30 mins tricyle ride from Sabang proper to the port.
2 hour banka ride to Caramoan.
1 hour super duper bumpy tricyle ride to La Playa Camp.
then it's....
YOU ARE SOOOO WORTH THE 14 HOUR RIDEsssss!
Just look at you!
I'd be lucky to be your local.
But seriously, searching the ends for you was very starving...
now look what happened to that fish! Poor crispy fried fish... why'd you ever be sooo tasty?!
Ahhh the tinuktukan on the left... a second order of your finely chopped coconut meat, oregano filled, spiciness wrapped in alugbati is not enough to satisfy my cravings, even up to now and I'm miles away....
Good thing your island resto's homecooked meals are sooo delish that it filled our ever hungry tummies to its roundness.
Full and recharged it's time to explore your islets and strike those poses....
Ready ... 1... 2... 3 ....
HIYAK!
A beautiful scenery deserves only the best bods. We may not succeed on the bods, but at least we succeeded on the angles. wink!
But considering that we were the only ones roaming around the islets, I guess it's safe to say the we easily swept the best beach bods category. I love winning competition-less. hahaha.
Kidding not, us September babies had faced too much disappointing well planned plans, that we decided to just throw the plans out and embark on this spontaneous thoughtless journey. The result?... everybody was out in the city for the Piñafrancia in Naga, and we only learned that till we got to the resort where we were the only guests EVER. Understandably, we were also the only ones roaming around the peninsula, trying to be survivors like those French stuck in this island.
Like you would mind being stuck in an island as gorgeous as this.
Trust when I say that this is mother nature at its glorious best. And Chawi said it best that you can never capture the beauty of Caramoan on cam.
There are probably about 8 nearby islands in the area, by nearby I mean really near. That if it's on land I'd say, malakaw ra na, but since it's not, I'd say ma swim ra xa. I forgot the names of the islets, because my brain was just not functioning right. But this I could not forget...
The highlight of our island hopping adventure.
Rock climbing in Matukad Island...
in all fashion and smiles... no sweat oi!
We really were just fakers and posers, sweating and running out of breath. Hanging on to our dear lives while climbing barefoot and yelping to the sharpness of the lime stones. It's actually such a challenge, considering how dangerous, steep and sharp everything around us is. One wrong move could mean the death of you. Maybe not, but if you'll live, just expect gruesome cuts and bruises. Trust me I've been there --> there goes the smug proud me. haha.
Taking on the dangers was the only way to reach the top and to the mystical inner island lake.
As Kuya Arnie (our super duper good guide, who had unquestionable faith in our ability to climb the rocks, literally. He did not ask whether or not we would want to climb, instead just said follow me. He must have figured that with us, there's really no need to ask, good thinking!) shared, there used to be 2 big Bangus on the lake, unfortunately the other one was taken by some nosy local. Karma to him, he immediately died upon reaching home for some unexplainable reason, just like every other filipino folklore. So now there's the one and only lonely Bangus swimming in his little kingdom lake.
Blisters and pain are nothing compared what awaits the top.
***
Wake up oldie...
This was what I woke up to on my 25th year. So beautiful that it brought out the sentimental quarter life crisis in me. ha! kidding. I was actually just busy thinking about the things I've accomplished in the last 25 years. Unfortunately I was short listed, so I shifted my thoughts to the local kids playing in the waters nearby. Can't help but think how they have the best playground in the world. Imagine waking up to this. Of course this might not be new to them, but I just hope they realize how blessed they are to experience an everyday life with the natural beauty of mother nature. I hope that they become the generation who'd be less fazed by the destructive development of technology and devote their lives to saving their natural playground for the kids to come.
I'm lucky to be born in this beautiful country. Happy two five to me!
it's time to go...
Gotta drop by St. Michael Parish Church first.
Then again it's closed, for the priest is enjoying the fiesta at Piñafrancia.
Bye Gorgeous.
I wish to be selfish and keep your beauty a secret.
Unfortunately, you're just tooo beautiful to be kept a secret, so I shall tell....
****
To Askal and whoever wishes to go, here's how...
Cubao Terminal to Naga City - bus P850
(overnight bus, starting from 8pm onwards..)
Naga City to Sabang - bus P60
Sabang to the Port going to Caramoan - tricycle P60
banka - P150 or P200 (not sure)
Caramoan Port to La Playa Camp - tricycle P150
Room (good for 4pax) - P 1,200
Island hopping (good for 2, i think) - P 1,200
Food (per meal) - P 100
note:
Recommend to stay at La Playa Camp as this will be the jump off point to the island hopping. It's on the beachfront, cheap, and has perfect sunrise view of the islands. Most of the accommodations are at the town center and it takes sometime to get to the jump off points. Lastly, there's no cell signal, except for Smart.
A few days ago, my teacher cousin from Bohol sent me these precious pictures of gratitude from her tiddie tiny students. Immediately I started blogging about it, but for some reason, I just didn’t click that publish button. Maybe I wasn’t confident of my grammar, or my spelling, or I was just being cautious before the brutally-frank-merciless-English-bitch cop-why-did-I-have-to-cross-paths-with-her?! Gayle Opsima gets the chance to proof read it in behalf of the whole wide web. Don’t take it the wrong way, I happen to brutally love her to death and that’s the kind of love I have for her… deadly! Haha
Going back, for some unexplainable reason I just didn’t feel like it was the right time to post that blog. I guess it was kind of a shallow blog for a trying to be deep in the shallow waters like me. But I think now is the appropriate time to swim deeper and drown myself into the shallow waters of my 25 years of accumulated wisdom. I am barely breathing. Here it goes…
Dear Small Kids,
Looking at your cute faces and tiny figures, makes me feel like a giant who had to be reminded that I too was once a dwarf. I remember how it was like to crank my neck and look up to the world of giants around me, and say I can’t wait to be like them. In the mean time, chasing the winds as fast as I could with my two short legs was a past time. Climbing trees and playing make believe were my favorite games. Studying was a disaster I never liked, but dreaming of what to be was unavoidable.
Dreams…
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”will always be the timeless beauty pageant question for the kids. And I’ve had more than 5 career changes based on that question alone. When I was five I wanted to be a doctor, then an artist, an artista, an architect, a driver, a pilot, a rockstar’s wife, a businesswoman. 20 years after, I am now a teacher. A pleasant surprise I’ve never dreamed of. So kids, be warned that the future will be as fickle as your childhood dreams.
Friends…
You can either run after your childhood dreams, or you can let fate takes it course, but know that fate is what you make. Same ways as your friends are who you choose. Take a clear look of those faces beside you, because chances are you’ll be laughing together while looking at your pictures 20 years from now. The journey of your friendships may likely be as unpleasant as that missing tooth, dorky hair, chubby cheeks and gummy smile, but it’s what will keep you going to last a lifetime. Stick with it; it’s an adorable faces bond to have.
But keep this in mind; you are who your friends are. Friends can either make or break you. So choose wisely and think whether they are worth for keeps and your love.
Luuuuurve…
Love… the word that should not to be confused with a boy or a girl, or else a broken heart is inevitable. But it’s a natural course of life to have your heart broken as many times as you eat per day, just make sure that he who breaks your precious bloody heart is worthy of it. It’s part of the experience. Let it be a humble learning and silently keep it. But please don’t hoard and be blunt about it, because kid, you are looking for love in all the wrong places. If you truly love yourself, you’d guard your heart, keep it intact and present it to someone worthy of it, rather than have it used and abused, gushed and opened by the meaningless passing few before it gets too rotten for the right one.
Kilig moments are great especially when there’s substance to it. Hopefully you’ll all be grown up when you read this, so that spares me the need to explain further. Also, be safe – always! You know what I mean…. Er… population control???
Learn….
In my early school years I never understood why I had to disrupt my precious sleep and ruin my chances of growing taller by having to throw myself into the routine of waking up early and into the bucket of cold morning water. Words and letters were not my friends and numbers were not helping either. 75 was a card companion I thought was big until my mom had to painfully tutor me till my crying sleep. Learning can be painful – figuratively speaking!
Things, people, time, place and events will always present you with eureka moments. It flashes itself in the most annoying-told-you-so-in-your-face! But you got no choice but to suck it all up, then pray and learn that it shall never happen again.
But either way, quench your thirst for learning and you’d realize how small you are in this big badass world of wonderful merriment, while keeping you’re self-centered ego in check. It’s a never ending process so might as well embrace it with open arms.
Family….
Almost all you do in this lifetime is brought upon by the choices you make. What clothes to wear, food toeat, who to hang out, where to go and etc. Family is not one of those choices. These are the individuals whom we are born into, like there’s really nothing we can do about it. Parents don’t get to choose their kids, much more kids don’t get to choose their parents, but either way it’s a fortunate thing to have. Living with a number of different personalities under one roof can be heck of a lifelong teleserye, full of drama and corniness minus the kidnapping (thank God we are not rich!) in the ending. Daily life can be very eventful to the point that it becomes uneventful that nothing they do fusses you. Of course, given the long time that you’ve had with these individuals, your level of tolerance has got to be skyrocketing.
Either way, you gotta be thankful for your family, because they are the ones who sculpt your backbone to its fineness. I hate to brag, but I’m very lucky to be born into this simple, average, happy family. There’s not much happening, but trust when I say that it’ll be your ideal kind of boring. I love my ideal boring family. I can only hope to spread my familial boredom in the far stable future of someday.
Bottom line is, the world can turn upside down, in and out but family will always be there. They can be overdramatic at times, but at the end of the day they’ll always have your best intentions at heart. You may not necessarily understand it, rebel with the tough love but when all else fades and the fun stops you’ll always be coming back home to mommy and daddy to comfort you from your idiotic-teenage-emo-moments.
Future…
But sometimes, we need these emo2x moments to make us appreciate what we have. That’s life, it’s damn tricky. The good and the bad goes hand in hand - always. They are the BFFs who’ll shaken your decision making skills, just be smart about it. God has given us the free will to do what we must and nobody can question us for that. Just know that there will always be consequences attached to the choices we make, it’s called the future.
Listen closely kiddilets, the future is going to caught you off guard, nothing will be what it seems, that’s for sure. So here’s my Peter Pan advice, take your time, enjoy being young. Chase more winds as fast as you can. Climb the highest of trees and play your hundreds make believe. Be friends with your studies, love to learn, and then dream a thousand dreams from then on.
Those are the precious times that you can’t go back to, but can reminisce with great fondness. Just breathe and live life to the fullest and everything will be alright. Lastly, find your passion, live it, and then aim to make a difference for the better.
Whether or not this attempt at imparting wisdom can make a difference will be known years from now. But hopefully the time you turn at quarter a century you’ll be able to figure things out and brag to me how it’s done. Because babies, I tell you quarter life…..I’m running out of words….
Would it still be called LSS if the songs is still stuck in your head for almost a week?!
Surely it would defy the technicalities considering that LSS which stands for Last Song Syndrome actually only refers to one specific song. The numeric aspect is already faulty, plus the fact that these songs in my head are not literally the last songs I've heard. Because the last one I heard is this raunchy unknown disco song that is being played by our uncool neighbor. Thank goodness it's not as catchy as other bad songs, coz the playlist in my head would surely flip at the additional poor mixture, like they're some hoity toity alta de sociedad.
Going back, since this thing I have in my head is pretty much unnamed (I think), I shall therefore call it LLSsS "Last Last Song's' Syndrome." I'm so original! hahaha. Corny I know! but what the heck, humor is still humor regardless of depths, even though mine is just floating in the shallow ends.
I don't like sharing songs that much for selfish personal reasons, but I just thought that maybe if I do this, the humming in my head would end. The humming is not annoying, I just don't have right lyrics to go with the hum, and my sister thinks that wrong-slash-made-up lyrics is waaay more annoying, which I, unfortunately, have the reputation for. So really, I just don't wanna be in the same annoying category as our neighbor.
***
Friendly Fires - Edge of Glory
#1 in my head!!!!!! But you can't help it, their version is just waaaay better than Lady Gaga's. This is also the reason why I love BBC's Live Lounge soooo much! It's so cool how different artists puts personal spin on the songs of their contemporaries.
Jaime T - If you got the money
It's all that FatKidInside's fault! I hate Erwan! eeee!!!! Can't help but still giggle like a school girl at the thought of him. It's already bad enough to get stuck at the only line I know.. "if you got no money I think it would be funny...," then be stuck with the idea of him. I hate it! ** deep inside my dark skin I am blushing**
I Blame Coco - Bohemian Love
For this I blame Nina Japeth Caballero! Thanks Bal... ;)
***
There are still other two that I have already posted. Worlds Apart by The Mostar Diving Club which I already posted below this entry, and the other one is Crying by TV on the Radio a blog track on below the below of this entry...
For now I shall wait on the result of my theory on sharing is curing.
And let 08/04/11 be marked as the day of my red carpet "devirginization" ( if there is such a word). Special thanks to my dear amazing friend Mayang and to her amazing relative connections. Because without her relatives she wouldn't be there, and without her, I wouldn't be there...
Understandably, I had no idea as to what the dos and don'ts of a red carpet thing is, but figured that as long as we torture our feet for a couple of hours in heels then we could pass off as red carpet pros. Beso here, beso there. Chit chats over a glass of 4 seasoned cocktail juice in one hand, while keeping my balance from one foot to the other, is such a social life!
Being a social butterfly is no easy task! It's too much effort! Most especially when you just want to be a caterpillar and squirm at the fact that the world renowned Brialliante Mendoza is just a few feet away from you.
This close dude!!!
But I left my confidence at home, so I didn't get a picture with him (there was a group pic though, but it's useless when you don't know who owned that camera. tsk!) So Brilliante was in the end, so near yet so far...
I've never seen his movies until this, but I've always been a fan of his accomplishments. It brings out such nostalgic pinoy pride in me. It doesn't happen much but when it does, it sure is something. Then when you watch his film you become more in awe of his brilliance! All I can say is that his/ this movie would surely evoke a lot of feelings in you even after the credits have rolled up.
Though I think his film was brilliant in the post-modernism kind of way, it still kind of bothers me that it has to take this kind of theme and genre to be appreciated by the elitist world outside. Perhaps the rawness of the plot caught me off guard to the extent that even I, as a Filipino, is still shocked and bothered by the on goings of this society that I'm living in. It's a sad sad sad reality at the same time it raises the bar of respect towards those who had to live on that kind of life. The way Brilliante directed the film, putting emphasis on the literally tiring journeys and struggles of the characters, makes you feel what it's like to live their life. And it sure is NOT easy! so you gotta give it up to them.
It's ironic how other countries gives accolades to Brilliante's films, when it should have been his very own that should be making noises for him for his vivid depictions of the socio-cultural issues of this country, by dissecting into the everyday lives our Juan and Juana. I bet we would learn a thing or two, especially those in the government.
Beyond all the ugly truths, I sincerely think that Brilliante's films are all about empowering. Opening the senses to the realities around, then absorbing the facts before challenging the viewers on this simple question: What can you do?
HEAVY ??!!!!!!!!! I feel like in 2nd year High School about to submit a free writing composition to Mdm. Generale. Haha!. On the lighter side.....
Moy! there goes my super duper belated bday present.... enjoy!.. ;)
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blog track
Years around the sun - miles away