the Thai. This city is where the Angkorian era structures can be found. It is amazing that the Khmer people have made these magnificent and intricate structures between 900 -1200 AD. They were such a great civilization. But numerous wars from foreigners and neighboring countries had stunted their progress.

Tom arranged our tour with Apsara Tours, it is one of the few locally owned tour operators. I recommend anyone going to Cambodia to avail of their packages. They have very good services. We had a whole coaster to ourselves. They gave us free flowing bottled water. And our tour guide Heng Kimhas (Kim for short) was really good.

We stayed in City River Hotel. It's a decent hotel with varying range of amenities such as internet, massage, pool, etc. What's nice about the hotel is that it has an authentic Khmer feel; also it is quite near the market. The hotel restaurant is nothing much to boast for though. We had better Khmer food in Kitchen Angkor Chey restaurant. Tom has a great narrative about the Khmer Cuisine. Below are some pictures from our trip. Follow the links for more detailed description of the sights from Marion's blog.

Angkor Wat

Halls in Angkor Thom

Bayon Temple

Night life in Siem Reap

Bantaey Srie


Preah Ko Temple

Ta Prohm (Aka Tomb Raider temple)

Singapore in half a day

May 14-15
Singapore

En route to Cambodia we had a half day stop over in Singapore. We arrived in Singapore around 11 pm on May 14 and we were scheduled to leave around 1 pm on May 15. So we just had one whole morning to explore Singapore. To maximize our time in Singapore we chose to stay in the very accessible Value Hotel Thomson . The rooms were really small, but it was decent enough and the room price was relatively cheap.

We took the last train and the last bus to reach our hotel

Arrived hotel at midnight

Yummy Singaporean Breakfast at our hotel

we took a walk in Marina Bay

All the way to Merlion Park

Then head back to Changi airport to catch our plane to Cambodia

Batangas Beach Day

May 8, 2010
Laiya, Batangas

Our Coron trip was not enough for beach bumming for my brother Roy. So we set out to have a beach day in Virgin Beach in Laiya Batangas (two days before the Philippine national elections). Traffic was horrible but we were able to enjoy our beach day. Here are some scenes from our trip :)

Virgin beach resort is a bit pricey but it is a good place to be a beach bum.

The resort boasts a wide shoreline.

It is a good place to enjoy the beauty of nature and the company of family.

Four days of Coron

May 3-6, 2010
Coron, Palawan

Coron in a word is magnificent.

From its town to its beaches, you can't but fall in love with this place. We stayed in Coron Village Lodge. It's a nice place and it offers very affordable all inclusive packages. I recommend going to Coron these next few years before it gets too commercialized. The simplicity of life in Coron captivated me.

We scaled the concrete steps of Mt. Tapyas (all 725 steps), this is not an easy feat especially to the older travelers. :)

We went island hopping! beaches, lagoons, lakes, marine sanctuaries. I am awed by the beauty of nature.

We visited Calauit Animal Sanctuary. See the animals and feed the giraffe!

We explored and walked around town to search for gifts and souvenirs