Wellness Wednesday: Break the Cycle by Going on a Vacation

Taking a break from your daily grind is important. While I enjoy staying home, I still need a break from just being home. I realized this when we were stuck at home due to lockdowns. When things eased up we went on a staycation. We also jumped at the chance to walk to the park since cabin fever is real. I remember the first time we got to eat at McDonald's with our friends. It was a simple meal, but we couldn't stop smiling since it was our first meal outside of our homes. 

Bohol, 2022.

We've managed to go on a real vacation once last year. It was refreshing and amazing to be out and about. I was honestly very wary and I wasn't sure if I'd survive being away from my comfort zone (home). I was pleasantly surprised that I felt so much better breathing fresh air and eating fresh food. I was worried I'd feel unwell if I stayed out in the beach for long periods of time. I had nothing to worry about because being by the beach was the best thing I did for my well-being. 

We shied away from traveling far again after our Bohol vacation since we all fell ill (picked up the virus on the way home). We've done a few staycations not far from home. A change of scenery really helps in resetting yourself. No wonder there are those who travel for a living. I wonder though what they do to reset from too much traveling? The opposite I guess. 

"Schedule your vacations," was an advise a previous manager told me. He noticed I rarely took breaks and my available leaves would pile up. I'm following that advise now and have scheduled vacations. Who knows, maybe in time we'll finally do land trips. Have you scheduled time off in your busy schedule?

#BeKind #StaySafe 

Throwback Thursday: Water's Edge

I love how Google Photos collates my photos. Today it put together a collection of places where I've been on water's edge. It was a joy to see the different places I've been to. Some were piers, tiny ports at beaches. Most memorable was Samal Island and the San Francisco pier where seals bask in the sun. 

I asked Miggy if he had a choice, would he live by the beach or on a mountain. He said it would be hard. We both grew up in the city, so it's quite hard to think about living elsewhere. I've been thinking about it again because of the bad air quality the past few months. 

Best place to breathe in fresh air is at the beach. There is always a breeze, so the air is cleansed often. I remember when we went to Bohol I was concerned about my stamina. I did so much better when we were there probably because I could breathe better. 

The beautiful photos that were collated remind me of the breeze whenever I'm close to water. It's something I miss a lot. We are not able to go on vacation for now, need to prioritize other things (a.k.a. adulting). In time, we'll be able to feel the breeze by the water's edge again. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Vacay Soon?

Sweetie has some travel fund that he has to use already because it's expiring. It's from refunded bookings from 2020. It's easy to book, but our main concern is safety. We then checked the DOH COVID-19 tracker to check the number of cases by province. You can now look at data by province and by city. They have also included occupancy rates of hospitals. 

Of course, you can never predict what happens in the future. Things can change so fast with the virus still out there and with strange variants cropping up, the best recourse is to do your vaccinations. Aside from the DOH data, we've been watching vlogs and asking friends also about their recent travels. 

Bohol, 2019.

Sweetie tentatively booked some dates. He said he can re-book it anyway if the situation is not viable. We're looking at visiting Bohol again since we felt our 2019 vacay was bitin. Maybe Coron? Or El Nido? Or Dumaguete or Bacolod since we have friends there. We wanted to visit Cebu and Davao, but we felt maybe it's too early to visit more populated places. There are other places we want to visit, but want to go first to what's familiar.

I can't wait to feel sand again on my feet and be refreshed by sea water. And drink fresh mango shake and eat yummy seafood by the seashore. Oh boy, now I want to go out of town this very minute! Haha. Still a lot of adulting stuff to do for now, so will have to wait. The heat will also just force me to stay inside, it'll be best to delay for now. 

Have you guys gone on vacation? 

#BeKind #StaySafe #VoteWisely

Bloggers Raid Puerto Galera

It was yet another adventure. A few weeks ago I posted an invitation for a short vacay in Puerto Galera. Early morning Saturday we met up at Petron South Super Highway and pushed forward to the Batangas Pier while munching on Jollibee burger type pancake with longganisa-egg-and cheese. Weird? Try it, it's good especially with ketchup (sorry Rico, I'm a ketchup person).

We felt like celebrities being adulated by crazed fans. It was just a feeling... more like being annoyed by pesky shipping line salespeople. Marc even got tapped on the head. The fastcraft wasn't available and we were forced to take a bangka to White Beach. The ride was okay, the long wait before leaving the pier wasn't.

Arrived at White Beach around noon and we had quite a hard time finding 3 rooms in one resort. Abe took up the cudgels of finding the rooms. He got the 3 rooms that were beside each other, but the warm, fuzzy feeling was soon exchanged with fear because he realized his camera bag (with his really expensive camera and filters) was missing. We were all quiet for a few minutes worried that he might have lost PhP100K worth of his gadgets. Good thing he found it in one of the resorts we were checking out. Whew!

After lunch we proceeded to the resort... until Abe realized he forgot where it was. We were all joking that he must've cleared his cache and lost all the cookies. Lucky day it was, the person who helped him find the room suddenly popped out of nowhere. Since it was too hot we settled in our rooms for a nap and then spent the rest of the afternoon by the seashore getting massages and taking photos. It unfortunately rained and we had to proceed back to the room (Marc's balat Sharms said).

After dinner I met up with an old friend and got lost. I never thought finding your friends in Galera would be so difficult. Smart's signal was bad (and most of the bloggers had Smart phones), so I had to wait for someone to call me and tell me where they were. I think we went around at least thrice before we found them in front of one of the sowsi hotels. The mindoro sling looked like it was working wonders. Everyone looked buzzed, but they were all talking about blogging! Aaaargghhh...

We just chilled the next day by the beach and had a bikini photo shoot (sorry it won't be posted!). Tried to get a tan, but then one day isn't enough. I didn't take any photos! I did bring my idiot cam, but with Jayvee, Sasha and Abe and their Canon toys who needs to take photos? Check out their blogs for the fab photos they took. (Photos posted here were taken by Abe).

We took the last boat ride back to Batangas. It was packed, but the nice sunset and the full moon made up for the discomfort. We had two stop-overs. One at Petron at the Star Tollway for a bladder break and then dinner at Cafe Via Mare at Total SSH. And then we bid our goodbyes and went home.

Thanks to Jomar and Jay for being my wireless chaperones. Haha.

Here are photos from the weekend (click on my photo).

2007 March 3 & 4 Puerto Galera

Next stop: Davao! My sched is here.

Postscript: Updated costing (here it is Annalea)

Gas (Manila-Batangas-Manila) - Rico loaded up about PhP1,000
Batangas Pier Parking Fee - PhP200 for 24 hours + PhP10 for every additional hour
Tollway Fees - PhP200 max.
Bangka to White Beach - PhP340 two-way (for group of 10, PhP280 coz you get 1 additional free ticket)
Room - PhP1,500 for 4 people
Food - PhP150 max per meal
Massage - PhP200
Mindoro Sling - approx. PhP300/pitcher

I didn't buy anything, just food. I must've spent about PhP1,600 only coz Rico paid for the gas (thanks Rico!!!).

Looking for a Mate? You Won't Find it in Hongkong

Yup, that's what our tour guide, Henry, said. Funny, I was SMSing with Jomar and talking about whether there were any prospects in Hongkong when Henry announced that teenie bit over the bus' PA system. Henry said that their government even has a special program encouraging couples to get married and have children in Hongkong. I guess coz the cost of living is really high there and people just have to get by with their salaries. Oh well, living in the Philippines is still the best.

So last weekend, after ten years of planning, me and my amigas from high school (Mercy and Chare) and Miggy went to see the sights in Hongkong.

Day 1

Hongkong Day 1

• Late lunch at McDonald's
• Chinese lauriat dinner - not that good, locally cooked Chinese food's better (especially at Good Earth!)
• Victoria Peak - enjoyed the 45 degress tram ride up the mountain tremendously
• Wax Museum - photos, photos and photos with fave movie stars, sports celebrities and politicians
• Night Market - found it a bit expensive, got some pajamas and pasalubongs, Divisoria is still the best shopping place!

Day 2

Hongkong Day 2

• Harbour View - never let your tour guide take your photo! We were all surprised when the tour guide sold to us plated photos at HK$150 each! We found out a day after it only cost HK$75! Argh!
• Shopping at TSL Jewelry and a pasalubong shop - the stuff at TSL Jewelry were really nice and very, very expensive. The three of us got pendants (to match our pajamas haha).
• Hongkong Disneyland - seeing Mickey surfing with open arms brought back childhood memories. I've been to Disneyworld in the US twice and Disneyland in Japan and that's why I saved up to bring Miggy there while he's still a kid. My amigas and I felt like kids again and even shared a huge cotton candy while walking through Fantasyland to Tomorrowland. Bring at least US$100 to buy a shirt and some stuff at Disney.

Day 3

Hongkong Day 3

• Kowloon Park - too bad the aviary and bird lake were closed coz they had a bird flu scare a few weeks ago. We still enjoyed the park though and were surprised there were many Pinoy groups meeting up in the area. The maze was fascinating and the old women doing dance exercises were cool.
• Hongkong Space Museum - we wanted to go to the Science Museum but the entrance fee cost 150% more, since we were kinda broke we settled for the Space Museum haha. It was interesting, but nothing compares to the museums in Washington, DC.
• Harbour View and Avenue of Stars - we walked and walked and walked and walked and recognized a handful of "stars" in the walk.
• Toys R Us - the mall was just really too big. Unfortunately we didn't find it.

Do's and Don'ts

1. Don't believe everything your tour guide tells you. We were happy until he started selling us those souvenir items in the bus. I think they took advantage of our "yes to everything" nature (hey it's our culture!). One family who had 17 members joining the tour spent a lot of money for the plates.

2. Do buy at the Night Market. The tour guide kept saying that their store sold cheaper pasalubongs. It wasn't.

3. Don't buy where your tour guide tells you to buy. The tour guide said their store sold cheaper Disney items. Definitely not!

4. Do understand that it's their culture to be a bit masungit. They're not naturally malambing like us Pinoys.

5. Do follow your friends advise. When they say it's cold, it's really cold.

My friend Mercy has been handling all my travel arrangements for years already. She also does it for my other friends and my Mom's friends. If you're going to travel, call Mercy.

Bali

Bali

Jakarta

Day 1

Woke up bright and early for our 11 a.m. flight to Denpasar (Bali). Weekday traffic wasn’t so bad and we arrived at the airport before 10 a.m. After checking-in we settled at the waiting area where the kids interviewed their Lolo about his younger days. Flight was delayed for more than 30 minutes and I was surprised to see the number of people who were waiting for the same flight, most were locals.

We arrived at Bali at around 3 p.m. (time’s the same as Manila) and we ate at KFC while waiting for our ride. We arrived at the Ritz Carlton Hotel at 4 p.m. and after check-in we surveyed the grounds – and I thought the stuff in magazines are just mock-ups. They’re real! As you enter the hotel the infinity pool looks like its part of the sea, and the vast horizon just brings a sense of peace and the realization that you are on vacation (haha). We went 172 steps down to the seashore and took some photos. I could barely make it back up and had to take some stopovers. We then stayed at the sunset garden and waited for the sun to set.

Dinner was at an open air restaurant, much like Puerto Galera and we had yummy seafood. After dinner we tried out the hot water pool a the resort. It was quite hard getting in the water since it felt like it was boiling, but one gets used to it after a while.

Day 2

Kuya woke us up early to prepare for our day at Waterbom. I was panicking quite a bit since I had to check my mail. Good thing there was an internet café beside McDonald’s and I managed to send and check my mail.

Waterbom is much like Splash Island, only better. The resort was very clean and there weren’t that many people, most were Japanese and some Australians. We enjoyed the river rafting and had Gabby pull us around and around. I wouldn’t forget almost drowning in the water spouts that was all over the place. Kuya forced me to try out the Boomerang, it’s a huge slide where you go through a long, spiraling tube and then when you go out in the open one goes through a vertical drop slide and then slide back up (like a roller coaster) and get thrown down to the edge of the slide. Whew! It was a good thing I partnered with Patricia and our weight slowed down the raft a bit. I also tried the Macaroni Tube with Miggy. It’s a long, winding, spiraling closed slide where you almost go 360 degrees around the tube. I screamed my head off, but what was really funny was this guy who went ahead of us and he was screaming like a banshee.

After a long day at Waterbom we had dinner at Pizza Hut across the street and went back to the hotel exhausted from the day’s activities.

Day 3

Breakfast was drive-thru at McDonald’s since we had a long list of places to see. We first stopped over at a theater to watch a portrayal of a legend and then proceeded to a batik place which showed how batik stuff gets done. An hour and a half trip through the rural area of Bali brought us to the “Tagaytay” version of Bali. Kintamana is a big volcano with three craters. We were lucky to get a glimpse of it and take photos since after 15 minutes clouds engulfed the whole area including the restaurant. JC commented that it was like we were in heaven.

After lunch we traveled once more and reached Tanah Lot at around 4 p.m. Tanah Lot’s a beach place with a majestic temple built on a huge rock. There were also several cliff areas which we surveyed. There were quite a number of animals on showcase – birds, bats and a Holy Snake (and no, I didn’t even try to check it out). Did a little shopping and managed to buy a mother and child stone sculpture for a really good price.

Day 4

I think the crew at McDonald’s thought it funny we always had breakfast there. Checked my mail at the same internet café and then wolfed down a double cheeseburger. Oink! Oink!

We then went to a beach resort for our boat ride. The boat we rode had a glass bottom and there were a lot of different kinds of fish – from small to big. I think the fish at Boracay were much prettier though (and Nemo was there!).

We were quite disappointed at the turtle place since there was only one big, 40-year old turtle. The snake gave me the creeps, but Miggy was quite happy to have it placed around his shoulder. I just settled for the tucan, but got quite scared because it almost bit my fingers since it wanted the bread I had on hand. The bat was definitely stinky!

After lunch of babi guling (lechon) – which isn’t anywhere near our local lechon – we went to Kuta to have our hair braided and had some Starbucks. Dinner was at a quaint little place at Kuta. Yumyum! Mom and Ate Joy did some 5-minute shopping and then we were dragged back by Kuya to the Ritz Carlton Hotel.

Day 5

McDonald’s forever! After breakfast we took a short roadtrip to Ubud, THE shopping place in Bali. Equivalent to Divisoria, I couldn’t believe how inexpensive the paintings were and ended up buying 5! I think having them framed would be more expensive! Got some stuff also for pasalubong, but was a bit disappointed I couldn’t find a shop that sells stone sculptures. I had to buy a new travel bag to fit in all the stuff I bought. Wonder how I’ll manage to bring home to Manila the paintings I bought. The heat made us give up shopping and we then went back to the city and had lunch at… McDonald’s! My gads…

Dinner was at the beach place were we had dinner on the first day. We feasted on grilled fish and pusit. At around ten we proceeded to Hardrock Café Bali. How I missed the Pinoy entertainers! I think what sets our Pinoy entertainers apart from all the others is the talent and the ability to sing foreign songs clearly. After bearing through the first set we left to have coffee, but Starbucks was unfortunately closed already. Our taxi back to the hotel cost 60,000! Rupiah, of course haha.

Day 6

We all woke up late. Miggy and I had our breakfast at the Ritz’ b-fast buffet. I didn’t eat much, but I liked the coconut and banana milk (the only beverage available I’m not allergic to!) and the siomai was good. Miggy had waffles and bacon. After breakfast Mom and I with Kuya hurried back to Kuta to buy another bag. I managed to haggle some masks from 60,000 to 25,000 each. I guess I got some of my Lola’s haggling skills after all. The prices of the paintings though were exorbitant and I just walked out of the shop. Seeing all the stuff sold I realized that the Bali merchandise sold back in Manila are a rip-off.

After a super late lunch at the airport we sat and waited, got delayed, waited and got delayed again. We made it back to Jakarta in time for the 11 p.m. Christmas Eve mass.

I always get homesick when I spend the Christmas holidays outside of the country. It always feels sad and surreal, like it’s not Christmas. Aside from the lack of décor, sparkling and twinkling lights what I miss most is the warmth and joy surrounding the country during Christmas (it’d be better minus the traffic!). Mom was in tears after the Christmas medley singing. We always take singing our Pinoy Christmas medleys, believe me, sing it in another country on Christmas eve, you’ll be bawling by the end of the song.