Banaue & Nueva Vizcaya

May 2008, my best buds and I went a 6hours drive from Manila to our Mommy May's hometown in Nueva Vizcaya. It was her birthday and so we planned a trip to celebrate it with her. But other than that, I knew my friends wanted to entertain me, to ease me and to take care of me.

Two months before that, I had a life-crashing event in my life. To clearly illustrate it, I was like a child who had my one and only favorite toy that was stolen or broken. And like a child, I cried and I cried. At the day it happened, I couldn't talk and eat, I just cried the whole day. My bestfriend was there stunned and couldn't say a word. She just let me cried and cried. Those were one of my lowest point in life, I thought I was gonna die. It was really touching to see my bestfriends when I needed them because after I've abandoned them, I couldn't believe that they'd be the one who'll lift me up again when the only person I ever trusted left me behind.

And so it's really true that you'd know who your friends are during your dark moments.

I've never been to Banaue and Vizcaya before that's why it gave me excitement. From Manila, we had a long bus drive to Vizcaya. Since we haven't seen each other for a long time, we talked and talked the whole time until we reached our friend's house. Once we arrived in Vizcaya, we just slept for 2hours and then went off to go to Banaue. It was 2hours drive from Vizcaya. Other than our long awaited reunion, the weird thing about this trip is there was a typhoon in our country at that time and the region was under signal#3. But that didn't stop us, obviously.hahaha

On our way to Banaue, it was really really foggy. I was chilling coz I was wearing shorts. And despite the rain, slippery stairs and the fog, we still dared to go down the terrace.hahaha. It was real fun, very unforgettable.

From that trip I've realized too much. That alot of people who loves me, my friends, my family, even my God, these people whom I've neglected because I was focused onto one person.

Now, as I look back, I'm more than thankful for this friends that I have. I love and value them so much. :)

Cagayan de Oro, Camuiguin & Surigao

TRAVEL + FREE = HAPPY LOU!:)

In October 2006, I was able to take advantage of this freeness. what more can i say but awesome. :) Tho it wasn't completely free since it was for work, I had to do audit works in Cagayan de Oro and Surigao for 2 straight weeks. But nonetheless, traveling for free + your getting paid isn't bad at all. :)

After our audit works in CDO, our audit team decided to getaway and travel to Camuiguin island. Barge travel to the island was for 3hours and I just slept throughout coz the night before that, we went out for clubbing in CDO City. At the island, we rented a jeepney to tour us around the whole day for Php50.00. Surprisingly, this is how much Php50.00 values there at that time. The island was so small that you can tour around it just for a day. We went to the bario to buy lansones. We were lucky coz on the same day, the island was celebrating their lansones festival, so lansones were really cheap. While touring, we saw the lansones parade and took some pictures with the natives. Around lunch, we were off to white island which was 30mins away from Camuguin. Nice heh? island in an island. Beuatiful mother earth. :) The island was marvelously white. Never been in bora but my friends says the sand was even nicer and whiter than the one in Bora. After that, we went to the hot spring at the top of the mountain. Camuiguin is a real paradise coz it has a mountain too. What a great place to be, all for free. :)

The next day, me and my teammates ride the bus to Surigao which was 6hours away from CDO. Ofcourse, I just slept the whole ride. When we arrived, I saw a completely green place. Surigao is really peaceful and serene. For a person who lived in a city as dirty as Manila, Surigao is heaven. Very clean and quiet. I wasn't able to go to Siargao tho. :( There weren't much place to visit in Surigao but the serenity is what made it unforgettable. :)

Cebu City

One of the city/province I've always dreamt to go to is CEBU City. When I was a kid, I got really close to our nanny and when she left our house, I really cried. My nanny was 16 y/o then and has told me alot of good stories about her hometown, Cebu. She also mentioned about Donna Cruz, whom I'm a big fan of. Since then, I've always wanted to visit Cebu.

Last year, February 2008, I was able to fulfill that dream. It was not my plan to visit if for leisure coz I really don't fly using my own money but it ended up that way. I was supposed to meet a businessman from Canada but unfortunately it was cancelled. My package was non-transferable plus my sis can't go any other day so we still went in. Very unforgettable I should say, coz it's like felt the reality of my kid-like dream about Cebu.

We stayed in the city for 4 days 3 nights. Checked in Parklane Hotel which is across Cebu Ayala Business Center. We've arrived from Manila to Cebu @ 8am. At the airport, a private car picked us up and drop us at our hotel. Since we've been up as early as 4am, we slept for 2hours and went swimming at the hotel's facilities afterwards. Then we went out to Taoist Temple, a chinese buddist churh at the top of a hill inside Beverly Subdivision. That place was fantastic. You can see almost half of cebu city including the islands beside it. It was so peaceful and refreshing tho climbing the stairs to the top is very tiring but VERY WORTH IT. :)

The next day, we went to the city proper. From our hotel, we walked and rode the jeepneys to get to our destinations. We went to the city museum, Sto.Nino Basilica, Magellan's cross, Fort San Pedro and alot of old houses and streets of Cebu City. The sun was too hot but we didn't care, we stayed out the whole day enjoying what Cebu City could offer. :)

Before our flight back to Manila, we even had a Php600 worth of tour around Mactan Island. We went to the beaches and the hotels.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see Donna cruz's house coz as the jeepney driver said, it was not in the city proper. SAd. And I wasn't able to see my nanny too coz I haven't got contact of her after she left our house. Another sadness.

But greatfully, Cebu City didn't disappoint me. Instead, it left me good mem'ries I would cherish. And definetely, someday I want to go back and try the beaches in Mactan and explore the other towns much more. :)