Baguio BFF Blast

I've always wanted to travel with my best friend. It's one of those MUST do things before one of you gets married. And I seriously want this trip to happen before she marries. Yep. She will get married first. :)

Anyway, lemme introduce my bff first, we go way back since secondary days. So more than a decade now, if my maths is right.

On a High in Ilocos

WOAH!
It's been ages since I posted anything in this blog.
I've been too busy and at the same time pre occupied with a lot of stuff.
To keep the ball rolling once more, I'll do some entries about all the places that I was able to visit last year when I was on vacation in the Philippines.
I finished working in Brunei, February last year and I promised my self that I will visit as many places as I could.

So let's start from a place all the way to the north of the Phlippines

ILOCOS!

A part of Ilocos is known for it's salt making industry.

                                                             Cape Bojeador lighthouse

Dubai Memoirs Part 01: Meet up with fellow Red Cross friends and Burj Al Arab

Once again.. my sincerest apologies for the late posts.
I once again failed for keeping my blog up to date.
My parents were here for a one week vacation last August and we got busy transferring our stuff to our new place. Hariraya already passed by and i've got a lot of updates to do. Though I'm not pretty sure if I have subscribers in my blog, I'd still post events in my life worth sharing. So here it goes..

So this one is specifically dedicated to my first few days in Dubai. I met my friends way back during the times when i volunteered for Philippine National Red Cross Bataan Chapter.

this was US circa 2011

Darwin, Glecy, Me, Mhery and Kuya Mark

Dubai Memoirs: The Intro

Travelling is one of my life's pleasure. I've always wanted to see the world with my very own eyes. To marvel with our Lord's creation and savor the beauty of Mother nature is one thing I'm eager to do.

My current work enables me to fulfill this. Within my almost one year and a half  of stay with my current work, I was able to visit two countries. Twice in Singapore and my personal favorite, our visit in Dubai.

I don't know if this is just a way of the Lord introducing me to Dubai. Another option for a workplace eh?hahah. But seriously, I love Dubai. The place is indeed a melting pot of culture of different nationalities. I was able to meet friends that i haven't seen for the longest time. And my personal favorite is the beauty of Burj Khalifa and Burj Al Arab.

I divided the Dubai experience into three.

Part 01: Meet up with fellow Red Cross friends and Burj Al Arab
Part 02: Jimbeam reunion Dubai Edition
Part 03: New faces and Places: Meeting My cousins' cousins.

The Much Awaited Come back.

Oh my. It's the 3rd of August and it's only now that I was able to update my blog. I really don't have much of followers but I think I'm failing myself coz i haven't been in touch with my inner pseudo-blogger within. To myself: Forgive me. I'll make it up to you. Here it goes..

My last post was March 2013. Took me 5 months to beat laziness eh? ahahaha.. 

Press Playback. Let's have a recap of what transpired..

What we did after we Hike

The "Resurrection" post :)

Im so sorry that it took me forever to post again something new in my not so famous blog. Well for me its my precious so i better keep it updated. Hahaha

Oh yes it's 2014 already. And 2013 ended on a pretty way.hahaha

Spent Christmas and the early 7 days of 2014 in singapore together with my boss. It was a first time for me to spend it there. Confined in the walls of the hotel. AwAy from home again just like last year. On a different country this time.
It was a fun and highly weight gaining experience. Was foolish enough to indulge in every food i was served with. Bad!

So come january i decided to start my diet program with the hope of reaching my target weight come december 2014. I just hope that i wont fail myself and i will stick to my plan. Be fit and eat healthy for a sexier and happier me. Naks!

Hiking at Bukit Shahbandar

Conquered one of the hardest hikes I've ever done in my entire existence.
A Photoblog of our hike at Bukit Shabandar.

It's just a 20-30minute drive from Bandar Seri Begawan. We went there around past 5pm. Which by the way is not very ideal, because we are newbies and hiking may take longer than expected and we dont want to get caught by darkness in the midst of the mountain.

Compared to Bukit Subok and Tasek Lama, Bukit Shahbandar is  bigger and tougher than we expected.

with 7 mountains to conquer, we managed to do 4 or was that 5? hahaha. real tough but definitely worth it.

My Cousin Jenny and her Hubby, Kuya Mark

Me and Ate Roma

Celebrating Hariraya

This is my first Hariraya. A first in Brunei Darussalam. A first in a Muslim country.
Back in PH, i never felt Hariraya since it was just commemorated in such a way that one day is considered a holiday. No work. No classes. That's just it. It's entirely different once you get to experience it first hand in a country predominated by Muslims.

If you'll be asking what's Hariraya, let's search Wikipedia.

Eid-ul-Fitr, "Eid-ul-fitr", Eid al-Fitr, Id-ul-Fitr, or Id al-Fitr (Arabic: ‎عيد الفطر ‘Īdu l-Fiṭr), often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting (sawm). The religious Eid is a single day and Muslims are not permitted to fast that day. Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while Fiṭr means "breaking the fast". The holiday celebrates the conclusion of the 29 or 30 days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan. The day of Eid, therefore, falls on the first day of the month Shawwal. This is a day where Muslims around the world try to show a common goal of unity.

Overdrive

Snow.White.Cold.Brrr..Pure Bliss.
Sand.White.Hot. Grrrr. Beat that! <Brunei version>

Post duty and off day turned into one fun and hot drive to Tutong and Seria district of Brunei. We managed to pull it off amidst the heat of the sun and our tired bodies.

First stop was the "one billionth barrel" Monument in Seria. By the way, Brunei is called "Shell Country" <i read this in an online article.> since Shell monopolized the source of petrol of the WHOLE country. Literally. Shell here, Shell there..Shell everywhere. That's why Brunei is rich, coz of its oil reserves.

Next was at a park which we happened to pass by along the highway. There was no sign for its name <or maybe I just didn't see it> and the place pretty much brings me to my father's home province @ PH coz of the number of coconut trees there. The lake is much like a scene in a movie that I don't remember.

Hiking at Bukit Subok

Hiking was never my cup of tea. I tried it once,for the very first time, in a very unplanned situation. It was that instance when I went to jog at Tasek Lama here at BSB. Since I was a newbie, I decided to go with the flow of people and just followed a certain group. Lo and behold, I found myself hiking for the very first time in the realms of I don't know where. That time I swore myself 2 things. <1.> Going with the flow is not ALWAYS necessary. <2.> Hiking and Trekking is never like a game of climbing "little" mountains per se. The ending was I never tried hiking AGAIN. But then came along a little surprise. <Oh how I love surprises, and I thank the Lord for this one!>


It's a Sunday and it's my designated off day. My friend <Lawrence> and I settled the day before that we will go hiking. We went for a jog on a Saturday and then decided to spend the next day Hiking. I dunno if I could do it. But then out of guts and a little bit of faith, I said "Game!".


Sunday came. 16:30ish in the afternoon when Lawrence picked me up at my place. I thought at first that the trip going to Bukit Subok was quite far, but then i was wrong coz it was just near the city.


Looking at the place, it's so quiet and well, lots of trees. <who knew??! ahah> . Not that much people compared to Tasek <Actually, we were the only group hiking that time. Talk about like owning the place,ahaha>. Parking area was bad coz there were a handful of parked cars by the foot of the hill, all of which belongs to the people who lived in Kampong Ayer. <They are rich. oh yes they are.>