Tag Archives: travel

Daghang salamat, Cebu!

When I went to Cebu two years ago, I know I said I’d return again the following year. That obviously didn’t happen for several reasons, and I kind of succumbed to the thought that I’d rather go somewhere else rather than visit the same place again. So many places to see, so little time, yes?

But when Cebu Pacific had a seat sale, and my colleague invited us to go to Cebu, I jumped at the chance, dragging Grace and Jana with me. The flight was booked by April, so we had the time to pay off the tickets and save up for the activities for our (somewhat) epic weekend.

My real intention of going to Cebu wasn’t really to go around and sight see since I’ve done a bit of it the last time I was there. The initial intention was to meet up with my best friend who was there for his GX programme, but it turns out he goes back to Manila a week earlier than our flight. We wanted to go to Bantayan Island or those other beaches in Cebu, but schedule won’t permit, so we settled instead on a sort of beach-y and food trip weekend. Not as epic as Coron, probably, but relaxing enough to make it epic in my standards.

What’s with the word “epic”, anyway?

Let’s break it down by days. WARNING: Photo-heavy post!

DAY 1:

Airport, chatting, reading while waiting for the plane. Grace spotted Coco Martin on the same flight at the front, and the plane was full, so no chance for photo-ops. He was really cute in person, though, and I think the FA’s agree. ;)

We got to Cebu after lunch, and headed straight to BE Resorts in Mactan Island to meet with our other friends who flew there Friday. BE Resorts used to be Microtel Cebu. I’ve never been to Microtel, but what I know from the old name was it was also cheaper than it was now. But the hotel is still pretty, and we had a pretty great view of the pool and the beach, even if the beach isn’t that pretty. See how many times I used the word “pretty” there?

Continue reading Daghang salamat, Cebu!

Balai Laiya

So last weekend, we went to the beach.

Beach!

And yes, that photo up there is the same view we had for two days. :)

Anyway, we’ve been planning to have a beach trip (or just any trip of some sort) for the club since last year after all the work we had done, and I’m really glad we got to do it last weekend. Of course, not everyone made it, but it was okay. The weekend was just what I need to relax and have fun, you know?

So Saturday, after my long night of dinner and drinks and talks with my teammates at the previous night, we rode the rented van and headed for an almost four-hour trip to Laiya, Batangas. We were at Coco Grove last year for our company outing, and Balai Laiya is a few resorts away. After breakfast, a long ride and no sleep in the van because of all the jokes and the bumpiness of the rides, we finally got to the resort.

And let me just say: WOW.

Continue reading Balai Laiya

10 Things

My ex-partner and YFC brother Niki tagged me to do this list in his Multiply so I thought I’d write it here instead of there. I used to have this kind of list I entitled All These Things, which I got from an old online friend but I stopped doing it because…well, because I was lazy. I guess making this list is also a part of The Great Adventure, so some of the items in this list would be the same in my first 5 Great Adventures list.

So let’s do this again, shall we? According to the tag, I’m supposed to write 10 things I want to do before I die, and then tag 5 people after. Here we go!

 

10 Things I Want to do Before I Die

  1. Publish a book. Or two. I consider myself a writer as well as a computer scientist/geek, and I still want to publish a book. Preferably fiction, but I like nonfiction too. I think I’ll go towards the young adult/chicklit genre for the fiction. :P
  2. Travel, travel, travel. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I want to see the world! I’ve got Sydney up for 2008, for the upcoming World Youth Day (I’ll be putting up a blog for this sometime soon, so watch out for it!) but I also want to go visit other places before I turn 30 or get married (whichever comes first). I want to go backpacking in Europe, go shopping in the streets of Bangkok (for the second time) with my friends, explore the beautiful beaches right here in this hometown, visit different Disney parks in the US and drop by the Big Apple to see if it’s really filled with people and if it’s really everything I’ve read about. Besides all that Heroes watching makes me want to see the city, and yes, including the plastic surgery in Manhattan. The world is waiting! I want to see!
  3. Receive sunflower(s) on my birthday. My favorite flower is a sunflower, and every year I wish for someone to give it to me on my birthday. Still no such luck, but I’m young, I can still wait. Even just one sunflower would be nice. :D
  4. Put up a bookstore/coffee shop. My mom and I have been playing with this idea and I threw this idea to my best friend as well. I love books, I like coffee — so why not start a business that has both? I have yet to think of a way to make that bookstore different — or maybe I should put it up in the province or something. Not a remote province, of course, but on a semi-remote place where there’s no close access to Powerbooks or any bookstore not counting National Bookstore.
  5. And since we’re on the topic of provinces, I want to have my dream house built. My dream house, as I envisioned it a year ago, would be in the semi-remote province (Tagaytay?). It’s a two-storey house with spacious rooms. No TVs in the bedrooms, only in the family room and there’s going to be a library/study and a prayer room. The house will be built on a huge yard where there’s room for a flower garden on the side (with a big sunflower patch!) as well as a swingset for the kids. And surrounding the house should be white picket fence. :P
  6. Fall in love, get married and have a beautiful family. Enough said. :P
  7. Raise enough money for a GK house and help build it.
  8. Be a missionary. In what way, only God knows. :)
  9. Send a kid to school.
  10. Be surprised on my birthday. As in the Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you went through all this kind of surprise. :P
    .

There’s more, but I’ll stop here or else I might blab the whole day. :) Anyway, I’m tagging…well, I’m really not in the mood to tag anyone. :P If you feel like getting this survey, then consider yourself tagged. Come on, it’s fun to write things like this. :P

Now I’m off to help my mom clear up on her just concluded dinner with her CFC friends. :) Good night!

Life in a book

Right now I’m reading Flabbergasted by Ray Blackston. What I love about books is that I get to plunge into something other than my own world, to see and be a part another person’s adventures even if that person is fictional. Not that I don’t like my life right now; I just always welcome a break. It’s like when you watch a movie: life on the big screen seems so…perfect, that you wish you are living the same life too.

Two weeks into work and I’ve been thinking about how I am going to spend the rest of my life. That sounds really deep, I know. I could blame it on this particular page in my planner which has “Big Thoughts” written on it and since I’ve been allowing myself to dream BIG, I wrote down some things I want to accomplish in my life, namely:

  • I want to write. I want to be able to publish at least two books and let people see what I see with my words.
  • I want to see the world. I want to travel.

Simple? Kinda. I’m still allowing myself to “dream” and so far I got those two, which is generally what I want to do in my life as of now. I’m young, so let me dream. :P

Anyway, the thing with reading books is that sometimes I start to wish that I live inside a book. Not literally, Thursday Next style (though I wouldn’t mind that! :p). I want to be able to live some part of my life like the way book characters do. It’s like wishing to have your own fairy tale, only it’s probably chick-lit style. Gets?

I always wonder where life would take me the next few years. Would I be amazingly famous and be known all over the world? Would I be living in my dream house with a wonderful family? Would I be climbing the corporate ladder and making big time decisions here and there? Would I even start to understand things about stocks and businesses? Would I be a missionary, meeting people all over the world and bringing the message of God’s love for those who need it the most?

There are so many possibilities in my life, and I have to admit that I’m afraid to miss out on a lot of things. On the contrary, I am afraid of taking risks, and I still don’t know if I’d recognize an opportunity even if it bites me on the nose. I do think, however, that adds spice to my life. As Ate Bev mentioned last night, God doesn’t give you everything you want just so you’d still come thirsty for Him. God is giving me these specific kinds of moments in my life to give room for Him to create magic in it. For Him to amaze me and surprise me, for Him to let me see that He is amazing.

And you know? I wouldn’t mind that. Being surprised, I mean. I’ve always wanted to be surprised.

Maybe my life isn’t like those novels I read. But I think…I wouldn’t trade this one to be a character in any book.

Unless of course if it’s a book based on myself, written by me. ;)