the city of smiles

i am off to bacolod now for mats wedding. this is just the first of my few planned trips for this vacation and i am really excited. it's also my first time to be in bacolod, though i know i won't be able to do much tourist things because i am here for the wedding. but then i can always come back :)

our flight got delayed so we end up reaching bacolod just right in time for lunch. the rest of the afternoon was fully scheduled already. we had to settle in to our hotel, go to the chapel for the wedding rehearsal and do some last minute shopping for our accessories. we also managed to squeeze in an appointment at the spa and get us a good body massage.. the best way to relax after such a stressing day.. (as if kami ang ikakasal :p)

and how could i miss, i had to have dinner at max's fried chicken! it's been ages since i had my last max's meal :)

and tomorrow's the big day for my dear friend. there's so many reasons to put on a big smile :)

six things about me, as told by my weekend

i know this is a late post, but there's just too much to catch up at work, not to mention some tres kulit people you have to entertain in between. but it's still tuesday. it's not even mid-week yet, so i guess i can still talk about my weekend. but even if a week has already passed, i would defenitely not miss a chance to write about this weekend. it was too surreal :D

since it was hari raya holiday in singapore, my girlfriends and i decided to do get a break and go on vacation. less travel time, more beach bum time and end it with a very relaxing massage was our target. good thing janeth found the perfect place to do all that. the next thing we knew, we were heading to Angsana Resort in Bintan, Indonesia.

i think it would be nice to talk about my weekend by pointing out the things i've learned about me from it. i got this idea from charmingbutsingle's blog. i even just copied her blog's title. but instead of eight, i could only come up with six.

1) i am a beach bum. i can't help it but i just love the beach so much. staring at the calm sea and clear blue sky never fails to leave me breathless. my weekend was filled with lying by the beach, and some swimming. oh, and beach volleyball could be fun, wish i could really learn to play it :)

2) i can learn photography. well, i only have a point and shoot cam, the nikon s7 coolpix. i was playing around the manual settings, adjusting the best combination of the exposure, the flash and the ISO, etc for the scene and i found myself really enjoying the different results that i got. it's fun. so, i realized that i can learn photography to take better pics. not that our pictures aren't great already wehehehe. if we had a more professional cam, like a dslr, we probably gave more justice to the beauty of the resort :D however, i don't have budget for a dslr,not now anyways, so that hobby will have to wait.

3) i'm easy to please. nothing beats life's simple pleasures, like star-gazing. the thing with staying in a big city, star-gazing becomes a luxury. the city lights just steals the thunder from all those beautiful stars spread across the night sky. good thing we were able to do that in the resort. We visited the nearby, more exlusive (more luxurious) resort, the Banyan Tree, which is of the same owner from the resort that we stayed. the Banyan Tree all had villas, and very, very romantic, by the cliff restaurants that is overlooking the south china sea.

one of the open air restos in Banyan Tree had double and single beds lined up, facing the sea. The beds were beautifully setup with flowers scattered on them, some throw pillows and candles by the bedside table. we were lying on one of the beds, cozying up. we simply stayed there and feasted on the star-glazed night sky, weaving our own romantic dreams :) *sigh* dun palang, busog na ako. but our appetite changed its mind when we had a taste of our meal.

4) i luv food trippin'. when you're in a fine resort, fine dining will always be there. wala kami choice :p we had dinner at Banyan Tree's TreeTops cafe. we ordered codfish in some port wine sauce, seafood chowder, watermelon salad, and a bottle of wine. sosy ang mga lola, pa wine-wine pa. we were surrounded by couples who were on their own romantic dates, but i think our bubbly mood (and boisterous laughter), ruined the ambiance for those couples. hehe. our apologies, but we just didn't want to ruin our mood too.

after the sumptuous dinner, we then requested for a buggy to send us back to our resort, with a buggy-licious driver to drive us. :D

5) i know how to pamper me. well, we do have the tendency to be a bit vain. so, after all the talk about the gnawing emptiness creeping at the back of my soul, i decided that i deserve a little pampering. the weekend is all about that anyways. for me, the best way to pamper myself is head off to the spa and get a good massage. and i was lucky, or rather, my friends and i were lucky, that we had the best massage ever. they prepared a very refreshing welcome drink, cucumber juice (you read that right, my first time to try it and it was surprisingly good). The staff was very gracious and very accomodating. the massage itself was very precisely done for your specific need and they used a very soothing aromatic massage oil, which they exclusively sell. their therapists were definitely well-trained to give the best spa service to their guests. i finished off my spa by a refreshing bath and putting on their very soothing jasmine scented lotion. heavenly. there was nothing i could definitely complain about the whole service. the massage removed all my stress and definitely left me on the high :)

6) i'm weak. i find it so difficult to kick old habits. i have to admit that one of the stressful thing that i wanted to get rid off, and one of the things that was leaving me empty the past days, or months even, was some mcsteamy-related stress. my weekend was supposed to be all about relieving myself from that. however, the moment we headed back to singapore, fate was playing some tricks on me. or probably this is just a way to test me how serious am i about the moving on thing...hmm..we'll see.

anyways, if i do get all stressed out once again, then there's a reason i should head back to Angsana Resort and get me another spa! Who knows, i'll reach maldives this time! haha. what a great excuse! :p

to post pics on my multiply site :)

Phuket - Take 2: The Planning

the first time i went to Phuket, Thailand (last year around May) .. i fell inlove with the place. for someone who loves the beach, who loves shopping, and who loves a bustling nightlife .. this is indeed the place to go. it was a great experience having to share it with friends who loved the beach as much as i do. i knew then that i would be going back to this place, the question was only when, and if i got some stash to spare, and with whom. :)

i didn't really expect i could go back to Phuket this year. when a friend decided to visit me in singapore, i suggested that why don't we go visit Phuket since he's already on vacation. i also invited my younger brother who's in bohol that time to join us. i haven't seen him for two years already, so i thought this would be a good time to bond :)

i was pretty excited about the trip cuz i had to prepare everything for myself. ( i admit there was a time when i almost backed out from this, but had it all sorted out.) i love planning for trips. i've planned for a vacation in osaka, japan with my dear friend, tantan. we did all the visa applications to the booking of tickets. i've planned for a week trip to seattle, wa. though someone else was incharge of the flight, but i did my own visa application too.. and how to get about the place, like drive for the first time in an interstate highway. :) then last december, i've planned for a highland getaway with my parents in berjaya hills, in malaysia... a place that i never imagined going to... and won't be going back either. hehe. these are places i've been to the first time, but never hesitated a moment when it comes to planning for trips. what can i say, i love to travel. ( mmm... i'm having a moment here about reconsidering my career path once again. but that's out of topic. :D )

booking for flights to Phuket is pretty easy, and cheap when you come from singapore. budget airlines like tigerairways and jetstar has cheap travel deals and promos. i took the tigerairways since it got an early flight, which allows us to maximize our stay in thailand. the cheapest one-way flight available then were as low as SGD9.90 (about Php300.00). but that's less the tax, ofcourse. the return trip ticket i got cost about SGD192.00 total per person, which i think is a pretty good deal already.

Tip for budget travellers: it helps to plan your trips in advance, and choose off-peak seasons to maximize your budget.

Phuket, being thailand's biggest island, has hundreds of hotels/resorts/hostels/budget rooms/apartments to choose from. there are also lots of online sites to book your hotel. try to read the reviews from the hotels as they are very helpful, unless you already have a pre-picked hotel of your choice. i booked our hotel thru asiarooms.com (this is free advertising) and i wasn't disappointed with their service.

where to choose a hotel in Phuket? From what i know, the island has three famous places with good beaches: Patong, Karon, and kata. the most popular is Patong, since it has the liveliest nightlife, and more shops. but if you opt for a romantic beach getaway, i think Karon or Kata area would be a better place to go. the shorelines aren't too crowded.

when choosing for a hotel, try to get one that suits your budget. it's alright to go for cheaper hotel rooms since you wouldn't be staying there most of your time anyways. hotels nearer the beach are a bit expensive. so picking a hotel on the next block is more reasonable. it's not that far to the beach, plus there's much to see around the streets that you wouldn't mind walking a bit. if you choose Patong beach, i suggest booking a hotel that's along Rat-u-thit 200 Pee Rd. they are more reasonably priced than the beach front hotels and not too far from the beach area.

(to be continued..)

weekend getaway (part 3)

the day after the wedding, we went to pearl farm (which initially expected as literally a "pearl" farm). just imagine my surprise to find out na wala palang pearls sa pearl farm. hehehhehehe. well, i didn't bring any swimsuit, and i was too tired and exhausted after four straight sleepless, and eventful nights, that i gave in to what my body needed - sleep. i just slept through out the afternoon, after a heavy buffet lunch, which to my disappointment had the worst buffet dessert ever. however, some of the dishes were good, so the whole buffet wasn't really that bad. :)

the day tour cost us about PHP1,300 (which was already discounted). i don't know if that was cheap already, or expensive. the resort is well-maintained, and has a great and very accomodating staff. the room that we had was very spacious, cozy and very clean. however, the beach wasn't really good. i say bohol still has better sandy beaches (bias kay taga-bohol man :p)... but the big minus point was the garbage from the neighboring villages floating on the sea. even if they were just wood or leaves floating, it was still an eyesore for tourists. so, chocs lang kaayo that i didn't take a swim.

after the pearl farm getaway, we had dinner at another grill restaurant in davao - Penong's. since we were already exhausted after the beach escapade and still have another early flight back to cebu, we decided to call it a night after dinner and some small talk.

i arrived in cebu monday morning at 7 am, and went directly to tantan's place where i left some of my stuffs. instead of sleeping the whole morning, i headed off to do some last minute shopping and met up with former ncr colleagues for lunch at the famous AA's bbq. :) i had too much bbq and other grilled food, but i couldn't complain. :)

that night, i have to travel back to singapore again. vacation's over. most of my thoughts that night was recalling where i was from my tasks. to my dismay, i couldn't remember any. i was just too exhausted, and i had too much fun that my system couldn't take the reality that work's starting soon. hehe. nagkasakit na nuon.

after sleeping most of the day on my medical leave, i was able to pick up the pieces where i left off and drilled the keyboard to beat my deadlines.

hahay.. buhay software engineer.

'til the next adventure.. :)

-- the end --

weekend getaway (part 2)

the second day since i arrived from singapore, was my trip to davao. surprisingly, i was on the same flight with old friends (otep, jaja and ma'am ana). i just found out about it when we were already in davao at the baggage claim area. hehe. but it was a fun mini reunion. it seemed like ages since i've met these people. :)

it's my first time in davao that's why i was a bit excited for this trip, aside from the fact that it's going to be ri's wedding. since there wasn't much to do that afternoon, ri booked me for a pampering session at the spa salon that she recommended. i had a full body scrub, body massage, foot scrub, foot massage, manicure and pedicure. ayan, total pampering with matching pa-soak2x pa on a rose petal filled bath tub. i didn't quite now what to expect on the body scrub cuz it was my first time.. hihihi... well, that's all i can say. pa-body scrub nalang kayo to get what i mean :P since jaja joined me at the pampering session, we stayed at the spa for about seven hours. it consumed all of our afternoon.

we then had late dinner at one of davao's famous grilled/bbq restaurant, Banok's. mmm.. i didnt realize how much i've missed chicken bbq, kinilaw and sisig. i ate too much, that when i had a fitting for my maid-of-honor dress, i could barely breath. (the bride got a bit frantic that i'd faint on her wedding cuz of my too tight dress... hehehe). good thing, the bloatedness gave way the morning after. carry ko na ang pagiging maid-of-honor ko :)

the rest is ri's wedding, which as i've said, has been beautifully accounted by ms. g.. so just read on there :) hehehhehe

that night, otep kindly toured us around davao to check out the city's night life. we had a late night shopping at their souvenir shops, had dinner at one of their famous hang-outs, and coffee at Blugre. Mau tried the durian coffee.. but that would be too "durian-y" for me :D ..

we promised to enjoy things that one can only find in davao, para naman sulit... and we did. well, feeling tourista talaga :)

(to be continued pa rin.. )

weekend getaway (part 1)

it's like i've just taken a blog-leave. when you're trying to go back to something that's been out of your system for a while, it takes some time to get back to where you left off.

after the super duper eventful long weekend which was highlighted by ri's wedding, i got sick. well, if you would have to stay up late for five consecutive days, travelled by air and boat most of the time, gimik with friends, then who wouldn't?

that's what i've been doing the past days. i left for cebu from singapore last thursday at 12 am, and went straight to bohol at the 6 am ferry ride (first trip yan, without sleep). my parents and favorite pamangkins met me at the pier and went straight home to catch up with my other sisters. well, with so much news to share, and an album of my hongkong adventure, i was sure the day won't be enough for all the chitchats.

i treated my family for lunch at Bohol Beach Club. it's always nice to spend an afternoon by the beach despite the lack of sleep. the breathtaking clear blue sky, white beach line and cool sea breeze simply take away all your worries. much more, you have to spend it with loved ones, over a sumptuous and inexpensive meal :)

that same day, i had to get back to cebu since i have an early flight to davao the following day. i arrived in cebu at around 8 pm already and went directly to the NCR office to meet up with tantan. it was a bit nostalgic to be able to get in that familiar candy-colored corridor of the office after that tragic night about two years ago. but meeting with old friends, and familiar faces (security guards still remembering me, and other former colleagues) erases all the bad memories away. there are just too many good memories in that office that nothing could spoil it.

after settling my stuff at tantan's place, which is just about a block away, we headed to roma mia for dinner. i almost forgot, that restaurant just serves the worst pasta there is in cebu. too bad, we only realized that when our orders came. in fairness, their fried chicken was good, but the pasta was just... eeeww. hehehe. after the bland dinner, and more than a mouthful of chika2x, jeanice joined us and we headed to this new hangout place called Paseo. i've been hearing so much about this place from tantan, may poste naman sya diri. the place was good, it was big, not so crowded (but then it was a week night), and fairly cheap (both on drinks and food). it's been a while since i went out to places like that. i've been pretty low-key for the past months in singapore. it was still fun-fun. but my body was a bit worn out already, so we hit home at around 1 am.

(to be continued...)

new york and new england

i know i just had to write about my new york experience. since it would be a place that i would never ever forget.

i got the chance to visit the big apple on the labor day weekend (sept 4 - 6). i met up with classmates of mine who i havent seen for like centuries...kidding.. just decades.. still long! :) reve and jen were really kind enough to show me around manhattan and brooklyn :) we went to almost all streets in manhattan and dropped by at time square. and the most fun part was take a picture with the naked cowboy :) was he sexy or what! :p

then that saturday night, i met up with my officemate, christian and his highschool buddy, robert. with some other friends, we all partied in avalon, a club in new york. my, it was definitely raining men in there! hehehe of course i didnt get out of the club not drunk hehehe. kidding. well, my experience in that club was just so unforgettable and i'll just have to keep the details to myself and all those who bear witness to everything that happened hehehe. just one thing i learned from that night though, cute guys and tequila is a dangerous mix :)

the next day, it was just christian, robert and I who toured around the city. we had snails for lunch at a chinese restaurant in china town :) Then we went to battery park to get a closer glimpse of the statue of liberty. After that, we passed by ground zero. Then we went up the empire state building to take a view of the whole new york city. it was just amazing :) never seen a city so beautiful :)

that night, we drove to robert's place at nashua, new hampshire. it was one long drive but well worth it since i got to see a new place :) nashua is a very laid back place.. but still is beautiful. we went to a store called tjmaxx and i just went crazy with the shoes and the bags and the skirts but of course i didnt get to buy much.. i didnt have enough cash for it :( well.. at least i got me a pair of boots that i love :)

christian and i left for atlanta that monday afternoon. we know we didnt want the weekend to end just there and wished we had more time to spend at new hampshire. i think a part of me was left in that place.. and i dont want to get it back just yet..

all in all, my weekend was a blast! i got to meet new friends and got really really close with one ;)

lost into the movies..

I just had the most amazing weekend. i went to orlando, florida and had to take a peek at what universal studios had to offer. at first i didnt want to come since i just didnt have that enough budget, knowing that i have to save up for my new york trip the following weekend. tight as my budget could be, i just had to be there.

With me were my officemates from cebu (who are also my apartment mates) rica, mylene and naomi. Together with us are our now favorite ncr atlanta officemates (dan and steve) and with dan's girlfriend, debbie and steve's fiance, demetra. We rented this huge bus.. ugly on the outside but very comfortable on the inside. just the eight of us starting our 9 hr drive from atlanta to orlando. Mylene's brother, glenn and sister in law, christina will meet us at the hotel the next day already. So there's ten of us on this weekend adventure.

We left at around 6:30 pm friday night. i wasnt feeling very well during the trip since i just had taken the day off, so i slept most of the time during the travel. we stopped by a mexican restaurant somewhere south of georgia for dinner. i could not exactly remember the name of the place. nweys, i had some beef quesadillas and guacamole :) which was a huge serving. we were supposed to order the children's plate but the mexican waiter would not be fooled by us passing as 12 yr olds :) nevertheless, the dinner was great. i love mexican food anyways as long as they are not so spicy :)

We got to the hotel at around 3 am coz we kinda missed an exit and had to take time to get to the hotel. We had to wake up at 7 am to start our adventure early. The parks open at around 9 am so we had to be leaving thirty minutes before to maximize our stay.

When i saw the sign "welcome to universal studio orlando", i knew i am going to have the time of my life :) and i got my camera ready to freeze the moments of this great weekend.

We visited the two theme parks for a whopping prize but was all worth it. On the first day (saturday), we visited the universal studios theme park and got to feel what a twister and earthquake would be like. we also got the chance to kill some aliens on our MIB alien attack training, ride the time travel machine on the back to the future ride, experience what brandon fraser had to go through in the mummy, see the jaws still alive (and i thought he was dead already after that many jaws movie), and laugh with shrek and donkey as they rescue princess fiona from lord farqaad.

There were still other movie attractions that we went to but we weren't able to go through everything since we were si exhausted, we had to go back to the hotel and take a quick break. we planned to go to universal city walk that night and check what it's like to party in orlando. but we weren't able to. we, girls just had to take our beauty sleeps and prepare for our adventure the next day. but the other four (dan, debbie, steve and demetra) still partied :)

We went to the universal studios island of adventure theme park on sunday and had a more thrilling adventure with all those marvel comics heroes. But had fun with the water rides at the toon lagoon with popeye, olive and bluto. Just scared with the being almost devoured by the t-rex at the jurassic island river adventure. Wowed by the dueling dragons ride at the lost continent and sinbad's adventure :) But the best feeling was when i had to remember the child in me once i stepped on suess landing. i was like in candy land and seeing cat in the hat with thing 1 and thing 2 was just a dream come true. i was like a part on one of my favorite cartoon shows :)

i just didnt want the weekend to end. my energy was yet souring high on our way home that no matter how many hours the drive took, i just couldnt sleep and couldnt help smiling. the whole experience just made me realize how blessed i am and now i am more appreciative with the things that has been happening in my life. how i wish i could just let my family experience all this with me. Everything would just be in a totally different fun level experience if you were able to share it with people closest to your heart.