My Travels for the Year 2011

    The year 2011 is the most travelled year for me. I will always be thankful for the people responsible for making my travels safe and memorable. I was able to put my mark from Luzon to Mindanao plus one international trip pa! I think it is fun to take a peek on those trips one by one...

Galera (January 30)

     

         This started it all. With me were my teamates Debbie David, Esmie Bayawa, Tere Domine, Dinah Salazar, Kristel Riano, Cj Mendoza, Ryan Presaldo and Chad Miclat. We wanted something outdoor and something cheap so Galera Getaway came into being!

       




      The Banana Boat Ride. Something that me and my other friends were not able to try some ages ago.

               And yeah! We did play some volleyball!

Sagada Mountain Province (February)

         I love Sagada! I love the cold weather! The crisp air! The lushness of everything! The food! The people! Their way of living! I love Sagada! I love Sagada! (sigh) Did I say I love Sagada?! hahahah!

Cold?

This is a huge stalagmite inside the Sumaging Cave. 

Bomod-Ok Falls

Spelunking galore! See dark part below? That's steep! "Buwis buhay!"

The Hanging Coffins 

This is Tita Mary. We stayed at her place. 

Super delicioooooooouuuuus! Yuuuuuuummmyyy yogurt!!!!!!!!!

 Potato Salad and Lemon Pie

   . 

Early morning drive.

Bicol < Legazpi, Donsol, Camarines Sur and Caramoan Group of Islands> (April 30- May 3)


          We were ambitious. We wanted to see the Mayon Volcano, the Gentle Giants, try the challenge in CWC and island hopping on Caramoan Islands. Hahaha! And yes we accomplished everything!

So we called ourselves, The Kaladkarins ....Aize Tarnate, Charmaine Hernando, Lai Ibay, Esmie Bayawa, Dinah Salazar, Raffy Lazet, Faye Almoite, Reks Aton, Des Lavado, Debbie David and Chad Miclat.

The classic view of the Mayon Volcano. It was a cloudy day so we didn't see the peak. The Cagsawa Ruins still is mighty and proud.

My first zip line!!!! I thought it was hell but I enjoyed it. I looked forward for more zip lines after this.

Mayon Volcano

The Gentle Giant... the Butanding.

      I love this experience! It was super!After 3 or 4 attempts and and still no sighting,  Manong finally yelled to us, "Look down! Look down!". And there it was. So huge and blue. It was so near us, just a few feet below us... was a little scared at first because it was really approaching us!!! Imagine a size of more than 30 ft Butanding coming   your way! The experience was awesome. I can still recall that moment whenever I close my eyes and think of such. Wow.

Camarines Sur Water Sports Complex (CWC). Trying this stunt was not possible because of the long queue. So I have an unfinished business in Cam Sur after all.

Caramoan Islands Pics

Coron, Palawan ( May 24-27)

Trip with Cel, Ed and Tnoi (first time sa plane).

This picture had been a primary pic on my Facebook account for weeks.  

Feeding the fishes

Cel, Me, Ed and Tnoi

Baraccuda Lake that created the Baraccuda Fear in us. It's so deep!

Simply breathtaking.

Cebu ( July 8)

Birthday trip.....first leg...wishes: Magellan's Cross, Lapu Lapu and the Lechong Cebu. All checked!

Lapu Lapu greeted me "Happy Birthday!"

Megellan's Cross

Lechon minus the sauce... Lechong Cebu!

Bohol (July 9-10)

Still part of my birthday trip....

Second leg this was....

Goals: zipline, plunge, tarsier interaction, Chocolate Hills, lunch in the floating river restaurant, beach of Panglao....

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I took the plunge! It's like bungee jumping 250ft above sea level with a twist of pendulum!!!!

I'll try to upload the video some other time.

Checked!

My second zip line!!!! See how high is it?!

Loboc River's Floating Restaurant. Lunch was at Php 300

Tarsier cuties

 Man-Made Forrest

Post birthday celebration with Tanduay Ice

Camiguin - Bukidnon - CDO (November 5-8)

     This trip was first given a thought while we were in Bicol in May. Same people were involved here with some additionals --- Cyra, Bonnie,Charlie, Tere, Len, Eljay and Jed!

White Island

Sunken Cemetery

 With Debbie and Eljay

I'm not on this pic but i tried this! Asia's longest Zip Line! My 3rd zip line!

 Pineapple Farm

Pinya!!!!

Before the rafting....

By the way,  Aize, who's the second from right, found out that she's pregnant a month after this trip!

White Water Rafting

Too sad lang, while I'm writing this, Sendong just did a massive destruction to CDO... this river, the Cagayan River overflowed. :( Parang kelan lang nasa CDO kami.... my heartfelt prayer for the people of CDO...

  Sulit na sulit 'tong Php 99 eat all you can na 'to!

" Ang Babae sa Ilog"

By the way, I lost my phone, Nokia E52 phone in CDO. 

Hongkong (December 7 & 8)

      Last trip for this year! Originally Eduard should be with us on this trip. He had some other things to attend to so that left me and Cel. Mejo haggard. Dami adjustments. I made the most stupid thing ever on this trip! Is there such a word as stupidest? Well, we booked this flight back in August. Promo of course. The day before my departure, I was about to print my iterinary, I noticed that I was booked for November 7 flight from Manila to Hong Kong! Crap! Isn't that the most stupid thing ever?! As a result, I booked for another flight. I availed the flight from Clark to Hong Kong because it was a lot cheaper. Haays. Me, Myself and  my twin stupidity. 

      Anyways, the moment I was in HK, I forgot that at once. Grr. We only had two days. So much to do. So little time. Thanks Cel for making the planning, research and all. Hats off to you. 

      Tung Chung Station. Station routing to Hong Kong Disneyland. I was alone so I took this pic facing the glass pane inside the train. 

Temple at Nan Liang Garden

The Big Budhha

Charlie Brown

Hmmm... waffle!

Inside the crystal cable car

Fireworks at Hong Kong Disneyland

 Disney Princesses

Mickey Mouse!

Macau ( December 9)

      One-day trip to Macao. From Hong Kong, we took a cruise going to Macao. We availed the complimentary buses of The Venetian Hotel and Wynn Hotel. We took a bus once, and we got lost. There are so many Filipinos in Macao. A lot helped us with directions but since that was our first time, we really have to admit that we messed up. I enjoyed the free taste of Jerky or Jerkies (flattened processed meat). It solved our lunch. The Gondola ride was... well it was ok but hey we're not in Milan. It was so cold!!! I thought we were prepared for the weather but it turned out that I needed to wear blouse inside my plaid top and leggings inside my jeans. I should have borrowed Ed's gloves. 

 Me at The Venetian Hotel

Mirror!!!

 The Jerkies! Flattened processed meat. Free tastes for everyone!

Cel buying pasalubong for her mom.

Haciendera?

 And yes! We got lost! It was so hard finding this bus station!!!

 See the sky? It's fake! It's inside the Venetian Hotel

The Gondola Ride

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       So those were my travels for the year 2011. A total of 7 trips, 6 locals and 1 international. That's 6 plane rides, back and forth. New friends found. Learned a lot of things from my trip. Let me not compute the expenses since I cannot compute the experiences.  I enjoyed the birthday trip the most because:
                 

1. I was alone and for the first time I appreciated  and 

somehow accepted my solitude ( i think the acceptance lasted for three mos.)

2. I conquered The Plunge!!!! Wohoooo!!!

3. I was able to manage with directions all by myself

4. It boosted my self-esteem for some reason

          My second favorite is the Hong Kong-Macau trip. The Disneyland experience and the Macao weather were topnotched.

          Then Coron... grabe the grandeur of the islands, the Sagada feel in Sagada, the Butanding interaction in Donsol, white water rafting in CDO was pure adrenalin... I love them all!! Haays... I love travelling. If only I were a rich kid.... I would like to put check marks on the following domestic trips pa:

Batanes

Vigan (Ilocandia Tour)

Boracay

El Nido

Hundred Islands

Corregidor

Bolinao
Calaguas Islands
Mt. Pulag

Iligan (Ma. Cristina Falls) -- sad, also hit by Sendong

Back to CWC

Surigao

etc...

of course given na yung Europe trip, sige New York trip...Thailand, Singapore etc..hehhehe...

          For the year 2012, I still don't know. I still want to travel but I'm afraid my pockets are in deep pain already. Anyways, I'm so thankful for this year because of these trips. They are priceless.