Ilocandia Tour: Hidden Garden & the Luna Shrine

In this post, I will be sharing to you how we had a blast in Ilocos for only Php 2,995!

So we booked earlier, had our tickets for Php 2,400+ each and enjoyed the rest of our Ilocandia experience with Shawn Sam Travel and Tours.

We all met at the SM Mall of Asia at around 10pm. The flights had been delayed that day so we were an hour or so late. [Shawn Sam Travel and Tours accepted us as joiners so there were like 4 groups in that van.] We arrived at around 6am and had our breakfast at the Hidden Garden Restaurant, which by the way, is 4th among 36 restaurants in Vigan.

It was a looong ride and so we had to fill our stomachs up. Our kind and friendly driver took us to the Hidden Garden where we were to choose among their breakfast meals like the famous Ilocos longganisa, bagnet, bangus and tapa. Sorry, I don't have pictures. We were so hungry! But the bagnet was really good.

After our sumptuous breakfast, we headed straight to the Luna Shrine, the former home of the famous Luna Brothers: Antonio ("The Fiery General" of the Philippine-American War) and Juan (the brilliant painter behind the Spolarium). They were the 2 famous among 7 siblings.

Juan Luna

Statue of Juan Luna & Paz Pardo de Tavera

Pardo de Tavera Family with Friends

Reproduction of the 19th Century Microscope

Letter of Juan Luna to the Overseas Ministry declining his appointment as intern professor at the School of Arts & Crafts in Manila

The room of the Luna sisters

Juan and Antonio Luna

This is all for now. See you in my succeeding posts :)

Pescador-ing by the Sea

When we woke up the following day after the Canyoneering thing, our bodies were all sore. Seemed like we couldn't move our legs! But! That didn't stop us from getting another quickie breakfast and heading off to the beautiful island of Pescador! 

The first thing to do was to look for the lovely dolphins under the sea. We made noise by hitting the boat with whatever hard object we had in our hands and waited until they surfaced. Luckily, we found lots of them! And they weren't irritated by the noise we made. I wish I had food to feed them. They were just so lovely!

 Then we went to Pescador Island, swam for a while and went in the middle of the sea to look for the Pawikan (Sea Turtle). Sorry, I don't have photos to show you but we swam with it and the experience was just soooo nice.

And here's a photo of us just outside the nice little house we stayed at in Moalboal.

And here's our last stop, swimming with the Sardines.

Summer Vacay, All the Way!!!

Where to this summer? Hmmm... To the beach? 

If you're thinking of clear and pristine waters and really breathtaking views, why not spend your vacation in Palawan?

Aside from witnessing 1 of the New 7 Wonders of Nature-- the Puerto Prinsesa Underground River, the things to do there are endless.

Seriously, it's like every spot you see in El Nido makes you feel like you're really away from work. It's just way relaxing and fun to be in Palawan.

When you go for island hopping, you get to visit at least 4 breathtaking islands. I remember one island was named after the snake as its 'sand bar' resembled that of a snake during low tide. Getting late in afternoon and the sand bars slowly disappeared.

We stayed in this pension house where the rates were pretty reasonable considering the ambience and its proximity to the beach line.

During the night, you can walk the busy streets with friends and enjoy the restaurants some foreigners [who have decided to stay in Palawan for good] established in time.

Enjoy the rest of the photos and I hope I somehow gave you that summer-get-away idea!

Mararison Island

All work and no play makes "me" a dull girl. And so does it to the rest of the gang. 

Lately, some never-heard-of islands suddenly pop up the tv screen, get advertised as tourist destinations and boom! There goes tourism.

And one recently talked-about topic was last year's Visayan Batanes-- the Mararison Island found in Culasi, Antique.

This beautiful yet not-so-virgin-anymore island is just about a 10-15-minute boat ride from the town proper.

What struck me the most was the breathtaking view-- one you'd likely get for pre-nup photoshoots. It's really nice and clean. Plus, the water's lovely clear! You'd love to splurge into the water.

For now, enjoy the view and see you next time! Bye. 

Day 3: A Night to Remember

I consider this part of the program the "highlight" and perhaps the happiest since it was a time when no one considered each one an opponent. It was a time when-- though we did come in our assigned costumes or themes-- we just forgot that we had marshals observing our every move, ready to deduct points for every violation we might make that night. 

With Sir Mark Calinawan (Video Editor), Gretchen Eduyan (Marketing Staff-HQ Cebu) and Sir Roel Caparas (Graphic Designer of Focus Magazine, Official Publication of Edmark International)

That night, everyone was exhausted from the running and yelling so we just sat in our seats and listened to the great music as we were serenaded by the band our President, Mr. Jose Y. Urquia, headed. They played a variety of music from perhaps the 60's and 80's. 

This was just a little hazy. Nonetheless, I lurrrve it! :)

And when the music slowly progressed to the hippy type, the people [especially the oldies] knew what they had to do. They stood up, strut their butts off the dance floor and showed me exactly how they did "it" during their time. And I swear, it was the best! Really. It was way, way better than what I saw in the movies.

FYI: This part of the program began the night of the 2nd until early the next day... So please. No violent reactions from those who were able to attend. *wink*

Too early for bed, Che! Wake up!

There was actually a contest that night. There were groups who wore costumes with themes of gods and goddesses, the Army, cosplay, cowboy/cowgirl, etc.  I really liked the group belonging to those who had to portray Greek gods and goddesses because they were effortless! Seriously. I kept on wondering why their costumes looked so familiar. It was only after I had my shower in our cabin that I realized: "Hey! They used the shower curtains!" Hahaha.

My team was tasked to wear something that reminded people of the 70's. Thus, my yellow bell-bottoms. Love it? Hahaha. I got if from my mom's closet.

My mom used to wear clothes in ternos (Spanish for "matching"). However, that kinda style is no longer "in" today so I usually go for colorful yet formal outfits. And I didn't wanna appear "Imeldific" so I just wore what you see in the photos above.

Anyway, I think this is all for now. Til next time. Ciao! :)

Photo Credits: Gretchen Eduyan, Roel Caparas

Weekend Getaway @ Sta. Barbara Golf Course

Hello there! I know it's been such a long time since my last post but I do have lots of good stories to share. New career path. New friends. New people. New environment.

For now, I give you this post about my weekend during the Holy Week. It had always been work, work, work for me so we decided to take a day off from the city life. Haha.

Isn't this darling amazing? Well what do y'know? A pink golf car. :)

This shot was taken by (clearing my throat) yours truly. Haha. The guy you see in the picture is my co-worker. He's our Marketing Assistant at Edmark Philippines.

This is where I presently work at. My love and desire to be in sales never left me.

Thus, I'm now working for this company and I hope to reach something I can't quite share with you right now. Whatever it is, know that it's always for the good of all. Haha. I sound like some sort of politician talking a crowd into voting for him.

So, these pictures were actually taken at a golf course in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo. 

It's a few minutes' ride from the Iloilo International Airport.

Can't make the ball get in the whole with the club so I opted to have my photo taken with the ball instead. Ahahaha.

And this photo's what I love the most. This is such a romantic place. People can have their weddings here. As a matter of fact, Injap Sia, then owner of Mang Inasal (he still gets about 30% of the sales made from all Mang Inasal outlets) attended the reception of his cousin in this same golf course. It was a beautiful wedding attended by very important people including a prime minister of a certain country that I forgot. Haha.

Anyway, that's all for now. Till my next blog posts :) See yah!