Pahiyas Festival of Lukban at Agawan sa Sariaya

Just helping BBK advertise a friend's business. In 2 weeks, I will be in Manila to witness the Pahiyas Festival for the first time. I love festivals, I'm a Cebuano and festivals are embedded in my spirit. Well see how this goes. :) I'm so excited.

For more info, contact me. Below are the deets:

Pahiyas Festival of Lukban at Agawan sa Sariaya

May 15, 2011

Celebrate the feast of San Isidro Labrador on May 15 and experience the most colorful fiesta in the Philippines! Walk along the streets of Lukban and see the colorful “kipings” used to decorate their houses or join in the “Agawan” at Sariaya after the 3pm mass and bring home some of the town’s vegetable and fruit harvests. Shop for food and handicrafts such as longganisa, broas, pianono de patatas, beautiful baskets, bags, and hats galore!

Tour Fee: Php1,700.00 per person
Package Inclusions: Chartered van or bus, travel insurance, lunch and afternoon snack, visit to the churches of Sariaya, Tayabas, and Lucban, old houses of Sariaya, old stone bridge in Tayabas.

(Photo Courtesy of http://www.lugaluda.com)

It's Not the Climb... It's the Jump After the Climb

Here I am again with my usual Friday habit. I usually skim through old pictures, and today I found these really cute pics from Deo's album. This was taken last summer in Antique, and we kindof got lost on our way home. We stopped by a river that had this huge rock that you had to climb on, and from the top we decided to take a jump. Carla cried :)

The rest of the team were all worried, coz they thought we met some accident along the way. Little did they know that the three of us had such a good time diving and all. hihihi

I need a vacation.

Me Goes Acoustic at the Crimson

The pool area is done and we're set again to perform at the Crimson Resort in Mactan... That's the 10th and newest 5-star resort hotel here in Cebu. It hasn't officially opened yet, but it's now up for limited occupancy. It's the prettiest hotel I've ever been to and the fact that we have been chosen as one of it's performers is a huge honor by itself. Imagine--- 250 suite rooms, 41 villas and 39 plunge pools. It's paradise.

We'll be doing an all-acoustic line-up later at Azure, the beach part of the hotel. We have dedicated a few days of practice to come up with an all-acoustic line-up, coz we never really predicted we would be invited to do a show of this nature. I'm not an acoustic singer myself so I had to do a lot of fine tuning. Tonight, we will be showcasing the music of Cristopher Cross, Maxwell, Sade, Selena, some classic Pinoy hits from the Hotdogs and a lot more.

And since I'm a huge, as in huge fan of the Beatles, the show would definitely not happen without my personal tribute to the greatest band of all time. I spent countless nights to come up with my own medley, and you know it's hard coz it's almost impossible to pick at most 3 great songs from their awesome repertoire. I could no sooner pick a favorite star from the heavens.

I got to narrow down my choices to 3 favorites--- Strawberry Fields Forever, Yesterday and Hey Jude. The medley I made is one kick-ass job and I can't wait to perform it tonight. I'm so excited.

Dumaguete Wedding... And Then Some :)

I had the most awesome time in Dumaguete last week when I attended the Boniel-Gayo Nuptials. The wedding was fun, the crowd was very responsive, and I definitely enjoyed hosting the event.

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I arrived at Dumaguete at around 10AM so I had about a couple of hours to freshen up for the Lunch Reception at The Bethel House. I took the land trip to Dumaguete so my back was aching for being stuck in the van for 4 hours. I took a 30-minute nap at Hotel Nicanor and then I took a loooong cool shower.

Note: If you haven't tried taking a land trip to Dumaguete, you'll be amazed at how easy it could be. Two options: You can always take a bus at the Cebu South Bus Terminal, and take the one that says "Dumaguete". It'll go straight to Bato Oslob, and will land in Sibulan in Dumaguete. Fare is P151. And then another option for you is to rent a van. It's a bit more expensive but there's a lot of trade off in terms of comfort coz taking the van is so much better.

I decided to attend the second reception at El Camino Bar and Restaurant. It's about a 5-minute drive from the Boulevard and all you have to do is to ride a tricycle. That's what's amazing about Dumaguete--- everything's just so accessible.

I'd like to thank the couple Sheanne and Delon for the invitation. I had so much fun. Till next time.

Bohol Bee Farm Experience

A lot of people have asked regarding the Bohol trip pictures I posted via Facebook three weeks ago. Some have paid close attention to the pictures I had at the Bohol Bee Farm, and personally approached and emailed me on how to go there, and the activities that are in there.

Suddenly my humble blog has become a little booklet of how-to's for people with whom I share the same interests. I'm no travel enthusiast myself, but I'm more than glad to help out if you ask me.


Anyways, The Bohol Bee Farm is both a resort and a restaurant located in Dao, Dauis, Panglao. If you have been to any of those beaches in Panglao, you'll know that the Bee Farm is just around the area. It is dedicated to making and serving organic agricultural products, from food to clothing and ornaments.

We skipped the farm tour coz we directly went to the Buzzz Restaurant just right at the middle of the farm and overlooking the sea. We did some researches prior to the trip and we learned about their unique menu.

Food was a bit pricey, around 120-150 per meal, but then of course you totally defeat the whole purpose of going there if you don’t try out their unique offerings. Here are some pictures of the awesome treats we ordered.

I especially love the spareribs meal, but my curiousity was focused more on the salad. It had flowers, you know the bougainvilla petals, and some others.

The food was yummy, and the flowers tasted like, uhmmm, flowers still (like what was I thinking?). If you are a big fan of eating, uhmmm, flowers, then you will surely enjoy the salad part. I'm not a big fan of eating bougainvillas, but it was a unique and fun dish that I surely will not forget.

The farm also has some really cute shops of everything organic: honey products, cloth and ornaments, wine, etc. I like their icecream shop coz it offered a gazillion Pinoy flavors. You might wanna try out their pandan and ginger icecream combo.

From Tagbilaran, there are many ways to go to Panglao, and specifically to Dauis. You may either take the metered taxi, or rent a van. I suggest the habal-habal ride coz it's way more fun, promise. :) Give it around 100-150 pesos.

If I were to give it some ratings, I'd give the Bohol Bee Farm 4 out of 5 stars for uniqueness and social responsibility.

Dumaguete Weekend

I'm travelling to Dumaguete this weekend to host the Boniel-Gayo Wedding reception. I will be taking the first trip Saturday morning straight from my Friday shift, and arrive at around before lunch just in time for the reception. Hope nothing goes wrong with my 4-hour trip else I'll be in super big trouble.

So Saturday lunch time, I will be working my ass off for the hosting job, and then catch some sleep at Hotel Nicanor right after.

And I'll be meeting up with Glenn Bacalso who would also happen to be in Dumaguete this weekend. Naks..

And then I will be meeting up with some friends there, and I just got an email invitation for the "second" reception. This sounds fun, like, read on: ~

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I have deliberated on whether or not to spend the whole weekend there (~maybe a little side trip to Casaroro Falls, the Twin Lakes, Siquijor or Apo Island). Today I have finally decided to give the Twin Lakes a go, and I'm super excited. I'll be going there alone by the way.

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I didn’t have a chance to view the Pre-nup pics of the lovely couple. But for posterity's sake, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present to you the lovely bride!

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Congratulations Sheanne and Delon! Stay happy, stay healthy, and keep on spreading the love! Make lots of babies okay? *winks*

Lambaklad Fishing

Tibiao Fish Farm

Ripe

I may be one of the most shallow persons you'll ever know, and I delight on even the smallest, most meaningless things you could ever think of.

Remember this picture from last week?

This was taken during one of my trips to a friend's farm in Tibiao, Antique (yup, that's prior to my Boracay escapade). One time during that trip I was right under a mango tree that bore lots of fruits. For a city boy like me, the sight of a real mango tree with gazillion fruits amazed me so much that I asked the guide if I could pick one unripe fruit from a branch that hung low. I decided to keep it as a remembrance.

I had no plans to eat it, in fact, I knew I was just going to throw it away after maybe smelling and poking and tossing it.

I however forgot that I placed it in my bag.

Today, a week after the trip, I noticed that my bag was still unpacked. Typical. My work schedule has been really INSANE this week (~and I'm not complaining coz I LOVE it coz I'm a self-confessed workaholic~) that I never really had time to sort my things out when I arrived home from the long vacation.

There I found my little mango, all yellow and ripe.

Amazing.

I thought if I'd leave it in my bag for one more week, I'd get a mango pie. That would be weird and better. :)

Yeah, you might think I'm beginning to lose my screws. :) You can quit reading now. Hehehehe. I can start eating my mango. Chomp-chomp.

Discovering Antique

I never really got to appreciate the Panay Region until I went there last week for a 2-day tour in their area. I got to travel from Iloilo to Antique, specifically in the quiet town of Tibiao to relish what they have to offer.

Antique, by the way, is 3.5 hours from Iloilo via bus or V-Hire. Fare is around P170.

Tibiao is known as the adventure capital of Antique. It kindof puzzled me at first, coz the term "adventure capital" sounded too much for a pristine town that had a backdrop of vast ricefields, mountains and dry rivers. This town is quiet, and I could barely see buses and people in the streets.

My questions were answered when we got to meet a few folks who were more than glad to show us the place. We arrived at Antique around after lunch. We stayed at Hometel (it's like P250 per bed++ which is exactly the kind of price that a backpacker like me was looking for), a small lodge-house situated right at the University of Antique - decent place, clean linens and since it is inside the university premises, security is a guarantee.

Things I did in Tibiao:

Snorkeling in Batabat Fish Sanctuary. From Tibiao proper, we took a tricycle ride to a nearby town, Batabat, and we were led to a small fishing village. We had to rent a small banca to get to the snorkeling area, it'sP300 for 2 bancas good for the whole afternoon (1 small banca can accommodate 2 or 3 persons)

Lambaklad Fishing. We started with our day 2 at around 4AM and rode a tricycle to a fishing town that had rafts that are used to howl fish. Yes we were going fishing today. We rode the rafts and headed to the middle of the sea, howled the nets and got our fresh catch-- today we got lots of squids and fishes, it was super cool.

Bugtong Bato Falls. We took a habal-habal ride to a small sitio where we had to start our trek towards Bugtong Bato Falls. Our walk lasted around 20-30 minutes and went past beautiful rice fields, terraces and countless rivers. We had to climb on rocks and stairs to get to the first fall, and rappel to get to the second fall. The rappeling part freaked me out a bit, coz there were no harnesses, only a single rope that you could cling on to. The view from the second fall was breathtaking.

White River Rafting. We had to rappel down and take another 30-minute walk towards the site where we had to do some kayaking adventure. One raft costs 500 so all the 8 of us had to share rafts coz it was quite costly. Due to El Nino, the rapids weren't really wild so it was easy to maneuver the kayak, I learned it in less than a minute in fact. :)

Kawa Hot Bath. From the White River Rafting site, we had to climb up to their make-shift spa center for a hot bath. There were like 3 big kawas in the area, I think they were made of copper. The guide told us that the kawas were antique and they got them from a sunken galleon back in the 16th century. When we got to the hot bath area, our kawas were all ready and they were ready to, well, cook us. :)

Hanging Bridge. From the Kawa Station, we had to walk like 10 minutes to get to the hanging bridge were you could get a good view of the river and the mountains.

Butong Bato Dive. From the hanging bridge, we took a habal-habal ride towards this point in there river that had a HUGE rock the size, lets say, of a 4-storey building. We had to climb the rock so we could dive from the topmost point. It was a thrilling experience and I did it twice.

Farm. The guide was kind enough to show us their farm. They owned a huge farm that had all the vegetables named in the Bahay Kubo song, some fruit trees and a Tilapia pond.

Caving. We took a 10-minute habal habal ride towards a cave at a very secluded part of the town. It was murky inside and I kindof didn’t enjoy being inside the cave. I was actually thinking of the Haiti earthquake that time. The trek around the cave was awesome though, coz we had to climb down on huge roots and branches.

Floating Cottage. From the cave, we took a 10-minute habal habal ride to Niel's resto to get our snacks. The food was expensive (I don’t know why), but they had 2 floating cottages that charges P20 per person. There's nothing more romantic than watching the sunset on a floating raft--- it was a moment with God, no kidding.

Tibiao Fish Spa. We took a habal-habal ride towards Tibiao Fish Spa. Dinner was already waiting when we got there (dinner rates starts at P120 per head), and after dinner, we dipped our feet on the small pool that had 5 species of fishes. The fishes were suppose to gnaw on the dead skins of our feet. It sounds weird, but the experience was fun and unique. The Tibiao Fish Spa is one of only 3 fish spas in the entire county.

If I were to rate Antique, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Of course, the trip would not have been possible without the help of some really great friends in Tibiao. Thank you Kuya Nono of Hometel for the accomodation, and thank you Flord for the very memorable tour. And to the people of Tibiao, thank you-- you guys are the best!

Check out Katahum Tours here and avail of their tour packages. If you wanna explore Antique, then Tibiao is the place to be.

Summer Escapade Numero Uno

I will have my first taste of summer this year. I know it's kinda late considering how adventurous I am as a person. I've been very busy with my 2 jobs, and I've been sick like 3 times since February (yeah this upper respiratory tract problem is so annoying). But Im feeling much better now, much better than I was 2 or 3 years ago--- plus I'm back to my usual weight which means that I am making a little bit of progress at the very least.

This is just the first of the many activities I have booked myself for this year's summer season. The sun isnt as friendly as it was 2 or 3 years ago (not to mention that we have El Nino this year), so I bought a HUGE bottle of sunscreen. Better safe than sorry, right?

Anyways, I will be going to Danao, Bohol later after my shift for some mountain adventure. I heard they have some kick-ass activities over there, in fact I saw one really interesting episode at Sports Unlimited months ago. I'll have my fair share of it later and I'm just so excited.

I cant wait for their plunge package (I'm not sure, but based on what I saw on TV, theyre gonna drop you from a hundred feet HEAD FIRST).

See you all on Monday, kids. :)

Change of Plans

We changed our plans of taking a trip to the Cordilleras this summer simply because of schedule and budget constraints for the majority of the group. We also figured that we are not yet physically prepared for this trip that would involve rapelling and rock climbing, I mean it would take years for us to perfect it.

However, we all agreed that a trip to the Western part of the Visayas would be a perfectly great alternative, so we have decided to explore Negros, Iloilo and Kalibo.

We will be climbing Mt. Kanlaon, and explore all the falls and springs in Negros Oriental (goodluck sa mga NPA *gulps*), explore both the wild and historical side of Iloilo, and end the whole trip with a kick-ass adventure in Boracay. We will be leaving Cebu on March 27 and come home at April 4 or 5.



For the first time, I will be spending my birthday away from home and my family. The awesome part about it is the fact that I will be spending my birthday on top of Mt. Kanlaon, weeeeeh. I am tasked to book a hotel in Boracay good for 9 people, and I'd like to consider this task done with Jayson's help (I know, I'm just taking advantage of the power of leveraging and sexual favors at it's finest).

I need one more rash guard, a new tent, a new sleeping bag and a couple more Billabong beach shorts. Gotta SAVE!

Cordillera Trip

My friends and I (I'm referring to the Laagans) have this tradition of going out of town every summer. Most of the time we hold it during the Holy Week because that is when all of us can just easily file leaves alongside the non-working Maundy Thursdays and Good Fridays.

We have practically conquered all the major spots in the Visayas and Mindanao--- Siargao, Leyte, Siquijor, Dumaguete, Davao, Cagayan, Iligan, Gensan, Iloilo, Bukidnon---name it. I think the only part we haven't visited are the war-stricken areas in the South, my god that would be really exciting.

Last year, we went to Palawan and spent 9 days hopping from one area to another. Palawan is a BIG place, and 9 days of vacation was not even enough for us to explore it's southern part. However, we were fortunate enough to conquer Buswanga (Coron), Puerto Princessa, the famous Underwater River, and of course El Nido.

We vowed to come up with a better vacation this year. Everyone is pressured to come up with a plan, coz Palawan indeed is a tough act to follow (they wouldn’t call it "The Last Frontier" for no reason at all, right?)

Anyway, the other day I met a mountaineer from Manila and he told me that a Cordillera trip would be awesome. He gave me one awesome itinerary of places to go and things to do in the Cordilleras and other nearby places. I googled all of them as soon as I went home, and I liked everything about it. Everyone approved. :)

Everything will start in Manila. Then we go to Benguet, camp at Bangeg, take a trail to Mt. Pulag, meet the Ifugaos at I forgot the name of the place, go to Baguio, island hop at Pangasinan and surf at La Union. The whole trip sounds really exciting, and it will take around 8 days.

This is what I'm gonna see at Mt. Pulag. And I cant wait to wear an Ifugao costume, hahaha.



So there, right now, I'm doing the final touches for the itinerary. Weeeh.