I WANT!

because i feel like a little spoiled brat right now, i'm going to throw a blog tantrum and (semi)demand the things i want in this blog!!!

1. I WANT DAVID ARCHULETA TO COME BACK TO THE PHILIPPINES!

2. I WANT TO MEET UP WITH PUCK IN BORACAY!

3. I WANT TO SPEND A WEEK IN BORA, AND SLEEP ALL DAY ALONG THE SHORE!

4. I WANT TO GO SHOPPING AND NOT THINK OF WHETHER I OVERSPENT OR WHERE I'M GOING TO WEAR THIS AND THAT!

5. I WANT TO WATCH JUSTIN BIEBER

6. I WANT PERFECT BEACH WAVES WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING TO MY HAIR!!

7. I WANT TO GO BACKPACKING AROUND EUROPE, GET LOST, SLEEP IN HOSTELS, MEET A STRANGER, AND SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE IN THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD

8. OH I ALSO WANT TO GO TO INDIA, DANCE JAI HO AND BUY THE SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE DVD (this is will soooo do in the future)

9. I WANT TO BUY ALL THE KATE SPADE BAGS. AND JUST STARE AT THEM. SO PREETTY.

10. I WANT TO BE LIKE OPRAH, SHE GETS PAID 1000 BUCKS FOR EVERY 10SECONDS SHE LIVES.

11. I WANT TO GO SKY DIVING FROM AN AIRPLANE AND LAND SOMEWHERE FOREIGN

this list will be updated. i'm so not yet done.

bloggers are spoiled brats. when they are unsatisfied with some sort of service, they threaten to blog bad things about it. and when they do, they expect their demands be attended to and be given special treatment by the service provider. hay nako. so spoiled naman.

BORACAY!

Went to BORA last April 2nd week. haha we spent 4 nights and 5 days there!
this is not a review on anything bora because it would be overrated and unnecessary. haha!

DAY -1
I went drinking with "friends" and had a busy day thinking my flight to Bora the following day was at 12 midnight. (don't react yet) I got a text from Gar saying she was going to pick me up at 8. so okay! i went home at 3am, slept at 4...

see. 12 midnight.

DAY1
Gar texted "ano gusto mo from starbucks?" and i said to myself, half-awake, ang aga naman nito magtanong! mamayang gabi ba yun ah! i replied that i didn't want anything, thinking I didn't want coffee at 8pm. an hour later, someone rung the doorbell. I woke up and went to see who it was, as i was not expecting anyone that early, not the laundry ladies, not the guard, not delivery guys. It was Gar. I stared for awhile, and she finally said "timee 12 ng hapon flight naten!!!" HAHAHAHAH So i flew around my condo, took a bath under 3 minutes, dumped whatever i could pack (good thing i packed 80% of my bag a few days earlier) and left. HAHA SORRY GAR!
The hotel staff picked us up at the airport, and then met up with Lei and Nino at the jetty port (they flew to Kalibo instead of Caticlan) hay nako, hangover. haha

we didn't do much anything that day, since we arrived in the hotel at around the 430. We stayed at the Royal Park Hotel in Station 1. You know that place at the end of the path going to Station 1? The hotel before you turn right to where Club Paraw and Guilly's are? The hotel before that big big private lot? That's Royal Park!
During my past trips to Bora, I would see this place everytime we pass by, and assume that it was very pricey since it was super Beach front. (as in no restaurants or anything in front, outside the hotel is the beach!) But no! for 4 nights and 5 days, with free breakfast daily and 2 dinners, free transfer from airport to jetty port to hotel, you'll only have to pay as much as P12k! (thank you to our sponsor ehem, thanks Garnet Keh!) And because the service was really very welcoming and friendly, I RECOMMEND THIS HOTEL!! They're all sooo nice and so accommodating! The room wasn't bad! Since we spent most of the day outside, our stay in the hotel was really relaxing. No problems with the airconditioning, the bathroom was soo huge you can do a cartwheel inside, and there's free wifi! WE LOVE ROYAL PARK! :)

We ate at I love BACKYARD BBQ in the D'Mall. Delicious dinner! We had Pork Belly and Chicken BBQ, suuuper yummy! You'll only have to spend P200-400 per meal. Place is nice and very BBQ-y. whatever that is. haha

picture from here

pic from here

Then we headed to this place called Bombom Bar just outside D'Mall. It's a very cozy place to hang out, drink and listen to reggae music, sometimes acoustic. and then you'll hear Boracay locals singing their singles like "Bora, Bora, Bora, Boracay" and "I want to go back to the island of Boracay" HAHA! Cool waiters. "kuya, anong best seller cocktail nyo?" kuya: "ewan" hahaha!

pic from here

We met up with Vic in Bombom too, it was his "last" night in Bora daw. HAHA! Who else did we see in Bora? LOTS OF ATENEANS!! Some from our batch, some from very older batches, and most from the graduating batch. We saw so many familiar faces, it was like walking along SEC, just with sand. I wanted to order something with milk, so the waiter (the one who had a clue) suggested White Russian and Boracay Mix. (turns out, Boracay mix wasn't on the menu and the Barista had it made especially for us. haha!) Pero White Russian na talaga favorite ko. sobrang sarap. It wasn't so tapang, tama lang. :)


DAY 2
We had breakfast in our room, and headed out to the beach to swim. After that, we waited for Keshia to arrive. For lunch, we wanted to eat in Andoks and Mang Inasal para tipid. But there was just sooo many people, wiz. So we went to this place called Smoke along the small alley behind Andoks. Buti nalang it was already 2pm and there were fewer people, unlike Andoks, 24/7 may tao. haha You should try their Sizzling Bulalo!!! SUPER YUMMY! The dish is good for 2-3 people already. Their liempo was good too, according to Gar. I ordered Pork Belly (or something to that effect haha), it was okay. :)

pic from here

busog and satisfied turistas! haha!
(pero sa picture di pa kami kumakain nyan, kunwari nalang haha!)

We went around a little bit, shopped a little. Went back to the hotel to drop some bombs (TMI!!! AHAHA) Had our coffee fix at Starbucks. The funny thing was, on our way to D'Mall, someone said "pa sosy!" to us while we were drinking our starbucks drinks. "LIBRE PA KITA EH!" sabi ni Gar hahaha We went to D'Mall for manipedis (pero sa totoo manicure lang haha! para kunwari "sosy" haha!) at Chanet Spa in D'Mall. Nice ladies. Though nagkwentuhan lang kami all throughout and someone shushed us. Lei and Nino went for a massage just outside the hotel. After our afternoon rendezvous, we all went back to the hotel to relax.


For dinner, we went to OBAMA Grille. We had Crispy Pata, Liempo, and Kangkong. SUPER YAMMY!!!!!!! I've heard bad reviews about this place, like it was too pricey (yes, it was kindof) and the food weren't that delicious; i think you guys just ordered the wrong dish!! haha We loved Obama! They ordered a bucket of Red Horse, while I, non-beer drinker, got my White Russian fix. EH MAS MATAPANG!!!!!! hahahah but it was still zooper yummy. :)

nahilo sa mas matapang na White Russian.

happy obama customers! bwahaha

We weren't exactly your partypeople, so we stayed at Bombom Bar again. Victor, who decided to stay for one more night, went drinking with us too. haha!
There were 6 kinds of shots on the shooters menu. Since there were 6 of us, Nino ordered ALL. The deal was, the waiter wasn't allowed to tell us what the shots were and what was in it. And we had to GRAB whatever we could and drink it up.
you can see my perfectly manicured hand grabbing the "orange drink" first, violating our "rules". The waiter was lighting up the other drinks, and I didn't want to drink the shots with flames, so i grabbed the safest looking drink. (eh bakit di ko nalang kinuha yung may milk)

before
after
please also ask Lei, Gar and Vic how the shot was. HAHA

THEN. I felt my mouth bursting into flames (metaphorically). It was soooooo hot I screamed for water. literally. The waiters, upon hearing my "WATER KUYA!!! TUBEGGGG!!!!!" laughed so hard because they knew i got the shot with tequila and TABASCO. i died. The next round of shots, I quickly grabbed the one with milk, not knowing it was also the one with flames. KEBS! I'd rather drink flames than TABASCO! (or walang difference) It was yummy, except I think I tasted the gas of the lighter, so I screamed for water again, thinking I was going to die, again. The rest of the night was just fun and EPIC HAHAHA (diba Gar? details shall not be expounded further. hihi!) I really really want to blog about what happened later that night, as those were the highlights of this trip. HAHA!! wag nalang baka masampal ako! hahahah!!
Ordered another round of Boracay Mix and Baileys with Melk. HAHAHAHA (meanie!) It rained hard that night, and I got so wet (idk why) so we had to go home already. I CANNOT KWENTO FURTHER HAHAHA!!!

DAY3
Whatever happened to early morning swimming and breakfast. We all woke up at 11am and still went swimming. Keshia's mom invited us for lunch so around 2pm, we went to Boracay Regency in Station2 for their buffet dinner.

Thank you Keshia's mom!! :)

Walked around D'Mall a little bit, went shopping, etc etc... we were too tamad to do anything that day. haha So we slept a little in the hotel. HAHA!

This time, we went to Summer Place to see what the fuss was about in ETC's Summer Switch party. Keshia's friend was from Polecats (pole dancing school), so we went to see them pole dance too. It RAINED. So they had to transfer everyone, everything, the poles inside. Ang galing nila!!!!!! Wala akong masabi. Kaya wala na akong sasabihin.
DAY 4
Lei and Nino had to leave since they booked their ticket a day early, so it was just Keshia, Gar and I. we transferred to a smaller room, which was the same size. haha basta the accommodations were so nice! :) we just went around, nag sawa sa isaw and chori burger, jonahs and yellow cab.
finally decided to push through with the Helmet Diving.
at first i thought i was going to die. promise. not because nakaka claustrophobic yung helmet, or feeling mo malulunod ka dahil sobrang bigat nung helmet, haha. But the pressure in your ears as you go down kasi, nakakabaliw!!!! as in feeling mo sasabog na utak mo ganung level. the key is to just keep on swallowing your saliva daw, or blow through your nose. after awhile, nag normalize na yung pressure and i was able to enjoy 10 minutes under water. although parang hassle siya kasi we couldn't move so much. parang, sana, nag swimming nalang talaga ako, even without the helmet at kahit goggles nalang. i think 15 minutes would've been enough. 30 minutes daw kasi dapat eh. hahahaha!

after helmet diving, we had super late lunch at 4pm at Yellow Cab. bagong bago. never tried it before bwahah tapos natulog, yun lang naman.

during our last night we had drinks at Epic! this waiter looked like Gerald Anderson, di namin napigilan kumuha ng picture. hahaha
Kami na. ang happy bora vacationers.

what is super late post. HAHAHA hope everyone enjoyed their summer! :)
(but i promise, you should stay at our hotel. if you don't necessarily need fancy accommodations, and just a matinong place to stay, should definitely go to Royal Park)

Just so you know.....

I left my job to pursue further studies. I'd be lying if I said that that was the only reason I left. Will not expound further, will cause more complications in life.

Many times this year I've also doubted myself in many ways. Am I really for this profession? And now, I'm in "i-just-want-to-try-other-things-before-I-make-up-my-mind stage". I'm afraid of pursuing this further studies option because I might not be so sure that this was what I wanted to do forever. I'm very sure I'd like to do this, I'm just not sure of myself saying that I'm sure of it. hay. i don't make sense.

But yes, I enjoyed my time and stay in BIS, i really did. And if this were a different life, a different situation, in a different circumstance, I could've stayed. Oh but this is reality. This is just me.

And now i'm just stuck. I'm stuck in Iloilo and I'm not very sure now of what to do with my life, I don't have a plane ticket going back to Manila yet, and I just don't know what to do next. I used to be so sure of my plans in life, but the tides have changed and I've lost my track. And my self-esteem has been so down lately, I've been hating myself a lot, a whole lot. I used to know how to deal with 'me' whenever this wave of emotional instability rocks my world, and now I'm not so sure what to do really.

If you're sitting there thinking, 'ha! this girl used to be so sure of what she's doing with her life and now she's just stuck, unemployed with no future plans' well at least no one dictates how I live my life thank you very much. (this stanza is especially dedicated to-- don't worry not applicable to all of you reading this.) I am in control, sorry, you don't get to drive this ship. :)

btw, i'm not sad or depressed, i'm not exactly ecstatic about this either. I've also developed numbness and have decided to feel nothing to avoid further emotional instability.

If you ask me anything about my future, I'll just tell you, IDK. :)

omg is something wrong with me! hahaha

CEBU!!!

I'm in BORACAY now, but to kill time for the meantime while waiting for the hotel people to move us to a new room (no, they're great, we're just moving to a new room haha), i'm going to blog about my CEBU trip first!! :)

DAY 1
our flight to Cebu was around 10 and we got to NAIA3 early, so we ate at Shakeys.

SERVICE bad! We ordered a basket of chicken and mojos, and instead, we got a basket of Chicken and GARLIC BREAD. Waiter said they didn't have mojos anymore, so they replaced it with bread. sana man lang sinabi nila!!
sad customers with a basket of chicken and garlic bread.

anyway, a few minutes later, waiter returned with a 5 pieces of tiny mojo slices and said they had their mojos delivered. ay nako!

the funny part of it all, when we left, the waiter said "thank you maam, sir, please come again!" uhhhmmmmmmmmmm.... sige po ha, check ko po kung mapapadalas ako sa naia3. hahahaha

we stayed at my tito and tita's house in Lahug. Thank you Tito Jap and Tita Ati! :)

my cousins Alyssa and Ava, fooling around early in the morning!

THE REAL DAY 1

we commuted our way to White Sands Beach Resort in Mactan. we went to Ayala, rode a jeep that said "highway", got dropped off at some point, and rode the jeep that said "Mepza" HAHAHA then we got off Savemore after the Mactan Bridge, and then maybe we gave up so we took a cab all the way to the resort. HAHAHA

White Sands Beach Resort, Mactan

panget ng beach. i mean, in the pictures it looked nice and big. but when we got there, it was all dirty, lumot-y, and low tide. i can forgive the lowtide, but it was a beach you wouldn't want to swim in. soooooo. nevermind.

If you forget the beach, White Sands makes your stay worthwhile. For just P600, you can use all the facilities (eh beach and pool lang naman) plus the sumptuous lunch buffet. They served Japanese food when we went there, and it was good. :)
If you really want an awesome awesome only in Cebu beach resort, i wouldn't really recommend this. But if you want to go to a peaceful (check!), quiet(check!) and relax-friendly resort, then yes, White Sands is the place to retire. :) i give it 2.5 stars! hahaha


after going to the beach, we went straight to Crown Regency in Fuente Osmena for the Sky Experience Adventure. We've heard a lot about it so we gave it a try! CRAZY.

I SURVIVED SKYWALK EXTREME!!

for P750, you can avail of the entrance fee, 2 rides (edge coaster and skywalk) and a free shirt! You're not allowed to bring cameras during the rides because obviously, they might fall. But don't worry, Crown Regency has official photographers to document your experience. After the rides, they show you your pictures in the monitor and you get to pick which ones you like printed. Too bad, you're not allowed to take a picture of the monitor or get soft copies. Each printed photo costs P230. So better make sure you pose for good photos. HAHAHA

EDGE COASTER was crazy. The crazy 37 storey high ride was insane and fun!! When the ride starts, the seat will tilt you all the way to its maximum (see Lei's tilted seat, that's a little bit nearer to the max) and then the following tilts is up to you. you have the controls. super kaba lang because you feel like falling talaga. conyo? hahha

During the skywalk, our knees were terribly shaking. Before going on the walk, we even said "dapat mag jumpshot tayo." But no, when you're out there, you won't want to jump, or even walk further. hahaha!! 37 frikkin storeys high. But it was fun. A tour guide will show you around Cebu from the tower.
After the rides, we hung out first on the deck where there were coin operated binoculars. We took photos with the amazing view, etc etc etc. I say, it's an experience worth trying! 4.5 stars for them!

They should have more rides though. parang sayang yung 750 na dalawa lang. One more thing, when you go through with this, you have to savor it. ako kasi nakapikit at ayaw tumingin sa sights. hahahahaha so parang nasasayangan din ako kasi i got scared. hahaha!

we went to Casa Verde in IT Park for dinner. We ordered their version of Yellow Cab's Twice Baked Potato Halves, it was sooo yummy! :) their specialty was Baby Back Ribs, and we were hungry then so we decided to order 2, not knowing their servings were huuuge!!! one plate could feed 3! It was sooo yummy, that's all we had. haha! And in all fairness, it's very affordable! Prices range from 200-350 per dish.

VUDU in Crossroads Banilad
I lived in Cebu for around 10 years before we moved to Iloilo. and from what I remembered, Banilad was a far far place we never really went there, or ewan. haha. So I thought of skipping Vudu and just go to the nearest party place in IT Park, which was The Loft. Buti nalang, Leinard insisted we check Vudu out. it took us less than 5 minutes to get there from IT Park. HAHAHA SOBRANG LAPIT LANG PALA. hahaha
Since our good friend, Nicole Cambal, recommended that we go to VUDU, we went. uhhmmm.. not much of a party people, but place was good. :) that's all i can say. young crowd. crowd was younger than us. yun lang. haha

and yes, goodjob to Kate for waking up at 4:30 for her 5:45am flight. HAHAHA

DAY 2
Since it was just Leinard and I, we decided to push through with our plans of cultural immersion! We waited for the rain to stop, but then it didn't, so we left the house after having lunch. We were asking directions on how to commute to Sto. Nino Church and the Magellan's Cross, and we kind of got it, but then figured we'd take the cab instead. HAHAHA

We finally found Sto. Nino Church. The ladies in yellow skirts with candlesticks kept on saying "pasinulog kayo maam? ser?" and Leinard explained that for a certain fee, you can ask them to dance-slash-pray for you in any specific aspect of your life, you name it; love, career, family, etc. We purchased ALL the candles (haha!) since it was a "package deal" from one kind lady, and she offered it for just P100. So we watched them dance-slash-pray for us, and in fairness, hindi nga naman umulan the next day. we so prayed for the rain to stop. haha! Leinard and I posing in front of the Magellan's Cross.
infairness kay Ate, she took different angles of this picture. sanay na sanay na sa mga turista! hahaha

The inside of the church was amazing. I cannot expound, but if you're into culture and architecture and stuff like that, then yes, it is amazing. We saw this long line and we assumed it was leading to the Sto. Nino statue. Line was long, but didn't take that long to reach the end. There were paintings around so you could take pictures and see the paintings while waiting in line. We saw this; the first Philippine Wedding. awwww. sino kaya sila?

While waiting inside that chapel, we saw this couple praying together. aww.

After visiting the church, it was still raining so we hailed a cab and went to Taoist Temple. Now I advise you NOT TO GO TO TAOIST TEMPLE WHEN:
a. when you do not have your own means of private transportation
b. WHEN IT'S FRIKKIN RAINING!!!

The Great Wall Of China, Taoist Temple Cebu (loko lang yung great wall)

You can light an incense and, uhm, pray to their Gods. You can't take pictures of their Saints though, they're very strict with this. BASTA NEVER GO THERE WHEN IT'S RAINING. The temple was so high and the floors were very slippery.
Nevertheless, it was still beautiful. View from the top was breathtaking. There's a souvenir shop if in case you want to impulsively buy a P4k figurine. HAHA
When we got down, we prayed that it would stop raining and that we could find a cab. We had other trips to make to complete our cultural immersion, but in this weather, heyyl no. So after minutes of waiting, we found a cab who dropped off his passenger at the temple too. We decided to head to Ayala to watch............ Black Swan. HAHA!

We proceeded to have dinner at Sunburst! ohhh my childhood! In the Terraces, also in Ayala.
Never leave Cebu without stopping by Sunburst. We had desserts at The Dessert Factory also at the Terraces in Ayala.
Lei got Banana Split, while I, got death by chocolate (3 different kinds of chocolates in 3 layers.)


DAY 3
It no longer rained that day so we were excited to head to Mactan to visit LapuLapu. But before that, we had Dimsum at JY Square sponsored by Tito Jap! Thaaaaank youuuu! :) Never leave Cebu without stopping by any Dimsum place, check out Harbour City in Ayala or SM too. :) oh myyyyy this is my childhood!! Every Sunday, no fail, we would go to Harbour City in SM for lunch. My dad would have his chicken wings, and I, the sweet and sour shrimp ball, egg siomai and steamed rice. Nothing like that in Manila!!! (no pictures as our camera died)



The sun was shining and we finally commuted all the way across Mactan to go to Lapu Lapu Shrine, or as Kate would like to call it "Mactan's Cross" (we don't really know which one she means hahaha!)

Now, if you're not into cultural immersions, then you don't need to go to Lapu Lapu Shrine because there's just Lapu Lapu standing there. That's it. I was expecting something more from it, like it would look like Luneta. But no, it was just it. I wasn't disappointed, i'm just glad i finally saw it and got it over with. haha!


Behind his majesty's shrine is an array (array!) of tiangges selling trinkets, souvenirs, shirts and pasalubongs. I went gaga over the accessories because it was SUPER CHEAP! :) For P250, i was able to purchase 7 necklaces and 3 bracelets! You can find necklaces for as low as P10 up to P100 for 3 pcs. DIBA! DUN AKO NAG WALA! HAHAHA And I bought a pair of Espadrilles-kuno (i personally don't like Espadrilles. but not when it has carebears all over it haha) for P200 which i haven't used yet. HAHA. carebears espadrilles. hahaha.

We commuted our way back to SM to buy pasalubong. I don't know what I got, but they were mostly for me anyway. HAHA!

Our Cebu trip was EPIC. It was the first time I really saw Cebu, despite having lived there for the first 10 years of my life. It was also nice going back to those places I used to go to when I was a kid. :) I think we spent our time longer in Cebu. We weren't able to go to Tops and Fort Santiago/Pedro (whatevs haha) even though we had much time in our hands.