Situated on the north eastern side of the town center - Signal Hill, is a natural area where one can peacefully enjoy Kota Kinabalu's skyline with a spectacular view that extends to Likas Bay and to the islands.
I received my copy of the Lost Diary of Rizal almost over four months ago from the author herself, yet only had the chance to start reading it during an 8-hour butt-numbing trip to Laoag City
Can you guess mine?
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Flying in without any reservations for a place to stay, without any itinerary of places to go, not even having a simple map of the city wasn’t exactly what I had in mind for my first trip abroad. All I had were tips and bits of information taken from the travel blogs of my friends Gael and Gay written on my notebook as I hopped into my AirAsia flight bounded for Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia
Rules are simple:
1) Blogger is nominated to take part
2) Blogger publishes his/her 7 links on his/her blog – 1 link for each category.
- Your most beautiful post
– Your most popular post
– Your most controversial post
– Your most helpful post
– A post whose success surprised you
– A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved
– The post that you are most proud of
3) Blogger nominates up to 5 more bloggers to take part.
4) These bloggers publish their 7 links and nominate another 5 more bloggers
5) And so it goes on!
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Who would’ve thought that I’ll be able to finally see the Chocolate Hills this year? A place that I could only dreamt of seeing back in grade school as I read about it in our SIBIKA books. Of course this was the time when I thought a plane ride (domestic or abroad) would sure to cost an arm, a leg, and lung. Maybe what keeps me from travelling to the places I would really love go to is that I really don’t know where to go or what to do when I get there and as a newbie traveler, I’m scared to go alone and be carefree. Luckily this time, a good friend of mine, Myke, is from Bohol and he was going to take a vacation with his family there and invited me to tag along. An opportunity I just couldn’t passed up, so upon hearing that, I filed my vacation leave and booked a ticket!
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| Book 1 to 5 (image from http://hisashi26.multiply.com) |
Just recently I was able to watch a documentary on a local news channel about discovering the true identity of the infamous writer, Bob Ong, And though I am a big fan of his works, I wasn’t really aware that he maintained his anonymity through out all these years given his legion of fans and a bunch of best sellers to boast for, and I guess that made me respect him even more.
Bob Ong is a true-blue Filipino writer who writes in Filipino with a bit of Taglish for flavor, as quoted in one of his books “Kung ako ay isang walang kwentang manunulat, english ang isusulat ko, para kahit anu anu ang sabihin ko hindi na nila mahahalata.. Kaya nga ako nagsulat sa tagalog para maintindihan ng mambabasa ang lahat ng sinasabi ko.”. He has such a simple and relaxed style that makes it easy for me, who’s not very fond of reading, to get hooked and even be inspired to write as well. I’m sure many were.
I've been browsing through some of my photos in my old blog and found these babies. I did a short photo walk back then around the Capitol grounds in Lingayen to showcase the great initiative of the current governor, Hon. Amadeo Espino, to revived this historical site, especially the Capitol building which is now a tourist attraction of its own.
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I'm now open for freelance work for weddings, birthdays, and other events within Pangasinan and nearby areas. You may email me at joshua.uy@gmail.com for more details.
Thank you! :)
see more photos after the jump :)
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| Early Morning Nature Trip: Touring Brgy. Busao |
It was the last day of my four-day stay with the Namoc Family at Brgy. Busao, Bohol and I was still tinkering with the possibility of extending my sojourn by filing an additional leave and re-booking a flight from Tagbilaran City straight to Manila. But alas my prolonged absence from the office would equate to piles and piles of work that needed to be done upon my return, so I decided that it was best to just stick with the original plan
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It was not as extravagant as last year's Festival of the North, but the Gilon-Gilon still gave Dagupeños a lot to cheer about amidst the obviously growing political war among their city officials, spearheaded by the Mayor and Vice-Mayor themselves.
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For the moment, let me just share some of the most unusual jumpshot photos I took of my friends during sunset at Patar :)
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| I know... hindi siya jumshot, the jumpshots after the jump :D |
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This wasn't exactly the setting that I was hoping for for my first coverage, especially that I'm just starting to learn the basics, but hey, its family, I was asked a favor and at the same time I just can't stand it if they pay for a low-cost photog who can't really shoot... yep, I've seen a lot of those people , so why not me, its not gonna be as good as Nelwin Uy's (sobrang layo), but hey atleast its free... :)
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| The cover for an 8x8 coffee table book type album |
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Today I received my very first post card from abroad and I'm just so thrilled about it that I need to share it here /XD
/blush It was sent to me by my good friend Micamyx when she was in the UK and though she's back here in the country prior to the delivery of the card, just seeing London in front of the post card and reading the first line 'Greetings from UK! =)' , parang gusto ko na bang tumambling :)) ganun pala feeling, sorry, its my first time to receive one, kumbaga, virgin pa ko sa ganyan :P anyway, her message reads:
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Exactly a week ago from now, I was lying in the sand napping at Patar Beach in Bolinao. I was there for a formal pre-nup shoot and what a way to relax after a long tiring day than to just lay down lifeless in the sand, breeze of ocean air cooling my body, and the sound of waves gently crashing into the shore gives off a very soothing sound almost like a lullaby. It was my second time staying at Patar Beach in the span of four weeks and I was thinking I should do it more often. Almost everything I need to have a perfect weekend was there, cheap cottages to sleep in, convenience store for food and the quiet surroundings. But the things that seems to bother me is the rough sand and ocean floor. Hmmmm well given that it's still one of the better beaches in the country, lying in the rough sand made me remember Tambobong Beach.
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| The Hidden Paradise that is Tambobong |
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A lot of people were told to stay indoors before dark, but I was at my friend's house drinking tequila til 11PM (guess I was indoors :D ). During the drive home, I didn't actually notice the difference in size of the moon but it sure was bright that you cannot really look directly into it, or it was just me? :) I also noticed that there was a multi-colored halo surrounding it, so after I got home at around 12MN, I grab my tripod, set it up on the balcony, and charan! see photo below :D I thought, this wasn't a premonition for a natural disaster, but a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see something beautiful :)
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Banderitas?. ‘Check!’ Summer Heat? Check! Festive atmosphere? Check! It’s almost that time of the year again when the City of Dagupan celebrates its annual BANGUS FESTIVAL for 2011! A month-long festivity highlighting Dagupan as the country’s Bangus (Milkfish) mecca. It attracts thousands and thousands of tourists and every year it seems that the crowd just keeps on growing, as the festival itself becomes bigger and better.
The first Bangus Festival was initiated by Mayor Benjie Lim way back in 2002 to coincide with another festival, the Pista’y Dayat (Festival of the Sea). It garnered worldwide attention in 2003 when it earned a place in the Guiness book of world records as the ‘Longest Barbecue Grill in the World’. The Festival usually starts at the first week of April and last until May 1 (Pista’y Dayat).
Personally, I’m really excited for this year’s celebration as the so-called ‘Father of Bangus Festival’ is back at the helm. I was a bit disappointed though after seeing the logo for this year. Comparing it to the previous logos, there’s no ‘FUN’ in it and it even looks more kinda like a logo for a party list running for a seat in Congress. But hey, that’s just me and the logo :D , I’m sure this year’s festival will be better than ever before as the activities will be held back in the main streets of Dagupan City where it truly belongs.
I’m inviting everyone to come and join us in celebrating arguably one of the biggest festivals in the country. To come here, you just ride a bus (Victory, Five-Star, Santran, De Leon with Wifi, etc.) that says DAGUPAN. To look for a place to stay, go to google.com and in the search box, type “places to stay in Dagupan City”, sounds simple, right? For anymore questions, just simply leave a comment :) You can find the complete schedule of activities below after a few of my shots from last year's parade, please try not to be disappointed with the shots though :D
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Anyhoo, one my recent trips was at Pampanga during the Hot Air Balloon Festival. I was with three other bloggers and a Pokemon. Darwin, the comically-dramatic one; the great and almighty Marky; Cai the diva and apple of Darwin's eye; and ofcourse there was Snorlax :D and as much as I want to elaborate further, this post is all about Cai and not about that trip. Cai recently started a weekly project entitled "project 52 looks" on her blog, PinkUrinal.com and with that, I finally have her approval to post my photos of her during our Bolinao trip. So Darwin, enjoy :))
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| :D more photos after the jump |
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| Photo by Master Olga Villanueva :D |
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| The Unboxing! /wahaha |
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The year 2010 just ended after I took a snap of that photo above. I closed my eyes and thank God for the wonderful healthy year that was again added under my belt. I have to say 2010 is one of the most fruitful year I've had for the last 23 years of my existence. It started with me having a good-paying job (well that's because I'm in the province :)) No starbucks to drained you here, 7 pesos lang ang 3-in-1 ngarud! :D ) that allowed me to offset my liabilities versus my assets... finally.... Two, the experience I gained with my current job, processing general documents, attending court hearing, countless hours of interacting with government employees and whilst most of the time irritating, I consider it priceless. Those were real-life lessons that I have not learnt in college but will surely serve me well in the future.And though my job is starting to get really frustrating at times, I have things still to be thankful for such as the friendship I share with my colleagues/ supervisor. Which I think is what still keeps me going. 'Dahil sa kanila, nasa work pa rin ako, at sumisweldo pa rin' =)) better be frustrated lang than be broke and frustrated :))
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