Gorgeous sunsets...beautiful beaches...clear waters of Boracay

Back from my vacation! Would have posted an entry sooner if I hadn't been so addicted to Facebook :P

Oh well... 3 days/2 nights is definitely too short a time to really experience Boracay. I've been here 4 times, but still, there's so much to do! Louie and I didn't feel the need to pursue any other activities except for swimming, walking along the beach, food tripping, shopping, sleeping, drinking(?) and getting daily massages. Hahaha, yep, if only life could be so relaxing all the time. :)

We stayed at Boracay Beach Club in Station 1 (near Cocomangas and across Club Paraw). It's not a beach front resort, but the short walk across the street shouldn't be a deterrent. It's a cozy, classy hotel that offered great service. If I'm going back to Boracay, I'll definitely consider staying here again.

So on our first day, we headed out for lunch and it was scorching hot! We ate lunch at Gasthof (ribs, yum!) and decided to go back to the hotel because it was too damn hot... hehe, got a migraine because of it. So we decided to come back out once the sun was out. But first, a preview of the beach :P

After a short siesta, we went out again and enjoyed the cool waters of Boracay. No pics, coz none of us have waterproof cameras...yet, hehehe. Anyway, after freshening up, we took a walk along the beach again, and photographed the sunset... well, we didn't really stay until the sun actually set, but, I still think it's a nice pic.

And I couldn't resist putting this pic here... coz I just think it's cool. :) Louie's the one with the peace sign.

And of course... while in Bora, why not don some henna tattoos or funky braids? Although in my experience...braids are really just for practical reasons (so that my hair won't fall all over my face), and only to be worn for a short period of time. Be careful with braids though... last time I had them, I sunburned my scalp! Honest! So this time, I stayed away from the sun and removed the braids before I went to bed (no matter how dizzy I was, but that's another story). The braids pic was taken at Aria. Just had to mention this resto if you're looking for really good Italian cuisine by the beach, located at D'Mall, station 2.

Lastly...Louie's favorite? Hahaha... cocktail time! On the first night, we had cocktails at Club Paraw, enjoying the sounds of the acoustic singer. We were the only people in the bar, hahaha! I guess that's why it's called an off-peak season. I had the grasshopper (wanted to see the grasshopper effect). It was a very creamy, minty drink, like liquid mentos. Refreshing even. :P

Next day, we decided to chill at Ariel's House after our massage. And the bartender suggested I try this Illusion cocktail. Fine, I didn't really have any drink in mind. So I tried it. And it was STRONG. I mean, really... the blur in the picture below would probably be a good indication of what I was feeling after (barely finishing) this drink. And the bartender even added some more juice to it because he admitted it was pretty strong (when I obviously couldn't order any other cocktail aside from this one.)

And look how happy we were before the drinks came =)). But it was still a fun (but short) night. Louie finished this great looking shooter called the Lamborghini., as well as a Harry Wallbanger (parang juice lang) and this other cocktail I was too dazed to remember. I will definitely try the Lamborghini next time. No more Illusion for me, that's for sure!

On our last day, we woke up at 6 to have breakfast at Jonas' fruitshakes (open 24 hours!). I recommended the place to Louie and she loved the Mango Lemon. Me, I usually go for the Banana Choco Peanut. This pic was taken at around 730am, notice the water slowly rising up. It gets up to the very edge of the establishment by 10am, and starts to subside by noon. So, there really isn't much shore around by that time, at least near Station 1.

After breakfast, we heard the 8am mass. It's funny, whenever we asked the locals what language the mass would be in, they couldn't really answer. And when we attended the mass, we understood what it meant when they said 'Kasi ho, mixed siya e...' Hahaha! The mass was a mix of Bisaya, English and Tagalog. I think it started out in Tagalog, then Papuri sa Diyos was sung in Bisaya, then the readings and the Gospel were (if I remember correctly) in Bisaya. The Homily was in Taglish...you get the idea. But the priest, was really really good, and was able to convey his message even with the plethora of languages and dialects being spoken during the Mass.

And then we headed back to our hotel for a final massage (yup, 3 days, 3 massages... what more could I ask for?) Then, had room service for lunch, and all too soon, we were homeward bound *sigh*. It was a very relaxing vacation... I wish it was much longer though. Took these final two pics while on the Fastcraft on the way to Caticlan.

But wait! There's more! Our relaxing, stress-relieving vacation took a stressful and downright terrifying turn on the way back to Manila. It was only just a 50 minute plane ride, but the last 15 minutes were rocked by strong turbulence, strong rains, strong winds and lightning flashes. That's right, it was raining HARD in Manila. And it was sooo dark! It was only about 6PM, but it looked like it was 8. It was the first time I ever really entertained the possibility of a plane crash (yes it was that harrowing for me). And when we finally landed 15 minutes later at NAIA, the applause for the pilot was the most meaningful I've ever given in my life. You can't imagine how thankful I was we took the bigger planes from Kalibo, and how thankful I was that we flew PAL (known for their smooth landings).

But Louie and I made it back in one piece...still wish we spent a longer time, next time. Right now, I can't wait for my next travel...Palawan in December with Maitz and my aunts! :)

Going Back to Bora!!!

As I've mentioned and griped to friends and relatives... I haven't stepped foot on a beach this year. So when Louie sent me that email to ask if I wanted to go to Boracay (with very reasonably priced accommodations available) I could hardly contain my excitement and could barely type in YES to my email.

And now, with only 2 days to prepare, it's all set! And I can't wait... it's been a year and 6 months since I was last in Bora. And it's my first time to travel with Louie! So kahit dalawa lang kami, go pa rin! Hahahaha!

I only hope we don't get hit by a storm... I can still remember the last time I was in Boracay and a storm hit (December 2006). The entire island had no power, trees were uprooted, boats upturned, signages destroyed...and we even had to go to Iloilo to catch a flight back home! Now that's an adventure I hope I wouldn't have to go through this time around.

Breaking Dawn...at last :)

It's 2AM, and I finally finished the last book of the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn. Sure, there's still a possibility of continuing the story, but practically every conflict was resolved in the last installment of the series.

I'm not promising there won't be spoilers in this post, so if you don't want to know, you know what to do. Anyway, I enjoyed the book, it was definitely better than the last two were. And finally, Bella finally had some redeeming qualities. There were twists that would catch some readers by surprise, and I'm sure a lot would be immersed in the 'world' that Stephanie Meyer has painted...Not me though, I've been reading vampire novels and other books of the sort since I was 12 (that's more than a decade ago), so just the slightest hint would already have me guessing what would happen. But still, I really enjoyed this book, and I can't help but wish that the story can continue, and the adventures of the Cullens will go on.

But I do have one gripe... I was all set for an epic battle, clearly a sense of bloodlust was also in me while I read through the pages, but then things had to get all peaceful just like that *rolls eyes*. It's annoying how Stephanie Meyer would build up to such a climax and have it fizzle out in the end...so very anti-climactic.

As can be expected, the story ends happily...which truly proves this is a 'young adult' book... I can almost say children's book...since Harry Potter (any one of the books from 5-7) was at least ten times more intense than the entire series combined. Like I said, the last two books were rather weak, and I think as an actual 'saga', the 2nd and 3rd books could have been combined into something that skipped over some of the boring (and sometimes downright annoying) parts.

Now all that's left is to wait for the movie coming up in December, I added links to some trailers below. Oh and Stephanie Meyer is currently working on 'Midnight Sun', this time it's Edward's turn to tell the tale. No publication date yet, but I guess that's also something to look forward to.

Four days of Twilight to Eclipse

First there was Harry... and then Arty... and now...Edward.

These guys keep me up at night, but I can't really blame them. ;) It's my fault... I have an obsessive need to know what happens next. I really can't put a good book down once I start it.

Yes, books! What did you think I was talking about? Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and Edward Cullen of the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.

I started reading Twilight last Sunday, because I was only able to complete the first 3 books then. Can you imagine I bought Twilight from Powerbooks Glorietta, Eclipse from A Different Bookstore and my last acquisition, New Moon from Fully Booked, Bonifacio High Street? The last book, Breaking Dawn came out yesterday, I'll probably buy my copy this weekend.

The story is of a human girl who falls in love with a vampire, sounds cliche right? But everyone seems to be talking about it so my curiosity got the best of me. Twilight turned out to be better than I expected, much, much better... as I couldn't put it down. It was described as a 'seductive' book, which I couldn't imagine since it was fiction for young adults, but when I read it, I had to agree. It was for lack of a better word, 'kilig', and I couldn't help but fall for the characters in the story, especially Edward Cullen, who by the way will be played in the movie by the guy who played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter.

Of course, whenever I'm into a book, I really can't do much else except read. I slept at 2:30am that night, not even thinking about work come Monday morning. I had a few pages left, which I finished before coming to work that day.

So, when I came home from work, I just had to read New Moon. And read I did... but this book was so much...weaker than the first one... and I was starting to feel that this really was a 'young adult' book while reading it. But I still slept at 2 to finish it.

Then yesterday, I started reading Eclipse, a little less enthusiastically I might add. It's better than New Moon, but nowhere near as good as Twilight was. I didn't even stay up that late to finish it. I finished reading this evening, and although it had some great moments, Eclipse really made the female lead character, Bella, so irritating... I swear while I was reading some of the pages my eyes were rolling. She was sooooo very annoying! But it's still a good read... I just have some personal pet peeves that came out while reading this book.

I'm not sure if my sentiment is shared by the others who read these books. With Twilight being such an amazing read only to let down by the succeeding books... but I'm optimistic, they say Breaking Dawn is good and I don't have long to wait. I'll let you know how it is over the weekend. ;)

I wonder when Time Paradox (Artemis Fowl book 6) will be released here as well? Been waiting for that for some time now... hehe.

Impossible Things are Happening Everyday

"Impossible...it's possible..."
Can't get the tune out of my head. :)

I watched Cinderella with Kat, Jo, Ai and Yobi last Saturday. And all I can say is.. Lea was fantastic! I missed seeing her play Kim in Miss Saigon many years ago, she was sick on the day Maitz and I watched it but it was all right, coz her understudy was also good... and the guy playing the Engineer was amazing.

But I digress...back to Cinderella. The play was very nicely done, and the cast was great! If there's one thing to gripe about, it's the fact that we were so far up the balcony that there was a time that we couldn't see the actors heads! The play was funny, entertaining, romantic and had enough 'magic' to entertain little kids (and kids at heart).

The songs however, especially in Act 2, were a bit 'lulling', it must be because it was the 'romantic' part already and most of the songs were waltz-like or lullaby like... not like the 'The prince is having a ball!' kind...watch it and you'll see what I mean.

As for the actors, the ensemble cast was great! My favorites were (with the exception of Lea of course,) the fairy godmother and the evil stepsisters, Portia and Joy, oh and the rats :)) they were cute. :P

If you have time (and if tickets are still available), you really should see this play... Lea was really great, and she looked like a child! See it with friends, or with kids and family. And afterwards, I'm sure you'll be saying the same thing I'm saying, that impossible things are happening everyday. :)

Flat Pictures :)

Ah... home sweet home. :) At least for the past 3 weeks. I realized I haven't posted pics of my flat yet, so here they are.

Well, this is my flat. Kitchen, living room, dining table, the bathroom is on the other side. I'm standing beside the bed when I took this pic, so that pretty much gives you a general layout the place.

The sala is probably the least used area in the place. One, there were no English channels on the TV. Two, table was too low to put my laptop on and three, I didn't really have much time to lounge around. I just used this during weekends, when I was just kicking back with a book.

The kitchen...probably the most used place in my flat. :) I cook every day, and have a lot of fun combining ingredients to make the most of my limited pantry. Oh, and yes, I kept its pristine condition coz I'm terribly obssessive compulsive so after each meal was cooked, everything was cleaned and wiped down. :)

My walk in closet! I always wanted one of these! This is directly adjacent to the kitchen, but fortunately, my clothes didn't smell like food even though I cooked everyday. I loved this closet and when I get my own home, will probably put in something like this in as well. :)

And lastly, the laundry and shower area. The toilet was in a separate room. Probably the biggest advantage to being in a flat, next to cooking of course, was being able to do laundry. I used to hand wash every day when I was in the hotel, and it's a bit tedious. Now, I just put everything in (similar colors of course), and after 30 minutes, I just have to hang them out. Easy. :) Which came in handy since I was bringing home clothes after each trip to the mall. ;)

And of course, the view from my room. I actually took this with a makeshift tripod, using a candle, a wine glass, with my camera on night mode with a 2 second timer. I don't think it still came out the way I wanted it too.. with the moon so bright and the moonlight cascading on the unfinished building...sorta looks creepy but I liked the whole melancholic vibe that it gave off.

I realized I have no other pictures of my trip here on my camera... really didn't do much at all. It was office from Mon to Friday, shopping on Saturdays, then church and groceries on Sunday. And in between, all the rituals of keeping a clean house. I'm pretty much settled in to the routine, but still not quite sure whether I want to keep on doing this. All I can say now, is that I'm looking forward to going home on Friday.

The Tomasikova Experience

Let me take a break from the SG/KL Chronicles (which I hope to finish by this weekend), to tell you about my stay here in Bratislava. This is the third time I've been here, but the first time I'll be staying at an apartment, and the first time it's going to be a short stay (just 3 weeks, yay!). I'm posting this in bulk because I had no access to the internet for the weekend.

Day 1 (Friday)
Anyway, arrived at the Tomasikova flat at around 3 in the afternoon. Rode up the elevator to my floor and found two unmarked doors there. Slightly annoyed that the driver didn't take me up to the actual unit, I fumbled with the doors and tried all the keys from my keychain (there were 5).

One fit, but no matter where I turned it, the door remained closed. I felt as if the key was stuck or something. Really starting to feel annoyed (and a little frantic). After a full 5 minutes of fiddling with the stupid lock, I went back down (luggage and all) hoping to find someone I could ask help from, there wasn't anyone there. So, I made my way back up the elevator and faced that stupid door.

I took a few calming breaths and tried a few more times. I pushed, pulled, twisted and still the door wouldn't open. Feeling increasingly panicked, I gave it a few more tries, willing myself to think of every possible way to open a lock, and then suddenly, to my immense relief, the lock clicked.

My relief was short lived. Inside the hall was four identical doors WITH NO NUMBERS! How the hell was I supposed to know which flat was which?! Cursing to myself, I tried all the keys again, and again I couldn't open the lock on the first door. I tried the second door, for some reason, 2 of the keys on my keychain could fit into all the locks. But none opened. So, I had 2 keys, 4 doors. I tried every combination, and I couldn't open any. I didn't want to waste too much time (or effort) trying out the lock (what if the owners thought I was breaking in), so I called up Grace and asked her if she knew which was flat Maris used to stay in, she asked Olive, who asked Lucy. who then told me, Finally I knew which was which!

So now that I knew which door to focus on. I tried the two keys that could be inserted into the lock. I tried the same technique as I did with the other door, but no luck. Finally, with a few more tries, I was able to open the door, and got into my apartment.

Compared to Manila standards, it was very big for a studio. I call it a studio coz there's no door for the bedroom. But I realized that if they had done that, then the bedroom would have felt claustrophobic. All in all, I like it, the kitchen is just the way I like it, and I even have a walk-in closet!

I spent a few moments unpacking and setting up the place to make it more 'homey', then I went to
Polus to buy some desperately needed necessities. Finding my way didn't take too much effort (which is a big deal for me since I pretty much suck at directions). When I got back to the flat, I just fixed my stuff, took a bath and fell asleep.


Day 2 (Breakfast)
Woke up with the sun high up in the sky, I tilted my head to the side, put on my glasses and found out it was only 5AM! I have no idea when the sun rose, but given the brightness of the surrounding area, it must have been about an hour ago at least. And to think it only grew dark after 9 in the evening.

Anyway, stood up, checked my stock and wondered what I was going to eat for breakfast... scrambled eggs? Hmmm... bacon? My pantry wasn't as fully equipped as I wanted it to be so making my favorites were out of the question. I settled on corned beef, rice and fried egg.

And then I realized I forgot my can opener, and there wasn't a can opener in the flat. 8-|

Anyway, after much experimenting with various kitchen utensils, I finally ended up opening the damn can with the use of my utility knife from M&S (funny, this thing didn't have a can opener either). And then I was in business. :P

I really enjoy cooking, it's the cleaning up part that sucks. :( Good thing I'm obssessive-compulsive, so I pretty much keep a clean house. We'll see how long I can keep this up... I really don't know if I'm cut up for living alone. The charm of being independent and living alone can lose it's charm very quickly... so we'll just wait and see.


Day 2 (Before Lunch)
Having nothing else to do, I set out for Hlavna Stanica to get a 1 month prepaid ticket...unfortunately, the tram lines have been discontinued from where I was at. So, I just took a bus to Aupark to check out the sales. :D

There was a lot of items on sale, but none of them appealed to me... I figured I'll just save up until I go to Avion for an M&S spree. I did buy a cute white cap from C&A though. So, I went to the grocery, and picked up some other items that were missing from my pantry. Syr (Cheese), Chlieb (Bread), Mlieko (Milk), some olive oil, grapefruit juice, cappuccino, and lots and lots of Voda Neperliva (Still Water). I also bought some toilet paper and since I am quite OC (to a fault), I also bought a new cheese grater, and of course the all important can opener and a peeler.

Now I had to lug everything back to the flat... I put the 9 liters of water in my backpack and carried the rest. Trust me, it was heavy. I took the bus, and waited.

For some reason I must have spaced out, coz I missed my stop!!! I only realized it when the bus doors closed. :( So, I had to get off on Maxmiliana Hella instead and walked back to my flat, heavy load and all. Moral of the story: Pay attention to your surroundings AT ALL TIMES.


Day 2 (Lunch)
Ahhh...sinigang. It's one of my favorite Pinoy dishes, but I like mine really sour, and a bit spicy. Sometimes a bit too sour for my family, so now I have the perfect opportunity to make Sinigang the way I want.

Now, I really don't know how to make Sinigang per se, but I have a general idea. And I also had to be constrained with what I already had in the flat...meaning, no veggies. :D

So, my recipe for Sinigang was this. First I put in some olive oil (it's the only oil I have), and added some garlic (are you supposed to add garlic in sinigang?). Well, anyway, I like garlic so I put some there. I then added some onions and finally tomatoes. In short, gisa. :P I then added the pork to the pot. I seasoned the pork with some ginisa mix (ok, so I also don't have salt and pepper here). But I'm not even sure you had to season the pork. Well, anyway, I figured might as well give flavor to the pork before I boiled it.

Then I added some water and boiled everything. After boiling, I tasted it, it was bland, added some more mix, tasted it, seemed better, added a whole lot of Sinigang na may sili mix. :P Let it boil again, tasted it, and voila! It was Sinigang! I simmered it for a few more minutes, heated up my leftover rice, and lunch is served.

I'll probably go to Billa after this, also to check out the route going to work. :P I'll be buying some parmesan cheese and pasta...I'm thinking tuna in olive oil pasta for dinner. :)


Day 3 - Sunday
So Sunday is mass day. :) I woke up early, made my favorite, bacon with cheese and potato omelette and had some Jacob's Chocolate Nut Capuccino (with real Milka bits). It was a long leisurely breakfast, then I washed the dishes, cleaned up the counter, stovetop, table (I do this every single time I cook), and then started to get ready for mass.

Ria, Vangie, Marbi and Jay got on the bus when we passed by Slovanet. Finally, someone to talk to! :) There were some rerouting with the buses and trams so we had to transfer at Legionarska. The good thing was it was closer to St. Ladislav, and that's a very good thing coz the weather here is very, very hot, and any way to limit our exposure to the scorching sun was a good thing.

After mass, Ria and I went to Avion! Ahhh...my favorite mall. :) As usual, I had some purchases from Marks & Spencer, a blouse from Gate, shorts from H&M, and I bought 2 shoes at such a bargain from Humanic! Imagine, a Clarks sandal (previously 2400SKK) at 399SKK, and an Ipanema sandal for 299KK. We also went to Ikea for dinner (Kotbullar aka meatballs with gravy and jam), and I bought 2 scented candles for the flat. Then we did some grocery shopping, and I bought some more stuff for my pantry.

After the shopping spree, I passed by Ria's hotel to pick up my stuff (the ones I left from the last trip). Then, walked the long walk back to Slovanet (carrying 3 large bags) and waited for my bus. I did 3 loads of laundry, darks, lights and reds. Prepared my stuff for tomorrow and finished up my Tomasikova blog for the weekend.