Something to Share About Sagada

It was Halloween 2011 when my group of travelling buddies went to Sagada, Mountain Province primarily to witness the ‘Panag-apoy’, a ritual to coincide with the observance of the All Souls day and All Saints day where locals would literally lit the whole cemetery on fire, a ritual that is steadily gaining a wide audience from curious souls like us year by year.

Sagada Cemetery : Going to lit this place on fire for the Panag-apoy

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A Love Letter To Japan

Dear Japan,

I’ve been thinking about you a lot for too long. I don’t know if you’ll believe me but it seems that I just can’t get you out of my mind since the first time I saw you 12 years ago. You might think that I’m being cheesy about saying stuff like these, cause I know a lot of people are also into you that you might think I’m just like everybody else, they may even be writing the same love letter as of this very moment, but still, here I am, hoping, hoping that this simple note maybe enough for you to notice me.

You know what, I can still remember it clearly up to this day, it was during the days when my passion for travel and adventure was nil. Back then, I never thought of exploring different places and experience different culture or even thought that I’ll have the interest in doing so. Then one evening, I just happen to catch a documentary about you, your people, and your culture airing on the now defunct ‘RPN 9’. The show was very simply made, very plain and boring actually, and the monotonous commentary was just uninspiring, yet your natural beauty shone through. Your unique and rich culture was enthusing and your proud and highly disciplined people, admirable. These were enough to stimulate my imagination without the need of any special effects. And then guess what, from that very moment, I started to love everything about you, and my love for you just grew and grew, and until now has never faded. I’m writing you this letter to let the world know why I do. To let them know the things I found so attractive about you, these will serve as my inspiration and I’m hoping you’ll hear it too.

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A Look Back at Bangus Festival's Gilon-Gilon 2011

Gilon-Gilon Street Dancing

Just in time for the start of Bangus Festival 2012, I'm reposting some of my shots of the Gilon-Gilon Street Dancing last year.

Gilon-Gilon, which literally means as rich fish harvest, is one of the highlights of the month-long Bangus Festival. This features contestant from the 31 different barangays of Dagupan City dancing around its streets in colorful costumes centered on the city's main attraction, the Bangus (Milkfish).

Check out some of my photos last year. Hoping this year I'll have another free pass to shoot more close-ups =)

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Exotic Seafoods at the Heart of Kota Kinabalu

The SEDCO Complex

For the duration of my stay in Kota Kinabalu, I observed that almost all people there were either slim or lean, and the few others that I thought were overweight were tourists but very rarely nor I have seen a local. Then it struck me, I was in a Muslim country where meat is prohibited, and where 'fat mama jokes' don't really sell. For the meat-lovers though, Kota Kinabalu still offers meat along the Chinese restaurants in Jalan Gaya but for the rest of the people there, it’s all about the seafoods.

With the sea located just at the very edge west-side of the city, Kota Kinabalu is a seafood paradise and as it is blessed with abundant of marine life. The city serves the most unusual of sea creatures through its numerous seafood restaurants scattered around the city. From high end restos to budget eateries, this is where you can find some of the best seafoods in the world. As a budget traveller, I always try to look for the cheapest place to eat yet still provides almost the same experience as eating out in a pricier resto, so during my first night in Kota Kinabalu along with a fellow traveller, Marky of Nomadic Experiences, we walked around the city and discovered this place almost right in the middle of KK City.

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Conquering the Mighty Mount Pinatubo!

The Road to Pinatubo

They say that there’s always a rainbow after the rain. And true to that, the mighty Mount Pinatubo in Zambales is a living testament to that adage. Once the site of one of the most devastative natural catastrophe to ever happen in the Philippine history, the 1991 eruption of this mighty volcano has literally buried the town of Capas, Tarlac and nearby environs with tons and tons of volcanic ashes or more known as ‘Lahar’. As I recall my mom’s story, we were still living in Manila during the eruption of Pinatubo, I was still a toddler then and she told me she still felt the ground shook all the way to our house. The ash cloud was still visible in Manila all the way from Tarlac and Zambales. And our car back then was also covered with ashes. That’s how she described how powerful the blast of the mighty Pinatubo was. Now, fast forward to 2012, who would have thought that the same site that took hundreds of people lives and left many more without shelter is now a tourist spot and has seen a steady increase in its visitor every year. Well with its history alone, people would flock this place just to see the actual site, but find out more why this once feared Mountain has been drawing lots and lots of interest from travellers.

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Tres Marias: A Photoshoot with Meri An and Twins

This will be part of a new personal photography project that I'm starting. I'm calling it 'Project Many Me', what do you guys think? :D Jump for more to see BTS shots :D

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Dagupan Bangus Festival 2012 | Schedule of Activities

Wooooottt... Bangus Festival fever is here. The grandest festival being held in my hometown. Last year the local government held back in splurging on it, but this is not the case this year. Read on the list of activities for this month-long celebration for the best-tasting milkfish in the world.

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The Lady of Atocha Parish in Alicia, Isabela

The Lady of Atocha Parish in Isabela

I was fortunate enough to still be assigned for field work in Isabela province even in my last month of my corporate job. Me, not wanting to miss an opportunity to see something new and explore a place while in there even for work, took the time to walk around the quiet town of Alicia, Isabela while waiting for documents to be released in the LGU office and guess what I’ve stumble upon, one of the centuries-old Spanish churches located in the Isabela-Cagayan area, The Lady of Atocha Parish of Alicia.

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Looking Back at Year 2011's Wish List

I know its a bit late for a year end post so I'll just try to recap my wish list for 2011 if indeed I accomplished the things that I wanted to accomplish last year. It all started way back late 2010 with a trip with fellow bloggers in November. That trip changed my life after meeting people my age doing the things I thought only rich people can afford. It opened my eyes on budget travelling and got bitten by the travel bug. So by the start of 2011, I made a promise to myself that I'll travel more, see the world, challenge myself more, and live my life. and then I got this idea of writing down a wish list from one of the blogs I follow, much like a bucket list, but with a touch of magic, :) so just read on and see how far the magic went.

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The Azalea Residences Baguio: A Holiday Haven

Finding a good spot to see the floats at the Panagbenga Festival during the day is one thing and yet finding a good accommodation during the night in Baguio City with the hundreds to thousands of people who went up to witness the highlight of the flower festival is another. So imagine my luck when I found out that I was invited to write about the Azalea Residences Baguio situated at the heart of the City during this classic flower festival.