let there be light

a little bit of light painting because i'm bored. :P

made this using a cheap lighter with a built in mini-flashlight. i might get better better flashlights (or as them english people call it: torch) in the future to get a thicker light-pen width. i'm still much, much more into landscape photography though. well, not in a professional kind of way. more of a hobbyist siguro. :) i just love taking snapshots of the places i've been to. amateur as i may be, there's that wonderful feeling of getting a good shot - something i would love looking at and would invoke memories of the place whenever i see the picture. but to be honest, it takes me lots of crappy shots to get something decent. haha. :D

in the meantime, i am preparing for my cebu-bohol-sumilon island getaway with a friend this sunday so expect lots and lots of pictures in the upcoming posts. still debating with myself if i'm gonna do the sky adventure or not though. i'm afraid of heights, you know.

oh, and in preparation for the trip i bought some stuff which are totally unnecessary. haha. but i have been planning on getting them for quite a while now so i guess i'm being fair enough to myself. :P

travel purchase #1: a microfiber towel

because i always, always bring my own towel when traveling. and it takes up too much space! i've been eyeing a certain brand of microfiber towels that offers stitching in names as well but i found this 100-peso not-so-microfiber-towel in one of the kiosks at sm north so i bought it without second thought. hope it's as absorbent as it advertises!

travel purchase #2: a rubberducky dry bag from stoked

to protect my gadgets whenever i'm gonna be near water. one of my friends brought a dry bag with her during our white-water rafting adventure in cdo and i've been wanting to get one ever since.

travel purchase #3: a limited edition pair of havaianas

though i've promised myself eons ago that i will never, ever succumb to buying pricey pairs of flip-flops, i just couldn't resist that adorable kokeshi design. :P i've been justifying this purchase with my cheapskate self by citing reasons such as "it was on sale!" and "it's better to buy a pricey one than cheap ones that wouldn't last!".

and now i don't have enough money to buy an underwater case for my camera. haha. anyway, i found this waterproof gadget protector in powerbooks which may (or may not) be able to protect my digicam at powerbooks. i do hope it will do the job. :P

i've actually been planning to buy all these stuff for about 2 years now. i'm actually pretty amazed that i've got all of them before my upcoming trip. :)

here's to hoping for clear, sunny skies for the first week of december. :)

to be fulfilled - christmas 2012 :)

My mom got into the Christmas spirit early and set up our Christmas tree in the first half of September. Not that there's anything unusual about it since the Yuletide Season in the Philippines starts as soon as the -ber months come around.

And so this year, following my mom's example, I am making a list of my gifts early. Well, gifts for myself, that is. What?! Did I fool you into thinking I was a nice little girl? :P 

look at me! :)

And so here it is: 2 things I'm planning to get for my selfish self this Christmas. (Note: List not final - the author may find more stuff to add to this to-be-fulfilled-by-myself-wishlist.) :)

1. a new Navi Planner
I used to get the Starbucks planner each year since I started working but was introduced to the Navi Planner by my product trainer (at the time) during the end of 2009. Navi, I think, is made with travel-crazy people like me in mind. And I just loved the cover. It's not girly but it's not too formal either.

2. my own personal Embosser/Dry Seal
My roommate once mentioned that a common friend of ours uses his own custom made dry seal to emboss his name on his books with. Being the bibliophile that I am, I thought this was a great idea and wanted one for myself too. I found this good deal at CashCashPinoy yesterday but I was too late. The deal was already sold out. :( I did take note of the company's address and might give them a visit, though.

So there you have it - just a couple of things I've wanted to get for myself but haven't and promise to get myself this Christmas. :)

the number game

I wake up in the morning and I think I'm 28. I read some article about a 28-year old person and I think "oh, we're of the same age!". I get asked my age and I say I'm 28. And THEN, I realize, I'm F-ing 26!

I really don't know where those extra 2 years are coming from. It's happened so often lately and I really don't know why my mind thinks of the number "28" whenever something associated with my age comes up. I mean, don't people usually forget that they've aged and give out the age they were a couple of years back? Isn't that more common?

That just goes to show how slow-paced my life is. Who else subconsciously ADDS years to their age? It's not like I'm 16 and adding a couple of years makes me legal. I feel like the last year of my life has been dragged away and extended to more than its usual length. I feel like me celebrating my 26th birthday was ages ago! (FYI, it was less than 4 months ago.)

By the way, do you realize how far apart the ages 26 and 28 seem to be? 26 feels like you've just gotten out of your early 20s while 28 feels like a headlong rush to the 30s. Just two years apart but oh, such a huge gap. Right now, for some reason, I feel a lot closer to 30 than to 25.

Not that I feel like I'm getting old. On the contrary, I feel like my notion of what's old gets further and further away. You must've felt that once or twice in your life too. Remember how when you were a senior in high school, the freshmen seemed so young? Or how highschoolers seemed like kids once you were in college?

This is just me doing my own equivalent to "thinking out loud". Half a year ago, I was thinking I was 25! I'm out of that early-20's crowd! And now, barely a year later, I feel like I'm about to enter the 30's club. Weird, isn't it? :) I feel like I should post a reminder on my forehead. Something like this:

Right now, I really don't feel like I'm 26. It's like when I remember I'm 26, I think: No way, I can't possibly be that young! And this is ME speaking. The same ME who thought I was getting oh-so old when I turned 20. Anyway, I'm just being redundant, aren't I? I shouldn't really bore you with these mundane thoughts going through my head at the moment. Besides, age is just a number, right? And... doesn't life begin when you're 30? :D

calumboyan island tour + maquinit hotspring + coron marker

parang nasa Island Cove lang! - at Marili Coral Garden

Day 4: Ang taba ko na, ang itim ko pa! hahaha. This was our third day under the wonderful Coron sunshine and we were still loving it! We started earlier than usual because our destinations for this day were farther than our previous tours. This tour is actually better suited for divers (or at least people who can swim very well) since all the attractions included are underwater. Better bring your snorkeling gear with you if you do this tour. :)

But first, to show you how much we saved. Picture below shows standard fares for the tours in Coron. We got our Calumbuyan tour for only 3000php.

And picture below is part of the market. This is where we buy all the ingredients for our daily lunch before getting on our boat. Sinasamahan naman kami ni Kuya Raymundo (our boatman/tourguide) every morning. 

After naming mamalengke, we get on our boat to start the tour. Every journey to our daily destinations are already tours in itself. Ang ganda ng mga view, pramis. It just makes you eager with anticipation for the tourist spots you're heading to.

Our first stop for our last day was the Marili Coral Garden. Beautiful, beautiful corals! Sabi ni Kuya, mas maganda ung corals dito dahil hindi pa kasing sikat at kasing puntahin ng Coral Bay Garden. We spent 2-3 hours siguro dito. We had our lunch in one of the huts, relaxed a bit by lying on the hammocks and went to the sea with our snorkeling gears to see the corals and feed fishes. Sobrang nag-enjoy kami dito dahil solo namin ung place. There were no other guests during our whole stay. Parang private island ang drama. :P

the water was soooo clear! this was taken from our boat - while the boat was still moving!

some mangroves near the beach

crossing the bridge to our own private island. :P

Naging favorite past time na talaga namin ang fish feeding. We make it a point to bring lots of bread each day for our fish feeding addiction. :P We got a few scratches from the corals, though. There were lots and lots of them. We were trying our best to avoid stepping on them but they were just everywhere and the wind and waves were not helping us any. :P Pero sa mababaw na part lang naman kami. There were deeper parts where you can be high above the corals but we stayed where we could stand up and feed the fishes. :P Kulang na lang, hanggang umuwi eh dito na kami. But Kuya reminded us that we had other places to see. So off we went to our next stop: Coral Bay Garden.

Kaso napagod ako sa pag-iwas sa corals. Haha. I actually tried to sleep a little on the boat while we were at Coral Bay. It was drizzling so I decided to just rest my eyes. When I woke up, we were already leaving  for our next stop. Turns out my friends didn't spend too much time swimming here either. Same thing lang naman daw as Marili. And yes, that Marili corals were better. So sorry, but I've got no pics at all in this place.

Next on our list was the Lusong Shipwreck. The rain stopped a few minutes after we got there. And we got to see a rainbow over the sea! :) The shipwreck was full of corals and there were lots and lots of fish swimming around. This would definitely be a lot more fun if I weren't dependent on my life vest and could swim through the inner parts of the shipwreck waaaaaaay deeper into the water than I could go. Must. Learn. How. To. Swim. And. Dive. Anyway, we still had a blast taking turns on standing atop the tip of the ship (and feeding fish, as usual. :P).

after the rain. :D

those corals are on the shipwreck! isn't this shot so clear? FYI, it was taken above-water!

The last stop on our tour was the Sangat Shipwreck - also known as the Gun Boat Shipwreck. There were a lot of divers when we got there. Unfortunately, it was a bit too late in the afternoon and we couldn't see anything without going too deep. :( But we did make the most out of it with taking lots and lots of pics! Haha. But seriously, I wanna, wanna, wanna learn how to dive. But before that, I need to learn how to swim!

beautiful sunset signifying the end of our boat tours in Coron

 And that concludes our 3-day tour with Kuya Raymundo (and his brother in law - I forgot his name). After we got off the boat, we hired a tricycle to the Maquinit Hot Springs. For 300php, he took us to the springs, waited until we had enough of the warm water, and took us from there to Ralphs. We were at Maquinit for about an hour, relaxing our tired bodies in the warm water.

entrance fees for the hot spring

the hotspring itself.

We headed back to the town, had dinner at some tapsihan near the market and called it a night. We were leaving Coron the following day! :(

On our last day, we woke up early to buy pasalubong for our friends and families. We also got a tricycle to take us to the Coron marker - ang mala-Hollywood marker sa Coron. :P The grass was unkempt, unfortunately, so if you didn't know what the marker says, you might confuse it with COPON or COBON. Haha.

i'm in this pic! look for me and 2 of my friends! :)

AND we were off to the airport. :( Before I knew it, I was flying away from beautiful, beautiful Coron and was going back to Manila. Btw, I must've enjoyed the trip too much because I kept on dreaming I was still on our tour boat during the few times I drifted off while in the plane.

After 5 days in Coron, there were still so much left to explore. I would love to come back one day. Pero hopefully marunong na kong lumangoy (and preferably have a diver's license too!) by that time. In the meantime, I'm gonna be exploring other parts of Pinas muna. :D

malcapuya and banana island + firedancing!

starting off the day with a beautiful, blue view.

We headed to Malcapuya and Banana Island on our third day. The beaches were beautiful but Malcapuya's water was too shallow. Ang layo layo mo na sa shore hanggang tuhod pa rin ang tubig. Banana Island, on the other hand, just surprises you with its water's sudden deepth. Dito, ilang hakbang pa lang, magugulat ka kasi lubog ka na agad.

Haha. Kala mo naman swimming talaga sa beach yung habol ko eh di naman ako marunong lumangoy. :P

But basically, this day was "inuman" day. We bought bottles of The Bar with us and drank on both beaches. (Oh and for the record - I HATE the taste of The Bar Silver. I hate it with a passion. It just makes me wanna go bleeeech. *arte ko lang*) Hmmm... Drinking on beaches - i'ts kind of our thing. We actually once spent two days on a beach in Batangas but didn't get to take a dip in the shore at all! Pano kasi, puro pictorial at inom ang inatupag. We woke up the following morning with hangovers and just enough time for breakfast and quick showers before leaving the beach. Haha.

Anyway, I'm getting off the topic here. At both Malcapuya and Banana Island, we DID dip in the water from time to time. There were lots of fishes swimming about in both beaches so we had another awesome day feeding fishes in the sea. Parang gusto ko na tuloy magkaroon ng sarili kong pool-sized aquarium. Chos.

We decided not to go to Banol Beach. Sayang naman ang 100 pesos each na entrance kung magiinom din lang naman kami dun. Plus, the sky was getting a bit threatening. Ayun nga, umulan ng slight nung pabalik na kami sa town. Not for long, though.

Once we got back at Ralph's we freshened up and headed to Kawayanan for dinner. Food was good, wasn't too pricey, and there was this gwapong waiter who was kind enough to give me my cellphone back after we transferred to a different kubo (I left it at our first kubo).

We also watched some firedancing and bands playing tribal music in front of the Gateway Hotel before retiring to sleep. The performers offered free tribal lessons and passed drums out to the audience but they were speaking in Filipino whereas most of those that they've handed out the drums to were foreigners so I kept on wondering if they understood what the performers were saying..

That about sums up our third day in Coron. And now..... Pic spamming! Enjoy! :P

ang sweet nina kuya. i think they're recreating a scene from Titanic. hihi.

malcapuya

sandy toes resting on a hammock by the coconut tree. <3

because there is no such thing as a tropical beach without some buko juice. :P

ganito ang usong ash tray sa Coron.

group shot by kuya raymundo. :D

the Malcapuya shore from the view cliff

heading to banana island - i love the clouds on kuya's head.

welcome to banana island

'twas like having a picnic area by the beach. :)

it's getting too cloudy

it's getting late! time to leave... :(

the beautiful sky greeted us when we got back to the town

so, so beautiful.

we just had to have our pic taken here. :D

kuya firedancer preparing for his next move

nakakapayat daw ang firedancing. parang gusto ko tuloy..... mamayat. amp.

inverted heart! like. :D

dinner at kawayanan

mt tapyas trek + coron loop tour

I was never afraid of water... And so it is ironic that I never learned how to swim. I have a lot of memories of being in rivers and beaches when I was a little kid. I would never hesitate to jump into the water as long as I had my trusty salbabida with me or just knowing that my dad is there ready to dive and save me after I jump into a river a hundred times as deep as my then-height.

I have always thought to myself that just seeing the beautiful beaches and lakes and rivers and falls were enough. After all, I could wade my feet into the water and enjoy the beaches and swimming pools as long as I do not wander to the deeper parts. And the existence of life vests comforts me as I try to awkwardly pretend to swim around the deeper parts of the oceans on boat tours. I was satisfied... That is, until I experienced everything that Coron has to offer.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. After all, water is not everything that is Coron.

Day 2 - Because we failed at our attempt to climb Mt. Tapyas the day before, we woke up early to catch the sunrise from atop the mountain. It was a hard 718-step (or so they say) climb all the way to the top for a smoker who has had no exercise at all and has gained a considerable number of kilos over the last couple of years. I HATE sweating. But this was a good kind of sweating. Maybe because the view from the top was all worth it.

while climbing the stairs, umabot pa kami ng konti sa sunrise. :P

it was a long way up

finally: our destination.

do you see a man lying down? i have, unfortunately, forgotten the name of this mountain.

The way down was a lot easier. ('Yun na ba 'yon? Walang ka-challenge-challenge. CHOS.) We got all sweaty so we went back to Ralph's, took quick showers and prepared ourselves for our first day out on the waters of Coron.

We started the boat tour with a visit to the WW2 Shipwreck. It was my first time snorkeling (late bloomer ako eh. haha.) and it was such a GREAT first experience that I almost didn't want to get back on the boat. My rented snorkeling mask didn't fit well and my hair kept getting in the way (halatang first timer. hehe.) but that didn't keep me from wandering away from the boat. Thank you, dear life vest, for giving me the courage to do so. :P

they're coming for yoooouuuuuu! (or for your bread, rather) - from ronnie's cam

Our next stop was Banol Beach. There are actually lots of tiny beaches that you can visit during your Coron Loop Tour - Beach 91, Atwayan Beach, CYC Beach, Sampaloc Beach etc. We saw some of the beaches from our boat while we were on our way to the Shipwreck and we decided to go to Banol Beach because it looked like it had the longest stretch of sand. The rest were, as I would like to call them, micro mini beaches.  :P We also decided against going to the other beaches so that we could spend more time here. We probably spent 3 hours of the whole trip here - just taking pictures of ourselves. Oh, and we had our lunch here too. :)

beautiful Banol shore

one of the picturesque rock formations

I found refuge from the sun under a nipa hut.

We then headed to Twin Lagoon, named so because there's a limestone formation dividing the outer and the inner lagoons. To get into the inner lagoon, there was a tiny cave-like opening that you had to either swim under or go through lying down on a raft. We were not in the least bit pro swimmers... so we opted for the raft. :P The inner lagoon was soooo beautiful I spent several minutes just floating around, staring at the sky. Imagine being surrounded by huge limestone walls in every direction, with refreshing water encircling you and the warmth of the sunrays peeping down at you from the beautiful bright, blue sky. It was heaven on earth - or in the lagoon, rather. :) Anyway, we got out of the inner lagoon through the raft too, but dare I say that we made it out in... uhmmmm... errrrr... ahhhhh.... style? Haha. We had a pretty funny way of getting out. Go judge for yourself. :P

leaving the inner lagoon - from sharon's cam

And off we went to our next destination: The Barracuda Lake. The lake kinda paled in comparison to our first three destinations but being the first-time snorkeler that I was, hindi ko din ito pinalagpas. Nagpa-float-float at pa-snorkel-snorkel pa din kami for a few minutes before we left. :D

barracuda lake marker - from sharon's cam

We then headed to our 5th stop: the famous Kayangan Lake. Medyo mataas ung climb and I was sooooo tired from all the snorkling I did the whole day so I didn't get to appreciate this spot all that much. Medyo over-rated na nga because this is actually the most photographed place in Coron but I personally enjoyed other places more. Don't get me wrong, maganda din dito. I was, I guess, already too tired to appreciate it. 

Our last stop for the day was Siete Pecados. Medyo nakabawi na ko ng energy by this time so snorkeling galore na ulit. :) The fish were sooooo aggressive. I felt like they were literally attacking me. Haha. There were lots and lots and lots of them so make sure you bring lots and lots of bread if you're planning on feeding them. :)

aggressive fish! oh my!

you pay your entrance fees for sieta pecados to this guy. 

the end of a beautiful day

And that concludes our 2nd day in Coron. Maquinit Hot Springs was supposed to have been included in our tour but because of the tide (not being high enough? too low?I don't remember exactly. Basta dahil sa tide.) the  boat couldn't take us there so we decided to just call it a day, get some well-deserved rest and prepare ourselves for beach bumming the next day. :)