Sinulog, here we come!

Last week I bought 2 Cebu Pacific tickets for me and my hubby for Cebu. We will be there for Sinulog, one of the more popular festivals in the Philippines, which is celebrated every third weekend of January. According to the official website of Sinulog,

The Sinulog festival is one of the grandest and most colorful festivals in the Philippines. The main festival is held each year on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City to honor the Santo Niño, or the child Jesus, who used to be the patron saint of the whole province of Cebu (since in the Catholic faith Jesus is not a saint, but God). It is essentially a dance ritual which remembers the Filipino people’s pagan past and their acceptance of Christianity.

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Recreational Outdoor Exchange

My hubby and I went to Serendra/Bonifacio High Street last week and we were surprised to see so many new stores! And for me, the most exciting discovery is the Recreational Outdoor Exchange, which is a store that sells items for outdoor activities and adventure travel. AWESOME! To the adventure and outdoor trippers out there, this is the store for you!

...Click here to read the rest of the entry...

Tripper 5: Photos of the Philippines

Well, I’m choosing from among my photos, so these may not necessarily be the best of the best out there. But they’re pretty good photos of the Philippines. I’ve been posting them to different Flickr groups so other people may see how beautiful our country is.

1) Bohol - This photo was taken during our island hopping tour after snorkeling near the Balicasag island. This is a photo of a small, uninhabited island which was somewhere in between Panglao and the snorkeling site. Bohol is a beautiful, beautiful place - if I were rich enough I would buy property there so I can just go back anytime. It’s relatively quiet, the beaches are not yet commercialized, there were so many dolphins to watch it was amazing, and the people were genuinely nice. Bohol is one place I always recommend to business associates and other acquaintances when they ask about interesting destinations in the Philippines.

2) Kadayawan - Experiencing the different fiestas or festivals in the Philippines is awesome. Kadayawan, which is celebrated during the third week of August by Davaoenos, is one of the more popular fiestas in the country. Participants go all out with their costumes, props, and presentations - which end up being truly awesome!

Click here to read the rest of the entry.

Tripper Tips: How to Prepare for a Travel Emergency
(As posted by Nikki)

I’ve been lucky enough to have worked for a multinational company which has allowed me to experience the joys of traveling. Over the past years I’ve encountered problems and emergencies during different trips, though most of these are out of our control we can prepare ourselves so that when they do happen we are ready for the consequences, minimize the impact and more importantly remain a Happy Tripper. Click here to read the rest of the entry.

Travel Journal

At the start of the year I decided to get a travel journal. Fully Booked offered several notebooks and I ended up choosing the Lonely Planet Travel Journal. I liked the color of the sheets, and the bonus sections such as the time conversion, world maps, and trivia on popular destinations. Click here to read the rest of the entry...

Easy Easyjet

My friends and I were supposed to take the train from Barcelona to Paris. The idea was to combine our transportation and accomodation fees into 1. Hey, can’t blame us, the Euro is expensive! We tried to purchase tickets 2 days before our flight to Barcelona from an official representative, the Adventure International Tours, which has a branch in SM Megamall. For some reason, they couldn’t book tickets for us - though there were several seats left, the system kept resulting in errors.

We had to come up with Plan B. ...click here to read the rest of the entry...

Finally finished uploading all of our Europe photos! YAY! It took me to 2 days to upload everything, but it's worth it!

More details in http://www.happytripper.com!

Barcelona's Bus Turistic

With Bus Turistic, it’s very easy to be a tourist in Barcelona. It’s a bus tour with 2 routes that allows you to see the famous Barcelona tourist attractions and go around at your own pace. ...click here to read the rest of the entry...

KLM

We flew KLM when we went to Europe last week. I didn’t have a choice because the airfare was paid for by the office. I didn’t know what to expect - I just knew that KLM was a 3-star airline (according to Skytrax)... click here to read the rest of the entry...

Happy Trip!

Check out the new site that Nikki and I came up with - Happy Tripper!

He approached me with the idea, after reading all my posts and seeing all my travel photos. I love travel, and some might say that it’s “unfortunate” that I only ‘discovered’ it 3 years ago. I see it differently - I’m thankful that I got into this because it’s really wonderful! Travelling allows me to see beautiful places, experience new things, take photos of interesting subjects, and learn about new cultures. And it doesn’t matter if it’s a roadtrip, or a long-haul flight to another country, or a short flight within the country - all of these places offer different things, new experiences, great finds, and of course fantastic photos!

We hope that the blog will inspire others to travel and go on trips too. Come and be a happy tripper like us!

Link up okay? :)

Vigan
Originally uploaded by Carambs!.

Jovan and I went on (yet another) roadtrip for the long weekend of August 25-27. We were supposed to go there last year but I got sick, and we passed it on our way to Pagudpud. So we've been talking about it, and decided to just go during the long weekend. It was perfect timing - I believe that you need at least 3 days to enjoy the place.

We left August 25, a saturday, at around 4AM, and got there at around 11:30AM. We only had 2 major stops - 1 in the North Expressway to have breakfast, and 1 in the Shell station before the right to Baguio. The trip was okay, except for the really bad traffic in Candon, because only 1 lane was functional.

For our accomodations, we chose the Vigan Heritage Mansion because it wasn't "creepy", based on the online reviews I encountered. Plus, it was right beside Calle Crisologo, which is a must-visit in Vigan. We checked in, dropped off our bags, and headed to Cafe Leona, which was supposed to be a popular restaurant there according to our (very worn out) Lonely Planet Guide.

There were a lot of people in Cafe Leona, which I thought was a good sign. Our guidebook did not fail us! First we had to go to the 'display' area where almost all of the available food was displayed, and we picked what we wanted. Be warned - orders were good for 1-3 people - I made a mistake of ordering embutido thinking that I could order 2-3 pieces, and was surprised when they served the whole thing! The food was good - they actually tasted like "home-cooked" food, and not commercialized food. We ordered embutido, chicken in pineapple sauce, fish fillet (which Jovan didn't enjoy as much), and other viands which I forgot already. Obviously, we didn't finish, so we had the food wrapped.

These were the Vigan destinations/activities that we were able to visit/do:

Calle Crisologo - A cobbled street where cars are banned, this street has small stores left and right where you can buy products of Vigan such as woven napkins, handtowels, blankets and bags

Padre Burgos Museum - The birthplace of Padre Burgos which showcases antique furniture, old photos of famous people from the Ilocos Province, paintings of the story of GomBurZa

Kalesa Ride - Not a lot of places offer kalesa rides anymore. But in Vigan, it's one of the major modes of transportation.

The empanada from the plaza is *supposed to be* a specialty, but Jovan got a very upset stomach on the second day. We suspect it was because of the empanada. I heard that Jovan's friend suffered the same fate. I took a bite and nothing happened to me, so we're not a hundred percent sure. Just be warned.

Before we headed to Manila on the third day, we passed by the palengke (wet market) to buy the famous Vigan longganisa and bagnet. It was a different experience for me, but I truly enjoyed it!

We left Vigan at around 9:30AM. We visited the Church in Sta. Maria, the town after Vigan, because it was a Unesco World Heritage site. It was beautiful!

More pictures of our roadtrip here:

For the complete Vigan album, click here.

Baguio Once Again

Jovan and I went to Baguio last July 28-29 for Tour de Baguio, this time. It was my first trip to Baguio for the year and Jovan's second. It was a nice trip because Mom and Dad joined us. We didn't stay at our usual hotel, Hotel Veniz, mainly because they didn't have broadband wifi in the rooms. We stayed at El Cielito Inn instead. We left Manila at 4AM, made 2 stops - 1 for gas and the other for a bathroom break - and arrived in Baguio at around 10AM. El Cielito is a pretty decent hotel, but not as good as Hotel Veniz. There were no elevators, the carpet in the hallway was old, and the doors to the rooms were old as well. The bathroom was really nice though.

After a short nap we headed to Camp John Hay, for our usual strawberry juice from Strawberries and Ice Cream at the Filling Station. We had lunch at Little John's - can't seem to let go of that place, even if their food is getting greasier and greasier. Maybe it's the ambience? We decided to do all the touristy stuff (mainly for my parents) on Saturday so Sunday can be a relaxing day. After lunch we shopped at Mines View Park and Good Shepherd, then went to mass at St. Joseph's. By that time we were so tired so we decided to have an early dinner at Oh My Khan. The food was okay, they offered an above-average mongolian buffet and lots of desserts to choose from.

Of course at night we watched the Tour. We couldn't afford to miss it because it was the final time trial. The wifi didn't work at first, because the connection was down. But we were able to make it work after a while, just in time to watch the favorites.

The next day, Mom and Dad went around Baguio once more without us, as we decided to sleep in (which is what we usually do when we go out of town). We had breakfast, lunch at The Filling Station, excuse for another round of strawberry juice. Then we went home.

Here are some photos:


Best. Strawberry. Juice. Ever.







Click here for my complete Baguio photo album.

Tour de Iba (Iba, Zambales)



Determined to get higher marks in Lakbayan, Jovan and I headed to Iba, Zambales last July 21-22. It was the height of the Tour de France, but we went anyway, and were very lucky that our chosen resort, Palmera Garden, had wifi broadband. Coolness!

Aside from getting a higher mark at Lakbayan, I also wanted to take photos, so I brought my camera (which I have yet to learn, by the way). Here are some photos:









Click here for the complete album.

Jovan and I left Manila at around 8AM. I was thinking of passing by Powerplant to get the Harry Potter book but decided against it. We arrived at Iba, Zambales at around 1PM. We had 2 stops - 1 at Total NLEX to have breakfast at Andok's, and 1 at Luisita for a bathroom break. Palmera Garden is a nice, decent resort to stay at if you just want to get away from Manila. The rooms and the bathrooms are okay, and the food is better than average, though a bit expensive. The resort has a nice pool, and the beach at the back is good enough for sunbathing and swimming.

In the afternoon we slept, and went to the beach to take pictures of the sunset. We overestimated the time - sunset came way after 6PM. We couldn't wait for the actual sunset because of hunger so we left. We went to the town proper to buy water and chips, and bought dinner from Jollibee, to save a bit. The whole night we watched the first time trial of the Tour de France, which Vino won.

We left at 11:30AM after having breakfast. Tour de Iba was officially over. We arrived in Manila after only 3 hours and went straight to Powerplant to get the Harry Potter book.

The girls at C' Italia
Originally uploaded by Carambs!.

I joined the girls last June 2-3,2007 and we went on a roadtrip to Subic and Clark. I was with Joe, Carmela, Cathy, Cookie, Yoj and Angie. We brought two cars, one driven by Cookie, one driven by Angie. First stop was Subic where we had lunch and shopped! Then we went back to Clark where we stayed for the night. We stayed at Monte Vista, in Mimosa. The villa was really nice, and we were lucky that we got it at a promo price of P4,500. We were really tired by then so we just ordered room service for dinner - and what a surprise! The food was actually good! The rest of the night was spent singing. We sang the night away using Yoj's good ol' magic sing.

Stopover at a gas station.


The villa.

Room service. Yummy food!

The next day, we had lunch at C' Italia which I now consider as one of my favorite restaurants. The food was GREAT! Their best seller, the panizza, was a hit with the girls! We met the owner, Chris, who was very accomodating. He toured us around the restaurant and told stories about his famous customers, which included a couple of Philippine presidents (Ramos and Arroyo).

Cristina Panizza

With the owner, Cris.

We got back in Manila at around 6PM, and by that time we were really tired. It was such a fun roadtrip that we decided we would do it again sometime in the future. :)

Complete set of photos here.

My Lakbayan grade is C!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out atLakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.



My other target destinations: Palawan (!), Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Bantayan and Malapascua. Just need to sort out my travels for this year and then I can resume going around the Philippines... :)

Antulang Resort, Dumaguete

I went to Dumaguete with Sharon 2 weeks ago. I went there to take pictures, Sharon went there for the beach. It's a beautiful place, but it's mainly for couples and divers. Here are some pictures:








More pictures posted at Flicker here.
Check out the Antulang website here.

A Year of Travel

As I've mentioned in my latest entries, 2006 was a year of travel for me. Here's a summary of all our travels:

February 22-25: Davao
March: Bae Day Trip
April 29-30: Calatagan
May 13-14: Batangas, Caliraya
May 22-25: Canyon Woods, Punta Fuego, Tagaytay (Teambuilding)
May 26-29: Bohol
June 10-12: Banahaw (Birthday!)
June 23-24: Tagaytay Sleepover, EK
June 30 - July 2: Baguio
July 15: Binan Day Trip
July 29: Subic Day Trip
August 18-21: Davao (Kadayawan!)
September 9-10: Clark (Duathlon)
September 16-17: Pagsanjan
October 7: Batangas Day Trip
October 27-29: Bolinao, Pangasinan
November 24-26: Baguio
December 1-3: La Union
December 16-18: Baguio
December 26-29: Pagudpud

I love it! More to come in 2007! We already have 3 planned - Cebu (for Sinulog) in January, Kuala Lumpur in February, and Iloilo in March. Hopefully we can also travel during Holy Week.

Send suggestions my way please! :)

Kuala Lumpur, here we come!!!

Lester, one of my favorite friends, texted me about the Air Asia sale last October 31. It was perfect, because the options were Kuala Lumpur and Kota Kinabalu, and our Davao 5 group was really interested in Kuala Lumpur. So we booked flights for February 16-21. Guess how much?! P3,290 per person! What a steal! We just have to look for accomodations and tours and we're all set! We will be joined by Mike T, so we'll be called the KL 6 - haha!

TRAVEL

I promised myself that 2006 would be a year of travel for me. I couldn't imagine at that time how it would turn out, but so far, this has been a great travel year. I was able to go to Davao twice, and one of those trips was for the Kadayawan. I was also able to go to Bohol for the first time. And we've had a lot of road trips left and right. I was able to go back to Baguio after 3 years, I was able to go back to Banahaw after 8 years, and I was able to visit new places such as One Hundred Islands, Bolinao, and Caliraya.

So far, so good. I wanted to go to Europe this year, as well as Singapore and Hong Kong (for HK Disneyland), but those can wait. I am expecting 2007 to be another great year full of trips. Actually, I'm hoping that the next 20 (30? 40?) years will be full of travel and trips that will give me new experiences. I can't wait!

To travel...

Since last year, I've been to Bangkok, the US, and Davao. Plus I've had a road trip and I went out of town last weekend. Two more planned trips coming up - one in Bohol, and another in Davao (I know it's a repeat but we're going during the Kadayawan). There could be trips to Banahaw, Banaue, Puerto Princesa and Baguio within the year too. We'll see. Not a lot compared to how others travel. But, so far, so good. Especially for someone who did not travel for a long time. Last time I left the country was 1999 (Hongkong), and last time I travelled within the country was 1997 (Cebu). The last time I was in the US was 1993! What a hiatus! Hopefully, we'll continue to travel and there will be no more long intervals between the trips. My targets in the near future (within the next 2-3 years?): go back to the US or go to Europe, go back to Cebu, go to Singapore, and visit Hongkong again. Interested in Kuala Lumpur too but we'll see...

:)